Industry

The Utah state motto is "Industry," no doubt inspired by the first Mormon pioneers to settle in the Salt Lake Valley. It certainly took some industry to get to the desert from the midwest, following the Oregon Trail through the snow and scorching sun. Once they got here, the pioneers created gardens and crops and houses and schools out of nothing. They learned the art of painting ordinary wood with grain to make it look like expensive fir. That's industry that few of us today would be able to replicate.

But the Latter-day Saints are still anxiously engaged, from what I can see, in making life beautiful and enriching it for those around them. Yesterday, I had to go to the church for a sound check. I'm playing in a quartet for the Stake Night of Music tonight. This production involves professional sound guys who just happen to live in the area, as well as dozens of musicians who have been practicing to meet the high standard of the Night of Music. All morning, choirs and instrumentalists were coming and going, lugging equipment and toting children. Simultaneously, a group was setting up tables for 200 in another room, preparing a meal in the church's kitchen.

After making gingerbread and lentil soup for our own ward party, I took my kids to the church two hours before the party, to set up Christmas trees and snowflakes and tables and chairs for a Scandinavian Christmas. Others on the party committee brought their teenagers who got right to work carrying heavy stuff. In the chapel, a steady stream of organists came and went, practicing their hymns for Sunday. Meanwhile, Scott was at his office putting together a roster for the church's basketball tournament. He still arrived in plenty of time to string snowflakes all across the cultural hall.

The party consisted of a dinner for 300, a program of music and storytelling and a craft room for the children. Father Christmas came and left a wrapped gift for each of the 100 kids who left a shoe out for him to fill. Afterwards, people with kids up past their bedtime stayed to help vacuum and put chairs away. This morning, the same people were up early at choir practice and meetings. Two of our neighbors are plowing our driveway and everyone else's right now, on Sunday morning. Scott is at the church. Golda and Ruby are getting ready to rehearse with their pianist for a song in sacrament meeting. It's not just us and our neighbors. (Scott and I have two of the easiest jobs in the church.) Latter-day Saints all over the world are preparing for three hours of church today. My parents went to church in Paris today, and it was the same as it is here; people teaching lessons, leading music, welcoming visitors. Mormons aren't perfect, for sure. And we don't have a monopoly on charity or hard work. But still, it's great to be part of a culture where everyone around us is anxiously engaged in service and industry, all predicated on one idea: that we do it all because we know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.