Blue skies and warm desert days of the Salt Lake Valley greeted family members as they gathered for three days of renewing and forming family bonds. Some grandchild organizations met on Thursday prior to the registration evening. We hope more will follow this example, as did the Martha Ann Smith Harris Family.
The first-evening-registration-gathering allowed us to chat with friends we hadn’t seen for two years or more. We also had the opportunity to browse and or buy the newly created artwork from sculptors, artists and authors who have focused on the Smith family history. Richard Dutcher, the film-maker of God’s Army, Brigham City, and the new Life of Joseph Smith, was seen in the crowd. He was getting to know the family whose ancestors will be featured in the movie.
In the Joseph Smith Memorial Building we were entertained and instructed about our great heritage. We saw newly discovered pictures; delighted at a powerful portrayal of Joseph and Emma; were awed at seeing some of the original Book of Mormon manuscripts and books that belonged to the Smiths; viewed our growing suite of family web-pages.
The little children were taken to “Father Smith’s Pioneer School and Store†where they played and learned in true pioneer fashion. The teens laughed and cried through stories from the lives of their ancestral heroes the first day. They then saw the Joseph and Hyrum personal property and martyrdom clothes up close and personal by our own Patriarch, Eldred G. Smith.
A special showing of the new big screen film delighted the family, “Testaments, of one fold and one Shepherd.†An afternoon of touring the pioneer sites of Salt Lake and a wonderful mountain barbecue and cowboy songfest in the canyon completed Friday.
Saturday concluded with a sumptuous, formal banquet and entertainment on the twenty-fifth floor of the high-rise building. Sunday morning, we concluded with a devotional, listening first to the Tabernacle Choir broadcast in person, then a powerfully moving oratorio written to memorialize Joseph. Elder Ballard concluded our reunion with a charge to the family to remember the values and live the legacy of these inspired ancestors.