July 15, 2015 - Wednesday in Carthage

Mom and I made it to and through another P-day!  We were up this morning, early, and after our morning devotional, prayers and breakfast, we headed in to Nauvoo.  The weekly training meeting began at 7:45am and we were there a few minutes early and seated on time.

After our meeting, mom had a hair appointment and got her hair cut. This may be her last haircut before we move back to Nauvoo.  We are not sure the time frame of going back to Nauvoo, but mom's next cut would be in September.  That will give us six months in Carthage and what a blessing it has been for us to serve here together!

I had a marvelous opportunity today to do three of my favorite things on a P-day.  One, I got to bake cookies for mom and the missionaries serving with us here in Carthage.  Two, I got to take a nice long nap.  And three, I got to spend it with mom!  It sure felt good to get those things accomplished and still go to our Rendezvous tonight!

Speaking of Rendezvous, I pulled off hitting all my lines.  It was absolutely a great feeling!  I did not let anyone down with my lack of concentration!  Can you tell that I was really affected by that last night in Rendezvous where I missed the critical line for Jimmie??  Oh well, it was a great learning experience for me to be personally involved in...

And, then tonight, as we were gathering and preparing for the first of two shows in Rendezvous, we normally have a spiritual thought and prayer.  Elder Heslop had the thought and prayer and this is essentially what he said...he was working as a teamster for the handcart trail a few days ago, when the temperature was very high, and right after the big rain and wind storm.  He said that he normally would go check trails after a high wind and told his wife, who was assigned there with him, that he was going out.  She never goes with him but this time she said to wait a minute and she would go with him.  As they headed out to pull branches off the trail, he felt light headed, he then felt dizzy and fell to the ground.  He then began throwing up, all of which were symptoms of heat stroke.  Because she was there, his wife was able to get him on the motorized cart and got him immediate medical attention within a very few critical minutes.

Had his wife not followed that prompting to go with him, the outcome would have been much different.  He was quite emotional and made the point loud and clear that following promptings and impressions, as was the case for his wife, can be life changing.  Mom and I talked about this tonight, and thought that if she had not acted on that prompting to go with him, she would have spent the rest of her life regretting that decision.

I am grateful for experiences as sacred and faith promoting as this one, that help me try harder to "listen" for these promptings.  We may be leaning on these promptings, more and more, as the would continues to implode over degenerating decisions.  We have got to be ready for everything that is coming our way in the days and weeks and months ahead..... willingly, because we have to.  

As Elder Holland said last night, "I am weary of the way things are going in the world today, and I pray that Jesus will come and redeem His people sooner rather than later".  We have begun praying for the Second Coming as well, with an added prayer and effort to be better prepared in all aspects of our lives.  Will you join us?  We can do this together as we unite our faith and prayers!