Breaking Ground

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie/My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply/The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design/Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Everyone knows of the pioneers and their struggles; the 24th of July is a holiday in the state of Utah, an annual day of tribute to their rich legacy. Since I was young, I've been taught about the deep sadness and countless trials that those early Saints endured. Learning from a church manual, their stories seemed so removed from my own reality and it was difficult to see it as anything other than bullet points in a old, dusty history book.

But, I had a unique opportunity while I attended BYU. Working in the library's Special Collections & Manuscripts Department, my job required reading the penned journals of pioneers and prominent Church leaders. Seeing the accounts written in that stretched, looping penmanship - in the swirls and swoops - I could feel their pain and understand that those old stories were their reality, not just a stories in a book. And they knew there was a purpose; they constantly acknowledged God's hand and bore testimony of that truth.

Never before did I think that I would have a tale such as those of the pioneers; one of sadness, and loss. I thought those day of persecution and hatred were over, kept tightly locked in the books of our church's and nation's history. But everything changed on an early morning last October. It's funny to look back at your trials after time has marched on. You can start to make out the design, how Heavenly Father has a hand in it. How he is shaping us, refining the rough edges. It helps makes sense out of the senseless.

Last weekend, we were invited to attend the groundbreaking for the new church building - the building that had been destroyed by arson on October 16th, 2010. It's impressive how quickly the Church has moved in the rebuilding process - and even more astounding to hear of the miracles that have happened along the way.

The morning of the groundbreaking the sun, filtered by random, fluffy clouds, bathed the day in a glorious brightness. It was one of the first sunny days we had had in weeks, and it could not have come on a better day. However, I found myself wishing I had tucked sunglasses into the bag; my eyes started to ache from all of the squinting from this rarity called sunshine.

All of the speakers, keeping their comments uncommonly brief, shared messages of hope, renewal and community. Their were prayers of love and thanksgiving. Songs floated on the air of strength, courage and moving forward.

Though the smoke-stained, muddied foundation brought back memories of the flames licking our meetinghouse, the feelings from this celebration brought smiles to hopeful faces. The building was going to rise from that dirty ground, bigger and better than the old building. This poignant loss was a brief blip in our lives, but more importantly, we have emerged from the trial a little older, maybe a little wiser, and I dare say, a little better than before.

This last photo is courtesy of the Church News - can you find us? For the whole story, click here.