28 February 2015 - Saturday

The morning started off very cold!  We were out walking by 7:00am this morning and I thought my face was going to freeze.  We must have walked around 2 miles and came back to the apartment for breakfast.  This was our "P-day", or preparation day where we had no assignments.  After getting back from the walk and having breakfast, I had a hard time warming back up.  We stayed inside for the balance of the day until we attended the 6:00pm temple session with our cast members.  Mom and I wanted to get there early so we arrived at 5:00pm and sat in the waiting room enjoying the feelings inside the Nauvoo temple.  During the balance of the afternoon before our temple session we spoke with each of our children.  Tomorrow is our grandson, Bobby's 8th birthday and we missed him at home today so we will make a special call to him tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Bobby!  Granny and Grandpa are so proud of you making the decision to be baptized!  You have so much to offer with your talents and abilities and especially your love for Jesus.  He needs good disciples to help Him with His work on the earth in these the last days.  We pray that you will be one of His biggest helpers!!  We love you so much! 

27 February 2015 - Friday

Well, for those of you who are following us, we have now completed the first week of our mission here in Nauvoo.  We started off this morning with a monthly mission breakfast.  Each of the three casts made breakfast for their cast members as a pot luck effort, and we all ate together in the Stake Center near the Nauvoo Temple.  Most of the activities we participate in are centered around our cast and it has been wonderful getting to know so many marvelous people!

Take the Toomers.  Elder and Sister Toomer are from Fresno, California.  I was baptized into the Church in Fresno back in 1971.  I have a dear friend, Ellen Draper Clayson who introduced my mom and sister and brother and me to the Church.  There is not a more special person in my early college days who has had such an impact on me as did Ellen.  She has been a dear friend and I am grateful for her involvement in my life, my brother Doug's life, and my sister Jackie's life.  Ellen is a true example of a faithful Latter-day Saint!

And  I have to say right here how much I love my sister Jackie.  She was instrumental in getting me involved in the Church through the Young Single Adults in Fresno.  She was one of the leaders and in a very timely manner, she got me involved.  It was less than six months later that I was promoted, by Long's Drug Stores, out of Fresno.  If she had not pulled me into the mainstream of the Church, I know that I would have been hopelessly lost in the corporate world and who knows what path I would have followed?  It would certainly not have followed to the point of meeting my eternal companion and most inspirational person in my life in October 1976!

Well, here is the tie-in with Ellen.  The Tooler's son married Ellen and Jeff Clayson's oldest daughter.  I\We have many other friends from Fresno, but what a precious tender mercy to have that connection made here in Nauvoo!  If Ellen is reading this blog... again I thank you for inviting me over for Family Home Evening at the Draper home back in 1971.  You have affected two more generations, (and counting), of Lashers and hundreds of ward members I have served and now how many thousands we have the opportunity of coming in contact with here in Nauvoo!  Here is the difference one person can make!

The breakfast ended with several couples sharing their final thoughts on stage, of coming to the end of their missions here.  We were very emotional with the farewells and we have only been here a week!

I have posted, at the end of today's blog, a picture of the couples and single sisters who were on the stage. Some sang and most made up poems of their experiences here, and one of the Elder's who is 70 years + made up the absolute cutest rap song... priceless experiences that were entertaining and emotional for those leaving as well as those staying on awhile longer.

I had the assignment to work in the Stoddard Tin shop, today, and Sister Lasher worked in the Brigham Young home again.  I had the opportunity to give my first presentation in the tin shop out of two groups, and Sister Lasher had no visitors at her site.  The temperature was -14 degrees this morning and got up to a +10 degrees this afternoon.  It was not a crowd pleasing day!

We both were done with our site shifts at 3:00pm and we went home and changed into our missionary clothing and went to Keokuk to do some grocery shopping.  We came back to Nauvoo around 5:30pm and attended a community fund raising dinner for the Nauvoo Orchestra and then went to the evening performance of Rendezvous at 7:00pm.  It has been a full day!  I even took some pictures to share at the end of today's blog!

As I taught in the tin shop today, each of our lives follows a pattern, as did those working to make useful articles out of tin.  We need to follow patterns that will make us what we can become and many of us have great parents, friends and family members to help us begin to pattern and shape our lives.  But the best pattern we can use is our Savior Jesus Christ.  He is the way for us to follow and His ways will help us become everything we can become  as we strive to learn His ways and return to our Heavenly Home.  

I received a wonderful phone call from one of our precious friends back home, Sister Mary Call.  She and her husband spent 18 months here and got us so excited to serve here!  Every time I see Rendezvous performed, I see the Calls participating!  Thank you for your phone call tonight!  It made my day!

Now for some pictures!

This is how I picture the Calls performing in Rendezvous.  This is a scene from George and Agatha

.

Here are some missionaries getting ready to leave the mission.

The Nauvoo Temple tonight!  A light on the hill!

This is a braided rug from the Family Living Center that we purchased yesterday

This is a table runner that mom fell in love with!

February 26, 2015 - Thursday

Why we are here!

Our sitting room

Here are a few photos from my phone!  I am not sure why I can't position these a little better... and suggestions??

Elder Lasher site clothing

Sister Lasher site clothing

"Families Are Forever"!

These are rolls of clay/sand and water used to make bricks!

February 25, 2015 - Wednesday

I am not sure where the days are going.  This one went by pretty fast and we are home in our apartment warm and cozy.  It started snowing at about 5:00pm this afternoon and we have about 4 inches of snow now at 8:15pm.  The snow scape is beautiful and the sounds of the area are deafeningly quiet.  I love the snow and especially with warm shelter!

Our morning started off with our weekly missionary training meeting with President Gibbons.  We were taught how to be more effective missionaries with the summer tidal wave of guests coming beginning Memorial Day weekend.  We are excited to see how close to 60,000 guest we can come to this year.  Every year the numbers increase 30, 40 up to 50% over the previous year!

Sister Lasher and I got to work together today in the Family Living Center.  When you get a brochure of Nauvoo or if you would like us to send you one, you will be able to read about the sites that we serve in.  We spent the morning and early afternoon working there and we got to give a tour to a mother and her adult son.  They came to the Brickyard yesterday and I invited them to come and see us today, and they did!  In the Family Living Center we give demonstrations on spinning, weaving, candle making, bread making, rope making, barrel making and pottery making - all fascinating presentations with Gospel centered messages.  

It is especially interesting how everyone worked so well together in a harmonious way in the Nauvoo years - 1839-1846.  They had to, but they also wanted to and that added to their success. And, in an interesting way, this success of working so well together caused their forced exodus since the other people did not understand the concept of a Zion society.  In fact, the population of non Mormons were so afraid of the political influence the Mormons had in their voting power and their support of righteous candidates for office.  It would be such a blessing to have that influence today!  But the government leaders of that day were not interested in righteous dominion. They wanted to gain as much control over the people as they could to increase their personal power and, of course, wealth.  Control the people and you control the money.  Take away their guns and quiet their free speech through "political correctness", and you had them right where you wanted them.  Does that sound vaguely familiar?

Now, just a little personal side note from Elder Lasher.  Some of you are wondering if I am happy in serving this mission, especially with the experience in the Philippines.  Let me assure you that this is the most wonderful and awesome opportunity I have had to serve in the Church.  

Most of you know my history in service in the Church.  I loved serving as a Bishop!  Was that a difficult calling?  Absolutely, at times, and so completely fulfilling the rest of the time.  

Serving a mission is just as wonderful and fulfilling as it was serving the various ward families and individual ward members.  It took my time away from my precious family and there were things I had to carry concerning various family members in those wards that I could not share with anyone but the Lord.  But that never took away from the privilege it was to serve. There were things I was crazy about, like serving the youth and visiting with the Primary children in the Bishop's office on Sunday's.  Scout trips to Canada and Philmont and girls camps and youth firesides were some of my favorites.  Annual interviews with ward members was inspiring and always anticipated.  Visiting the families and widows of the ward were choice times.  Helping missionaries along the way to serving missions were highlights.  Counseling sessions were difficult and inspirational.  So many wonderful memories over the 12 years I got to serve....

Now, with serving as a full time missionary with my sweetheart is a married, "life long dream", and it finally came true.  We get to serve together and take our relationship to a higher level.  Now that is exciting!  But missing our friends and neighbors, roughing up grandchildren, counseling and talking to children, and not to mention missing cookie baking, baptisms, ordinations, baby blessings, yard work and watering trees, and Sunday Family dinners are and will be sorely absent in my life.  

Yes, I do worry about your livlihoods, I worry about the deli, I worry about expenses incurred in the mission field.  But I know that a kind Heavenly Father is in control and all the worrying in the world won't change that fact!  He is still in control! And the busier I get here, honestly, the less I worry about these things.

Additionally, dancing and singing and acting are not a part of the Bob you all know.  But, it is a part of this mission.  So, in order to make our mission more fulfilling, I will do my best to sing and dance and perform.  

I will cherish the brief emails and text messages and the letters and notes, until I can hold you and play with you again, my precious children and grandchildren and special friends.  You all know that there is no place that I would rather be...  except for now....

My point is, I will be the best most positive missionary I can be.  I will love and serve the guests and fellow missionaries to the best of my ability and I hope that ability grows and expands.  (It will have to for me - to sing and dance and perform!!)  

And my blog and messages will carry optimistic and positive overtones so that I can become what I long to become, and that is a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  In fact I want to be the best disciple I can be.

I absolutely love my family and sometimes 23 months seems like an eternity.  But as I indicated at the beginning of this blog, the time goes by quickly.  Friendships are made and solidified, and our influence in sharing the Gospel is better realized...  I am grateful for the trust that has been given to me to be here!

Can it get much better than this?   Well - Yes!  With your possible visits, and your notes and your encouragement, we can do hard things!  After all... these things shall give (me) experience and shall be for (my) good.  And may I add, for the good of my eternal sweetheart and my precious family!  We are both happy and grateful to be here!  Welcome to Nauvoo!

February 24, 2015 - Tuesday

Sister Lasher and I began our first day of hosting historical sites here in Nauvoo.  I took some pictures with my phone of our Nauvoo Period clothing, but I'm not sure how to download them on the blog.... any suggestions?

We were up at 5:30am this morning getting ready for the day.  We normally read together and exercise together and then we decided to bundle up and take a walk together before breakfast.  It was cold and invigorating!  The city is so quiet and peaceful this time of year!

After breakfast we dressed, for the first time, in our site clothing.  Sister Lasher in her beautiful dress and all the accessories, and I in my slacks, pioneer shirt, vest and black English/Greek sailors cap.  Oh what a sight I must have been!  She was beautiful and radiant!

We walked to our assigned areas down Partridge Street to Kimball Street to Brigham Young's Home where mom worked and I doubled back to the Brickyard on Kimball Street.  Sister Lasher gave one tour today and witnessed two other tours as she learned the details of her site responsibilities.  I worked with Elder Orme and was taught the processes of the Brickyard.  Later Elder Larson and Elder Prescott joined us.

There is a lot of work to do in addition to the training on the site presentation.  By the beginning of the summer season, over 60,000 individual Nauvoo bricks need to be made for expected visitors.  I plan on making one for each grandchild with my own hands!  We made 120 bricks today.  

The brick making process is amazing.  The Nauvoo area is rich with natural ingredients.  With the Mississippi River adjacent to the city, there is an abundance of clay and sand and water.  The clay has iron oxide in the soil and that one ingredient, when fired to a temperature of between 1,200 and 2,000 degrees, turns the brick red.  Mixing four parts of clay with one part of sand and enough water to form a thick "cookie dough" consistency is the magical formula.  A good brick maker with proper help could make up to 3,000 bricks a day.  The average home used about 40,000 bricks.  The outside walls were three bricks deep and the inside walls were two bricks deep.  There was no brick veneer here!  And each brick sold for 2 cents.  The equivalent of about $800 for one home.  Not too bad at today's prices, yet back in the 1840's, men would earn about $1 per day.  I have more to share when you come!

Now, in addition, in Old Nauvoo, there were seven brick yards. Out of about 2,000 wood homes in old Nauvoo in the 1840's, only seven remained when the restoration of Nauvoo began in the 1960's.  Of the approximately 350 brick homes, 49 remained.  Quite a difference in strength and longevity!  And of course there is speculation that some of the brick homes were taken down to reuse the bricks in other areas in town.

Now, along with the story and wisdom from the three pigs, (building a house out of bricks), and the scriptural knowledge that building your house on a solid foundation instead of a sandy foundation for it to stand, my thought for us as solid members of the church and the community, is this - it doesn't matter which "brick" you are in the structures of life, you are equally important!  Building together and holding tight to our designated positions, we can endure any of life's challenges.  The key is working together and being strengthened with the proper formulas of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ready for work!

Ready for work!

Then tonight, we found out we will be part of the "Emma Hale" cast in Rendezvous.  We have just a short time to get up to speed.  I must admit I have never wanted to be on stage to sing or dance. With all the years that I have had the privilege of standing in front of congregations to speak, I have always been nervous, and my hands have been ice cold.  Ask my wife!  Yes, my blood stops flowing when I am in front of people.  On stage?  Singing?  Dancing?  Come to Nauvoo and see!  You won't be disappointed!!

          

February 23, 2015 - Monday

News from Nauvoo!  

Elder and Sister Lasher have completed their orientation!  The training we had today was given by the mission president, President Larry Gibbons.  Let me tell you a little about this man and his wife.  They are both well versed in the Gospel.  He has served in the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy and has been throughout the world on Church assignments.  He is one of the kindest men I have ever met and his wife is equally kind and so supportive of her husband.  We spent nearly 3 hours in training and we had a marvelous time in learning about our mission focus and the interactions that are expected with missionaries and guests.

Now, we are so looking forward to beginning our site training..... tomorrow!  Both mom and I have our site clothing and I will post some pictures very soon.  Mom works tomorrow in the Brigham Young home and I work in the brick yard.  In both venues, there is a great message in following a Prophet and in building strong foundations.  

I appreciated the message that President Gibbons first gave us last Thursday;  In our preparation over the years to serve this mission, he noted that we had to be first "willing" to serve, second "worthy" to serve, and finally the third point was being "wise" in our service.  Doesn't this apply to all of our callings and purposes in being members of the true Church and embracing the restored Gospel?  I think it does!

Also, Sister Lasher and I gave our version of talent today in our meeting with the directors of the two main shows, Rendezvous, and Sunset.  Here is the song we sang:

Our Father has a family. It’s me!

It’s you, all others too: we are His children.

He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,

To live and learn here in fam’lies.

A father’s place is to preside, provide,

To love and teach the gospel to his children.

A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share

Their love for Father in Heaven.

A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,

To nurture and to strengthen all her children.

She teaches children to obey, to pray,

To love and serve in the fam’ly.

I’ll love and serve my family and be

A good example to each fam’ly member.

And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,

I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

Does anyone recognize that song?  We love this song and had a marvelous time in Primary last year learning that song with our CTR Class that included Bobby, Cody and Jack!  Since it was a song that did not have the music in the Hymn Book, we had to sing Capella!   That was a real treat for those of you who know our limitations in singing!!  

Well, fortunately no one gets fired here, so we will see where they put us.  We are supposed to be on-stage by around the middle of March.  Crazy......

Just a side note, this experience in Nauvoo has so far been everything we have heard it could be.  The missionaries do whatever it takes to see that we fulfill the purpose of the mission.  That purpose is to teach doctrine, invite those visiting the mission to come to Jesus Christ, and to follow-up with commitments that were made here to share the Gospel.  We have so much to learn and we have a great distance to travel "outside" of our comfort zone, but we can do this and we are grateful for the sweet opportunity.

My favorite saying; "The important thing is this; to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice who we are for who we can become".  That pretty much sums up the need to break out of comfort zone barriers and be the best we can be.

Combined kitchen, dining and computer space!

22 February 2015 - Sunday

We just completed our first Sabbath Day here in the historic town of Nauvoo.  Our mission to Nauvoo will last 23 months and with the introductions we have received since Thursday, this will be a significantly magnificent experience for mom and me.

Our Sunday services began at 8:00am this morning.  However, we arrived almost 30 minutes early to meet and greet more missionaries.  (This will come as no surprise to our children!)  The feelings of love and kindness were amazing.  Every missionary is so happy to be here, at least the ones we have met.

We are currently the newest missionaries and will be serving the longest.  We are here for 23 months and are scheduled to return home in January 2017.  The group leaving before us is scheduled to leave in August 2016, so you see we have some time on our side to learn and grow together.  Most are serving for 18 months, and some are serving for 12 months or less.

In the Sacrament meeting today, there were two couples assigned to speak.  One couple goes home in two weeks after serving 18 months, and the other couple has been here about 6 months and will leave in about 12 months.  Both couples spoke with great love for the work and we felt privileged to be in attendance.  We also had a choir and violin accompanists that expressed such talent through music that left us in awe.  After the meeting, I could not help but appreciate that we understood every word and that we felt the powerful affects of the Spirit.

The Sunday School class and the Priesthood and Relief Society Classes were all so very instructional and filled with the testimony of truth as well.  The missionaries here have been so kind to us and have made us feel so welcomed.  We have been blessed with a wonderful mission presidency and they and their wives have been extra kind and loving to us and have made us feel so welcomed and a needed part of this mission.

Sister Lasher and I then went home to enjoy lunch together and then we took 7 different site tours to get acquainted with the information and the feel for these historic sites.  Then, to finished our day, we attended a fireside on the Prophet Joseph Smith, by a local historian, Craig Dunn.  He has completed a wealth of information on the Prophet's last days and his martyrdom.  I was fascinated with his 90 minute presentation. He has done his homework on the Prophet and I came home to view some additional information about the Prophet.  Take a look at this information about the Prophet's last recorded dream by googling; "Josephs last dream".   I had not heard this before and it is quite interesting.

A person once asked the Prophet who he was and he answered; "Noah came before the flood, I came before the fire".  As we look at the world today, that statement is prophetic, and we have no need to fear if we are living, fully, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and working on improving our discipleship every day.  That is what I want to do and what I am committing to do with my sweetheart from this day forward.  The entire chapter of 3 Nephi 21offers even greater insights to what lies ahead!

We love you!  Comment and send us your thoughts on this blog!! 

20 February 2015 - Friday

Welcome to Nauvoo!  We literally hit the ground running here.  We left the Provo, Utah, training center at 10:30am Wednesday February 18th, and stopped at the Jeppson's long enough to change and start crying all over again.  Amy made us some wonderful snacks and lunch sandwiches and we were on our way by 12:00 noon.  We were excited to be on our way and traveled all the way to North Platte, Omaha.  We settled in at 10pm Wednesday night and had a fitful nights sleep.  All I could think about was the "Welcome to Nauvoo" song for the Rendezvous production...

We were both up at 6:15am Thursday morning and went to the workout room for about 30 minutes, had breakfast and were back on the road by 8:15am.  We arrived in Nauvoo at 5:10pm and we got checked in and introduced to our little home. This is a old updated home in the flats of Nauvoo and there is an upstairs and a downstairs apartment.  We have the upstairs apartment and what a comfortable living space!

Within minutes of unloading our car, mom and I went to our first Rendezvous.  This is the main play that the Nauvoo missionaries put on.  As I was watching and listening to the performance, I could not help but feel that I was way out of my league.  I have been told that every missionary participates, and I am willing to do that, but I sure hope I don't totally mess up the performances.  We met several couples afterwards and we have already had visitors come and welcome us in our apartment.  Our district leader and his wife brought us dinner and our zone leader and his wife brought us treats.

Today we met with the mission President and his wife, President and Sister Gibbons.  They were so kind and welcoming.  We had a wonderful meeting with them for about 45 minutes.  He asked if we would be interested in serving in Carthage and we told him we are willing to go wherever he needs us.  He said it would not be for the next 3 or 4 weeks but that we would serve for 4 to 6 months if needed.  After getting somewhat settled in our new apartment, thinking about moving was a little overwhelming because we would have to move to Carthage.

We have training and orientation on Saturday and Monday and we begin our site service on Tuesday.  There is no time to waste here!  The opportunity to serve is such a blessing for us and we appreciate the support we receive from family and friends.

We are missionaries at the Historic Nauvoo Mission, and we are here for 23 months.  We look forward to seeing as many family members and friends who will make this trip.  I can't help but wonder who we will see that do not know we are here!  For those interested, I have posted our  contact information below.  Thank you for following our missionary progress!  We have traveled nearly 22,000 miles to get here since November 21st and we are excited to begin the sharp learning curve of Nauvoo! 

     Mail                                        Packages                                Email                          Phone

Elder and Sister Lasher              Elder and Sister Lasher       robertlasher@gmail.com     (208) 520-6317
P.O. Box 215                            975 Young Street
Nauvoo, IL 62354-0215           Nauvoo, IL  62354-0215                                             (217) 453-6827

3 February 2015 - Reassignment Illinois Nauvoo Mission

After applying for a reassignment after returning back to the United States on December 12, 2014, we received word today that we have been reassigned to the Illinois, Nauvoo, Visitors Center.  We report to the Provo MTC on Monday 16 February, 2015, for Visitor Center training.  The training is for two and one half days and we leave for Nauvoo on Wednesday 18 February 2015.  We are driving to Nauvoo and plan on arriving there on Friday 20 February 2015.

This reassignment has been a welcomed blessing to us.  We will be experiencing responsibilities far beyond our natural capacities.  We don't sing and we don't dance, but this is a requirement in our new mission.  The funny part about this is that we are willing to learn how to sing and to dance!  This is so far out of our comfort zone, but we are very excited to do our part to make this a great mission. 

We will be serving for 23 months.  All of our children have committed to visiting us there over the next 2 years.  We are hoping to see many friends and family members come to visit and share in this experience with us.  Seeing Sister Lasher and me dance and sing on stage will definitely be worth the price of admission.... and there is no charge to attend!

This reassignment has caused us some challenges.  First of all we packed summer clothes only for the 23 months we were scheduled in the Philippines.  We had to go back to our home in Rigby and pull out our winter clothing from deep in our storage bins.  Fortunately we have only a few items in storage at our rented out home.  Everything we owned other than a few clothing a personal keepsake items were distributed amongst our children.  Now, when we visit our children we can see familiar items like pictures, beds, furniture and  books that make us feel right at home!  When we return back to Rigby in 2 years, we will need to completely refurnish our 3700 square foot home and that will be both fun and expensive!