The Spoil of the Poor in Your Houses

One of the famous families of the 1856 Willie Handcart Company was Jens and Elsie Nielson from Denmark with their young son Niels and a girl Bodil Mortensen who was with them.  They suffered immensely on the trek to Zion, and both children died and were buried at Rock Creek after the unbelievable climb over Rocky Ridge.  One author described what happened there this way: “In the fury of those storms which raged around them, [Jens] and his faithful wife toiled through the frozen snow till his feet were shapeless and useless with frost—he could walk no farther. What was to be done? Should he sink in the snow to die of despair? His young wife . . . looked at him—how desolate the world would be without him. 'Ride,' she urged. 'I can't leave you—I can pull the cart.'"  The couple miraculously survived and Jens later recorded, “No person can describe it. It cannot be comprehended or understood by any human in this life, but only those who were called to pass through it."  One of the incredible aspects of their story is that they were relatively well off and had the means to travel by wagon instead of handcart.  But they decided to give nearly all of their money to help others and chose to join the handcart company.  He recorded, “I had enough money to come to Utah, but we were counseled to let all the money go we could spare and cross the plains with handcarts.”  Certainly those in the two wagon companies likewise faced terrible challenges, but the going would have been much easier for the Nielsons if they had not sacrificed their means to help others.  The two children even may have survived if they had not been in the handcarts—what an incredible sacrifice they may to help the poor! 

               In this week’s Come, Follow Me reading in the Book of Mormon we find these words of the Lord concerning our treatment of the poor: “The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the vineyard and the spoil of the poor in your houses” (2 Nephi 13:14).  As we look around our own homes, we might ask, “Is the spoil of the poor here too?”  Of course few of us will find items that were directly stolen from those in need, but undoubtedly we will find that for which we have spent money that is of no real use and which we could have instead used to offer aid to those in need.  The Savior has declared numerous occasions in our dispensation that our care for those in need to still extremely important to Him.  His thoughts are summarized well in this verse: “And remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple” (Doctrine and Covenants 52:40).  I am sure that the Nielsons never regretted their decision to give up an opportunity for comfort and share what they had with their fellow Saints, despite the additional suffering they went through because of it.  They showed on that day first and foremost that they were disciples of Jesus Christ.