I've shared with you the stories of the James and Amy Loader, and I thought today it was worth sharing a few specific experiences of two of their children, Patience and Tamar.
Tamar (22), was very much grieved when she left England because she had been unable to convert her sweetheart and he remained. When she was only 100 miles into the 1,300 mile handcart trek, she became so ill that she had to be carried on a cart for the remaining 170 miles to Florence, Nebraska. There she received a blessing from President Franklin D. Richards that she would walk again before the journey's end, which she did.
While crossing the plains, Tamar became discouraged both because of poor health and because she missed the young man she had left in England. At her lowest point, she had a dream that forecast a remarkable event. The next morning she told her mother that she had dreamed that her sweetheart came and stood beside her and he seemed so real. But he was not alone. Another man was with him . . . In the dream the sweetheart finally faded away but the other man remained. When Tamar first saw Thomas E. Ricks in the rescue party, she took her mother by the arm and said, ‘Mother, that’s the man.” She did marry Thomas Ricks (after whom Ricks college was named).
Patience also had spiritual experiences on her trek. She relates that one day as she was pulling the handcart through the deep snow, a strange man appeared to her: “He came and looked in my face. He said, ‘Are you Patience?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I thought it was you. Travel on, there is help for you. You will come to a good place. There is plenty.’ With this he was gone. He disappeared. I looked but never saw where he went. This seemed very strange to me. I took this as someone sent to encourage us and give us strength.” The Loader family was met by rescuers at camp that night.
Patience also wrote: ‘We did not get but very little meat as the bone had been picked the night before and we did not have only the half of a small biscuit as we only was having four oz. of flour a day. This we divided into portions so we could have a small piece three times a day. This we eat with thankful hearts and we always as[k] God to bless to our use and that it would strengthen our bodies day by day so that we could perform our duties. And I can testify that our heavenly Father heard and answered our prayers and we was blessed with health and strength day by day to endure the severe trials we had to pass through on that terrible journey before we got to Salt Lake City. We know that if God had not been with us that our strength would have failed us . . . I can say we put our trust in God and he heard and answered our prayers and brought us through to the valleys.”
I am consistently impressed with the amazing faith of those pioneers and the remarkable fortitude they possessed. Today I re-read Elder Oak's talk from the Oct General Conference, and I loved this quote from it: "We should remember our first priority- to serve God - and like our pioneer predecessors, push our personal handcarts forward with the same fortitude they exhibited." Something definitely worth striving for.
So many great lessons to be learned from the Loader family!
Have a great week!
Sister McHood
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