In the Utah-Idaho region, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often emphasize the lives of early saints, at times seemingly idealizing the lives of their ancestors. For BYU-Idaho devotional speaker Joel Galbraith, who grew up in Jerusalem, though, this felt strange.
“It was just distant for me. Of course, I knew they were there, I knew they happened, but it felt like this weird, odd thing. When you go the US, everyone talks pioneers. Back at home in Jerusalem, everything was Christ. I mean, on my school bus you’re passing Gethsemane,” Galbraith said in an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio.
Galbraith started to come around to the idea of pulling wisdom from the lives of early pioneers when reading a book written by one of his own ancestors. In his talk, he mentioned one ancestor named Christopher Layton, who was part of the Mormon Battalion, and was sent to establish settlements in Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
“As I’ve read his history, I am in awe at his faith and obedience,” Galbraith said. “Each time it seemed he approached finishing an assignment like a large, two-story trading post, a home and large cattle ranch, or planting vast fruit orchards, he’d get called to leave it and do it all over again somewhere else. From the records we have, it looks like he always just accepted the new assignments with little complaint or protest.”
In his interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Galbraith also mentioned how was inspired by his readings of the “Saints” history collection from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“If I didn't listen to ‘Saints,’ if I didn't read about my ancestors, or care to learn anything about him, I don't think you can know them, in the same way as you can't know Christ without reading about Him and reading the scriptures and following Him,” Galbraith said.
Galbraith suggested there is great strength and wisdom we can pull from our ancestors if we take the time to get to know them, and as we work to understand them as individuals in relation to their surroundings instead of merely a list of events throughout their lives.
“Pioneers in our church history or in your own family history, they dealt with a lot of challenges very much like your own, and you can too,” Galbraith said. “You can pull through and not just endure but endure well and come out the other end stronger.”