October 18, 2015 - Sunday in Nauvoo

Another day here in the Nauvoo paradise!  It was stake conference weekend so we had a later Sunday meeting this morning.  We could not attend the Saturday evening session of stake conference, last night, since we had Rendezvous that took priority.  So our only meeting we could attend was the 10:00am to 12:00noon general session of stake conference today.  The only challenge was we needed to be at work at the Cultural Hall for our site assignment that began at 12:15pm.  Such is the rigorous schedule of the senior missionaries here in Nauvoo!  What was interesting was that the theme was encouraging more senior missionaries to serve missions, and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.... 

A beautiful Fall morning walk to Stake Conference

Arriving at our site assignment with one minute to spare!

And, today was Mackenzie's 2nd birthday!   Happy birthday Kenzie!  We were able to talk to her and sing her happy birthday and all we could think about was giving her a big hug... of course we think about those hugs for all the grandchildren everyday!

We had 7 visitors today who came to the Cultural Hall.  One couple came in from Washington State to see the dance floor on the third floor of this building where Emma and Joseph danced.  This is an interesting story... The Cultural Hall was build in the 1840's and used for plays, meetings, offices, Masonic ceremonies, funerals, and even wagon assembly when the Saints had to leave in February 1846.  

When the Cultural Hall was sold after the Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo, it sold at auction for $4.87.  The third story was ultimately taken off the building when it became unstable during years of non use.  Then, when the building committee began the restoration process in the 1960's, it was discovered that in the ceiling of the second floor was the old dance floor, under the roof added during the elimination of the third story, back in the 1840's.  That meant that the prophets and apostles and many of the Saints, had walked and talked and danced on this discovered floor!

Well, this couple had an even more tender reason for their visit here.  Their daughter had been to Nauvoo several years ago and had attended a dance in that upper room.  She passed away suddenly two years ago and they came here as part of a self guided history tour to see this floor.  I took pictures of them dancing, perhaps close to where their daughter may have danced.  It was a tender moment in many respects.

At stake conference I had some impressions about how strong the adversary is in our lives.  One of the speakers was addressing this subject when the thought came to me that he, the adversary, knows our weaknesses and our strengths.  He puts thoughts into our minds but doesn't know our thoughts, just our responses.  The adversary works to tear down our strengths and build up our weaknesses and we must be on guard at all times to keep this powerful force at bay.  

That means to me that we need to be praying and reading our Scriptures and following the Prophets to help us stay strong.  Reviewing conference sessions is one way that helps me to stay focused and true to the faith.  I have printed out the conference itinerary from the LDS website and have been listening to the talks again and then checking them off my itinerary list.  My goal is to get through the conference sessions twice before the Ensign comes out in November... 

Have a great evening and thank you for checking in with us!