April 13, 2016 - Wednesday in Nauvoo

What an absolutely beautiful day here in Nauvoo!  It was sunny and yet cool enough for mom and I to enjoy our assignment to work in the gardens around Nauvoo.  Today, we worked around the property owned by Porter Rockwell in the 1840's.  

We are focusing on the leaves and the weeds around the buildings before additional planting of flowers and bedding plants will be done next month.  This has been wonderful to get, one day each week, to work with the folks in FM, including Sister Knapp, who is in our Emma Hale Cast, and Richard who is the resident horticulturalist.  Here are some action shots:

Richard and Sister Knapp with an amazing garden helper

The man, his property and me!

This was one gnarly tree!  One that Porter Rockwell would appreciate!

Fun shot - poison ivy from last year!  (DON'T TOUCH!)

On that last picture of poison ivy, Richard taught us that the poison ivy vine will climb up the branch of the tree and die at the end of the season.... however, the oils still remain active, so, DON'T TOUCH!  (Unless you take it out with disposable gloves and then toss the gloves)!  {How do you take off the infected gloves without touching your hands??}

A "grafted" Walnut or possibly Elm Tree

I wrote a little bit about the "Allegory of the Olive Tree" a few days ago.  This tree is one that the Horticulturalist grafted in a stronger branch and found that it had overtaken the trunk of the tree.  There are a few examples in and around Nauvoo of grafted trees, but this one really stood out to me!

Since mom and I worked the gardens today, we had our morning meeting with all of the FM people at 7:00am.  We had our devotional, and prayers, before we came, and then the FM group had another devotional and prayer together at the 7:00am meeting.  What a great way to start the day!  After working the gardens, mom and I got back home at around 2:00pm and had some dinner together.  And then?  I took a much needed nap before our Rendezvous Play at 7:00pm tonight...! 

I can't help but think about our precious family and friends who are not enjoying the full effects of the Gospel in their lives.  Oh how we want to reach out to them and bring them closer to these precious truths.  But, we must show patience and love with them as they come to the point in their lives where they can say, "I want what you have".  That puts a lot of pressure on us to live our lives in such a way that they will want what we have! 

I pondered and selected President Uchtdorf's talk "He will place you on His shoulders and carry you home".  Here is the summary of that talk as found on the Church website;  It is a great message of hope and love to all of us in this mixed up and corrupted world!  What a wonderful promise of restoration of individual lives...

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency

There is no life so shattered that it cannot be restored. …Our Savior, the Good Shepherd, knows and loves us—he knows and loves you.  He knows when you are lost, and He knows where you are. He knows your grief. Your silent pleadings. Your fears. Your tears.

It matters not how you became lost—whether because of your own poor choices or because of circumstances beyond your control.  What matters is that you are His child. And He loves you. He loves His children.  Because He loves you, He will find you. …

While our loving Father desires that all of His children return to Him, He will force no one to heaven. God will not rescue us against our will.  So what must we do?  His invitation is simple:

        “Turn … to me” [Joel 2:12].
        “Come unto me” [Matthew 11:28].
        “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you” [D&C 88:63].

This is how we show Him that we want to be rescued. …If you cannot say you know God is there, you can hope that He is. You can desire to believe. That is enough to start.  Then, acting on that hope, reach out to Heavenly Father. God will extend His love toward you, and His work of rescue and transformation will begin.

I think we all know family and friends who have not had the fullness of the Gospel in their lives.  Many are searching for the truth but they do not know where to find it.... (or they are not ready to make that commitment to find it).  Some are even very content with partial truth, even if they have those nagging and unsettled feelings in their minds and their hearts of dissatisfaction.  It is interesting to note that Heavenly Father won't force any one of us to Heaven.  He won't make us go where we are not prepared to go.  

But what a blessing it is when families and friends reach out with love, and anticipation, to share sacred messages with those who truly want to find truth and comfort in their lives.  All they have to do is ask, and all we have to do is be ready to teach and testify.  Now that may be something we agreed to do a long time ago in our pre-mortal life!  And we are now just making that connection!  Promises kept that were made so long ago!