In the sweltering heat of August 1831, several elders were traveling back to Kirtland after surveying the land of Zion in Missouri as directed by the Lord. It was not a pleasant journey. The travelers—Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Ezra Booth, and others—were hot and weary, and tensions soon turned into quarrels. It may have seemed like building Zion, a city of love, unity, and peace, was going to take a long time.
Fortunately, building Zion—in Missouri in 1831 or in our hearts and wards today—doesn’t require us to be perfect. Instead, “of you it is required to forgive,” the Lord said (Doctrine and Covenants 64:10). He requires “the heart and a willing mind” (verse 34). And He requires patience and diligence, for Zion is built on the foundation of “small things,” accomplished by those who do not become “weary in well-doing” (verse 33). [Click on the picture to READ MORE]