Learning Aids for LDS "Hymns Made Easy"

 
Since posting my Graded List of LDS Hymns For Piano Students, a senior missionary sister serving in Jamaica e-mailed me and requested a list of the easiest simplified hymns, from the Hymns Made Easy book, to help the local members learn to play.  This is something that I have wished I had over the years and have been unable to find, so I decided to make one for her.  There is an index in the back of the book that groups the hymns into three groups, easiest to hardest, but in my 20+ years' experience as a music teacher, and in almost every one of the many method books and leveled student pieces I have used, there are certain elements that make a piece easy to play for a beginner, which do not match this indexing.  These are:

--being in the key of C (no sharps or flats in the key signature)

--having no or very few hand position changes, especially in the left hand

--having no accidentals (sharps and flats in the music)
--having simple rhythms such as quarter notes and half notes only
--having no or few large jumps from one key to another

So here are the ten pieces that I think are the easiest ones in the Hymns Made Easy book and my suggestions for making them easy to learn.  If they are helpful to the saints in Jamaica, maybe they will helpful to others, too.  At the very least, they'll be helpful to my students.

"We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet"
Key of C
No accidentals
Dotted rhythms, but they are not very tricky.
L.H. stays in the same position except twice finger 5 needs to reach down one note for a chord on "days" and "hand."
R.H. only moves a few times:  On Line 2, circle the 1 on "sending" where the thumb crosses under finger 2; On Line 3, circle the 2 on "We" and the 1 on "Bestowed."  The last line is the same as other lines in the piece.

"God's Daily Care"

Key of C

No accidentals

Only one set of eighth notes

L.H. changes position three times:  Circle the finger number 1 on "begun," Line 2 circle the finger number 2 on "I" and the finger number 1 on "That."

R.H. uses a stretched position for most of the first line, with finger 1 on E and finger 2 on G.  Note that it contracts at "has just begun."  It's back to the stretched position on the second line, and then changes altogether on "That" where you should circle the 4/1 fingering notation.

"Now Let Us Rejoice"

Key of C

Two sharps on line 4.  Highlight them.

Dotted rhythms, but if the student is familiar with the hymn, she can probably play them.

L.H. never changes position.  (Hooray!)

It's a longer hymn, but there are only about three and a half lines to actually learn since it repeats itself so much:

"Now let us rejoice in the day of salvation" and "Good tidings are sounding to us and each nation" and "And earth will appear as the Garden of Eden" are all exactly alike.

"No longer as strangers on earth need we roam" and "And none will molest them from morn until ev'n" are exactly the same.

"And shortly the hour of redemption will come" and "And Jesus will say to all Israel, 'Come home'" are exactly the same.

"When all that was promised" and "the Saints will be given" are almost the same.

The R.H. uses a stretched out position at first:  Line 1 circle the 2 on "us."

The R.H. changes position several times:  Line 1 circle the 2 on "the" and the 1 on "of"; Line 2 circle the 4 on "strangers."  The rest of the line is the same as line 1.  Line 4, circle the 3 on "when."  The rest of the piece is the same as parts that have already been learned.

"Lord, I Would Follow Thee"

Key of C

One accidental, an F# on the second line.  Circle it or highlight it.

Point out the parallel motion (both hands moving the same direction) on "learn to love thee" (both times) and on "follow thee" at the very end of the piece.

L.h. position change at the beginning of second line (circle the 2/3 fingering mark), again at the beginning of the third line (the 1/3 fingering), and one more time on the third measure of the last line (1/3).
Cross out the A-flat on the second-to-last measure in the l.h.  It is completely unnecessary.  Just hold the chord and skip that A-flat.

Circle the following finger numbers or notes where the r.h. changes position:  Line 1 "learn" and 4 on "the," Line 2 the 1 on the last syllable of "another," and the last syllable of "beyond," Line 3 the 5 on "Savior", the 4 on "to, and the 3 on "I".

"Count Your Blessings"

Key of C

No accidentals

The eighth notes make it trickier, but if the student can play eighth notes, it's easy in many other ways.

Unlike most hymns this one has a lot of repetition.  Point out to the student that the first six measures of the first line are exactly the same as the second line.

Point out the parallel motion between the hands on the last two measures of every line.

Practice the first five notes in the l.h. which are in a stretched-out hand position.

In the 3rd and 4th lines, the l.h. does not move from C position at all.

The r.h. has to stretch one note for the B played with finger 5 on "discouraged" and "surprise".  Circle that note.

Circle the following finger numbers where the r.h. moves:  Line 2, the 2 that crosses over on "Lord has done;" Line 3 the 3, 5, 3 on "count...blessings", Line 4 the 5 on "Count" and the 3 on "God."

"Jesus, Once of Humble Birth"
Key of C
No accidentals
The l.h. stays mainly in a C position, but if you circle the A and F chord on the word "humble" and again on "grief", that will signal to the student the only place where she has to reach up just one key to get to that A.
The only tricky rhythms are the tied chords in the l.h., but it seriously wouldn't matter at all if the pianist accidentally played them twice instead of holding them.
The r.h. doesn't change position a lot.  Just circle these finger numbers to note changes: the 2 that crosses over the thumb on the second line on "comes," the 1 on "grief," and 3, 2, and 1 that have to stretch on "on earth to."

"Hark, All Ye Nations"

Key of C

The dotted eighth note rhythm is the trickiest thing about this piece, but most students would be able to play it if they hear it played for them.

The r.h. moves a lot, but the first, second and fourth lines are exactly the same for the first three measures of each, so once they learn line one, they've learned most of the piece.  Circle the 4 on "hear", the 1 on "voice, and the 1 on "all" (these are all on line 1)

Then the third line has a sequence:  the second two measures are exactly the same as the first two measures but are played one note lower.

Point out Line 3 uses a stretched-out r.h. hand position.  Circle the places that finger 4 is notated.

The best thing about this piece is the l.h. moves so very little.  There is no change from C position in the first, second and fourth lines.  In the third line, circle the middle C at the beginning of the line, the 1 on "shines" and the 2 on "gospel".  Those are the only deviations.

"I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

This is in the key of F which makes it slightly more difficult, but if you take a highlighter pen and highlight all of the B's in the piece, that will help the student remember to play the black note.

The l.h. plays only a few different chords.

The rhythms are a little tricky with the dotted notes and the eighth notes, but if the student is familiar with the tune, he'll be able to get them right by ear.

There are a few position changes in the r.h.  Circle the finger numbers:  2nd line the 2, 3, 4 on "lives, who once" and 4 on "everlasting."  Third line, the 2 on "He."  Fourth line, the 5 on "He", the 3 on "hungry" and the 3 on "feed."

"O God, the Eternal Father"

Key of C

There are two accidentals in the piece, both on the third line.

The l.h. moves a few times.  Circle the finger numbers when there is a move:  Line 2 the 2 on "bless," line 3 (no finger number marked, but it would be a 5) on "bread", line 4 the 1 on "all" and the final chord.

"I Am a Child of God"

Key of C

Some tricky dotted rhythms and eighth notes, but because most people are very familiar with the tune, they probably won't be thrown off by these.

The L.H. doesn't move a lot.  Circle the 2 on the second measure, and the 1s on the last line.

There are two sharps on the second line.  Highlight them.

R.H. moves a little.  Line 1 circle the finger 2 on "And" and the 4 on "has"; line 2 circle the B, Line 3 circle the 5 on the "help", and Line 4 circle the 5 and 4 on "I must" and the 4 on "live."

You can download all the hymns from lds.org. On lds.org, choose "Resources" at the top of the page. Then choose "Library at the upper left. Then all the hymnbooks appear. I have linked them directly below.

Here is a link for the "Hymns Made Easy" book: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/english/pdf/callings/music/hymns-made-easy/Hymns_000_HymnsMadeEasy_eng.pdf?lang=eng

Here is a link for the regular hymns.

https://www.lds.org/music/library/hymns?lang=eng

​If you are a beginning piano student, you may want to start with the Keyboard Course, which has even easier hymns than the "Hymns Made Easy."

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/english/pdf/callings/music/KeyboardCourse_33620_eng.pdf?lang=eng​

Happy Hymn-Playing!

Doctrine and Covenants Lesson #33 President Brigham Young Leads the Saints

ALTERNATIVE LESSON
I have prepared another lesson about the miracles of the Mormon migration, with an accompanying PowerPoint. That lesson is available at this link.

PREPARATION

Scrap of paper at each place

6 pint jars with the following amounts of M&Ms (or other small items) in them: 14, 117, 195, 197, 351, 410

Write names on board: John Brown, James Brown, Hark Lay, Oscar Crosby, Green Flake

Note:  The succession of Church leadership will be address in Lesson #37: “We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet”

MOVING ON FROM TRAGEDY

When the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed, most of the apostles were on missions to the eastern United States, including Parley P. Pratt. The only two in Illinois were Willard Richards and John Taylor, both of whom had been with Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage. Parley was the first to return, having been “constrained by the Spirit” to head back to Nauvoo from New York before he had planned to. While on a canal boat, enroute,

“…a strange and solemn awe came over me, as if the powers of hell were let loose. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak. I was so over-whelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak; and after pacing the deck for some time in silence, I turned to my brother William and exclaimed—'Brother William, this is a dark hour; the powers of darkness seem to triumph, and the spirit of murder is abroad in the land, and it controls the hearts of the American people, and a vast majority of them sanction the killing of the innocent.' ……This was June 27^th, 1844, in the afternoon, and as near as I can judge, it was the same hour that the Carthage mob were shedding the blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and John Taylor, near one thousand miles distant.”

All of the other members of the quorum reported feeling a terrible sadness on that day. In Wisconsin, passengers boarded the boat Parley was on, gloating over the news that Joseph and Hyrum had been killed. When Parley got off in Chicago, he found a great hubbub as the press was issuing extras “announcing the triumph of the murderous mob in killing the Smiths.”

“I felt so weighed down with sorrow and the powers of darkness that it was painful for me to…speak to any one, or even to try to eat or sleep. I really felt that if it had been my own family who had died, and our beloved Prophet been spared alive, I could have borne it…I had loved Joseph with a warmth of affection indescribable for about 14 years. I had associated with him in private and in public, in travels and at home, in joy and sorrow, in honor and dishonor, in adversity of every kind…But now he was gone to the invisible world, and we and the Church of the Saints were left to mourn in sorrow and without the presence of our beloved founder and Prophet.

“As I walked along over the plains of Illinois, lonely and solitary, I reflected as follows: …in a day or two I shall be there. How shall I meet the sorrowing widows and orphans? How shall I meet the aged and widowed mother…? How shall I console and advise 25,000 people who will throng about me in tears, and in the absence of my President and the older members of the now-presiding council, will ask counsel at my hands? …When I could endure it no longer, I cried aloud, saying: O Lord! In the name of Jesus Christ I pray Thee, show me what these things mean, and what I shall say to Thy people? On a sudden the Spirit of God came upon me, and filled my heart with joy and gladness indescribable, and while the spirit of revelation glowed in my bosom with as visible a warmth and gladness as if it were fire, the Spirit said unto me: ‘Lift up your head and rejoice; for behold! It is well with my servants Joseph and Hyrum…Go and say unto my people in Nauvoo, that they shall continue to pursue their daily duties and take care of themselves, and make no movement in Church government to reorganize or alter anything until the return of the remainder of the Quorum of the Twelve. But exhort them that they continue to build the House of the Lord…’

“This information caused my bosom to burn with joy and gladness and I was comforted above measure; all my sorrow seemed in a moment to be lifted as a burden from my back.” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 292-294) (A timeline of Parley's life with brief and interesting notes is available at Jared Pratt Family Website.)

At a time of great trial, the commandment to Parley was to “lift up your head and rejoice,” and the comforting presence of the Spirit made it possible to obey that commandment. “Lift” is a verb, requiring action. To lift your head would imply that you would be looking upward, towards heaven, or seeing with an eternal perspective. It would also imply that you would be looking forward at what to do next, rather than backward in regret. When you lift up your head symbolically, rejoicing then will naturally follow.

WE ARE COMMANDED TO CHOOSE JOY

Candy Jars Guessing Game:  Ask class members to write on their paper scraps how many times they think the words below are found in the scriptures. Then tell them the jars of M&Ms correspond to each word. The closest guess to each word count wins the jar with that number of M&Ms.  For extra insight into latter-day church history, I have included in parentheses how many of those are found in the D&C.

Sad/Sadness --13 (1 in D&C)

Sorrow--195 (8 in D&C*)

Weep--117 (9 in D&C**)

Glad/Gladness—197 (21 in D&C)

Joy—351 (34 in D&C)

Rejoice—410 (42 in D&C)

*Half of these refer to the wicked. The others counsel saints regarding sorrow, promise no sorrow, or are prayers offered in behalf of the sorrowing saints.

**One of these 9 refers to weeping for joy. 7 of them refer to the wicked.

The message is clear: The gospel is a message of gladness.

2 Nephi 2:25 – “Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.” Ours is a doctrine of rejoicing.

D&C 133:42-44 – “O Lord, thou shalt come down to make thy name known to thine adversaries, and all nations shall tremble at thy presence— When thou doest terrible things, things they look not for; Yea, when thou comest down, and the mountains flow down at thy presence, thou shalt meet him who rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, who remembereth thee in thy ways.” This scripture gives a definition of saints caught up to meet Christ in the last days:  They are 1) rejoicing, 2) working righteousness, 3) remembering Christ and his ways.

D&C 112:4 – “Let thy heart be of good cheer before my face; and thou shalt bear record of my name, not only unto the Gentiles, but also unto the Jews; and thou shalt send forth my word unto the ends of the earth.” This scripture implies that you must be of good cheer to be a missionary.

D&C 107:22-24 – “Of the Melchizedek Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church. The twelve traveling councilors are called to be the Twelve Apostles, or special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world—thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling. And they form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned.”  This revelation told the saints that the Quorum of Twelve Apostles had all the authority needed to run the Church in Joseph's absence.

THE MISSISSIPPI PIONEERS

And so Brigham Young led the saints west. Although he fully intended to make the trek in 1846, they actually began April 8, 1847, for reasons noted below.

Brigham Young started out from Winter Quarters with 143 men, 3 women and 2 children, but he ended up in the Salt Lake Valley with more than that, and it has to do with some amazing converts from a largely unproductive mission to the Southern States. This is their very little-known (although well-documented) story and it’s very interesting to hear.

 Picture from Orson Pratt Brown Family website

In 1843, John Brown, a convert from Tennessee who had gathered to Nauvoo, was called on a mission to the South. Generally speaking, the South was very infertile ground for missionary work, but in one place, he and the other missionaries found a motherlode: Monroe County, Mississippi. 150-200 people were converted, most of them related to each other. John married one of them.

He was called back to Nauvoo after the martyrdom to work on the Temple. When the 1846 exodus began, John was sent back to Mississippi to gather the saints there into the fold and help them cross the plains. He left for Mississippi (a 1,000-mile trip) in January in snow and storm. He collected 43 people and 19 wagons and they left their homes on April 8^th. His father-in-law, William Crosby, led the train.

In Independence, they heard wild rumors about Mormons committing atrocities on the Oregon Trail, so they assumed the saints had gone west. They joined with a six-wagon party of Oregon Trailers at Independence and picked up a few other Latter-day Saints and headed out across the plains to meet  Brigham Young. They got to the Platte River and there was no Brigham Young. They stopped for one day to think it over, and decided he must have gone on and they pressed full speed ahead to catch up. They suffered all kinds of difficulties, but made it nearly halfway to the Great Basin before they found out that there were no Mormons ahead of them on the trail (Leonard J. Arrington, “Mississippi Mormons,” Ensign, June 1977; also Richard E. Bennett, We’ll Find the Place, p. 172-173).

Now, of course, Brigham Young had fully intended to go west that year, 1846, in an advance wagon train, but the saints didn't want him to leave them; they tried to keep up with him, and by doing so, they slowed him greatly. “Our president don’t stick [hesitate] at anything that tends to advance the gathering of Israel, or promote the cause of Zion in these last days,” wrote Thomas Bullock, clerk to the twelve. “He sleeps with one eye open and one foot out of bed, and when anything is wanted, he is on hand and his counselors are all of one heart with him in all things” (quoted in Richard E. Bennett, We’ll Find the Place, p. 59). Brigham and the other leaders, Heber C. Kimball, etc., had a year’s supply of food in their wagons, but it was quickly depleted since many others had not taken that counsel in their zeal. In addition, the terribly muddy weather slowed their travel unbelievably. The Mormon Battalion had been called up for a year’s duty, and the use of the funds they would be paid for their service would be very beneficial to the trek.  So they had camped at Winter Quarters, with groups of saints strung out in encampments all along the trail in Iowa.

So when John Brown and his company were beyond Chimney Rock, they met John Richards (pronounce REE-shaw), a French trapper who told them there were no Mormons on the trail ahead. They decided to winter on the trail rather than go back. John Richards invited them to stay at Fort Pueblo, Colorado with him. Fort Pueblo was occupied by 6-8 mountain men and their Spanish and Indian wives. The Mormons built a little community of log homes outside the church/school. With their Southern gentility, they hosted dances there and invited the mountain men, but they didn’t forget to be missionaries: When the mountain men arrived to dance with the fair Southern belles, they found they had to listen to a gospel sermon first! 

John Brown headed back east to meet with President Young and reached Winter Quarters in October. That same month, 154 Mormon Battalion members, discharged because of illness, arrived from the southwest to winter at Fort Pueblo. Their captain was none other than another of the missionaries who had converted many of the Mississippi saints, James Brown. They built 18 more cabins for the Battalion.

Arriving back at Winter Quarters, John Brown received word from Brigham Young not to bring the whole group that year but to handpick a few men to join Brigham’s vanguard company which would be traveling west that spring. So John headed south, in January again, where he picked 4 white men and 4 black slaves. Two of the black men died along the way (Arrington). The two remaining were brothers Oscar Crosby, 32, and Hark Lay, 22. They had different last names because they had different masters. Oscar “belonged” to John’s father-in-law, William Crosby, and had been converted through James Brown’s missionary efforts (the Battalion Leader). William Crosby had shared the gospel with the Lays, Hark’s masters (Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray, One More River to Cross, p. 257).

At Winter Quarters, the two were joined by another black slave, 19-year-old Green Flake, who was a friend of theirs, and had gone to Nauvoo with his master, James Flake. Green had been baptized at the age of 16 by John Brown. “It may strike you as funny that a Brown baptized a black named Green, but that’s how it was—colorful.” (Young/Gray,  p. 249)

 

Green Flake remained a faithful Latter-day Saint

all his life 

At this point I need to interject that some of the early saints felt that slave-owning was acceptable if the slaves (or what they euphemistically called “colored servants”) were treated kindly, since there was counsel in the Bible on how slaves and masters should treat each other. It was a confusing time in the pre-Emancipation Proclamation United States in that respect. Utah was not a state, and was neither slave nor free.

Actually, it was quite remarkable for that time that the missionaries even taught the gospel to some slaves, considering them children of God. Sadly they generally were not considered as quite the same class, though, even after they joined the church. For instance, while white saints were called by their last names (Sister Smith), black saints were called by their first (Sister Jane), following the manner of address given to slaves. Still, many Church members loved their “servants” almost as dearly as family members.

When Green Flake’s master left the south for Nauvoo upon his baptism, he offered freedom to all of his slaves, but Green chose to remain with him as a slave, along with two of his friends. Later in life, Green Flake became a (free) servant of Brigham Young’s (Young/Gray, p. 256).

Hark, true to his name, had a beautiful singing voice, and he and Green would often sing together. The Negro Spirituals floated across the plains, along with “Come, Come, Ye Saints?” Hark would also dance a mean jig to the music of the fiddle playing in the evenings (Young/Gray).  

The names of Green Flake, Hark Lay and Oscar Crosby are immortalized as members of the first Mormon pioneer company on the Brigham Young monument which was first displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair (Wikipedia) and now resides in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah at the intersection of Main and South Temple Streets.

Brigham Young's wagon train left Winter Quarters on April 8, 1847, and reached Fort Laramie on June 3. Seventeen of the Pueblo saints had been there waiting and watching for them for 2 weeks and were ecstatic to recognize from a distance the apostles leading the wagon train. Apostle Amasa Lyman was sent to gather up the rest of the members still in Pueblo and bring them to the Great Basin. The body of Mississippi saints arrived in Salt Lake 5 days after Brigham Young’s vanguard group, but the three black men were in Brigham Young's party.  The main group arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, and Brigham (since he was in the sick group that went a little slower) on July 24 (now celebrated as a state holiday, Pioneer Day).

After helping plant and build and settle, John Brown and his party headed back east on August 26 to get the rest of the Mississippi Saints, traveling with Brigham Young as far as Winter Quarters. Once again, John Brown arrived in Mississippi in the dead of winter--December this time--and immediately made preparations to cross the plains for the fifth time in less than two years. He and his converts left Mississippi on March 10, 1848. There were 13 families, including 56 white saints and 34 black. They arrived in Salt Lake City in October, bringing the total population of the Valley to about 200 white and 37 black Mississippi saints.

The first Mormon community in Utah outside of Salt Lake City was settled by these saints. It was called Cottonwood and is presently called Holladay after one of the Mississippians who was bishop there. In March of 1851, the Mississippi saints were sent to colonize Southern California with Charles Rich. They founded the city of San Bernadino. Later, many of them helped colonize Southern Utah and Arizona as well.

The Mississippi saints were classy, as well as being hard workers. They raised the level of frontier society with their Southern drawl, hospitality and etiquette. They were also excellent record keepers and even recorded funny incidents. “One of the children at the school in San Bernardino asked the teacher how to spell rat. The teacher replied ‘R-A-T.’ The child said, ‘I don’t mean mousy rat. Anybody knows how to spell that! What I mean is like in “do it rat now!”’”

Very likely the first black teacher of white children in the United States was a Mormon, Alive Rowan, who taught in Riverside, California, and was the daughter of two of the slaves who had come west with John Brown (Arrington).

CHOOSING JOY

The road west was rough for the Mormon pioneers, no doubt. But “while many wept at the inexplicable tragedy of it all, others chose deliberately to wear a happier face.  ‘How can I go without you?’ inquired Irene Hascall of her non-supportive parents in New England. “Or how can you stay behind?...Do not worry anything about it, there will be some way.  I suppose father would not like to travel across the Rocky Mountains but I should think he might like it real well for he can hunt all the way. I think probably [we] will cross the Rocky Mountains to a healthier climate. What good times we will have journeying and pitching our tents like the Israelites” (Bennett, p. 23). Irene was a happy camper.

Helen Mar Whitney was buoyed by the beauties of nature as she trekked.  “This day the sky was cloudless and beautiful, and I was happy…Our tent was pitched on a gentle slope, and below, some distance away, was a crystal stream of water babbling over the rocks down through a little grove of trees and willows, where I accompanied [my husband] Horace the next day, Sunday, to fish, taking along our books to read.  This was his favorite pastime, and in which he indulged every opportunity.  This was the most delightful spot we had seen, the whole landscape around us was lovely, they called it rolling prairie, and it had such a variety of hills and dales, all dressed anew in their bright velvety robes of spring.

“The first morning I took an early stroll to enjoy the scene, and I was almost enchanted as I stood there alone gazing at the glorious sight as the sun was peeping over the hills—and to lend more to the scene of enchantment here came a beautiful fawn and also an antelope, skipping fearlessly over hill and dale and out of sight, with naught to disturb them nor the peace and tranquility of my thoughts…” (Helen Mar Whitney, A Woman’s View,p. 363-364).

Once Irene Hascall arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, she wrote to her parents again, “This is our place of residence.  It is in the midst of the rocky mountains surrounded on every side by impassable mountains and just one passage in and another on the west side which will not take much labor to stop an army of ten thousand.  Now let the mobbers rage.  The Lord has provided this place for us and if we are faithful the trouble and calamities of the Gentile nation will not harm.” [Truer words were never spoken, as the expulsion from Missouri completely removed the saints, both black and white, from the one of the greatest hotbeds of destruction in the Civil War.  For a fascinating tangent, see The Civil War in Missouri and Illinois.]  “When all is past we will step forth from our hiding place…I wish you would come and stay with us.  You would if you could see the future” (Bennett, p. 351).

Parley P. Pratt chose joy and the presence of the Spirit at the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, when he was “weighed down as it were unto death.”

Hark Lee and Green Flake sang and danced their way across the plains, though they were slaves.

Helen Mar Whitney chose to rejoice in nature, rather than whine about sore feet.

We would do well to carry the optimism after tragedy that these saints possessed.  Paraphrasing the words of Irene Hascall, “[We] would if [we] could see the future.”

Doctrine and Covenants Lesson #31 "Sealed...for Time and for all Eternity"

The lesson in the manual is really great.  In addition, there is a fun article in the July 1989 Ensign on "The Honeymoon Trail" about the great efforts early saints took to be married in a temple.  Just for fun, I'm including this supplementary material I researched about a particular temple.  You may want to use some of this in the lesson, or use it as a supplementary family home evening lesson.

TEMPLE QUIZ

1.       Which temple was struck by lightning shortly after it was built?

2.       Which temple was the first completed after Nauvoo?

3.       Wilford Woodruff was the first president of which temple?

4.       In which temple were the first endowments for the dead performed?

5.       Of the temples designed by Truman Angell, which was the first completed?

6.       In which temple did Wilford Woodruff do the work for the founding fathers?

7.       Which temple was the only one in the west to be finished while Brigham Young was still alive?

Well, the answer to each of these questions is the St. George, Utah temple.  

 Photo from LDSTemples.org

Although St. George is an awesome place today, popular with both vacationers and retirees, J. Golden Kimball said that if he had a house in hell and a house in St. George, he’d rent out the one in St. George. Settling St. George before the days of air conditioning was an incredible trial, as the temperature is frequently over 100 degrees in the summer, so why was it chosen for the first temple?

HISTORY OF THE ST. GEORGE TEMPLE

In 1855 while traveling through Southern Utah, Heber C. Kimball declared that a wagon road would be made from Harmony over the Black Ridge, and a temple would be built in the vicinity of the Rio Virgin. No LDS people lived in the vicinity. (New Harmony is just on the other side of the Dixie National Forest from St. George, about 30 miles north, and the Virgin River flows out of Zion National Park, right through St. George and into Arizona.) The first LDS colonists were sent to the Dixie mission in 1861. It was a very hard mission call. From the diary of one of those called:

Well, here I have worked for the last seven years through heat and cold, hunger and adverse circumstances, and at last have got me a home, a lot with fruit trees just beginning to bear and look pretty. Well, I must leave it and go and do the will of my Father in Heaven, who overrules all for the good of them that love and fear him. I pray God to give me strength to accomplish that which is required of me in an acceptable manner before him.

-Charles Lowell Walker, quoted in Our History, p. 88

The St. George Temple was announced by Brigham Young in a letter in 1871; it was begun in November of that year.

Although the Salt Lake Temple had been started in 1853, 18 years earlier, it was less than halfway built. President Young wanted to see another temple completed before he died. Despite Utah's "Dixie" being very small in population, and nearly destitute as well, St. George was chosen for several reasons:

1. The warmer climate allowed year-round construction (which was causing a lot of delay on the Salt Lake Temple)
2. The location was far removed from government intervention (which was causing a lot of delay on the Salt Lake Temple)
3. John Taylor later said, “There was a people living here who were more worthy than any others…God inspired President Young to build a temple here because of the fidelity and self-abnegation of the people.”(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 23, p. 14)

CHOOSING THE SITE

I am 82 years old tomorrow. I am the only living person, so far as I know, who heard and saw what I am about to relate. At the time of which we shall speak, I was a lad of 11 years, all-seeing and all-hearing, and drove a team hitched to a scraper.

President Brigham Young had written to Robert Gardner, president of the stake high council. In this letter he expressed a wish that a Temple be built in St. George. Also, that Brother Gardner select a few leading brethren, and, as a group, visit sites where it might be best to build the Temple. This they did, visiting spots each thought might be best. They could not agree, and so informed President Young.

President Young, arriving later, somewhat impatiently chided them, and at the same time asked them to get into their wagons, or whatever else they had, and with him find a location.

To the south they finally stopped.

“But, Brother Young,” protested the men, “This land is boggy. After a storm, and for several months of the year, no one can drive across the land without horses and wagons sinking way down. There is no place to build a foundation.”

“We will make a foundation,” said President Young.

Later on while plowing and scraping where the foundation was to be, my horse’s leg broke through the ground into a spring of water. The brethren then wanted to move the foundation line 12 feet to the south, so that the spring of water would be on the outside of the temple.

“Not so,” replied President Young. “We will wall it up and leave it here for some future use. But we cannot move the foundation. This spot was dedicated by the Nephites. They could not build it, but we can and will build it for them.”

To this day the water from that very spring is running through a drain properly built.

I make this statement of my own free will and choice, and without any fear of misgiving.

[signed] E. Ernest Bramwell, 85 C St., Salt Lake City, Utah

Quoted in Janice F. DeMille, The St. George Temple:  First 100 Years, p. 20-21)

EXCAVATION FOR FOUNDATION (Begun November 9, 1871)

The groundbreaking ceremony was November 9, 1871. The brethren began the excavation that very afternoon.

In digging[,] the greater part we found to be very wet and soft, so much so that it was necessary to dig a frame around the outside within 12 feet of building a little east of square tower. It was so soft in places that a fences pole could be pressed in from 12 to 15 feet with ease. This caused considerably anxiety as to the best way of making it substantial enough to sustain the enormous weight of the building.

--Edward Perry, Chief Mason (DeMille, p. 26)

In the end, 17,000 tons of rock was used in the construction of the temple.

 Photo from www.dostgeorge.com

BUILDING THE FOUDNATION (Completed February 21, 1874—2 years and 3 months)

Since the temple site did not furnish a solid foundation, it was necessary to make a firm foundation on which to build. Once the excavation was completed, it was necessary to fill it in with rock. For this purpose they had to use some type of rock which would not decay; the action of minerals in the soil would decay both sandstone and limestone.

The problem was solved by using black volcanic rock from a long, black ridge west of St. George. First they had to build a dugway, in order to quarry the rock. The size of the rocks varied from small pieces to boulders weighing several tons.

Next arose the problem of getting the rock pounded into the ground solidly enough to provide a firm foundation. Once again, these pioneers invented a way to accomplish a task which seemed impossible. They made a pile driver from a cannon brought back from California with the Mormon Battalion. They filled it full of lead; it weighed 800-1,000 pounds. William Carter constructed a device by which they could lift the cannon 30 feet into the air by horse power, and then drop it. In this way, the volcanic rock was driven deep into the soft ground.

The pile-driver crew asked Charles L. Walker, Dixie’s “poet laureate,” to write a poem about their task. He wrote the following poem, which served as a great morale booster. They sang it to the tune of “Cork Leg.”

Pounding Rock Into the Temple Foundation

Now, I pray you be still and all hush your noise,

While I sing about Carter and the Founder and boys.

How the old hammer climbed and went toward the skies,

And made such a thump that you’d shut both your eyes.

“Go ahead now, hold hard, now snatch it again,”

Down comes the old fun, the rocks fly like rain;

Now start up that team, we work not in vain,

With a rattle and clatter, and do it again.

Slack up on the south, the north guy make tight

Take a turn around the post, now be sure you are right;

Now stick in your pars and drive your dogs tight,

Slap dope in the grooves, go ahead, all is right.

Now, right on the frame sat the giant Jimmy Ide,

Like a brave engineer, with the rope by his side,

“Go ahead, and just raise it,” he lustily cried,

“I run this machine and Carter beside!”

I must not forget to mention our Rob,

Who stuck to it faithful and finished the job;

The time it fell down and nearly played hob,

He n’er made a whimper, not even a sob.

Here’s good will to Carter, the Pounder and tools,

Here’s good will to Gardner, the driver and mules,

Here’s good will to the boys, for they’ve had a hard tug.

Here’s good will to us all and the ‘little brown jug.’

(DeMille, p. 28-29)

At Pioneer celebration, the St. George Choir sang a song written by Charles L. Walker. Later it was sung throughout the state as a rally-rouser to raise funds for the temple.

Lo! A temple, long expected, in St. George shall stand;

By God’s faithful saints erected, here in Dixieland.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Let Hosannas ring,

Heaven shall echo back our praises, Christ shall reign as king.

The noble task we hailed with pleasure—coming from our head—

Brings salvation—life eternal, for our kindred dead.

Holy and eternal Father, give us strength we pray,

To thy name to build this temple, in the latter day.

Oh! How anxious friends are waiting, watching every move,

Made by us for their redemption, with a holy love.

Long they’ve hoped thru weary ages, for the present time;

For the everlasting gospel with its truths sublime.

Lo, the prison doors are open, millions hail the day;

Praying, hoping for baptism, in the appointed way.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Let the structure rise,

Rear aloft these noble towers pointing to the skies.

Photo from CES online.

LUMBER

Robert Gardner, a Scottish convert, was in charge of finding lumber. Most of the lumber came from Mt. Trumbull, in northern Arizona, 70 miles away. Its elevation (8,028 feet) is over 5,000 feet higher than St. George  (2,880 feet). First they had to build a road, of course. Most of the lumber used in the temple came from Mt. Trumbull, sometimes only 2 large logs on one wagon.

One of the most dangerous parts of the road was down the Hurricane Hill which borders the present site of the town. Before assaying the steep descent, the drivers tightened the binding on the loads and the rough-locked the rear wheels to act as a brake on the freighters’ wagons. Even with rough-lock the heavily laden running gears came down the hill too rapidly for comfort.

--A. Karl Larson 

(DeMille, p. 38)

PLASTERING THE RED SANDSTONE

While plastering, John Burt fell from a scaffold 70 feet high. Some of the workers administered to him. It was considered a miracle that he lived.

The Deseret Evening News reported that Thomas Crane undertook to come down from the top of the building by one of the ropes, but halfway down his arms gave out, and he fell about 30 feet. He was seriously injured, but lived.

BAPTISMAL FONT (Dedicated August 11, 1875)

The font was made in sections in Salt Lake City, and assembled and bronzed in the temple after shipment. It was oval shaped. The Deseret News reported that the bottom piece weighed about 2,900 pounds, and the sides one ton.

56 years ago this month I was one of a company of young men who delivered the baptismal font for the St. George temple…

We were instructed to guard our loads carefully and not to exhibit them to anybody except the bishops of the wards along the way, and people the bishops might permit to see them.

My load contained the bottom of the font…

We traveled along with soldiers going to Beaver on foot. We passed and repassed them often and almost had to fight to keep them from snooping in our wagons. Some of them believed we were loaded with cannon. The John D. Lee trial was on at the time and there was a great deal of excitement and many wild rumors. But we held to our course and carried out our instructions…

Some of the way it was so hot that we traveled at night for the benefit of our oxen. It reached 119 degrees in the shade. Our oxen nearly died. Every time they heard a stream of water we had all we could do to keep them from stampeding.

We did not leave for the return trip till we saw the font safely in place. As fast as they unloaded us, the pieces were put in place and bolted together. Apostle Orson Hyde went in and saw the font in place and came out weeping with joy. He thanked God that he had lived to see another font in place in a temple of the Lord. He said this people would never be driven from the Rocky Mountains. I believed him, for I had heard prophecy before.

Respectfully, C. L. Christensen, Moab, Utah 

(Demille, p. 40)

ENDOWMENT ROOMS DEDICATED January 1, 1877

January 9 baptisms for the dead were begun, and January 11, endowments for the dead were performed for the first time in this dispensation in any temple.

HELP FROM OTHERS

Letter sent from the General Tithing Office, April 3, 1874 to Brother Smoot in Utah County

…You will doubtless rejoice with us to learn that the temple in St. George is progressing very satisfactorily…No mission since the organization of the Church has had so many natural barriers to overcome, so much costly labor to perform, nor such a length drain on the faith, perseverance, and pockets of the people, than the one usually called the “Dixie Mission.” The last and heaviest drain upon their resources is the building of the temple, and never was a call made that met with a more universal and happy response, but their utter inability to complete such a gigantic labour with the means they had at command, necessitated a call for help from their Northern Neighbors. Hence we in this city have had the privilege of raising several thousand dollars through the various wards for that purpose, and should the members of  your county feel desirous of enjoying the same privilege that [all] may share in the blessings of that temple when completed, we hereby extend to all such a cordial invitation to participate; let neither the rich nor the poor be slighted, but everyone in  your entire district have a chance to donate something towards the first erected temple in Utah Territory, not even refusing the widows of 5 or 10 cents, which in the sight of God is equal to the rich man’s $50 or $100. Those who have no money might wish to turn in some grain or stock…

[signed] Ed W. Hunter, L.W. Hardy, J.A. Little (Presiding Bishopric)

(DeMille, p. 43-44)

At General Conference, the First Presidency would call for volunteers from the rest of the state to go to Dixie and work on the Temple for 3 months or so at a time. Hundreds went each year, some on their way to settle Arizona. Special housing and a bakery had to be provided for them.

As the St. George Temple was being built, in addition to monetary donations, wagons would go through the wards in the state accepting food, furniture, cloth, chickens, whatever. A group of men would go through announcing the drive, and in a few days, the wagons would come for the donations.

The temple cost an estimated $800,000 to build.

DEDICATION, April 6, 1877, in conjunction with General Conference.

 Very few photos depict the St. George Temple

with its original tower.

LIGHTNING STRIKE

The temple was originally designed as depicted above.  Brigham Young didn’t like the short and squatty tower (really--who would?), and asked the saints to change it to be taller. They were so disheartened after all their sacrifice, that they didn’t do it. President Young died 5 months after the dedication, at age 76. Not long afterwards, a bolt of lightning struck the tower during a thunderstorm and burned it to its base, miraculously leaving the rest of the temple without damage. The feeling among the saints was that President Young was getting the final word. Accordingly, they rebuilt the tower the way he had wanted it.

From www.gostgeorge.com.

BECOMING THE TEMPLE OF GOD

When Howard W. Hunter became the president of the Church, he asked us to “establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of [our] membership.” (Oct. 94 Ensign, p. 2) He said the temple was the “supreme mortal experience.” (Feb. 95 Ensign, p. 5) Why? (Class answers. Put into two columns on board; add category headings afterwards.)

WHY GO TO THE TEMPLE

DO                             FEEL

Covenants                   Peace—something that you make

Service                       Love—your own main role in life

Learn                          Joy—your ultimate purpose

Seek comfort              Hope—in achieving Celestial Kingdom

Purify self, etc.

(Use whichever of the following quotes are applicable to class members’ ideas.)

Armed with Power

We ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them.

--D&C 109:22

Earth joined with Heaven

It is in the temple that things of the earth are joined with the things of heaven.

--President Hunter, Oct 94 Ensign, p. 2

Peace

It is a place of peace where minds can be centered upon things of the spirit and the worries of the world can be laid aside.

--President Hunter, Oct 94 Ensign, p. 2

Sanctity and Safety

We should go not only for our kindred dead but also for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety that are within those hallowed and consecrated walls.

--President Hunter, Feb 95 Ensign, p. 5

Atonement

As we attend the temple, we learn more richly and deeply the purpose of life and the significance of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

--President Hunter, Feb 94 Ensign, p. 5

Ordinances

All of our efforts in proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead lead to the holy temple. This is because the temple ordinances are absolutely crucial…

--President Hunter, General Conference, April 1922

When the saints built the Nauvoo temple, completion was their goal. Once they achieved that goal, they had to abandon the temple, and the Lord was satisfied. But that was the last time that building the temple was the end goal. With the St. George temple, and every one of the 100+ since, we have been allowed to keep our temples; now we may use the temples, not only to build our eternal families, but to build ourselves.

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

--1 Corinthians 6:19-20

And the spirit and the body are the soul of man.

--D&C 88:15

If we could make our souls (body and spirit) as holy as a temple, we could experience these products of the spirit [refer to chart] more of the time, and they would be a great blessing to us, as they are so essential to our purpose. In addition, our experiences when we attend the temple will be greatly magnified, since the only thing that restrains the spirit in the temple is our own selves—either our sins, or our own states of mind—and we would gain greater power there. How can we do this? Just like they built te St. George Temple. (Post wordstrips.)

1. DESIRE. Be eager. Begin immediately. In St. George, they began to build the temple the very afternoon of the ground-breaking, with very little idea how to proceed and very few resources.
2. START WHERE YOU ARE. We have to go with what we have, but we can learn from St. George that a sure foundation can be laid anywhere.
3. BUILD ON THE ROCK, despite the obstacles. Physical disability, mental illness, childhood abuse, sin, divorce, whatever the bog or mire, it is possible to resolve these problems and build a sure foundation on Christ. No one is hopeless.
4. WORK AND SACRIFICE. Expect that it will take considerable and continual effort.
5. MAGNIFY YOUR STRENGTHS. Use your own talents, spiritual gifts, and physical body to their best. The St. George saints only had red rock, but they plastered and painted it.
6. SEEK/ACCEPT HELP. There is strength in church membership; we are all blessed by helping each other.
7. DEDICATE YOURSELF NOW. They dedicated and used one room at a time in these early temples. You don’t need to wait until you are perfect and complete to serve. As you grow and develop in your abilities, you can contribute more.
8. CHANGE COURSE AS ADVISED. No matter how much effort you have put into the direction you are going, if the prophet says you should change, do it.
9. KEEP WATCH. The St. George Temple is the longest continuously operating temple. Remember Samuel Rolfe, the assistant doorkeeper? When the Saints left the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples, and no longer monitored the entrances, they became just buildings. If we are going to be a temple people, we need doorkeepers to our souls to watch what we allow in physically (Word of Wisdom), mentally (media), and emotionally.

CONCLUSION

[Satan] would have us become involved in a million and one things in this life—probably none of which are very important in the long run—to keep us from concentrating on the things that are really important…

--Elder Marvin J. Ashton, Oct 92 CR

We are half-hearted creatures…like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea…We are far too easily pleased.

--C. S. Lewis, A Mind Awake, p. 168

We are at a time in the history of the world and the growth of the Church when we must think more of holy things and act more like the Savior would expect his disciples to act… May you let the meaning and beauty and peace of the temple come into your everyday life more directly…

--President Hunter, Oct. 94 CR