July 6, 2015 - Monday in Carthage

This is the beginning of what we are calling "hump" week here in Carthage.  This is the most heavily scheduled week of the entire year and we are gearing up for some large groups here in Carthage.  The Pageant begins tomorrow and that will bring 10's of thousands into Nauvoo.  And those folks will certainly spill over into Carthage.  We had our first smaller group, today, all the way from Norway, in for a late tour tonight.  They just caught the last tour as I was taking in a group that arrived about 40 minutes before closing.  The last tour usually starts 45 minutes before closing so they were just under the wire.  

What I find most interesting is that we have been training our missionaries in how to do these tours efficiently and with authority and bound with solid information.  Then, on last Saturday evening, July 4th, we had two of the six sister missionaries transferred out and now we are faced with training them to be up to speed within one day of the official beginning of the busy week.  That was the focus on our fast yesterday so that we could see a miracle happen where these new sisters can carry their load from one day of training that took the previous sisters six weeks to learn.

Mom and I had the late shift today so we were able to take a nice long walk this morning.  It was so humid and a little warm as we were walking.  I was soaked before we got back to the jail to do our Monday Morning cleaning!  Then we had breakfast and I went out to detail our van, Moroni.  It took me about 2 hours to scrub off the 4.5 million bugs affixed to the front end of the car!  But I did it!

And my most interesting tour was with four non member men who are here in the area for crop dusting.  One was wearing a shirt that said "I love flying, beer and naps".  Another was blatantly wearing a shirt with the crudest expletive boldly stated over his robust belly.  The other two were pretty clean cut and probably the most interested!  Well, I was not about to pass these men off so I was able to jump in and take them through the movie and then the jail.  I taught them mostly about Joseph Smith and Church History.  I commented on Joseph's leadership and his abilities and affirmed that he was and is a Prophet of God.  Well, after the tour, the group wanted to go to Nauvoo and see some additional sites and learn more about the Mormons.  I gave the beer guy a Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet and a map to Nauvoo.  In this group, I hope the big guy changed his T-shirt before he got out of the car in Nauvoo.  He appeared a little "self" conscious for sure!

Such is the continuing life of two senior missionaries here in Carthage!