Brrrrr...

It has been a busy week even though we haven’t had a lot of guests.  The teamsters continue to take people on sleigh rides and everyone loves it.  It has been an awesome way to bring the community together.  We have had a couple of days when they couldn’t run the horses because the temperatures have been too low.  But the teamsters are such great guys that if someone comes and is dying to go on a ride they will hitch up a team of horses and go out, even when it’s below freezing. 

On Saturday we had the chance to help out with a group who came from Milwaukee. We were together with Elder and Sister Munns.  He served a mission in Argentina and speaks Spanish and it was a Spanish branch that came down specifically to go to the temple.  Part of the branch went to the temple, the kids were entertained at the Stake Center and we had a group in the Visitors’ Center.  Included in our group were some who were not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but had a family member that was.  We explained things at the Visitors’ Center, they went on a sleigh ride and then we went to a few of the places in town like Browning Gun, the Blacksmith shop and the Brickyard.  When we were done we joined the rest of their branch and went out to Carthage.  It was a great experience to be able to tell them about what happened there and share my testimony in Spanish as we stood in the room where Joseph and Hyrum were killed.  I had prayed and studied for over two weeks so that I could have the help from above that I needed to communicate.  And, of course, Heavenly Father came through and I was able to connect with them. I am grateful to have been an instrument in His hands to share His truth.

On Sunday we had the Exodus Fireside in the Visitors' Center. It's the first of many events to honor the pioneers who left Nauvoo in 1846.   The program was excellent.  We learned about pioneers in Nauvoo at the time of the Exodus, then about modern day pioneers around the world, building the church wherever they live and lastly, about how we are pioneers here as we serve our Heavenly Father and touch lives each day. The evening helped me realize, even more, how the decisions I make each day will have an affect on my posterity.  It's not all about today.  It's about how our example to our children, and others around us, will affect the future.  We are today's pioneers.

Yep, a little chilly here.

Elder Thatcher is willing to do
anything to get out of the office.

The snow piled up by the
Browning Gun shop.

Browning Gun

Ice flows along the Mississippi

The river is almost frozen over.

Scott had a private tour of the Mansion House
with Rick MacGregor and Fred Daniels.

At the Browning Gun shop.

Scott spent two days this week making bricks.

At the Stoddard Tin Shop

This is at the Carthage Visitors' Center with the
Spanish group from Milwaukee.

Teaching the Spanish group about the kindness the
jailor showed to Joseph and the others in Carthage.