Monday—June 30—AM
shift. Tonight we had a huge thunder and lightning storm.
This went on for more than 30 minutes. It was quite spectacular. It happened when we went to bed and the whole room lit up every time there was lightning. We do not get those kinds of storms in California.
Tuesday—July 1—wow, already
July, my how time is flying by. After our AM shift e went to have lunch at Grandpa John’s—they
have awesome French fries. While we were
on Mulholland we saw the Nauvoo Bagpipe Band performing. This band comes every year the week before
the Pageant starts to go to several of the outlying areas to play and publicize
the Nauvoo Pageant. They are all
volunteers and come for a 2 week stint just like the cast from the
Pageant. So in essence, the performers
change every two weeks. There is a core
cast for the Pageant but all of the rest of the supporting cast comes for just
2 weeks and then a new cast comes in as we understand it. It was quite a special treat to just come
upon the band today and we really felt the spirit of their performance and were
reminded of President Hinckley’s love the bagpipes. A picture is included in this weeks album (link included at the end of this post.)
Wednesday—July 2—After our AM
shift today we had a message that Norma and Larry Crowder dear friends from Elwood,
Indiana were in town and so we were able to visit and have dinner with them at the Hotel Nauvoo Buffet. After dinner we went to the
Susan Easton Black Durrant Lecture on the saints in Quincy. Two significant conversions took place
there. The Ezra T. Benson family and the
John Browning family. President Ezra
Taft Benson came from this family and John Browning is the gunsmith who gave
much to help the saints. It was great fun to see Norma and Larry.
Thursday—July 3—We went to the S. E. B. D. lecture in the
morning on Baptisims for the Dead. They
were first performed in Nauvoo in the Mississippi River and most of the temple
revelations came to Joseph Smith when he was conducting and speaking at the
many funerals in Nauvoo. After we were
done with our shift we went to Sunset on the Mississippi. Another thoroughly enjoyable
performance. When we got home we had a
message from Wanda and Dean Jacobs telling us there were in Nauvoo and wanted
to come over after they finished dinner.
So about 9:30 they showed up and we chatted for a while and then made
plans to have lunch on Friday at Grandpa John’s at 11:30. What a treat to see Wanda and how happy she
is beging married to Dean. Fun time.
Friday—July 4—7 AM Flag
Raising Ceremony at the Visitor’s Center.
Nauvoo Brass Band and a brief patriotic message started off our 4th
of July celebration which really brought the spirit of this great day of
celebration in America.
One of the quotes that was mentioned came from Harold B. Lee on this
great nation of America:
The picture album has pictures of the Parley Street flooding in Nauvoo.
Sunday—July 6—we went to church today in the Nauvoo 1st Ward because we were having the Break the Fast Event at the Curtis home. There were over 1500 people at this ward today and so we sat in the YW Room and listened to Sacrament Meeting. It was quite an amazing sight to have that many at a Sacrament meeting. In Relief Society we had a lesson on Daughter’s of the Covenant by President Eyring. Even though this was directed to the sisters, the message of being a covenant people was loud and clear. Covenant keeping has been discussed by Sister Linda K. Burton at the September 2013 General Relief Society Meeting in her talk entitled, “The Power, Joy and Love of Covenant Keeping” and then again this past April at the first ever General Women’s Meeting where the audience was girls ages 8 and up attending with the young women and women of the Church—a landmark broadcast. Sister Rosemary Wixom reinforced this topic once again along with President Eyring in her talk entitled, “Keeping Covenants PROTECTS US, PREPARES US AND EMPOWERS US.” We believe there is an important message from Heavenly Father to us regarding this sacred topic of covenant keeping and so we share just a few of the key points from these talks:
President Eyring told members of the worldwide congregation that they were tutored by their Heavenly Father before they came into this life. “He helped you understand and accept that you would have trials, tests, and opportunities perfectly chosen just for you. You learned that our Father had a plan of happiness to get you safely through those trials and that you would help bring others safely through theirs. This plan is marked by covenants with God.”
It is a free choice to make and keep covenants, he explained. “Only a few of His daughters [sons] have the opportunity in this life to even learn of those covenants. You are one of the favored few. You, dear sisters [brothers], each of you, is a daughter [son] in the covenant.”
To add impact to the above statement regarding “only a few…” the following was added by the RS teacher which should put it in perspective:
Sister Linda K. Burton taught the following:
The Nauvoo Fireworks show was quite the hit lasting over 30 minutes. We just had to walk down to the corner and had a great view.
Special note to Chase and Lance: It was so awesome talking with you on Skype today!!! Love that we can do the multiple window Skyping so we can see each of your faces!! Thanks Josh for setting that up. It is so fun!!
LINK TO THE PHOTO ALBUM MENTIONED ABOVE:
Chapter 10 Photo Album Link
"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come,
seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and
hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God
raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this
earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This
is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the
world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the
favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation
won't fail. I have faith in America ; you and I must have faith in America , if
we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a
day when we must pay heed to these challenges.
I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this
is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the
land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever
trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." -- Harold B. Lee (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)
There were no fireworks in Nauvoo but there
were in Keokuk but we did not go. The
Nauvoo fireworks were scheduled for Saturday evening at 9:30 PM. The LucasFam 4th of July
celebrations have changed in the last few years from our usual Balboa Island
celebrations at the Algeo’s but everyone celebrated in one way or another. John’s family had a firework bonanza in
front of his house with a bush catching on fire across the street. Josh and Justin’s family spent the 4th
in Oregon together. Jared’s family spent
the 4th in Idaho and were even in the Star, Idaho parade. Jeff spent the 4th in Yosemite and
Marilyn did go to the Algeo’s on the 3rd to celebrate our usual
tradition with them.
Saturday—July 5—on our walk
this morning we saw the Mississippi Flooding in Nauvoo at the end of Parley
Street. We had heard that the
Mississippi had been starting to flood this week in Burlington and Fort Madison
and evidently it came down farther to Nauvoo.
It is reported that this is the first time since 2008 that there has
been this much flooding. A picture in
the newspaper showed how bad it was in Burlington. This is a town just about 50 miles north of
Nauvoo across the bridge on the Iowa side of the Mississippi. The picture below was from a local newspaper.
The picture album has pictures of the Parley Street flooding in Nauvoo.
Sunday—July 6—we went to church today in the Nauvoo 1st Ward because we were having the Break the Fast Event at the Curtis home. There were over 1500 people at this ward today and so we sat in the YW Room and listened to Sacrament Meeting. It was quite an amazing sight to have that many at a Sacrament meeting. In Relief Society we had a lesson on Daughter’s of the Covenant by President Eyring. Even though this was directed to the sisters, the message of being a covenant people was loud and clear. Covenant keeping has been discussed by Sister Linda K. Burton at the September 2013 General Relief Society Meeting in her talk entitled, “The Power, Joy and Love of Covenant Keeping” and then again this past April at the first ever General Women’s Meeting where the audience was girls ages 8 and up attending with the young women and women of the Church—a landmark broadcast. Sister Rosemary Wixom reinforced this topic once again along with President Eyring in her talk entitled, “Keeping Covenants PROTECTS US, PREPARES US AND EMPOWERS US.” We believe there is an important message from Heavenly Father to us regarding this sacred topic of covenant keeping and so we share just a few of the key points from these talks:
President Eyring told members of the worldwide congregation that they were tutored by their Heavenly Father before they came into this life. “He helped you understand and accept that you would have trials, tests, and opportunities perfectly chosen just for you. You learned that our Father had a plan of happiness to get you safely through those trials and that you would help bring others safely through theirs. This plan is marked by covenants with God.”
It is a free choice to make and keep covenants, he explained. “Only a few of His daughters [sons] have the opportunity in this life to even learn of those covenants. You are one of the favored few. You, dear sisters [brothers], each of you, is a daughter [son] in the covenant.”
To add impact to the above statement regarding “only a few…” the following was added by the RS teacher which should put it in perspective:
According to the
official 2008 year end statistics for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, there are 13,508,509 members of the Church worldwide. The estimated
world population is 6,706,993,152. This
means that Latter Day Saints make up barely over 0.2% of the world's
population. (The exact number is 0.20141%)
Elder Eyring emphasized
“that the path back to live again with Heavenly Father is marked by sacred
covenants with God.” Sister Linda K. Burton taught the following:
“. . .we demonstrate our love for our Father in Heaven and
for our Savior,” she said by “making and keeping our covenants which is an
expression of our commitment to become like the Savior.”
She gave three reasons to make and keep covenants:
1. Covenant keeping strengthens, empowers, and protects.
2. Keeping covenants is essential for true happiness.
3. Keeping our covenants demonstrates our love for the
Savior and our Father in Heaven.
Covenant keeping, she said, is one way for Latter-day Saints to express
their love for the incomprehensible, infinite Atonement of their Savior and
Redeemer and the perfect love of their Father in Heaven.
We had a lovely Break the Fast event at the Curtis home with
the Gorrell’s and the Henderson’s.
Sister Curtis made some very yummy French Dip sandwiches. If anyone is interested in the recipe Sister Curtis shared it with me so let me know.The Nauvoo Fireworks show was quite the hit lasting over 30 minutes. We just had to walk down to the corner and had a great view.
Monday—July 7—Today we received an urgent request from President McArthur
to be in the finale of the British Pageant with a practice at 8:00. We went to that and sure enough we are in the
British Pageant. We are amused by this
request to say the least. We are singing
with the other temple and site missionaries Called to Serve, a part of Oh Say
What is Truth and Redeemer of Israel. We
stayed for the dress rehearsal and was deeply impressed with the British
Pageant. Everything was going fine with the
dress rehearsal until the thunder and lightning storm hit full force and all of
a sudden there was a down pour and the voice on the microphone said everyone is
now released to go home. So we didn’t
see the end or practice our part once again but with God all things are possible
so the show will go on and be wonderful.
We had walked over and got completely drenched going home. Another mission experience to remember for
sure!
Tuesday—July 8—P-Day. We got up early today and went and save seats
for the Nauvoo Pagenat debut tonight--this is the protocol we have learned. We
had seen Sister Brockbank, our Nauvoo angel, at the pageant practice last night and she told us she was going to
be at the Sarah Granger Kimball home today.
So we were able to do that today. The story about the Pageant will be posted in next week's blog.Special note to Chase and Lance: It was so awesome talking with you on Skype today!!! Love that we can do the multiple window Skyping so we can see each of your faces!! Thanks Josh for setting that up. It is so fun!!
LINK TO THE PHOTO ALBUM MENTIONED ABOVE:
Chapter 10 Photo Album Link
July 1 Nauvoo Moment
from Chuck:
Nauvoo Moment (The Abundant
Life)
The temple is the most sacred place on earth. It is a holy
place dedicated to the highest forms of worship. It is a spiritual environment
set apart from the outside world. The Temple is a spiritual haven where we can
feel a special closeness to the Lord.
We visit the temple to find the peaceful serenity the Savior
promised His followers in the New Testament. “Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” (John 14:27)
That is what I feel here in Nauvoo. It is His peace, and it puts the cares of the
world in their proper place. As we go to the temple as frequently as our lives
permit, we are blessed with a peace that endures. (This peace can be found as
we worship & serve in our own temple wherever that may be. We can also obtain
this peace by visiting the temple grounds while we work on obtaining a temple
recommend.)
Temple work in behalf of those who have died is performed as
an act of love. It is unselfish & motivated only by the desire to bring
God’s most treasured blessings to all of His children.
In the temple we receive answers to life’s profound
questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here on earth? What
happens to me when life ends?
We learn of our premortal life with a loving Heavenly Father
& of His plan of happiness for us during our mortal existence. We are
taught about our divine heritage and we are given the opportunity to express
our commitment to live according to the principles of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
We are instructed about our earthly beginnings & how
those events relate to our eternal happiness. We learn about the relationship
God had with Adam & Eve, our first earthly parents, in the Garden of Eden.
We witness God’s infinite love for all His children in
providing a Savior – His own Son, Jesus Christ. We gain a greater understanding
of and appreciation for Christ’s Atonement, which provides the power to rescue
all of us from physical & spiritual death.
We came to earth to be tested & the promises we make in
the temple become anchors of stability in our daily living.
Progressing & understanding who we are is a step-by-step
process. It is the work of a lifetime.
The grace of Jesus Christ is extended to everyone, &
eternal life in our heavenly home will be granted to all who accept that grace
through their faithful obedience.
We are all God’s children & we have equal standing
before Him. Contentment, inner harmony, resilience, & peace are attainable
for all of us because of the atonement of Christ.
The Lord’s invitation is offered to all: “I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John
10:10)
Our family is living the abundant life. Our blessings
outnumber the trials we experience. Working together in Christ we have been
promised we cannot fail. Our eternal destiny, even now, with all that has
happened is secure in our Savior’s love & grace as we come unto Him. I know
God lives and that He loves us. I know when we stop doubting & believe –
Miracles Happen! (It is not too late, in fact, this is the best day yet to
begin) I love you and I pray for your welfare as I know you pray for mine. In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
(Adapted from Nauvoo Illinois Temple Brochure, printed 2002)
No comments:
Post a Comment