The Pan Filled With Food

Art by: Clark Price

To watch on Youtube click here:
https://youtu.be/EvyfKZ1vbhY

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Legion are the stories of those who were there and who suffered almost unto death and who carried all of their lives the scars of that dreadful experience. It was a tragedy without parallel in the western migration of our people. When all is said and done, no one can imagine, no one can appreciate or understand how desperate were their circumstances.

—President Gordon B. Hinckley

God, is a God of miracles. From Gospel Topics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints they define it saying: “A miracle is an extraordinary event caused by the power of God. … Miracles are an important element in the work of Jesus Christ. … They include healings, restoring the dead to life, and resurrection. Miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith is necessary in order for miracles to be manifested.”

In the Church magazine in 2019 the author says: "Miracles come in many forms, but God performs them for the same overall purposes. Sometimes miracles heal, comfort, or physically protect God’s children, but these outward effects are not the only reason for miracles. Often, a miracle doesn’t prevent suffering or tragedy at all. God performs miracles for two basic reasons: to strengthen faith and to accomplish good."

With this thought in mind, that miracles are to strengthen faith and to accomplish good. This is shown over and over again throughout the restoration of The Church. This example comes from a woman living in England in 1856. Ann Rowley, a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was baptized in England, in the early days of the Church. Ann was a widow with a large family and dreamed of gathering with the Saints to Zion.

The journey from England to Utah was expensive and Ann was struggling to provide for her children. Ann didn't give up hope and was finally able to make the journey to Utah. Ann and her eight children set sail to the United States on the ship Thornton in May of 1856 from Liverpool. The family joined the Willie handcart company.

The Willie handcart company left Florence Nebraska in August 16, 1856.

The company struggled with the difficulty of exhaustion and lack of food. The whole company grew weaker and weaker. All got harder when one of Ann's older daughters died on the trail. Seeing her children starving and growing weaker every day was heart wrenching for Ann. Ann would see her children cutting strips of rawhide from the cart wheels and chewing them as they walked for a measure of nourishment.

One night, there was not food left for the family. They would go to bed starving. Ann knelt to pray, and as she did, she remembered two old sea biscuits left over from their ocean voyage weeks earlier. She rummaged through their meager belongings and found the biscuits. The biscuits were very hard, so hard that they could not even be broken, and they were also so small. This family needed a miracle. Ann said "Surely, that was not enough to feed eight people, but five loaves and two fishes were not enough to feed five thousand people eight, but through a miracle Jesus had done it."

Ann took the two pieces of buscuits in the dutch oven and covered them with water. Ann prayed to Father in Heaven for a blessing and placed the pan on the coals.

Ann said "when I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient food."

Francis and Betsy Webster – felt angels helping push the cart: 

In 1856, Francis and Betsy Webster had enough money to travel to Utah in a wagon, but they donated their money to a fund created to help the Saints emigrate to Utah (the Perpetual Emigrating Fund). Their donation allowed an additional nine individuals to travel by handcart. Francis and Betsy, who were expecting a baby, traveled to Salt Lake City with the Martin handcart company and suffered along with the rest of the company. Years later, as Brother Webster sat in a Sunday School class, he listened to some Church members criticize Church leaders for the handcart tragedy. 

Unable to constrain himself, he arose and testified of the blessings of being in the Martin handcart company: “I ask you to stop this criticism for you are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historical facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it. … We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation. But did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? … I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor one moment of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come to Zion in the Martin Handcart Company” (in William R. Palmer, “Pioneers of Southern Utah,” The Instructor, vol. 79, no. 5 [May 1944], 217–18). 

References:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/miracles?lang=eng

"Finding Miracles in Everyday Life", March 2019 by By Breanna Call Herbert, Alex Hugie, and Aspen Stander Church Magazines

"Signs, Wonders and Miracles, extraordinary stories from Early Latter-day Saints: Edited by Glenn Rowson and Dennis Lyman P. 21-22

I knew that the angels of God were there!