GEMS-Teachings: Our Debt of Gratitude

Gems from the Teachings of Church Leaders
Our Debt of Gratitude
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“How can we pay our debt of gratitude for the heritage of faith demonstrated by pioneers in many lands across the earth who struggled and sacrificed so that the gospel might take root? How is thankfulness expressed for the intrepid handcart pioneers who, by their own brute strength, pulled their meager belongings in handcarts across the scorching plains and through the snows of the high mountain passes to escape persecution and find peaceful worship in these valleys? How can the debt of gratitude possibly be paid by the descendants of the Martin and the Willie and the other handcart companies for the faith of their forebears? . . .

“The descendants of these pioneers can partially settle the account by being true to the cause for which their ancestors suffered so much to be part of.”

Gospel topics: adversity, commitment, faith, gratitude, pioneers

( James E. Faust, “Gratitude As a Saving Principle,” Ensign, May 1990, 87)