My wife and I had the privilege of attending the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Utah, this summer. One night, before the beginning of the pageant, we spoke to the cast members. Because of the large number of cast members, we had to speak to them in two sessions. The pageant had a cast of over 800 individuals, with 570 of them being under the age of 18. One hundred additional cast members participated this year, requiring the sisters in charge of the wardrobe to come up with additional costumes﻿—which they did. It was an inspiration to see how well organized they were in taking care of every detail.
Embracing the gospel resulted in a complete change of life for them. They left everything behind﻿—their homes, their businesses, their farms, and even their beloved family members﻿—to journey into a wilderness. It must have been a real shock when Brigham Young announced, “This is the … place.”2 Before them was a vast desert wasteland, barren of green hills, trees, and beautiful meadows which most of those early pioneers had known. With firm faith in God and their leaders, the early pioneers went to work to create beautiful communities in the shadows of the mountains.
Many weary pioneers had just started to enjoy some of the modest comforts of life when Brigham Young called them to leave their homes again and journey to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south to colonize the Great Basin. This is how the communities of Sanpete County﻿—Fairview, Ephraim, Manti, Moroni, and Mount Pleasant﻿—were established.
In this case they used lessons from their past experience﻿—the principles of shipbuilding﻿—to help them meet the challenge. They correctly reasoned that the same principles they had applied to building a seaworthy vessel would also apply to building a solid roof. For example, both structures needed to be waterproof. The basic integrity of the structure wouldn’t be affected by its orientation﻿—whether right side up or upside down. The most important thing was to have a working knowledge of the basic principles required to erect any structure that was built to last.