“A Priceless Heritage,” Friend, July 2016, 2–3
From the First Presidency
A Priceless Heritage
Adapted from “A Priceless Heritage of Hope,” Ensign, May 2014, 22–25.
I owe much of my happiness to a man I have never met. He was one of my great-grandparents. He left me a priceless heritage of hope.
His name was Heinrich Eyring. He was born into a wealthy family in Germany, but both of his parents died when he was young. He was left without any money. He felt that his best hope was in going to the United States. He moved to Missouri. There he worked with a man who was a Latter-day Saint. He gave Heinrich a copy of a Church pamphlet. Heinrich read it and studied every word he could find about the Latter-day Saints. He prayed to know if there really were angels that appeared to men, whether there was a living prophet, and whether he had found a true religion. After two months of careful study and prayer, Heinrich was told in a dream that he should be baptized. On March 11, 1855, Heinrich was baptized in a pool of rainwater.
Heinrich left a written history for his descendants. In that history I can feel his love for those of us who would follow. I feel his hope that his descendants might choose to follow him on the path back to our heavenly home. He knew it would not be one choice to make, but many small choices.
Like my ancestor Heinrich, you may be the first in your family to make sacred covenants.
We are all children of a living God. Jesus of Nazareth is His Beloved Son, and this is His Church. It has the keys of the priesthood, and so families can be forever. This is our priceless heritage of hope.
Pioneers Then, Pioneers Now
Heinrich was a pioneer in President Eyring’s family. Who are the pioneers in your family? Look at the pictures below. One shows a pioneer family in the early days of the Church. The other shows a pioneer family today. What is the same about both pictures? What is different?