Today is Pioneer Day. July 24, 1847 was the day that Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley (Utah, USA) after being persecuted and pushed west of the boundaries of what was then the United States of America. (Utah didn’t become a state until 1897.)

But celebrating Mormon pioneers doesn’t just look back at this one story of early pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. There are Mormon pioneer stories from around the globe, some of which are gathered at history.lds.org in the Pioneers in Every Land. (You can also see Pioneers in Every Land videos in the LDS Media Library.) The Church has also organized content to feature stories of Mormon women. Of course, there are thousands, millions more stories that could be shared.

If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what Mormon pioneer stories inspire you (both early LDS pioneer stories, family stories, or stories from pioneers of other countries)?

If you are not a Mormon, and are curious about Mormon pioneer stories, you can search on LDS.org or on history.lds.org for pioneer stories.

I love the stories from Mormon pioneers in various nations that were captured for a film called “Ensign to the Nations” many years ago. This still remains one of my favorite LDS Church videos.

The post Mormon Pioneers Around the Globe appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Hallowed Ground, Sacred Journeys (found at BYU Virtual Tours with an interactive site here) is a wonderful resource for learning more about both well-known and more obscure historical sites that have a place in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each post contains professional documentary video clips that give you a virtual tour of the selected Church history site, and also includes beautiful photographs related to each location. Every Wednesday, a new site is explored. Hallowed Ground, Sacred Journeys is a must-see for anyone interested in learning more about LDS Church history.

The videos are also available on YouTube at the BYU Virtual Tours channel.

Some of the LDS historical sites already shared  include the following places in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA) (the city where the Mormon Church is headquartered):

• The Salt Lake Tabernacle
• The LDS Conference Center
• The Salt Lake City, Utah LDS Temple
• Temple Square Visitor’s Center in Salt Lake City

…and many more!

The post LDS Church History Videos and Photographs appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

For a chronology of latter-day Church History, see here.

For more on the Restoration of the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ, see the many sections of information here: “The Restoration of Truth.”

For more on the prophet, Joseph Smith, through whom the Church was restored, visit here (unofficial site) or here (Church’s official site).

The post The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Organized 180 Years Ago Today appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

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Elder Ronald A. Rasband recently gave a CES Fireside talk entitled, “Thy Friends Do Stand By Thee,” to the single young adults of the Church (these are really great for people of all ages and stages of life). You can find audio and video archives here. (The archives currently include translations into Spanish, Portuguese, and French.) A transcript of Elder Rasband’s talk will be available soon at the CES firesides home page, where you can also find Elder Neil A. Anderson’s talk from January, entitled “Preparing for Your Spiritual Destiny” (and past years’ talks as well).

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The General Young Women Meeting is coming in a week.  The theme is “Be Strong and of a Good Courage.” This meeting is for young women ages 12-18, and their mothers as well. A live internet feed will be available at the link provided.

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The Church’s Semi-annual General Conference is also coming up. It will be held on April 3-4. Live streams will be available here.

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That weekend of General Conference, the Church History Department will hold an open house called “Treasures of the Collection” at the new Church History Library.  Hours will be on Friday, April 2, from 5:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 3, from noon-2:00 p.m. and 4:00-9:00 p.m. For more information, see here and here.

The post Recent and Upcoming Events appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., referring to the faithful women of the early Church, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children, stated, “From that time until now woman has comforted and nursed the Church. She has borne more than half the burdens, she has made more than half the sacrifices, she has suffered the most of the heartaches and sorrows” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1940, p. 21). (quoted here by Pres. James E. Faust).

“Without the wonderful work of the women I realize that the Church would have been a failure” (Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941, p. 150).

[The following information has been edited. Historian Ardis Parshall compiled these lessons for electronic review, but did not write them. They were written by Alvin Grant Pack (1907-1994). (When we pulled up the lessons, we missed the introduction, which can be found here.) Thanks to Ardis for her work, and apologies for the mistake!]

The “Centennial Lessons” series was created for use by women in the Relief Societies of the British Mission in 1930 under the leadership of Apostle John A. Widtsoe.

Ardis Parshall explains:

These Centennial Lessons are a straightforward, rather simple telling of the history of the Church. This is neither revisionist nor feminist history; it does not reinterpret history in the light of women’s concerns, nor emphasize the roles of women at the expense of the familiar male history. But women are everywhere visible in these lessons, their roles in the founding and rise of the Church explicitly recognized….

For the next ten weeks for our “Portraits of Mormon Women” feature, we will share posts from this series, with the hope that our readers will enjoy not only the overview of Mormon history, but also will recognize the important role women have always played (and continue to play) in the Lord’s work — and how the gospel has blessed (and continues to bless) the lives of women.

Read lesson 1 here.

(We will include the notes and quotes section originally posted with this post in another entry.)

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My grandmother on my mother’s side has always been a great inspiration to me. She was 75 when I was born and lived another 18 years, so I had a chance to know her and spend some time with her, although we had moved halfway across the state when I was five.

Grandma came to northwestern Oklahoma in a covered wagon from Kansas. She and her husband (who died before I was born) lived in a dugout for some time before they could build a house. They were farmers and raised wheat and cattle.

Life was filled with hard work for Grandma. She cooked and baked on a wood stove for many years. She raised a garden for vegetables, which she canned for the winter. She sewed clothes and household items. She had all the usual housework and childcare (she had 5 children), but also helped some with the farming. Mom used to tell me about how Grandma and Grandpa were always feeding neighbors who were having a hard time – not that they had much either. People knew that if they were out of food, they could go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s at suppertime and would be warmly welcomed and fed. Grandpa would entertain them with conversation while Grandma slipped into the kitchen and made more biscuits and noodles to fill out what they had to eat and everyone had a grand time.

Although not a Mormon, Grandma was a hard worker, a good Christian, a good wife and mother, and a good neighbor. When we went to visit her, she always prepared wonderful meals and had our favorite sugar cookies baking when we arrived. Her custard pie was out of this world. She greeted us with smiles and hugs and I never saw her being angry or upset. She was always bustling around doing something, and happily talking to whoever was around while she did it.

I can’t imagine having to work so hard – we have so many modern conveniences these days. We do, however, have work that we need to do–housework, church work, service, work outside the home, and so on. When I think of Grandma and other pioneer women and how they managed to do all those things without all the ease we have today, it inspires me to try to be more like them – more disciplined and yet cheerful, happy and content with what I have. I appreciate history – family and church – that tells me about these wonderful, hard-working women. They are good examples to me and inspire me to be a better person.

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