On Sunday I went to a fireside to hear one of my favorite speakers talk - Truman Madsen. On my mission to upstate NY his voice informed me and soothed my soul. I listened to his recordings about Joseph Smith over and over. One thing he taught perfectly answered an inquiry from an investigator that I otherwise wouldn’t have know how to respond to.

He talked about the pioneers and he’s studied so much church history that these are more than just stories to him. He got choked up at the deaths of people as if he was there or knew them. In a way I think he does know them.

He spoke about some things that I will attempt to summarize, some very poignant and moving:

• He called the Nauvoo temple the sacrificial temple. It was built as a huge sacrifice of time and money. Then it was only in use for 3-6 weeks, just long enough for people to receive endowments and then get out of town before they were killed. He said that the saints HAD TO have this spiritual strength in order to make the journey ahead. He mentioned the Donner party that came across the plains and forged the path the pioneers would use. They resorted to cannibalism but not our people. He said the saints “died in each other’s arms - not eating each other.”
• He solved what I call the Sherrie Dew dilemma (why aren’t good women in the church who want to be, married and having children?). He said that when good women like her die there will be a line of good men waiting to marry her. Then they’ll go on a 1,000 year honeymoon. He specifically talked about Eliza R. Snow and her contribution but she never married or had children. Many men died prematurely in wars and other circumstances who will be around. That is somewhat comforting, but that veil over our understanding makes it so you must take these things on pure faith.
• Supposedly Mark Twain thought that Brigham Young must be some sort of womanizer - until he saw his wives. Then he said he should get a Congressional medal for marrying such plain women. I can’t find a citation here, but I did find this fun page about Mormons. Brigham Young prophesied that the Nauvoo temple would be rebuilt and that we’d have temples all over the country. A rather bold statement at the time. If it weren’t for polygamy and lots of children who knows but we would’ve died off as a culture.

Madsen also talked about temples and families. How we are trying to reunite the families of the entire world. He talked about how families were organized before the world and that on earth it gets disorganized and confusing. But Christ will bring harmony back and traumas will be healed. So the next time your family drives you crazy, remember this. It’s not a guess or by chance that you have the family you have.

One last point: Heavenly Mother - we will see her - the mother of our spirits in the afterlife.

Obviously there was a lot of deep doctrine and powerful stories in this talk. He packs a lot of information with great intellectual and spiritual impact. So happy Pioneer Day everyone! I’m thankful that I was not there but I hope that we can watch the replay. Visit the temple this month and show gratitude by helping bring families who have died apart back together.

I’m making more effort to attend firesides like this. The crowd can be a little droopy but the messages so sweet. Besides, it gives me an excuse to write more in this blog.