“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.” “I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.
Today is Pioneer Day back home. Everyone is probably celebrating and enjoying the holiday and remembering our pioneer ancestors. We are remembering them too. We can't begin to compare ourselves with the pioneers, and we wouldn't even try to do it, but we did have a "handcart experience" at church today.
Nothing seemed to be going right this morning--The Branch President is gone, the first counselor wasn't there, the two Sacrament speakers didn't show up and neither did the Sunday School or Relief Society teachers. How can you have meetings when so many people including leaders are missing? We felt like we had done our best and (like the pioneers) done everything we could. We didn't know how we would "pull the load through it."
When Lynn stood alone at the pulpit he didn't know what he was going to say, but his faith did not waver. He felt the assurance that things would turn out alright. He looked down into the audience and saw one man who could speak English, so he asked him to come up and interpret. The man is the former branch president who left the Church but is now coming back. He did a beautiful job and was so happy to participate. We had the Sacrament and then Lynn gave the most beautiful talk on prayer and studying the scriptures, attending church and preparing to go to the temple. He was speaking to a small hand full of people but he said he felt like the room was full. We all felt the Spirit and when he told everyone to prepare to go to the temple the feeling was electric. After Sacrament I taught Sunday School and the feeling continued. We ended by singing, "Do What Is Right."
Looking back, we realize that something very special happened today. "We knew the angels of God were there." We felt them pushing us along.
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