Mon. Mar. 25, 2019

Spring has sprung!

 We have enjoyed some great spring weather this past week.  Yesterday, we had a true spring rain...complete with thunder !   It has been a happy week :-) and has slipped away so quickly.    On Wednesday, we had a wonderful mission training meeting.  Pres. Lusvardi shared some of the experiences he had in Rome at the temple dedication.  It is an amazing thing that ALL of the twelve apostles and the first presidency were there....the first time that has happened outside of the continental USA in 177 years.  They were only ALL together for a couple of hours and they took some great photos of that !  Hope you all checked out the videos and pictures of that on the Church's website under the newsroom .   

The following is a picture of another service elder : Elder Dallon from Washington state.  He is always happy to help.  The first words out of his mouth are usually: And how is your day going?  Pretty sweet guy !  He was helping Jim set up and place bunkbeds.   We received 19 sets that have to be set up and arranged in housing for the young single sisters that will arrive next Monday.  I spent the week getting some of the houses / apartments cleaned for them....which turned out to be a mega job as somebody told them that they could leave some of their personal stuff while they went "outbound" for the winter months.  Crazy !!   They will not be returning to their former apartments so we have spent several days cleaning out their stuff before actually cleaning the apartments !!

Elder Dallon





So yesterday..Sunday, Mar. 24.. we were asked to serve in Carthage for the afternoon.  We had to hurry out of church in Quincy and we arrived in Carthage with a good 5 minutes to spare before opening.  We were a bit nervous because there is a fairly specific order and script for it but we followed Bro. Jensen for the majority of a tour and then we were thrown into the deep end. It was a really wonderful experience !! Our mission saying goes like this:  See one...Do one...Teach one!!  We saw one then did four !!!   On our 2nd tour, we were showing a video clip to a family in the visitor's center before heading over to the jail and Elder Jensen let a single lady slip into the back (just in front of us) .  When it finished, Jim walked up to the front to give some instructions while I turned on the lights and moved to the exit door to guide them out.  I noticed the lady gave a quick look at Jim and then turned around while I was moving past her.   It was Brenda Wright  from home !!!  I was as surprised as she was !!   We hugged and then continued through the tour.  We caught up with our visit at the end of the tour.   Turns out that she was in Nauvoo with her youngest daugther and 2 grandchildren and was looking for us but gave up trying.  They were just going to stop at Carthage and then continue on to her daughter's house (which is about 5 hours away) and we ran into each other !!   A tender mercy of the Lord for us all !!  Brenda has served as our stake Relief Society president and well as the director of nursing at Raymond General Hospital. 

Brenda Wright and grandchildren.  They were sleeping in the car, so Brenda came into the Visitor's Center alone while her daughter (Karli) stayed in the car until they awoke.  They had just woken up and wanted to see "Joseph Smith's cage"


Carthage is one of my favorite places to serve.  I think that I showed you that we repainted the plaques on the walkway entering into the Visitor's Center last summer.  I really love the peaceful feeling and calm that surround this place.  It seems strange to describe it that way , given the violent things that occurred there but it really is!  A testimony to me that Joseph & Hyrum Smith's deaths were within the plan of our Heavenly Father . They sealed their testimonies with their own blood.  

After finishing in Carthage, we had to hurry home for a zone leaders' meeting.  Needless to say, it was a long day!  We left home at 7:30 am and returned to our humble little place to eat and wind down at 7:00 p.m......nearly 12 hours later!!  Not all days are like that but we are grateful that we have been blessed with the health necessary to do what is asked of us.  We feel a deep satisfaction and joy in being able to serve others. 

That's about it for this week.  Have a great week and we will catch up to you next week ! Love you all!  Have faith...have hope....live like His Son...help others on their way.  (words to one of my favorite Primary songs..He Sent His Son)   A good formula for happiness|!!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019 Goodbye Quincy As the end draws near for our time & service here in Nauvoo, I have been trying to "soak" up each and every opportunity for memories.  We attended our last meetings in Quincy today.  It was fast and testimony meetings as next week is General Conference.  I fully intended to bear my testimony and say goodbye BUT the meeting really was full with the ward members who were giving the same thoughts as I .  I soaked up strength from their testimonies and bore mine in my heart and to my Father in Heaven.  My testimony has strengthened by our service and I love those that we have come to know in our Quincy 2nd ward.  I love watching the horses do their run each Monday morning from pasture to barn. So here you go....again! Look at the soother hung on the fence post....quircky and odd...haha! We conducted our last zone meeting on Wednesday morning and although I was relieved when it was over, I , also will...
Read more
Image
Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 A great week The weeks have been so busy that they are literally flying by.  I will give you a quick review. MONDAY :  we attended our regular prayer meeting at FM compound at 7:00 a.m. where we receive a "thought for the day"  This week's theme is diligence.  I always appreciate these thoughts because it elevates my thoughts for the day beyond the temporal tasks that must be attended to. Immediately after prayer meeting, Jim and I attended a mission leadership council meeting which includes all of the zone leaders and mission staff.  We correlate activities and policies within the mission.    In the evening, a bunch of us missionaries went over to the theater in Keokuk where they were showing a movie entitled "Overcomers"  It is a Christian produced movie similar to Courageous but whose theme was about overcoming adversity and becoming better.  We all enjoyed it!  It was recommended by some fellow missionar...
Read more
Image
Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 We're Home Although we are home, we find that we left a piece of our heart in Nauvoo.  There is not a day that goes by that, we do not think about Nauvoo!   The last week in Nauvoo was a whirlwind of activity as we wanted to soak in everything that we could.  We attended the temple one last time and never tire of the view of the Mississippi valley as we exit that sacred place.   These two oxen were just babies last summer and look at them now!   They are pulling a bigger wagon (not full size, yet) with people inside.  Their trainer takes them out every evening and I really enjoy watching them ! There is also another team of little oxen that are being trained to follow and pull.  They were just born this summer. Our FM group had a weiner roast down at the end of Parley Street to say goodbye to us and look what they did!   They made a funny bouquet with the vase being made out of "min...
Read more