I just got done reading The Fire of the Covenant by Gerald N. Lund for the 2nd time and I was thinking I wished they had a movie to go along with the book. (When I read I play movies in my head to make it seem more real.) Then yesterday I was looking up Cars 2 at a local movie theater so we could take the kids to go see it. That's when I came across the movie title 17 Miracles. At a quick glance I saw it was rated PG, and when I see any movie that is PG, I always look to see what it is about and try to go see it (I like to promote good movies). When I read the synopsis, I knew it was a movie I wanted to go to. It was just what I was looking for! So, after we took the kids to see Cars 2 (btw... super cute movie!), we dropped the kids off at home and Chuck and I went back to see 17 Miracles. I highly recommend the movie to everybody. It is a movie about the Willie handcart company and some of the miracles that were given to them. I found it especially special because one of the miracles they portrayed in the movie was one that happened with my family, Ann Jewell Rowley. Here is the story of that miracle.
The company had been on reduced rations for some time and when a buffalo stampede had come through camp and they had lost oxen and cattle then had to be used to pull wagons, not to be used for food. The kids would then cut strips of loose rawhide from the cart wheels and chew on the hide to help stave off the hunger pains they were experiencing.
(((Here is the miracle, taken from Ann Jewell Rowleys words)))
"There came a time when there seemed to be no food at all. Some of the men left to hunt buffalo. Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God's help as I always did. I got on my knees remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage, they were not large, and were so hard, they couldn't be broken. Surely that was enough to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5000 people either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So, with God's blessing, then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took the lid off a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for His goodness. That night my family had sufficient food. The men returned with buffalo meat, and what wasn't eaten right away by the Saints, was dried into jerky."
It was a heart-touching experience to see this in the movie and made me experience a deeper appreciation for what my family had experienced/suffered through to have the gospel in their lives and for future generations to come (that would be me!).
