March 8, 2015 - Sunday

The morning was absolutely beautiful today.  Mom and I were up and ready to walk to our first Nauvoo Stake Conference.  It is about a 3 block walk through Old Nauvoo to get to the Stake Center.  This is our view on the way to the Stake Center;

Mulholland and Partridge Street - heading to the Stake Center!

Last night the adults met with over 800 members and this morning we estimated close to 2,000 attended the meeting or watched it in their units via broadcast.  And the speakers and Elder Renlund did not disappoint.  The meeting was a wonderful boast to mom and me.  The theme for the conference was ministering through councils to hasten the work.  There were some excellent messages given to us and I will relate some here;

First, the Stake Primary President spoke about her 10 year old daughter.  This precious girl celebrated her birthday today, and when she walked into the Stake Center with her mom she told her, "mom, there are a lot of people here!"

Then, as her mom began to speak she told a story about her 10 year old daughter.  She was born with different heart problems and has been through many surgeries and tests and has had two heart transplants and will have ongoing needs throughout her life.  That alone was touching in the way this little girl is living her life, but one example is so prominent.  In a Family Home Evening lesson a few weeks ago they were discussing the Atonement and how the Savior has experienced all our pains and suffering, and all of our trials and challenges so that we could overcome the sins and pains of the world.  This precious little girl thought about that for a minute and then put both hands over her heart and asked, "you mean He has felt this pain of mine"...  What a special moment that was for them to experience together.

Then a member of the Stake Presidency spoke about one of his greatest fears growing up as a young boy.  He was afraid of the dark.  They lived in an old two story house with the bedrooms on the second floor and the bathroom on the first floor all the way on the other side of the house from the stairs.  He told us that the property was surrounded by old trees and shrubs that rubbed up against the house and shadows would be seen inside the house from the street lights in the night time hours.  He indicated that the stairs and the floorboards across the house would creak under the weight of even a young boy.

Further, he said that almost every night he had to use the restroom around midnight to 1:00am.  He said he first held some "informal" family councils at that late hour to plead with his brother to go down to the bathroom with him.  He said sometimes his brother would go with him and sometimes he would not.  The times his brother would not go he continued to plead with him to go with him.  Then on some nights during these "informal" councils, his mom or dad would be asked and he pleaded with them to accompany him.  Well, one night he decided to try it by himself.  He went down the stairs, all 16 of them, 8 steps to the platform and another 8 steps to the ground floor.  He would  literally ran across the house, used the restroom and run back across the house and up the stairs.  This particular night he was using both hands and feet to scale the 16 steps when he neared the top and reached out and felt a very hairy leg.  He immediately assumed the fetal position and begged for his life.  He could not be consoled for several minutes.  His father had heard him go downstairs and was following after him to make sure he was OK.  The father was trying to get out of the way so his son could pass by him, and not know that he was there,  but it did not work!!

He then tied in the principle that there are so many of us that are scared of something and need our help, our support,  our consolation, yes and even our not so convenient attention.  This was a great lesson on how family and ward and stake councils can help those of us who may be quietly suffering and even those who might be reaching out.  How critical is Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching?  It is vital to the welfare of all of us.

Then, Elder Renlund made this statement in his address;  For those expecting life to be fair and for people and situations to be perfect, if you are trying your best to be faithful, is like a bull charging a person and that person expecting the bull to pass him by because he is a vegetarian.

He spoke about the Sacrament and how it could help us through troubled times.  In the parable of the house being build on the sand or on the rock, it never says the rain will not come, but it does say that when it does come, what we have done with our lives will help us, or hurt us, in dealing with the winds and the rains and the unfair experiences we have.  These experiences will come to all of us and they will help us better prepare for our return to our Heavenly home, so welcome them and be prepared! 

After the conference, mom and I went to the Heber C. Kimball Home for our site assignment today and served from 2:00pm to 5:00pm.  We live just behind this home so it was very close to walk to.  We had 7 visitors today!  We then had our first dinner guests, the Mamales'.  I should have taken their picture!!

Today I asked our precious Mary Lasher how to download some of Bobby's pictures from his baptism yesterday and it worked!  We so enjoyed seeing these pictures and I wanted to make them a permanent part of our blog album so here they are with my captions added!

Bobby on March 7th on his way to his baptism!

Not only Bobby's support group, but he is setting the example for them!

Look at that handsome young man who knows what CTR means!

A worthy father with a worthy son -

A very proud mother and precious son!

A wonderful family activity!

There is the best cheering section in the world!  We love you!!!!!!

Granny and Grandpa could not be any more proud of Bobby!

Yes families can be together forever, even if they are separated for a season.  We are so very grateful for each of our children and grandchildren and count it a wonderful blessing to be a part of this family!  This picture speaks volumes for all of us;

Our purpose is to be a part of this family forever!  No empty chairs!!

By the way, we have been enjoying the beautiful music of James Paul Kenny and his albums have been such a blessing to us both here in Nauvoo and especially the Philippines.  If you have not heard his music you have been missing a very valuable and talented musician.  I love his music and we love the Kenny's!  You may never know how much your music has carried us this past 4 months!!

Thank you for being part of our lives here in Nauvoo!  Tomorrow our assignment is the Carthage Visitors Center in Carthage.  It is about a 30 minute drive from here and we are excited to serve there!  Have a wonderful evening!
 
Mom and I were discussing a sweet principle and I wanted her to relate it here in her own words:

Elder Renlund was telling the parable of the man being forgiven of 10,000 talents and then going and putting the man who owed him 100 pence in prison.  He said that the 10,000 talents was an unpayable debt - there was no way he'd be able to repay it in a lifetime.  Just as the Savior has paid an unpayable debt for us, and all he asks us to do is forgive our neighbors when they offend us either inadvertantly or on purpose the 100 pence.