July 24, 2016 - Sunday in Nauvoo

How about this historical fact;  I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 45 years ago today.  The date of July 24th was not familiar to me at the time, and it took several years of active Church involvement for me to finally understand the significance of the date.  Now, here are the facts surrounding my baptism;  I was taught the Gospel in a very limited manner.  I did not know that I should attend Church Sunday meetings every Sunday.  I was not taught about the Priesthood for the first 4 years of my Church membership.  And I was not aware of ward leadership roles or ward callings during the first few years of my membership.

I am not sure how I survived, (except Divine Intervention).  For me, there was so much more going on in my life with my school activities and outside goals and aspirations, that Church did not hold any significant interest in my commitment to be involved in a formal religion.  Therefore, the interests that were already established in my college years were the driving force in my life until I neared graduation.  But the date of the baptism is still pretty impressive, isn't it!

Mom and I were both up pretty early this morning.  We had our morning devotional and prayers completed by 6:00am.  Our morning goal was to be ready to leave for Church by 6:50am and help with setting up chairs for the last week of the busy Pageant program.  The congregations for the 7:50am Sacrament Meeting and the 9:30am Sacrament Meeting generally triple in attendance during the month of July.  

The Sacrament Meeting had just under 500 in attendance and the speakers were well prepared.  Mom and I headed down to the Visitors Center after Sacrament and enjoyed Sunday School and Priesthood and Relief Society meetings.  We had the assignment to serve today at the Family Living Center from 12:15pm until 5:00pm.  We had just under 200 visitors today, at the Family Living Center, and that was a nice group to serve.  The day went by quickly.  We were very happy about that because we do not like working on Sundays...

My responsibilities at the Family Living Center focused on the rope making.  I love giving this demonstration to family members because I really like to have them all participate.  When I get them all working together and helping each other make "the best rope ever", the children rarely show any desire for contention, fighting or arguing with each other.  And mom and dad have a ball taking pictures of everyone being happy in this process, and it allows some discussion, down the road, about the joyful experience they had in Nauvoo, every-time they look at their rope!

Today I had several families that I could reinforce the principle of "working together".  One family group included brothers and sisters and cousins.  For me, this was especially rewarding, because sometimes cousins like to try and "out brag" the other cousins.  This group had some mean comments to other extended family members that challenged me to bring the focus back on working together.

Now, here is my point to my family, (and I hope this might be the subject of a Family Home Evening as soon as possible), that we need to be especially kind to each other both cousins and brothers and sisters.  You see, who could the pioneers and the Saints  really count on when things got really hard?  They were forced out of Ohio, they were forced out of Missouri, and they were forced out of Nauvoo.  In order to make the terrible and challenging situations bearable, they counted on each other.  

Kind words spoken to brothers and sister and cousins are especially important.  Try to think about what you are about to say to your brother or sister or cousin, and how you would like it being said to you. Would you say you would not share something, and then expect a brother or sister or cousin to share with you?  How about how you would feel if a brother or sister or cousin told you about a really neat story, about your family or their family, that you really want them to feel jealous or sad about, because they didn't get to do it?

Families who want to be together forever will look for ways to make every other family member happy.  I have seen families leave the rope making presentation wanting to be kinder to their family, and I have seen others fighting over who gets to hold the rope that they just made together!  

As a family, let's make a deal to always try to be kind and loving toward each other and look for ways to make someone happy.  In the coming days and weeks and months and years, we will need each other.  We will want to be ready to help everyone that we can in the future by helping everyone in our families and extended families be happy now!  Remember, "there is beauty all around, when there is love in all of our  homes", and we share that love with our cousins and aunts and uncles!!

Now, some precious photos from the family;

Multi-tasking brothers!

Dad, I think that bird is about to......

Try that pat a little to the ..... ahhhh right there!

Granny and Grandpa are so proud of every precious family member!  We can't wait to see how you are trying to be the best family member as a brother or a sister or a cousin.  Tell us your stories!  We love hearing from you!!!