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Good evening. We'd like to get started tonight. I'd like to welcome you all here to the Church History Library's Men and Women of Faith lecture series. Tonight's lecture is entitled "Julia and Emily Hill-- Sisters in Zion," presented by Sister Debbie Jay Christensen We'd like to welcome some special guests this evening. We have sister Christiansen's husband, Elder Craig Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy. We have Elder Marcus B. Nash, who is the assistant Church historian. And we also have our Relief Society Presidency and General Board with us this evening. And we'd like to welcome all of you here. And also sister Nashua-- we're glad that you're here with us, too. Our upcoming lectures for next month, on June 13, we have Jay Perry, who will be speaking on "my mother was always praying-- Latter-day Saint women in East Germany during World War II." And on July 11th, we have Benjamin Pickles. And he'll be speaking on "Useppa, Utah's Pacific Islander Pioneers Through an Archeologist Eyes." I've heard portions of both of their lectures, and they are the most interesting, fascinating things. I encourage you all to try and attend those. They were just wonderful. We are so pleased to be able to hold our lectures in this historic Assembly Hall. Now, at last month's lecture, I gave you just a teaser about our current organ. So tonight, I'd like to tell you just a little bit more about it. As I have been examining and researching this beautiful organ, I have come to appreciate the dedication of the design and symbolism that is represented within it. This concert organ, built by Robert L. Sipe, is a three manual mechanical action organ with 49 stops, 65 rings, and 3,489 pipes. Now, just for the record, the longer the pipe, the lower the sound. Sometimes, some of the pipes are only just a couple of inches long. Now, if you'll draw your attention to the lower, or smaller, case, which is directly behind me, it sits in front of the organ itself. It is composed of four small towers. Now, this smaller case represents the size of the membership of the Church at its organization in 1830. The date 1830 is carved on the bottom of this case. Unfortunately, you have to be right up next to it to be able to actually see the 1830 carved in the wood. Now, the large pipes-- or the main case, as it is known-- is composed of three towers on each side of the center. This main case represents the growth in membership of the Church in 1980, the Church's sesquicentennial year, and the three members of the Godhead on each side in total harmony and equilibrium. The date 1980 appears in the center of this case. The top of the main towers contains a five pointed star in each of the insets. This is used to symbolize Jesus Christ. The star is used in biblical references to Jesus Christ. And it was shown as a sign at his first coming. I'll share just one more piece of information about the organ tonight. Because the Sego lily played such an important role in the life of the early Saints and settlers in the Valley, the architect felt that it was desirable to use it in the design. Symbolically, it was used to represent the members of the Church, the tight bud representing the new member, and the wide open blossom representing the member after receiving the full light and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The other blossoms between these two sizes represent those members in various stages of development. To indicate growth, it was determined to use a vine in lieu of the single short stem on which the Sego lily flower normally grows. The Sego lily appears on the side of the organ case and bench. And if you see the-- and you can see the vine effect on either side of the choir section of the pipes on the main case. Now, to keep my comments from taking away from Sister Christensen's lecture this evening, I'll mention more about various aspects and symbolisms of this organ again next month. I'd like to tell you just a little about Sister Christensen. Debbie Jones Christensen was born in Burbank, California. And she was raised in Utah. She attended schools in Salt Lake, American Fork, Uruguay, and later, she attended Brigham Young University. She has lived 10 years outside the United States-- three years in South America as a child with her family, and seven years in Mexico City with her children and husband, Elder Craig C. Christensen of the First Quorum of Seventy as he presided over the Mexico City East Mission from 1995 through 1998 and as Area President in Mexico from 2004 to 2008. She is an avid reader, artist, and family historian. She has served as a teacher in the Primary, Young Women, Relief Society, and Gospel Doctrine classes, enjoying her time in compassionate service and as a mission mom. A great great granddaughter of Emily Hill, Sister Christensen spent over 10 years researching Emily's life, which resulted in the publication of the book As Sisters in Zion-- the Story Behind the Song. She and her husband are the parents of four children and eight grandchildren. We're pleased this evening to have Sister Christensen speak to us. Sister Christensen.

After they say all those wonderful things about you, then you get really, really nervous.

My brothers and sisters, it's a privilege to be here this evening and talk to you about three women of great faith, great nobility, and women that knew how to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their life, even many years ago. But to start, because I'm a missionary at heart-- in fact, just about a year ago, I woke up one morning and said to my sweetheart, "we've passed the sons of mosiah. We've been missionaries for 15 years." And so because I'm a missionary at heart, we're going to start a little bit at the beginning with the gathering. And so I'd like to read a couple of scriptures. This first one is in John 9:35 through 38. And if you can see this, this is about the blind man that was healed. And after all the tussling with the Pharisees, they cast him out. And every scripture that I'll share with you tonight, I'll pick out a couple of words that mean a great deal to me. It says, "Jesus heard that they had cast the man out. And when he had found him--" it's interesting that the Savior went looking for this man-- "he said unto him--" and here is the inspired question: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And the man answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" I believe this is the beginning of our testimony. When people are gathered in, this is a question that they are often asked. Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And the beginning of their testimony is, "who is He, that I might believe on Him?" And then of course, the Savior-- it's not written up here, but the Savior identifies Himself and tells the man that it is that He is speaking with. And then the man says, "Lord, I believe." So that is testimony. And then we come to a place of true conversion. Because I love Isaiah, and because Emily loved Isaiah, I have to put some Isaiah in here tonight. This is a wonderful scripture on the gathering. And it's interesting the words that are put in here. "Since thou wast precious in my sight, and thou hast been honorable and I have loved thee: therefore I give men for thee, and people for thy life." I like to add, 'therefore, I give prophets for thee and missionaries for thy life' so it's easier to understand. "Fear not. I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the Earth. Even every one that is called by my name--" Jesus Christ-- "for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him." Mosiah 3:19 comes to mind, where it talks about the natural man being enemy to God. And if we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we become new. We become as little children-- humble, meek, submissive. And when it says, I have made him, that is those people that have applied the Atonement into their life. "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes to see and the deaf that have ears to hear. Let all the nations--" and if you mark in your scriptures like I do, go home and circle that word all. That has to do with the hastening that is taking place as we speak. "Let all the nations be gathered together. Let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and shew us former things?" I could easily add the Book of Mormon into that, and it would make perfect sense. Because of the Book of Mormon, we know of the covenants that God has made with the people that came before us, the believers that came before us, and the fulness of the gospel that is found therein. "Shew us former things. Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified. Let them hear and let them say, it is truth." That is what believers from Adam and Eve to us today say. They recognize the light and the gospel and the Atonement. And they say, "it is truth." And so tonight, I'm going to tell you about three faithful women who said, "it is truth." And were faithful to their testimonies of Jesus Christ throughout their entire life. The first one is Emily Hill Woodmansee. She's the one that wrote the song "Sisters in Zion." She had this experience when she was in her early teens. She was part of the Wellesleyan faith. And her cousin, Miriam Slade, came and had her go to Church with her. And I'll tell you more fully about the story in a moment. But this is what Emily recorded. And Emily was a prolific reader and writer. She said, "never shall I forget that day. Surely, it was the turning point of my whole life. A few devoted worshippers of truth met together in a small house to bear testimony to one another and to worship God. I did not even ask, what shall I do to be saved? The way was opened before me. And as simple and as young as I was--" remember, she's in her early teens-- "I instinctively knew I could not err therein." So let me tell you a little bit about the story of the Hills. Thomas and Elizabeth Hill were Emily's parents. Thomas was a landowner. He wasn't extremely wealthy, but he was wealthy enough that his children were taught to read and write. They were educated. They had many, many children. And Emily, at the age of five years old, was the youngest. Her three younger brothers-- the twins, Jacob and Esau, died in their infancy, as did one other little brother. So at the age of five, she was the doted upon youngest child of this large family of children. It is said that she had the appearance of her father and the demeanor of her father. He was gregarious and strong-minded and very religious in the Wellesleyan faith. And Emily was exactly the same. Emily loved reading in the family Bible. She was focused on the New Testament. And she even, at a young age, went and asked their pastor from the Wellesleyan faith, "why are there not Apostles in our Church, living prophets in our Church today as there were in the New Testament in the time of Jesus?" And the pastor said that she was too young to know her own mind. I think that's just delightful. She's having kind of a Joseph Smith experience. In her early teens, she also read Isaiah. She loved Isaiah. And then her cousin, as I have just said, Miriam Slade, came one day. Miriam had just been baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. The hills lived in Warminster, England, which is just west of London. And Miriam came to visit them. And she bore a powerful testimony. This is in about the 1840s. And she bore a powerful testimony of the truth restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And she asked the family go to Church with her the following Sunday. And the parents immediately said, no, no, no. We have our own faith, thank you very much. We're not gathering with those Mormons. And even the older siblings-- they called Emily "Em." That was their term for their little sister. They said, "oh, send Em. She'll tell us all about it anyway." So Emily went with Miriam to Church. And she had this experience that's on the screen behind you, where she just knew it was correct. The truth and the light just burned through her heart. And when they talked about the Atonement, even as a young teenager, she knew this was correct. And she came home just aflame, which is a little unnerving to her parents. And she just bore her testimony of Joseph Smith. And her older sister Julia, who is my great great grandmother, got kind of excited about it, too. And she said, if ever there were a man of God, I know that Joseph is. I want to be baptized a Mormon true. And the parents got nervous then and said, "well, this has affected two of our daughters." And they said to the missionairies that the girls could not be baptized and they wanted the missionaries to leave.

And before they did-- and this is why I stand before you tonight-- a member missionary by the name of John Halliday-- he and his brother George Halliday-- George Halliday migrated to the United States and settled down in Utah County. Well, John and George were kind of in charge of the branches at this time in that part of England. And John Halliday gave young Emily a priesthood blessing. John was a righteous and noble man. And in the blessing, this is what Emily recorded. He said, "Emily, if you will be faithful to your testimony of Jesus Christ throughout your life, you will influence the world by the thousands for good through your prose and verse." Now, I'm going to jump to the end of that priesthood blessing. Emily did migrate to the United States. And after the Willie handcart experience, she wrote a poem called "As Sisters in Zion of the Relief Society." It was put in the Church archives for over 100 years. And in 1985, it was decided that the sisters needed a theme, needed a song. And someone went into the Church archives and chose Emily's poem. It was put to music by Janice Kapp Perry. And do you see the fulfillment of that priesthood blessing? One of the things that I learned from this experience of researching-- there are several that I will share with you tonight, but this is the first one. And I bear witness of its truth, that when a priesthood holder who was righteous gives a priesthood blessing and the recipient is also righteous, I testify to you this night that God respects that, and it will come to pass. That is what I learned, one of the first things that I learned from this research. Every time sisters around the world sing this song, "As Sisters in Zion," that blessing is fulfilled. But it's not by the thousands, it's by the millions. They sing it in Portuguese and Spanish and Japanese, in Korean, in English, and languages all over the world. They sing this, "As Sisters in Zion. And this priesthood blessing given to a young teenage girl in England that she would influence the world by the thousands if she was faithful has come to pass, and continues to come to pass as we sing that song. OK, let me go on quickly because the time just clips along.

So the sisters, the missionaries, and the Hallidays left the Hills alone. And the sister stayed with their parents for four more years. At that point, Julia, who was three years senior to Emily, was old enough to go and do an internship in a nearby town. So she did. And Emily went to visit her. And there, for the first time, freely they gathered with the Saints. And in 1852 they were baptized and surprised by the extreme reaction of their parents. In fact, it's interesting that after Emily and Julia had migrated to the United States, Emily continued to write letters to her parents throughout the rest of her life. And they never once answered back. Here's what I put in the book. Emily's writings expressed her lifelong feelings about the alienation that she and Julia experienced at the time of their conversion. She wrote, "oh, this has been one bitter cup of many I have had to drain." Now, when I share things that Emily is written with you this evening, understand that Emily was prolific and long. And when she wrote a poem or a comment, it was usually a page or two. So you will see just a paragraph, but all of these are much longer. I just shortened them for this talk this night. Throughout her life, Emily carried no hard feelings toward her father and mother, and often sought to communicate with them. Of her father, she was later to write, "dear Father, ofttimes my heart is thrilled with longing till with pain 'tis sore. Would that my wish could be fulfilled that we could meet on Earth once more." Her thoughts on her mother were also expressed in verse: "My mother's worth, my mother's love, Never amplified can be; Where e'er in retrospect I turn, she is all dear to me." So the sisters were baptized, alienated by their family, spent four more years earning passage to America, went northward to Liverpool to the Bramleymore docks, which is where the ship Thornton was waiting. And in 1856, they boarded the ship Thornton and came to America. They landed in New York, took the rails through to Iowa City. And there, they joined with the Willie handcart company. And Julia was 23, and Emily was 20. Now, before I read this verse from John 21-- and I always seem to work John 21 into a talk as well-- let me tell you another story. Let me tell you about the third character in this group of faithful women. Her name is Martha Campkin. And they call her the widow Martha Campkin. Isaac and Martha were married in England. They had six children. And they were planning on gathering. They joined the Church, and they were planning on gathering to Zion. They had earned $600. And a missionary approached them and said, with this $600, many others could gather. And Isaac said, OK, I'll lend you the money with the understanding that when we gather to America, you and the $600 are there when we come to buy a wagon and livestock to go west. And he said, OK. And so he gave them the $600. Well, when they decided to come to Zion, one of their little girls had encountered smallpox and died. They decided that they needed to gather rather swiftly. And so they came to St. Louis. There was no missionary. There was no $600. So Isaac started earning money again to come west. And in the winter, he encountered a very bad cold which developed into pneumonia. And within three days, he died, leaving Martha and five little children-- eight, six, four, two, and Isaac James was about seven or eight months old. Before he died, Isaac asked a young man by the name of Thomas Young to help make sure that his wife and these little children made it to Zion. So Thomas promised that he would. Thomas and Martha and these little children made it to Iowa City. And there, a miracle happened. First of all, Isaac encountered work through the Smoot Wagon Company. And if you remember your history, the Willie handcart company and the Smoot wagon company traveled the Platte River at the very same time and actually arrived in Salt Lake City on the very same day. But because there was livestock, they were often not on the same side of the river because the livestock needed to eat grass. And so often, the Smoot company would be on the opposite side of the river. But when they were on the same side, Thomas was able to help Martha and the children. The miracle that happened is Martha went and asked Captain Willie-- and I respect Captain Willie as a great leader. In fact, he nearly gave his own life to go and find the wagons and save the company. But he was also very logical. And Martha approached him and said, "I'd like to come with you." And he basically said, "no. You can't pull a handcart. You have all these little children. Even if you put two babies in the handcart, how are you going to keep track of all these little children?" And then, two sisters stepped up and said, "we will help you. We will help you, Martha--" this was a stranger-- "with your children. We will help pull the handcart. And we will get safely to Zion." And they did. You've heard of handcarts of women and children. I had no idea that this was in my family history.

And so there were these three women and these little children who were assigned to the handcart. And Captain Willie said, "it's all right because we have a strong 23-year-old and a strong 20-year-old, and they will come." So now, I come to this scripture-- John 21. And I like a particular part of the scripture. This is about Simon Peter, who goes a fishing. But what I like best is what comes after. The disciples, they say unto Peter, "we also go with thee." I think that's just a perfect Relief Society theme, and also for the priesthood holders. "We also go with thee," that when you suffer, that when you hurt, you don't have to do it alone. And you remember in this particular incident, Peter and his friends-- they fished all night. They failed miserably. But in the morning, they saw the Lord together. I love that imagery.

The sisters had the normal experiences that you would have as you cross the plains. And then they came to Rocky Ridge. And it's interesting. As I've done research on Rocky Ridge and many of the people, the firsthand accounts, I found this wonderful poem that Emily wrote called "Hunger and Cold." And I have been changed by this poem. And I've shortened it very much. This is what Emily felt about this entire experience. "Oh, little we know of our troubles in store, of the wilderness vast, that we have to pass over. And sometimes I think the provision most wise is that troubles ahead are oft hid from our eyes. Unless our foreknowledge the evil would cure, 'tis best not to know all that we have to endure." And I jump ahead. "Our rations eked out with discretion and care, had utterly vanished, 'the cupboard was bare.' Not a morsel to eat could we anywhere see, cold, weary, and hungry and helpless were we. Our woes were pathetic and everywhere round--" and listen carefully to how she describes this-- "Every inch of the prairie was snow covered ground, shut off from the world as in ocean's mid waves, the desolate plains offered nothing but graves. Death seemed but a question of limited time--" for everyone-- "yet the faith of these faint ones was truly sublime! On the brink of the tomb, few succumbed to despair--" listen carefully-- "Our trust was in God. Our strength was in prayer." I would like to have heard those prayers. "Oh, whence came those shouts in the still starry night, that filled us and thrilled us with hope and delight? The cheer of newcomers of jubilant sound of triumph and joy over precious ones found.

Life, life was the treasure held out to our view, by the boys from the Valley so brave and so true, the boys from the Valley sent out by their chief, brought clothing and food and abundant relief. Over mountainous steeps and drearisome plains they sought us and found us. Thank God for their pains! Hurrah! And hurrah! From the feeble and strong. Hurrah! And hurrah! From the echoes prolonged. They were saviors, these men whom we hardly had seen, yet it seemed that for ages acquainted we'd been. When fate introduces compassion to need, friendships quickly are founded and ripened with speed. Weatherworn were our friends, but like kings in disguise their souls native grandeur shone out of their eyes. Oh, soft were their hearts who with courage like steel left their homes in the Valley, our sorrow to heal. For helpful and kind as a woman or Saint, these men cheered the feeble, the frozen, the faint. And God bless them for heroes, the tender and bold, who rescued our remnant from hunger and cold." Now, look at the words they have used to describe these men-- "saviors," "who sought us and found us," "Thank God for their pains." "Kings," "heroes." These are the words that the survivors called these brave men who went out. And later on in my talk, I'm going to talk about why this is important.

There was a quote that was given. And as I did research, my opinion of this experience changed. Then, it changed again. And then, it changed a third time. This man, Francis Webster said, "We suffered beyond anything you can imagine, and many died of exposure and starvation. But--" when you say the word but, it changes the sentence. It changes everything. And here's the part I focus on: "Every one of us came through with an absolute knowledge--" that sounds Abrahamic to me. That sounds like the Atonement to me-- "an absolute knowledge that God lives," an absolute knowledge. And so all of a sudden, many, many years ago, I started asking myself the question: What kind of an Abrahamic sacrifice am I willing to make, Debbie Christensen, that I can come through with an absolute knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, that His Atonement has been applied in and through me, and that I am changed and made a new creature because of him, an absolute knowledge? What am I willing to do to have that? I thought about Doctrine and Covenants 38 when the faithful, the just, were waiting in the spirit world for when the Savior would come. It talked about that they had offered a sacrifice in the similitude of the Only Begotten. That's an Abrahamic sacrifice. And my image of this experience started to change. It started to change. And I'll tell you another thing that also made me look at this in a different way. All of the three women and the five little children made it safely to Salt Lake. One week after they arrived in the Valley, Brigham Young stood up and, in the old tabernacle, gave a talk. And I remember one day when I was sleeping and going through all of the research and just sleeping while I was seeing it-- and all of a sudden the Spirit said, "wake up!" And I saw this talk that Brigham Young had given one week after the Willie Company pulled into the Valley. And in it, he had Brigham Young's way that was like this. And he said some very strong things. And I'm going to use my own words, but he stood up and said, I arise to stand and correct your minds and your judgment. Now, the Saints had been taking care of the frozen and the faint this week. They were in their homes. And so what were the Saints judging? Who were they judging? Well, Brigham Young goes on to say, do not judge God. He reigns manna from heaven. You don't think he can bring herds of sleeping Buffalo to lay down next to the starving Saints? You don't think he has the power to do this? This was never about God. And then he went on to say, this was never about the leaders. Do not judge the leaders. And then, he went on to say this was never about the people on the plains, because we've already talked about their sanctifying process and coming to have an absolute knowledge that Jesus is the Christ. So who was this about? He said this was about us in the Valley. God placed in our hands the means to go out and rescue them. And so we were under the obligation to go out and save them. I think that's kind of interesting that our prophet President Monson has written a book called To the Rescue and uses that same analogy.

Before I read this verse to you, let me just finish what I was saying about Brigham Young.

Maybe the opinions that we have of the Willie and the Martin experiences aren't all correct. Maybe we need to evaluate and say, what do I really think about this? First of all, let me just say I acknowledge and absolutely validate all of the suffering and the death that took place there. But I also understand that, like every situation in our Earth life experience, it's a whole experience and there's many factors involved. And the boys from the Valley, and the Saints, were very much a part of this whole equation. And therefore, like I said, it was their responsibility to go out and bring them in. Think about the joy and the bonding that took place as these people nursed their new friends back to health.

This Earth life is about our progress and becoming as the Savior is. That's why we came-- to receive a body and to pass through difficult times. I know that as we go through difficult times, oftentimes we say, "oh, have mercy and apply the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to me right now because I cannot handle the fact that a family member has cancer. I've lost a dear one. Someone has Alzheimer's. Oh, please apply the Atonement and that atoning blood to me that I can be made strong and quickened and more able to bear up under the burdens that I bear in this Earth life." And in that, eventually, we have joy. I love this Hebrews 12:2 that talks about Jesus being the finisher of our faith. But that's not where I'm focused tonight. I'm focused on the second part that says-- and this is referring to Jesus Christ-- "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." So I ask myself, what joy was that, that was set before the Savior so that he could endure that terrible pain and stay on the cross until he said, "it is finished"? Well, there's probably many reasons, but may I put one before your eyes this evening. We apply the Atonement in our lives in this Earth life to help wash us clean, to make us stronger, to enable us through the grace of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be more than we are naturally able to be-- all of those things. But think about the morning of the first Resurrection, my dear friends, when the fullness of the Atonement is in and through us when we are resurrected with perfect and immortal bodies, and not just resurrected, but washed clean of every spot, and we're there with our families. And in that moment of tremendous joy, we look at our Savior. What is He feeling when he looks at all of us? What is he feeling? Joy.

"Who for the joy that was set before him endured he the cross." I love that passage of scripture. How am I doing on time? OK. I'm not sure about what time it is. I love Isaiah. I said that already. So did Emily.

There's something we're going to say when we see the Savior face to face. I just wanted you all to know what it is so you'll know what to say. "And it shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, He has saved us." He has saved us. Lo, this is the Lord Jesus Christ. I am grateful that Isaiah wrote that one down. And I wanted to share that with all of you because then you'll be able to know what to say when that day comes.

I would like to tell you and just stop for one moment right here-- tell you a little bit about this painting that's right next to me. This is painted by a famous artist by the name of William Whittaker. He doesn't often paint Church things, but his family was from the Martin Company. And his wife was my Relief Society President in Provo. And when I was doing all this research and I came to him one day and said, "could I commission a religious painting," he said, "well, I don't do these." And I said, "well, it's about the Willie handcart company." And he said, "well, OK. Maybe this once." He said, "my family was in the Martin company." I was in charge of-- I was the first counselor in the young woman's presidency in our ward after we came back from our mission. I was called to that calling. And we were going on a trek. In fact, before I finish telling you about the painting, let me just say thank you to my sweetheart, Elder Craig Christensen, because he put me on this path. When we went on this trek with these youth, they asked us to go do some research and find out about our families. I have some of my family right down here. And so he said, "now, don't you, in your book of remembrance, have one of those family group sheets? And isn't there a woman there way at the bottom named Julia Hill Ivans? And why don't you research her?" And he got on the internet. And he said, "her sister's name is Emily. And she wrote that song, "Sisters in Zion." Why don't you research them?" Well, that was in the year 2000. And it's been a wonderful journey. So I need to thank my sweetheart for this wonderful journey and for finally seeing what was right under my nose. So let me finish telling you about this painting. We took this picture and the picture of Emily. And we dressed up my Mia Maids in costumes from England from the 1850s and commissioned this painting of the sisters. And I said, "they need to look directly at you," is what I told the artist. "They need to look directly at you as if the sisters are saying, 'my beloved sisters of the future, be faithful in your day. Apply the Atonement in your life so that you can be made strong.'" And I like that they look directly at us. They had fairly nice clothes that were surely in tatters by the time they got to Salt Lake. I kind of joked with the artist and said they didn't have those perfect little ribbons. But they had brooches and things that they could trade for food. It was interesting. He set up his tripod and started taking pictures of these young Mia Maids dressed up. And then, of course, we changed the faces. But then, all of a sudden, he stopped. We were out in just a grassy field. He stopped and said, "Debbie Christensen, come immediately." And I went over. And I looked through the tripod. And there were the sisters. And there were many experiences like that told me that I was on the right track. Before we went on our trek with youth, one night, I went to sleep, and I had a dream. And I won't share much of it with you, but I saw Julia and Emily on Rocky Ridge helping each other. And I woke up, and my pillow was all wet. And I had made a promise that I would follow this story through to the end. I believe that we are at the end with this book.

I love that it looks like they're suffering. But they look directly at us and say, "be faithful." Remember, Emily and Julia were faithful all the days of their life to their testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, I'd like to share just a couple of other little things with you. In this book-- this is the book. Desert Book did a good job. In the back of the book, we included actual photographs. And photography didn't come along until later on. There's actual pictures of the women.

This is Martha. This is Martha, who had the five little children who the sisters helped. This is Julia before she passed away right after her 60th birthday. And this is Emily, her sister. Now, let me just tell you very briefly what happened to the three women. My great great grandmother, Julia Hill Ivans, who is this one--

she married a rescuer named Israel Ivans. And they were called by Brigham Young to settle Dixie. Outside of St. George the little town called Ivans? That's our family. That's our family. They had eight children, four of whom died before the age of two. And we come from the surviving son, William. It goes Julia, William her son. And then it goes my grandmother, Bliss, and then her son, my father-- William-- and then me. I'm Debbie Bliss. And then I have a son-- we have a son named William also. So it kind of goes around and around. They are buried in the old St. George cemetery in plot 87 in St. George. They were faithful all the days of their life. Martha went north. She settled up in Brigham City. She married Thomas Young, the teamster. And they were very happy together. They had many children as well. Martha was a snappy dresser and a good little business mine. And she would sell things to earn money. In fact, Elder Perry is a relative of hers, which I didn't know when I started on this journey. And they're buried up in that area. Emily had a very difficult life. Emily is this one over here wrapped up in the blanket.

Emily married a rescuer. They had a child. And then he went back east on a mission and abandoned her, wrote her a letter that said, "I denounce the Church. I was never married to you, and we never had a child."

And Emily said, all of the trials of the Willie handcart experience paled in comparison to putting your utmost trust in someone and having them abandon you. And so she was divorced at a time in Salt Lake where no one was divorced for no fault of her own. Brothers and sisters, let's never judge. Please, let's never judge. Emily has taught me that as well. She had a good business mind. And she started her own real estate business. She bought and sold houses and provided a home for herself and her child. And eventually, she had a very happy marriage to a man by the name of Joseph Woodmansee. Her name is Emily Hill Woodmansee. And they had many children themselves. And many of their children died as well. They're buried here in Salt Lake. But if you go into the Church archives and you do research on prolific pioneer women writers, you will find that Emily is one of them. She wrote several hymns. She wrote one about the Prophet that I really-- Prophet Joseph Smith that I love. It's still a poem. She recorded many things. And there's much to read and understand about this faithful woman who was true to her testimony of Jesus Christ throughout her most difficult life. And now I'd like to finish and just say thank you for a couple of things.

First of all, like I said at the beginning, we never know the end of a priesthood blessing. When the person giving the blessing is a righteous priesthood holder and the recipient is a righteous person as well, I know that Heavenly Father respects that priesthood blessing. And it will come to pass. I know this. I have learned it over all of these years that I have done research. It has been confirmed to my mind and my heart again and again and again. That's the first thing. The second thing is that as we go through our Earth trials, as we are faithful to our testimony of Jesus Christ, remember that things aren't always what they seem. When I first started studying this about the Willie handcart company, I had certain preconceived notions of what it was. And through all the research, I came to discover and see with new spiritual eyes that that's not the way Brigham Young saw it-- and he was the living prophet at the time-- that this was about the people in the Valley. And so when I have trials now, I always ask myself, how should I really see this? What is the truth of all things about this experience that I'm going through? And oh, have mercy, and let me apply the Atonement that I can be strong enough to bear up under the burdens that we are asked to bear in this Earth life. I'm grateful for the sisters and for Martha, who have become dear friends through the veil.

The veil does get thin sometimes. And I love these sisters because they have spoken to me as a voice from the dust. And not just that, they have testified to me and helped strengthen me in my hour of need. I think there's power in this song, "As Sisters in Zion." When women sing it all over the world and they feel something in their heart, it is because the Holy Ghost bears witness of truth. This is truth. That's what we say, as Isaiah said. It is truth. And if they feel something, there's a reason, because these women were women of faith. And they were faithful throughout their lives. So I would like to share these things with you and one last thing that is a treasure in my heart. When we were in Mexico for the second time, my husband had been called as a General Authority and he was the area president down in Mexico. And in the year 2000, I had written an article that the ensign purchased. And they said, "we don't know when we'll publish it." And I said, "that's fine. Whenever it comes out." It was about the "Sisters in Zion" song. It was just a short little article. It came out while we were in Mexico. And the letters started to come, but they came to Salt Lake and were forwarded down to us.

Of all of the letters, this is my greatest treasure. And this is the original. It's from a woman named Teresa who is a relative of Martha Campkin. She is the one that tied the sisters to Martha for me. And let me share something with you.

She says, "Julie and Emily have been known to our family for many, many generations. They did a great service to my great grandmother, Martha Campkin, and her five little children. I'm so glad after these generations that we have found someone from their family to say thank you."

When you offer a good deed-- and this is the last thing that I'll say-- you do not know the end thereof and the generations that may bless your name because of that kind act. I share these thoughts and feelings with you about these three wonderful women of faith. And I do so in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Would you like to ask any questions? Oh, and make sure that you stand up so the microphone can come to you.

I have four girls-- a boy, and had a little girl six months ago. And my oldest is nine. And I always picture that we will work together in our home like sisters in Zion, just like the song. And it will be peaceful. So can you give me-- How's that working for you? Yes, can you give me any tips or hints, especially in the teenage years, of how this can happen? Well, the only thing that I would say is in those moments of quiet, which there aren't very many, take those little ones on your lap and really look into their face and say, you are a child of God. He loves you so much. And you have a Savior who atoned for you. And even though they may not understand the words, they'll understand the way you look at them. And you can portray that to them. I think that would be a lovely thing to do. Any other questions? There's a question down here.

I was just wondering if there's any symbolism to the men or the people standing in the background in the painting. Do you know what? It was interesting. Thank you for asking that. When the artist finished the painting-- and I was an art major at Brigham Young a long time ago. But when the artist finished the painting, he had me sit down on a stool right in front of it and said to me, do I need to fix anything? And I said, I need to know-- I need these people in the background to be a little more real. I need to see them a little more because these were their friends. These were the ones that had the same experience. So he made those a little more visible. He touched up the pink on the horizon. And you know when there's going to be a storm there's always pink in the morning. And he put more snow into it. And I said, it has to have more snow because it just had a little bit of snow. You'll notice the dirt on their skirts and on their blankets because they were sleeping in tents. But they were getting dirty and muddy. Anyway, the sisters wore those hard bonnets trying to protect their face, but I don't think those lasted very long. They were just their friends, and I wanted them to be part of the painting.

So any other questions? Are we about done? At what point in her life did she write the song "As Sisters in Zion?" Do you know more of the background? Was there a certain event that spurred that poem? Well, it's interesting because she wrote throughout her life. She started when she was-- she could write. Some of the stuff I think that she-- it's interesting. Before I answer your question, we visited my sister back in Minnesota. And one of their dear friends back in Minnesota is a direct descendant of Emily's and they have in their possession a couple of the items of the 17 pounds that Emily was allowed to bring in the handcart. And it's interesting. She was a good English girl. So she had a couple of little, silver, English-- you would make not tea, but something like that. She had a couple of little things like that and a chalkboard with chalk, which is so Emily because she needed to write. She needed to write. And they have those. Once she got to Salt Lake, she started to write immediately. When she wrote this song, "As Sisters in Zion"-- I'm not sure. I think it was in the 1860s, but I'll have to check on that. She had been divorced by then. Well, at least that was imminent. And that was a terrible experience in her life. And what happened is the sisters gathered around and took care of her as she had taken care of-- at one point she helped my great great grandmother survive the Willie handcart experience. She actually helped her into the wagon and at one point-- to get stand up and move the handcart. And so Emily helped others. She was very strong. She said things like-- even though she was a good Victorian woman, she believed that she needed to descend below all things and pull a handcart 1,000 miles. And she said, "I set my foot down that I would do this," and she did it. She did it. She wrote throughout her life. And if you just go online to see Emily Hill Woodmansee, you'll see all kinds of remarkable things. And read this "Hunger and Cold" all the way through. It's remarkable. Any other questions? Yes, one question here.

Oh, hi. What were the other songs that Emily wrote?

What did I just say, "Provenance is All There?" She wrote one for Joseph Smith that was never put to music. That's a wonderful one. And in fact, that's probably my favorite next to "Sisters in Zion."

There's several of them, but they're kind of long and lengthy, so you'll need your dad to help you kind of weed through those. But I hope you'll go online and look at some of those. Will you do that? How old are you? 10. 10. Do you know this story that I just told you about those five little kids? The oldest one was 8. So how would it feel to have that experience and go up Rocky Ridge at being 10 years old? That would be amazing, wouldn't it? You'd have to be really brave, huh? Thank you. Do you have any other questions? No.

OK. One more question. I saw one right back here. I'm sorry. I just wanted to share a story on "As Sisters in Zion." I was serving as Relief Society President-- I love these stories. Yeah. And we had a sister from Zimbabwe in our ward [INAUDIBLE]. And she was despondent because her family in Zimbabwe were starving along with the people in the village. And her mother was Relief Society President. The Church could not get the humanitarian needs to the village. And they had no matches, no oil, no flour or anything. And they were so hungry. And our little ward-- we raised $1,000 and sent it to Botswana. And the district leader went and bought the flour and the oil and matches and took it to feed the village. And on that Sunday morning-- ward in the avenues. And that village Relief Society at the same time sang "As Sisters in Zion." And our hearts were connected across the world. And they sent a beautiful picture of all these women in their hats and with their oil and their matches and their flour. And so our hearts have been bonded. I'm so proud of you for being a sister in Zion in the truest sense. Thank you so much. Thank you for this opportunity. [APPLAUSE]

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