Random thoughts and lots of pictures...

Have you ever been somewhere and you want to make sure you soak in every moment of it?  Where you want to notice every detail and remember it forever? I feel that way each time we participate in the finale of the British Pageant, perform in Sunset by the Mississippi, watch a beautiful Nauvoo sunset, participate in mission training, or walk out the door in the morning and see squirrels scampering across the grass.  Every single thing we do in Nauvoo I just want it to become a permanent part of me. 

Here are some random thoughts and feelings I’ve had this week, along with a few things I’ve learned:

• This week in particular I have felt the power of prayer.  I want to express my thanks to so many of you who remember Scott and I in your prayers.  I have felt lifted up, literally, when the pain in my back is a little more than I'm sure I can bear.  I have no doubt where that help comes from.
• The Sacred Grove wasn't sacred until Joseph Smith walked into it.  It was what happened there that made it sacred.  Before that event it was just a grove of trees. Any place that we are can become sacred to us because of what we do there and how we become better because of what happens in that sacred spot. We can make places sacred.
• This IS the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and you can't do this work without feeling the spirit.
• Is it possible that when President Nelson said, "We invite all of God's children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy and qualify for eternal life." that he was acting as the prophet for those who are in the spirit world and is calling on them to receive the temple work that we are offering? Was he addressing us, the living, as well as the dead? 
• Faith is a gift of God.  When I was set apart, President Davis said that our call to serve in the Illinois Nauvoo Mission was a gift from God.  This gift of serving in Nauvoo has certainly strengthened my faith in God. I see the works of his Almighty hands every day.

Lotus in bloom along the banks of the Mississippi.

We saw "Letters of Joseph and Emma" down by the Mansion House.
I learned so much from that short dramatization about the relationship
between Emma and Joseph.

Rob Abney, a former Summerhill neighborhood boy,  portrays Joseph Smith.

In the West Grove we saw the "King Follett Sermon".
Now that sermon contains some profound doctrine!

With "John Taylor" and "Joseph Smith".

The Nauvoo Pipe Band

On Saturday we had the chance to serve with
"Nauvoo on the Road".  We were at the
Old Tyme Thresher Days in Mendon, Illinois.

Our Nauvoo on the Road setup.  We play pioneer games, make ropes,
and talk about family history with the people who stop by.

All the old farm trucks you could ever want to see.

On the wagon and ready to ride in the parade.  We weren't really in
 the parade, per se.  We just happened to be on the wagon shuttle when
they began the parade...so we went along for the ride :0)

Yep, this is the parade we were in...

The awesome round barn that the parade route circled.

One evening at the Nauvoo Pageant we had the chance to sit backstage,
underneath the stage, really.  We watched the crew move the stage up and
down, raise the houses and lift the temple in the last scene of the Pageant. 
It was amazing to see it all from a different perspective.  Unfortunately,
we couldn't take any pictures, so we just took one right before going in.

The Nauvoo Brass Band plays the National Anthem before the Nauvoo Pageant.

So this is one of my favorite parts of Nauvoo.  This is
Sister Thatcher, who portrays Lucy Mack Smith in
Lucy's home at the corner of Hyde and Kimball streets.
 She does an amazing job of sharing Lucy's story and
her conviction that her son Joseph was called as a prophet.

So many miracles, so little time.

There have been so many little tender mercies that have happened this week.  I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for being a part of them.  Heavenly Father is aware of us.  I know that. I just want to take time to share two experiences with you.  

On Wednesday afternoon we had a monster storm that blew in, literally within minutes. The wind blew horribly and the rain came down horizontally, in sheets.  It was pretty intense.  As the storm was coming in President Thatcher asked if I would go to Pioneer Pastimes to help the missionaries get things cleaned up and put away.  When I arrived Elder and Sister Bingham were there trying to take care of it but the rain and wind were blowing so hard it was difficult to get it done.  There was also a woman there who was frantically looking in the cabins and around the area for her cell phone.  She looked everywhere and couldn’t find it.  Her kids were with her looking all over as well.  She finally quit looking and left.  And all this time the rain was pelting us and the wind made it difficult to even stand up.  When we had everything put away I took Elder and Sister Bingham home and went back to the office in the Visitors’ Center.  Yes, I was soaked and left a puddle everywhere I went.  A hour or so later I stopped back at Pioneer Pastimes to help Elder and Sister Flanders sort through the mess we had left earlier during our frantic cleanup.  While doing that, the lady who had been there before looking for her cell phone returned with her family and a few friends to help look some more.  We looked through everything again.  She was looking in the south cabin and I was in the north cabin.  I remember so clearly, I was looking down into a bin of girls’ pioneer clothes and the spirit said to me, “Ask her if she’s said a prayer.”  I thought, ‘Well, of course she has.  That’s a silly question.’ But then I found myself standing up, leaving the cabin and walking towards her as she came out of the south cabin.  I said to her, “I know this is a silly question, but have you prayed about it?  Because Heavenly Father knows where your cell phone is.” She looked at me, got teary-eyed, and shook her head no.  She covered her face with her hands and sobbed a heartfelt prayer to her Heavenly Father. I told her that I knew everything would work out and that she’d find her phone.  We looked around a few minutes more as I said my own silent prayer.  A few minutes passed and we had no luck. The woman and her children walked back to her van, ready to give up and leave.  Then, off in the area north of the cabin came her friend’s voice, “I found it! I found your phone!”  The woman jumped from her van, ran to me and gave me a big hug.  “You were right!  He DID know!”  I grabbed her face in my hands and said, “Now what do you do?!” and she said, “Tell him thanks!”  We went over to the place where her friend had found the phone.  Amazingly enough, even after the downpour we had, her phone still worked. Her children had gathered around and she told them all that she needed to thank Heavenly Father.  She again said the prayer, thanking him for blessing them to find her phone. As “Amen” was said, I looked up to see all four of her children, ranging in age from three to probably 15, looking up at their mother with their mouths hanging open.  They couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.  What a sweet little miracle to be a part of.

Thinking about that experience, I hope that for years to come, when that family talks about their trip to Nauvoo, that they remember their own Nauvoo miracle.  I hope that when her two daughters are in Young Women’s and someone asks if anyone has had an experience with Heavenly Father answering prayers, that they recall their miracle in Nauvoo and their hands shoot up in the air and they testify that, yes, he really does answer prayers.  

The second tender mercy happened this morning.  As I knelt to say my prayers, I thought about asking for the help I can receive from the other side of the veil.  President Nelson has talked quite a bit about that concept.  As I prayed, the words “foreign angels” came into my mind.  That was odd. I wondered who my foreign angels were and I immediately thought of Bro. Hynate in La Oroya, Peru.  We taught him the gospel, he embraced it and was baptized.  He was frail and dying of cancer and just to get him in and out of the font was a feat.  Not long after his baptism he passed away.  I have told his story many times.  It changed how I listen to the spirit…It was our pday, I believe, my companion and I had gone somewhere and were late getting back.  We had promised Bro. Hynate we would visit him that day.  When we arrived home very late I had the impression that we should go see him.  My companion said no, it was too late and we’d go in the morning.  I should have followed the spirit and insisted.  But I didn’t.  I had only been out in the mission field for a month or so and didn’t have the courage to stand up and say yes, we need to go.  That is one of the biggest regrets of my life.  The next morning we went to the Hynate’s little home.  His daughter told us he had passed away during the night.  Before he passed away he kept insisting that he knew the sisters would come visit him, because we said we would.  And we didn’t.  He waited as long as he could, and we didn’t come. I have always hoped that somehow he knew that I had wanted to come that night to visit him.  So this morning when I thought of foreign angels I thought of him. And for a fleeting moment I felt his presence by my side.  I guess we never know who all of those angels are that surround us, lift us up,  and are cheering us on.

More visitors here to see Scott...
Merlene & Rick Olsen from the Church History Museum.

Sam Bostwick, a former student and current member of
the Pageant core cast.  He portrays Robert Laird from
Scotland and does an amazing job with his Scottish accent.

Bryan Hatch, a former Bingham Miner.

The aftermath of the storm that came through.  Branches
like this were scattered all over Nauvoo.

The tree out our back door.

Soaking wet after the storm.

Nauvoo heat.  It's the "Feels Like"
temperature that's the killer.

My question is this...
How can it be 78 degrees, clear skies and 100% humidity?
 I thought 100% humidity meant it was actually raining?

We had another Pageant parking assignment.
This time we rode in style :0)

Our view from pretty much the back row.
Still a nice setting.