I would like to bear my testimony of the truth of the restored gospel…My great great grandmother’s name was Mary Hughes Bunnel she was born April 15th 1853 in Kilmarnic, Ayreshire Scotland, the daughter of George Muir and Margaret Hannah, her parents joined the LDS church and in May of 1956 when Mary was only 3 years old and her sister Jane a year and a half, the Muirs set off on their long journey to Utah….the Muirs became handcart pioneers and left Iowa City June 11th,1956…
Little Mary and Jane sat on top of their loaded handcart, their mother was about 6 months pregnant when she started the trip and she became increasingly weak as she walked the long miles day after day climbing mountains,wading rivers and streams and lying down on the hard ground to sleep at night…On Sept.22,1856 a baby boy was born they named him James Mountain (named for where he was born in the mountains a short distance from Fort Bridger, Wyoming)…
The new mother and baby got to ride the rest of the way into Salt Lake City. Mary was the oldest of nine children eventually born to the Muirs…
I feel very blessed to know that they had such an enormous amount of faith that they were willing to literally risk their lives for their faith….it is in her story and others like it that affirm my faith in Jesus Christ and his church. I feel a connection to Mary and the legacy that she has given me, she was very faithful and she was very talented with sewing and quilting which I know has been passed down to me as well..she also did knitting and made clothes for all of her children, and also made beautiful hand made lace…Eventually my Great great grandma would come with her husband Daniel and settle in Orem Utah…they raised fruit hay and grain and had the best horses in Utah at the time…Mary worked in the M.I.A. and the Relief Society and was president for the Primary for many years…
I know that the Lord was guiding them and protecting them on their long journey to Utah, I have known and felt the blessing that the Lord has given me in knowing their hard work and sacrifice and above all faith….I can really never know all of the trials they went through and hardships but I am so thankful for the legacy they have passed down to me…..
Even though we don’t face many of the hardships that they faced we are faced with many different challenges in these latter days that can be just as trying, now more than ever it is important to stand up for what is right, we wont be popular and we will be vilified for standing up for Christ but this is all prophesied in the scriptures, I know we are living in the last days here on Earth, I know that Joseph Smith was instrumental in bring about the Book Of Mormon in these last days, I know the church has been restored and I know that this is true in the name of the son Jesus Christ…Amen..