In the fall of 1856, Brigham Young asked the saints to rescue those in the Willie and Martin handcart companies and the Hunt and Hodgett wagon trains trapped in the icy grip of an early Wyoming winter. He also recognized that rescuing these unfortunate souls meant more than providing for the immediate and obvious needs of food, clothing, and physical transport to the Salt Lake Valley.

He counseled those in Salt Lake City to welcome the arriving immigrants and "to have them distributed in the city among the families that have good and comfortable houses" asking the saints to "receive them as your own children, and to have the same feeling for them" (Brigham Young, Nov. 20, 1856, as quoted in Handcarts to Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1956-1860, by Leroy R. Hafen). For many of the courageous handcart immigrants, overcoming the effects of their harrowing experience would take considerable time.

James Godson Bleak was among the rescued members of the Martin company who arrived in Salt Lake City on November 30. He gave thanks to the Lord for his safe arrival in Zion "with my wife and children after a journey of 6 months and 1 week." Destitute, frostbitten, and unable to walk, he felt a debt of gratitude to those who so kindly took him and his entire family into their homes. He recorded, "Elders Stevenson and S. M. Blair have very kindly undertaken to provide me and my family with a home until I recover the use of my legs which are considerably frosted. For this kindness I pray God to bless them and to cause the spirit of increase to rest upon every blessing they have, and supply them with every blessing they need" (James G. Bleak journal, Nov. 30, 1856).

The Blair and Stevenson families followed Brigham Young's counsel, although his request to care for an arriving immigrant family entailed real sacrifice. Even in the best of times, taking in strangers whose physical condition demanded serious and constant care would be challenging. It would be particularly hard in the winter of 1856, as the Utah Territory had experienced two years of drought, while grasshoppers had devoured much of the harvest. Many families could barely provide for themselves.

Yet Seth Blair and Edward Stevenson had personally witnessed suffering on the Mormon Trail and their experience increased the empathy they felt for those unfortunate handcart immigrants. Eighteen months earlier, in June 1855, Seth Blair led a company of saints, many from Texas, on a journey to Zion. The company left for the Salt Lake Valley from Mormon Grove, near Atchison, Kan. Before they even made one hundred miles, a third of the company lay dead or dying from the scourge of cholera. So few remained healthy "a guard can hardly be had or a watch kept through the night of men who may be called well." Seth Blair also noted that "the Elders with me are worn down" but "to their Constancy and faithfulness I could not add a laurel." Their unselfish service was "Enstamped on the hearts of Every man & woman in this camp..." (Seth M. Blair journal, June 23, 1855).

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After Blair became ill, he sent word to his friend and fellow missionary, Edward Stevenson, who arrived and took command of the train while Blair went on ahead to the Salt Lake Valley to recover. It was with these vivid memories of the suffering and heroic service experienced in their own wagon train, that Blair and Stevenson welcomed James Bleak and his family into their home. With empathy born of experience, the decision to welcome and care for James Bleak's family came easily.

One hundred and fifty years later, while physical needs are not as pressing as those that faced Bleak's family, there are still many who desperately seek welcoming arms to help them heal their wounded spirits. President Gordon B. Hinckley has counseled us to be especially helpful to those who are new in the Church or who may be struggling to come back after a long absence. We should always be ready to welcome the stranger.

Who among us has not felt the bitter winter winds of discouragement and disappointment sometime in our lives? At such moments, did not the warmth of a welcoming word of encouragement, a small gift expressing love, or an uplifting letter from a friend, help us remember that a beautiful spring always follows a harsh winter?

As we recall the kindness of others in our behalf, may we seek out, welcome, and care for those around us who, in traveling through their journey of life, find themselves with burdens too heavy to carry. Like the Blair and Stevenson families, who welcomed, clothed, fed, and cared for perfect strangers, our efforts will bless those we serve while blessing us to become more Christlike. For as our Savior has said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). — Michael Landon of the Hooper 8th Ward, Hooper Utah Stake, is an archivist at the Church History Library and Archives.

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