Akane's Visit (Part 1)

I mentioned in my last post that we were preparing for a visit from a former foreign exchange student from Japan.  She is now here, and we are in the midst of her visit with us.  I am going to report on her first day with us.  A bit of background to begin.  When we first moved into our home, we were approached by a member of our ward who was a coordinator for a foreign exchange company asking if we were interested in hosting a Japanese student for two weeks during the Christmas season.  Now that we had a home with a guest room, we thought this would be a fun experience and said, "yes" to the invitation.  Since that first December back in 2003, we have hosted somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 students and/or chaperons from Japan, China, Brazil, Germany and France.  Two of the students, Julio from Brazil and Robin from Germany, were "long term" students who stayed with us for four to six months.  The others have been part of groups that have stayed in the US for anywhere from a week to three weeks.  Out of all of the kids or adults who have stayed with us, there were three who were . . . clunkers (I'll leave it at that), but the others have been very nice and we've enjoyed getting to know them.  We have had a few of the kids contact us after returning home, but those contacts have either dried out, or have been very sporadic.   It has been a while since we hosted any of the short 2 to 3 week student stays.  I have to wonder if anyone is even doing them anymore.

Akane Kasuga first visited us about 3 or 4 years ago.  She was part of a pair of students who stayed with us that summer.  We really liked her and had a lot of fun with her while she stayed with us (her roommate, on the other hand, was one of the "clunkers;" hiding out in the guest room from the moment they returned from daily activities--I think we coaxed her out once).  Every time we connect well with these students, I always tell them: "If you want to come back, you are welcome to stay with us."  Up to this point, no one has taken me up on this invitation until now.  Akane contacted Jennifer through Facebook back in February around Jen’s birthday and brought up the possibility of visiting us during her summer break from college.  Soon, it became apparent that a summer visit wasn't going to work out, but she persisted and by the end of July, things began falling in place.  It wasn’t long before she had plans put together to visit us from December 21st through New Year’s Day.  We were all very excited by this.  As I said, we had never had an exchange student come back for the sole purpose of visiting us—Robin, the 6 month exchange student from Germany, visited us for a couple of hours several months after he had returned home, but his sole purpose for coming back was to see the girlfriend he had met, so he doesn’t count.

 

In the midst of making plans for her arrival, we learned that Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols play would be in Las Vegas on the 21st.  At the time, Jennifer got dates a bit mixed up and thought for sure that Akane would be arriving on Friday (the 20th).  The tickets were affordable and we thought it would be fun to take Akane to Vegas to see the city and the play, so we made our purchase and let her know that we wanted to treat her to this experience.  She thanked us for doing so, but reminded us that she would be arriving on the 21st.  Jennifer panicked at bit at first--how where we going to pull this off?  After looking at the logistics, we realized she was scheduled to arrive at around 8 in the morning at LAX and the play was to start at 7:30 that evening.  We realized this would be a crazy day for her, but she assured us that she was up for the additional traveling.  Of course, since nothing truly works out like you plan, the 21st became a wild day for all of us.  We got up early Saturday morning to head down to LAX.  Halfway in our drive, Jennifer found a message on her cellphone from Akane saying that her flight had been delayed somewhere between Bangkok and Tokyo for 2 hours and she would be arriving at the airport around 1o o'clock (could have slept a couple hours longer).  Once she had arrived, Akane didn’t get through customs until around 11:20.  After quick hugs and reintroductions, we bundled her into the car and zoomed away towards Vegas.

 

We made a quick stop at home to grab some more snacks for the road.  The poor girl slept in the car along the way and kept apologizing for it when she woke up (we assured her it was fine).  I had made reservations to stay in the Rivera hotel, since I didn't want to try to drive home late in the night.  I wanted to check in and get situated before we did anything else.  We had learned there was a Stake n' Shake at the South Point casino.  The plan had been to check in, get dressed in nicer clothes and eat dinner before the show started.  By the time we got checked into the hotel and dressed (Akane was already dressed for the play; we where the "slobs"), we had maybe enough time to possibly grab fast food and get over to the Cashman Center.  With the way the streets are in the main casino area, this turned to be harder than it looked.  Every time I we saw a place to eat (Subway, Burger King, and the like), I would either pass it while looking for the driveway, or the driveway would be in a place that was very difficult to get to in time.  Finally in exasperation, I said we could eat some snacks and get dinner afterward because I was afraid we wouldn't make it to the show in time.

 

When we got to the Cashman Center, we were told that a person in front of us had paid for our parking and several other cars behind us (that was a nice surprise).  This was the first time we had taken Ben and Isaac with us to see Forgotten Carols.  Jen and I noticed the presentation had been turned into an actual play.  Before, about 7 or 8 years ago when we last saw it (this was our third time), the program was a story with musical interludes, but I read in the playbill that a concerted effort had been made to flesh out the presentation.  Jen and I noticed new characters and the story was more cohesive and tied more seamlessly with the music.  I was very impressed with the additions—in a way, it was like seeing it for the first time.  Jennifer said Akane nodded off a time or two during the show, but she and we had a good time.

 

When we left the auditorium, it was plain to see that Akane was very tired (for her, the 21st of December had lasted for roughly 36 hours).  Jennifer told me it would probably be better to go back to the Rivera and go to sleep.  However, when we asked her, she was more interested in eating dinner even though it was nearly 11:00.  I suggested we could now go to the Steak n’ Shake and everyone was happy to hear it.   Yum.  We went to church in Vegas this morning.  Our leaving a little after noon kept the usual traffic problem to a minimum and got us home by the mid-afternoon

Trip to LA Temple & Christmas Devotional

The Christmas season is here with all its flurry!  We didn't even get a chance to eat Thanksgiving dinner before being inundated with TV commercials touting the "Black Friday" starting on Thursday.  All these doorbuster bargain sales seem silly to me, but corporate America still insisted on screaming at me, "Come shop at my store!  I have the best gifts for the best price and you'll be the hero of your family as you give them everything they could ever want and more!"  There are times when I feel Charlie Brown's desperation when, after being mocked for his choice of a Christmas tree, he cries, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"  Linus delivers the answer to Charlie Brown's question.  For me, two things have helped set the tone for the Christmas season: 1) was taking Ben's friend, Xavier, to see the Christmas lights at the Los Angeles Temple, and 2) the annual Christmas Devotional lead by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We had tried to take Xavier to the LA Temple last year with the Young Men and Young Women's groups from our ward, but he got sick and wasn't able to make it.  This year something happened (scheduling conflicts or the like) and our ward's YM and YW didn't go as they have in the past.  Ben really wanted to take his friend, so we decided to make the trip ourselves.  I think everyone had a nice time.  We stopped at In-n-Out for dinner on the way and spent at least a couple of hours walking around the temple grounds and going through the Visitor's Center.  Inside the center, we met a sister missionary who is pretty new to the field.  She took us around and showed us Mr. Krueger's Christmas and the same video about families we saw in Palmyra.  There was also a video depicting the Christmas story running on a continual loop and a display of Nativity sets from around the world.  We told her to keep an eye out for us in three of weeks as we would be coming again with a former foreign exchange student from Japan who is coming out to visit us at Christmastime.  I am glad that we were able to go to the temple and fulfill Ben's wish to take his friend to see the Christmas display.

 

The next day was the Christmas devotional.  I honestly don't remember when I first began watching this particular devotional.  Maybe it was during my mission; perhaps it was sometime in the early 90's; but whenever my participation began, the Christmas devotional has helped me to set a better tone for the season.  To be reminded by the prophet and his counselors the importance of keeping Christ in the forefront of the festivities has been helpful to me.  The "run up" to this year's event took an unexpected turn when I learned it was entitled "Christmas Devotional" instead of "First Presidency Christmas Devotional."  A few days before the event, I came across an article in the Deseret News where a spokesman for the Church was quoted saying: "While we anticipate that a member of the First Presidency will participate in the program, it has been decided to give other church leaders the opportunity to speak at the annual Christmas devotional" ("LDS Church alters Christmas devotional tradition," Deseret News website, Dec. 4, 2013).  I admit to being intrigued by who might be speaking, but since I could find no other official word on the participants, I decided to go with the flow and see where it lead.  It also happened that the scheduled night of the devotional coincided with the final temple preparation class for the latest group I've been teaching.  The week previous, Jennifer and I invited the group to come over to the house early for the devotional (since it started at 5 here on the West coast and our classes have begun at 6:30) and we would have desert and commence with the lesson afterward.

 

I very much enjoyed the talks.  Like my conference experience, I learned something from all four messages, but noticed there were two that stood out specifically to me.  The first was Primary General President Rosemary M. Wixom's talk "What Happened Next?" (click this link to see and read the talk).  The beginning of her talk about the "Christmas surprise" her mother would sew and how she was able to peek one year and learn what the surprise was in advance reminded me of how my brother Aaron and I would wait until Mom and Dad had gone to bed before sneaking down the stairs to see the presents under the tree.  We were never ones to go hunting through the house prior to Christmas morning, searching for the secret hiding places Mom had the gifts; we found satisfaction in being the first to see the presents before any other sibling.  I don't remember if anyone finally beat us to the punch, but we had a pretty good consecutive streak going before we were unseated from the top of the leaderboard.  The bulk of her talk centered around the experience a Cub Scout den leader from Gilbert, Arizona had as she taught the story of Christmas to her den of 8-year-olds.  After talking about the initial story of the birth of Jesus, one of the boys asked, "Well, what happened next?"  Which caused her to relate more of the story of Jesus' life until the boy's continually asked question brought her to describe His ultimate Atoning sacrifice.  When the den leader finished relating this portion of the life of the Savior, the boy said in wonder, "He did that for me?"

 

This final question caused me to reflect on hymn number 193: I Stand All Amazed: "Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me!"  It really is an amazing thing to realize that someone loves us so much that He would willingly give His life in order for us to truly live eternally.  While we celebrate Jesus' birth at this time of year, it is important to also remember His life, His mission, and His Atoning sacrifice.  I also enjoyed Elder Russell M. Nelson's address about Jesus being the Prince of Peace.  Using scriptural quotations of the Savior (which were read by someone else), Elder Nelson discussed the different ways that Jesus can bring peace into our lives if we will reach out and earnestly seek Him (click this link to see the talk).

I hope that I can continue to feel the spirit of these and the other talks given at the devotional throughout this Christmas season.  Sometimes it seems so easy to get caught up in the commercialism and the hustle and bustle of buying and preparing.  I am grateful for leaders who take the time to listen to the Spirit and prepare talks such as these to help us to keep this time of year in perspective.

"Where Do [I] Go From Here?"

In case your wondering where the title quotation came from (and even if you're not), it's the first line in the Alan Parson's Project song "Games People Play" from their album The Turn of a Friendly Card (child of the mid to late 70's and early to mid 80's remember). :)  As can be seen, I've altered the lyric slightly to suit my purposes, but I think it appropriately reflects my state of mind as I pound out this particular post.

Back on July 23rd (sheesh, has it really been roughly 4 1/2 months ago), I sat down at my computer and started this blog.  One of the questions I asked in my initial post was: "What do I want to accomplish?"  My first answer to this question was an expression of my desire to write about the summer vacation my family had recently finished and to provide some insights as to what it meant to me.  I didn't think it would take until December to accomplish this goal, but, I didn't expect my oldest son to suffer a back injury either, so I'm not going to beat myself up over the length of time it has taken to write my first 20 posts. :)  My next stated goal was to "write some things that are either important to me (the "general" part) or make random musings that might be funny at least to me [I crack myself up all the time when I'm writing--I'm the best audience I've ever had because I get all my obscure jokes] and possibly someone else (the "abstract" part)."  I guess I now find myself at this particular junction.

Before and after I began my own blogging adventure, I have read blogs that are funny in their delivery; I have read blogs that are serious; others have been a general accounting of specific happenings of the writer's day or something about the writer's family; and some have been about a specific niche topic.  It has come to my attention that blogs may be on their way out as a medium people pay attention to (if this is so, it would figure I'd start one at the time when they're becoming extinct).  Be that as it may, this is where I've hitched my pony.  When it comes to what I desire to write about from this point forward, I can only be true to myself and write about things that . . . shall I say "catch my fancy" at the time.  There may be moments when some topic concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ is on my mind, so I'll write about it; or it could be a random thought about some goofy or serious thing going on in my life or the lives of the people around me; or maybe I'll find a piece of lint that looks like Elvis and I'll just have to share.  I don't know exactly where my head will take me, but as long as I'm not using this as a forum for negativity, I'll allow my brain to take me in whatever direction it wants to go.

Another statement made in my first entry was that the "whys and the wherefores" behind my inspiration to start this blog were a mystery to me.  I can now report . . . nothing has changed in that regard--I'm still as clueless about the reasons now as I was when I began.  When I check the "all time stats" section of my blog, I find the first two "top traffic sources" seem to be spam website (a huge ego boost).  Furthermore, there are 7 countries that also don't make a lick of sense to me (France and South Korea are exempt from this because I know the reason why they pop up).  The stats also show I've received 845 total page views up to this point--681 "pings" have come from the United States.  Other than the explanation that my family has gone completely nuts and is pinging me several times a day every day, I don't know how this has come to pass (to riff on an oft used Book of Mormon phrase).  However, if there is a random someone who has stumbled across my musings and found what I have written to be of interest or helpful in understanding something about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or . . . whatever; then that's fine with me.  I do feel it appropriate to say that I, in no way, am a official representative of the Church--just a guy trying to live the commandments of Christ to the best of my knowledge and ability.  Any incorrect statement of doctrine is mine and mine alone.  If someone has a proper and appropriate correction to offer when I misspeak (write; you get the picture), I'm all for it.  Maybe this blog is for me; possibly it could be for someone else--I don't know.  What I do know is that my answer to the title question of this post is: "Wherever the Spirit moves me."  Your guess is as good as mine as far as what this answer means; but I hope it will be interesting to find out.

The Great 2013 Vacation: The Mad Dash Home!

Now that I'm nearly finished with my report of our vacation--which has taken me a lot longer than I originally expected because of my decision to include "impressions" of the Church history sites and because of the trials I described in my last post--I think it would be easier to lump the two days of our return trip home into one post since it was mostly a mad dash to get back.

After breaking camp, we drove a few miles into the city of Topeka, Kansas to the final (planned) Steak 'n Shake on our trip.  As I mentioned in a previous post, as I perused the menu items on the company's web site, I learned they serve breakfast as well as lunch and dinner.  I figured if they served it, we might as well give it a try.  I am happy to report that breakfast was very good and the service was much better.  I don't recall what everyone else had, but I had a Portobello n Sausage skillet--yum.  Overall, I have to say it was a pretty impressive tryout.  I'm still not sure if or when we will be getting one near us or if one is being built in a neighboring town (the lack of news has been frustrating), but if the eventual franchise is as good as what we had on the road, it should do well.  After a quick trip to a near-by Wal-Mart for a new bag of ice and drinks (I had a funny encounter with the checker; I happened to mention we were on vacation, but before I could say we were on our way home he said, "On vacation; in Kansas?  What's there to see in Kansas?"), we were soon merged onto the I-70 and on our way to Grand Junction, Colorado.

About an hour into our trip, we began to see signs for the Oz Museum.  The theme for Girl's Camp was "There's No Place Like Our Heavenly Home" and many Oz inspired ideas were planned for the camp.  The closer we came to the exit, the more it became apparent to me that Jennifer would like to go just to see what it was all about.  The signs gave the impression that the museum was near the exit (or, I suppose I assumed such).  As I got off at the exit, I started looking around for any signs of buildings.  There was another sign pointing us toward Wamego, Kansas and another advertisement for the museum.  I turned in the appropriate direction and soon found that Wamego was roughly 10 miles north of I-70.  I admit to feeling a bit miffed by this deception, but I had committed us to going, so a sucked it up and kept driving.  We didn't have time to go into the museum once we arrived, but Jennifer had us take a picture of her in front of the place and Ben shot a video of her so she could make a message to "her girls" to let them know she was thinking about them in the middle of Kansas.  While I was taking Jennifer's picture, Ben and Isaac began laughing.  When we asked why, they pointed to the building next door to the museum; an establishment named "Toto's Tacoz" (a bit of a groaner).  I guess if someone wanted to claim they'd eaten at an Oz themed establishment, this would be the place to go.  It was a bit over the top I far as I was concerned, but I guess they figured "why not?"  Not wanting to loose any more time, I shooed everyone back into the car and we continued on our way.

 

"Toto, let's give tacos to the Munchkins!"

 

Our only major glitch with the Optima came after we stopped in Colby, Kansas for gas: the air conditioner went on the fritz.  This may not have been such a bad thing except for the fact that about 30 minutes after leaving Wamego the outside temperature climbed to about 105°.  For nearly 2 weeks, we had experienced nice, moderate temperatures for June (which made the humid East coast tolerable for us arid West coasters), but now we had run into the middle of a heat wave.  The air conditioner had attempted to fizzle out during the beginning of our trip, but I'd played with the controls and it roared back to life.  This time, however, no amount of coaxing worked.  Even at full blast, the amount of cold air exiting the vents was minimal.  Disgusted, I turned the unit off and we employed the 2/75 method--2 windows rolled down at 75 miles an hour.  It wasn't the most pleasant way to travel, but we really had no time to stop, call Avis, and search for a mechanic.  I did pull off at an exit once not long before we entered Colorado to see if I could figure out what was wrong, but I'm all thumbs when it comes to cars.  I popped the hood and attempted to look around for some obvious answer to our troubles, but all my search turned up was a reminder of how inept I am at mechanics.  We continued in this manner all the way to the Denver Temple (when the boys woke up, they felt the need to say, "We're not in Kansas anymore!" even though we hadn't been for a couple of hours).  We reached the next stop on our temple scavenger hunt and we're able to walk the grounds and see the temple close up (the last time we had stopped at the Denver Temple, the front gate was closed as we were relegated to taking pictures from the street).

 

Mission accomplished (pictures taken, temple grounds walked, legs stretched, and spirits recharged), we prepared for the next obstacle on our journey home: the climb into the Rocky Mountains and the decent to Grand Junction.  When we returned to the car, I decided to give the air conditioner a try--crazy thing roared back to life as though nothing had happened.  My worry about this next leg of our trip was the potential of Ben getting altitude sickness.  Several years before, we had driven this same stretch of I-70 on the way home and Ben had become sick at around the 9,000 foot mark; he didn't feel better until we were a good ways down the West side of the mountains.  Considering the trip goes from the Mile High City (at 5,280 feet) to 11,158 (the West-bound entrance of the Eisenhower Tunnel), in roughly 2 hours (give or take), I understood why this could be a problem again.  I told everyone to let me know if they started feeling sick at any time during our ascent (the last thing we needed was someone barfing in the car).  Maybe stopping in Idaho Springs for Carl's Jr. helped (perhaps food in the stomach made the remainder of the ascent easier to handle, or maybe I haven't a clue--more likely), but we had no problems this time.  The two things that did happen was a deer jumped onto the road from the median and got clipped by an SUV about 30 feet in front of us and the tire pressure light came on (I think I got off the freeway at an exit to take a look and ended up traveling 2 or 3 additional miles through swanky condominium complexes that offered no place to pull over until I drove into a parking lot in desperation with the hope that the owner of the lot didn't show up while I was visually checking my tires to find the flat the idiot light was claiming and finding nothing--grrr).  Ben and Isaac were amazed to find snow still on the ground as we approached the tunnel.  I find the Eisenhower Tunnel a fascinating ride; but, I've always had a soft spot for tunnels.  I should have asked Ben to video our approach and travel through, but I didn't (bummer).  There are several more tunnels to travel through on the way down the mountainside.  Finally, at some time around 11 o'clock that night, we pulled into the Grand Junction KOA, put up our tent, inflated our air mattresses for the final time and fell asleep.

For me, segments of the next day were pretty much a blur.  I was struck by the sharp contrast in scenery as we left Grand Junction and headed toward Utah.  After passing through the green mountains, we found ourselves in a desert.  During our previous trip through this area, much of it was in the dark.  I appreciated being able to see the beautiful mesas and plateaus of the desert.  Once we connected with the I-15 and traveled the appropriate distance, we stopped in St. George to make a side trip to the temple there--it wasn't on our scavenger list since we've visited the temple multiple times over the years, but we like it and wanted to stretch our legs so it didn't take much convincing to make the temple a rest stop.  After that, I think I clicked into autopilot of sorts as we marked time by calling out each remaining state we passed through: Arizona, Nevada, California.

 

 

St. George Temple--a nice close to our scavenger hunt.

Arizona! (Nice bug guts on the windshield, eh?)

Nevada!  Gettin' closer!

California!  Home stretch!

 

We would have arrived home sooner, but by the time we reached Barstow we were all hungry and wanted In-n-Out hamburgers for dinner.  We'd had some good food along the way, but the taste of good double-doubles made us realize we had returned to familiar territory.  Finally, at around 7:30 or 8 o'clock that evening, we gratefully pulled into the driveway of our home and found it still standing--the cats hadn't knocked it to the ground in our absence.  Funny thing (at least, to us), we had seen a huge, orange tabby cat when we pulled into the Albuquerque KOA 2 weeks previous.  The cat looked very much like our cat, Jonesy, so Ben and Isaac started making jokes about coming home and finding Jonesy as fat as the cat we had seen that night.  The occasional cry of "Fat Jonesy!" would be made as we traveled which would crack us all up.  As we walked into the house (chronicled on video by Ben), I picked up Jonesy and found he had put on some weight during our 2 week absence.  I pointed this out to everyone, and the cry of "Fat Jonesy!" rang through the house.  The end of successful family vacation; punctuated by laughter from all of us.  :)

Missouri Impressions (Adversity)

I suppose it is difficult to see the Missouri Church history sites without thinking about adversity in one form or another.  Everywhere we stopped if the feeling of adversity wasn't right in my face (Liberty Jail and Independence), a subtle undercurrent hovered nearby (Far West temple lot).  None of us are immune to adversity and suffering.  As Paul wrote to the Hebrews, even Jesus "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8).  Lest we wonder why Jesus had adversity, Paul also explains that because He "suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18; emphasis added).  Alma took this concept further when he explained to the people in Gideon that "the Son of God" would suffer "pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and . . . will take upon him . . . the sicknesses of his people . . . that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:10-12; emphasis added).  Webster's dictionary defines "succor" as "relief, aid, help".  When applying this definition to Paul and Alma's words, one can see how important it was for Jesus to not only be tempted as we are tempted, but to suffer pain, affliction, and sickness while He lived on the earth.  If Jesus were shielded from any of these things, how could He have perfect empathy for us?  It is difficult to relate to someone when you do not truly understand what they are suffering.

My oldest son, Ben, can serve as a case in point for this concept.  This is a still shot of Ben, Isaac and me at the base of the Hill Cumorah.  The boys wanted to "recreate" a moment 13 years ago when I chased Ben around in this same area.  Originally, I had Isaac on my back in a carrier.  This time they wanted me to chase both of them.  They tired me out, but I caught them . . . eventually. :)  Upon returning home, Ben resumed high school football practice.  He played in a scrimmage and got his first tackle during the game (he was very excited about it).  But not long afterward (about a week or so before the team’s actual first game), he was participating in a drill where the tackler was supposed to find an angle and tackle the ball carrier.  Ben was the ball carrier and he was hit at an angle in just the right/wrong place in his side and back area.  After that, his back began to hurt.  The pain became progressively worse until it reached a point where he had difficulty standing and walking (even sitting wasn't easy).  In order for us to take our yearly trip to the LA County Fair this year, we had to rent a wheelchair and push him everywhere.  We all had a good time, but it was a different experience.  In the meantime, the hoops we had to jump through just to get him help through our medical insurance was an odyssey at times.  It took about a month before we finally found out that his lower lumbar joints appeared to have received some damage.  The nerve test he took came back negative (which was good) and a bone scan showed no fractures.  Still, everyone was stumped as to why he continued to feel pain.  He had been given two steroid shots in his lower back and these should have helped, yet he was still experiencing spasms and dealing with nearly debilitating pain.

Watching Ben go through this patch of adversity has been a very difficult experience for me because I have no frame of reference in which to process it.  I have never had back pain like Ben is currently going through.  I definitely feel sympathy for his plight, but I have no empathy because I have had no similar feelings.  At times, I've felt completely helpless.  As much as I would like to, I cannot grab a Harry Potter wand and make Ben's pain go away.  Neither can I put a bandage on his back to make the boo-boo all better.  All I have been able to do is give Ben his pain medication (there are days when the meds haven’t helped much) and to sit with him and hold his hand as his back spasms while he tries to go to sleep.  This has helped me to understand, in a small way, the importance of the Savior's Atonement.  While my offering of help to Ben is limited (although he has told me on many occasions that he is thankful for what I can offer), Jesus' "succor" is all encompassing.  As He explained to the Prophet Joseph Smith: "I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent" (D&C 19:16).  His suffering on our behalf allows Him to understand us perfectly.  With that perfect understanding, He knows what we need when we need it, but we still have to come to Him to ask--to humble ourselves to petition Him through the Father for His help (click this link for a video by Elder Holland).

The other aspect of adversity is the personalized lessons we can be taught from our experiences.  In Section 122 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Prophet Joseph Smith was told that his adversity “shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).  Many times, the knowledge I have gained from adversity comes after I have completed the difficult experience.  However, there have been a few things learned so far.  One of the things Ben has learned is the importance of consistently going to church.  He missed two weeks in a row because of the pain and then a third week because of General Conference—three weeks of not partaking of the sacrament.  A few days before Conference, he asked me for a blessing as was told that reading scriptures and saying prayers were not enough—attending meetings was of vital spiritual importance as well.  In the Sunday afternoon session of Conference, Elder Kevin Hamilton of the Seventy gave a talk about Sunday worship that hammered this lesson home to Ben (for the full talk, click this link).  He has attended Sacrament meeting in our ward since then.  The pain makes it so Sacrament meeting is all he can physically attend, but he has been able to partake the sacrament and listen to the talks and we hope he will soon be able to attend the full block.  As for me, I have been given a small inkling of what it could have been like for Father in Heaven to watch His Son suffer and not be able to remove the pain from Him.  How I can complain and whine at Father for what we’re going through when He has dealt with a situation far greater than mine?  Also, because of the support through contact, prayers and fasting we’ve been given by family and ward members during this time, I have also been reminded that “Inasmuch as ye have [served] one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).  At times when we feel “the least” we are given the most.

I've also been reminded of human imperfections and the problems they can cause.  I took the day off from work to accompany Ben and Jennifer to an appointment with a second orthopedic doctor (the first was . . . shall I say, less than satisfactory and leave it at that).  During this appointment, Ben was referred to a new pain management doctor to discuss new options to deal with his pain.  Since the nerve test and bone scan showed no major problems, new options needed to be considered.  Thankfully, we were able to see this doctor that same day.  After looking over the MRI pictures and other information Jennifer has carefully collected, this doctor determined that the steroid shots should have been placed one vertebrae higher than had previously been given.  To hear this diagnosis made me livid inside!  Three weeks Ben had been in pain when he could have been recovering!  It was very difficult to let my anger go, but I realized it was unproductive and not helpful to Ben.  The new shot will be performed tomorrow and we hope it will begin the recovering we have been praying for.

Admittedly, what I have related above were not my immediate impressions of the Missouri sites we visited (honestly, these experiences have chased those impressions from me).  However, I think the trials and adversity we have had since our vacation have been tempered because of our visits to the Missouri sites.

The Great 2013 Vacation: Far West, Liberty Jail, Independence

Our final day of Church history sites began with a discounted breakfast at Grandpa John's Café (we got there in plenty of time on our second try) and us hovering around the LDS bookstore waiting for it to open.  Hmmm.  Well, that makes us sound as though we spent 30 minutes loitering in front of the door--we walked around the temple again and checked out another store across the street during those 30 minutes, but we were waiting. :)  The problem was there were no posted signs in the window or on the door stating when the store would open.  Since most of the other stores opened at 9 o'clock that morning, we figured this store would too and we wanted to try our luck at getting another Vocal Point cd and possibly an additional souvenir.  The appointed hour came and the door to the store remained closed (curses, foiled again).  Since we had several places in Missouri to visit, I told my disappointed clan we couldn't wait any longer.  Reluctantly, we piled into the Optima and bade good-bye to Nauvoo.  We traveled alongside the Mississippi River for about 12 to 15 miles before the road turned inland and the river disappeared; it did not return until we drove through a section of Quincy, Illinois and crossed over it into Missouri.

Our drive to Far West was mostly uneventful other than a stop in Macon where I bought another memory chip for the video camera while we broke out the lunch snacks and me missing the turn-off for Highway "D" because we were having a discussion about trials the Saints had in Missouri (I had been watching the descending alphabet roads, but suddenly it seemingly jumped from "G" to "C").  Far West is where most of the Missouri Saints had gathered after being driven from place to place within the state.  Caldwell County was one of the counties created for the Mormons in which to settle.  Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the bad blood existing between church members and the Missouri settlers kicked back into overdrive, leading to the Huan's Mill massacre, Joseph's imprisonment and the Saints being driven into Illinois (there is a lot more to the history than this very condensed version, but it is sufficient for the purposes of this post).  At it's peak, Far West was a large and thriving community (click this link for a short video presentation), but now Far West is mostly corn and other farm fields.  Tucked away in the middle of the sprawling farmlands, however is a monument to the temple lot dedicated in Far West with the preserved cornerstones at each corner of the lot.  A feeling of unexpected reverence came over me as I walked inside the area to take video of the cornerstones and the monuments.  As I moved from stone to stone, I wondered if the temple once planned for Far West would ever be built.  Geographically, such a building would be out in the proverbial middle of nowhere, but the monuments reminded me of the importance the Lord placed on Far West.  Consider the following verses: D&C 115:7-8.  It may not be practical to build a temple here at the moment, but that is a powerful declaration and the Lord, as far as I've been able to figure out with my finite mind, doesn't make pronouncements of this type for no reason.  Also interesting to me was a sign stating Joseph F. Smith was born not far to the west of the lot.  Again it made me ponder upon the thousands of people who had once lived in the vicinity and how hardly any trace existed of the former town.

 

One of the cornerstones of the Far West Temple

 

Before continuing on our journey, we backtracked a bit to visit the Far West Country Store located about a mile or so north of the temple lot site.  The store turned out to be a LDS bookstore with some minor food items.  As soon as we found it to be a bookstore, we tried again to find a Vocal Point cd--they had one, but it was the one we already had (I guess we were just meant to buy our cds at our local bookstore--well, local in the sense that its 10 to 15 miles from where I work :p).  We bought drinks for lunch so as not to leave completely empty handed and started toward our next destination.  Our next stop was the Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith, along with his brother Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McCrea and Caleb Baldwin were incarcerated and spent a little over 4 months while the Saints were driven from Missouri into Illinois.  Our tour guide was senior Elder who described himself as an "old farm-boy from Idaho" (unfortunately, I don't recall his name).  We very much enjoyed the tour he gave us.  He encouraged us to read the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants revealed to the Prophet while he was imprisoned in the jail (Sections 121, 122 & 123).  We focused on the 121 and 122 for Family Home Evening about a week after returning home.  To see the jail again and to be reminded visually and through the stories the Elder told us of what those months may have been like for the Prophet and his companions was sobering and humbling.  I also appreciated the time we were allowed to remain after the formal tour was over to take pictures and ask additional questions until a subsequent tour was ready to come into the room.

 

The thickness of the outside walls of Liberty Jail

 

From there our next stop was to see the Kansas City, Missouri Temple.  In my planning, I was surprised to find the temple to only be 6 miles from the jail.  We ended up having to take a bit of an unexpected detour to get to it, but the detour was well marked and didn't cause a huge problem, adding only a few minutes extra to the trip.  The temple was dedicated last year.  One of the things I liked was the wheat motif on the front doors and on the walls.  This area of country is known for its wheat fields, making the detail a regional nod, but I also thought about the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and how those who prepare and qualify for a temple recommend and then use that recommend consistently are striving to be the wheat and not a tares.  A Stake center was next to the temple and it appeared as if a meeting was taking place there.  Jennifer needed to visit the facilities (yes, I asked her if I could write that) and found herself in the middle of a missionary meeting.  She was pretty excited to see all these missionaries.  I guess the meeting was coming to a close and many were in the cultural hall finishing eating and taking pictures.  When she returned to us, we took our pictures and walked around the temple grounds.

 

Jen wanted to have a picture of her touching the temple with the boys

 

The last Church history site on our makeshift tour was the Visitor's Center at Independence, Missouri.  For some reason, we didn't take any pictures of any of our visit there--I'm not sure why; we just didn't.  Anyway, it was also here that we met the final dynamic sister missionary on our tour: Sister Dietrich.  She greeted us as we first walked into the center and recognized Jennifer--I guess she saw Jen when she slipped into the Stake center while we were visiting the Kansas City Temple.  We found out that the reason so many missionaries were at the Stake center was because their mission was being split due to the influx of missionaries since the age reduction last October and the current Elders and Sisters were finding out which mission they would now be serving in.  Sister Dietrich asked us what we wanted to do at the Center.  I don't recall if I had visited the center 30 years ago (my family could have since the center was there during the time of our trip, being dedicated in 1971), so, as far as I knew, this was new territory for me and I had no specific ideas as to what to see.  Sister Dietrich gave us a couple of options depending on our time constraints and we decided to go for the full tour.  The tour consisted of an explanation of why the Mormons came to Independence and what happened between them and the "old" settlers which ended in mobs and eventually the Mormon settlers being driven from the area, eventually being driven completely from the state.  At the end of this part of the tour, Sister Dietrich asked (as we had been asked by other sisters throughout our Church history stops) if there was anyone we could think of who she could contact and share a message with over the telephone.  Jennifer, who had been struck very hard by what Sister West had said to us at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center, had been preparing for this moment and wanted very much to give a name this time.  When Sister Dietrich asked, Jennifer was able to do so and we have been happy to find out that Sister Dietrich and another Sister has made several calls to this person since then.  Back when I wrote the post I linked above, I said maybe my calling as Ward Mission Leader was what Sister West may have meant when she made her statement to us.  Now, however, I see that there is so much more to what she said then just a calling--Jennifer is now a Ward missionary with me and this experience I have recounted also qualifies.  But there have been other experiences we have had that also qualify as a fulfillment of what Sister West said to us that day and we are trying our best to continue to make her statement a reality for our family.  After that part of the tour ended, we also viewed a display of pictures taken in the early 1900's of the Church sites we had visited over the several days of our journey.  We were fascinated to see the differences in how these place looked in the pictures to how we had viewed them during our trip.  Finally, Jennifer wanted to see the Christus statue before we left.  After the presentation finished, Sister Dietrich and another Sister sang the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" to us, saying it was a tradition at the center to sing a hymn to those who heard the Christus presentation.  It was a very uplifting way to end our Church history tour.

 

Before we left the center, Sister Dietrich gave us a list of nearby places to eat.  We looked it over, but nothing jumped out at us.  I had directions to get us to the Independence Costco, so we drove there to get gas and some extra lunch munchies for our 2 day trip home.  As we got back onto the freeway, we started looking for signs showing us fast food places.  Suddenly, the car erupted with "Steak 'n Shake!"  I had planned to go to a Steak 'n Shake for breakfast the next morning (figured, they serve it, why not try it also), but everyone convinced me (not that it took a whole lot) that we should go there for dinner one more time.  The experience was . . . interesting.  The food was good, but the service was not so much.  I got the impression that the staff was short handed--either someone hadn't showed up for work, or someone had gotten fired on the spot and was being sent on his way, or both (I couldn't quite figure it out).  The snail's pace got us out of there later than I had anticipated.  We ended up reaching the KOA outside of Topeka, Kansas somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 o'clock that night.  We got the tent up and quickly crashed after a very full day.

Nauvoo Impressions (Qualifying for the Temple)

My favorite experience in Nauvoo was to see and enter the Nauvoo Temple.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, the temple was nothing more than a grassy depression in the ground (the "footprint" of the building once overlooking the city) when I visited Nauvoo thirty years ago.  To walk the perimeter of the temple grounds on Monday night and look up at the restored majesty of the temple was spiritually thrilling for me.  The feeling I had the night before was multiplied exponentially the next morning when Jennifer and I walked through the front door, showed our temple recommends at the reception desk, and continued to our respective locker rooms to dress in our white clothing and prepare for the endowment ordinance.  My understanding of the process behind rebuilding the temple is the outside is as close to the original architecture as possible (with some variation--the statue of the Angel Moroni, for example) with the inside set up as best as could be gleaned from plans and journal information (in searching the web for further information, I've come across this link and this link as video helps).

Temples are dedicated as "the house of the Lord" and only the best materials are used in their construction--the Nauvoo Temple is no exception.  I was impressed with the meticulous detail used on the décor.  There was a lot of dark wood (either walnut or wood stained in darker colors).  It's not that other temples aren't wonderfully appointed, but it seemed as though much thought and effort was made to make the experience of this particular temple (possibly because of its historical significance) a very special one.  What I liked about the interior was the attention to detail and the specific attempt to make the trappings look like they were designed in 1845 while, at the same time, giving them a modern application.  For example, the light fixtures were designed as if they could have held candles, but light bulbs were used instead (here is a link showing interior photos of the Nauvoo Temple to offer a visual of what I'm trying to describe).  As I sat with Jennifer awaiting the beginning of the session, I opened up the copy of the Doctrine and Covenants placed in the pews and thumbed to Section 109--the dedicatory prayer given for the Kirtland Temple--and read verses 22-24.  Several phrases made an impression on me: "that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power . . . and thine angels have charge over them;" "from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings" and "establish the people that shall worship, and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house".  I will come back to this last line in a moment.

When the endowment session ended and Jennifer and I sat in the Celestial Room contemplating what had taken place, I found myself very grateful for the opportunity to attend both the Palmyra and Nauvoo Temples and to visit the temple in Kirtland.  As I contemplated the sacrifices of the early Saints, I felt a sense of gratitude for all they had gone through to move the gospel forward to the present day.  I thought of everything the members of who lived in Nauvoo during the time of Joseph and after his martyrdom had done to complete the original temple.  The members wanted to receive their sacred temple blessings--blessings that could only be received in a holy house dedicated to the Lord.  Brigham Young and many other men and women sacrificed so much of their time to offer the endowment and other temple ordinances to as many people as possible in the final weeks before the mobs forced the Saints to leave Nauvoo.  By the time they could no longer stay, over 5000 people had received their temple blessings.  As I considered this, for a brief moment I felt, in a very small way, what it may have been like for those Saints to finally have to vacate the temple, lock the doors and walk away.  It was a very interesting experience--one that I don't think I would have had if we had not attended the temple.

This brings me to a point that has come to me since that experience; it is not a specific Nauvoo impression, but is one that is tied to what I felt.  Jennifer and I recently attended the Redlands Temple.  Our family has been experiencing some trials lately and it was nice to be able to cast our burdens upon the Lord for a time and serve in the temple.  I am grateful to be worthy of a temple recommend and am thankful for the blessings I receive as I strive to live up to the qualifications Heavenly Father asks of me to worthily hold a temple recommend.  Almost 2 months ago, the Desert News website posted a story mentioning the use of a new temple film.  To quote the article directly: "Since the 1970s, a portion of LDS temple instruction has been provided through pre-recorded media, including film” (“LDS Church begins using new temple film,” Desert News website, Aug. 4, 2013).  Occasionally, I will scroll down far enough on the web page to see the reader's comments, but I usually avoid them because 98% of the time I don't find them very enlightening or interesting--especially when the story being commented on happens to be about the LDS Church.  In those cases, the "spirited" debates come from a small group of people making negative comments with the remainder responding to these comments either harshly, lovingly, or somewhere in between.  Because of this I do not recall the entire comment (and I'm not interested in attempting to find it--notice I didn't link to the story above because I didn't have good feelings about the comment debate that ensued), but what I recall of the comment was that if the LDS Church desired to be more "mainstream" it had to be more "transparent" about the temple.  It's difficult to know if the person writing this was being serious or just trying to get a rise out of the members, but the comment has made me think about what it means to "honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house" (D&C 109:24).

While the Lord desires all of us to partake "of the fountain of the water of life freely" (Revelation 21:6), He doesn't drag us to that fountain and push our heads into it, He requires us to make the effort to come unto Him in order to partake of the water of life.  It isn't enough to have faith in Jesus; that faith needs to be put into action.  Moroni understood this.  Consider the action verbs he uses in his challenge at the end of the Book of Mormon.  He "exhorts" (strongly urges or challenges) us to "read," "remember," "ponder" and "ask".  Linked with our effort, however, is the intent motivating our actions.  Moroni also states that we must complete these actions with "a sincere heart, with real intent" to go along with our "faith in Christ" (Moroni 10:3-4, emphasis added).  Notice Moroni doesn't use words like curious or deceptive or transparent to describe what kind of a heart we should have.  I have heard people claim they have read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and received no answer.  The thought that always comes to my mind when I hear such a claim is was their heart sincere and their intent real when they read and prayed?

The same thing can be said for the temple.  Becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not automatically qualify a person for a temple recommend.  As I stated earlier, temples are dedicated as "the house of the Lord" and this gives God the ability to set the terms of entrance into His house.  I suspect anyone reading this post has an unwritten list of qualifications for people desiring entrance into their homes (or apartements, or condos).  If a person desiring to enter my home meets my unwritten qualifications, I let him or her come inside.  Most of the people who come to my door are people I know who already meet my standard; others may take a while, and rest will have the door politely, yet firmly, closed.  Father and His Son are no different in this regard.  The specific standard they set is a consistent level of gospel living.  If we can affirm to our priesthood leaders (and ourselves since we also sign the recommend) that we are living up to the standard to the best of our ability, then we qualify to enter Their house--the temple.  Being curious about the temple or intending to deceive or wanting to share sacred things for the sake of transparency are not valid reasons to receive a temple recommend.  Yes, I do realize there are those who have deceived priesthood leaders to gain access to the temple for their own selfish reasons, however, knowing the time will come when we will all be required to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and make an accounting of what we did here on the earth (see 2 Corinthians 5:10; Mormon 3:20) makes me not want to be in their shoes.  In the end it is better to "honorably [characterized by your integrity] hold a name [attested by your signing your recommend] and standing [being consistently worthy of that recommend] in [the Lord's] house" (D&C 109:24).

For those who are not members of the LDS Church and want to know more about the temple, this link will give you an overview of what temples are and how we, as Church members, feel about them (as well as what I've said in this post and an earlier post).  If you desire to know more, the way to begin to become qualified to enter the temple is to come unto Christ through faith in Him, repentance, and baptism into His Church--making covenants with Him to prepare yourself for the greater blessings of the temple.  For anyone who is a member of the Church, as President Thomas S. Monson has said, "If you have not yet been to the temple or if you have been but currently do not qualify for a recommend, there is no more important goal for you to work toward than being worthy to go to the temple. . . . Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God” (Ensign, May 2011, 92, emphasis in original).  The blessings of the temple are innumerable.  Our Father in Heaven wants to bless us; it is we who keep Him from doing so.  In reality, what He asks of us to qualify to enter the temple really isn't much; only an elevated standard of moral living--an opportunity to use our agency to rise above what the world tells us is the standard.  In my opinion, He asks this of us to show us it is possible to become more than what the world says we can become; to do more than what the world says we should do; and to become closer to Him in order to understand how the temple can help us to rise even higher.  When we hold His name close to us and strive to stand as close to Him as we can, we put ourselves in a position to know that we belong with Him and can, with confidence, be in His presence.  To my mind, true transparency is not to open the temple to anyone and everyone; it is to sincerely raise ourselves closer to God in order to know what is truly real.  That is why the temple is sacred and why I am grateful that my wife and I have consistently made a trip to the temple every month since we were married.

The Great 2013 Vacation: Nauvoo

A lot of stuff to cover in this post, so off we go.  While planning our vacation, I felt one full day would be enough for Nauvoo--I couldn't have been more wrong in my assessment.  Honestly, my impression now is that three days would give a visitor enough time to get a good "flavor" of the area, but a full week might be best.  During the planning stages, I recall reading a comment on some website calling Nauvoo "the Disneyland for Mormons."  I wish I could remember where I saw that quote.  I don't know if I'd go that far (the Church would need to have at least one roller coaster somewhere in town for me to totally get behind the notion--"Get your tickets for the Nauvoo Pioneer; the world's only triple loop coaster!"), but I can't deny the fascination the area has for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of the history surrounding it.  If I ever have an opportunity to go again, I will plan to stay more days than just one.

 

Jennifer and I had set an appointment at the Nauvoo Temple the week before leaving home.  Sessions began at 8 o'clock in the morning and that seemed like the best session for us--turns out it was the only session still available when Jennifer called to make our reservation; it's a good thing we wanted it.  As we prepared for bed the night before, we told Ben and Isaac they could sleep in as long as they were ready by 10 o'clock--they were very happy with the idea, I think it was they only time they truly got to sleep in the entire trip.  The night before as we walked around the temple grounds the night before, I talked of my visit to the temple site 30 years earlier and mentioned what we saw now was only a grassy hole then (the "footprint" of the temple) with replicas of a sunstone and other smaller pieces nearby (the real stones were housed in the visitor's center).  When President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple at April conference in 1999; the moment for me was electric (click here: the announcement is at 6:18).  The temple was dedicated on June 27, 2002; the start of the  meeting coinciding with the hour of Prophet Joseph Smith's martyrdom and was broadcast over closed circuit to meetinghouses throughout the world.  We were in Utah visiting my family at the time.  Jen and I were able to participate in the dedication.  It had been an amazing moment for me to see the temple the previous night.  To walk up the front stairs with my wife and enter this sacred edifice was a thrilling spiritual uplift.

 

Afterward, we drove to the Hotel Nauvoo to pay the bill for our stay and returned to the motel to find the boys ready to go (and there was much parental rejoicing).  Instructions in the motel literature told us we could get 15% off the breakfast buffet at Grandpa John's Café if we gave them our room number.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the buffet was over and we had to pay full price for our breakfast (easy come, easy go).  From the café, we drove to the visitor's center to plan the rest of our day.  Jennifer wanted to go on the free carriage rides, but it was around 11:30 when we reached the center and all of the rides had been booked.  While we tried to come up with an alternate plan, I realized we had forgotten to bring something (sun block, my hat, cameras--I'm not sure what, but it was important that we have it) from the motel.  I told Jennifer to put a plan together while I fetched the missing item and we would execute her plan when I returned.  Meanwhile, Ben and Isaac met Sister Wood.  They were looking at the 3D replica map of old Nauvoo when she came and struck up a conversation with them.  They told her about their experience in Carthage, our temple scavenger hunt, and the other sites we had seen.  She encouraged them to say personal morning prayer--something they began the next morning and still do--and told them she thought they were someone who would have gone with Joseph to Carthage (they both felt very good about her comment).  Back at the motel, I had secured the forgotten item and returned to the center.  I hurried inside to see what Jennifer had planned . . . and found her completely discombobulated.  I was shocked.  She looked at me with this helpless look and told me how she had talked to a Sister missionary, but she had completely forgotten everything and had no idea what to do.  Frustrated (she normally takes charge of this kind of thing and runs with it), I asked her to go back to the desk and talk to the missionary again while I checked out what the boys were doing.  She started to walk in that direction, but quickly returned and said she wanted me to come with her.  Grumbling, I walked with her to the information desk.

I will readily admit to not really paying attention at first, the senior Sister missionary good naturedly said we probably didn't need her to go over the map and tell us what places to visit, but she would do so anyway.  As she circled the map and gave brief explanations to the different sites she suggested, I found myself hearing something in her voice that sounded familiar.  At some point, I glanced at her name tag and saw "Sister Excell".  That sent a shot through me.  Excell was the last name of my high school principal and I had been friends with his son, Rick.  Sister Excell had been my accompanist on the piano the first time I sang a reception song to one of my siblings (Andrea, in this instance) in Munchkin voice.  The more I surreptitiously looked at her, the greater my inkling became.  When she finished her orientation, I said, "I noticed your name tag; I knew a Sister Excell at one time."  "Oh?" she replied, "Where was that?"  "Cokeville, Wyoming," I said. "I’m Chris Metcalfe."  She took a good look at me and her eyes lit up.  I was correct; she was the Sister Excell I knew from Cokeville.  I introduced my family to her and we talked for a few minutes.  Somewhere in the excitement of seeing a familiar face in a seemingly unlikely place, I misplaced the wherewithal to have someone take a picture of us; didn't even think of it at the time.  She told us Elder Excell would be at the brickyard later in the afternoon and I promised we'd be sure to visit with him; a nice tender mercy from Father in Heaven and I almost missed it because of my pigheadedness.

The first thing we did after leaving the center was to go on a wagon tour of old Nauvoo.  We had two senior Elders, one driving and one narrating, in the front of the wagon and were pulled by two big, white horses named Elder Bob and Elder Bill.  The ride took us into areas that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise and the narrating Elder told us stories of the area and also detailed some of the lives of people who lived in Nauvoo.  One of the stories he told was about King Follett who died when a bucket of rocks used to line the well he was helping to dig fell off the lip of the well and hit him on the head.  What became known as the "King Follett Sermon" was given by the Prophet Joseph about 2 months or so before he was killed.  There is no way I can do justice to this sermon here in this post, so I will content myself by saying I found this reprint from the Ensign for anyone interested in reading the sermon.  We also saw a view of the Mississippi River that was different than any other we saw during our stay.  The ride gave us a different perspective of Old Nauvoo and was an enjoyable one for all of us.

 

 

From our wagon ride, we drove over to Parley Street first to spend a few moments in the 70's Hall where gospel classes were held for missionaries going into the field (the first MTC?).  Afterward we followed the "Trail of Hope."  When the Saints were forced to leave Nauvoo, this was the road they used to reach the ferry to take them across the Mississippi River--or where they ventured onto the ice thick enough to drive their wagons across to the Iowa Territory.  Signs lined one side of the street with quotations from townspeople detailing their feelings about having to leave their beautiful city.  Our walk down the street terminated at the Mississippi River and gave Ben and Isaac their first opportunity to see it.  Also at the end of the street was a replica of a covered wagon and a statue of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith looking westward.  Plans had already been put in place to journey from Nauvoo into what was then Mexican territory to the west.  This statue was a depiction of Joseph handing those "plans" off to his successor.  Behind the statue was a pavilion with a list of names of people who had lost their lives during the years of pioneer treks.  As I reviewed the names on the wall, I unexpectedly came across the names of Daniel Gadd and Samuel Gadd.  I called everyone over to take a look.  Samuel Sr. and Samuel Jr. both died on the plains in Wyoming.  Seeing just "Samuel Gadd" listed on the wall, I thought maybe father and son had been accidentally lumped together.  I then found another wall tucked behind the mural listing names of people who had been "missed" on the original lists.  At the end of the list was the name Samuel Gadd again.  I guess someone with Gadd ancestry was able to show the mural makers there were two Samuels who died on the plains and not one.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided next to see the Joseph Smith Homestead, Mansion House and Red Brick Store.  Like the Kirtland Temple, the buildings are owned by the Community of Christ (formally RLDS) church.  We again were asked to pay a $3 per person preservation donation and watched another introductory video (different from the one in Kirtland although some information was the same) before taking the tour.  A young man in his early twenties was our guide.  Overall, we liked his tour a little better than the Kirtland tour.  He was very informative and tried to answer all the questions we or others asked (two other families joined us).  Like Kirtland, we were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the Homestead or the Mansion House, but we were given permission to take pictures of the second floor of the store.  The second floor meeting room was where the Relief Society was formally organized in 1842.  We also learned that the first temple endowments were given in this room.  I knew this was the case, but was surprised to hear our guide mention it.  After leaving the store, we spent some time in the Smith Family Cemetery.  It was here that the bodies of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma were move to in 1928 by the RLDS church (if you'd like more details about why this was done and the reaction of contemporary LDS Church leaders click this link).

 

A quick check of my watch after this tour told us that Elder Excell would be working at the brickyard.  We drove there to visit with him for a few minutes and receive our "flawed" Nauvoo brick (the lesson behind it is to help us remember we make mistakes and become flawed, but through the Atonement of Christ we can overcome these flaws and become perfected through Him).  With the remaining time we had until the sites closed at 5 o'clock, we tried to see as many of the homes as possible.  We visited the Lucy Mack Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff homes before 5 pm.  We did and saw a lot throughout the day, but there was so much we didn't see.  This is why I think at least several days are needed to do justice to a visit to Nauvoo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before returning to the outdoor stage to see the missionary program (Sunset by the Mississippi) we had briefly watched Monday evening, Ben and Isaac wanted to go back to the temple to get a closer view of it in daylight (sitting on the bluff, it was very prominent throughout our visits to the sites).  We also wanted to go to the LDS bookstore in town to check out its advertised collection of Vocal Point cds, but we found the store closed by the time we arrived.  Returning to the temple, we walked around the grounds while Ben took video (Isaac had do so the during our evening visit).  After a few extra pictures, we piled into the car and drove to the visitor's center parking lot.

 

 

         

 

As we walked to the outdoor stage, we realized we hadn't eaten dinner yet, but we didn't want to miss the program and figured we'd be able to grab a bite to eat after the Vocal Point concert.  The missionary program was good.  I don't know if some of the songs were from that time period, but the lyrics were fun and the missionaries had a good time with it.  There was about a 30 minute or so break between that show and the Vocal Point program.  The boys mildly complained about being hungry (I was shocked beyond reason :)).  Suddenly, someone showed up with four pieces of pizza he said his family didn't eat and would we like them (modern day manna from heaven).  We thanked him for his kindness and eat our slices with gusto.  The Vocal Point show was very good . . . again.  I think they only repeated two songs from their Monday night show (which was a slight bummer; I was hoping they would sing the medley "Noyana / Come, Come Ye Saints"; the first word is a Zulu word meaning "Are you going").  I recorded them singing "I Need Thee Every Hour" instead and then found we had filled the 32 GB chip I bought for the video recorder before our trip began and couldn't record any other songs :(.  During the concert, the lead beat-boxer, Adam, did a 4 minute demonstration of all the different noises he could make.  This exhibition impressed our "in-house" beat-boxer (Ben) enough that he wanted to meet Adam after the show ended.  Ben demonstrated to Adam his own unique technique and asked him some questions.  Jen took a picture of them; Adam gave his "manly man" pose.

 

Hungry again, we searched for a place to eat . . . and found Nauvoo to be one of those towns that "rolls up the sidewalks" at 6 pm.  Everything was closed.  What?!!  No food anywhere?!!  We finally found a gas station/convenience store several blocks past our motel.  Thinking we were stuck buying chips and drinks (I highly nutritious meal, I can assure you), we were pleased to see a pizza counter in the corner of the building with a real live person standing behind it (cue angelic choir again)!  The clerk even threw in a 2 liter bottle of Sun Drop soda for no extra charge--she said it was a promotional thing.  A late night dinner of pepperoni and olive pizza eaten in the motel room ended our fun and full day in Nauvoo.