No Place Like Home

By Amy A. Wright

Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency

From an interview by Sydney Walker.

My great-great-great grandmother is Mary Wilson Montgomery. She was born in Scotland. She and her husband, Robert, sailed to Canada looking for new opportunities.

In the spring of 1845, they met the missionaries. That winter, Mary and Robert were ready to join the Church. They had to cut a hole in the ice to be baptized!

Mary and Robert moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, USA, to be with other Church members. But soon they were forced to leave their homes. They went to Utah in a covered wagon. They settled in North Ogden at the base of a mountain. It reminded Mary of a mountain in Scotland named Ben Lomond (Beacon Mountain). She asked city leaders to name this mountain Ben Lomond too.They agreed.

When I was growing up, my grandparents lived at the base of Ben Lomond in Utah. We often went to their home to celebrate holidays and special events. In the winter, the snow on the mountain looks like a face. My grandmother told me that the mountain reminded her to be strong, brave, and faithful, like Mary. She said it was like an angel watching over us. “As long as you can see Ben Lomond,” she would say, “you are home.”

I think temples are like Ben Lomond. They remind us to be strong, brave, and faithful. When we look at the temple, we remember our heavenly home. And there’s no place like home!

Illustration by Augusto Zambonato