July 19, 2015 - Sunday in Carthage

This morning at about 7:15am we welcomed the newest member of our family!  Faith Mary was born to Bob and Mary with both mom and daughter doing great!  Mom and I were sitting in Sacrament Meeting listening to the first speaker when we FINALLY got the text message from Bob.  The last message we had received was Bob telling us to "pray for a quick delivery" about 7:00am.  Mom and I immediately offered a prayer and then did not hear anything for over an hour!  Well, we are grateful to welcome our 18th grandchild and our 10th granddaughter!

After our meetings in Nauvoo, we got back to Carthage at 11:30am and had a very quick lunch together before going over to the Visitors Center to open for the day.  Sunday is our shortest day of the week with 4.5 open hours, but, by far, our busiest day for guests.  Today, in about 5.5 hours, we gave 1238 tours.  The movie room was constantly going and we had each movie filled to capacity with guests.  Couple that with 3 "Be Still" vignettes in 1.5 hours with over 100 in each vignette, it was a crazy busy day!  

But we had some wonderful visitors here today.  As we assembled groups to see the movie, I was able to talk to about 100 people at a time and answer questions about Joseph Smith and the events that took place on June 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28, 1844.  It was fun to open up their understanding a little more about the experiences that Joseph and Hyrum and Willard Richards and John Taylor went through together.

Then, mom and I traveled to Nauvoo for a missionary district meeting.  I was absolutely beat and could hardly keep my eyes open.  However, mom had a chance to talk to the presenter, Glenn Rawson.  He played a significant role in December 2012, when we heard him speak directly to our family.  We had been going through some extremely hard times, financially, as the deli was not producing enough to keep three families going.  We had been serving faithfully, I was Bishop at the time and everyone was working hard.  We fasted together and we prayed together and we worked hard together, but the relief was not coming.

As we were all gathered for a family meeting at Tom and Josie's home, Ali and Jared, Josie and Tom and mom and I were sitting in their living room on a Sunday afternoon, when Glenn Rawson came on the radio with a message for us.  He said three times, "expect miracles"....  

When those two words sunk into our understanding, we all cried.  And, to our astonishment, over the next few months, we started seeing miracles in the deli.  Catering orders came in and business increased during the week, but never enough to cover the bills each month, except, somehow each month, those bill commitments were met.  

And we continue to see and witness miracles in our lives every day.  It is a miracle that mom and I are even in the mission field, and even more miraculous that we are not in the Philippines!  It is a miracle that Faith came to us healthy and strong.  It is a miracle that Mary was able to safely deliver precious baby Faith!  We all have stories to tell about various miracles, but because we heard Glenn Rawson utter those words to us in December 2012, mom was able to experience another miracle by having him come here to Nauvoo and speak to the missionaries that give mom the chance to thank him personally for his work!

Now I ask you, does Heavenly Father know us and does He care about us and, then, does He show us His love for us in great and significant ways such as these?  I am convince that He does!  Here is a picture of Glenn Rawson and mom this evening;

Here is a bold senior sister missionary on a "thank you" mission to let Glenn Rawson know about the affect he has had on our family!

There was also another great Sacrament meeting today for the missionaries.  We had some wonderful speakers discuss the life of Joseph Smith and we were taught some plain and simple truths from Joe J. Christensen, an emeritus member of the Seventy.  From the talk in Sacrament, I was taught that; "whenever truth is taught, truth will be opposed".

And from Elder Christensen, he spoke briefly about the Sacrament and how important that event is in our lives.  He tied taking the Sacrament to the Temple, at least for me, when he said; "The building, that the Sacrament portion of the Sunday meeting is held in, becomes an "ordinance room", when the Sacrament is taken.  I just thought that was a profound statement and when fully realized, can make my weekly renewal just a little more significant for me.

Well, is has been a wonderful day and mom and I have traveled into Nauvoo twice today and have had safe travels both times.  We pray for safety and we realize that these prayers are answered each time we make it back home.  Let the miracles continue!