Elder Christofferson Honors Faithful Ancestors at Sons of Utah Pioneers Event

This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.

By Ryan Jensen, Church News

Growing up in Pleasant Grove, Utah, long before he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder D. Todd Christofferson helped out at the Church’s welfare farm near his home each fall.

“I recall coming here in early mornings to this spot,” he said. “Our volunteer groups would be assigned to come at different times and harvest corn, and weed and all the other things.”

That same spot of land is now where the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple is located. Elder Christofferson shared his memories as he spoke at the 2024 National Encampment of the Sons of Utah Pioneers in American Fork, Utah, on Friday, September 20. He was accompanied by his wife, Sister Kathy Christofferson, and his brother, Greg Christofferson, who is the president of the Mormon Battalion Association.

“I didn’t foresee at that time the glorious purpose to which this spot of ground would be put in the future,” Elder Christofferson said. Likewise, he wondered if the pioneers knew exactly what the future would hold for generations who came after them.

“It is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? To contemplate the heritage that we have been blessed with or that has been bequeathed to us. I find myself thinking, ‘I wonder, would I have had the courage, would I have had the devotion, the stamina, the dedication to accomplish what they did?’”

Elder Christofferson said the question is obviously unanswerable at this time, but he said that he hopes the answer to that question would be in the affirmative.

“You never know unless you are in that circumstance,” he said. Elder Christofferson spoke of how each individual is responsible for using his or her agency to make correct choices, regardless of how big or small those choices might seem or how important or inconsequential they may appear.

“I don’t suppose many of them thought they were in any individual case doing something great and grand. It was just one foot in front of the other, … and yet, what a beautiful, spiritual harvest they produced.”

Quoting from the late Church President Joseph F. Smith in 1905, Elder Christofferson read: “Those things which we call extraordinary, remarkable or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life. After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness” (Juvenile Instructor, December 15, 1905).

“This is a powerful insight,” Elder Christofferson said. “Unfortunately, in my observation and impression, this approach to life — this focus on the small and simple means that bring to pass greater things — is becoming counter cultural. There is now a more prominent attitude that this life is all there is. … The feeling is that there isn’t more. It is the ‘eat, drink and be merry’ approach to things. … Many of the rising generations think that anything that doesn’t give pleasure is a form of oppression.”

Elder Christofferson expressed a desire for individuals today to teach about and learn from those who have gone before.

“I hope that as we have influence in rising generations that we point out the example of pioneer fathers and mothers who really focused on the future and future generations. Much of what they did, they never reaped the benefits of.”

Part of building hope for the future comes as followers of the Savior make and keep covenants that link them with generations forward and backward in time.

“There are certainly commitments made by both parties to a covenant, but what President [Russell M.] Nelson has stressed is that it is more than that. Covenants really are a means that Heavenly Father and His Son use to deepen a relationship with us, so that we have a faith in Them, an assurance, an understanding, a relationship, an association that gives us power that would otherwise not be possible.”

Elder Christofferson recalled President Nelson’s teachings from an October 2022 Liahona article when the Prophet said: “Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him.”

In addition to his message about learning from past pioneers, Elder Christofferson also shared some of what he recently learned from an assignment ministering in the Eurasia Area of the Church. There, he said, he spoke to and heard the stories of current pioneering members of the Church from Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Belarus.

“I was uplifted. I was encouraged by their willingness to press on and press on in good cheer. I believe that is what covenants do for us.”

Copyright 2024 Deseret News Publishing Company.