July 2, 2015 - Thursday in Carthage

When we woke up this morning, we thought we had the late shift at the visitors center.  So we had our morning prayers and devotional and then went out for a much needed long walk in the country.  As we were heading down the home stretch of our 3.5 mile walk, we came in contact with one of our site missionaries who had the day off today.  He took a morning jog, and his wife worked out at home.  We had a brief conversation together and then I realized I needed to do some additional training at the visitors center.  I stopped by the office there, and filled out a morning sheet and then discovered that a morning shift was not covered.  You guessed it, I raced home and got ready and came back to the center by 9:00am.  My final visitor left the center tonight at 7:40pm, so it turned out to be a long day.

I went in early because we had two large groups of EFY students and I wanted to make sure we had those tours covered in the absence of the couple I scheduled and who were taken from us.  However, I always enjoy the youth tours and today's groups were excellent.  They prepared well and were ready to be taught by the Spirit.  

We started off their tour with singing hymns in the History Room, and then we started the movie, "Impressions of a Prophet".  We then divided that group into two groups for the jail portion of the tour.  I was pleased with how well these youth listened and maintained a very peaceful reverence.  I could sense that they had a wonderful experience because they came so well prepared.

Then, my last tour of the day, was really special.  As I was entering the martyrdom room I felt I needed to let the guests know that we were walking on hallowed ground.  That the events that took place in that room did not silence a religious group, but opened up so many doors to teaching and expanding the work of the Lord. The final events that day, June 27th, 1844, did not end the growth of the Church.  It was the ultimate opening that this event created that led to the worldwide expansion of the Church growing from 26,400 members in 1844 to over 15,300,075 members in 2014.  And those who come to Carthage are added upon through their experiences here.  They can no longer be the same and they must make changes to their lives to inherit the blessings of the Gospel.  Well, one precious young single adult girl kindly thanked me as she was leaving and indicated that her father was not a member of the Church.... so it is with the workings of the Lord.

It has been a very good day!