- Remember the pioneers

- Have deep sense of gratitude- Show strength, goodness in what we believe

- Have vision of purpose

As great things were expected of the pioneers, so are great things expected of members today, President Gordon B. Hinckley said Sunday morning.

"It is now 1997, and the future lies ahead," President Hinckley continued. "We note what they did with what they had. We have so much more, with an overwhelming challenge to go on building the kingdom. There is much to do. We have a divine mandate to carry the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. We have a charge to teach and baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Before President Hinckley spoke, a video was shown portraying the journeys and sacrifices of the pioneers. (Please see article on page 7.) As the video faded, the prophet stepped to the pulpit. "I wish to go on record concerning the magnitude of what [the pioneers] accomplished and what this means to us," he explained. "It is a story so large in scope, so fraught with human suffering and the workings of faith that it will never grow old or stale.

"Whether you are among the posterity of the pioneers or whether you were baptized only yesterday, each is the beneficiary of their great undertaking. What a marvelous thing to be the recipients of a magnificent heritage that speaks of the guiding hand of the Lord, of the listening ear of His prophets, of the total dedication of a vast congregation of Saints who loved this cause more than life itself. Small wonder that so many hundreds of thousands of us, yea even millions, will pause this coming July to remember them, to celebrate their wondrous accomplishments, and to rejoice in the miraculous thing that has grown from the foundation they laid."

President Hinckley related that following the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri and Illinois, and the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young organized the trek west, beginning on a bitter cold day, Feb. 4, 1846. "Once they said goodbye to Nauvoo, they consigned themselves to the elements of nature and to the mercy of God."

Among those trying to reach the Salt Lake Valley was President Hinckley's grandfather, whose wife and brother-in-law died along the way, leaving the father to carry on with his baby.

The Church president said he stands in awe of Brigham Young's statement in July 1847 when the vanguard first saw the valley - "This is the right place."

"They might have gone on to California or Oregon where the soil had been tested, where there was ample water, where there was a more equable climate. No plow had ever broken the sun-baked soil. Here stood Brigham Young, 46 years of age, telling his people this was the right place. They had never planted a crop nor known a harvest. They knew nothing of the seasons. Thousands of their numbers were coming behind and there would yet be tens of thousands. They accepted Brigham Young's prophetic statement.

"The gathering," said President Hinckley, "was not a haphazard operation."

Legion are the stories, President Hinckley said, of those who suffered. Hundreds died on the long trail. They died of cholera, black canker, sheer exhaustion, hunger and the bitter cold. "It was a tragedy without parallel in the western migration of our people." President Hinckley spoke of 9-year-old Bodil Mortensen from Denmark, who was traveling with the Willie Handcart Company. She went out and gathered brush with which to make a fire, but after returning to her cart, she froze to death. "Starvation and bitter cold drained from her emaciated body the life she had fought for."

Members today stand as recipients of the pioneers' great efforts, President Hinckley declared. "I hope we are thankful. I hope we carry in our hearts a deep sense of gratitude for all that they have done for us. We are engaged in a great and consuming crusade for truth and goodness. Fortunately, we live in a season of good will. There has come down to us an inheritance of respect and honor to our people. We must grasp the torch and run the race.

"The little stone envisioned by Daniel," President Hinckley continued, "is rolling forth in majesty and power. There are still those who scorn. Let us live above it. There are still those who regard us a peculiar people. Let us accept that as a compliment, and go forth showing by the virtue of our lives the strength and goodness of the wonderful thing in which we believe."

He encouraged members to solidify their families and nurture them in righteousness and truth. "With so great an inheritance, we can do no less than our very best. Those who have gone before expect this of us. We have a mandate from the Lord. We have a vision of our cause and purpose.

"The covered wagons of long ago have been replaced by airplanes that today thread the skies. The horse and buggy have been replaced by air-conditioned automobiles that speed over ribbons of highway. Governments of the earth look upon us with respect and favor. The media treat us well. This, I submit, is our great season of opportunity," President Hinckley said.

"We honor best those who have gone before when we serve well in the cause of truth. May the Almighty smile with favor upon us as we seek to do His will, and go forward as `a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.' " (1 Pet. 2:9.)