April 7, 2015 - Tuesday

Today marks the 9th anniversary of Bob and Mary's wedding day.  We thought about them and hope they had a wonderful day together.  Mom and I were up early and began our day together in our morning devotional and exercises.  We then took our morning walk and got back to the Carthage Jail for the daily cleaning assignment.  All before breakfast!  

We saw an interesting sight on our walk this morning.  A group of welding guns were blazing on top of this old water tower;

We found out that the city has been planning on disassembling this old water tower for a long time and apparently the work has begun.  It was quite a scene in the morning sky!

Then, after our daily cleaning of the jail, I helped the roofer put some shingles on the roof of the jail.  No, I did not get on the roof, the old legs won't allow that.  I just tied the bundles of shingles on a tow rope and he pulled them up over the edge of the building.  It was after this effort that I saw this marker;

The markers I have seen throughout Carthage seem to be pretty accurate, so I still wonder why there remains animosity in the community over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  "The Mormons"  

The community has not grown much over the last 179 years and we know that the Church is trying hard to be a part of this community so the work of blending and healing continues.  We are happy to be a small part of this effort.

We had a very busy day at the Visitor's Center today.  Most of our tours were in groups of 15 to 30 people and they were steady throughout the day.  I continue to marvel at the vast influence the Prophet Joseph Smith continues to have on the world-wide population.  As more people become acquainted with him, the more they honor and respect what he and his brother Hyrum did as a result of the Carthage Jail Martyrdom. 

On all of our tours we try to get a feel for the individuals and families who come to Carthage.  We ask where they come from and get a little better acquainted with the reason they came to Carthage and why they are interested in the tour.  Lot's of great people come here from all over the world!

But today, we had one group from Fruit Heights, Utah.  They live in the Fruit Heights 1st Ward and their dentist is Josh and Amy's Bishop.  We were pretty excited about this family!  Their son has just received his mission call to New Mexico, Spanish speaking mission.  He is a talented young man and played the piano for us in the main part of the center.  He was absolutely amazing and we took this picture with him and his family;

It is so much fun to meet families who live close by our families!  It seems to help bring our precious families a little closer to us while we are away.  The work we are doing now in Carthage is fulfilling, busy and often intense with the various chemistries of the group. When we get to meet a sharp family like this, it is like a breath of fresh air and helps us throughout the balance of the day!

When we don't have a steady flow of visitors, our day seems to drag a little and we take the opportunity to read the history reference books we have in the Carthage Visitor's Center library.  I have made it though two of those books already and have gained additional insights to the history of Carthage and those who participated in the protection of the Prophet, and those who sought to ultimately destroy the Prophet.  

It is interesting to note that the effort to destroy this work is futile.  The men and women involved in this effort here in Carthage had mixed results in the balance of their lifetimes.  However, the great work of the Church cannot be stifled.  The Church membership in 1844 stood at about 26,000 members world-wide.  The membership announced in General Conference last Saturday was over 15,300,000 and counting.  

We saw this with the minor disruptions in the conference sessions this weekend.   Groups tend to think that they can be disruptive and redirect the conference proceedings, but this has just the opposite effect for me.  The messages were wonderful and very timely for me and made me want to be better and do better.  Such is the purpose and focus of General Conference.

With all this research and a few quiet moments, mom and I are able to continue our research.  Mom is just finishing the book, "The Carthage Conspiracy", by Dallin H. Oaks. 

Then, after our shift ended at 4:30pm, we had our outdoor play practice of "Sunset" tonight at 6:30pm in Nauvoo.  We practiced our singing and dancing and had some fun with our friends there.  We got home at around 8:00pm tonight and we are ready for bed.  We hope you have a great evening and for the Jeppson's, we hope you get to meet this family, sometime soon, that we had visit us today!