A Missionary

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the young men are encouraged and expected to live the standards of Christ.  They are to be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight as the scout's say.  When they follow these guidelines they find themselves prepared to serve the Lord on a full time proselyting mission.  They prepare throughout their youth to preach the gospel by regular church attendance, seminary, and personal scripture study.  They are encouraged to begin there service at the age of 19.

Peter will be 19 this fall.  He has now completed the forms, classes, and requirements to submit his papers to the leaders of our church.  Those living prophets will issue a call to serve in a certain area of the world.  He will leave behind home, school, dating, work, and friends and his focus will be on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

With everything submitted we are now waiting for his call.  A fun thing for family and friends to do is guess where in the world he may be called to serve.  I am inviting anyone and everyone to make their guesses in the comments.  Next week we should know and we can announce a winner.

The Trek: 2010

One of the activities in Nauvoo is to participate in pulling a handcart.  This was are sending off place.  We received a few instructions, were given a handcart, a map with 1,2, or 3 miles options and sent straight through a stream to start out.

We were warned to watch for these trees as the huge thorns can be painful.

Here we start, clean and dry.

. . . but that didn't last.

Many times the youngest kids lost shoes in the muck.  The mud was very slippery and just sucked you right in.

It was amazing how heavy an empty handcart is.

Our princess enjoyed riding but also walked quite a bit.

Along the way were stories and quotes to be read.  Imagine our delight when one of the stories was about our own handcart pioneer grandfather the Blind Harpist.  He pulled his handcart being blind.

The mud was so slippery that it really did take our men, the rope, and some ingenuity to keep going.

This is where another cart had been abandoned.  We were asked to please move it.  The cross bar had broken and it was in deep mud.  The same mud we had to pull our cart through.

We had found an abandoned rope earlier and thrown it in.  My fix anything boys found another cross bar and tied it together.  We decided we could bring in the extra cart so the rest of the way we pulled two.

More chances for everyone to help

. . . or not.

This miracle girl was quite nervous about doing the trek in the slippery mud and walking for 3 miles.  She was careful and succeeded without a word of complaint.  She is still in a brace from her broken leg and had not yet walked quite that far.  She is brave and full of faith.  I'm so glad that she did it.

More crazy, slippery mud mixed with hills.

Can't go over it, can't go under it, can't go around it, better go through it.  This pond was swollen from the rain but not too deep, thank goodness.

Our own first cart broke soon after we adopted the second cart.  Once again we tied things together and made due.

There must be something therapeutic or building about doing hard things together and it is even better when mud is involved.  I loved doing this trek with my family.  When Ike was frustrated and said it was too hard, it was his brothers and sisters that gave him encouragement and strength, help and hope.  We laughed, grunted, enjoyed and were touched by the stories and we gloried in having completed the 3 mile trek, saved a handcart and gotten back in time for lunch.  Pulling together we truly can do hard things.

More benefits of Nauvoo

I want to express my joy and appreciation of vacations with purpose. We experienced something real--with purpose.  I am still enjoying the after effects of seeing where history took place, of getting a taste of the life that some of my heroes and ancestors lived.  Sunday at church my children were finding in their scriptures pictures of places we had just been to that week.  We listen to the Nashville Tributes to Joseph and Trek and they understand what the songs are about. They have been there, heard the stories, and felt the spirit.

We had a lot of fun.  It was good, clean, old fashion fun.  Playing in puddles, playing with a rope, sticks, plants, frogs.  We learned how things were made and I learned how few things we really need.  The entertainment was so well done.  It was the kind of well done that doesn't say look at me, I'm an amazing performer but the kind of well done that a talented person does with such enthusiasm that you are caught up in the story and the feeling of the characters that you can't help but laugh at the silly jokes because they are having so much fun doing it.  Or you cry because you feel the pain or loss of those real people they are portraying.  Combining seriousness and silliness into a week of testifying and true stories has left me on a high.

I feel like I have tasted what entertainment, fun and learning were meant to be and the counterfeits around me are more blaring than ever.  Shallow, poor done movies; entertainment that teaches selfishness or is crude or immoral, vacations that are about leaving behind those most important people or opportunities to sit around and think about more things for me, me, me are not where I want to spend my time.  I want to learn more things, appreciate excellence, and create lasting memories with those I love.  I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me so richly not only with the experience but the insight to appreciate what may be and to love it.

Our trip - travelogue

We just returned from a fantastic family vacation.  First stop on our trip was to visit the home of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

Then the rain began.  It is a lot more rain than we get in the desert.

Luckily we arrived in Nauvoo to a dry place to stay and lots of great family.  Grandma and Granpa as well as Dan and Steph's family.  We got right to seeing the sites.  Luckily this building of demonstrations was big and warm and dry.

We thought once again we were to learn to dance in the rain but we got some dry days also.

For my kids the rain just added to the fun.  So many puddles!

We enjoyed wagon and carriage rides around old Nauvoo.

The Nauvoo Pageant was wonderful.  So many great songs, stories, and quotes that inspired us and brought some of us back to see it again the next night.

Pioneer pasttimes.  Ike was very good at rolling the rim.

We all enjoyed the stick pull

We two were especially well matched, or just giggly, or she was letting me off easy.

William, Sunshine wants you to know that he spent a lot of time practicing his roping skills.  He got pretty good.  I think is already hoping you will hire him someday to help on a ranch.

There were so many terrific performances.  Anna Amanda for children was one of our favorites.

The temple grounds were beautiful.  We participated in ordinances there with Grandma and Grandpa.

These two are the best missionaries in Nauvoo, so willing to serve the Lord in His holy temple.  Everybody we met told us how great they are and we believe it completely

There were vignettes throughout the day that we enjoyed.  Here "Joseph Smith" gave the King Follet Discourse in the groves.

The trail of hope was filled with actors sharing their stories of leaving Nauvoo and going forward with hope and even joy into the unknown.

Here we had "Brigham Young, John Taylor, Parley Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, and Heber C. Kimball" enthusiastically sharing their missionary stories and desires to teach the world of Jesus Christ.

The Relief Society gardens were beautiful.

On our way out of town we visited Carthage jail.  Here Hyrum and Joseph were killed by a mob but the work still goes forward.

This plaque was at Carthage.  For me it summed up our experience in Nauvoo, the lessons I learned from those who lived only a few years there but lived their whole lives for Christ's sake.  I have a renewed desire to  live more fully the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I want to be more patient, obedient, and forgiving.  I want the spirit to dwell in my heart and my home continually because we are seeking it, following promptings, and providing a holy place wherein it can dwell.

Pioneer Day breakfast in Kanesville, NE,  with Mark and Jen's family. Thanks again for taking such good care of us.  We love family and are so grateful to have reconnected with cousins on this trip.  We love you all.

We also did the handcart trek but that deserves a post of its own.