December 27, 2015 - Sunday in Nauvoo

There is something special about every Sabbath Day.  The opportunity to renew sacred covenants and be edified by speakers who have prepared for their assignments are just some of the benefits!  Today, we had a large outpouring of that blessing as we attended our meetings and later served in the Visitors Center for the closing shift from 2:00pm to 5:00pm.  

We had some of our favorite missionaries speak today.  Sister Smith and Elder and Sister Skinner were on the program along with the mission choir.  The talks were excellent and the music was exceptional and we were grateful for the efforts made by so many today.

I think that one story that I wanted to share with my grandchildren today came from Elder Skinner.  He loves being outdoors just like Grandpa does.  He was visiting a neighbor's farm who had an older horse who had lost his sight.  That is not good for a horse... But instead of putting this horse to sleep, the neighboring farmer had put a little bell on a young horse so that the older horse could hear where to go.  You see, the blind horse could follow the sound of the bell and know where his new friend was so that he could eat and drink and not be left alone.

How is that for an analogy for what missionaries do?  We are all missionaries and there are so many of our friends, family members, and people we come in contact with every day that have either lost their way, or they don't know they are lost.....just "blinded by the craftiness of men".....  And the Gospel is the little bell that we, as missionaries and members, wear to alert people to the "straight and narrow" path!  All we need to do is make sure the noise we make from our little bell is worthy of people wanting to "hear us", and then  find and except what we have.

After we broke our fast later this morning after our meetings, we took the opportunity to relax for about an hour.  Then, at 1:30pm we drove over to the Visitors Center for our shift.  The wind was blowing and the humidity was close to 100% so walking would have been an undesirable option!  

We had over 75 visitors come in this afternoon and one family, from Houston, Texas, in particular, was fun to get to know.  They have 5 daughters and one is on a mission in Peru, and one is married in Ohio.  The other 3 daughters came with them to Nauvoo after a Christmas visit with the married daughter.  They are here for three days.  The daughters have all been taking piano lessons and I had the oldest of the three play the Steinway Grand piano and the other two, ages 9 and 7, played for me as well.  They gave me the idea to put their picture on the blog and encourage my grandchildren to keep practicing!!  The daughter in Peru is helping out so many ward and branch members to have music in their meetings!

This piano runs about $100,000 and is in our East Theater

This family has also spent time in Latin America countries over the last few years.  While the dad works his job, the mom takes the girls to different countries for four or five months to immerse them into the Latin America culture.  They just got back from Guatemala in August!

Josie, does this sweater look familiar?

Mom and I were taking about this outfit as we got back home.  This sweater has been to Finland, and has possibly sported the name tag of two "Sister Lasher's"?  By the way, mom looks great in this outfit and had we done a selfie photo, the picture would have been somewhat compromised!

Can you believe this is the last Sunday of 2015?  We will all be starting the new year 2016 on Friday.  And what a new year it will be!  We are so very thankful for each family member that makes us so strong!  The Gospel has strengthened us, and challenged us to be better, and has been our light in an ever darkening world.  

My prayer for each of us is to stay strong together,  stay focused on our eternal goals, and "come what may, and love it".  Once we travel through these experiences that separate us, there will be no other place I would rather be than with my family..... and my eternal companion echos that sentiment! 

December 26, 2015 - Saturday in Nauvoo

There was quite a stir in Nauvoo today.  We were serving in the Visitors Center for the morning shift.  We had a nice flow of guests come in and take wagon rides and tours in the center.  But one guest took us by surprise.  He had just finished a busy Christmas season and he stopped by Nauvoo on his way back home.  Any idea who this is?

Santa putting Christ back into Christmas!

The children were captivated!

And, of course, Mrs. Claus!

I was talking to this family as they came in and he did not have his red hat on.  But the white hair and beard caught m attention.  He is a professional Santa from Salt Lake City.  He was here on assignment in one of the malls in Missouri.  It was fun to talk to him and find out his profession.  He quickly went out and got his red hat for my picture for the grandchildren!  Who would have thought that he would stop by Nauvoo on his way back to the North Pole?

And here is one more "striking" picture of one of the senior sister missionaries serving in the Visitors Center today.... And I happen to be her companion!

Look at that missionary!

Once I figure out how to make the "selfie-stick" work, I might join her in some of these pictures.  Until then, you are spared having to see me in these pictures!  We had a fun time working together with so many coming in to Nauvoo on their way back to their homes after a Christmas break with families and work!

When our second shift came in, mom and I hustled to make the 2:00pm temple session.  We made it in plenty of time and even served as the witness couple.  After the temple we took a little late afternoon ride to Keokuk.  It has been a wonderful day for these two senior missionaries!  We are now relaxing in our warm and cozy apartment, and preparing for the Sabbath Day tomorrow.

December 25, 2015 - Friday in Nauvoo

What a beautiful morning, afternoon and evening we had here in Nauvoo on this Christmas Day 2015.  Our morning began with our devotional and prayers.  We then bundled up and headed out for our morning walk.  It was just under 32 degrees and no wind!  It was a wonderful and invigorating walk.

We came back home and quickly warmed ourselves up in our cozy little cottage.  And we gathered together in our living-room and opened some wonderful notes and presents from our precious family and friends!  Here are some early morning photos;

The stockings were hung with great love and care!

Mom and I promised only one "casual" shot this morning!

Casual shot #2

Look at this styling beauty!

Taking good advantage of a Bobby "staple"...

Whoosh, whoosh, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.... repeat (many times)

We sure love our family and thank you all for your love and greetings this Christmas season!  At 1:00pm the Nauvoo senior missionaries got together for a Christmas dinner with all the temple missionaries.  There were about 200 gathered together in the Stake Center Cultural hall and there was a lot of food!  However, with the Rendezvous Play tonight, I could not eat as much as I sure wanted to!!  Something about "game day" for me and my appetite!  

Center pieces complete with letters from Emma Smith

Look what Granny and Grandpa passed up!

It was a full house!

The Mission President being exposed to the whipped cream!

That last picture was fun.  President Gibbons is one of the best sports ever.  He is so kind and always positive toward all.  I am not quite "sure" who this guy was showing him how to do a proper swirl of whipped cream, but all my grandchildren would have been very very very proud....

We closed our Christmas Day with a full house at Rendezvous tonight.  It was fun to have more people in the audience tonight.  One family was there from Rigby and Rexburg.  We spoke to them in the Visitors Center on Thursday morning and they remembered Gandolfos. However, even more impressive was that they always got hot dogs from me at Home Depot!!  Pretty small world!

Mom and I have been so grateful to be serving our mission together here in Nauvoo.  And the Christmas holidays have added such an exclamation point to this service!  We not only are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but we are celebrating His life and teachings, and His Atonement and resurrection.  

When we watch the video, "A Savior is Born", it is suggested that we discover "why" He was born, and "why" we celebrate His birth.  Isn't it amazing how Christmas combines everything about Jesus into "why" we worship Him?  Because He was born, we will be born again.... from the video we learn;

On a quiet night, long ago,

The Savior Jesus Christ was born" 

 

"He was born to change all hearts". 

"End all goodbyes".  

"Reconcile all debts".  

"Atone for all sins".

"He is the only one",

"Who can bridge the lonely gap"

"Between God and man",

"And bring us home".

"This is why He came"

"And this is why we celebrate"

We firmly believe that this is the most wonderful time of year!  And mom and I get to serve Him as we serve with our fellow missionaries!!  We miss our precious family dearly, but let there be no mistake; we are grateful that we have not missed this opportunity to serve!  Merry Christmas!  We love you!!

December 24, 2015 - Thursday in Nauvoo

Christmas Eve, 2015!  Here we are celebrating the eve of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  For mom and for me, it was an easy decision to stay here at home in Nauvoo tonight, and quietly read Luke Chapter 2, and enjoy a wonderful evening.  Our thoughts are with Him and with our precious family and friends.  We have so much to be thankful for as we think about the Sacrifices that were made, and the sacrifices that are being made on our behalf.

There are several missionary parties going on tonight.  People are gathered together here to take the sadness away from being away from home and family.  Now, we would certainly enjoy being around family, especially since this is our first Christmas away from them.  However, is it really possible to be in any better place on earth than to be here serving a full time, consecrated mission, to teach and testify to people about Jesus Christ?  We not only survived having two of our children away from us serving missions several years ago, but we prospered.  Now we get to return the blessings!  Imagine that?

We were up and ready to begin our day this morning at the appointed hour of 5:00am.  Mom and I enjoyed our morning devotional and prayers and then we were off on our morning walk.  It was a brisk 31 degrees as we left the house a little before 6:00am.  We had a nearly full moon and I took several pictures before I selected this one to post.  It catches that morning light as it fell between Joseph and Hyrum on the statue depicting their last ride in Nauvoo right in front of the Nauvoo Temple; 

The beautiful moon rays filtering between Joseph and Hyrum

Then, after we completed our morning walk, we went to the Women's Garden to clean off the statues. We had the assignment to perform this service, and we met our District Leader in the gardens at 7:30am this morning.  Here are some pictures:  

Beautiful clouds being highlighted with the sunrise

The Women's Garden Christmas Eve 2015

It's 5:30pm mom!

We then served in the Nauvoo Visitors Center from 12:00noon to 3:00pm.  It was a rather busy day for what I thought would be a very quiet Christmas Eve.  There were many families who came to Nauvoo to surprise missionaries!  It looks like we will have a full house for Rendezvous tomorrow night!  That will be the only event that is not canceled for Christmas Day.... and mom and  I will be on center stage.... oh my!

For mom and me, life has not always been so laid back.  In 1977, we were serving in the Lampasas, Texas, Branch.  I was serving as 1st counselor to the branch president, Institute teacher and taking 14 credits towards my Master of Science degree.  Mom was wearing several hats as well and serving as the Relief Society President and working full time as  a Captain in the Army, and community health nurse.  

With all these responsibilities within the Church, as well as outside the Church, we tried to be involved in every branch activity.  During this particular Christmas season we all decided as a branch to go Christmas caroling.  We walked through the streets of Lampasas and sang to less active members, investigators and to anyone else who would listen!  But one incident that night has stuck in my mind.  As we were walking along, singing, a car full of folks threw things at us as they quickly drove by.  What a frustration that was!

But it did teach me a valuable lesson, and I have reflected on it from time to time...  Not all the good things we do attract the positive attention of others.  We do good things because it is the right thing to do.  If people don't respond the way we think they should, it really is not our problem.  We know from the Scriptures that all things are recorded in the Book of Life.  That must mean that our actions are recorded along with our reactions! 

And that is where I needed to improve on .... my reactions.    As far as I can tell, my book is separate and distinct from anyone else's book.  Therefore my entries into that book are unique to me.  I am just hoping that as I improve my ability to "react" in these life's experiences, that my previously not so good reactions will somehow fade from the worn pages of my past.  This idea seems to parallel the Optimist's Creed that says, "forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future".  Only I like to substitute the word "forget" with the word "capitalize"!

Merry Christmas Eve precious family and friends!  We love you and we miss you and we are grateful to be serving this mission together!   Let me end today's post with this thought from 1st Corinthians Chapter 13, the Christmas version that I found a few days ago;

 First Corinthians 13, Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,
Strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,
But do not show love to my family,
I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,
Baking dozens of Christmas cookies,
Preparing gourmet meals
And arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,
But do not show love to my family,
I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen,
Carol in the nursing home
And give all that I have to charity,
But do not show love to my family,
It profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels
And crocheted snowflakes,
Attend a myriad of holiday parties
And sing in the choir's cantata,
But do not focus on Christ,
I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust ... but giving the gift of love will endure.

December 23, 2015 - Wednesday in Nauvoo

We woke up to a warm and windy and rainy Wednesday morning today.  Our training meeting was set to begin at 8:00am so we had no time to take our morning walk.  But mom was quick to get our laundry done and had most of it completed before our meeting, and finished the rest right after the meeting.  We had our morning devotional and prayers this morning and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast together before we left for the training meeting.

Today being the anniversary of Joseph Smith's birthday, the training meeting was centered around the Prophet of the Restoration.  We have learned so much about Joseph's life and teachings and have felt it a blessing to have this opportunity to learn about him.  After our meeting we went straight to our little cottage and got ready to report to our site assignments.  Mom served in the Lucy Mack Smith House today.  Lucy Mack Smith was such a support and cheerleader to her son Joseph Smith Jr.  She was faithful to the Church even though she did not go west with the Saints in 1846.  Her home where mom worked today, has one of the steepest stairways in Nauvoo!

Mom's site assignment today!

I was able to serve at the Blacksmith Shop today.  We kept fairly busy with eight family tours.  I gave 5 of the 8 tours and got to teach several young people about the exodus and about the Prairie Diamonds!  I always have fun teaching the youth about the historical events of the Mormon's in the 1840's!

However, my last tour of the day was to two adults from Peoria, Illinois.  Both were not members of the Church but had so many questions!  I was happy to answer them and they were excited to learn more.  They made a commitment to email me their questions and to come back to Nauvoo and look me up for more information when they had more time.  

In another tour, I had two full time missionaries from the Des Moines, Iowa Mission join our group.  One of the missionaries was from Idaho Falls and is the brother of Lakeisha Good, a former Gandolfo's employee...  Tom, Jared do you remember Lakeisha???  I sure do!  Here is a picture of her brother and his companion.... small world continues!

Elder Good and his companion from Hurricane, Utah

And, while we had a few quiet moments, I took some pictures of the setting sun and the beautiful clouds.  During the last hour of our shift we had a downpour of rain mixed in with some hail.  These pictures are taken about 20 minutes later;

When mom and I got home after our shifts ended at 5:00pm, we talked about going to the 6:00pm temple session.  But we ran out of time and we ran out of energy!  We went to our mission presidents home for his Christmas Missionary open house and then came back home.  

It is always so nice to be home and cozy here in our little cottage.  And we had a bonus by being able to talk to two of our daughters tonight!  I sure look forward to talking to our children and grandchildren.  And we so appreciate the notes of encouragement from our ward family back home!

December 22, 2015 - Tuesday in Nauvoo

We had a wonderful and full day today.  As is our morning routine, we were up early and had our morning devotional and prayers.  And then we began our morning walk in 40 degree temperature.  The walk was so invigorating, and I got to review my Editor lines  We will have an audience on Christmas Day for Rendezvous, and I will get to do the Editor part and mom will be the Relief Society President.  

Now, back to today, our assignment was at the Visitors Center for the early shift.  We drove there this morning since the FM workers were finishing up our new little roofing addition on our little cottage, and our car would have been in their way.  They have done a great job with this roofing addition, and now we will have the protection from the rain when we are coming into our home.

An expanded view of the Christmas decorated Visitors Center

What a blessing it is to be serving a full time mission with mom!  As we discuss our families and the love that we, as missionaries, share with our children and grandchildren, it never fails that our feelings turn to the ones we love and miss so much.  And sometimes I want to question why we are here doing what we are doing when our families back home could use our help.  

Then, we hear about their experiences, back at home, and the strength that comes to them as they make such wonderful choices, and have such marvelous attitudes in situations that are less than ideal.  I have not seen a challenge that any of our children have met with righteous humility that has not come back to bless them multiple times over.  And, as we all make decisions to be better missionaries and extend ourselves to give more Christlike service, we are showered with tender mercies that help us press forward with even greater faith and enthusiasm.  I stand more and more amazed at the love that Jesus offers me and my family every single day.

December 21, 2015 - Monday in Nauvoo

Today we started off our P-day with our morning devotional and prayers.  We were both up about 30 minutes earlier than normal this morning.  We left on our walk at about 5:40am and it had just stopped a light rain.  The temperature was in the low 50's, so it was a fresh and invigorating morning air.  However, as we approached half way around our walking path, there was lightening in the distance.  

Mom decided to head back home but I continued on my walk.  I was thinking about the lightening and was not too concerned as I rounded the walking path.  I was deep in thought coming up within a block of home when I became aware of a little friend, scrambling on my right side toward me, and, a few feet off the road.  When I finally realized who my friend was, I abruptly headed left!  He just kept scrambling and disappeared into a culvert. I had worked up a pretty strong heartbeat on my walk previous to this spotting, but immediately after seeing what was coming toward me, my heart beat immediately doubled.....

My walking friend?

Needless to say, I was happy he passed me by, and went about his business.  It almost caused me to do my business right there in the middle of the road!  There was no warning scent that could have given me more of a heads up.  That would have been a little kinder to my heart! 

About two weeks ago I had put in a request to have a covering put over our house entry door.  When it rains, there is no protection as we come into the house.  Although I gave it a very small possibility of getting approved, I felt that nothing ventured was nothing gained.  Well, this morning before mom and I left for Quincy, a crew showed up ready to do the work!  They had it nearly completed by the time we got back home and it will be a very nice addition.  It was our friend from Carthage, Elder Hansen, who headed up the effort.  

Mom and I were making a special effort to find her some additional Church outfits on our trip to Quincy today.  We shopped at one of her favorite stores, Christopher Banks,  and we found some wonderful items and they were all on sale!

Beautiful lady in her new sweater!

And her new grey top and new skirt!

And look at this fun new outfit!

After the clothing shopping spree, we went to Sam's for our grocery needs.  We had fun getting a few things to share with our fellow missionaries.  There has been so many kind thoughts and gestures shown to us this Christmas season, and this gave us an opportunity to reciprocate.  We are creating another very unique Christmas memory here in Nauvoo for Christmas 2015!  I have lots of stories being stored up from this marvelous and unique experience!

And this evening, we had Family Home Evening with a few members of our cast.  Our friend, Elder and Sister Skinner hosted the event.  We had a very simple and yet delicious meal of tortilla soup and veggies and fruit.  Then we sang Christmas carols and told some of our favorite Christmas stories.  Boy was I prepared!  It was so fun to put together those cherished Christmas memories for my grandchildren!  Now, the cherished Christmas memories continue as we have heard some very significant stories from our family members back home.  These are treasured memories that I hope will never fade from our collective memories!

I have learned by experience that it is not how much money we have to spend, or even what we spend our money on at Christmas time.  It really is what we take away from our experiences that matter the most and how the baby Jesus's life affects our lives.  The innocence of youth, the smiles created, the tender feelings that we have, just thinking about family, and the birth of the most important One, makes our Christmas season truly remarkable and memorable!  No matter where we are in the world this Christmas, the love we share for each other and the love we share for the Savior of the world, makes us who we are, and determines who we can become.  Granny and Grandpa sure love you!!  

Merry Christmas 2015!