Spanish Fork's Ensign Peak

On Friday night, at a ward campout, at a group camping area just beyond the little reservoir up above the house where David and Rebecca used to live, Wendy and I were asked to make a short spiritual presentation before people bedded down. (Pictured: an evening view of the valley from near the same camping area, taken Saturday, with Wendy, Olivia, and Jack in the foreground; also, the kids feeding three resident ducks.)

Here is what we said:

[Bob] This setting reminds us of Ensign Peak, the little knob that rises just north of downtown SLC My office was on North Temple I used to run to the top of Ensign Peak and back at lunch (3 miles each way).

[Wendy] Like here, on Ensign Peak there is a better view of the heavens and the stars that God placed there. You also have a wonderful view of the valley, and the lights of the towns below.

[Bob] Two important things that happened on Ensign Peak: 1) On July 26, 1847, Brigham Young and others hiked to the top and dedicated this area as a gathering place for the saints -- a symbol of Isaiah’s prophecy that the Lord would lift up an ensign to the Nations, that his kingdom and temple would be established in the tops of the mountains and all nations would flow unto it, to be taught HIS WAYS.

Wendy] 2) Since there was a no temple in Utah in 1847, Ensign Peak was also set apart temporarily as a place for temple ordinances. For example, Addison Pratt returning from a mission to the South Pacific, received his endowments on Ensign Peak.

[Bob] It has been said that Brigham Young saw Ensign Peak in vision before the Saints left for the west with a flag waving from its top. In vision he also looked out from the peak and saw in the future, these valleys completely filled with homes of the Saints.

Wendy] Mountains and temples are related-- Temples are said to be a connecting place between heaven and earth. Mountains also can get us up above the world and closer to God. We can see the heavens better and we have a better view of what this world is all about. Isaiah called the temple the Mountain of the Lord’s House. As with Ensign Peak, sometimes mountains are a substitute for temples and have been used to administer temple ordinances.

[Bob] Perhaps this Spanish Fork setting tonight can become our Ensign Peak, in which we increase our faith in God, where we rededicate our lives to helping spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to have greater reverence and love for the sacred ordinances of the temple.