A handcart that began an epic trek in Siberia last February and made its way throughout Russia and Ukraine was formally presented to the Church July 23 in a brief ceremony in the lobby of the Church Office Building.

President Gordon B. Hinckley received for the Church the handcart, which was filled with written testimonies of members from throughout Eastern Europe and handmade bears and dolls.The handcart, which was transported by train between 17 key cities in Russia and Ukraine for brief parades and public displays, was sent to the United States by air freight. After making a stop in New York City, where it was displayed at the opening reception of an exhibit on the Church at the New York Historical Society on June 25, (See Church News March 8 and June 28) it was then sent on to Salt Lake City and joined the commemorative Mormon Trail Wagon Train on the last part of its trek into the Salt Lake Valley. It was pulled the last few miles by Tamara Vizir, a Latter-day Saint from Ukraine. Helping her were Tamara Talbot, who served a mission in Russia - and who was in Siberia when the handcart was launched on its long journey last February - and Sam D'Arc, who served a mission in Ukraine.

Irene Klushina Bogdan, a member from Russia who was baptized in Moscow in May 1993, and Sister Vizir were invited to represent Latter-day Saints from Eastern Europe in presenting the handcart and its contents to President Hinckley.

"It's a very sobering thing," President Hinckley said, "to realize that this handcart first began to roll in Siberia last February, and of all the places it's been and all the people who have seen it, and finally, after this long journey, it has come to its stop in the valley of the mountains, the Zion of which converts . . . abroad have dreamed throughout their lives in the early years of the Church," President Hinckley said. He pointed out that the dolls are representative of the places where the handcart has been, and spoke of the written testimonies placed in the handcart. "What wonderful expressions of love and loyalty to this great cause which they represent," he said.

"It's interesting that the cart began in the snow of Siberia. This puts us in mind of the terrible suffering of the handcart pioneers of 1856 who pulled carts of this kind. . . . " He spoke of the handcart pioneers who died in the bitter cold, and of the diseases that struck them on their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. "This cart which came out of Siberia brings to mind those tragic events of 1856," he said.

Also at the presentation ceremony were Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Elder Joe J. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy, who serve of the Church's sesquicentennial committee. Also present was Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy, who was serving in the Europe East Area presidency at the time the handcart began its trek in Siberia. Michael R. Von Rosen, Europe East Area public affairs director, accompanied the handcart to Salt Lake City.

On July 24, the handcart was featured in the Days of '47 parade on a float sponsored by the Sandy Utah Crescent Stake.

The handcart will be added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Church History and Art, located at 45 N. West Temple, directly west of Temple Square. (Admission is free. For information about the handcart and other exhibits at the museum, please telephone (801) 240-3310.