On the 10th Day of Christmas Past, a special story from Mary Lou Little (MHA Tour Member): Question: In what ways can the Savior fill us like in today’s story? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. Click Here for contest rules. Catherine Pater (Tini) is my father’s cousin. He is the only member of his mother’s family to be raised in the United States, so he is the only member of his mother’s family who didn’t suffer from the horrors of WW2. His mother died when he was two years old, so he wasn’t exposed to his Dutch heritage. This story gives me a better appreciation of my faithful, sweet, Dutch family. It also makes me realize how blessed my dad, and his descendants, are that his mother came alone to start a new life in a new country, saving him the ravages, and suffering, of this horrendous experience. ~Mary Lou Little~ Christmas pancakes in war-torn Holland By Catherine Pater, for the Deseret News, Dec. 22 2015 It was December 1944. The war had been raging for almost five years over the little country of Holland. Conditions were almost unbearable. After wearing our same clothes and shoes for nearly five years because everything was plundered from our country, we were left in rags with no food to eat and no fuel to heat our homes or even a fire to cook on. Our only means of survival was the community kitchen where we went once a day to pick up our one-cup ration of soup, which consisted of a mixture of tulip bulbs and sugar beets thickened with sawdust. As a result of these conditions, nearly everyone was sick and many never saw the end of the war. But Christmas was coming and the church bells would still ring and invite every Christian to worship on Christmas morning the Savior who had been born in Bethlehem. A small group of members of the church sat together, remembering Christmases of the past. We saw the black potbelly stove spread its warmth through the little chapel and we envisioned the Christmas tree set on the podium all alight with real white burning candles and beautiful decorations. We could even smell its delicious fragrance. But this year there would be nothing at all. We all knew that all the members would understand no one had anything to give but himself, but how badly we wanted the other members to know that the Christ child had remembered them this Christmas! And so Christmas Eve approached and again we huddled together and prayed. As by a miracle that evening, we heard a knock at the door. Standing there, we saw a member of the church who lived in the farm country and who had managed to get through the German...
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Answer 9th Day Christmas Past: The most treasured gift any family could ever have is each other and to all be together once again as a family. Congrats to 9th Day drawing winner, Dinah Svedin, who won an Olive wood carving bust of Jesus, Olive wood carving of Mary & baby Jesus, Nauvoo Temple plate (replica of Scovil pattern), necklace with original Nauvoo Temple stone, pack of 10 5×7 Nauvoo watercolor note cards, and Remember Nauvoo mug -$203 value! Please contact MHA office 801-272-5601 or info@mormonheritage.com by Dec 30, 2022 to arrange for how to receive your prize. Story still available on yesterday’s...
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On the 9th Day of Christmas Past, a special ancestral story from Sherrie Spenst (MHA Tour Member): Question: What was the most treasured gift any family could ever have in today’s story? To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. Click Here for contest rules. A Christmas Never to Be Forgotten Submitted by Sherrie Spenst, MHA tour member The young mother sobbed and dropped the mirror she had been holding over her infant’s lips to check for signs of breathing. There was no mist. Her baby boy was dead. A few days later this young mother heard a knock at the door. It was two Mormon missionaries, Elder Martin Dalebout and Elder LeGrand Richards. They had noticed the curtains drawn, which was the custom of the day when a love one died. A Mormon family across the street told the missionaries that they had just lost a sick child because their religion didn’t believe in doctors. Elder Daleabout expressed a desire to meet a family with such great faith. As a result on July 22, 1907 Grandpa and Grandma Sieverts, (Abraham and Tryntje) were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their daughter Neeltje was later baptized 0n September 7, 1907. Nine years after their conversion Grandpa and Grandma’s desire was to migrate to Utah where they could be sealed together for eternity as a family. Finally, in September of 1915 Grandpa secured enough money for him and his son Jan to journey to America. Several months later he was able to bring his son Arnold. In December his daughter Neeltje came to America. With their help grandpa hoped they could earn enough money to bring the rest of the family to Utah. The lights burned late as Grandpa Sieverts sat by the sickbed of his oldest daughter Neeltje. Things were not working well for him at all. Grandpa had been in Salt Lake City with two of his young sons and a daughter so ill he feared for her life. Meanwhile, Grandma Sieverts was a continent and an ocean away with their five little children. Grandpa was fearful of not getting enough money and that they would have to return to Holland. If they did he knew they would probably never be able to return back to America, so he decided to fast and pray. Being a man of great faith he fasted for three days while still working at two jobs. One night as he was walking home through Liberty Park he fell to his knees in exhaustion. When he finally arrived home he collapsed at the table putting his head on his arm and he began to weep. Exhausted and forlorn, all of a sudden, he felt as though someone was touching his shoulder. He then heard a voice in the silence...
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Answer 8th Day Christmas Past: A desperate prayer sent heavenward brought absolute knowledge that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, and will answer our pleas. Congrats to 8th Day drawing winner, TERESA C, who won a large Olive wood carving of Mary & baby Jesus, Bethlehem baby blanket, pack of 10 Olive wood laser-cut tree ornaments, Bethlehem baby blanket, pack of 10 5×7 Nauvoo watercolor note cards, and Remember Nauvoo mug -$190 value! Please contact MHA office 801-272-5601 or info@mormonheritage.com by Dec 30, 2022 to arrange for how to receive your prize. Story still available on yesterday’s...
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On the 8th Day of Christmas Past, Ron Millburn (MHA Tour Guide) shares a treasured Christmas: Question: How was an absolute knowledge that prayers are answered felt in today’s story? To be entered into today’s drawing giveaway – Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog. Click Here for contest rules. Christmas 1995 By Ron Millburn, MHA Tour Guide The Christmas season of 1995 proved to be as severe and bleak as any I had ever known. Mountains of hospital bills were piling up from chemo treatments, bone marrow transplants, radiation, and surgeries. The miracle for which I had been fasting and praying, along with so many others, was not happening; and my wife, Harriett, was only getting worse. It was on Christmas Eve when we drove to the Emergency Room at LDS Hospital, she having felt a terrible pain in her stomach. Three days later she underwent another surgery. She had a wonderful oncologist, and it was with glistening eyes that he told me that they just had to close her up, for there was nothing more they could do; her time on this earth would soon come to an end. The first week in December of that Christmas season I remember sitting down with Louise (probably not her name) at LDS Hospital. She worked with patients’ financial concerns and insurance companies. Harriett had worked as a clerk in the Federal Court System in downtown Salt Lake City and had very good insurance, and yet I was informed that we had accumulated a $70,000 bill over the past year. Not having that amount of money available, we were put on a contract to pay so much a month for the remainder of our lives (at least that’s the way it seemed to me). After we left that depressing meeting we had Christmas facing us, and kids who still expected Santa to be as generous as he had always been. The next day, Saturday, we went to the South Towne Mall to do some Christmas shopping. Our most expensive purchase was a number of computer games that were the latest and greatest that 1995 could produce. When we got home and unloaded the car, we could not find the computer games. They were in a black plastic bag, and after thoroughly searching the trunk of the car, we came to the conclusion that they never made it home. So back to the mall we went. I first went to the “Lost and Found” to find no one had found them, or at least no one had turned them in. Next, we retraced our steps, going to each store and looking around and inquiring if anyone had turned in a black plastic bag full of computer games. No one had. Deseret Book was the last store we checked. (Deseret Book was in the mall at the time.) No luck....
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Answer 7th Day Christmas Past: St. George pioneers had a Christmas Gala with potatoes, and dancing in spite of desperate conditions and rainstorms. Congrats to 7th Day drawing winner, DARIA WOOD, who won a hand-painted “Shalom” plate, hand-painted blue & white dish, Olive wood carved nativity on a star, pack of 10 Olive wood laser-cut tree ornaments, Bethlehem baby blanket, pack of 10 5×7 Nauvoo watercolor note cards, and Remember Nauvoo mug -$200 value! Please contact MHA office 801-272-5601 or info@mormonheritage.com by Dec 30, 2022 to arrange for how to receive your prize. Story still available on yesterday’s...
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