Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy. It has been crazy here in Nauvoo. There are thousands of people here for the Nauvoo Pageant. It is amazing. We are doing 6 shows a week and we are tired. The days meld into each other and the only way we can recognize Sunday is because we go to church. In the John Taylor Home alone we have had nearly 4,000 people tour this home.

I love telling people about John Taylor, his strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his testimony of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration and Brigham Young as the prophet who would lead them west. I have had some great experiences lately. A little girl about 8 or 9 came in with her family. As I was giving the tour she asked a lot of questions and they were good questions. At the end of the tour I was mentioning what a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel these people had. She proceeded to tell me that she would bear her testimony every Fast Sunday. I said, "Would you like to bear your testimony to us now?" She said "yes" and she turned around and bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the church to those in the room. It was awesome. This is just one of the great experiences I have had.

Hot Days

We got a new camera and have been taking some great pictures. The turtle that you see was in the middle of Highway 96 and in danger of being smashed. I stopped and put him/her on the side of the road. The geese were coming across highway 96 and this car had to stop for them.
It has been really hot and humid the last 2 weeks. I have been working in on the weed crew for a couple of months now. It is amazing to see how much work it is to keep Nauvoo beautiful. It is a very important job. Without the grounds crew, the spirit in Nauvoo would not be here. We just got through helping the horticulturalist plant flowers all over Nauvoo. It is quite a job. Last week I got some heat exhaustion working in the high humidity and I had to quit working. We now begin work at 6 A.M. and we are able to quit at noon. It has been so hot and humid here that the horses that pull the wagons for the Wagon Tour have had to quit early. It is so hard on the horses. It was amazing. We are well and happy.

Happy Father's Day

Here is a video about a great Father. I hope you will enjoy it. I am thankful for my father and the great man that he was. I am also thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and blesses my life each day. Again, Happy Father's Day! Click on the link in the section on the right that is a Youtube link.

Today we had the privilege of taking the Tabernacle Choir on tours of Nauvoo. It was so great to bear my testimony to them of the truthfulness of the Gospel. What a day it was. One of the Choir members gave Elder Rawlinson their newest CD. We are so blessed in our church.

Weather and Prayer

Well, it is still not quite summer yet.
It rained again last night and the ground
is so saturated that there are little lakes
all over Nauvoo.

Prayer is the subject for our Prep meeting
this week. Sister Brockbank gave the thought
and asked us to remember when our children were
young how we liked to have them check in with us.
Heavenly Father is the same way. He likes us to
check in with Him. That's what prayer is all about,
checking in. So don't forget to check in with
Heavenly Father today and every day.

3 Nephi 18:20
"Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name,
that your wives and your children may be blessed."

Have a great day!

June is busting out all over.

Here we are again. It has been so long since we have updated this blog. We have been so busy. We are now doing 2 Rendezvous shows 2 nights a week plus 2 Sunset by the Mississippi shows during the week. We hardly have time to eat. We do find time though because we haven't lost any weight yet. The Slide Show over on the right side contains Pictures of the flowers that are now blooming in Nauvoo. Most of these are planted by our horticulturalist Durell Nelson. He has been doing the flowers and plants in Nauvoo for 30 years. He is very good. So I hope you enjoy a look at Nauvoo's flora and fauna.
Have a great day!

Spring?

Well we are having the wettest spring I think Illinois has ever seen. It rained all day and all night Friday night and we got about 6 inches in that time. The City of Nauvoo's sewer backed up. It has been a real mess in some places. Missionaries are even dealing with flooding. One of the missionary couples had their basement flood. It had about 10 inches of water in it because the sump pump didn't work. They will fix it tomorrow.

We had our district meeting tonight. We had to find the answers to 3 questions. One of the questions was "Do you really believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ?"
I suppose there a lot of people who wonder about this. For me personally the answer is Yes! I do believe that he did see them. Now you may ask the question "What do you base this on?" Well, I base it on logic and spirit. Here are the reasons I believe it.

1. Knowing 14 year old boys, I don't think any 14 year old boy would make up a story like this just to be ridiculed and persecuted his whole life. I would think he would finally give up.

2. I have read the Book of Mormon. Knowing what I know about Joseph Smith and his level of education, he could not have fabricated the things in that book. There are too many things that he did not know about written in this book.

3. Because I have read the Book of Mormon, the spirit whispers to me that it is true.
I know this book is the word of God.

4. If I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book of scripture then Joseph has to be a prophet. If I know Joseph Smith is a prophet then the Book of Mormon is true.

5. The most important reason is that I have prayed and asked God as Moroni directs in the Book of Mormon. Moroni 10: 4-5. "And when ye have received these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true;; and if ye shall ask with a sincere hear, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Vs. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

You too can know if these things are true. What have you got to lose? Get a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it. Then do as Moronit directs and ask God. He will let you know whether it is true or not. Be careful though. You cannot just skim it. You must read it all the way through. Have a great week!

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