Program

Find words to #1, #11, & #13 at end of narration

1.      Primary Pioneer Medley

All -- Word Sheet

2.      Star-Spangled Banner – vs. 1 & 3

All -- Hymn #340

3.      Nearer, My God to Thee

Mikayla Monson -- Words Hymn #100

4.      Joseph Smith’s First Prayer

Christine Monson arr. -- Words Hymn #26

5.      O My Father

Amy Alvord -- Words Hymn #292

6.      Savior, Redeemer of My Soul

Christine Monson -- Words Hymn #112

7.      A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief

Amy Alvord -- Words Hymn #29

8.      Glenn Rawson Stories – Martin's Cove

Video

9.      Come, Come, Ye Saints

Amy Alvord -- Words Hymn #30 & #98

10. Guide Me to Thee

David Monson -- Words Hymn #101

11. Not Just a Face, Not Just a Name

Mikayla & David – Join in for last choruses (words in program

12. I Am a Pioneer Too!

All -- Hymn #1034

13. Pioneers of the Heart

All -- Music Sheet

14. Jesus Is the Way

All -- Hymn #1045, vs. & chorus, vs. 2 & 3, then chorus

15. My Country, ‘Tis of Thee

All -- Hymn #339

16. America the Beautiful

All -- Hymn #338

17. Battle Hymn of the Republic

All -- Hymn #60/Choral Version (will sing 2nd vs from hymnbook)

18. Faith in Every Footstep

All -- Hymn #1022

19. I Know That My Redeemer Lives

All -- Hymn #136

Narration to Follow Along With

1--Pioneer – just the sound of the word in English sounds like a wave rushing forward – pushing On from worlds known into frontiers yet to be discovered and made fruitful.  It could be new lands, new scientific knowledge, or new transformations of the heart to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ, ultimately to become like our Father in Heaven in our heavenly home.

Tonight we will speak, ponder, and sing about pioneers.  Whether we have ancestors who crossed the plains to Salt Lake City as pioneers or not, we all share the heritage of the pioneers, for, as we will sing, here, we are all pioneers.  Let’s all sing a medley of Primary songs about pioneers.  Words are at the bottom of your program.

2—We are blessed in a nation founded by individuals who sought to come together as never before to unite under laws and governments that would foster as never before the attainment of equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  What vision they had, what sacrifices they made to secure freedom and government for the people and by the people.  Their bold work and foresight has helped us forged onward through war, deprivation, heartache, and even folly, to progress, to achieve, to learn, and to grow together.  The American flag still stands today for the values they lived and died for, just as it did during the War of 1812, when Francisc Scott Key penned the words of  “The Star-Spangled Banner,” upon seeing the flag still stand after a long, uncertain night of battle.  Join us as we stand sing together the “Star-Spangled Banner.” 

3. One of the hallmarks of the United States became its quest for individual unalienable rights.  Among these was the freedom to believe and worship as one chooses.  We have been a nation looking to God since the beginning, ever pursuing a course that would lead us closer to him.  We will hear Mikayla Monson sing an arrangement of Hymn #100, “Nearer, My God to Thee,” a vivid re-telling of Jacob’s dream in Genesis that brought him nearer to God, through dreams, experiences, and learning. 

4. In 1820 in the town of Palmyra in upstate New York, 14-year-old Joseph Smith found himself surrounded by the fervor of the American nation’s quest to learn of God – confused by all the differences between so many religions, contending for their interpretation of the Bible.  As Joseph was reading James 1:5, the words penetrated his heart, for he realized that he did not have to rely on the assertions of voices around him.  He could ask of God, as James directs, to receive light and knowledge that would bring clarity and dispel confusion.

Follow along with the words of hymn #26 or even close your eyes as you listen to this hymn and picture yourself there, watching the scene unfold as Joseph kneels in a grove of trees near his home and receives a vision that would change the world. 

5. Joseph would become the prophet of the Restoration of the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and found The Church of Jesus Christ, renewed again to raise up generations of Latter-day Saints to take knowledge and power from God to all the world.  One of the most profound, fundamental truths that Joseph helped to restore was the fact that we are children of a Heavenly Father who sent His Son Jesus Christ to open the way for us to learn, grow, become like, and return to our Heavenly Father in our heavenly home.  But this was not all.  As an instrument in the hands of God, he brought again to the world the knowledge of the true nature of families – and the knowledge that we don’t just have a Father in Heaven, but that we have a Mother in Heaven, who loves us and knows us just as much.  Through Their plan for us, and our Father’s Son, Jesus Christ, we can return to Them to live and become like Them forever.  Listen as Amy Alvord sings the words of Eliza R Snow, who was touched just as deeply as these truths and penned these words to share again the profound truths of where we came from and where we will we go after the door of death that we will all walk through, to progress onward in heavenly realms.

6. As the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ came to live for us, to teach us, to suffer, bleed, and die for us, so that we could return to Him. Without our Savior, we would be lost and unable to progress.  Without our Heavenly Parents’ plan, there would be no reason to keep growing and becoming through all the hard that life brings.  We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, Redeemer of Our Souls. 

7. The early Saints led by Joseph Smith forged new frontiers, establishing cities, building Zion the Pure in Heart, who could care for those in need and teach to build, lift, and progress.  Through deprivation and persecution, Joseph Smith led the Saints, even from a jail cell.  He lived again to continue helping them pursue their heavenly aims, until in June of 1844, arrested again, he was martyred along with his brother Hyrum Smith in a jail in Carthage, Illinois.  One of his last requests was for John Taylor, in the prison cell with him, sing the words of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.”  He knew he had done the Lord’s work, for Him, the best he could.  He had suffered and sacrificed much, and ultimately gave all, just as the words of this hymn describe.  In all that he did, he did it for the Lord.  Amy Alvord will sing this pictorial arrangement of this hymn, vs. 1,3, 6, and 7.  Follow along with the words of hymn #29 if you’d like or close your eyes and reflect on what Joseph Smith did, and what we can do, for our Savior, to hear His words, “Fear not, Thou didst them unto me.”

8-9. After Moses, there was a Joshua.  And after Joseph Smith, there was Brigham Young.  Pursuing Joseph Smith’s vision to bring the Saints to the Rocky Mountains and settle there, he set out to lead thousands of Saints over 1200 miles to the Rocky Mountains.  How difficult this was, we can’t even imagine.  After the experiences on Trek that the youth of the Val Verda Stake have had over the last few days, they can imagine some of that difficulty.  Going into a dry, barren frontier, having to cross mountains and ford streams just to get there, surely seemed frightening.  But they did it because they had faith in God, faith that he would lead and provide for them.  And thought so many experienced death, both along the trail and even here in the west once they got there, they knew what heavenly goal they were pursuing and they would return home, after passing the test, through Jesus Christ, and His provision to them every hour. 

Listen to these two songs, one narrated by Glenn Rawson, with music I helped to provide for radio broadcast 10 years ago, and the next by Amy Alvord, in an arrangement first sung in sacrament meeting in a little chapel at Martin’s Cove in 1998.  We are invited to Come with the Saints, putting our trust in Him to lead us every hour, for we truly do need him every hour. 

10.  We will all face our challenges and struggles, just as the early Saints, the early pioneers did.  We are all pioneers, looking to the Lord to lead us onward through difficulties and strife, so that those difficulties can teach us and help prepare us for our heavenly home.  We do not do it alone.  We have our Savior ever at our side, guiding us to Him.  Ever do we plead in prayer to our Father, Guide us to Thee.   

11.  Many of us are descended from pioneers who came to the west, led by Brigham Young and others.  But whether we are or not, we all have ancestors who have gone before us, who have prepared and opened the way for us to have life and enjoy the blessing of mortality.  They are not just names and faces on a page.  They are real people, with real stories, who are closer to us than we know.  Their hearts are turning to ours, just as our hearts turn to theirs, wanting to learn of and from them, think about their stories and what they have to teach us.  And we can also help them to progress onward in their pioneer journey by helping provide ordinances in the temple that they could not for themselves, so that they can continue their pioneer journey.  How wonderful it is that we can join with them, not as just faces and names, but as family, sealed as one through our Savior’s power, United with Him, to return to our heavenly home and participate in the onward march of glory.  Join us in singing along with the sheet music to this song, written by the composer when she saw a face on a page and realized that she wasn’t just a face, not just a name, but eternally bound in His family chain.

12-14.  We are all pioneers.  We need pioneers today, not pioneers who cross plains, but pioneers of the heart, helping build unity, share truth, and give love to all of Heavenly Father’s children.  In every land across the world, pioneers of the heart are loving and serving others, sharing truths, making covenants, and building Zion.  Over one hundred years ago, in the small Pacific island of Tonga, one of those pioneer Saints wrote a hymn special to the Tongan people and now in our hymnbooks – Jesus Is the Way.  She knew He was the ultimate forerunner, the ultimate pioneer.  We can come to Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and share these truths, love God’s children, and serve and sacrifice as they did to build Zion, so that all can look to Him and become like Him, sharing in His work as we become Pioneers of the Heart.

15-17.  We will close by again singing of America and the ideals that inspired our Founding Fathers and so many others to bravely live and even give their lives to defend and share throughout the world.  “America, America, God Shed His Grace on Thee.  And Crown Thy good with Brotherhood, from Sea to Shining Sea.”  “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His Truth is Marching On!” 

18. We will march onward, just as our ancestors did, just as the early Saints did, just as our Savior has done, with Faith in Every Footstep, serving, living, loving, and learning – and sharing these truths in lands far and near.” Enjoy singing along with this video from the 1997 Pioneer Sesquicentennial Celebration at BYU. 

19.  We close with the words of Joseph Smith in the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, given as he saw the vision of what our ultimately journey is and can be to our celestial home.  “For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father, That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”  He lives.  He lives today, guiding His work, strengthening, helping, and teaching us, as we continue our onward journey to our heavenly home, with our faith in Him as our Redeemer, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” 

Primary Pioneer Medley

Whenever I Think About Pioneers, I think of brave women and men,

I think of the songs they sang loud and strong, Joy and thankfulness filling their song.

I sing the valiant song of the pioneers, With voices loud and strong.

Hosanna, Hosanna, we’ll work the day long, Joy and thankfulness filling our song.

When pioneers moved to the West, with courage strong they met the test.

They pushed their handcarts all day long, And as they pushed they sang this song:

“For some must push and some must pull, As we go marching up the hill;

So merrily on the way we go Until we reach the vall-ey-o. 

You don’t have to push a handcart, leave your fam-‘ly dear

Or walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer.

You do need to have great courage, Faith to conquer fear,

And work with might for a cause that’s right to be a pioneer. 

Not Just a Face, Not Just a Name words

Faces looking forward, from ages past,
Watching their branches through distant halls of time.
Beyond the veil, yet family ties bring us closer than we know,
Their eternal worth, the Spirit reminds.

Chorus
They're not just a face, not just a name,
But eternally bound in our family chain.
With hearts turned in love, we labor to save,
So promises made…. will bring us home.

All of my family who’ve come before
Bless me and our generations to come,
Our righteous lives return their gift and bring honor their name,
Extending their legacy on.
Chorus:

Through His Son, we can each overcome,
Then with Him, for Him, reach for the one.
Turning hearts to find, in our temples we will bind,
Till each Father’s child can unlock the gate to home.

We may all return to Him, when the fight is won,
Sealed as one fam’ly, United with the Son,
So we’ll do His work, forging links of glory and love,
That eternally grow in our home up above.
Chorus

Lord, bring us home.

Pioneers of the Heart 

Our world has learned to split the atom, and computers link the earth,

We’ve even left our footprints on the moon.

We save the Amazon’s rain forests and the whales of Newfoundland,

But how to love, we’ll discover someday soon.

Like the pioneers who tamed this land, built their homes with steady hands,

And somehow found the strength to take a stand.

Chorus:  We need pioneers, pioneers of the heart,

Blazing trails to give the world some love.

Open your eyes; it’s a good time to start,

Breaking down the walls between generations,

Build a bridge, connect up every nation.

Pioneers of the heart.

We need a world that’s safe for children, where a child can run and play,

Lose the barriers that keep us worlds apart.

This last frontier will be explored by people holding hands,

Learning how to stretch the human heart. 

Like the pioneers who tamed this land, built their homes with steady hands,

And somehow found the strength to take a stand.

Chorus:

How can we live in a world that’s always changing, with society rearranging all the values we hold dear.

And how can we build a peaceful around us,

When will our differences begin to disappear?

Chorus: