July 18, 2015 - Saturday in Carthage

We had another busy day at Carthage and it was warm and humid from the beginning of the day.  Mom and I had our morning devotional and prayers, and then left our home at 6:15am for our morning walk.  Mom took the shorter route and I went the full 3 miles.  I was soaking wet from the humidity!

Our day began at the Visitors Center at 8:15am and we had our first group in at 8:30am.  The groups never really let up after that.  We had nine scheduled large groups and three unscheduled large groups throughout the day.  I stayed outside and met almost every group and tried to help them set the tone for the Carthage experience.  We had some wonderful groups today!  I think we easily topped over 1,000 today!

Here is a picture of one of the small family groups that I got to take through the jail.  The young sister is going to be leaving for the Georgia, Atlanta North Mission in two weeks and she was here with her grandmother who served with her late husband at Kirtland.  The interesting part of this story is that she is a customer of my missionary back in the 1970's, Skip Chandler.  He made sure she knew mom and I were here in Carthage, and we were able to make this special connection.  Here is that picture:

 

You should check out the shoes on our new senior friend's foot.  Those shoes are from Skip's shop and she was so proud of where she had purchased them!  Great advertising Skip!  She wanted to make sure the shoes were in the picture....

Then, as I was directing some crowds in the front of the brick walkway, I had Ashly Nielsen walk up to me.  I thought she was one of the youth coming off one of the tours wanting to ask me a question.  It took me a minute to record in my mind that it was Ashly, daughter of Kent and Stephanie Nielsen from our home ward in Rigby!  What a fun reunion!  Mom was able to slip them into a personal tour of the jail and that was a sweet experience.

Here we are in our special picture scene in the Visitors Center!

Throughout the day, today, I was able to talk to various youth groups and testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  It has been a special blessing for me to see the Spirit working in the youth of the Church who come here to Carthage prepared for a Spiritual experience.  The connection to Joseph and Hyrum are precious to me and to each of our missionaries as we teach the future leaders....  

Challenging people to change and inviting them to testify of their experiences here in Carthage has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life in Church service.  The message of the restored Gospel, coupled with a testimony of the Prophet of the Restoration has strengthened my resolve to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  This passage of Scripture has taken a more significant role in my life:

Doctrine and Covenants 135:

1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.

 2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

 3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

 4 When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.”—The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:

 5 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.

 6 Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.

 7 They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.