84. Chad Orton | “Unsung heroes of the Restoration:” Wives of Early Missionaries

Latter-day Saint Women Podcast

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

5 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Attention has long been focused on [early] missionaries’ sacrifices, but comparatively little attention has been paid to their faithful families. These supportive missionary wives and children are unsung heroes of the Restoration, who made sacrifices at home so that the gospel could go forth into the world.” Chad M. Orton, a curator with the Historic Sites division in the Church History Department, shares incredible stories about the challenges faced by many wives and children of early missionaries, and how their roles allowed for missionary work to prosper and the Church to grow. Resources: • https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/those-they-left-behind-a-look-at-missionary-wives-and-children/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Latter-day Saint Women podcast, where we share the legacy of women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
0:11.3	You'll get to know the faithful women who shaped our past and hear from inspiring women of faith today.
0:16.4	I'm Carly Geiman.
0:17.5	And I'm Shailen Back.
0:18.8	We're your co-hosts.
0:20.0	Today we're excited to welcome
0:21.0	Chad Orton to the podcast. Chad, welcome. Thank you. It's good to be here. We're excited to have you.
0:27.0	And just as a brief introduction, Chad M. Orton is a curator with the Historic Sites Division in the
0:32.3	Church History Department. He has a master's degree from BYU, and he's authored several books
0:37.4	and an article for BYU
0:39.8	studies called Those They Left Behind, A Look at Missionary Wives and Children, which we'll be talking about today.
0:45.1	He has seven children and soon to be 12 grandchildren.
0:49.2	So that's very exciting.
0:51.1	We're looking forward to our discussion today because we have a great opportunity
0:54.5	in this episode to honor the lives of the wives of early missionaries just as we honor the
0:59.8	missionaries themselves. So we appreciate you coming on and helping us in that discussion.
1:04.5	Well, thank you. Yeah, sharing your expertise and research. It's a topic that's near and dear
1:08.7	to my heart. In the early church, Chad, as you
1:12.2	have explored and written, missionary calls were much different than they are today. Rather than
1:17.2	volunteering or signing up, husbands and fathers could be called during general conference or
1:22.1	notified via letter. There was no warning. It was very unexpected at times. And as members of the church, I think we're accustomed to hearing about the names and the experiences of these early missionaries. But we don't often hear very much about their wives or their children that were left behind. And it's important and we want to acknowledge today that missionary work and the growth of the church just would not have been possible without these stalwart women and children who kind of kept
1:48.4	things going at home. And so that's what we want to talk with you about today. And I guess in your time
	...

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