More to think about...

All of the flowers that FM planted a few weeks ago are filling in and looking so gorgeous.  We appreciate all of their work to make Nauvoo such a beautiful place.

"Mission Time" is so odd.  It seems that the days move slowly but the weeks just fly by.  Here it is almost the end of June.  Before I know it we'll be on to a new month.  This week Scott was able to rotate serving in the Browning Gun Shop, the Blacksmith Shop, the Family Living Center and Pioneer Pastimes.  He loves the variety and the opportunity to share his love of Nauvoo with the visitors.  And we have had plenty of visitors.  This week we had two large groups of youth, one from Midland, Michigan and the other from Fort Collins, Colorado.  They sure kept us all busy!

Serving as a missionary always provides so many opportunities for learning and plenty of growth.  I am surrounded by such insightful people who express themselves very eloquently.  Such was the case today...

In sacrament meeting Elder Merrill, one of the YPM elders, spoke about “authenticity of heart”.  He spoke about it in relation to singing hymns, praying and partaking of the sacrament.  There are levels of engagement we all have as we do these things; just reciting the words, thinking about the words, feeling the words and making them our own, and then having the Holy Spirit confirm the truthfulness of the words and feelings to our hearts. He quoted Bruce R. McConkie in his last General Conference address when he said, “In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets. True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word.” I remember hearing Elder McConkie speak those words and they were powerful. 

  

This topic of being fully engaged in the gospel, though I wasn’t so eloquent as to call it “authenticity of heart”, has been on my mind lately.  It’s easy for me to just “say” my prayers and move on to the next part of my day.  It’s easy for me to take the bread and water as a part of the sacrament and then think of other things besides the Savior during the sacrament.  It’s easy for me to read the Book of Mormon each morning and then not give it another thought throughout the day. Is any of that really going to get me where I'd like to be? Is it going to increase my ability to receive personal revelation? My guess is no.  It won’t unless I make those activities a part of me, a part of my heart and I begin to really love the things that God loves.   When I begin to do that I begin to have a change of heart.  It's a work in progress and it takes focus.  I have a long way to go :0)

Another Mississippi River sunset.  

Our visitors in the Blacksmith shop last week.

They're cute little guys, but wreck havoc wherever they go!

The days have been quite cool,
even though the humidity has been high.

Always learning, always growing.

The last two weeks have been super busy, but lots of fun.  We have had so many youth groups here.  They have come by the bus loads.  We’ve had groups from Texas, Utah, Georgia, Illinois and Iowa.  And that is just the beginning.  We’ve also had our own visitors.  We had Scott’s Uncle Ted, Aunt Linda, brother Russ, and sister-in-law Janice come stay.  It was so great to have them here and just feel Nauvoo.  The day they all left Cristy Dillman, her daughter Brittany, and grandkids came.  We had a lot of fun together.  We love sharing Nauvoo!

Each week we have mission training on Wednesday mornings.  President Lusvardi is a master teacher and I learn so much from him every time.  And when I learn new concepts it inspires me to study more on my own and step up my game.  On top of mission training we had the amazing opportunity to have Elder S. Gifford Nielsen and his wife come for a mission tour.  They were here for three days and we had some awesome meetings.  For me, the most important thing I felt from Elder Nielsen was his burning testimony of who Russell M. Nelson is.  Here are just a few of the concepts I learned this week:

·      From President Lusvardi: Prophets walked the streets of Nauvoo in the 1840’s and they still do today.  History was made here, and it continues to be made here.  And we are a part of that history.

·      We are here in Nauvoo to help people feel the Savior’s love for them. 

·      This entire place feels like a temple.

·      From Sister Wendy Nielsen – we need to have a solid understanding of the answers to the four Primary questions; Does God live? Is Jesus Christ our Savior? Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God? Is the Book of Mormon really the word of God? And we shouldn’t get lost in any of the secondary questions. 

·      From Elder Gifford Nielsen: Testified that Russell M. Nelson really is the Savior’s prophet. Recently President Nelson taught the General Authorities in the temple that in order to have the personal revelation that he has asked us to seek we need to be clean.  That cleanliness through repentance makes the veil more thin and makes revelation more available.  President Nelson said that the original word in Hebrew for repentance is SHUB, which means “to turn”.  In Greek the word is METANOEO, which means “metamorphosis”, to change, to think differently.  Then the Latin became POENITERRE, or punishment. Thankfully, the real meaning of repentance is the original Greek and Hebrew meanings, to become a new person by turning to Christ and should be a joyful journey.  I love that concept.

·      The more profound the obstacle the more profound the miracle.  This is a gospel of miracles.

We love serving here and are grateful for new opportunities each day.  

All of the senior sister missionaries in our "Sunset by the Mississippi" cast.

Belting out "Stouthearted Men" :0)

Dancing our way through "Mississippi Mud"

It was a week of having visitors from home and we loved it!
Linda, Ted Russ and Janice came on Saturday evening.

At the home of John Taylor.

After a tour of the Blacksmith Shop with Scott.

At the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds.
Edward Partridge is one of my favorites.

We had a great visit from Cristy Dillman, her daughter Brittany
and grandkids.  It was fun to show them around Nauvoo!

Sister Wendy Nielsen

Elder S. Gifford Nielsen

We were taught well by Elder and Sister Nielsen.