Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018

Saints: The Standard of Truth

I was thinking that there wasn't much to tell you this week but as I looked at my pictures, I realized that I was wrong...does that surprise anyone?!?!  LOL  As I left you last week, Jim was doing ushering/security for the Face to Face event with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.  I went to the Visitor's Center to watch it on the big screen.  Jim ended up inside of the sattelite truck that does the transmitting.  He thought that it was cool.  Here is a picture of what it looked like inside. 

 It was an enjoyable event.  They were really promoting the new book "Saints" as a reference guide to read about the history of the church and the early pioneers --written in a very readable style. Hope that you all take the opportunity to watch that on lds.org if you missed it last Sunday.  On Monday, we missionaries met with Elder and Sister Cook on Monday morning for a devotional.  It was really a good meeting.  He took the time to shake each of our hands personally and gave some promises to us, as missionaries, that were really personal.  He said that our service would be a blessing on everyone that we love--even to generations, yet unborn.  I loved that!!  We were not allowed to take pictures because of security reasons.

Next, is a picture of some friends that we have made here.  Elder & S|ister Pollock from southern Utah.  They were working with me in painting until they were needed on grounds this summer.  They were mowing down near the river and had stopped under a tree to take a break when I took this picture.  I had to go down to the Pioneer Memorial to do some touch-up painting and found them there.  We got on our phones and did the search for" relatives around me" on the Family Tree app.  Elder Pollock & I are 9th cousins through the Smiths.  Fun thing to do with people we meet here!

Yesterday morning, Bishop Gerard Causse (Presiding Bishop for the Church) and the head director for Facility Management (I forget his name) were in Nauvoo to do some assessments and we were able to meet with them before sites were open to the public.  Bishop Causse bore his testimony and played a rendition of "Come Come Ye Saints" on the piano.  It was really inspiring.  Apparently, they are planning on completely renovating the Visitors Center in 2020 as well as a few other projects that we don't know about yet.  Last night, the sunset was spectacular so we hurried down to the river and took a couple of pictures. 

Sadly, we missed the best part but this shows the last rays of the setting sun.  Logs are floating by in the river because of the flooding upstream and I hope that you can see it in the next picture as well as the moon shining through the trees while the last rays are showing on the west side of the river.

We are keeping busy and are healthy.  We are appreciative of this blessing every day.  Our testimonies are strengthened every day by the things we see and do.   The Nauvoo temple closed yesterday for an extensive maintenance schedule and will not reopen until the middle of December.  We have really loved being able to run there in 5 minutes and will really miss it.  The temple missionaries are all leaving tomorrow and most of them are released so will not be returning in December.  Nauvoo will really be quiet!

Have an awesome week....we love you all !!