MOVING: RETURNING TO OUR LAND OF INHERITANCE
While we were waiting for our home to close and to begin our new journey in Manti, Utah we decided to do some family research. We wanted to know if there was an unknown reason why we were being told to move to Sanpete County as the inspiration was strong. We thought maybe there was a connection to the area that was ‘calling’ us.
THAT IS CRAZY
During this ‘waiting’ time for the house to close my youngest daughter was filling up her time doing baptisms. She was on an app that would generate random names from all sides of the family for her to print off and to take to the baptistry, however, this time they were not so random. It would so happen that each time she would print off a few they were of a certain ancestral family. By the time she was finished, she had over 30 family members belonging to the exact same family, all needing their work done! What was crazy was that all of them lived in Sanpete, the exact same area we were moving to! How could that be?
THERE IS EVEN MORE!
Well, this excited us, and as we began to do some research we found even more connections to our ancestors! In our discovery, we found that the 17-year-old boy who was a spy for the prophet Joseph Smith had later in his life lived in the area also! This was a story we have loved and re-shared many times in our lives— hoping to someday locate his gravestone. Little did we know now how close we were going to be to find it.
We also learned that Brad’s family on both sides had immigrated from Denmark to Sanpete County which became a gathering place commissioned by the prophet Brigham Young for many of the Scandinavian people.
GREATEST FIND
Probably the greatest find was to learn that Natalie’s namesake was born in Sanpete County. In fact, we even have found Maudell’s grandmother’s home in Wales, Utah where she lived after her mother died when she was 5. This house sits around the corner from my son who recently has moved to this quaint pioneer town.
After learning so much about our family history and how our gospel roots immigrated here —one only can assume we are “returning to our land of inheritance!” These family converts had become the backbone of the young church and to our posterity. They had sacrificed family, culture, and language when they came to the United States. The legacy we have learned about them grew out of the refining of the best they had to offer: their testimonies, their obedience to Church leaders, and their willingness to contribute to the common good of their fellow Saints. Every cemetery in the county we have found has relatives we belong to.
SAME MISSION
Is this a call to take back and rebuild the land of our fathers and likewise stand with those earlier ancestors that were willing to rise up and declare holiness and Christ as their only God? They purged the worldly influences and replaced them with things that the Lord had sanctioned. They were willing to enlist in the cause in settling a new area to build up the Kingdom of God. And so now are we as we have returned to this land of our inheritance—following in their footsteps!
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Julie
Julie Smith is the Education Director for the Joseph Smith Foundation. She is the former owner of the Glenn J. Kimber Academy in Lehi, Utah. Julie served as a regional trainer—establishing 18 schools in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. She is a certified teacher for The Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Restoration (TJC) and taught the Making of America seminars written by W. Cleon Skousen and Glenn J. Kimber. Some of her children also traveled across the nation, assisting in teaching during these seminars. Julie taught history and Book of Mormon classes for 10 years. Julie is the mother of 5 children and grandmother to 7. She homeschooled for over 27 years, working through family challenges including pornography addiction, testimony faith crises, and teenage rebellion. She writes and teaches on strengthening the family, working with troubled youth, practically applying the teachings of scripture and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and celebrating higher standards. In her spare time, Julie also enjoys gardening, managing her .5-acre homestead, and hosting Sunday dinners with her family! Her home is a revolving door of guests and friends as her family hosts cultural celebrations and teaching events.
