OUR LAST DAYS IN NAUVOO

Well, things have come full circle for us.  I have posted a Halloween in Nauvoo already on my blog and here is another opportunity to have Halloween in small town America.  It is actually a very sweet experience.  Everyone knows everybody, we have all worked together to put this celebration on and it is a blessing to be able to spend it with friends, who are family.  From popping popcorn, to filling treat bags and passing them out, to being in the parade and carving pumpkins, it has been a treat, no tricks involved.

This is my sweet, wonderful friend, Jerilyn Maughan.  She is from Sandy, Utah.  I loved her the minute I met her and we have become fast friends.  She was my assistant in Land and Records, and such a help.  We loved spending time together.  We were not in the same cast, which was a bummer, but always sat by each other when possible.  We had them over for suppers, and we loved doing things together.  She and her husband became Zone Leaders after we left.  It would have been wonderful to serve with them.  These are the people that I never want to lose contact with. 

Guess who is behind the face?  My hairdresser Margaret!!! She had to tell me.  She has also been wonderful.  She has saved me and done my hair better than anyone has in years, plus the fact it cost $14 for a haircut!!! She is a nice, good Catholic and knows more about the “Mormons,” than most.  We had a great relationship.  I improved her business considerably, sending all of the new missionaries to her. Thank you Margaret.

Richard and I are now both experts in the pumpkin carving category………………

So this is my darling friend, Sister Donna Mengel, from Rigby, Idaho.  I loved her like a sister.  She and I were in the same cast and had a lot of experiences together.  We really enjoyed one another’s company.  We ate together a lot, and did some fun things.  She is the site leader at the sewing room and very talented.  I loved her husband as well.  He was the missionary who got the cemeteries figured out and made a lot of progress towards making that much simpler to understand.  He is the one that taught me how to use dowsing rods!!! So before I left, I wanted to do something memorable.  Donna had never had a pedicure and so on to Fort Madison we went.  It was just in a small salon, one chair only and a fun experience.  The after shots….

My color, “Suzy Loves Cowboys,” Donna a pretty Christmas red.

This is President Spencer J. Condie, a General Authority, now the Temple President, a friend and “Agatha and George’s” biggest fan.  He came to Rendezvous so many times and just laughed and laughed each time.  He would always come up to me later and ask if I had seen the Vet!  He kept telling me that I needed shots!  I loved to see him in the temple he was always so welcoming and happy to see us.  We actually got brave enough to have him and the President over for dinner( including their wives of course), it was a delight.  We will simply never forget him.  What an example of the Savior, how blessed we were.

Another one of my sweet friends Sister Pat Davis.  I remember giving her a tour the first day that she came to Nauvoo.  She was scared spit-less, she is a single sister and what a leap of faith to come out all alone.  What fun as I got to know her. 

The Ballards from Snowflake, Arizona.  Oh my goodness, what wonderful, fun, happy, entertaining relatives. He is actually distantly related to Richard!!! So we had a good time with that.  She is hysterical, this cute little thing has nine sons!!! What a bonus to know them and to do things with them.  I hope we are friends when they come home.  We are supposed to meet in Branson after their mission!

FRIENDS, MEMORIES, PRICELESS!

ONE DOOR CLOSES AND HOPEFULLY ANOTHER ONE OPENS

I have a few more entries on my blog before it closes, but this will be the last entry.  It is my homecoming talk!  Think of it I AM A RETURN MISSIONARY!  I gain a lot of satisfaction out of realizing that.  I did it. I did something that was really hard and totally outside of my comfort zone, and I did it with everything I had, each and every day.  It was probably one of the highlights of my life and I think that my talk that is attached will explain it a little better.  This is the legacy that I hope to leave to my children and my grandchildren.  My legacy.

Gratitude

 

I am honored to be able to speak today on the subject of gratitude. It is a topic which I feel I know a great deal about, since I have so very much to be grateful for. If you remember a little over two years ago at this time, our family had been through some very harrowing and life changing situations. Through a very long process however, I knew that the Lord had not forgotten us and that we must continue to push forward in faith. The Lord surely heard our prayers and we have many miracles in our family to prove it. I was hesitant to go on a mission, I frankly was feeling worn out and beaten down. But I eventually agreed to go and did so with the thought in mind that it would be my way of expressing gratitude to my Heavenly Father for standing by us. Little did I know that in this opportunity to express my gratitude I would be as those stated in Mosiah 2:20-21….”I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another- I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another- I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.”

 

I stand here today as an unprofitable servant. In my efforts to serve I gained so much more than I gave and I would like to tell you about a few of those blessings, all things for which I express extreme gratitude.

 

I am grateful for reminders that I am important to my Heavenly Father and that he is aware of me. I know that I have a Father in Heaven and that He loves me. I have known that since I was a small girl searching for Him. I would like to share some experiences from my mission. The Nauvoo Mission has to be the most unique experience in all of the world. I thought that the MTC was hard and stressful and then I hit Nauvoo. The learning curve was high and we arrived in time for the busiest season. We literally had to hit the ground running, with no leniency for being new. Last year we gave approximately 100,000 tours with people from over 70 different countries. I worked at a new house every day, with new information to learn and memorize at each one of them. We had two different shows that we were part of and had a very stressful part that we were put into, three weeks after we arrived. I cried for several months all the while trying to do my best. One day I was working at the Brigham Young Home. As a side note, we raised our children in Kansas City and went often to Nauvoo, when there wasn’t very much there. We used to take Richard’s parents and his father happens to be related to Brigham Young through the first wife and the first daughter, Elizabeth Young. People usually are asked to sign a decendency book if they are directly related to the individual. So as I am sitting there I am thinking, I wonder if my father-in-laws name is on the list? I checked through the books that went back to the early 1990’s and couldn’t find his name. So I gave up. As I was sitting there I got a strong impression to keep looking. So I looked through everything again and again found nothing…… was prompted again to look, I found a very small folder on the shelf with 10 loose leaf papers in it. On the very first page was my father-in-laws name and each one of my children, who had signed in 1987. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that he and those on the other side of the veil, wanted me to know that they knew what I was doing, they knew that it was hard, and the family was proud of me and would support me as well. I literally felt the presence of angels. I felt so strengthened and it gave me courage to go on. I had several more experiences similar to this one that were priceless to me. I am grateful for reminders that I am important to my Father in Heaven and that He loves me.

 

I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in it’s fullness. There is so much to learn, but I know for a surety that it is the Lord’s plan, the Plan of Salvation, this great Plan of Happiness. I gained a more personal understanding of what took place in the early days of the Church and the people who sacrificed everything so that I have the blessings that I do today. My knowledge of Joseph Smith and the early founding saints has grown exponentially. How grateful I am. I love the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a prophet of God, a righteous servant, a martyr, who sealed his testimony with his blood, and a human being with frailties as well. I know that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of Jesus Christ. I have born testimony in the Carthage Jail and have had my own personal witness to his divine calling. I am overwhelmed with the responsibility placed upon the shoulders of the saints. At the height of Nauvoo, between 1839-1846, the average age of the Quorum of the Seventies was 25 YEARS OLD. Imagine, 25 years old and look what they did. We had the opportunity to reenact the Exodus march down Parley Street on a very cold day in February. We reenacted the founding of the Relief Society in the Red Brick Store. We commemorated the martyrdom of the prophet at the Carthage Jail. Experience after experience increased my gratitude

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I am grateful for the blessing of living in a Zion type community. Brothers and sisters, it was a real opportunity. I have never had friends like this, 260 of us at the height of the season, spending almost 12 hours a day together every day, serving one another, all working for the same cause, all striving to live the best life we could, all sacrificing and serving the Lord with all of our heart. One of the great lessons that I learned is that life is a challenge, for all of us. It is not meant to be easy, but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all things can be made to our good. Each one of the missionaries there, without fail, had had serious challenges, trials, loss of children through death, children who had fallen away, children in prison, and other faith challenging seasons in their lives. Several of these missionaries had not been active their whole lives. All levels of suffering and growth by so many good people. Should we be angry with the Lord? No, there is purpose in all things. There was one particular couple that I will tell you about that has changed my life forever. The Christensen’s from Cleveland, Utah. They had had a pretty rough life, lots of problems and they came to Nauvoo knowing that he was dying with Lou Gehrig’s disease. A big tough cowboy, working for Facilities Management or Nauvoo Restoration, laying concrete and any number of other physically challenging jobs, watching him each and every day trying his best, with a smile on his face. How we loved him. Working every day never complaining, he continued to get sicker and sicker. I remember one particular day as it was cold, he couldn’t use his hands anymore and a big 6’5’ teamster, Elder Dahl kneeled down and button his coat! As we were walking along Parley Street for the exodus to the Mississippi, I remember talking to his wife and she said, “Maybe we could have done this, if we had each other!’ Brothers and sisters what a blessing, we do have each other and wherever we are we have the opportunity to make it a Zion experience, to love and support one another, to not judge. The blessings are phenomenal.

 

I am grateful for the understanding that obedience brings forth blessings. Alright, I will admit that It was a little struggle for me, no perfume, no big earrings, no gum, no tv, no family, no sleep, no free time, but I had consecrated my time to the Lord and when we do, he is bound to bring forth blessings. Brothers and sisters, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our children were blessed, above and beyond our expectations. I also know that when you do all that you can the Lord will qualify you and make up the difference. My husband is the greatest example of obedience I have ever known. He is obedient. Because of our obedience the Lord qualified us to do the things that we were asked that we would have considered impossible. Teaching, singing, dancing, bearing testimony, teaching 260 missionaries at a time. Richard became the Zone Leader over the whole mission, along with his job of being the scheduler, he was the executive secretary, responsible for the finances of the mission and the computer and phone systems. We were able to do things that make me shutter now thinking of it. When we do all that we can the Lord qualifies whom He calls. How grateful I am to see the blessings of obedience and to have a husband who is such an incredible example and inspiration to me. How grateful I am to have had the time with him and to solidify our own relationship. There is so much about him to love and appreciate and I do.

 

I am grateful for testimonies, both heard and spoken. I had the opportunity on several occasions to take apostles through the Brigham Young House. If you don’t think that was a humbling experience, I can assure you it is, but what a blessing. Here I am, no ancestors at all, being a convert and I am bearing my testimony to apostles of the Lord! We also had a unique opportunity to hear their testimonies. On one occasion, Elder Oaks was addressing very high ranking authorities in the government of the United States. We were having the reenactment of the extradition trial of Joseph Smith. The highest ranking appellate Supreme Court justice in the US that was LDS, was there and many of the highest court judges in the state of Illinois, plus governors from several states were in attendance for this two day celebration. We listened as Elder Oaks gave an hour presentation to this group and related to them on several different levels, but all throughout this presentation he was an Apostle of the Lord first and foremost, and bore witness to them of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the reality of Joseph Smith’s call. It was breath taking as I sat in his presence and heard him bear testimony with strength and humility, and such conviction.

 

I am grateful for the temple and for the ordinances that allow us to move forward through the eternities as a family and individuals. The saints sacrificed everything to build a house unto the Lord and to have the strength of the covenants made with the Lord. There are stories after stories of sacrifice by the early saints, giving their all to do what the Lord had asked them, time after time. They completed the temple in December, for ordinances, and were driven away in February. We got to attend the temple nearly every week of our mission. I love the Nauvoo Temple. How blessed we are today to have temples so near. I had the opportunity to be the site leader over Land and Records. I loved every minute spent there. We do research on the early saints and then put a packet together on them with all of the records that the church has, even to property in Nauvoo. As people would come in and connect with their families, you could see a tangible feeling of connectedness come to them. They belonged. They had a sense of pride and appreciation in where they came from and identified with their ancestors immediately. Families never end, how grateful I am for those sealing ordinances.

 

I am grateful to understand what it means to be a witness of Jesus Christ. I cannot tell you what an honor and privilege I considered it to be to wear my badge……Sister Jardine…..The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, me a witness for Christ! I got to share my testimony and knowledge with so many people. Each meeting we would repeat D & C Section 6 and the missionary statement. We each have the opportunity to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. In Nauvoo 80% of the visitors were church members. Not a high baptizing mission, but we knew that mostly, we would never see the fruits of our labors. I had many experiences where people shared with me their feelings after being in Nauvoo. I had the opportunity to take a family through a site and established a connection. He had come with a prayer in his heart. He was trying to decide about moving his family from Utah to Oklahoma. Being from Oklahoma roots I had said something and then talked about my conversion in the mission field. Through the Spirit, he got an answer to his prayer to move. They were down there a few months when the big tornado in Moore, Oklahoma took place. Guess who was one of the first men on the scene, bringing 5,000 gallons of fuel from his company for the generators? I also know that to bless “others,” means everyone including our families and the missionaries we served with. I had a difficult time taking my badge off and laying it aside but I tell myself, I wear a badge each day, in my heart and through my countenance and the choices I make. I know of the divinity of Jesus Christ as my brother, my Redeemer, my advocate with the Father, my friend. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that when we come to Him, He will lead us through. I know that the Atonement is not just for transgressions but for all of our needs. How grateful I am for it. 

 

Last but not least, I am grateful for our wonderful children and grandchildren, parents and extended family who have supported us with their prayers, faith, and sacrifice while we tried to serve. How we love them, and pray that we have been a good example and that they will feel of our faith and love. We are grateful for each one of you and for your friendship and prayers as well. We are so grateful for a wonderful bishop and stake president, they have been true heroes in our lives.

 

I am grateful for the scriptures, grateful for peace, grateful for joy and happiness, for answered prayers, grateful for life and the ordinances that allow us to move forward through the eternities. Gratitude!!!! Am I an unprofitable servant, absolutely, but I am a grateful one!

 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Before we gave our talk, we had the opportunity to report before the High Council.  It’s amazing since my mission, how things don’t really scare me anymore.  I guess you could say that I have already been “scared to death “. 

I guess only I would have the High Council and Stake Presidency pose with me, but hey, it’s a memory for my children and grandchildren!

We are officially civilians!

TALK IN SACRAMENT–THE GOSPEL BLESSES FAMILIES

The Gospel Blesses Families 

 

I have had the huge blessing and unique privilege of working in Land and Records for the last 18 months. Genealogies, family stories, historical accounts and many records have been at my fingertips. As I look through all of these records and watch as people come in and connect to their histories and their past roots, I can see a literal bridge between the past and the present form. It is a bridge that binds generations together.

It reminds me of standing in the temple and looking in the mirrors that allow us to see no beginning and no end, and yet to realize that I am the link that holds us, my family together in this place and this time. Each member of this church has the personal responsibility to be an eternal bridge builder for their own families. If I want my children and my grandchildren to know those who still live in my heart and in my memory, then I must build a bridge between them. I alone am the link to the generations that stand on either side of me. 

 

The famous Roots author, Alex Haley, once said: “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage- to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still…an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.”

Being in Nauvoo has been one of the most cherished experiences of my life. In some ways I feel like an interloper because I am a convert with absolutely no family connection here. No one who was here belongs to me. But I do have pioneers of my own who have helped shape my life and who I am. I would like to tell you about my two amazing grandmothers.

My Grandmother Malone lost her mother at the age of 4 years. She was raised by a much older sister who was nothing like her in temperament and nature. Her father was remarried and brought in a stepmother and 3 other daughters who took precedence. When she was married they had very little. She actually lived in a railroad car. She was the mother of 10 children, 3 of whom lived to adulthood. Hemophelia runs in our family and caused a great deal of loss and grief. My daddy was one of her surviving children. My Grandfather and she joined the church when they were in their 70’s and lost all of their friends. I however, never remember seeing her sad, depressed or angry. She was never unhappy, always kind, loving and positive. How I love her. 

 

My Grandmother Upchurch was also a fun loving, adventurous, hard working, beautiful woman. She was married at the age of 17 and contracted tuberculosis at the age of 20. My mother was 2 years old. She was put in a sanitarium in California with 100 people in a large room. She was there for three years. They didn’t allow them to get up often and as a result, she was unable to walk. They experimented on her by inflating her lung and then collapsing it over and over. She was able to see my mother only through an upstairs window as my mother would wave to her from the ground, for three years. She talked about people dying all around her. They finally told her there was nothing to do for her and she got on a train and went back to Clinton, Oklahoma. There they told her that they had only two options. To let her die or to take her lung out, her shoulder blade, and several ribs in an experimental surgery. She chose the surgery. She lived to be one of my very best friends. 

 

I would surely be remiss if I didn’t mention my sweet mother who despite much opposition, joined the church all by herself. What an amazing example of courage, and faith to do what she did. The generations on both sides of the veil are united because of her brave choice and her desire to follow the spirit. She is my mother, she is my sister, she is my friend. 

 

The world and my life is better because these three wonderful women are in it. They are the reason I am a bridge builder. 

 

I had the privilege of being the proxy for my Grandmother Malone as my Daddy laid his hand on mine with 5 other people, to seal him to his parents and brothers and sister that were lost. A bridge built. 

 

When I go home in two weeks, I will again have the privilege of going to the temple. The blessing of being the proxy for my Grandmother Upchurch as my sweet Mother lays her hand on mine to be sealed to her parents for eternity, is a priceless gift, another bridge built. 

 

Family history and temple work have great power. Moroni told young Joseph Smith that Elijah the prophet would come and reveal anew the purposes, powers, and blessings of the holy priesthood which had been lost to the world. Through the keys he would restore, promises made earlier to the fathers would be planted in the hearts of their latter-day children. Our hearts would then turn to our fathers, and, through this impelling promise, the sacred relationships of mortality could be extended forever. Families of the earth could become families of heaven. It is a divine promise in D&C 2;1-2, that states: “Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their father.” If I want my children and my grandchildren to know those who still live in my heart and my memory and have helped to shape who I am, I must build the bridge between them. I am the link to the generations that stand on either side of me. I provide the emotional bridge, the temple ordinances build the eternal bridge. I am so grateful for a loving and merciful Father in Heaven who has allowed for the Gospel to be offered to everyone, regardless of where they were in history. 

 

Part of my Nauvoo experience has revolved around this beautiful, sweet temple. Many of my family names have Nauvoo 2 stamped on them. What a blessing, what a treasure. How grateful I am.

 

Testimony

Thank you all

SOME OF MY FAVORITE, SERIOUS, PEOPLE

So who wouldn’t love these two???? I had to help with a stake function the other night.  We had to have a group that would do the Clarinet Polka and then Richard and I explained Pioneer Pastimes and the toys and games of the l840’s.  I had to solicit help and these are two of the lovely elders that I had to choose from.  What a hoot!  I am going to make sure that this gets in the months slide show. 

They had some great men who played the dulcimer, and other older instruments.  The little kids loved it and danced. Needless to say, after these four days, I am exhausted!  I know that when I go home, I think I can sleep for a year.

Thursday was our preparation day.  We got up, cleaned the house, did the laundry, went grocery shopping, came back to Nauvoo and went to the temple.  Then that evening we had two performances of Rendezvous.  Friday, I gave 22 tours myself in the John Taylor Home and then went and did all of the things for this function.  Saturday I worked my shift and that evening we had a dinner.  The Sunday morning came bright and early and Richard and I had to give talks in church.  Then went to meetings for most of the afternoon, and went home and fixed dinner for 10 people for district meeting.   Free time you say on a senior mission. I THINK NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARTHAGE JAIL AND JAPAN

I got to go over to Carthage and work for the day.  It was a beautiful day outside and I got to go with Sister Ballard, which is one of my favorite people.  We had a wonderful day.  The night before I had been Agatha in Rendezvous.  There was a whole audience of people from Japan.  Not too many of them spoke English, so there was a lot of bowing going on!

As we got to Carthage and opened up the visitors center, up drives a bus.  As they start coming out we are waiting for them, and all of a sudden, they start hollering ‘GEORGE!” in English. It was the audience from Japan again and so we had an instant connection.  I guess the antics of Agatha are common in all cultures.  In Nauvoo, it is what I am widely known for.  Sad but true.  Anyway, I had the privilege of helping to take them on a tour of the jail.. The jail is a very special place anyway, it is easy to feel the spirit there as you tell about the prophet and men who were with him. 

This sweet little sister just laughed and laughed at me.  She wanted her picture taken with me and then gave me this candy.  She wanted me to know that it was very popular in Japan and it was a gift.

I was honored.  Quite tasty as well.  I can’t exactly put into words what it is like to be recognized all the time for something like being in Rendezvous.  When President Oaks was here for the second time, he said, “Oh, Rendezvous!” Richard and I were talking about it the other day.  We will never do anything like this again.  We have never done anything like it before. It has been an interesting experience.  When I work in a site, people will come in and talk about me.  I am not trying to be boastful, but I can’t tell you how many people say “Oh,  you have done this a lot before.  Tell me you are an actress??????” People don’t believe me when I tell them I was a shy little girl, but I was.  What has happened? I think I have discovered that life is to short to sweat the small stuff, have fun, enjoy life, don’t care about what others think of me, I am going to be myself and enjoy what time I have left. Why didn’t I learn this much sooner?  How can I teach my children? You can teach an old dog new tricks,. “GEORGE”

MONTROSE, ZARAHEMLA, HALF BREED TRACT ON THE WAY TO ZION!

So Richard and I decided to take a drive.  We had never been over to the other side of the Mississippi River.  That is where a lot of the Saints ended up upon first coming here.  It was the Sac and Fox Reservation Land.  It was called the Half Breed Tract and Isaac Gilland was the trustee.  It was one of the draws for this area, it was cheap land.  The old Des Moines Fort was located here and had been vacated.  There were old barracks and that is where a lot of the saints lived.  It is where Lenora Taylor talks about skunks and snakes coming in at night.  It is the location that Mary Ann Young came from to row across the river to Nauvoo to get food to feed her children.. I had never seen the temple from this side of the river.  It was beautiful.  At night it is like a beacon on a  hill.

When the Saints were driven out in that cold February of 1846, this is where the crossed to start their journey West.

I can’t even imagine how difficult the journey was just to leave Nauvoo and get across the river.  It was cold enough, that part of the river had frozen over. I am sitting here right now with a migraine.  I have suffered from them since I was 15 years old. Miserable, awful, debilitating.  Cold makes them so much worse. I cannot even begin to imagine how I would have felt.  I would have been a horrible, but probably dead pioneer. I didn’t do pregnancy well either, and would have died with my first child.  It makes me think………………………….

So, All Is Well………………………………………I often in my tours tell people how grateful I am for these amazing, resilient, devoted people.  I have the Gospel in my life today, because they did not give up when the going was tough. They persevered , but they also tried to do it with joy and optimism.  “Hymns are chanted- and the evening prayers ascend.” Forward, onward…………………………………………….

MISSION WITH BENEFITS

There are people here who are very talented in many areas.  Last year at this time I was learning how to make pie crusts.  This year I learned how to make delicious orange rolls.  Elder Bogaski is a professional baker and he has been so kind to give some classes.  I missed bread bowls because I had to do Rendezvous.  I hope I don’t miss the next one.  Just look at these babies!!!!

Took them for my offering for the going away breakfast!  They were a hit to say the least. Pleased with myself, now the question is, Can I make them without his help? Stay tuned!