November 1, 2015 - Sunday in Nauvoo

OK!  Let's begin a new month here in the mission field!  October went by pretty fast and now we are ready for November and the activities that await us.  We had a beautiful morning as we got ready for the day.  The extra hour to prepare for the day was received with gratitude.  We walked over to the Stake Center at about 7:00am and enjoyed the prelude music and the start of the day.

Of course, mom was up first, and pretty early, since we just changed the clocks back one hour.  We had our morning devotional and prayers as we normally do, and we were fasting today for our monthly fast and testimony meeting.  Today was also special since mom and I were asked to offer the opening and closing prayers in the Sacrament Meeting. 

Then we walked from the Stake Center down to the Visitors Center for our Sunday School and Priesthood and Relief Society Meetings.  These beautiful pictures were  screaming out to me!  Look at the beautiful deep blue sky!  The temperatures rose to the mid 70's!

What contrast in colors!

Just a shot through the colorful leaves into the deep blue sky!

After our meetings, mom and I walked back home to break our fast and enjoyed a couple of hours at home before we went back to the Visitor's Center for our 2:00pm to 5:00pm shift.  It was very quiet today with fewer than 50 visitors coming in all day.

I heard from my cousin, Terri, that her brother Tom was brought home on hospice and not expected to live more than a few more days.  His cancer came back with a fury and could not be abated.  I called and spoke with his wife and made arrangements to call him back after our shift.  When I called him back, he was with his Pastor and all I could do was leave my number for him to call me.  I am saddened that he is facing death without the knowledge of the Gospel.  I am hoping we will get a chance to talk one more time.  I have been in touch with him over the last three years, intermittently,  about every six to eight weeks, and our conversations have been delightful for me.  

It is also interesting to note that we have been out of our home in Rigby for one year as of today.  We made the decision to give away all of our earthly belongings to our family, and we got that down to having about 16 small boxes of treasures that are being stored in our garage while the renters live there.  Sometimes I wonder if we will ever move back into that wonderful home.  We have about another year to figure that out and see what the world looks like as we get ready to leave the mission field in January 2017.  

We have been so abundantly aware that the important things in our life are not "things".  The real important issues are how well each family member is doing and are we all on the same page of working toward exaltation.  There is no place I would rather be than with our family.   That becomes more apparent every single day.  Having received the sad news about Tommy, today, I realize more abundantly that there is nothing more important in this life, than embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knowing that we can be together as a family forever.