Ephraim Knowlton Hanks was born on 21 March 1826 in Madison, Lake County, Ohio.  He left home at age 16, worked for a while on the Erie Canal, served in the Navy for three years (seeing France, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy, Brazil and other countries), and upon returning home, found that his brother Sidney had joined The Church of Jesus Christ.  Ephraim himself was baptized in 1845.  He migrated with the Latter-day Saints to Nauvoo, Illinois, and then, when the Saints were driven out, headed west to Utah Territory with Brigham Young.  He was among those men, however, who separated from the group in order to answer the call to serve in the Mormon Battalion.  His service to the Martin Handcart Company was performed in 1856.  Hanks had four wives and 26 children. [1] [3] Elder Hanks became a patriarch in The Church of Jesus Christ.  A patriarch gives a once-in-a-lifetime blessing to worthy members that reveals to them their lineage in Israel and pronounces a prophetic blessing of guidance that is a beacon throughout their lives.  Ephraim Hanks, during his church service, worked on temples, developed land, founded colonies, dealt with Indians, and all things he was requested to do by the prophets and the Lord.  He died on June 9, 1896.

In the fall of 1856, I spent considerable of my time fishing in Utah Lake; and in traveling backward and forward between that lake and Salt Lake City, I had occasion to stop once over night with Gurnsey Brown, in Draper, about nineteen miles south of Salt Lake City. Being somewhat fatigued after the day’s journey, I retired to rest quite early, and while I still lay wide awake in my bed I heard a voice calling me by name, and then saying: `The handcart people are in trouble and you are wanted; will you go and help them?

I turned instinctively in the direction from whence the voice came and beheld an ordinary sized man in the room. Without hesitation I answered `Yes, I will go if I am called.’

I then turned around to go to sleep, but had laid only a few minutes when the voice called a second time, repeating almost the same words as on the first occasion. My answer was the same as before. This was repeated a third time.

When I got up the next morning I said to Brother Brown, `The handcart people are in trouble, and I have promised to go out and help them;’ but I did not tell him of my experiences during the night.

I now hastened to Salt Lake City, and arrived there on the Saturday, preceding the Sunday on which the call was made for volunteers to go out and help the last handcart companies in. When some of the brethren responded by explaining that they could get ready to start in a few days; I spoke out at once saying, `I am ready now!’ The next day I was wending my way eastward over the mountains with a light wagon all alone.

The terrific storm which caused the immigrants so much suffering and loss overtook me near the South Pass, where I stopped about three days with Reddick N. Allred, who had come out with provisions for the immigrants. The storm during these three days was simply awful. In all my travels in the Rocky Mountains both before and afterwards, I have seen no worse. When at length the snow ceased falling, it lay on the ground so deep that for many days it was impossible to move wagons through it.

Being deeply concerned about the possible fate of the immigrants, and feeling anxious to learn of their condition, I determined to start out on horseback to meet them; and for this purpose I secured a pack-saddle and two animals (one to ride and one to pack), from Brother Allred, and began to make my way slowly through the snow alone. After traveling for some time I met Joseph A. Young and one of the Garr boys, two of the relief company which had been sent from Salt Lake City to help the companies. They had met the immigrants and were now returning with important dispatches from the camps to the headquarters of the Church, reporting the awful condition of the companies.

In the meantime I continued my lonely journey, and the night after meeting Elders Young and Garr, I camped in the snow in the mountains. As I was preparing to make a bed in the snow with the few articles that my pack animal carried for me, I thought how comfortable buffalo robe would be on such an occasion, and also how I could relish a little buffalo meat for supper, and before lying down for the night I was instinctively led to ask the Lord to send me a buffalo.

Now, I am a firm believer in the efficacy of prayer, for I have on many different occasions asked the Lord for blessings, which He in His mercy has bestowed on me. But when I, after praying as I did on that lonely night in the South Pass, looked around me and spied a buffalo bull within fifty yards of my camp, my surprise was complete; I had certainly not expected so immediate an answer to my prayer. However, I soon collected myself and was not at a loss to know what to do.

Taking deliberate aim at the animal, my first shot brought him down; he made a few jumps only, and then rolled down into the very hollow where I was encamped. I was soon busily engaged skinning my game, finishing which, I spread the hide on the snow and placed my bed upon it. I next prepared supper, eating tongue and other choice parts of the animal I had killed, to my heart’s content. After this I enjoyed a refreshing night’s sleep, while my horses were browsing on the sage brush.

Early the next morning I was on my way again, and soon reached what is known as the Ice Springs Bench. There I happened upon a heard of buffalo, and killed a nice cow. I was impressed to do this, although I did not know why until a few hours later, but the thought occurred to my mind that the hand of the Lord was in it, as it was a rare thing to find buffalo herds around that place at this late part of the season. I skinned and dressed the cow; then cut up part of its meat in long strips and loaded my horses with it. Thereupon I resumed my journey, and traveled on till towards evening.

I think the sun was about an hour high in the west when I spied something in the distance that looked like a black streak in the snow. As I got near to it, I perceived it moved, then I was satisfied that this was the long looked for handcart company, led by Captain Edward Martin. I reached the ill-fated train just as the immigrants were camping for the night. The sight that met my gaze as I entered their camp can never be erased from my memory. The starved forms and haggard countenances of the poor suffers, as they moved about slowly, shivering with cold, to prepare their scanty evening meal was enough to touch the stoutest heart.

When they saw me coming, they hailed me with joy inexpressible, and when they further beheld the supply of fresh meat I brought into camp, their gratitude knew no bounds. Flocking around me, one would say, `Oh, please, give me a small piece of meat;’ another would exclaim, `My poor children are starving, do give me a little;’ and children with tears in their eyes would call out, `Give me some, give me some.’ At first I tried to wait on them and handed out the meat as they called for it; but finally I told them to help themselves. Five minutes later both my horses had been released of their extra burden-the meat was all gone, and the next few hours found the people in the camp busily engaged in cooking and eating it, with thankful hearts.

A prophecy had been made by one of the brethren that the company should feast on buffalo meat when their provisions might run short; my arrive in their camp, loaded with meat, was the beginning of the fulfillment of that prediction; but only the beginning, as I afterwards shot and killed a number of buffalo for them as we journeyed along.

When I saw the terrible condition of the immigrants on first entering their camp, my heart almost melted within me. I rose up in my saddle and tried to speak cheering and comforting words to them. I told them also that they should all have the privilege to ride into Salt Lake City, as more teams were coming.

After dark, on the evening of my arrival in the handcart camp, a woman crying aloud pass the camp fire where I was sitting. Wondering what was the matter, my natural impulse led me to follow her. She went straight to Daniel Tyler’s wagon, where she told the heart-rending story of her husband being at the point of death, and in pleading tones she asked Elder Tyler to come and administer to him. This good brother, tired and weary as he was after pulling handcarts all day, had just retired for the night, and was a little reluctant in getting up; but on this earnest solicitation he soon arose, and we both followed the woman to the tent, in which we found the apparently lifeless form of her husband.

On seeing him, Elder Tyler remarked, `I cannot administer to a dead man.’ Brother Tyler requested me to stay and lay out the supposed dead brother, while he returned to his wagon to seek that rest which he needed so much. I immediately stepped back to the camp fire where several of the brethren were sitting and addressing myself to Elders Grant, Kimball and one or two others, I said: `Will you boys do just as I tell you?’ The answer was in the affirmative.
We then went to work and built a fire near the tent which I and Elder Tyler had just visited; next we warmed some water and washed the dying man, whose name was Blair, from head to foot. I then anointed him with consecrated oil over his whole body, after which we laid hands on him and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to breathe and live. The effect was instantaneous. The man who was dead to all appearances immediately began to breathe, sat up in his bed and commenced to sang a hymn. His wife, unable to control her feelings of joy and thankfulness, ran through the camp exclaiming: `My husband was dead, but is now alive. Praised be the name of God. The man who brought the buffalo meat has healed him.’

This circumstance caused a general excitement in the whole camp, and many of the drooping spirits began to take fresh courage from that very hour. After this the greater portion of my time was devoted to waiting on the sick.

`Come to me,’ `help me,’ `please administer to my sick wife,’ or `my dying child,’ were some of the requests that were made of me almost hourly for some time after I had joined the immigrants, and I spent days going from tent to tent administering to the sick.

Truly the Lord was with me and others of his servants who labored faithfully together with me in that day of trial and suffering. The result of this our labor of love certainly redounded to the honor and glory of a kind and merciful God. In scores of instances when we administered to the sick, and rebuked the diseases in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sufferers would rally at once; they were healed almost instantly. I believe I administered to several hundreds in a single day; and I could give names of many whose lives were saved by the power of God. But I will only give the details in one more instance.

One evening after having gone as far as Fort Bridger I was requested by a sister to come and administer to her son, whose name was Thomas. He was very sick, indeed, and his friends expected he would die that night. When I came to the place where he lay he was moaning pitifully, and was almost too weak to turn around in his bed. I felt the power of God resting upon me, and addressing the young man, said, `Will you believe the words I tell you?’ His response was `Yes.’ I then administered to him, and he was immediately healed. He got up, dressed himself, and danced a hornpipe on the end-board of a wagon, which I procured for that purpose.

But notwithstanding these manifestations of the Lord’s goodness, any of the immigrants whose extremities were frozen, lost their limbs, either whole or in part. Many such I washed with water and castile soap, until the frozen parts would fall off, after which I would sever the shreds of flesh from the remaining portions of the limbs with my scissors. Some of the emigrants lost toes, others fingers, and again others whole hands and feet; one woman who now resides in Koosharem, Piute Co., Utah, lost both her legs below the knees and quite a number who survived became cripples for life.

But so far as I remember there were no fresh cases of frozen limbs after my arrival in camp. As the train moved forward in the day time I would generally leave the road in search of game; and on these expeditions killed and dressed a number of buffaloes, distributing their meat among the people. On one occasion when I was lagging behind with a killed buffalo, an English girl by the name of Griffin gave out completely, and not being able to walk any further, she lay down her head in the snow. When I saw her disabled condition I lifted her on my saddle, the horse being loaded with buffalo meat, and in this condition she road into camp.

Soon more relief companies were met and as fast as the baggage was transferred into the wagons, the handcarts were abandoned one after another, until none were left.
I remained with the immigrants until the last of Captain Martin’s company arrived in Salt Lake City on the thirtieth day of November, 1856.

I have but a very little to say about the sufferings of Captain Martin’s company before I joined it; but it had passed through terrible ordeals. Women and the larger children helped the men to pull the handcarts, and in crossing the frozen streams, they had to break the ice with their feet. In fording the Platte River, the largest stream they had to cross after the cold weather set in, the clothes of the immigrants were frozen stiff around their bodies before they could exchange them for others. This is supposed to have been the cause of the many deaths which occurred soon afterwards. It has been stated on good authority that nineteen immigrants died one night.

The survivors who performed the last acts of kindness to those who perished, were not strong enough to dig the graves of sufficient depth to preserve the bodies from the wild beasts, and wolves were actually seen tearing open the graves before the company was out of sight. Many of the survivors, in witnessing the terrible afflictions and losses, became at last almost stupefied or mentally dazed, and did not seem to realize the terrible condition they were in. The suffering from the lack of sufficient food also told on the people. When the first relief teams met the immigrants, there was only one day’s quarter rations left in camp.  [2]

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

Folk medicine was popular and oft-relied-upon in the northeastern United States, where the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ took root.   When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, then, it must have piqued his interest when he came to the following verse:

And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land – but not so much with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate.“ (Alma 46:40)

Years after its publication in 1822, Joseph Smith became aware of the “New Guide to Health; or Botanic Family Physician,” by Samuel Thompson.  Joseph “became a great advocate for the Thompson Botanical Cure, later saying that he was “as much inspired to bring forth his principle of practice according to the dignity and importance of it as I was to introduce the Gospel” (“Journal of Priddy Meeks,” Utah Historical Quarterly 10:199). [1]

The Prophet received by revelation Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a health law for the “weakest of the weak.”  It proscribed the use of alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco and recommended good dietary habits.  It also mentioned herbs for healing in addition to the healing power of prayer and priesthood blessings:

“And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy”  (D&C 42:43).

Faith and Science

In 1843 in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph was taken ill and was tended to by Dr. Levi Richards, the brother of Willard Richards, Nauvoo’s primary botanical physician and a convert from Massachusetts. [2]  “Willard had been trained in the Thomsonian Botanical Method from Samuel Thomson himself.  They and their third brother Phineas, another botanical physician, treated their patients with ‘warm medicines’ of which cayenne and lobelia were two principal ingredients…. Willard became the primary botanical physician in Nauvoo, while Levi served as the surgeon general of the Nauvoo Legion, and was the personal physician to the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum.”  [2]

Joseph Smith established a board of health in Nauvoo.  He wanted only those truly educated in the use of herbs and medicinal treatments of the time to be allowed to use them.  Having established the “Relief Society,” the womanhood organization founded by the principles of the Priesthood, Joseph wanted the sisters to be accomplished enough to administer to the sick.  Joseph personally set apart in a spiritual ordination, women to serve as midwives and nurses.

Patty Sessions was one of these.  She became one of Utah’s foremost early midwives. “Her medical reports were very objective, but her personal journals revealed her deep testimony of the restored gospel, and the inseparable nature of practicing medicine while serving God under the mantle of the Priesthood.” [2]

Although healing by faith and the power of the priesthood was of high importance among the Latter-day Saints, and some people felt that all illness came from the Adversary, Joseph said the following:

“It is not lawful to teach the Church that all disease is of the Devil. But if there is any that has this faith, let him have it to himself. If there are any that believe that roots and herbs administered to the sick and all wholesome vegetables which God has ordained for the use of man, and if any say that such things applied to the sick in order that they may receive health, and this applied by any member of the Church … if there are any among you that teach that these things are of Satan, such teaching is not of God.” (L.D.S. Church Historian’s Office, entry for August 31, 1834). [2]

Miraculous healings were common among the early Latter-day Saints, and they continue to be, but Mormons also believe in science, and as science progresses, it draws closer to the eternal truths already possible to access through spiritual means.

Botanical Medicine Continued Under Prophet Brigham Young

Brigham Young continued to rely on herbs and mild food in times of illness.  He sent letters to the Mormon Battalion recommending the same.  The U.S. Government had assigned a doctor to the Battalion who hated Mormons, a Doctor Sanderson.  Prophet Brigham Young assigned an “Assistant Surgeon” from Mormon ranks, William L. McIntyre, a botanical surgeon, who also valued herbal medicine.  The men of the Battalion loved and respected him.

A doctor from Illinois wrote to Brigham Young asking to bring a large group of neighbors to Utah as converts.  Prophet Young replied that there was very little need for doctors in Utah. (See “Medicine and the Mormons,” by Robert T. Divett, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, Vol. 31, No 1, Jan. 1936.)

In Salt Lake City, a “Council of Health” was established, headed by Willard Richards.  The council visited Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake to gather saline plants and roots for herbal medicine.  The council was active in discussing medical techniques using herbs in the region.

Said Brigham Young,

“It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of my body … it is my duty to do, when I have it in my power.  Many people are unwilling to do one thing for themselves in the case of sickness, but ask God to do it all.”

Brigham lived during a time of great forward leaps in medicine, including modern nursing, Pasteur’s discoveries of bacteria, and the use of ether as anesthesia.  In 1869 instead of commenting that the Mormons relied too much upon the Lord, he commented that the Saints relied too much upon modern medicine.  It must be acknowledged that the Relief Society, the women’s organization of the Church, had been very pro-active in training women as nurses and midwives and in establishing good medical care among the Saints.  The practice of plural marriage actually liberated women to go east for medical schooling because they had other women to care for their children at home.  Brigham Young called a number of men and women in the Church to go east for medical education.

In 1872, the year he sent a nephew off to medical school, he said,

Would you want doctors?  Yes, to set bones.  We would want a good surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb.  Do you want doctors?  For not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the traditions of the people lead them to think so, and here is a GROWING EVIL IN OUR MIDST.  … Now the cry is “Send for a doctor.’  If you have a pain in the head, ‘Send for a doctor, if you feel aches, “I want a doctor’ …

Herbalist John Heinerman observed:

“First of all, he believed in doctors, but only to the extent of fractures, sprains and such, with a surgeon necessary for amputation when they may occur … the real reason is because a good majority of the Mormon people wanted these services for themselves in the territory.”

And rather than suffer to see some corrupt Gentile practitioners come in and work their stuff upon the members of the Church, he felt that if they had to have doctors, they might as well have those of their own faith treat them.  The territory had already been “blessed” with a few of those kind of the world, and he did not want any more if he could help it.  (Joseph Smith and Herbal Medicine, page 93).

However, at his own death on August 29, 1877 he was attended by three prominent medical doctors, his nephew Doctor Seymour B. Young and and Doctors Joseph and Denton Benedict.  They were able to administer morphine to ease his terrible pain from inflammation of the bowels and what is believed to be his cause of death, peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. [1]

The first hospital in Salt Lake City was dedicated 25 years after Brigham Young’s death.  In 1905 the Deseret News reported the following:

“Remedies are provided by the Great Physician or by Nature as some prefer to view them and we should not close our eyes to their virtues, nor ignore the skill and learning of the trained doctor.  It gives evidences that “Mormon” enterprise is abreast of the times and that L.D.S. are ready to avail themselves of scientific knowledge and progress, and are not slow to move with the movement of modern thought and learning.”

Additional Resource:

Mormons and Science

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

Mormons tend to be overwhelmingly conservative politically, with most modern Mormons being Republicans.  This is the opposite of the early days of Mormonism in Utah, wherein the Democratic Party was more sympathetic to the values of family life and freedom important to Mormons.

Mormonism has been in the spotlight recently because of the U.S. presidential election of 2012.  Every day there is an article on Mormons or Mormonism in the press.  Governor Mitt Romney is the Republican candidate for president, and he has been a Mormon bishop (like a pastor) and stake president (overseeing a number of Mormon congregations).  For all intents and purposes, this means he has been a religious servant and leader as well as a prominent and successful businessman and politician.

Since Mormonism has been under the microscope with Romney’s candidacy, it has been maligned as well as clumsily explained.  Rarely does one see an article that gets it right.  However, as the campaigning has worn on, and we have gotten close to the actual election, things have gotten better.

The tenets of Mormonism are those of ancient Christianity, many of whose tenets have been lost, corrupted, or forgotten.  Mormonism would not seem at all strange to any Christian had not Christianity fallen away from the original patterns and organization of Christ’s original church.  Mormonism is the restoration of the primitive Christian church  with the authority to act in God’s name and the power to do so restored under the guidance of Jesus Christ Himself through heavenly messengers.  When things are done right, heaven and earth are closely connected, and communication between them is common.

There are somewhere around 30,000 various Christian sects, and this is an indication of confusion and fractiousness in Christianity.  God’s doctrine is found in only one church.  If there is a real, and approved, Church of Jesus Christ, then there can be only one, and the others hold only partial truth.  If God gives His power and authority to a church, then all the others have not that authority nor that power.  He has done so, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s church, and the only one with power, authority, and the doctrines of the kingdom.

Because of the presidential election, Mitt Romney has been eyed as the example of the Mormon religion.  However, he is not entirely representative of the LDS Church.  Mormonism is a global faith, and there are more Mormons outside the United States than in it.  Although Mormons stand out for their morality, clean-cut lifestyle, devotion, and happiness, many are poor, helped along by the vast, elegantly organized welfare program of the LDS Church.  Education is important to Mormons, and the Perpetual Education Fund, sponsored by the donations of Mormons, helps poor members gain an education.

Mormons do however, lead an abundant life.  The paying of tithing — one tenth of one’s income to the Lord — actually adds to the feeling and actual existence of abundance for Latter-day Saints.

Latter-day Saints, believing that the American nation is a covenant nation and should be beholding to God, have always been active in public affairs.  If Mitt Romney should win the US presidential election, he will join a plethora of Latter-day Saints already actively engaged in good causes in Washington, D.C.    Others who have made their mark there include Reed Smoot,  Bob Bennett, Ezra Taft Benson, Larry Echo Hawk, Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch, Michael O. Leavitt, and J. Reuben Clark.

Political Neutrality of the LDS Church

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio. This was the first temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often called Mormons.

This temple was built for a somewhat different purpose than modern Mormon temples. It was a place where heavenly beings could come to restore important parts of the gospel that were lost during the apostasy which followed the death of Jesus and His apostles. It was also a place where Mormons, even children, could come to receive an education in both secular and spiritual matters. Many of the early Mormons were uneducated and many were immigrants. The academic classes were not just for children; adults were free to attend them as well, allowing them to make up for a lifetime of poverty or lack of education.

Joseph Smith, the first prophet and president of the restored Mormon Church, took classes there himself. He had only three years of formal education, supplemented by a little education at home from his father, and worked hard all his adult life to make up for that lack of education. One class Joseph attended was a popular course in Hebrew, taught by a leading Jewish instructor named Joshua Seixas. The instructor said Joseph Smith worked harder than any other student and at the end of the course, he received not only a certificate of completion, but a certificate authorizing him to teach Hebrew. It was through this Hebrew class that Lorenzo Snow, a future Mormon prophet, would become interested in joining the Church. His sister, a Mormon, invited him to attend it, giving him an opportunity to meet Joseph Smith and other leaders.

Today’s temples are not open to the public and are used to carry out sacred ordinances, such as marriage and baptism for the dead. Baptism for the dead is an ordinance done vicariously through a living person in the name of someone who died without receiving the ordinances necessary for salvation. For instance, the Bible says we must be baptized in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but many people die never having been baptized or without even knowing they needed to be baptized. A loving and fair God does not punish people for things beyond their control and so he has created a way for them to receive the ordinance. This baptism does not automatically make the person a Mormon—each person will be given the opportunity to accept or reject the ordinance, just as he would have during his lifetime if he’d had the opportunity.

The Kirtland temple is now owned by the Community of Christ, not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This group organized after the death of Joseph Smith as a splinter group from the main body of the Church. The apostles were to become the governing body at the death of a prophet, with the senior apostle becoming the new prophet. However, a number of groups organized around people who wanted a different plan. The Community of Christ, which was initially called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wanted the role of prophet to be handed from father to oldest son. However, Joseph’s oldest son was only eleven when Joseph was murdered by a lawless mob, and so the three men who proposed this plan intended to operate their church through a proxy group until he was old enough to do it himself. Joseph Smith III was initially unwilling to take on leadership, but eventually agreed to do so when he was an adult.

The Community of Christ has opened the temple to tours and, naturally, many of their visitors are Mormons. Our guide was very knowledgeable about Mormon history and, upon figuring out we were Mormons, he gave scripture references from the Doctrine and Covenants using our numbering system rather than the numbes from his church’s version. Both groups use this book of modern revelations, but they have removed some sections, and, of course, some occurred after they left the main body of the Church, so their book is not identical to ours.

I had some familiarity with this religion, so the night before the visit I first read the history of the temple and of Kirtland’s Mormon period on my own church’s website. Then I went to the Community of Christ website and to their temple website to read about it from their perspective. There were some differences, naturally, because history is not just facts and figures, but is also a narrative. Those who tell the story of history will tell the narrative based on their own values and ongoing storyline. For instance, the way I tell my life story is probably different than the way my mother would tell it, since she was seeing it from a mother’s perspective, not mine. The Civil War narrative will be told differently by a Southerner than by a Northerner and differently still by a soldier who was there than by a civilian who lived outside the war zones. In each case, the version might be accurate, even though it is different.

As both a Mormon and a history buff, I felt it important to understand the narrative in terms of the larger picture of my faith, but since my guide would be from the Community of Christ, I also wanted to understand it in the larger picture of his faith. It helped me to understand the ways our churches have moved in very different directions since parting ways. They have become largely an evangelical church while we have continued in the restorationist pattern. The guide put disclaimers before some historical accounts of miracles, saying there was no proof of whether or not they happened other than the personal accounts of witnesses, whereas we tend to accept these miraculous events without question.

Our guide was very kind and when I asked a few questions about his religion—with the sole intent of learning, not converting or debating—he answered them with the same spirit in which they were asked. I enjoyed learning more about his faith, as well as my own. It was fascinating to see our shared history through a new lens and I enjoyed the testimony we shared of Joseph Smith and many of the events our people shared, having been one unified people in those days. Today, the two churches have a good relationship, since each has some of the historical sites and documents of our shared history. We work together to preserve and study early Mormon history.

As I toured the temple and learned of the many sacrifices that went into building it and the miracles that occurred at the dedication, I could feel the Spirit testifying of the sacredness of the temple space. The current owners treat it with a great deal of loving respect for its sacredness and have done a lovely job of restoring it and protecting it.

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

I soon forgot all about the whole thing.  The next time, I heard about the Mormons as I remember it was while reading Mark-Twain’s book, “Roughing It”.  This was about 1930.  Up to this time I had been very little interested in religion.  Although I had been brought up in a home where I had been taught to pray and believe in a God.  But, in the years just before 1930 I had been almost an atheist at times.

I started farming in 1923 and was batching it alone most of the time.  In the winter of 1931 I read some books that made me very much interested in religion, in fact, by the end of that year I was firmly convinced of the Divinity of Christ and had experienced a true repentance.  But it seemed the more I studied the Bible and the more I listened to the different ministers the more confused I would get.  I could not accept the teachings of any church, for they seemed not to teach according to the Bible.

One day I met a Lutheran Minister at one of my neighbors.  We discussed religion for about 12 hours.  This was the first time I had ever really talked to a minister. I especially tackled him upon the subject of baptism, as it seemed to me the Bible taught baptism by immersion, plain enough for any one to understand.  He offered, at length to take me out and dip me in the farmer’s water tank, but by now, I had lost all confidence in him, as I had from childhood had the opinion that a minister was a wise person that could answer most any question regarding religion and I had found him, it seemed to me, very ignorant.  From that day the reverence I had had for ministers left me.

During the year 1930 and 1931 I studied religion very extensively and yet I had not found a church that seemed to teach according to the Bible.

In the spring of 1932 the idea came to me that perhaps if I studied the heathen religions perhaps I would find something that would be better than the teachings of some of the religions I had studied.  So with this in mind I went to the free library in Gettysburg, S.D. sometime in March 1932 and asked for the Koran.  The librarian told me they did not have the book but she would send to the state library and get it.  As I was about to leave the librarian said, “We still have a religious book you have not read, ‘The Book of Mormon!  A man here in town tried to read it, he found it so dull he went to sleep but perhaps you would like it”.  I said  “I have heard about the Mormons but their religion is of little importance I want to study the leading heathen religions first.”

As I was leaving the building the thought came to me that if I was to study all the heathen religions (I considered the Mormon a heathen religion) I would have to study Mormonism sooner or later, why not study it now while waiting for the Koran?  So, with this in mind I returned and told the librarian I wanted The Book of Mormon.  She told me I ought to read a book by the name of “Brigham Young” first, then it would be easier for me to understand “The Book of Mormon”.  So I told her to give me both.

As I read the book “Brigham Young”, it seemed to me the writer had the intention of speaking as much evil of the person as he could.  Many places I found where the writer contradicted previous made statements in the book.  This made me lose confidence in the truthfulness of his writings.

Having finished the book I started on the “Book of Mormon”, and naturally I felt I had started to read a book of fiction.  I had not read many pages before I discovered I had found a most remarkable book and the tears started to run down my cheeks and the most sweet spirit seemed to be present.  I may here mention that it was customary with me as I worked around the place that perhaps several times a day if the work was not rushing, I would run in the house and read for a while.  If I read fiction, I did not bother to take my cap off, but if I read the Bible, I would remove my cap, as I considered it a sacred book.  I had my cap on as I started to read the “Book of Mormon”, but before long I felt a man ought to read such a book with a bare head.

As I remember it I read the book in about three days and it seemed to have the sweetest spirit with it and as far as I could see the book could be true, but yet I had the feeling that by and by I would see where the book would contradict itself.  I thought the book so remarkable so I took it to a religious neighbor of mine and told him to read the book, but that I would have to return it to the library in three days.  I felt my neighbor would be very enthusiastic about the book, but when I returned in three days, I found him scoffing at the book, saying it was all made up with a lot of names borrowed from the Bible.  I returned the books to the library and all summer I often thought of the book and yet I could see nowhere the book contradicted itself nor the Bible.

That year (1932) my brother was working for me and one Saturday evening in the fall as he was preparing to go to Gettysburg, I told him to go up to the library and tell the librarian I wanted the Book of Mormon.  The next morning being Sunday morning, as I got up I saw the book lying on the kitchen table.  I started to read as soon as I had my stock fed and that night before I went to bed I had read the Book of Mormon through.  I was more impressed with the book than ever.  I read the book through once more before I returned it to the library in two weeks and by then I knew that it was true.

As I returned the book I told the librarian to write to the state library and tell them to send all the books they had on Mormonism.  The answer came back that they had no such books but they sent the address of the Deseret Bookstore in Salt Lake City and told me I could get some books there.  Consequently I wrote to the bookstore and told them to send me a price list on all the books that Joseph Smith wrote.  The answer came that Joseph Smith wrote no book only a pamphlet entitled “My Own Story” I could have for 10 cents.  They also sent me a book catalog on L. D. S. literature.  I immediately ordered a Book of Mormon and a book by the title of Latter-Day Revelation also Pearl of Great Price.  The books impressed me very much.  I could not see how books like the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price could exist without everyone talking about them.

In about two weeks I ordered “The Articles of Faith” by Talmage and the “Falling Away” by Roberts.  Up to this time I had been of the opinion that there was not a church upon the earth that did teach according to the Bible but after reading the “Articles of Faith” I felt that perhaps the Mormons did.

In the following months I sent for many L. D. S. Books and as I see it now I am sure I was inspired of the Lord to order the books I did.  Naturally after I had read some books I had numberless questions I would like to have had answered.  I must say that the Spirit of the Lord revealed many things to me which I in later study found substantiated by the authorities of the church.

By 1933 I had a testimony, yes I may say a burning testimony of the restored gospel and I taught it to my friends.  In July 1934 while reading the Argus-Leader I saw a notice in the paper that the new mission president would be in Sioux Falls and that a meeting would be held there, from where he would reside.  There was also a picture of the new mission president (I believe his name was Wilford Richard) the picture showed him wearing glasses and the thought came to me why does he not have some elders administer to him that his eye sight may be corrected.

I immediately wrote to the address where the meeting would be held stating I would like to be baptized.  The letter came back in a few days stating that there was no one living there.

The year 1934 was a crop failure and in September I hired a man to take care of my cattle for the winter and started out in my car alone for Salt Lake City to be baptized and stay there for the winter.  On the third day I arrived in Coleville, Utah, just inside the state line and as it was getting dark, I decided to stay there for the night and drive into Salt Lake the next morning.  Being I was in Utah, the thought naturally came to me that there ought to be some Mormons there, for up to this time I had knowingly never seen a Mormon.  So I went into a restaurant and ordered my supper and watched the people closely to see if I could pick out one that wall a Mormon.  I may say I felt I wanted to see a Mormon rather badly for in my heart there was a great love for the Saints.

After having eaten my supper I was still in a doubt if there had been a Mormon in there (in later years I have been informed that the populous in Coleville are nearly all Mormons) I went to a hotel to get me a room for the night and I felt that the manager there perhaps was a Mormon as he spoke very kindly to me, however I could not get up courage to ask him as I felt it would be a bad insult to him in case he was not.  But I was determined to see a Mormon before I went to bed that night as I drove up to a filling station to have my car filled up.  After getting my gas I sat down to talk to the man as there was no one else there.  After awhile he asked me where I was going, I said to see Salt Lake City.  I asked if he had ever been there.  He answered good many a time.  I said from what I have heard there are mostly Mormons, I have never seen a Mormon.  He said I am a Mormon.  I was rather surprised and I told him that I was going there to join the Mormon Church.  He said, that’s fine.  Then I started to ask him a lot of questions and I found to my disappointment he knew very little of the doctrine.  He said he had been ordained to a deacon years ago but hardly ever goes to church, but said he had a brother who was always studying the gospel.  He did not care to discuss Mormonism but invited me back in the fall and we would go deer hunting.  As I remember it he smoked a cigarette and I told him I thought the Mormons was not supposed to smoke, I had myself quit smoking while studying the gospel.

The next morning I drove in to Salt Lake City and the first thing I knew I was driving north on the west side of the temple block so I parked my car there and walked in through the West Gate (I had seen pictures of temple block in the books I had read) and this being Saturday they were baptizing in the baptistery under the tabernacle.  The first man I met was the door watch and he told me I could not come in there as they were baptizing. (The man later became a dear friend of mine. ) I told him I had come there to ask to join the Mormon Church.  He told me to go up and see the guide that was talking to a group of tourists in front of the museum.  I had a hard time to keep my emotions under control.  I was so happy to be there and the most wonderful spirit rested over me.

I followed the group of tourists until they were dismissed inside of the Bureau of Information then I stepped up to the guide and told him I wanted to join the Church.

He looked at me rather surprised and after talking to me for about half a minute he told me to go with him to see Brother Perry the Temple Block Mission President.  So I was introduced to him where I immediately stated my desires.  He looked at me rather sharply and said, where did you contact our missionaries?  I said I had never contacted one in fact I have never seen a Mormon until last night.  He said, What do you know about us and our doctrine?  I said ‘ I know it is the true church.  He said, How do you know?  I said, Through the books I have read, Then followed the questions.  Have you read that book?  That book?, etc.  I mentioned about 25 books I had read and I could see that he looked at the guide and marveled, He asked, do you know that you are supposed to pay tithes?  I said yes.  Then he called in several guides and I told them how I was converted while they asked questions.  I was under the impression that it was an every day happening that people came there and asked for baptism, However, I know different now.

After awhile Brother Perry said I could be baptized any time but being it was Saturday he asked it I would wait until Monday.  Then he took the guide I had contacted and said, Brother Christensen it will be your duty to find Brother Sandberg a good hotel and take him to one of the chapels in the morning.  I spent a delightful day on temple block listening to the guides explaining the Gospel to the tourists but under a great emotional stress, being so happy.  My guide took me to the twentieth ward chapel Sunday morning and being it was to be conference next week they had put the fast Sunday one week ahead so it was fast meeting I first attended and there I bore my testimony of the gospel in front of the whole congregation after which my guide told of my conversion, and how I rejoiced to hear the Saints bear their testimonies.  I knew then why I had a great love for the Saints in my heart.  I was at last among real brothers and sisters.  After the meeting it seemed that most everybody came and shook hands with me.

I was baptized the next Monday being the first of October 1934 and my guide asked if he could baptize me before a group of tourists and I said it would be all right with me.  The baptistery was almost full of tourists when I was baptized and after I came out of the water standing by the edge of the font I bore my testimony of the Gospel before the group of tourists.  President Perry told me to come back the next day and they would confirm me.

That night was one of the most miserable nights I spent in my life.  It seemed something told me to leave Salt Lake City immediately for if I did not have hands laid for the Holy Ghost I could not sin against the Holy Ghost.  As I remember it I did not sleep any all night and I suffered some awful mental agony being continuously urged to leave the city.  The next morning I went to the Bureau of Information on Temple Block and told President Perry how I had suffered all night and told him if he wanted to confirm me he better do it right away for I was not going to spend another night like it and may leave any time.  He listened to me very attentively and said, Why Brother Sandberg you have been tempted by the evil one all night.  I was confirmed that very hour and have never since been in that mental agony.  May be mentioned that during that night it never came to my mind once that I was tempted by an unclean spirit.

I stayed in Salt Lake City until the 14th of February next spring.  Working a few days in a packing plant but spent by far most of my time on temple block visiting with the guides and tourists and attending church Sundays.  Also attended night school.  I was ordained an Elder before I left Salt Lake City in the spring and needless to say I had gained a better understanding of the gospel and the Mormon People.

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

Charles Dickens changed his opinion of the Mormons, once he met them in person.  He visited a ship leaving England for America, full of Mormon emigrants leaving to gather with the Latter-day Saints.

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

Neil Linden Andersen

Brother Andersen was born in Logan, Utah, on 9 August 1951, and was raised in Pocatello, Idaho. As a young man, he served a mission in France. After his mission, he graduated from Brigham Young University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Brother Andersen then moved to Tampa, Florida, with his family. He lived and worked in Tampa, Florida, where he was the vice president of the Mortan Plant Health System. As far as church service, Andersen was member of a high council, counselor in a stake presidency, and a stake president in Tampa.

Between 1989 and 1992, Anderson was president of the France Bordeaux Mission. In 1993, he became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. As a general authority, he has been the executive director of the Church’s Audio-visual Department and assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department. He has also been in the presidencies of the Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and Europe West Areas of the Church. From 1997 to 2001, Andersen was a member of the general presidency of the church’s Sunday School.

In 2005, Andersen became a member of the seven-member Presidency of the Seventy. In this capacity, he has acted as president of the Idaho Area of the Church, where in 2006 he broke ground for the construction of the Twin Falls Idaho Temple. In 2007, Andersen was transferred to preside over the North America Southwest Area. In this capacity, he oversees the activities of the area seventies in this area.

Andersen married Kathy Sue Williams in 1975. The Andersens are the parents of four children.

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.