Posted by admin on Dec 19, 2012 in Christmas Past 2012 |

Question 8th Day Christmas Past: Heber C. Kimball & Orson Hyde were the first missionaries called to serve in Great Britain.  A few years later ALL the Apostles were issued a call to serve there – the only time in the history of the Church that the Quorum of the Twelve as a body has been called to travel outside America for such an assignment!  Many amazing events took place, what are some of their experiences during Christmas and New Year’s time? (To be entered into today’s giveaway & FREE tour drawing, Comment & Share your thoughts of accounts below on Facebook or our blog.  See these sites and many more on our England and Wales Tour April 28 – May 9, 2013!) First Mission – First general conference in Great Britain: At length it was decided to hold a conference—the first general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain—in the “Cockpit,” Preston, on Christmas day, 1837. Branches had been raised up in Preston, Walkerford, Alston, Bedford, Eccleston, Wrightington, Hexton, Euxton Bath, Daubers Lane, Chorley, Whittle, Leyland Moss, Ribchester, Thornley, Clithero, Waddington, Downham, Barshe Lees, Askin, Hunter’s Hill, Stoney Gate Lane, Chatburn, Penwortham, and other places. About three hundred Saints, representing a much larger membership residing in branches extending thirty miles and more around Preston, attended that first conference. Priest Joseph Fielding was ordained an Elder. Ten Priests and seven Teachers were ordained to minister in the various branches; one hundred little children were blessed at this time, and the Word of Wisdom, which had heretofore been taught more by example than by precept, was first publicly proclaimed in Great Britain. A glorious day of glorious deeds! It was fitting that such a body of Saints should meet under the direction of two of the Lord’s Apostles on the day that is celebrated as that of His birth. And on that day it was fitting that a hundred little children should be blessed. It was fitting, too, that in the old “Cockpit,” the cradle of “teetotalism,” the Word of Wisdom—the Lord’s law of health and vigor, life and vitality—should first be publicly proclaimed in Great Britain. Second Mission – London On December 1st at Barratt’s Academy Brigham Young preached his first Gospel sermon in London. Ten days later he departed for Cheltenham, and left London in the capable hands of Brothers Kimball and Woodruff. During the second week in December four persons were baptized—Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, with whom the missionaries lodged, Christopher Smith, their apprentice, and Henry Connor, Jr. HCA minister of the Independent Order, Reverend James Albion by name, encountered the missionaries, attended some of their meetings, and invited the brethren to his home, which invitation they accepted on more than one occasion. Having heard the Gospel of the Master from their lips, the Reverend Albion offered the use of his...

Posted by admin on Dec 19, 2012 in Christmas Past 2012 |

On the 7th Day of Christmas Past it would have been so fun to sing “Come, Come Ye Saints” by William Clayton! Story still available on yesterday’s 7th Day Question and Story post. Congrats to 7th Day drawing winner, Keli Emerson, who won a set of olive wood carved silhouette Christmas ornaments from...

Posted by admin on Dec 18, 2012 in Christmas Past 2012 | 2 comments

Question 7th Day Christmas Past: What LDS hymn made its debut at a general conference on Christmas Eve? (To be entered into today’s giveaway & FREE tour drawing, Comment & Share your thoughts of story below on Facebook or our blog.) The song “All is Well” came to be universally used by the pioneers to soften the hardships and bolster their courage and faith in the trek westward. After completing the trek westward as a member of the first Pioneer Company in July 1847, Clayton returned in the fall to Winter Quarters where his family had remained. Surely Clayton was present across the Missouri River in Kanesville, Iowa, at the jubilee conference that convened on Christmas Eve day, 1847, when his “song” was first sung at a general conference of the Church. The setting was the new log tabernacle, “the biggest log-cabin in the world,” which seated 1,000. In the early afternoon “Come, Come, Ye Saints” was sung, accompanied by the Winter Quarters band, followed by the sustaining of the new First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—President Brigham Young with his counselors, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards.4 It is proper, perhaps, that “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” is the only currently used hymn composed during the 1846-1848 emigration period of the Church as its words so completely reflect the sentiment of the westwarding Saints. The first words are a call to the Saints, wherever they might be to “Come, come” together. This most likely was a reflection of the Lord’s admonition in D&C 124:25 given in 1838 “let all my saints come from afar” to Zion. William Clayton had responded to that call, coming from England. In his scribe capacity he especially would have been aware of Brigham Young’s words to Orson Spencer in England in 1847, “Say to the saints, Come.”5 The concept of calling upon the Saints to “come” to Zion had been a constant theme, and Clayton’s use of the phrase in his hymn could apply equally to Zion or to a united group such as a pioneer company. Taken from:  Pioneer Song Inspires Generations , LDS Church News, 1996,...

Posted by admin on Dec 18, 2012 in Christmas Past 2012 |

On the 6th Day of Christmas Past dear Grandma Hinckley, made Christmas magic with special cards and activities filling her grandchildren with glee. Story still available on yesterday’s 6th Day Question and Story post. Congrats to 6th Day drawing winner, Afton Ferris, who won “The Savior in Kirtland” new book autographed by author Karl Ricks...

Posted by admin on Dec 17, 2012 in Christmas Past 2012 | 3 comments

Question On the 6th Day of Christmas Past: Why did Marjorie Pay Hinckley’s family consider Christmas time her holiday? (To be entered into today’s giveaway & FREE tour drawing, Comment & Share your thoughts of story below on Facebook or our blog.) If the grandchildren had to pinpoint one time of year that reminds them of Grandma Hinckley, it would have to be Christmas. This is her holiday. Everything she does with it is magical. Around the beginning of December, little cards arrive every four or five days in the mail to her grandchildren. Each child remembers the excitement of getting a card with just his or her own name on it. If you lived out of town, it was added reassurance that Grandma always thought about you even if you didn’t see her very often. And these aren’t ordinary cards. They pop out or stand up or play a Christmas carol. Lizzie even remembers one that her brother received that unfolded into a Santa mask. The cards usually contain one or two sentences at most, things like: “Good things happen at Christmastime” or “From your secret elf” or “Start counting the days” or just a simple “XOXO.” She usually didn’t sign her name, but the small, cursive penmanship was very familiar.  Somewhere in between all of the cards was an invitation to the Grandchildren’s Christmas Party: “Attendance mandatory” or “Only the chicken pox will qualify as an excuse.” Christmas anticipation for her grandchildren didn’t get any better than receiving: Sunday, December 18, 5:30 p.m. Christmas dinner and fish pond. Walk through Temple Square. Try, try, try to be there! Love, Grandma H. Thursday, December 22, 7:00 p.m. Walk through Temple Square if we didn’t make it on the 18th. Sleepover. Breakfast. “Annie” at Promised Valley Playhouse. 4:00 p.m. Straight home! Love, G. Hinckley Marjorie Hinckley’s granchildren write the following accounts – Michael Hinckley, a grandson, remembers these extraordinary parties: My earliest and clearest memories of Grandma are the “Cousins’ Christmas Parties,” which were an essential part of each Christmas season. The magic of the Christmas season is already prevalent in the lives of children, yet this annual gala put on by Grandma added even more excitement. First of all, the simple fact that Grandma would invite only the grandchildren to come to the party was something significant in itself. While at family dinners we kids were always at the “children’s tables,” such was not the case on this occasion. There were no adults—only Grandma. We children all sat together at the “adults’ table.” We were the important people. The tables were festively decorated with linens of green and red, plates portraying Christmas scenes and symbols, and other articles ornamenting each dining place. Perhaps the most exciting feature of the dinner table was the shiny Christmas-tree ornament decorating the place of each grandchild. (I still have all of these,...