March 17, 2015 - Tuesday

Mom and I were taking our morning walk together and these are some pictures that helped me capture the beautiful morning:

 This photo is right in front of our home on Hotchkiss and Partridge.  The clouds were amazing this morning and we caught the sun just coming up over Nauvoo.

 This was our view looking down Hotchkiss toward the Mississippi River.  The clouds were just catching the morning sun rays and had a very impactful formation.  The air was so crisp and clean!

 This picture was taken looking North and East of our home.  The clouds were reaching out to me and my phone camera and said "shoot me".... so I did.

 Now we are on mile 1.5 of our walk and at the top of the hill overlooking the Mississippi River.  We are right in front of the Nauvoo Temple and facing West.  You can see the sun rays touching down on Old Nauvoo on this side of the river!

 From this vantage point we see the splash of light surrounding the cloud formation in the far western part of Iowa just across the Mississippi River.  The field is an open range that probably had at least four homes on it during the Nauvoo years of 1841 to 1846.  This is about four acres and just below the Nauvoo Temple grounds.

Well, I could not pass up the front view of the Nauvoo Temple this morning.  It is so inviting and tomorrow we get to attend a session there right after our 7:45am training meeting at the Visitor's Center.

This was a favorite shot this morning.  The sun rays are wrapping themselves around the temple and the temple grounds like a mother might do in the morning when she first sees her children.  Just a quick warm hug and then off to begin another glorious day in Nauvoo... and the world!

Sister Lasher and I got to work together at the Family Living Center.  We worked from 11:45am to 3:30pm.  The sites closed early for the reenactment of the organization of the Relief Society here in Nauvoo.  I have covered this organization in my post below, but we had some great visitors at this site today.  One family, the Millers, are from Idaho Falls and Brandon, the husband and father of this family worked with my son Bob on the Idaho Falls Police Department.  They worked together for 2 years before Brandon quit and started medical school.  He remembered Bob very well and spoke very kind words about him.  That made mom and I very happy and proud.  They came to Rendezvous tonight and they were fun to see!

Tuesday Night stars of Rendezvous (at least to their family)

As you may know, March 17, 1842, was the day that the Relief Society was officially organized under the Prophet Joseph Smith after the order of the Priesthood.  That great event was done here in Nauvoo at the Red Brick Store with the first President of the Relief Society, Emma Smith.  All the missionary sisters got to participate in that reenactment this afternoon and  I took some pictures and made some notes for your review;

 All the Missionary Sisters boarded one of two wagons for the mile ride to the Red Brick Store.  This picture is from the rare album of Sister Lasher who participated in the reenactment that occurred today, just 173 years after the organization on March 17, 1842.

 A capable set of horses guided by the steady hands of seasoned missionary teamsters brought this group of sisters safely through the streets of Old Nauvoo to the Red Brick Store.

 Here is a very unique and extremely rare picture of Sister Lasher carefully coming down the steps of the wagon as she arrived, safely, at the Prophet Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store. Her smile speaks volumes about her safe arrival!  This will be her very first opportunity to enter into this building completely unsupervised by her photographic companion.

Zac, Hayley, Jackson, Mia, Emma, Bobby, Jacob, Anna, John, Cambry, Isaac, Callie, Courtney, Cody Maddie, Landon - can you pick out Granny before Mackenzie does?

How many sisters were in the first organization of the Relief Society on March 17, 1842?  Check it out!

All adult women in the Church are members of Relief Society.  The Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society on March 17, 1842. He taught that the Relief Society was organized for “the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes.” In addition, he taught that the Relief Society was “not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls.” The larger part of the work of Relief Society today is “to look after the spiritual welfare and salvation … of all the female members of the Church.” The Relief Society was “divinely made, divinely authorized, divinely instituted, divinely ordained of God.” It operates under the direction of priesthood leaders.

The purpose of Relief Society is to help prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help those in need. Women fulfill these purposes as they seek, receive, and act on personal revelation in their lives. Relief Society accomplishes the purposes through Sunday gospel instruction, other Relief Society meetings, visiting teaching, and welfare and compassionate service.

In the first meeting of the Relief Society, Sister Emma Smith said, “We are going to do something extraordinary.” Relief Society is filled with examples of ordinary women who have accomplished extraordinary things as they exercise faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

As women participate in Relief Society, they serve as valiant disciples of Jesus Christ in the work of salvation. They work alongside men who hold the priesthood. Through Relief Society, women practice being disciples of Christ. Women strive to learn what the Lord would have them learn, do what He would have them do, and become what He would have them become.

In one of the first meetings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Joseph Smith admonished the sisters to “live up to [their] privilege.” The women in the Church have been taught to live up to their divine potential by fulfilling God's purposes for them. As they come to understand who they really are—God's daughters—they reach their potential as holy women.  Established as an integral part of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Relief Society helps Latter-day Saint women live up to their privilege. Through this organization, sisters receive vision and assurance of their identity as daughters of God. They also receive opportunities to serve and the direction and authority they need to fulfill those responsibilities.

Currently there are about seven million members of the Relief Society in 185 countries.  The largest women's organization in the world.  Isn't that amazing?

Then to close our Tuesday in Nauvoo, we were on stage tonight.  We invited several families from the Family Living Center to come to the Rendezvous Play tonight and they came!  My children will appreciate this:  I had them each practice clapping and whistling for the show tonight at the Family Living Center, and the cast said they were the best audience so far this year!

There was one very sweet experience on stage tonight that I would be happy to share.  Mom and I were on stage as this occurred.  The part is call "Noah" and Elder and Sister Barnum were playing this part.  It is about a good family who is afraid of joining any church because they were afraid, "to be led away in the latter-day".  Well during the course of this skit, Elder Barnum was given a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked to read it with his wife.  He read it and in his speaking part he was to say; "Our neighbor and his wife presented us with a Book of Mormon, and requested that we read it.  We carried it home and asked the Lord if this book were His, would He make it manifest to us?  We read it through and the Lord poured out His Spirit upon us.  The Scriptures were opened to our understanding, and we were convinced that the Book of Mormon was a true record containing the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."  

He has done this part at least a dozen times, but tonight, when he got to the line, "We read it through and the Lord poured out His Spirit.... he stopped speaking.  The Spirit was again barring witness to him, that the Book of Mormon is a true record, and he could not finish the line for about 15 seconds.  It was a really neat and very tender moment for me and I am sure for him.  We know who is in charge here in the Nauvoo Mission.

Well, it has been a busy day and a good day and we are beat!  Time for bed and we have an early morning, all mission, training meeting tomorrow! 

By the way, there will be an announcement concerning Elder and Sister Lasher tomorrow morning at this meeting, so tune in tomorrow night for a really neat story to be posted on "the Laoag and on the way to Nauvoo Blog"!

Good Night!