Willow Wood Ward - October 2026
Monthly Message from the Bishopric
In 1889, when he was 33 years old, Friedrick William Boehme met Elder Emil Maeser, son of founder of BYU Karl G. Maeser and was shortly baptized with his wife and kids. They were persecuted for their conversion, and after a few years they immigrated to the United States. Friedrick's family moved to Geneva Idaho on the east side of Bear Lake County Idaho. With the small amount of money they had left, they built a log cabin during the winter of 1893. In March when there was still 37 inches of snow on the ground, they cleared snow from the side of the house and set up a small garden. Others in the area ridiculed them saying nothing can grow in that area, except for right along the rivers. The family persevered and that year raised two acres of crops. Over time Geneva developed to raise thousands of tons of hay and grain yearly. At the end of his tough life, Friedrick sold his lands and spent eight months a year in Salt Lake serving in the temple. In 1901, at the age of 73, Elisabetha Tschabold Teuscher came with her son and his family to America from Switzerland. She was the first of her family to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and join the church. They moved to a new settlement in Bear Lake county Idaho called Montpelier where many members from Germany and Switzerland were settling. These were separate lines of my family history. The next few generations of their families lived in the area until my Grandpa Teuscher eventually moved away in the 1950's. On September 25th and 26th, the youth went to Bear Lake for an overnight combined activity. On Saturday morning, we went to tour the open house of the Montpelier Idaho temple, a temple that now stands in that small valley where my Great Great Great Grandma Teuscher and my Great Great Great Grandpa Bohme settled after leaving their home lands and joining the church. They suffered and endured long winters and harsh conditions to build the community and develop the land, creating an area for members from Germany and Switzerland to join together in faith after arriving in Zion. Can you imagine their reaction if you told either of them that 130 years later their Great Great Great Grandson would be a bishop near Salt Lake City, able to drive up in one day, to bring a group of youth to tour a Temple of God in the spot of that small settlement?! I'm humbled to think about the life that my ancestors led, a life of hard work and suffering, in order to move to America to join with new saints in building the Kingdom of God. Their sacrifice and hard work has paved the way for thousands of future members. I know that they are in the Spirit World rejoicing at the dedication of this new temple. I testify that the Keys of Sealing, the power and authority to bind on earth and in heaven, were restored to Joseph Smith by Elijah the Prophet. Just as was prophesied by Malachi, the hearts of the fathers are being turned to their children and the hearts of the children are being turned to their fathers. The work is real!
Bishop
