Bread of Life Devotional
to be given sometime during Day 1
(either before leaving Sage Creek Campground, during lunch or after arriving in Rock Creek Hollow)
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Scriptures:
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on
me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Symbol:
4 ounce bag of flour (daily ration of handcart pioneers toward end of journey, provided by the Stake and symbolic of
all the deprivations and hardships faced by the handcart pioneers). Four ounces of flour is roughly equal to ¾ cup
and contains 330 calories.
Song:
Come, Follow Me (Hymns 116) or Faith in Every Footstep, included in Trek Journal
Summary:
The handcart pioneers faced tremendous difficulties. The winter storms were not turned aside, family members froze
and some died, and carts broke down. And except for a few miraculous occurrences of food being provided before
the rescuers arrived, most of these stalwart saints confronted these trials subsisting on just a few ounces of flour per
day.
What gave them the strength to carry on? Where did they turn for peace and comfort in their hour of need? What
was it that allowed them to keep going, day after weary day?
Points of
Discussion:
Handcart
Experiences:
It was their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, that carried them through. And it is our faith in His same
enabling and redeeming power that will sustain us in our hour of need.
What sacrifices do we make for obedience to the Gospel?
Are our choices governed by covenants or convenience?
By putting our trust and faith in the Bread of Life we will be filled with strength to endure our day-to-day struggles.
Our spiritual hunger in life is satisfied by turning to the Savior, the Bread of Life.
Mary Jarvis Crossley (Martin): Rations for each day had been cut to four ounces of flour per person per day, with no
salt, no sugar, no meat. Joseph Crossley became very ill. His brothers and sisters gave him some of their own scant
clothing because he was so cold. In the morning, they found him frozen in his bed. At this point, Sarah (Mary’s
daughter) hoped that the commissioner of provisions would not discover Joseph’s death until after they had received
his scant ration of flour. However, when the rations were measured out and Joseph’s name came up, the
commissioner said, “Oh, Joseph died last night, didn’t he? Well, that will be one spoonful less.” Joseph was left by
the roadside with four others who had died during the night. The ground was too frozen to bury them. They were
wrapped in a blanket and laid by the side of the road. (Tell My Story, Too)
Patience Loader (Martin): We … did not have only the half of a small biscuit as we only was having four oz. of flour
a day. This we divided into portions so we could have a small piece three times a day. This we eat with thankful
hearts and we always ask God to bless to our use and that it would strengthen our bodies day by day so that we
could perform our duties. And I can testify that our Heavenly Father heard and answered our prayers and we was
blessed with health and strength day by day to endure the severe trials we had to pass through on that terrible
journey before we got to Salt Lake City. We know that if God had not been with us that our strength and faith would
have failed us…. I can say we put our trust in God and he heard and answered our prayers and brought us through
to the valleys. (Tell My Story, Too)
Susanna Stone (Willie): We traveled on, feeling that the Lord would protect his Saints, and so he did. Although we
passed through many trying scenes, his protecting care was over us…. It was hard to endure, but the Lord gave us
strength and courage…. My frosted feet gave me considerable trouble for many years, but this was forgotten in the
contemplation of the great blessings the gospel had brought to me and mine.
Elizabeth Jackson (Martin): It was so cold that some of the company came near freezing to death. The sufferings of
the people were fearful, and nothing but the power of a merciful God kept them from perishing… I [appealed] to the
Lord … he who had promised to be a husband to the widow, and a father to the fatherless. I appealed to him and he
came to my aid…. I believe the Recording Angel has inscribed in the archives above, and that my suffering for the
Gospel’s sake will be sanctified unto me for my good.
Emily Hill (Willie): I do not doubt that all my troubles have been for my good.
Betsey Smith (Willie): I will not dwell upon the hardships we endured, nor the hunger and cold, but I like to tell of the
goodness of God unto us.
John Linford (Willie): [to his wife just before he died on the trail] I am glad we came. I shall not live to reach Salt
Lake, but you and the boys will, and I do not regret all we have gone through if our boys can grow up and raise their
families in Zion.
William Jones (Hodgett): [to his family just before he died on the trail] I have pointed you Zion-ward, and I want you
never to turn back. God is in his heaven, and all is right with us whether we are in this earth or out of it. God will be
with you. If you stumble and fall back, pick yourselves up and go on again.
Millen Atwood (Willie): I have walked day by day [beside] the handcarts as they were rolling, and when the people
would get weary, I have seen them by dozens on their knees by the roadside crying to the Lord for strength…. They
were filled with the Holy Spirit, and it seemed as though angels nerved them with strength.
Additional
Resources:
Francis Webster (Martin): We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation,
but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? [We] came through] that experience with
the absolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!
I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put
one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go
only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I
reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes
saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.
Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we
paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the
Martin Handcart Company.
“He Hath Filled the Hungry with Good Things” by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign Nov. 1997
To those who may feel they have somehow forfeited their place at the table of the Lord, we say again with the
Prophet Joseph Smith that God has “a forgiving disposition,” that Christ is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, [is]
long-suffering and full of goodness.”…Everything in the gospel teaches us that we can change if we need to, that we
can be helped if we truly want it, that we can be made whole, whatever the problems of the past.
Now, if you feel too spiritually maimed to come to the feast, please realize that the Church is not a monastery for
perfect people, though all of us ought to be on the road to godliness. No, at least one aspect of the Church is more
like a hospital or an aid station, provided for those who are ill and want to get well, where one can get an infusion of
spiritual nutrition and a supply of sustaining water in order to keep climbing.
In spite of life’s tribulations and as fearful as some of our prospects are, I testify that there is help for the journey.
There is the Bread of Eternal Life and the Well of Living Water. Christ has overcome the world—our world—and His
gift to us is peace now and exaltation in the world to come. Our fundamental requirement is to have faith in Him and
follow Him—always. When He bids us to walk in His way and by His light, it is because He has walked this way
before us, and He has made it safe for our own travel here. He knows where the sharp stones and stumbling blocks
lie hidden and where thorns and thistles are the most severe. He knows where the path is perilous, and He knows
which way to go when the road forks and nightfall comes. He knows all this, as Alma says in the Book of Mormon,
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because He has suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind…that he may know how to succor his
people according to their infirmities. To succor means to “run to.” I testify that in my fears and in my infirmities the
Savior has surely run to me. I will never be able to thank Him enough for such personal kindness and such loving
care.
President George Q. Cannon said once: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the
affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is [against] His character
[to do so]. He is an unchangeable being…. He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may
pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials
and difficulties the better and the purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.” …
I pray this morning that all who are hungering and thirsting, and sometimes wandering, will hear this invitation
from Him who is the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Living Water, the Good Shepherd of us all, the Son of God.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, …and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Truly He does fill
“the hungry with good things” …. Come, and feast at the table of the Lord in what I testify to be His true and living
Church, led by a true and living prophet…in the sacred and holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
“A Trail of Tears, A Trail of Hope,” from The Price We Paid, pp.470-479
By any temporal measure, the Willie and Martin handcart tragedy exacted a mighty price. Some 200 people
paid with their lives. Many who survived suffered amputations and other physical traumas that troubled them the rest
of their lives. Many families paid the price of broken hearts and broken dreams. The price for many women was
widowhood at an early age. The price for too many children was losing both of their parents.
Without minimizing these costs, it is important to examine the other side of the ledger. Besides being a costly
tragedy, the Willie and Martin handcart experience was full of triumph. One of the greatest triumphs was the number
who survived. Through one of the most heroic rescues ever undertaken, some 800 of the nearly 1,000 people who
left Florence with these companies made it to the Salt Lake Valley.
Even among those who died, there was a kind of triumph. Most who paid with their lives “lay down with their
faces Zion-ward in full faith and fellowship.” Speaking of them, one leader of the Martin Company said, “God alone is
worthy of them.” From an eternal perspective, the price they paid was not in vain. Even from a mortal perspective, the
price they paid often bore dividends to generations of their posterity.
Another triumph was the response of these Saints to their trials. The desperate scramble for survival could have
brought out the worst in them …[but] most members of these handcart companies bore their trials with dignity and
faith.
Despite the high physical cost of this tragedy, another triumph was a compensating spiritual power that most of
these people developed. It was a power that sustained them through every imaginable adversity that was yet to come
in their lives. One of the most remarkable aspects of this power is the almost universal refusal of these pioneers to
blame or find fault with their leaders for the tragedy.
President James E. Faust has not hesitated to ask the hard questions about this handcart experience. “Why
were not the elements tempered to spare them from their profound agony?” he asked. The storms met them head-on
instead of going to the right or left, as promised. There was no figurative parting of the Red Sea, as promised.
Nevertheless, this is a story of countless miracles and divine interventions.
[What are these miracles?]
Brigham Young’s prophetic foresight in the rescue … a full two weeks before the first winter storm…. A
delay of a few days [in the call for rescuers] could have resulted in the deaths of nearly everyone.
[T]he strength they drew from God in their darkest hour. Many felt that the sustaining power of God was a
real force in their survival when all physical indicators say they should have died. … By choosing to see with an eye
of faith, [these pioneers] felt the sustaining hand of God even at [their] lowest point, even when it might have been
easier to feel forsaken.
[T]he rescue itself. In addition to the many individual miracles associated with the rescue, there seems to be a
larger miracle in its timing…. The express members of the first rescue team met the Willie company almost as soon
as the first storm began and just hours after company leaders had issued the last ration of flour. The main body of
the first rescue team met the Willie company…just in time for the ascent of Rocky Ridge. The express rescuers met
the Martin Company … when they were down to four-ounce-a-day rations, immobilized by weakness and cold, and
dying by the dozens.
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[T]he hearts of those in the first rescue team. These 27 men left loved ones and comfortable homes within
two days of the call to rescue, not even taking time to put their affairs in order. Theirs is one of the most impressive
examples of sacrifice in heeding a prophet’s call in the history of the Church. When relief is administered by people
who serve as instruments in the hand of God to bless his children, it is just as much a miracle as when God
intervenes supernaturally to administer relief.
Many miracles, perhaps most, are like this. Although God sometimes intervenes and removes trials, whether
caused by weather, natural disaster, illness, accident, bad decisions, or simply the natural course of mortality, such
direct intervention seems to be the exception. Taking away all or even most of these problems would compromise
the purposes of mortality, so people are often left to bear them. Nonetheless, that does not mean God is not hearing
or helping. As he did with the handcart pioneers, if he does not deliver his children from adversity, he will strengthen
their backs to bear it (see Mosiah 24:14-15; Alma 36:3, 27) He will also call and inspire other loving people to be
instruments in his hands to minister to their relief (see Jacob 2:19; Mosiah 4:26, D&C 38:35). These experiences are
no less miraculous than when God removes a burden in some way that is inexplicable.
Throughout the scriptures, the Lord promises to bless those who faithfully endure tribulation. Many members of
the handcart companies testified that the blessings they received more than compensated for the trials they endured.
But the blessings were not limited to these pioneers themselves. Their posterity has also been blessed by their
sacrifices. And far beyond direct posterity, generations of other people, in ever-growing numbers, have been blessed
by their examples of testimony and sacrifice. The power of the handcart experience to reach through the generations
and bless others is one of its most striking aspects—and shows that the impact of the experience cannot be judged
only by its effect on those who went through it.
“I have wondered why these intrepid pioneers had to pay for their faith with such a terrible price in agony and
suffering,” President James E. Faust said. His answer acknowledges a redemptive value in their trials:
“I believe their lives were consecrated to a higher purpose through their suffering. Their love for the Savior was
burned deep in their souls and into the souls of their children and their children’s children. The motivation for their
lives came from a true conversion in the center of their souls.” …
In many ways, the trail that the Willie and Martin handcart pioneers walked was a type, or metaphor, of mortality.
Along the path to Zion, they were sometimes mocked and ridiculed. Sometimes they had to cross rivers that
threatened to sweep them away. Some of those crossings were through icy waters that left them frozen and numb.
Along the path there was also sand, sometimes for long distances, making progress slow and grinding. When the
elements were at their worst and the Saints were at their weakest, they had to face Rocky Ridge. Toward the end,
they had to go through mountains that had several feet of fresh snow. Indeed this was a trail of tears.
But the experiences of the Willie and Martin handcart pioneers show that faith and hope will triumph over the
worst days on the trail. Faith and hope kept these Saints stepping forward when their strength was gone. Heavensent rescuers helped sustain their hope when despair began to take them off the path. And when they felt alone,
when they felt that they could bear no more, a divine hand was stretched out to steady them and guide them home.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
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