“The Least I Could Do”
What One Tasmanian Family Sacrificed to Go to the Temple
When the Hamilton New Zealand Temple was dedicated in 1958, the Bender family sacrificed everything they could to be there.
When the Hamilton New Zealand Temple was dedicated in 1958, the Bender family sacrificed everything they could to be there.
Over the past 30 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has formed partnerships with the International Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, and other experienced agencies, helping to establish the foundation for LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of the Church. Sharon Eubank describes the evolution of the Church’s efforts to care for the poor and needy on a global scale and discusses what members can do to help wherever they live.
At a baptismal service, eight-year-olds dressed in white often join with family and ward members to sing of how “Jesus came to John the Baptist, / In Judea long ago, / And was baptized by immersion / In the river Jordan’s flow” (
Shortly after his return from missionary labors in France, Germany, and Great Britain, John Taylor gave this sermon in the five-year-old city of Salt Lake. The sermon gives insight into the climate of the times and the sense of possibility Latter-day Saints felt as they began to create their own communities in the Rocky Mountain region.
Extracts from sermons given by Brigham Young at various settlements in Utah during a trip south in 1864.
Brigham Young sought ways to lower the tremendous cost of sending immigrants and freight across the plains. In 1860 he asked agents to investigate the idea of sending commercial boats farther up the Yellowstone River than they had ever gone before, perhaps within 400 miles of the Salt Lake Valley. He understood that this would be difficult because such boats would have to be able to travel in very shallow water—or, as Brigham Young put it, the enterprise would “require boats that can run where the ground is a little damp.”
Brigham Young letter to William H. Hooper, Mar. 8, 1860, Brigham Young Office Files, Church History Library, Salt Lake City
An early career in agriculture prepared Ezra Taft Benson to, as an Apostle, lead Church relief efforts in Europe after WWII and build relationships for the Church. As prophet, he challenged Latter-day Saints to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon, to heed its warnings against pride, and to let Christ transform their inner natures.
“Pioneers in Every Land” is the theme of the 2015 Lecture Series at the Church History Library in Salt Lake. Videos of each presentation will be available online after the events.
The revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 111 was not fulfilled in the way Church leaders hoped for in 1836. Five years later, they looked for another opportunity to be instruments in helping the Lord’s promises be fulfilled.
Behold, there shall be a record kept among you.D&C 21:1