Tuesday, May 29, 2012

BLOG for 16 April 2012

This week I will be in the Pendleton Log School and in the Lucy Mack Smith home doing mini "tours" (which are really just historical facts woven with Gospel Principles and the Spirit to discern the needs of those there and apply the gospel to them.) While in the Lucy Mack Smith (the Mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith) home, I truly felt her spirit there. As we looked at her old home and her china set it all felt real. Nauvoo was really a place that the saints gathered. Lucy sacrificed a lot for the gospel. She lost 4 of her sons and her husband within a close proximity to each other, but she stayed faithful to what she knew was true. She testified that the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God through the Holy Ghost and that it contains the record of those who lived in ancient America and fulness of the gospel.
Dad! We also stopped by the Tinshop. All of the little quirky, random things that I learned from you growing up, I feel like I can now relate to them because you taught me to care about details and little things that sometimes seemed insignificant, now seem important. I like to see how things function, how they were made and why. And now I get to relate them to gospel principles, which I found myself doing before the mission. So I feel very blessed for the preparation that God gave me.
In the tin shop, pans for baking cakes are made. There is a pattern for each section of the pan: the base, the cylindrical sides, and the connecting peices. That happens with a welding tool (which looks kinda like that metal rod that you'd heat up from a heated metal coil that surrounds it). As the pan has a good pattern and foundation, it becomes a good functional tool for cooking. We as God's children must establish our lives after the pattern of Jesus Christ. When we use him as our pattern and foundation, our end result will be much stronger, cleaner, more useful and more prepared to enter into the presence of God the Father.
 
We did some training in the Visitor's Center. The sisters who were here last summer did mini "tours" of different displays there. For example, the first vision statue, the Book of Mormon, the saints' travel west and their sacrifice, Nauvoo map current and old, living prophets and the Christus. (and more). It was fantastic. It is a big responsibility I feel that I have been called to. We are to teach, testify, and commit with the short time we are with the visitors. In order to teach, you must get to know them and FIND a concern or more. Then apply the gospel to them. Whether that is 'prayer' or 'Joseph Smith was a prophet', they still must be taught. It will be such a great experience as I call upon God in prayer to pour out His Spirit to guide my actions and teachings. EVERY person that comes into the Visitor Center, or comes to Nauvoo has come for a reason; member, nonmember, less active, athiest. It doesn't matter. They may not even know the reason they are there and I don't know the reason, but God does; he is very aware and he will let me know if I seek it so I can best help his children draw closer to him. That's my job and duty that I feel blessed and honored to perform.
We went to Carthage yesterday. It was a great experience. I felt that the room where Joseph and Hyrum were murdered was somber, until our Senior Couple Elder said that that room felt like the Celestial Room in the Temple; peaceful. Then I started to feel that too JUST a tad. The more I go there, the more I will understand.
 
The Senior Couples here are fantastic. The men (Elders) work in the tin shop, gun shop or driving the horse wagon and carriage rides. The women (Sisters) work in the school, the print shop, the homes of different prophets like John Taylor or Wilfred Woodruff. There are a lot of sites here and a lot of Seniors. Some sing and act in a little play called Rendevouz of Nauvoo. It's so fun to watch them.
 
 
Oh! Yesterday, we (the four ASL sisters) interpreted Sacrament meeting! It was awesome: full of awe. :) With four sisters, we all interpreted a part. I did an Elder's talk on Charity. I'm not pro, but I did a good job at getting the concept across. I need to work on facial expressions!!
 

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