August 4, 2016 - Thursday in Nauvoo

Mom and I had a good day together.  It was slow at the Handcart Station with only 2 groups, but Jackie got to be the first one out on the trail this morning when she started her trek at around 8:45am!  She did the two mile trek by herself and was quite a trooper!  The humidity was already climbing to over 75% by 8:00am, and then we had a family of five come about twenty minutes later for the one mile trail.  

The humidity was over 85% by 9:00am!

Two senior missionary handcart coordinators!

Best day ever!

We enjoyed our morning walk together, and got started early at 5:15am, after our morning devotional and prayers.  It was already starting to get warm with the temperatures in the low 70's, and the humidity at over 65%.  Since we did not have a scheduled trek on the books this morning, we took our time getting ready for the day, and stretched out our walking time together.  We then had a nice breakfast with the air conditioning set at 68 degrees!  Nice!

Mom and I got back to the house at about 12:30pm and got cooled off after a warm shift in the Handcart Station.  It was so nice to relax and enjoy the afternoon together and get ready for the Rendezvous play tonight.  We had the big parts tonight, and we had all the Young Performing Missionaries in the second show audience.  What an energetic burst of enthusiasm they brought to the show that lasted over an hour!  I thoroughly enjoyed performing for them!

My closing thought came from a little research for a spiritual thought I have for next week.  I came across this quote from Bernard Meltzer;

"When you forgive, you in no way change the past...

But you sure do change the future!" 

Doesn't that put a whole new perspective on Matthew 6:14-15?  And it is probably no surprise that the things we say, or do, that may need to be followed up with an apology, are not always done in a mean way, but the fact that we exercise the sweet and, most of the time difficult, option of saying, "I'm sorry", will go a long way in bringing more happiness into our lives.  What a lesson for me!!

    14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

    15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This has been a great day and the close of the day went especially well at Rendezvous.  Thank you for joining  us tonight!  Mom and I are fast approaching the close of this mission, and we will be eternally grateful for the lessons we have learned and the way Heavenly Father has taught us the humble and amazing principles of the Gospel.  

It is significant the way the early Saints lived the Gospel.  They had some challenging times living their religion completely in Ohio, Missouri and Nauvoo, but many of them caught the vision and set such a firm foundation for the Gospel to thrive.  And we are the recipients of this marvelous foundation that marks the strength of the Church in these the latter-days!  Now, let's go tell the world what we have, and what is available to them!