After the first group of Saints had managed to make it to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, Brigham Young returned to the Kanesville area with most of the other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 31, 1847. After much discussion, the members of the Quorum were inspired to reorganize the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. Brigham Young was set apart as the new president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Since the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, three years earlier, the Church had been successfully led by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostleswith no prophet at the head. They were able to accomplish a great deal by continuing to work together. They had completed the Nauvoo Temple before leaving Illinois, which meant that many Saints were able to receive their temple blessings before heading West. They had also led the evacuation of Nauvoo and had directed the building of the settlements in Iowa and Nebraska before finally settling in the Salt Lake Valley. Missionary work had successfully continued in Great Britain. However, the time had come for a prophet to again lead the Church, and when the Lord directed that the time was right, a new First Presidency was sustained with Brigham Young as the prophet and he called Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as his two counselors. More men were called to fill the vacancies left in the Quorum of the Twelve.

An official Church gathering was planned to have the members of the Church sustain their new leaders on December 27, 1847. A tabernacle was built in less than three weeks in Kanesville for this purpose. Henry W. Miller directed 200 men in the construction of the 60′ x 40′ building. It was built to accommodate about 1,000 people and was later used for many public functions. However, the sustaining of the new prophet was the most important event to take place there and was an extremely significant one in the history of the Mormon Church.

The original Kanesville Tabernacle stood for only two years. It was made of Green Cottonwood, which shrinks when it dries. The shrinking caused the roof to actually separate from the walls of the building by about fourteen inches. In addition, when the tabernacle was built, the ground was frozen. However, when spring came and the ground thawed, it was discovered that the tabernacle had been built on top of a spring. The building rapidly deteriorated and was eventually dismantled. A replica was built in 1996 very close to the original site (though not on top of the spring). Those in charge of the replication wanted the building to be as accurate as possible, so they even built it out of Green Cottonwood. Accounting for the shrinkage of the wood, they put in a jack system to lower the roof onto the walls after the wood had dried. The Kanesville Tabernacle stands as a reminder of the importance of recognizing the prophet and leader of the Lord’s church on the earth today.

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.