New Era: Living History

The Isaac Morley farm in Kirtland was the site of the service project. Overgrown with thorny vines, grass choking the lanes, trees crowding the old home, the farm was discouraging. Cleaning it up looked like an impossible task. But never underestimate a determined group of LDS teenagers.

by Janet Thomas, Associate Editor New Era, July 1991, 20

Heaven touched earth in Ohio in the early days of the Church. These Ohio kids traveled back in time to discover some of their spiritual roots.

The Isaac Morley farm in Kirtland was the site of the service project. Overgrown with thorny vines, grass choking the lanes, trees crowding the old home, the farm was discouraging. Cleaning it up looked like an impossible task. But never underestimate a determined group of LDS teenagers. They tore into their assigned tasks with a vengeance. “I haven’t worked that hard in years,” said Autumn Cornaby, 17, of the Dublin Ward. “You could feel everyone working together. I thought we would never be able to clear this road.”

The group stuck with it, ignoring the scratches and the heat. By the end of the day, the road was cleared, the lawn cut, the trees trimmed, and the flowerbeds around the house cleaned out.

After a day of hard work, they heard the stories about the wonderful visions that were given to early Church leaders on the farm. One verse in the 64th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was received on that farm, took on a personal meaning. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).

What was the great work they were building at this youth conference? Certainly it was nothing so ordinary as cleaning up a neglected farm.

No, the great work was the life and testimony of each person who attended the conference. If they feel the same power, the same spirit that those Saints of 150 years ago did in Ohio, then who knows what great things will happen? This group of young people will go out from Ohio to proclaim the gospel as missionaries and as good examples by the way they choose to live their lives.