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Speaker: Glenn Rawson
Hi, this is Glenn Rawson. One of the most powerful ways to share history and heritage is by the telling of stories. We began sharing inspiring stories nearly 30 years ago. Each of those stories is true and was intended to inspire and strengthen faith. Over the years, those stories have reached millions around the world. This podcast is for you to listen, learn and enjoy.
First Story: Joseph Toronto
When my sweetheart and I got married, we were married in the Provo temple by a sealer by the name of Joseph Y. Toronto. I still remember what a kindly old man he was. What a wise and cheerful soul he was on the day he married us. This is about his ancestor.
As a youth, Joseph Toronto joined the Mediterranean Merchant Service in Italy and as he worked, he saved all of his wages. Once he had enough money, Joseph decided to come to America. As he was sailing toward New York one night, he had a fear – a premonition. He was afraid that someone would steal all that money that he had worked so hard to save up. As he fell asleep that night, he had a dream in which a man stood before him and told him to leave his money with Mormon Brigham and he should be blessed.
When he arrived in New York, Joseph inquired of everyone he could find if they knew someone named Mormon Brigham, but no one seemed to know who that was. It was while he was there in Boston, that he first heard Latter-Day Saint missionaries preaching the gospel. When he heard the truth, he embraced it and he was baptized. The missionaries then counseled Joseph Toronto that he should go to Nauvoo and join with the church there, but he was doing so well financially that at first, he refused to go. By and by Joseph Toronto immigrated to Nauvoo but by the time he got there, the Prophet Joseph Smith had been martyred and the Nauvoo temple was in the midst of construction and about one story up. But as you know from the history of late Nauvoo, 1845-1846, persecution against the church didn’t stop with the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph. It stepped up. It kept going and it made progress on the temple very difficult.
Finally, it became critical on the 6th of July 1845, President Brigham Young announced that the temple, work on the temple, would have to cease. When Brother Toronto heard that, he was deeply moved. The next afternoon, President Young made this record in his journal:
“Joseph Toronto handed to me $2500 dollars in gold and said he wanted to give himself and all he had to the upbuilding of the church and kingdom of God.”
Remembering his dream, Joseph Toronto donated his hard-earned life savings to the building of the temple. And just as he had been promised in the dream, President Brigham Young blessed Joseph Toronto “that he should stand at the head of his race and neither he nor his family should ever want for bread.”
Brothers and sisters, I want to be a man like that. I’ve often reflected on what consecration means and I think that’s it. Consecration doesn’t ask questions. It just gives whatever is asked for, for the building up of the church. I know the world thinks we’re crazy but who gives a fig what they think. It matters more what the Master thinks. I hope and pray that we can be more like Joseph Toronto and give all that we have to the building up of the kingdom of God.
Second Story: Lucy Mack Smith and Mighty Prayer
Lest you get the idea that prayer is always as simple as bowing by the corral or that there’s no effort involved – I don’t want you to get that idea as explained right here:
The year was 1838, in the first part of January 1838, persecution in Kirtland, Ohio had become so intense that President Joseph Smith had fled Kirtland along with his family and Sidney Rigdon, and Brigham Young, and others to escape the threats of the apostates. While others followed the Prophet Joseph towards Missouri as they could.
One family in particular had a very, very difficult time. The patriarch of the family was an old man (66 years old) and in those days that was old. He was constantly harassed by bogus lawsuits. Lawmen were searching for him, hounding him and hunting him and he was forced to hide in fear of his life and of the persecution. He ran from town to town and house to house for months to avoid the threats of his enemies.
Finally, when his family had all means in readiness to flee Kirtland, he reunited with them and they started for Far West, Missouri – hundreds of miles to the west. The mother of the family spoke of the time as they traveled when they lay all night exposed to the elements. It rained and rained and rained until they were soaked through. The next day, she said, it was fruitless to change into dry clothes because the rain continued to fall. For three days, they trudged on – cold, soaked and bone-weary until finally mother was taken with a severe cold and a violent cough. By the time they reached the Mississippi River she was so sick that she couldn’t sit up and could not walk. And to make already unbearable circumstances so much worse, one of their daughters, Catherine, was expecting a baby. She went into labor and in a squalid filthy hut near the Mississippi River, she delivered a baby boy. All of this rendered the family beyond the state of misery and unable to travel.
A couple of days later, the mother reached the point, or she had just simply had it. This is not tolerable. The aging mother set her mind that she needed to find somewhere to pray, or she would not be interrupted. Some distance from the house was a dense thicket that afforded the privacy she sought. Accordingly, and according to her account, she took a staff in each hand to support her, and by that assistance, toddled off towards the thicket. As soon as she reached the thicket and had managed to catch her breath so that she could speak, she commenced praying for her health and that of her daughter. She called on every promise of scripture that she could think of and continued praying faithfully as it was given to her for the next three hours. And the Lord Almighty heard her.
The end of that prayer, the racking cough left her and with renewed strength, she was made well. She made her way back to her family and learned that her daughter had similarly gained strength and was now ready to travel. That tough old mother of faith, Lucy Mack Smith and the family patriarch who was driven from pillar to post and fled under the worst of circumstances was the family of Joseph Smith Sr.
The title of that story is ‘Mighty Prayer’ and it is, but it could just as well be a lesson that trials, sometimes the severest trials, come to the most faithful.
Third Story: Alice Walsh Strong
Speaking of consecration, I don’t remember where, but I was looking at the comments that one of you had made about a family member and one of you mentioned this dear sister and I have this story already in my files as written by Andrew Olson and it’s about a woman, a handcart pioneer, by the name of Alice Walsh Strong.
Alice was born in England and was the only member of her parent’s family to accept the gospel. She joined the church when she was 16 years old. A few years later, she married William Walsh and they immigrated with the handcart people in 1856. At the time they did so, they had three children – ages four, three, and six months of age. They joined the Martin Handcart Company. And as you know, the Martin Handcart Company was on the last crossing of the Platt on October 19th, when the storm came. But before that, their oldest son died somewhere in Nebraska and then as they struggled on against the elements, Alice records that her husband then died in the area of Devil’s Gate, Wyoming. She said “the ground was frozen so hard that the men had a difficult task digging the grave deep enough in which to inter him.” Alice then wrote, “I was left a widow with two young children.”
The Martin Handcart Company under the direction of their missionary rescuers went up into that sheltered area called Martin’s Cove and they spent five frigid days in that icebox hell hole called Martin’s Cove. By the time the weather had warmed enough for them to come out, one third of them could not walk and there were not sufficient wagons for all of them to ride. But as the people loaded into the wagons or trundled out pulling their hand carts, no one seemed to notice Alice. Her account paints this picture.
She said, “I was sitting in the snow with my children on my lap and it seemed to me that there was no chance for me to ride but before the last teams had left the camp, I was assigned to ride in the commissary wagon and did so until our arrival in Salt Lake City.” She said, “arriving in Salt Lake City with two children and the clothes I stood up in, were all of my earthly possessions in a strange land, without kin or relatives.”
Alice and her two children were taken into the home of Jacob Strong. Alice and Jacob soon married and eventually they had three children of their own. Jacob died in 1872, leaving Alice a widow again (the second time) at the age of 43. She remained a widow for the next 52 years.
Andrew makes the following statement in telling her story. He said: given the difficulties she faced, did Alice think the sacrifices of coming to Zion were worth it? Toward the end of her life, she testified. They were.
“I have always been proud to know that I had the individual courage to accept and embrace the faith and join the church to which I’ve ever been steadfast from that day to this. Though the sufferings were terrible, I passed through in the handcart journey across the plains. I am still thankful that the Lord preserved my life and made it possible for me to reach Zion.” And then this: “after all that I have endured and passed through, my testimony is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”
It wasn’t just Alice who kept the faith. She set the example for her posterity. 14 of her children and grandchildren served missions just during her lifetime. And one of her sons served as patriarch and mayor of Farmington, Utah.
Alice Walsh Strong. And her posterity is still strong.
Fourth Story: Ephraim K. Hanks
Last story brothers and sisters, I know that you’ve heard it and I know that I’ve talked about Ephraim Hanks so many times before, but you know, when you live a remarkable life, people notice.
The story is told of a young woman in Salina, Utah who became very ill and was close to death. A neighbor and her husband sought out Ephraim Hanks to come and heal her. Eph arrived in Salina very late in the afternoon. As he rode into the yard of the dying woman, her husband came out to meet him and said, “You’re too late. She died a couple of hours ago. The Relief Society sisters are preparing the body now.”
Eph then asked: “Who gave them the order to commission her unto death?” He then walked over, stuck his head in the horse – all the way down – and then went over to his saddle, took off a burlap sack and dried his hair and beard and then went into the house. He ordered the women to cover the body and leave the room. There were protests but his cold, calm look left no doubt in their minds that they were to depart.
About two hours later, Ephraim came out from the room looking very tired. Closing the door behind him, he quietly told her husband: “your wife is sitting up in bed and would like to talk to you.”
Eph was never one to stand in front of a miracle he performed, seeking the praise of others. Whenever he performed miracles such as these he just drifted out of sight and went home.
The husband went into the bedroom and found his wife sitting up in bed. On seeing him, she exclaimed, “I dozed off and took a nap. How long have I slept?”
Her husband replied, “You have been a very sick woman for 10 days. We thought we were going to lose you.”
To which she replied, “I had the most wonderful dream. I dreamed there was a man with long flowing white hair and a full flowing white beard sitting here beside my bed, holding my hand. He told me that I would bear and raise seven daughters. The man also said there would be a time in my life when they would all stand together and be a great joy to me.”
That dear sister did live to raise seven daughters. And there was a time when each of them was either a ward or stake Relief Society president concurrently.
I’m a simple man. I’m not much to look at and I’m not very spectacular. I’m a simple man, but I believe in miracles. I believe in God. I believe in prayer, and I believe that He hears us and I believe that you are the best people on this earth and if you’re not worthy of miracles, blessings, and the power of the Almighty, then no one is.
I bear witness that God lives, and Jesus is our Savior and this Church is true in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for listening. Many of the stories you heard today have been published and are archived at glennrawsonstories.com. If you would like more information you can communicate with us there. We will be back again with another podcast next week.
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