Tag Archives: church history

Wisdom from Our Fathers and Mothers

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On a Bad Temper

“I have a terrible temper, but I control it, it doesn’t control me.”
–Edmund Z Carbine, 1864-1926

I think I may have inherited the temper. Edmund Z Carbine could honestly say “I haven’t been angry in over 15 years.” I wish I could say something similar.

On Church Membership

…the Mormons as they are called are my people, their God is my God, where they live I live (If I can) where they die I die, and there will I be buried. You see that I cannot come back.
–Adelia Rider Carbine, 1846, Iowa

Despite being driving from her home in Nauvoo, she still knew where she stood when it came to the gospel. It was true. It is true. What else matters?

On Conversion

When I was 14 years old I began reading the New Testament. I could see that the Lutheran doctrine did not correspond with it, so I must find something in accord with the New Testament. The more I read, the more I was convinced. Then I had an opportunity to go to some Mormon meetings. I found the spirit of God was there and the love of the brethren was great. I then began to pray in secret, alone by myself, and investigated the Mormon gospel [for three years]….I believed that the Mormons had the true gospel. But I wanted to be absolutely sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet for all people ridiculed him and told lies about him, but I did not believe it….I was sleeping in our barn on the hay in the month of August. I had prayed out by the fence before I went to lay down, but when I laid down I was seized upon with some evil power so I knelt down by the bed to pray again but the evil power was tormenting me and held me in torment; Then I lifted my voice in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the power left me. I was on my knees. I felt a wonderful change. I was looking and listening and heard a still voice but low saying “Joseph is a true prophet of god. The gospel is true. Why are you waiting to be baptized and receive the gospel?”…I then went up outside the barn to give thanks to God for answering my prayer. I raised my hands up high and said “Halleluia! Praise be to God and the Lamb for answering my prayer” and said “Yes, Lord, I will be baptized into the Church soon as I can.”
–Hans Olaus Sorenson, 1849-1944

Answers will always come to our honest prayers, even if it takes a long time. Are we senstive to the Spirit’s whisperings?

On Forgiving

They robbed and stole from me my life time earning….Two long years rolled by and I never had a good night’s sleep thinking how I could get some way to recover that which had been stolen from me. Then a messenger appeared to me and called me by name, and told me not to do as I was thinking, as that was a cowardly act. And he said, “Look”, and he showed to me many great and marvelous things, and said to me, “All you have suffered and lost is not as much as a pencil dot on this paper compared to what there is in store for you. Now be contented and be happy, and do not as you were intending to do.” I awoke and found it to be a dream or vision, and jumped right out of bed and wrote it down, and I have not been troubled since, and I don’t want to harm a hair on any man’s head, but want to do all the good I can. I called that my Savior, as it kept me from doing that which I ought not to do.
–William Benona Graham, 1852-1926

Sometimes I want to hold a grudge. But that’s not the way of the Lord. I hope I can keep an eternal perspective.

On Revelation

[Anna Clementina Hawkins] kept company [with Lucien] for about two years. He asked [her] to be his wife. But he was not a member of the Church and didn’t want to become interested…. And [she] felt that she couldn’t marry one who was not a member of the church and was not interested, so she dismissed him, which wasn’t an easy thing to do, as she cared a great deal for him. [She] had always prayed that she would choose the right one for a husband. So now she decided to fast and pray about it….Her prayer was answered and she saw in a dream her future husband just as she later saw him as he sat talking with her father, the night he came to apply for the teaching job. She was looking through a glass door behind him. And as she went back through the kitchen, her mother said, “Is that your young man?” and [Anna] replied, “Yes, that’s him.”
–Anna Clementina Hawkins, 1865-1944

It’s sometimes hard to have faith that Heavenly Father will provide for us and guide us. But He always will. Even without dreams to guide us.

The Spirit of Elijah

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Since I still haven’t received my visa, I am still in Chicago, waiting for the next stage of life. My husband has his visa, so as soon as I get mine we can mail off our 800 pounds of stuff and then get on a plane ourselves.

I’ve started some projects in the interim. The one most interesting to me right now is family history work.

The History of This Family History Project

A few years ago, when I first got off my mission and did not yet have a job, I scanned a number of personal histories from Dad’s Big Box of genealogy. I found them interesting. I wanted to continue the project but then I got a job and got busy. The files were backed up to a CD and on my computer.

Of course, at least once in the next few years, my computer crashed and I lost the hard drive completely. Last year, someone asked me if they could have a copy of the files. To my distress, I found that the CD backup was cracked. Thus, hours of scanning and OCR-ing (is that a verb?) were lost. Back to the Big Box, I guess.

So when I found out last week that I still don’t have my visa, I thought maybe this was a good time to pull out the Big Box and start over. Besides, last year I acquired a more powerful scanner when I married my husband. So, I set the scanner on autofeed, and in a few days the files were scanned. (Of course, the scanner lamp is almost burned out…) Now I am OCR-ing those that didn’t read well. I’ll add files to the server as I get to them.

I have simply loved reading the stories of my ancestors. My husband and I just returned from a Church History road trip. Now I find out that our ancestors were there at Winter Quarters and Far West and Nauvoo. Reading their stories makes it even more real than it was last week.

Here are some questions for the immediate family. Do you know who is who?

Did you know…

  • One ancestor was attacked by Indians and left for dead?

    • (an elderly Indian came along and had pity on her; after she healed, he sold her to the settlers at New Amsterdam [supposedly])

  • We had two ancestors on the Brooklyn?

    • (the mother and daughter, both midwives, paid their way by caring for the captain’s wife)

  • Our ancestor was the one who first settled Miller’s Hollow, later to be the site of the Kanesville Tabernacle (i.e., Council Bluffs, Iowa)?
  • One ancestor served a mission to Australia?

    • (he was shipwrecked coming home, landed on a remote atoll in the South Pacific, and lived on turtles for two months before a rescue party was successful)

  • One ancestor married a widower when she was 19, immediately becoming a mother of three?

    • (she later had 14 children of her own, including our ancestor)

  • One ancestor once made a profitable living by making beer?

    • (in Utah!)

  • Our ancestors helped settle the Big Horn in Wyoming?

    • (I have a friend from there)

Are you intrigued? Click on the Sorenson Family History tab above to find these personal histories. Here are the ancestors from above. (As I add files in the next few days, I’ll update this post to indicate which file to reference for the details.)

  • Penelope Kent Van Princis (Stout) [see any of the Stout, Richard or Stout, Penelope sources]
  • Hannah Tucker Read (later, Graham) and Christianna Gregory (Reed) [see Read, Hannah Tucker]
  • Daniel Arnold Miller [see personal history of Daniel Arnold Miller, plus book excerpt and sketch by daughter]
  • James Graham [see personal history of James Graham and account of Julia Ann]
  • Amanda Melvina Fisk (Stout)
  • Allen Joseph Stout [see life history of Allen Joseph Stout]
  • Franklin Jamison Graham and William Benona Graham and families [see life histories]

Church History Tour

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To celebrate our anniversary, we went on a road trip to church history sites.

We started in Winter Quarters in Florence, Nebraska (outside of Omaha). I have never been there before. Because it was the first stop and we hadn’t yet talked to dozens of missionaries, I enjoyed it the most, I think. I was very impressed with the sacrifices the early Saints made AFTER all the struggle in Missouri and then leaving Nauvoo. They were driven out of their homes time and again. Now they were so grateful to have a roof over their heads. 10-15 people spent a year in a tiny cabin smaller than my storage unit. They had gone through so much. And then they would have the ordeal of crossing the plains. So many people died, and yet they were grateful to the Lord for the gospel in their lives.

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell–
All is well! All is well!

My husband and I attended a session in the Winter Quarters temple. It was a special experience. I felt close to the early pioneers who gave so much. I wondered what Heavenly Father will ask me to sacrifice. Has he already asked me? Have I willingly given of my time and talents? Will I be ready and willing to do what is asked of me in the future? I don’t yet know what “plains” I’ll have to cross.

We then drove to Missouri. We visited the Independence Vistors Center, Liberty Jail, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, and a few other locations where various sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received.
Then we headed to Nauvoo. We’ve both been there a number of times. By this time, we’d be driving a lot over the past few days. So we were pretty tired. We went on a tour of the Joseph Smith Mansion House and Red Brick Store, and we enjoyed walking the streets of old Nauvoo. Tuesday morning we enjoyed the sunrise over the Mississippi River (though we were a little too late for good pictures) and we went to a session in the Nauvoo temple. Another good experience.

After a stop for Nauvoo fudge, we headed on home.

When (if) we have time again, we’ll have to go to Kirtland and Palmyra. For now, I sincerely hope our next trip will be to Australia!