Pioneer Houses of God

"Upon my return from my visit to Sanpete County, I felt the desire to learn more about it's early pioneers. I decided to spend a few hours in the new Church History Library and read a little about their history."It was in the year 1849, just two years after they had arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, when Brigham Young, the great colonizer of the West, called a group of Saints to journey south and start building their homes and communities all over again in another desert wasteland. A short time after they had settled in Sanpete, President Heber C. Kimball, a counselor to President Brigham Young, visited the Manti community and promised them that on the hill overlooking the valley, a temple would be built using stone from the mountains to the east. . . ."The cornerstone was laid on April 14, 1879, some 30 years after they had arrived in the Sanpete Valley. There are many stories that could be told about the diligence of the workmen, who put their very best into the construction of this beautiful temple. President Gordon B. Hinckley said several years ago at the rededication of the Manti Temple, 'I have been in the world's great buildings, and in none of these have I had the feeling I get in coming to these pioneer houses of God' (quoted in "Manti Temple Rededicated," Ensign, Aug. 1985, 73). The Hinckley family has a very special connection with the Manti Temple. Sister Marjorie Hinckley's grandfather lost his life from an injury sustained in its construction."
L. Tom Perry, "The Past Way of Facing the Future," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 74

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