Description

I am Thankful That I am Here

In February 1849, the ice was broken on the River and Sarah Keep was baptized. From there, she and her family walked one and a half miles in the frigid cold to their home with the mob following them and taunting. Her parents had previously been baptized and because of that decision their considerable property was taken from them. Sarah said:

“As I grew older, I traveled much with my father and his companion when they went out preaching in the open air. I was anxious to go, and they said I could if I would sing for them, which I did. People gathered to listen to their teachings and many joined the Church. My father and his companion suffered many persecutions (I with them), but the Lord preserved us from our enemies. When at the age of 13, I went to London with my father and his companion. I sang in the streets of London. We were often told by the police to move on. I love my religion.”

From age eighteen onward, Sarah wanted to be married, but she also wanted to marry a member of the Church. Finally, at age twenty-five, Sarah married and a sometime later gave birth to a baby girl. Then, to her sorrow, she learned that the man she had married, had joined the Church just to get her, and now he wanted nothing to do with it, nor did he want her to be involved.

In 1866, Sarah’s family answered the call to come to Zion and was leaving for the Salt Lake Valley. Sarah’s husband forbade her to go, telling her that if she even went to see her parents off, “He would push me in the ocean.” Sarah so wanted to go with them. Now she faced a heart- rending choice—would it be life with her husband and child in the comfort of England, or would it be the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a wilderness Zion.

After many tears, her decision was made. In May 1866, when the ship The American Congress left Liverpool, Sarah and baby were hidden away onboard. Just prior to sailing, Sarah’s angry husband sent officers to bring her back. They searched the ship but did not find her or the babe. After a particularly arduous journey by ship, by rail, and finally by wagon train, where she faced fire, fear, death, disease, and abandonment, she arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1866—Conference time. As a girl she had envisioned Zion as a “Heaven on Earth.” She soon learned that Zion was a heaven in the making requiring more sacrifice and hard work. In time she would marry again and become the mother of fourteen children. Finally, with it all, at the age of 82, she wrote:

“I am thankful that I am here and have learned what I came here for. I can say the Lord has been with me and given me more than I deserve; but, he promised, “He that leaves father, mother, husband, wife for the gospel, shall receive a hundredfold”. I can see where there was work for me to do here for the dead, and the Lord has blessed and preserved my life many times to do this work. I am thankful to Him for it.”

In the April 2021, Conference, President Nelson said:

“Everything good in life—every potential blessing of eternal significance—begins with faith….It is our faith that unlocks the power of God in our lives.”

When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we obey him. When we obey Him it always requires a sacrifice and hard work, but it always pays off. Just ask Sarah Keep Buttars, my wife’s third great grandmother.

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWNF-BL6

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/49nelson?lang=eng