August 7, 2015 - Friday in Carthage

Mom and I had a marvelous visit with, our wonderful next door neighbors in Rigby and our friends, the Grattons.  We were able to enjoy two plays, Rendezvous and Sunset By the Mississippi, with them.  And this morning I had the privilege of taking them on a tour of Carthage.  They were then ready to continue their vacation as they were heading back to Nauvoo and then off to Missouri to visit family.  We are grateful they took the time to come and see us and that we had the big house to share!

Great picture!

It was a slow day at the Visitors center today.  Mom and I had the closing shift and we got there by 12 noon.  It was so quiet that I sent the Prices, Hansen's and Heningers home early to have a mealtime together before their evening plays.  It proved to be a great move and hopefully they took full advantage of the time off after such a busy July!  

I also cut the young single sisters missionaries loose at 6:00pm so they could join all the other young single sister missionaries in Nauvoo and enjoy the Sunset Play tonight at 7:00pm.  They have never seen the play so it was a real treat to be able to send them off early.

On my last tour I took a family through that had been enjoying a Church History tour together.  I found out that their oldest son has received his mission call to Lithuanian.   He leaves for the MTC in October so this is an especially important time for them.  What a privilege it was to give them the tour and presentation about Carthage and the significance of Joseph Smith sealing his testimony here.  It is tours with families like this that I will miss the most when we transfer back to Nauvoo.

August 6, 2015 - Thursday in Carthage

After a long day in labor, our daughter Josie and her family welcomed Macie June to their home at around 4:00pm this afternoon.  What a helpless feeling we had being so far away from being able to offer any help for Josie or for Mary a little over two weeks ago! ....... except, to offer our heartfelt prayers for these two precious ladies and the resulting two precious granddaughters!  What a blessing it is to have these two wonderful additions to our family.  Now the aching arms of two senior missionaries will be anxious to hold and cuddle them...

Mom and I kept busy at the Visitors Center today.  We had two groups of EFY students come for the tour and experience in Carthage.  I was impressed with the group of youth I had the privilege of leading on a tour.  Teaching these future leaders of the Church is one of my favorite experiences here.

I like to tell one story in particular in the Dungeon Cell in the jail.  The Brown's and the Sathre's will appreciate this review from their visit!  It was in that room that a couple of marvelous events took place.  So, here is my story in that room;

The Dungeon Cell was a room that probably the more hostile prisoners were kept, even though this jail was more of a minimum security prison.  This room had been remodeled in the 1870's by the Browning Family when they bought the jail that became their resident for over 30 years.  Then, in the 1960's, the room was brought back and restored to what is believed to be the original condition as a jail cell.

Back in June of 1844, this cell was about three and a half years old.  It had a mattress and straw on the floor that probably had never been cleaned or changed.  The mattress had to be filthy and stinky when a prisoner had to lay on it.

Well, on June 27, 1844, when Joseph Smith fell out the window, there was only one man in that Martyrdom room that had not been seriously injured or killed.  That person was Willard Richards. He quickly went to the window that the Prophet had fallen out of to see what had happened.  He later recorded in his journal that the Prophet had been killed.  Once he realized that the mob had retreated back down the stairs (to see what had happened to Joseph), he knew that they would probably return. He felt that they would return to finish the job of murdering all of them, so he wanted to find a place to hide when they did return.  As Willard was leaving the Martyrdom room he heard a faint voice saying, "take me with you"...

That was John Taylor who had been seriously injured.  He helped Brother Taylor into the Dungeon Cell and quickly helped him hide under the filthy mattress, and on top of the filthy straw.  I can almost hear Brother Richard's apologize for having to put him there.  But he told him that if there was any way Brother Taylor could be preserved to tell about the terrible and evil deed, that this was why he was putting him there.  Brother Richard's then waited for the mob to return.  And they did!  And as they were storming back up the stairs, they heard the yell, "the Mormons are coming!!".  The mob quickly and cowardly retreated back down the stairs and left Carthage a ghost town within hours.

As the smoke settled in the upstairs area of the jail, Willard Richards would remember that Joseph had prophesied about a year earlier, about this event, when he told Willard; "there will come a day when you will be in a room with a "hail" of bullets, your friends would be falling on your right and on your left, but not one of those bullets will pierce your garments".  The superficial injury Willard had received was a slight piercing of his left ear lobe.  I can only imagine how he must have felt as he realized that that prophecy had just taken place.

Then, as the coast was clear, and they could help John Taylor out from under that mattress, they found him bloodied with straw matted to his wounds.  John Taylor credits that matted straw from keeping him from bleeding to death.

The interesting point here is that the Lord worked a miracle to preserve John Taylor, hiding under a filthy mattress and on top of filthy straw, to become the third president of the Church.  Now here is yet another miracle.  Behind those steel bars designed to "restrict" a man, they actually served the purpose of "liberating" John Taylor to serve as Prophet, Seer and Revelator!

Now, here is the ultimate lesson taught by an EFY student after hearing my presentation in the Dungeon Cell: "Elder Lasher, isn't that the same thing as when the leaders tell us that following and keeping the commandments is "liberating" and not "restrictive" to us."  I said, after a moment to reflect, and totally appreciate the question; "that is a profound comment!"  That is exactly what  the definition of liberating means!

I had my last Vignette in Rendezvous tonight with Jimmie and Marie.  We had the Young Performing Missionaries in the audience along with the Grattons.  By my estimation, it was a great night and I felt so good about the show.  Here is a person who was so opposed to being on stage and now he feels good about a performance tonight???  And why not?  I nailed the last show!!

So here is the dynamic group that worked together this summer!  Elder Rosenberg is heading off to the France, Paris Mission in two weeks and Sister Soloman is going home and back to school.  Elder and Sister Johnson played Marie's mom and dad along with me playing Jimmie's "Pa" in the Rendezvous Play.

A playful pose!

August 5, 2015 - Wednesday in Carthage

We were ready this morning to begin another wonderful day here in the mission field.  Mom and I got ready for our day with our devotional and prayers.  Then we had breakfast and left for Nauvoo at 6:50am for our Wednesday morning training meeting.  I was particularly impressed with the training today by our mission president.  He spoke about marriage and the blessing of being a family together forever.  As many of you know, this is what caught my interest in the Church back in 1971 when my friend Ellen, told me about the temple during my first Family Home Evening in her home.

But the story told this morning by President Gibbons forced me to really ponder about my family.  Here is the gist of the story.  There was a young woman who was interested in marrying one of two young men who happened to be brothers.  This was a story made famous by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

After considerable prayer and contemplation on how to proceed, she decided whom she would marry.  They were very happy together and they had children come into their home.  He was a successful businessman and he was involved in making a very good deal on some merchandise coming in from overseas.   He made the deal and on his return voyage home on the ship, the boat got off course and crashed on a deserted island.  And he was the only survivor.  He had everything he needed on the ship including food and water and other supplies, but he did not have anyone to talk to or any way to contact the outside world for over 11 years. 

Then another ship was taken off course and he was rescued.  He was able to get back home and discovered many things.  For one, he discovered that since he had been gone for 11 years that no one knew him.  For another thing, when he finally found his home, the doors and windows were all boarded up and his family was no where to be found.  

He then discovered that his wife had waited for several years and finally gave up hope that he was still alive, and married his brother.  His old wife and children now had another husband and father and all he could do was look in the window of his brother's home and see his family as no longer his family.  And there was nothing he could do as he felt powerless to interfere with their happiness.

That is perhaps the saddest story about the loss of family.  However, we know that families can be together forever and we must do everything in our power to preserve the family unit.  It is so rapidly being taken from us with the cultural confusion that Bruce C. Hafen discusses in an article published in the August 2015, Ensign.  He talks about how the family is becoming a political object rather than the center of the American society.  

As a people and as a country, we need to pay attention to what is slipping away from us due to political correctness.  We have got to stand for the family, even in a world that might find us standing alone.  There are too many diversions being spread throughout the world that minimizes the family.  However, we know that the family is central to heavenly Fathers Plan and we must stand strong for that precious principle.

We had a good Sunset Play tonight and the Grattons were in the audience cheering us on.  However, I forgot my phone when we left Carthage with Dave and Jackie and Devyn.  As the band was playing the gathering music and the crowds were collecting tonight, I heard Dave yell out from the audience that "Josie is in labor"!!...  Of all the days to leave my phone at home!!  Well, we are back at home and I have the phone right by my side!  

Mom got to talk to Josie tonight about 10:00pm and we are on the Marcie delivery watch as we speak.  We are about to welcome our 19th grandchild into our family.  Macie will be the 11th granddaughter and we now have 8 precious grandsons.  This is the hardest thing for mom to not be there for Josie.  She has been involved in the first 17 grandchildren being born, and now she is in the mission field and not able to be there with her daughters....  Mom is a real trooper and is working hard to bless our daughters lives even while she serves out in the mission field.  We are praying and looking forward to Macie's safe arrival and Josie's healthy recovery.

August 4, 2015 - Tuesday in Carthage

What a full day we have had today!  The temperature and the humidity have been very mild today and it almost seems like the beginning of Fall.  Mom and I had our morning devotional and prayers and then took a nice morning walk.  We got back from the walk by 6:30am and did the cleaning of the jail.  It is such a privilege to clean and prepare the jail for our guests each morning.  We were at the Visitor's Center by 8:15am and ready to start receiving our guests!

My first tour was with two fathers, one father with two sons, and the other father with three sons, in tow.  I love taking families through the tour and teaching them about Joseph and Hyrum.  Joseph being the Prophet of the restoration, and the one who sealed his testimony of the restored Gospel here in Carthage with his blood.  

And his brother, Hyrum, who was one of the best examples of what a big brother can do to support his younger brother.  Having fathers and sons together really offers a unique opportunity to teach about how important a close brother to brother relationship is.  Then I also have the sweet experience of turning some time over to the fathers in the Martyrdom room as the Spirit dictates.

Mom and I had several tours today before we set up for one of the last performances by the Nauvoo Brass Band.  We have had so much fun with these Young Performing Missionaries each week.  It has added so much to our experience here in Carthage this summer.... agreed Sathre's and Brown's??? !!!

Then, mom and I had a real special treat tonight.  All the Pa's and the Marie's and the Jimmie's gathered tonight in the Cultural Hall in Nauvoo to perform in front of all the Young Performing Missionaries.  Each of us got to perform our Vignette and we got to see how the others did theirs. We were all so much different from one another but all were so much fun to watch.  The YPM's loved the show and they acknowledged our efforts with loud applause!

For me, it was an amazing adrenaline rush!  Not so much out of fear, but out of wanting to do my very best.  Being motivated to be the best you can be is such a basic principle of the Gospel, and giving my best in this kind of a situation has never before entered my mind!  But what a sweet experience it was!  Elder Rosenberg and Sister Solomon were both exceptional, and were so much fun to work with this summer.  

Little did I realize, at the beginning of this summer, how much this would affect me... First the memorization, then the execution of my lines and how my efforts affected the others, when I did good, or, as Jackson would say, "Grandpa you really messed up that part", and then the pure joy when things went right...!

But no.... I am not addicted to acting, and I am not coming home at the end of my mission, to join the Stake Road Show!!!  No way!  I am still the best audience guy there is and ever will be and mom and I will always maintain that position..... unless, at some future family reunion, we.......?

It has been a great day and we are looking forward to welcoming our guest tomorrow evening!  They get to see us on the Sunset Stage, and I use the word, "get" very loosely.  Welcome Jackie and Dave and Devyn!!!

Thank you for joining us tonight and seeing how these two senior missionaries are doing!  We are approaching the end of our 5th month in Carthage and know that our time is short here.  It has been a real blessing to have been able to serve here and to have had family and friends come here to see us.

August 3, 2015 - Monday in Carthage

Here we are at the beginning of a new week!  And mom and I hit the ground running this morning after a wonderful nights rest.  I was up a few minutes before 5:00am and we had our morning devotional and prayers and then we were off on our 3 mile walk.  We wanted to be back at the Visitor's center by 6:15am to start our cleaning assignment at the jail.  We seem to have the cleaning assignment a little more regularly this week so we have adjusted our schedule to accommodate the coverage.

After our completed cleaning assignment, we had breakfast together and then got ready for the day.  The visitors coming in today were really spaced out and mom and I only had two tours each before 3:30pm.  That is in stark contrast to the over 1200 we had yesterday in our 5 hour shift!  Yes, we made it through the busy months out here in Carthage, and I am delighted and grateful for the organization we had to made sure the visitors had the best tours possible.  It was a challenge to put it all together, and I always take a little flack with my way of organizing, but I feel it was a successful summer.  Mom and I did our best....

Then, mom and I traveled into Nauvoo for our Rendezvous Play tonight.  The evening was cool and a nice breeze was blowing that made the night air very comfortable.  This is the final week we have the second show with "Pa" and "Jimmie" and "Marie".  Things went really well tonight and I felt good about my efforts.

We have a show tomorrow night, for all the Young Performing Missionaries, where the Pa and Jimmie and Marie actors included in the Vignette will be on display.  All three cast's will show off their individual Vignette, and our threesome will be the finale!  It puts us back in Carthage a little later than usual but it should be a fun night.  

I am a little nervous about comparing one group over another, but I guess that must be show business.  I never did mind the folks at Longs comparing my store operations with other Longs store's operations.  But when it comes to acting, this is way out of my class for sure...  Oh well, it will be fun to see how everyone does their parts and we will cheer each other along.   Then we will have just one final show at 8:15pm on Thursday when our Rigby neighbors and friends, the Grattons, will be in the audience!

Now I am off to study my part with the Editor.  It is my next challenge in the stage of Nauvoo life!

August 2, 2015 - Sunday in Carthage

After a restful night, we were up early to begin our Sabbath Day of Fasting.  The morning was a little warmer than usual so we expected a humid day.  We had our devotional and prayers and since we were fasting, we started off for Nauvoo and our Sunday Meetings right around 7:00am.  The drive into Nauvoo was quiet and peaceful.  We arrived there at just a little past 7:30am, for the 8:00am scheduled starting time, and enjoyed the preparation time to receive the Sacrament.  We were fasting specifically for our precious daughter who is teaching her first Gospel Doctrine Class today...

I took a wonderful thought away from our Sunday School lesson today.  Elder and Sister Curtis were teaching the lesson on the Resurrection and she told a story about a close friend of hers who was not a member of the Church.  Sister Curtis's son and this woman's son were best friends in high school.  They did everything together.  

While Sister Curtis's son was serving his mission, this friend was diagnosed with cancer and the mother was beside herself.  She asked Sister Curtis to have her son come home early from his mission because her son needed him and he might not live much longer.  Well, Sister Curtis's son elected to stay on his mission and when he came home the son was still alive.  

On many occasions, Sister Curtis had shared with this young man's mother that the Church taught that "families can be together forever".  While the mother did not believe that, she apparently told her son right before he died, that, "families can be together forever,..... because, Mrs. Curtis said so".   

What an impact we have on families and friends we have around us!   The things we say, and the things we do, all have an impact on someone close to us....  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all believed that?  Well, that was the lesson I walked away with today, to be more positive in my communications and to talk health, happiness and property more often to those I love and those I come in contact with everyday!

When mom and I got back to Carthage this morning at about 11:30am, we already had cars in the parking lot.  Our actual opening time was 12:30pm, so we broke our fast, had our lunch meal, and we headed over to open things up for our visitors.  By the time we got to the Visitors Center at 12:00noon, there were over 200 people waiting for us to open.  By the end of the day we had 1,219 visitors.  

It was a great day, but I was so tired!  We elected not to drive back into Nauvoo tonight for a Young Performing Missionary fireside.  Mom is already sound asleep and I will be joining her in less than 15 minutes!

August 1, 2015 - Saturday in Carthage

Mom and I had a pretty good day today.  We got our morning off to a great start with our devotional and prayers and a nice long walk.  We then went to the Visitor's Center and I put my monthly report together for the total visits in Carthage for July.  We had 24,567 visitors in July compared to about 21,000 last year in July.  

After finishing the report and getting the Visitor's Center opened, we left for a temple session in Nauvoo.  Our friends, the Passmore's were here with their son Jacob and their daughter-in-law, Maggie.  Maggie received her endowment today and their plan is to perform the sealing in the Twin Falls Temple sometime next month.

After our session, we came back to Carthage and had lunch together and began our fast.  Our precious daughter teaches her first Gospel Doctrine lesson tomorrow and we thought the temple prayer rolls and the fasting might help her tomorrow!  We can't wait to hear how things go for her!

We are also so very thankful for your notes and letters and comments to us!  Thank you for taking the time to love us and support us out here in the mission field!  

This morning we saw some magnificent thunderheads forming in the morning sky.  We did not see a full development this evening, but who knows what might happen tonight?

Then we saw the residue of the Blue Moon from last night silently sinking into the west!

Our favorite Nauvoo Brass Band!  These young performing missionaries do such an amazing job, all of them!  I enjoy watching the Band Leader work with these precious young missionaries who are here for just one more week!  We have enjoyed getting to know some of them, and so have my grandchildren!

These three trombone players are such a pleasure to watch!  The Sathre's and the Brown's know exactly what I am talking about and they just keep getting better with each performance!  Sister Smith and Elder Burt and Sister Johnson seem to have a great time playing together.

Well, here's to another day in the mission field!  Mom and I are trying to do our best in this marvelous work!  It has been so much fun to work with such a variety of missionaries.  They each have their own personalities and focuses that help us to appreciate this great work from different perspectives.  Good Times!

I'm off now to study my part as Editor.  I must be crazy to even think I can pull this one off..... but I will give it my best shot!