The continuing history of Elder and Sister Robert Lasher. We started in Laoag, Philippines and are now reassigned to Illinois, Nauvoo Mission. After serving in Nauvoo for 18 months, and being home for about 18 months, we are now heading to Martin's Cove, part of the Wyoming Mormon Trails Mission.
Mom and I were up bright and early this morning ready to begin the day here in Carthage. We had our morning devotional and prayers and a nice early morning walk as we prepared for today's activities. We had a great start to the day!
One of our visitors, today, was a man who was living in Quincy in the 1980's and was asked to come to Carthage to be available to be in the film we show here, filmed in 1989, "The Impressions of a Prophet". He was selected to represent a Senator from Illinois who commented about Joseph back in the 1840's. He told us about his random selection and the thrill of playing the part. I had to take his picture that shows him 26 years after the film we show here was made;
He had a soft way of talking to us and seemed like a very gentle man. I
got his name but did not write it down.... However, mom could see the
resemblance in the 1989 picture on the movie screen.
Then, we hit another milestone here at the Historic Carthage Jail Visitors Center. We had a record setting month of folks coming to Carthage. I took this picture yesterday of the packed calendar we were following for July:
Well,
we had a little "Tearing up" party as the end of July was coming to a
close this afternoon. We gathered as many of the missionaries together
as we could, and gathered around the calendar, and ripped off the page
marked "July 2015"!
From the back of the picture and clockwise we have Mom, Sister Price,
Elder Price, Sister Butler, Sister Mikoliski, and Sister Heninger. The
picture was taken in the History Room of the Visitors Center. Missing
in action were Elder and Sister Hansen, Elder Heninger, Sister Pugmire,
Sister Kupfer, Sister Uata, Young Sister Heninger, and the photographer!
Look
at those smiles! Almost 25,000 guests came to Carthage in July! This
is over 800 visitors each day of the month of July 2015. Our busiest
days were Sunday's where we were open only 5 hours and had on each
Sunday in July over 1,450 on the average. Our busiest day during the
week was Thursday July 9th where we had over 1,750 in a 10 hour day! Is
it any wonder why there were smiles during today's celebration?
Then I began a little research on the song "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and wanted to include this research in today's blog:
PROVO, Utah — October 2008 New research has recovered the more upbeat tune John Taylorused when he sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to Joseph Smith just before the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was murdered on June 27, 1844.
The tune had been lost to history. For 140 years, church members have sung the song to a different tune, one commissioned by Taylor himself.A year before President Taylor died in 1887, he sang the song for composer Ebenezer Beesley the way he sang it at Carthage jail in Illinois before a mob stormed the jail and shot and killed Smith and his brother Hyrum and wounded Taylor and Willard Richards.
Beesley recorded the tune in his choir book. Then he composed a different one for the song for a new hymn book commissioned for the church by Taylor, and Beesley's arrangement is the only one known to generations of Latter-day Saints. A Taylor descendant recently uncovered the Beesley choir book, and historian Jeffrey N. Walker presented his arrangement of the song at a church history symposium on Taylor held Friday at Brigham Young University.A quartet that included Walker's son performed the song at the conference.
Taylor's tune wouldn't be completely unfamiliar to Latter-day Saints, but it is more upbeat and some notes have a distinct Irish-Celtic sound. "We heard a hymn that changed us a bit," Walker said after the performance, "that transported us back to a day in Carthage, amongst the leaders of the church as they contemplated the role that the church would have through the world, and while that day (the mob) may have taken two of the greatest who have ever lived, John was there (as) more than just a recorder, he was there to capture the essence of the day."
The Smiths were in jail on a charge of treason based on the affidavit of two men whose word, according to Taylor, wasn't worth 5 cents. Taylor and Richards joined them for support, and on the afternoon the brothers died, Taylor sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." Hyrum Smith so liked the song that he asked Taylor to sing it a second time. Taylor tried to decline because of the gloomy mood — he later called it "a remarkable depression of spirits" — in the second-story room of the jail but Hyrum Smith insisted, telling Taylor he'd get the spirit of it once he began. Those facts endear the recovered tune to Walker.
"I like it because John Taylor sang it that way," Walker said. "I like it also that Hyrum liked it." The song began as a poem written by English poet James Montgomery during two chilly, dreary trips in horse-drawn carriages in England in December 1826. Titled "The Stranger and His Friend," Montgomery didn't expect the poem to become a hymn. A New York preacher named George Coles set the poem to music, to a tune he named Duane Street after the address of one of his churches. Taylor learned the hymn in England on a mission and included it in a Mormon hymnal published there in 1840 under his direction and that of Brigham Young and Parley P. Pratt.
Pratt was the missionary who converted Taylor. Young would succeed Joseph Smith as church president, and Taylor would follow Young as the church's third president.The hymnal didn't include music or even the name of a tune, only Montgomery's lyrics. Taylor sang it to a different tune than Duane Street. The new song with Taylor's tune had been introduced in Nauvoo, Ill., before the martyrdom of the Smiths. The hymnal included all seven verses of the song, which settles the question for Walker of whether Taylor sang all seven verses at Carthage.
Taylor apparently thought the hymn's tune needed to be more elegant. "He'd write he didn't like the tune," Walker said. "He thought it was quite plain." Taylor asked Beesley to compose a new tune at the same time he launched a committee to create a new hymnbook for the church. The result was the Psalmody, completed in 1889, two years after Taylor's death.
"The one we have in our hymnbook now is a little more elegant, a little more formal, a little more memorial," Walker said. The church is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Taylor's birth next month, and Taylor descendants lauded Walker for presenting the song at Friday's conference. "It's wonderful we now have that tune," Mark H. Taylor said. "We now have the tune as sung in Carthage jail."
And finally, I have had so wonderful and amazing moments here in Carthage as I have studied and pondered and taught about Joseph Smith. The man I thought I knew before our call to serve in the mission field here in the Illinois, Nauvoo Mission, was so under appreciated. The books and articles I have read have strengthened and reinforced my testimony of Joseph and Hyrum. Joseph as the Prophet of the Restoration and all he went through from Vermont to Palmyra and from Palmyra to Carthage. It was an absolutely incredible life of struggles, sacrifices, Heavenly visits and training sessions, persecutions and glorious visions. However, what I think was most remarkable in Joseph's life was his great ability to make the most of each opposition he faced in his pathway to becoming the Prophet of the Restoration. He was placed in some tremendously awful situations and then showed us how to copy. Liberty Jail is the most profound teaching platform that I can see. Here he is in a terrible situation for six months while he waited for a trumped up trial. But he didn't just "wait" there in jail! He made the most of every minute he spent there while receiving Heavenly guidance in his pathway to fulfilling his role as Prophet of the Restoration!
Let's be honest, he could have become depressed and obsessed with his "bad luck and persecution" and just lived out the sentence.... Instead, he took full advantage of the time "given him" to complete several necessary assignments on his way to his ultimate and final assignment in Carthage. Here is some research that supports how well he used his time under such maligned circumstances;
Liberty Jail
Liberty, Missouri
Introduction
Joseph Smith was unjustly
confined in Liberty Jail from December 1838 to April 1839 along with
several other Church leaders. Joseph suffered helplessly, knowing that
the Latter-day Saints were being driven from Missouri under an
"extermination order" from the governor. The Prophet and his companions
were imprisoned in a rough stone dungeon measuring 14 by 14 feet, with a
ceiling just over 6 feet high. Only two small barred windows allowed
light and air into the cell. The six prisoners suffered from winter
weather, filthy conditions, hunger, and sickness.
While in Liberty Jail, the
Prophet wrote letters to his family and the Saints. His correspondence
contains some of the most poignant revelation found in scripture. In
this miserable jail, Joseph learned that his sufferings were still not
comparable to those of the Savior, as the Spirit whispered to him: "The
Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" He
was taught that in the end "all these things shall give thee experience,
and shall be for thy good." 1
In early April 1839, Joseph and the other prisoners were allowed to escape, and they fled to safety in Illinois.
The jail was eventually torn
down, though some of the dungeon floor and walls remained. The property
was purchased for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in
1939. President Joseph Fielding Smith dedicated a partial reconstruction
of the jail housed within a visitors' center in 1963.
Quotes
Joseph Smith Quotes
Hell may pour forth its rage like the burning lava of Mount Vesuvius .
. . and yet shall "Mormonism" stand. . . . God is the author of it. He
is our shield. . . . It was by Him we received the Book of Mormon; and
it is by Him that we remain unto this day; and by Him we shall remain,
if it shall be for our glory; and in His Almighty name we are determined
to endure tribulation as good soldiers unto the end. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 139.)
The Savior said, . . . "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
my sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in
heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you." Now,
dear brethren, if any men ever had reason to claim this promise, we are
the men; for we know that the world not only hate us, but they speak
all manner of evil of us falsely, for no other reason than that we have
been endeavoring to teach the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 124; paragraph divisions altered.)
Witnesses
Hyrum Smith, Church Patriarch, 1841–1844
I was innocent of crime, and . . . I had been dragged from my family
at a time, when my assistance was most needed; . . . I had been abused
and thrust into a dungeon, and confined for months on account of my
faith, and the "testimony of Jesus Christ." However I thank God that I
felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes
had seen, which my hands had handled, and which I had borne testimony
to, wherever my lot had been cast. ("To the Saints Scattered Abroad," Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 23.)
Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson, Early Member of the Church
"It would be beyond my power to describe my feelings when we were
admitted into the jail by the keeper and the door was locked behind us,"
wrote Mercy Thompson of her visit to the prisoners in Liberty Jail. "We
could not help feeling a sense of horror on realizing that we were
locked up in that dark and dismal den, fit only for criminals of the
deepest dye; but there we beheld Joseph, the Prophet . . . confined in a
loathsome prison for no other cause or reason than that he claimed to
be inspired of God to establish His church among men." ("Recollections
of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Juvenile Instructor, July 1, 1892, 398.)
Key Events
Revelations Received
D&C Section 105 —
June 22, 1834. Shortly before the arrival of Zion’s Camp in Clay
County, Missouri, the governor rescinded the aid he had promised. Hence,
the goal to restore the Saints to their inheritance was frustrated.
D&C Section 121 —
Mar. 1839. The persecutions against and the sufferings of the Saints
led the Prophet Joseph Smith to plead with the Lord in their behalf
while he was in Liberty Jail.
D&C Section 122 —
Mar. 1839. The persecutions against and the sufferings of the Saints
led the Prophet Joseph Smith to plead with the Lord in their behalf
while he was in Liberty Jail.
D&C Section 123 —
Mar. 1839. The persecutions against and the sufferings of the Saints
led the Prophet Joseph Smith to plead with the Lord in their behalf
while he was in Liberty Jail.
What an example for me! We, too, have many opportunities to find out
for ourselves, "who we really are, and who we can become". My favorite
quote from Charles DuBois!
This was a long post, but, it was a great day here in Carthage!
It was back to the Carthage Visitors Center, today, after a wonderful P-day yesterday. I was up early this morning, after going to bed late last night, just to make sure mom and I had time for the long walk. We had our devotional this morning and our prayers before the walk, and then we came out of the house to a cool summer morning here in Carthage. Mom hung in there with me until about the first mile or so, and then elected to head back to the house to get ready for the day. I took the 3 mile route and practiced my lines for "Pa" tonight. I finally can review the entire part in my mind without the script in front of me and I am feeling very comfortable with it. The long walk gives me some great time to practice!
We had several youth groups scheduled today and one Seminary and Institute Teacher group today as well. I really enjoy these kinds of groups and thrive on sharing my testimony with them. One of the youth groups was a stake girls camp group. I was quickly reminded that our first granddaughter, Cambry Anna, was also attending girls camp this week! Cambry got back home today much to the relief and gratitude of our precious daughter Amy!
I think that teaching the young women in the Martyrdom Room today was one of the highlights of my day. The young sisters were so receptive and the Spirit was so strong as I spent the time with them. They were so attentive and many were visibly affected by the presentation. And many had wonderful questions for me afterwards.
Mom and I decided to take a picture of the July 2015 calendar we have been following this month. We will reach close to 25,000 tours this month and it has been the busiest month on record here in Carthage. Almost every day we have had scheduled tours and some were made almost one year ago! Take a look at July 31st. We have no tours scheduled and this marks the downhill side of our assignment here in Carthage.
I had another tour group here this morning and they were from all over the United Sates on a Church History tour originating from the Salt Lake area. As the tour guide was getting off the bus this morning to greet me, we started talking about where we live. When he found out I was from Rigby, he indicated his grandmother lives in Rigby. Then I threw out the big question, "who is your grandmother".... well, he is the grandson of a sweet sister that mom and I home taught for two years prior to our ward and our stake splitting in 2008. That sister is Beverly Clark and I immediately snapped this picture:
Sister Clark was such a pleasant lady to go and visit. Sometimes mom
would go with me and other times I would take Aaronic Priesthood young
men with me, and sometimes my son would go with me. What a small
world! And what a sweet tender mercy to meet him!
Now, here is a lesson I learned tonight after hearing a very special story... first the story;
"There was a young man who had saved his money for a long time with the intention of buying himself the car of his dreams. When he had finally gotten the money together that he needed, and this took quite a bit of time, he made the purchase. He kept the car immaculate. He washed it and waxed it and drove the car with all the care he could muster. Well, one day he was driving down the road and he passed a group of three young boys. Suddenly a brick was thrown at the side of his car and put a sizable dent in his immaculate car. He was furious and pulled over and asked each of the boys if they were the one who threw the brick. The first boy simple said no, and the second boy said no as well. However, the third boy admitted to throwing the brick and said, 'I threw the brick because my younger brother just fell in the irrigation ditch and I can't get him out with his wheel chair stuck, and I needed to get your attention to help me!"
Well, here is the lesson; How many times have I been too busy or too focused on my little world and missed an opportunity to provide a needed service? I can only imagine how many missed opportunities I might be responsible for. But this story is a reminder that I need to do what the owner of the car did.... he never fixed that dent in the side of his car! It served as a reminder to him that he must never miss another opportunity to provide service to someone who may have a more critical need, and whom the Lord may have put in his way to be served by him
Oh, the lessons we learn each day that can provide the material we might need to be better and to do better....It reminds me of one of the lines in the Rendezvous Play. That line? "Don't confuse what is impressive for what is important".
And the capping of this wonderful day came from this picture of a full
moon over Nauvoo. In fact, it is a "blue moon", indicating the second
full moon in this month. The next blue moon is slated to appear in
2018, where two full moons will appear in the same month!
Thank you for joining me tonight! It has been a good day!
We woke up to another wonderful Preparation day! As we do on a weekly basis, we headed off to the training meeting in Nauvoo for the earlier 7:30am start time. Some of these training meetings are excellent, and some just fill the time, but it is always fun to see friends living in Nauvoo that we don't get to see very often since we live in Carthage.
However, I was asked this morning by a member of the mission presidency to remind him as to when we went out there, and then he asked if we could hang in there in Carthage another two weeks. How would you interpret that? Mom and I are ready for any assignment coming our way, and we feel that we have done all that we have been asked to do in Carthage. Hopefully our service has been acceptable to the Lord. I did get this quite humorous memo this morning at the training meeting;
AMA weighs in on healthcare reform: Allergists voted to scratch it but dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. Gastroenterologist's had a gut feeling about it, but Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve.Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception. Ophthalmologists considered it shortsighted.Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!"Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it. Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing while the Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow. Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter." Podiatrists thought it a step forward. Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no. In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the bums in Washington.
We had a fun morning going into Keokuk after the training meeting. Our weekly grocery shopping is always fun. We went to both Aldi's and Wal Mart and then bought our weekly tank of gas in Iowa since the prices are about 10 cents a gallon cheaper than Illinois. And then we headed for home. Driving through Carthage towards our turn-off, I notice that the price of gasoline in Carthage had dropped 20 cents a gallon from this mornings pricing.... It was 6 cents a gallon cheaper in Carthage! I hate it when that happens!
It was only 10:30am when we got home today. I quickly changed into my joggers and scrubbed down the car. I had accumulated another 4 million bugs and added some road tar stains,... just because.... It took over an hour and a half, but I got most of the road kill and tar off. I worked up quite a sweat in 85 degree temperature and around 200% humidity. Boy did that feel good! I had to take another shower before we had lunch together!
Of course the opportunity presented itself so I took it..... yes I had about a two hour nap after a wonderful Skype visit with Bob and Mary and those precious children!
Tonight we had Sunset Play, and had a nice surprise. Our non-member custodians at the Carthage Visitors Center, came to see us perform. (I use "perform" very loosely). Billie and Jimmie have been so hesitant to participate in any Mormon event, but they have really warmed up to our Carthage missionary sisters. They seemed to have had a good time, and the show was terrific.... (and mom and I participated so why wouldn't if be terrific)?? Here they are after our performance:
It was a mile stone to have Billie and Jimmie come and see us. They
were not ready for any contact with the Church, in any way, back in
March when we first arrived. We have repeatedly discovered that you
just need to keep loving your family and friends and then the Lord will
find a way to help them start participating in fun events like we had
tonight.
Here are two of the sister missionaries assigned to Carthage. The one
in the middle, Sister Heninger, has had a wonderful affect on Billie and
Jimmie. Patience and long suffering and a never-give-up attitude are
her hallmarks. Sister Mikoliski is her companion and a fun sister to be
around as well.
The
next three photos are the Bowdens. Elder and Sister Bowden lived right
below us when we first arrived in the mission. They will be heading
home the second week in August and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to
know them. They are both approaching their 80's and still do the
Jitter-bug dance together. It was fun to see this tonight!
We got home tonight about 9:00pm, and it has been a wonderful day of rest, relaxation, and performing! We are grateful for the many wonderful experiences and lessons we are learning as we serve here in Nauvoo, as well as the wonderful people we are crossing paths with!
Thank you for checking in with us tonight! We welcome your comments and are so grateful for your love and your support!
It was a very warm and humid morning as the day unfolded. I was able to take a long walk this morning after mom and I had our morning devotional and mom decided to do a super cleaning of the jail. I got back just a little before 7am and cleaned the attached summer kitchen and set up some schedules before making my final preparations for work.
I did have an interesting encounter with our FM missionaries. We had a group of missionaries from Chicago who arrived, unannounced, at the visitors center this morning at around 7:30am. They apparently had a temple appointment in Nauvoo at 9:00am. These FM missionaries decided to give them a tour of the jail without working through me. They had to stop their work of mowing and yard clean-up to do the tour and that caused the yard work to proceed during our busier morning open hours.
I was understanding about their desire to take care of these missionaries, but they missed the critical point that if you don't make advanced reservations for a tour outside of normal operating hours, you may not get a tour. That point was made later on with our FM missionaries and I don't think this will be a problem, going forward, with them.. However, the principle of accountability and consequence should never be underestimated or overlooked.
The rest of the day was pleasant, especially my conversation with our CPA back home. We had a situation come up with a bookkeeping procedure that we were not comfortable with and the problem was addressed and resolved to the point that we were most satisfied with. We have been so richly blessed as we have been out on this mission to have the business run so smoothly and lovingly as it has with our precious family members. When it came to this one situation, we discussed the options and came to the conclusion that going in this specific direction would be in our very best interest.
What a great blessing it is to counsel together and come up with the right decisions! We can never compromise our standing with our Heavenly Father. Especially as we pray for His Son's expeditious return!
I am kicking myself for not taking a picture today. After our Rendezvous Play I was talking with Elder Rosenberg and found out his family was in the audience. He plays "Jimmie" in the play that I play the part of "Pa". It was so fun to meet them and talk with them for a few minutes. His brother, Cory, just returned from the Seoul, Korea Mission and he knew Jack Champion in the MTC. Jack is the son of close family friends back in Fremont, California. The Rosenburgs were driving to Missouri tonight to be closer to Liberty Jail for a tour there tomorrow, but I didn't even think about a picture with them until after getting back home tonight... old age is really settling in.
The balance of the day was busy. We had several bus tours of youth from Kentucky and Texas. The group from Kentucky was especially lethargic. They were coming off a 7 hour bus ride and the leaders made Carthage their first stop. To me, that is a huge mistake. The kids were tired and unprepared for the events of Carthage. I spent some time trying to prepare them for the experience and they were non responsive. We had them sing hymns before the movie and the tour, and they were still non responsive.
Then I found out they had discussed a Jeffrey R Holland talk on the bus and I was able to talk about the tour with Elder Holland's family two weeks ago. I did that right after the movie and right before the tour of the Jail. It helped quite a bit.
Then, I had all 41 of them in the Martyrdom room and the Spirit finally caught up with most of them. It was a sweet experience to see them have an "ah ha" moment and to feel the special Carthage spirit only available in the Martyrdom room. I would be interested to see how this affected those precious youth. The leaders came back into the Visitors Center right before they left and gave mom and I two honorary Louisville Kentucky Stake Youth Conference Tee Shirts. It was a wonderful experience for me....
Now, I've just got to remember to take more of those important pictures and my days may just be more complete in the future....
Today was a much anticipated day off for mom and I. We had the afternoon and evening off! We have been working hard each day and the pace is incredible. So the opportunity to have nothing on our agenda today other than our Sunday Meetings was much anticipated.
We had our early morning devotional and prayers this morning as we prepared for our meetings in Nauvoo. We left Carthage about 7:00am this morning and arrived at about 7:35am at the Stake Center. It is always fun to arrive early and watch the missionaries come into the meeting. Most of them are shocked that mom and I are already in place for the Sacrament Meeting coming all the way in from Carthage!
There are some wonderful people we get to serve with and a few of those will be going home in the next two months. And there are several couples that will be here for another twelve months that we are looking forward to serving with over the Nauvoo winter months.
There is already talk about us moving back to Nauvoo. We have been serving in Carthage now for about five months and we were told four to six months. However, most of the housing in Nauvoo will open up in September so I'm not sure that we will even be able to move back before September. It sure has been a privilege to serve here in Carthage this summer.
Today marks the last day the Young Performing Missionaries have their Vignette here on Sunday's. They all go home August 11th, but they have firesides the next two weeks and that makes today their last day. Mom and I were off today and I made a commitment not to go over to the Visitors center for even a minute! That gave us a wonderful meal time together after Church, and then a marvelous nap, and then some phone calls to family members. It has been a good day of rest for each of us!
We had some early morning rain and thunder and lightning wake us up this morning. But, by 5:30am we were able to take a brisk morning walk, after we had our devotional and prayers. It was a beautiful day that got humid as the afternoon wore on. I had some interesting interactions this morning as we went out for our walk. We had a transient member come the night before Elder Holland was scheduled to come to Carthage two weeks ago. I thought I had gotten him the help he needed to get back to his home state, but he was back this morning. I spent the better part of the morning making contacts with local leaders and his Bishop back in Ogden, Utah. It was a flash-back to my transient Bishop days! I hope he was able to make the necessary decision to get back to Utah where he would have an ecclesiastical leader to help him.
The Visitors center was busy all day today with a steady flow of guests. We had a Spanish ward schedule and come for a tour today, so I made arrangements yesterday to have a Spanish missionary here today. I wanted her to do a companion split with one of our Carthage missionaries but that didn't happen. We ended up having to quickly train a new sister missionary in given the tour here in Carthage. It all worked out well.
Then, mom and I were off this afternoon before Rendezvous, and I was able to get a nice nap in. That was wonderful! At about 5:30pm, mom and I then left for Nauvoo and our Rendezvous Play. We both did our parts and my Vignette with Jimmie and Marie went off without a hitch. I found out that on August 4th, all the Pa's, and the Jimmie's, and the Marie's do a special show for all the Young Performing Missionaries. We will each do our Vignette and get to see the others as they perform. Mom was invited along with me, so this should be a fun activity. Unfortunately it is on our night off and we have to travel back into Nauvoo. I think it will be a fun time for us as the YPM's prepare to return home. We have the whole Fall and Winter and Spring to catch up on our rest!
I had a somewhat restless night last night. All I could think about was that today is my 44th anniversary of being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was then, four years later, in June 1975, that I became fully involved in the Church and began the greatest journey of my life! I am not sure why I was so caught up in this thought this morning, but I am most grateful for what I have learned over the last 40 years of my Church membership, and for the precious people that have richly blessed my life!
Mom and I were up very very early this morning and had our morning devotional and prayers before we left for Nauvoo at 5:00am to participate in the July 24th Pioneer Day Celebration. Mom helped out with the table decorations and I got involved with flipping pancakes. We were happy to be helping out with the mission wide breakfast and celebration.
The breakfast was held in the Women's Garden and part of the program was devoted to saying goodbye to those leaving the mission before the next breakfast. Among those leaving were all the Young Performing Missionaries. It has been so much fun getting to know some of them!
This is an early morning view of the sunrise over the farmlands between Carthage and Nauvoo. It was a cool and fresh air morning!
We then headed back to Carthage for our first tour group of 120 scheduled to arrive at 9:30am. We wanted to get the Visitors Center open and ready to receive them by 8:30am. It was a good thing we were there early so that we could meet and greet the early guests who were ready to take the tour. I always enjoy helping those on a tight schedule have the best possible experience, and when the 9:30am group arrived, we discovered that they had a 10:30am commitment in Nauvoo to do baptisms at the Temple. They had us adjust our presentation very quickly for sure, and we were able to get them on a jail tour, without the movie, in 35 minutes. I think that is a new world's record....
Then we had 3 more groups of 40 spaced out by about an hour that were very easy to accommodate. However, in between one of the groups, I noticed a young man go up to the baby grand piano and looked at it very curiously. I asked him if he played the piano and he said he did. I then invited him to play and took this picture;
This young man plays an amazing piano. I spoke with his dad for a few minutes as he was playing. This is Hayden. Currently he is 17 years old and going to be a senior in high school. At the age of 12 years, he told his parents he wanted to learn the piano. He also told them he wanted to get up every morning at 4:00am to practice the piano so that he could get 4 hours of practice every day. He has already been invited by David Glen Hatch to tour with him to Austria and Germany, and did so last summer. This is a good reason for my grandchildren to continue working hard on their piano skills. Hayden was so happy as he was playing for his family and those that gathered to hear his incredible music, being played on that special piano, here in the Historic Carthage Visitors Center. My precious grandchildren, the world needs your special musical skills!! Maybe one of you can play a special musical number for Granny and Grandpa when we come back home....
As I was greeting guests coming into the center out in the front part of the brick-way, I had a brother who introduced himself as Brother Ortiz. He was so excited to talk to me and let me know what he and his wife discovered in a moment of Spiritual confirmation. He told me that he and his wife both knew that when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they saw and were taught by Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus as the very beginnings of earth life were introduced. He then made a very profound statement. He said, "isn't it interesting, and I know this is true, that Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith and taught him while They initiated the final dispensation of earth life." Doesn't that ring true?
Then mom had a very sweet experience in the Martyrdom room this afternoon. She had a group of about 30 guests and she said she felt the Spirit the strongest with this group of any other group she has taken through on the jail tour. That is quite a statement from mom! What was even more incredible was the fact that with all of our tour groups and families streaming though the center today, that she had no one following her in the jail. She actually had a space of 10 or 15 minutes where she could sit with this group. She expressed her feelings about the strength of the spirit and then someone asked if they could sing. She has never done that before. Of course, her prayers are now how she can know what and who that experience was for..... The Spirit of Carthage. We are so very blessed to have been able to serve here this summer and especially to have been able to share these experiences directly with precious family members and friends. We may never get this wonderful opportunity again and that makes this time so much more incredibly special.
We enjoyed our Sunset performance tonight. We were done and on our way home by 8:10pm. It has been a long day, but fortunately for us, we got in a nap this afternoon! And here is the sunset picture that ended our day;
This is about in the same spot we took the sunrise picture this morning! What a great day!
Thank you for joining us today. It is a real treat for us to be sharing these insights and pictures of our experiences here in the mission field with you. While we miss our precious family members and friends, and with the understanding that doing the Lord's work in the mission field blesses those precious lives back home, there is no place we would rather be..... (for now!)..... We love you!
We had a wonderful plan for today and got it started off with our customary devotional and prayers. Then we took our walk around town and came home ready to begin the day at the Visitors Center. Our plan was to be home by 3:30pm, at the end of our normal shift, and get ready for a super in anticipation of an early day tomorrow. You see, we volunteered to help our with the mission breakfast tomorrow by setting up tables and making the pancakes. The whole project begins at 5:30am tomorrow.... in Nauvoo! Sometimes I wonder what I am thinking when I offer my services! But we are so willing to help!
Well, we had a pretty steady morning and tour buses were coming right on time. We were staying right on schedule and were in great shape for the sisters coming in for the 12:00noon shift. The only problem was that at 12:00noon, when a companionship came in, we were informed that the other companionship was sick. So, that left one companionship to close. And that meant that mom and I had to stay until we had the coverage to close. The P-day sisters came in at 6:00pm, so our day that began at 8:15am ended at 6:00pm and I am so very tired. And we still have that service project at 5:30am tomorrow in Nauvoo!
By the end of the day, mom and I were pretty tired and came right home. It is 7:15pm and mom is already in bed. I got to make some cookies for the Nauvoo Brass Band and I hope they enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them.
We had several tour groups come in today and it is always interesting to note the way the groups are managed by the tour companies and guides. Some come into Carthage and couldn't care less about the missionaries giving the tours. One such company came today and they had some headlined speakers in the group that seemed to be very proud of themselves. I won't mention any names because they are all very well known, but I would rather not see these folks in this kind of arrogant light....
But in most cases, tour guides come in and ask us what would be the best way to serve their group here in Carthage, and you just want to bend over backwards to insure the best tour ever! I had a group of young men come in who work the Nauvoo Pageant. They were dressed in their white shirts and ties and came into the Visitors center and began singing hymns of the restoration as they waited for their tour turn. Guess which group I wanted to take through the jail? They were ready to learn and appreciate the Spirit of Carthage!
And in another group there was a young man who was very polite and kind who asked if it would be alright to play the piano while he waited for his family tour. Of course we made the piano available and he just played some of the most terrific gathering music I have heard this year, and it was a treat to have him play for us!
It is such a good lesson for me to see the differences in the kinds of leaders we have seen. Some will actually maximize the experience here in Carthage by engaging the missionaries while others will settle for a marginal tour where they feel the missionaries aren't good enough to lead their group. I wonder what they would do if they came to the realization that the missionaries working here have been set apart to fulfill sacred responsibilities? I guess only time will tell for them.....
In some cases, it is sad for what some people will settle for, but we have, for the most part, some of the most wonderful experiences. And I know that the least of the full time missionaries and Young Performing Missionaries can be monumental to any guest coming to Carthage or Nauvoo, because of their willingness to serve, and the authority they have been given by those with Priesthood authority, to serve as full time missionaries here.
It was a beautiful morning here in Carthage as mom and I were up and beginning our preparation day. We look forward to our time together on these weekly P-days. After our morning devotional and prayers here at home, we started off for Nauvoo. Our weekly training meetings adjusted the start time by 15 minutes. So we left a little earlier than usual and got to our meeting at about 7:25am. Most of the missionaries got the new time down and the meeting did start right on time at 7:30am. This is a picture of the beautiful clouds along our roadway to Quincy this morning!
Elder Kim Clark of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us this morning and it was inspiring to hear him tell us about the power of prayer and how the Lord can work in our lives after all we can do ourselves to follow Him and the living Prophets. We had a great meeting and we were off on our trip to Quincy by 8:45am.
Our first stop was to have our first oil change for the Honda there in the Quincy dealership's service department. We arrived about 45 minutes early, but they moved us right in for the service work. We waited in the service lounge and we had a wonderful conversation with a man who was not a member of the Church. He had received his education at Utah State University in Logan back in the early 70's. He said he was not of our faith but really liked the values of the Mormons. We spoke together for about 20 minutes and mom took the opportunity to invite him to come to Carthage and see us. He said that he comes to the Kibbee Museum almost weekly from his home in Golden, Illinois, but has never come into the Historic Jail Visitors center. Maybe, with this invitation, he will!
After the service appointment, mom and I went to Sam's for our monthly grocery shopping, here in Quincy, and then to Aldi's for some produce. We then headed for home and some relaxing time before Rendezvous tonight. We had a wonderful meal together and I got to bake a batch of cookies for our Young Performing Missionaries tomorrow. By the time I got finished making the cookies, I was beyond ready for a nap! I got an almost 3 hour nap this afternoon. Boy did that feel good!
And then, for Rendezvous, our play went very well and I remembered all my lines! Oh happy day when I don't mess up those lines. I feel terrible when I do, but oh how sweet it is when I don't.... there must be a message there.... somewhere...
I got to talk with my sister tonight and my Aunt Toni. I have missed that close association that families have when they live in the same city. The phone calls and the fond memories of days past are connections to our family histories, but the personal visits and the warm hugs and conversations are always missed for me.
Mom and I got an early start on the day with a good nights rest and ready to press forward this morning. The morning air was cool and drier than usual. We had a wonderful walk around Carthage and felt invigorated and ready to enjoy our day. We love reading the Scriptures together each morning and praying together. It always starts our day off on the right foot.
We arrived at the visitors center at 8:15am and we were ready for our first group who arrived at 8:45am. Mom and I both had some early tour groups that were fun to lead. Mom was especially blessed to give a tour to Elder Kim Clark of the First Quorum of Seventy. He was very kind and complimentary to her after the tour and asked to take her picture. She enjoyed talking with him for a few minutes after the tour. He seems like a very kind man.
The tours filled up fast this morning and we were all kept busy. That is when the time goes by very quickly and we feel like we are helping more people enjoy the Spirit of Carthage. In a tour in the late morning, we had Erin the daughter of my friend Ellen Clason and her family in attendance. Ellen is responsible for introducing my sister and I to the Gospel back in college. It was such a pleasure to have them come to Carthage! I had to take a picture of Erin and her family;
The other missionary couple in the picture are the Toomers. They are the parents of Erin's husband and we met them near the very beginning of our mission here in Nauvoo where we are serving together.
This is a family that came to Carthage today. The girls are students of Stacy Huston, a member of our ward back home and their ball room dancing coach. They were missing one of Stacy's dance camps so I wanted to give them a legitimate reason for not being with her this week!
And finally we have the Cameron Taylor Family, also members of our ward back home. Cameron and I served together in the Bishopric for almost two years. It was a real treat to have them come and see us here in Carthage!
We have been richly blessed to be here in Carthage. We love our family and friends who come great distances to see us and help us recharge our service batteries as we are away from home. It means so much for them to make this kind of an effort for us and to experience the spirit of Carthage with us!
It was a great day here in Carthage as we ended our day yesterday nearly exhausted! We were up early for our prayers and our morning devotional together. Then, at 6:15am we were off on our walk around Carthage. The early risers we see each morning are becoming more friendly towards us as they initiate the waves in the morning. That has been nice to see that positive effect on us!
We were at the Visitors Center by 8:15am and our first guests began coming in around 8:45am. I had a wonderful mixed tour of youth and adults, and all the youth were between the ages of about 7 and 16. I was especially impressed with a family with 5 young men who engaged me in questions and comments. They were so attentive to the information in the tour and wanted to hear more as we gathered around the oak tree by the well.
I have to admit that I get really excited about the youth today who are trying so hard to strengthen their testimonies. They come here, not under duress, but with a real intent of discovering more wonderful details about the Prophet Joseph Smith. I can talk for hours about his life and teachings and yet I have so much more to learn! These future leaders seem very focused on learning all they can about the life of Joseph Smith. I can't help but relate to the information from the June Ensign that Matthew Holland wrote about Joseph;
Make no
mistake about it. Whether you are a full-time missionary or not, all
Latter-day Saints are called to take the message of the Lord Jesus Christ to “all the world” (Matthew 24:14). We are called to share the pure principles and organizing practices of His gospel in His name. In order to do so, we must also remember that it is essential to teach and testify that Joseph Smith was His instrument in restoring those pure principles and organizing practices to the earth.
With
so very much at stake, you would be wise to ask yourself if you stand
ready to step forward and declare with clear conviction and sweet
boldness that “on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the
spring of eighteen hundred and twenty,”1
Joseph Smith walked into a secluded grove of trees, knelt, prayed, and
the world was never the same again. If you would be the servants of God
you are called to be, you must be ready to do so.
Decide
now to become a student of the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. There
is power and wisdom in his life like no other, save the life of the
Savior Himself. As you earnestly and prayerfully familiarize yourself
with the details of Joseph’s life, I promise that you will find your
affection and admiration for him grow, you will find comfort and
encouragement for those particularly hard days of life and service, and
you will bolster your understanding against the sneer of modern critics
so sure that worldly evidence proves Joseph could not be what he
claimed. To those ends, consider just a few glimpses of this most
remarkable man.
There
is every reason to believe that the morning of the First Vision was as
glorious and idyllic as the hymn “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer”2
makes it out to be. But in relishing such a picture, we must not lose
sight of what it took to get to that morning. The path to Palmyra—the
general location of this sacred, singular moment—was anything but a path
of sweetness and light for this boy prophet and his family.
The
Prophet’s parents, Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, married in
Tunbridge, Vermont, USA, in 1796. After six years of fairly successful
farming, the Smiths moved to nearby Randolph to try their hand at
storekeeping.3
The
line of goods Joseph Sr. acquired with the help of Boston-based
creditors moved quickly to eager new customers—not for cash but for
promises of payment once harvests came in at the end of the growing
season. As he waited for promised payments to pay off his creditors, he
jumped into a new investment opportunity.
In
those days Chinese markets were clamoring for crystallized ginseng
root. Though Joseph Sr. had a hard-cash offer from a middleman for
$3,000 for the ginseng root he had collected and prepared for shipment,
he decided on the riskier but potentially more lucrative strategy of
taking the product to New York himself and contracting with a ship’s
captain to sell his goods in China on consignment. By eliminating the
middleman, he stood to make as much as $4,500—an immense sum in those
days.4
As
bad luck or sinister planning would have it, Joseph Sr.’s shipment
ended up on the same boat carrying the son of the middleman with whom he
had declined to do business. Taking advantage of the situation, this
son sold the Smith ginseng in China “at a high price” and kept the
proceeds while spinning tales that the venture had been a bust,
producing only a chest full of tea as reward.5
Meanwhile,
just as this swindle was unfolding, the payments for a large inventory
of merchandise had fallen due at the Smith store. In the face of
demanding creditors, the Smiths hit a desperation point. To pay their
debts, Lucy gave up a wedding gift of $1,000 that she had saved for
years, and Joseph accepted $800 for the family farm in Tunbridge.6
The farm was the one thing that would have at least guaranteed a
modicum of economic stability and long-term physical security in the
often harsh world of the early American frontier. Now, penniless and
landless, the Smiths would be forced to move eight times in 14 years,
constantly looking for a way to provide for their family.
At
least one of those moves was triggered by the financial difficulty of
accumulated medical bills incurred from the 1813 typhoid fever epidemic
that struck all the children of the Smith family with great and
debilitating force. A few weeks after Joseph’s fever had passed, he
experienced tremendous pain in his shoulder. A local doctor misdiagnosed
the pain as a consequence of a sprain. Two weeks later, when the pain
had escalated to excruciating levels, the doctor returned and discovered
a pool of infection linked to Joseph’s extended fever.7
A
lancing of the sore area drew out a quart of infected matter, but the
procedure was incomplete, and new infection moved to Joseph’s lower left
leg. For this, a surgeon was summoned. He made an eight-inch (20 cm)
incision from the knee to the ankle, which eased the pain somewhat. But
the infection, unfortunately, shot into the bone.8
At
this point the family sought the latest medical advice from leading
authorities at Dartmouth Medical College. Lucy insisted that the most
logical and customary procedure, amputation, not
be used. Instead, the Smiths would try a new and painful procedure—one
without promise of success. Doctors would open Joseph’s leg and bore two
holes in each side of the bone. Then they would chip off three large
pieces of the bone to remove all the infected area.9
All
of this was to be done without the advantages of today’s general
anesthesia. As a consequence, the family was urged to give Joseph
alcohol or to tie him to the bed so he would not jerk away in pain
during the delicate procedure. At the tender age of seven, Joseph
refused both options. Instead, he made two requests—that his father hold
him and that his mother leave the room.10
When
Joseph’s cries became so great that his mother could not be kept away,
twice she entered the room over his pleading objections. What she saw
seared an indelible memory. There was Joseph lying in a blood-drenched
bed, “pale as a corpse, [with] large drops of sweat … rolling down his
face, whilst upon every feature was depicted the utmost agony.”11 Fortunately, the operation was a success, but Joseph would spend the next three years on crutches.
After
this ordeal, the family hoped that a new start in Norwich, Vermont,
would finally bring the stability and prosperity they so urgently
sought. But once again their hopes were dashed. In their first year of
trying to make a go of farming on rented land, their crops failed. Their
crops failed again the second year. In year three, 1816, Joseph Smith
Sr. determined to give it one more try, convinced that things simply had
to get better.12
Half
a world away in 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia had erupted and spewed
tons of ash into the earth’s atmosphere, disrupting normal weather
cycles. From June to August of 1816—dubbed the “year without a
summer”—four killing frosts hit New England, ruining summer crops yet
again.13
With
famine setting in and thousands leaving Vermont in mass exodus, Joseph
Sr. took his most fateful step yet. He decided to leave the roughly
20-mile (32 km) radius of family, friends, and farmland he had known
most of his adult life and headed 300 miles (482 km) southwest to the
town of Palmyra in upper New York. There, it was reported, land was
fertile and long-term credit was readily available. Out of necessity
Joseph Sr. left in advance, leaving behind Lucy and the eight children
to pack up their household goods and follow him.14
It
was winter as Lucy and her brave little band loaded everything they
owned into a sleigh and later into a wagon. After paying off several
creditors, Lucy had little money left for the trip. By trip’s end she
was giving away clothing and medicine to pay innkeepers. She recalled
arriving in Palmyra with “barely two cents in cash.”15
Along
the way the man hired to drive the sleigh forced young Joseph off to
make room for two pretty daughters of the Gates family, whom they had
encountered traveling in the same direction. Joseph—still not fully
healed—was forced to limp “through the snow 40 miles [64 km] per day for
several days,” experiencing what he called “the most excruciating
weariness & pain.”16
When
Joseph’s devoted older brothers, Hyrum and Alvin, pleaded with the man
to relent, he knocked them to the ground with a violent thump from the
handled end of a whip. In Utica, when it became clear that Lucy was out
of cash, the man abandoned the family—but not until after a failed
attempt to steal their wagon, during which he tossed their belongings to
the ground.17 Somehow the family pressed on until all arrived safely in Palmyra, tearfully collapsing into the arms of Joseph Smith Sr.
Perhaps
the most heart-wrenching detail of this journey, though, is found in an
underappreciated postscript Joseph later added to the original account
of his family’s journey: “On our way from Utica I was left to ride on
the last sleigh in the company, but when that came up I was knocked down
by the driver, one of Gate’s sons, & left to wallow in my blood
until a stranger came along, picked me up, & carried me to the Town
of Palmyra.”18 The significance of this should not be missed.
A Treasure of Inestimable Value
Photograph by Alan Day, courtesy of Church History Museum
Just
two miles (3 km) south of the center of Palmyra sits a grove of trees
that would become the site of one of the grandest visions in human
history. Three miles (5 km) beyond that sits the Hill Cumorah,
repository of a then-unknown set of golden plates.
When
Joseph arrived in Palmyra, the Lord had brought His foreordained
prophet to the physical resting place of a treasure of inestimable
value. This treasure would signal that after centuries of general
spiritual darkness and confusion, the heavens were again open. This
treasure would show that Jesus’s ministry was far more expansive in both
doctrine and geography than the Christian
churches of that day could possibly know. This treasure would affirm
that, in miraculous fashion, God is sweepingly active in the affairs of
men across time, languages, and continents. And this treasure would
promise teachings so pure and powerful that if you planted them deep
into your soul, you could personally be transformed, tasting of
something so delicious as to make it the ultimate and unmatched feast of
your desires.
With
mortal eyes, we might be tempted to envision that a more fitting path
for such a man and such a moment would be a path of greater ease,
efficiency, and acclaim. In recognition of the earth-shattering events
about to happen as a consequence of this boy entering this town at this
time, could not the Lord, who so carefully orchestrated the placement of
the golden plates over a millennia earlier, have provided a straighter,
more comfortable and heralded path of arrival?
Yes, He surely could have, but He did not.
There was no prominent, prophetic anointing of Joseph in his childhood (see 1 Samuel 16:11–13). There was no directive dream pointing him to a promised land (see 1 Nephi 5:4–5). There was no curious Liahona to help his family avoid missteps along the way (see 1 Nephi 16:10; Alma 37:38).
And there certainly was no open-air limousine traveling along a sunny,
streamlined parade route with cheering masses providing a triumphant
welcome.
Rather,
for Joseph and his family, there was a wildly meandering trail of
sorrow marked with bad luck, ill health, poor judgment, natural
disaster, crushing pain, callous injustice, continuing obscurity, and
unrelenting poverty. This is not to suggest that the Smith family lived
in one continual round of abject misery; they did not. But the path to
Palmyra was anything other than direct, prosperous, and publicly
notable. Lame, limp, and bloodied, the Prophet literally had to be
carried to his unparalleled rendezvous with destiny by a nameless
stranger.
Remember this as perhaps the first lesson of Joseph’s life and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In spite of failure, mishap, and bitter opposition—and in many cases precisely because
of those things—Joseph Smith got exactly where he needed to be to
fulfill his mission. So, if now or on some future day, you look around
and see that other perhaps less-devoted acquaintances are succeeding in
their jobs when you just lost yours; if major illness puts you on your
back just at the moment critical tasks of service seem to come calling;
if a call to a prominent position goes to someone else; if a missionary
companion seems to learn the language faster; if well-meaning efforts
still somehow lead to disaster with a fellow ward member, a neighbor, or
an investigator; if news from home brings word of financial setback or
mortal tragedy you can do nothing about; or if, day after day, you
simply feel like a bland and beaten background player in a gospel drama
that really seems made for the happiness of others, just know this:
many such things were the lot of Joseph Smith himself at the very
moment he was being led to the stage of the single most transcendent
thing to happen on this earth since the events of Golgotha and the
Garden Tomb nearly 2,000 years earlier.
“But,” you may say, “my life and earthly destiny will never be like that of the Prophet Joseph.”
That
probably is true. But it is also true that your lives do matter to God,
and your eternal potential and that of every soul you will meet is no
less grand and significant than that of the Prophet Joseph himself.
Thus, just like our beloved Joseph, you must never give up, give in, or
give out when life in general, or missionary work in particular, gets utterly painful, confusing, or dull. Rather, as Paul teaches, you must see that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28; emphasis added).
Just
as He did with young Joseph Smith, God is shaping and directing you
every single day to ends more glorious than you can know!
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations (1853), 37, 45. For a concise summary of events related to the Smith family’s move to Palmyra, see also Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (2005), 17–29.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 49.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 49–50.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 51.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 60, 62.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 62–63.
See LeRoy S. Wirthlin, “Joseph Smith’s Boyhood Operation: An 1813 Surgical Success,” BYU Studies 21, no. 2 (1981): 146–54.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 64.
Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 65.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 66.
See Church History in the Fulness of Times, 2nd ed. (2003), 24.
See Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 67.
Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 68, 70.
Joseph Smith, in The Papers of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, 2 vols. (1989), 1:268.
See The Papers of Joseph Smith, 1:268.
Joseph Smith, in The Papers of Joseph Smith, 1:268–69.
I have used the details from this talk a few times to help young men and young women, in tours like today, to better understand the life of Joseph Smith. His was not an easy life, but he was almost always upbeat and happy with who he was and who he could become. Developing his testimony was a tremendous labor of love and sacrifice that benefits all of us today.
You know, it is the "positive addiction", that Bill Glasser spoke about in his book by the same name from the 1970's. The emphasis in that book was on things that we could do in our lives that would have a positive effect on us rather than all the negative effects of drugs and alcohol and other deceiving behaviors that were intended for 'temporary' pleasures.
Learning all we can about Joseph Smith and the life he led, and the sacrifices that he had to make, including his last act of love for the Latter-day Saints in the Martyrdom room in Carthage on June 27, 1844, will be most worth our while. What a special privilege it is to be here at this time learning about Joseph Smith!
Thank you for checking in with me tonight! I always look forward to this hour of my day!!
