Courtesy of HBLL Special Collections

This gallery illuminates several examples of people who exerted themselves in order to receive visionary revelation. Some examples include: Joseph Smith, Karl G. Maeser, George H. Brimhall, and John M. Whitaker. In writing up that list, I noticed I didn’t list any women. I regretfully also noted how difficult it was for me to name any. In my defense, I can think of plenty of women who receive inspiration, but have these women received a singular visionary revelation? This is not to say that those monumental shifts are superior. In fact, I acknowledge those instances are certainly the exception to the rule, but I wanted to place some women on the list. I did gather a list of some names (LDS and non-LDS women) for further research. In my research, I came across Lucy Mack Smith, and I found some stories I really liked.

After six years of marriage, Lucy became very ill, was diagnosed with “confirmed consumption,” the disease from which her sisters Lovisa and Lovina had died. The doctors had given up hope and condemned her to death. Lucy stated she didn’t feel prepared for death and judgment at all. “I knew not the ways of Christ, besides there appeared to be a dark and lonesome chasm between myself and the Savior, which I dared not attempt to pass.” Though fatigued and bedridden, Lucy spent the night pleading with the Lord to spare her life so she could bring up her children and “be a comfort” to her husband.

“My mind was much agitated during the whole night . . . During this night, I made a solemn covenant with God, that, if he would let me live, I would endeavor to serve him according to the best of my abilities. Shortly after this, I heard a voice say to me, ‘Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Let your heart be comforted; ye believe in God, believe also in me.’

Lucy’s recovery began immediately and she began her lifelong search for a religion that would teach her and her family the way of salvation.

Camlyn Giddins, Gallery Educator

It’s quite easy – even expected – for us to question the need for something when we don’t fully understand the reason why it was created in the first place.  In a small, unobtrusive space in Education in Zion, the history of Family Home Evening is told.

First Presidency, 1915

In the dawn of the 20th century, Joseph F. Smith and other leaders saw a problem.  Children and teenagers had so many auxiliary church programs dedicated to their spiritual education and welfare that they were receiving more instruction there than they were in their own homes.

Additionally, many parents saw teaching in the home as supplementary to the instruction their families received at Church, instead of the other way around.  Sadly, this apathetic mindset is still common today as many LDS parents send their kids off to Young Men/Young Women or Sunday School, considering that to be sufficient for their family’s spiritual instruction.

President Frank Taylor, Granite Stake

In an effort to free up more time for parents to spend with their children, President Smith put together a committee charged with reducing the overlap of the Church’s teaching organizations.  In 1907 this committee recommended that certain programs be merged (out of which came the Primary program as it functions today) and that all auxiliary organizations of the Church place more emphasis on teaching in the home.

In 1909 a stake president named Frank Taylor (son of President John Taylor) set aside Monday evenings for Home Evening in an effort to follow the Church’s emphasis on strengthening the family.

By the spring of 1915, “Family Home Evening” as it came to be known, had become so successful in that stake that President Smith and the First Presidency officially adopted it church-wide, proclaiming the following:

“If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result.  Love at home and obedience to parents will increase.  Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.”

John S. Boyer Family

So what is the big deal?

For nearly 100 years now, families and prophets have testified again and again of the protection and blessings experienced from participating in Family Home Evening.  It represents one of the biggest “deals” of our faith, the deal we made to God to take care of His children as our own – or perhaps in the case of us young adults on campus, the deal we made to bear one another’s burdens and comfort those in need of comfort.

What better opportunity to keep our covenants in extending a loving hand of social and spiritual enlightenment than to attend and participate in Family Home Evening?

- Adam Watson, Communications Major and Education in Zion Gallery Educator

Each year I have seen the eyes of these new students light up as I tell the inspiring stories of men and women in Church and BYU history, and my own excitement of the spirit of BYU is once again ignited.   I love starting the new school year by teaching about the spirit of the Y.

Since Education in Zion’s participation in NSO is fairly new, I never had the opportunity to experience this event as a freshman.  I came to BYU in the summer of 2006 and my time in school has been a season of the greatest joys I have ever experienced.   However, as an English major I have come to understand the truth in binary opposites and have also experienced and learned very difficult lessons here.

Some of these lessons have come as consequences of bad decisions.   Many of these bad decisions revolve around certain choices I have made in academics, and the majority of these consequences I have had to deal with could have been avoided had I made the effort to try or change.

Education in Zion has changed me.  The spirit and message of this exhibition have taught me the importance of education through its countless stories and examples of sacrifice for the greater cause of education.  I have come to realize that if men and women from the beginning of the restored Church’s history would sacrifice so much of their time and material goods to build up a Zion community through education, it must be important.  It must be worth it.

The prayers and sacrifice and trust in the Lord that allowed BYU to become a reality were not made so I could come to this university and slack off.  Too many people have sacrificed too much for even one student’s experience to be wasted.  And from what I’ve learned in the exhibition, it’s not just our pioneer legacy or the traditions of greatness as exemplified by our BYU presidents and professors that makes BYU’s spirit so special and inspiring; it’s also the students.

I am a student.  Therefore it is my responsibility to take from Education in Zion this message of learning and growing together and share that with other students on campus as well as individuals I will meet outside of Provo in the future and the family I will someday have.

Education in Zion invites us each to come unto Christ and be educated in His light.  I wish I was able to connect that when I was 18 and living in the dorms.  I’m not sure how different the end result would be upon graduating, but I do know that I would have made very different decisions academically.

The good news is that I still have one year left at BYU to partake of its spirit and tradition of learning.  I know this year has the potential to be my best.  The even better news, however, is my deeper understanding of an eternal education.  This message, also gleaned from the gallery, has given me hope in leading a more purposeful life outside of BYU after graduation and for the rest of eternity.

-    Danielle Julander, English Major, Education In Zion Gallery Educator

At the beginning of the semester I was determined to succeed in the class. I woke up every day at 6am, got to class by 7:55am and took the seat with the best view of the screen. I started to get excited about biology. But after the first two tests, I felt miserable. I’d failed them despite my best efforts. My excitement turned to cynicism. I slept in until seven and wouldn’t arrive to class until it was halfway over.

Then one day I was assigned to give a tour here at Education in Zion. As I prepared for the tour I prayed that I could have the Spirit to be with me so those who joined me on the tour would understand the things the Lord would have them learn. During the tour we talked about the early saints in Kirtland who studied everything from history and Hebrew to scriptures and science. As I gave the tour something my mom once said came to me. She’d said, “You’re going to a university to receive a universal education.” She’d explained that that meant learning all things pertaining to God’s eternal Plan of Salvation for the benefit of building Zion; to her learning wasn’t about grades, it was about incorporating what you learned into your testimony and using your knowledge to serve others.

After the tour was over, I offered a silent prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father for reminding me of the true importance of my education. I committed myself to look for the spiritual links in biology that would strengthen my testimony. From doing this I gained a greater appreciation of the importance of biology and gained a testimony that God is a marvelous scientist. I didn’t get a terrific grade, but I did receive a terrific education.

- Anna Silver, Education in Zion gallery educator

This math teacher was not like other math teachers. Mr. Black impacted my education in ways that still affect me today, five years later. He did not practice a perfected method of teaching. To be honest, other math teachers were better at teaching math than he was. But, what he did have was a love for his subject matter and a love for his students. He exemplified the teaching strategies of the ultimate teacher, our Savior, and made a lasting mark on my educational inheritance due to the atmosphere of love he created in his classroom.

His name was the first that came to mind while standing in the recent exhibition at Education in Zion called Inheritance. This exhibit represents a semester’s long project where BYU students explored their own educational legacies. Who had a lasting impact on their educations? Who sacrificed so they could learn and grow?

These questions are posed by a collaborative artwork that was on display called Connecting (2010). This sculpture was begun by a number of BYU students that has invited viewers to participate in its creation.  The viewer was invited to think about who in his/her life contributed to one’s own educational inheritance. Then the viewer was asked to write that person’s name on a piece of fabric and tie it to the large ball of fabric, connecting each one of us through the sacrifices of our loved ones. In this way, we are knit together in Zion through our educational heritage, and teachers like Mr. Black are remembered for their love of eternal learning.

Consider your own educational inheritance. Who was a part of yours? How did they impact you, and what do you plan on doing to continue that legacy?

-Breezy Diether, Education in Zion gallery educator