April 2, 2016 - Saturday in Nauvoo

Mom and I were up early this morning and had our prayers and devotional together.  We then took our walk around the Old Nauvoo walking path we have created.  We got back to our home about 7:15am, and got ready for the day.  Sickness has overtaken the mission so we have lots of double duty.  Today I was assigned two sites, the Blacksmith shop and the Seventies Hall with a new missionary.  We were both scheduled the full day shift.  There must be almost a third of the senior Priesthood brethren out sick.  Crazy.  However, I got to tell Mary's prairie diamond story twice today to teenage young women!

At any rate, there must be about the same amount of Sisters who are not able to work.  Mom had the assignment to serve at the Cultural Hall and the Sarah Granger Kimball home.  She had a split shift and worked with two other sisters.  

At about 4:00pm today we got notice that the Rendezvous Play was cancelled.  It was mainly for a power failure in the theater, but they also felt like the seniors needed a night off.  Pretty extreme measures to stop the Rendezvous Play!

I was a little disappointed in how many active members of the Church came to the sites today, with their children, and missed sitting down with them to watch General Conference.  Here we profess to follow a Prophet of God and to be led by Prophets and Apostles.  However, we feel that Conference weekend is time off from Church, or that, somehow, to tour a Church site could in some way measure up to what conference has to offer.  

Perhaps that is my greatest disappointment in serving this mission, to be open on Sundays and not, at least, be closed during Conference sessions.  What message is that when we stay open?  To make matters even worse, I was serving in the Blacksmith's shop where the key message was the faith the pioneers had in following a Prophet to the Rocky Mountains.  They left their homes and gardens and their beloved temple to follow the Prophet, and here I was teaching that key message, and not being able to listen to the Prophets speaking today!

Some will say, now Elder Lasher, you can read those talks and listen to those sessions anytime.  And then I wonder that since these are the Lords servants, why shouldn't I be able to listen to them, just like I would if the Lord called a conference and invited me to come, and I chose to listen to His recorded message at a more convenient time.....  OK that's enough Elder Lasher!  We get the point!

We are grateful to serve, and, hopefully, the few non member guests we saw today will compensate for what we personally missed in the conference talks, by their embracing the messages we shared with them today.  One can only hope!  We did place a Book of Mormon though!!

I did get to enjoy the entire Priesthood session and our dear Prophet was able to address us for a few short minutes.  I am grateful and testify of our living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, today!