When hundreds of performing artists present the pioneer "Sesquicentennial Spectacular" at BYU's Cougar Stadium July 24-25, they will "celebrate deliverance," an apostle said April 13.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke at a fireside for dozens of creative artists spearheading various aspects of the production. Elder Holland, recently appointed by the First Presidency to the Sesquicentennial Committee, said the production "will be the culminating public celebration of these five years of sesquicentennial planning."Ticket sales for the event have been brisk - 62,000 were sold the first day - but tickets are still available. The committee is encouraging anyone who still wishes to purchase tickets to do so as soon as possible.

They may be obtained in person at the Marriott Center Ticket Office on the BYU campus; ordered by telephone at 378-BYU1 (or 378-2981) (in Utah County) or 1-800-322-BYU1 (outside of Utah County). A handling fee of $3 per order is charged for tickets ordered by telephone.

Featured performers include the Tabernacle Choir, Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony, Utah Valley Children's and Family Choirs, alumni of BYU performing groups, civic and ethnic organizations and individual LDS artists.

A Pioneer Rendezvous, with a fair-like atmosphere and free admission, will be held on the BYU campus both days of the spectacular, from 2 to 7 p.m. The program in the stadium begins at 8:30 p.m.

Elder Holland said the event honors the pioneers in the spirit of the message contained in D&C 2. That section - Moroni's words to a young Prophet Joseph Smith - is a rendition of Malachi's prophecy that the hearts of the children would turn to their fathers (and mothers) in response to "promises" made to those ancestors.

"The spirit of such promises, as they may apply to our pioneer forebears, must have been that if we got the chance to enjoy the more settled and physically secure part of the dispensation, we would not forget those who had come in an earlier, more difficult time," he said.

Elder Holland said that President Gordon B. Hinckley is boldy leading the Church into an era when it will come "out of obscurity and out of darkness." (See D&C 1:30.) "We are stepping onto the stage of world events and drawing the world's attention. The Church is moving in an accelerated way. Much of that has been possible only because of the faith of those early members of the Church. Celebrating their faith in a day when our own faith is so necessary is much of what this sesquicentennial is about."

He drew a parallel between the celebration that will take place this year and the music and dancing in which the pioneers engaged when there did not seem to be much reason for making music.

"They had to believe," he commented. "They had to have hope. They sang and they danced to keep their spirits up. That's part of the why of this spectacular."

He recounted some poignant stories of pioneers who gathered to the Salt Lake Valley, including the account of Elizabeth Horrocks Jackson, a member of the Martin Handcart Company of 1856. In the midst of the suffering of the Saints in that company, her husband Aaron died due to the extreme exposure, and she was left with three small children, no covering for their head except the stars.

Elder Holland quoted her words: "It will be readily perceived that under such adverse circumstances I had become despondent. I was six or seven thousand miles from my native land, in a wild rocky mountain country, in a destitute condition, the ground covered with snow, the waters covered with ice, and I with three fatherless children with scarcely anything to protect them from the merciless storms."

In that desperate circumstance her deceased husband appeared to her in a dream and said, "Cheer up, Elizabeth, deliverance is at hand."

The dream was fulfilled the next day, when the lead riders from the rescue party sent from Salt Lake City by Brigham Young arrived.

"What we're going to try to do in that stadium," Elder Holland said, "is celebrate deliverance. We're going to sing and dance back across 150 years and tell them that in their darkest hours and grimmest moments, in their greatest time of discouragement, hope still triumphs and deliverance does come, temporally or spiritually, in time or in eternity. Elizabeth Jackson, come to Cougar Stadium on the 24th of July and `cheer up.' Know that the effort was worth it then and it's worth it 150 years later, and it will be worth it 150 years from now. We salute them and celebrate their `Faith in Every Footstep' and thank our Father in Heaven for Zion's deliverance and destiny."