In 1856, the first companies of handcart pioneers were organized and commenced their journey to Zion.  For many of these pioneers, their journey to Zion started by sailing from England to America in the spring and making their way by train and boat in early summer from New York to Iowa.  In Iowa, they constructed their handcarts out of local wood, and gathered up the supplies for their 1300-mile march to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

In all, five handcart companies were organized for the 1856 emigration year.  Three of these left during the month of June, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in late September and early October.  Upon their arrival, President Brigham Young and his two counselors in the First Presidency, along with many other Latter-day Saints, welcomed the handcart pioneers. 

 

One eye-witness of the first company’s arrival wrote: “When they entered the City the folks came running from every quarter to get a glimpse of the long looked-for handcarts . . . I shall never forget the feeling that ran through my whole system as I caught the first sight of them.  The first handcart was drawn by a man and his wife.  They had a little flag on it, on which were the words, ‘Our president, may the unity of the Saints ever show the wisdom of his counsels.’  The next handcart was drawn by three young women . . . The tears ran down the cheeks of many a man who you would have thought would not, could not, shed a tear.”

 

Shortly after the arrival of the third handcart company, President Brigham Young learned to his surprise -- and great concern -- that there were two more handcart companies making their way to the valley.  Due to communication limitations, Church leaders in Salt Lake City had expected only three handcart companies that year and were not expecting two more, particularly that late in the year.  The report President Young received suggested that the two additional companies – the Willie and Martin Companies – had left Iowa City on July 15 and July 28, respectively, and were still hundreds of miles away.  It was early October and weather was still relatively good, but President Young had prophetic impressions of what would befall the Willie and Martin Companies in the near future. 

 

On October 5, 1856, President Young took to the pulpit in the Tabernacle and addressed the people.  It was General Conference.  Said he:  “Many of our brethren and sisters are on the plains with handcarts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them . . . . I shall call upon the Bishops this day.  I shall not wait until tomorrow, nor until the next day, for 60 good mule teams and 12 or 15 wagons.  I do not want to send oxen.  I want good horses and mules.  They are in this Territory, and we must have them.  Also 2 tons of flour and 40 good teamsters, besides those that drive the teams . . .  First, 40 good young men who know how to drive teams, to take charge of the teams that are now managed by men, women, and children who know nothing about driving them.  Second, 60 or 65 good spans of mules, or horses, with harness, whipple trees, neck-yokes, stretchers, lead chains, etc.  And thirdly, 24 thousand pounds of flour, which we have on hand . . . I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you.  Go and bring in those people now on the plains.  And attend strictly to those things which we call temporal, or temporal duties.  Otherwise, your faith will be in vain.  The preaching you have heard will be in vain to you, and you will sink to Hell, unless you attend to the things we tell you” (emphasis added).

 

Much has been written and spoken about the terrible winter storms that fell upon the Willie and Martin handcart companies and about the horrible suffering and death they endured in finally making their way to the Salt Lake Valley.  And much has been written and spoken about the heroic rescue that was effectuated by those who responded to President Young’s call to rescue their fellow brothers and sisters.  While it took some time for the rescue parties organized by President Young to reach the beleaguered Willie and Martin handcart companies, had Brigham Young not issued his clarion call for the Saints to rise to the rescue when he did, it is likely that the Willie and Martin handcart companies would have been completely lost.

 

In our day, President Thomas S. Monson has issued a clarion call to all Latter-day Saints, similar to the call made by President Brigham Young.  President Monson’s call is for us to reach out to the many around us who are suffering both temporally and spiritually and to rescue someone.  “Who have you rescued recently?” he has asked.  All of us need to consider that question very deeply.  All around us are the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, and the lonely and the abandoned.  They need rescuing.  All around us are the wandering and the bewildered, the estranged and the disaffected, the weary and the faint.  They need rescuing. 

President Monson, with prophetic insight, can see the storms that lie ahead for all of us and is urging us to send relief to the many who are susceptible to being overcome.  Our rescue efforts may include individual-initiated caring for a lonely widow, befriending an unguided youth, or forgiving and embracing a disaffected family member.  But such individual efforts should supplement ongoing collective efforts in priesthood quorums and auxiliaries, and in our stake and ward councils, to bring the many in our midst who do not enjoy the safety of latter-day Zion.  We need to “go and bring in those people now” by lovingly inviting them to receive the saving ordinances and covenants of the restored gospel – baptism, ordination, endowment, sealing, and sacrament.

May it be said of us, as it will be said of the heroic rescuers of 1856, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me . . .Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:36-40).