Building Zion

I thought it was interesting learning about the background of Doctrine and Covenants sections 58 & 59. The Lord had asked all of these new members to relocate to Independence, Missouri which He refers to as "the land of promise" (D&C 57:1-3). But as the Saints start arriving to this "land of promise", they aren't very impressed with what they find. "Some thought they would find a thriving, industrious community with a strong group of Saints. Instead they found a sparsely populated outpost, lacking the civilization they were used to and inhabited by rough frontier settlers rather than Saints." (Come, Follow Me manual pg. 92). I'm sure all of us can think of similar experiences we've had when our expectations go unmet that can help us relate to the early Saints during this part of their history. One of those moments for me happened when Brady and I moved into our first family ward. I was looking forward to seeing lots of families in Sacrament meeting and a large primary and youth program (our oldest was a new Sunbeam and living far from family I was excited to meet some young women who could be potential babysitters:). Essentially, I was expecting to attend a ward just like the one I'd grown up in. I was shocked when we walked into that chapel for the first time and it was occupied by a few young families and some senior couples. When we started singing the opening hymn, I felt like I was singing a solo! The primary consisted of about 15 children and I only remember seeing three young women. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed.

No matter what unexpected situations we find ourselves in, the Lord still expects us to move forward and build Zion. One way we can do this is to practice becoming Zion-like individuals (people of one heart and one mind-Moses 7:18).  These two sections give us some ways that we can do this.

• keep the commandments/be obedient (58:2,6)
• be faithful in tribulation (58:2)
• bear testimony (58:6, 47)
• keep the laws of the land (58:21)
• be anxiously engaged in a good cause (58:27)
• repent (58:42)
• work and labor both to gather Israel and bring life to the land (58:54-56)
• love God and your neighbors (59:5-6)
• show gratitude (59:7)
• broken heart and contrite spirit (59:8)
• keep the sabbath day holy (59:9-13)

These early Saints were "honored in the laying the foundation" of the church (57:7), but we can also lay foundations of faith and help build up Zion one person at a time. We start with ourselves and then over time we will have opportunities within our sphere of influence to help others as well. We only lived in that family ward for two months, but we have some sweet memories and lasting connections from the time we spent there. Building Zion starts with building that feeling in our homes, wards and stakes and we can only do that if we're willing to become Zion-like individuals.