IMPRESSIONS OF SERVING IN NAUVOO……

So we were at a party at Pres. Grygla’s and they asked each one of us what our greatest impressions of serving in Nauvoo were.  Many thoughts were expressed but I will tell you mine.

1.  This has to be the closest thing to a “Zion” type society I will ever be in.  Each and everyone here is called to serve, that means they have dedicated their time (mine being 18 months) to serving the Lord exclusively.  We don’t have television, so I really don’t know or am bothered by all of the things that are happening in the world.  Each and every person that is here is here because they want to be.  We are with each other 12 to 14 hours a day sometimes, working and serving together.  I have made better friends here that at any other time in my life.  If you think about it, it is literally like an extended family, I spend so much time with them and serving them in some capacity, with them serving me as well.  We are working towards a common goal, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all different, and some I relate to better than others, but on a whole, it is a unique experience. So, no influences from the world.

2.  I CAN DO HARD THINGS…This experience has certainly taught me that I can do hard things.  I left my family, my parents, my children, grandchildren, and extended family.  There is nothing harder on me than that.  There is no one who is more family oriented than I am, yet I am here.  I am putting my total faith and trust in my Heavenly Father and what I have been asked to do.

There is so much to learn here, from the scripts at each site, to the dances, songs, shows, how to get from one place to another, who and what people are, what my responsibilities are etc. The learning curve here is very high and heavy and for the most part, I have done it.  Certainly, not by myself however.  So many times I find myself in awe that I am able to do what has been asked of me.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when the Lord asks something of me, and I do my part, He makes up the difference.

We are responsible for helping to train the missionaries each month in a training meeting. (our full compliment of missionaries will be 260) It seems like we hardly ever have a time block when we are not busy. Richard works tirelessly and is really a huge part of this mission running successfully, although he would never say that.  So finding time to put a 45 minute meeting together is hard.  Last week I had a very busy Tuesday.  I was in charge at Land and Records, and I was without one of my helpers, (she was helping split the casts), and so I didn’t even take a lunch.  We had 22 tours that day, and so I went home for supper tired.  We had a practice for Sunset that evening and then came home and worked until midnight on our presentation.  Up and at the meeting by 7:30 and training went very well. (Thus the Lord making up for our ineptitude) I worked all day and then came home and went and did two shows of Rendezvous. Came home after the show and went to sleep and literally got up Friday morning.  I had slept around the clock! But this I have learned for a certainty, I am not doing these things of my own strength.  The Lord sustains me and I can literally “feel” Him stepping in and helping me to succeed at what I have been asked to do. It is an overwhelming feeling, I am humbled. I will keep trying and doing all that I am asked to do.  

3.  This is a special place, it represents sacrifice and testimony, strength, endurance, faith, gratitude, cooperation, as well as injustice and hatred.  I am in awe each and every time that I tell one of these peoples’ story.  Each time I do research on a particular person and wonder how they were able to continually be driven from place to place, bury their children and spouses and move on, I am in awe. Each time believing that I would not have been able to do what they were asked to do, forgive and hope for a better tomorrow, I am humbled.  Yet, I know why they did it and I know that just like me, the Lord walked beside them, because His plan for their lives, was  bigger and more wonderful than anything they could see for themselves. They trusted in the Lord and in His Atonement, and their faith kept them going. I know one of my friends as we participated in the Exodus walk on that cold 28* weather day said, “Maybe I could have done this if we were all leaving together.”

4. Maybe one of my biggest ah ha moments is this, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have dedicated 18 months of my life exclusively to doing what I think He wants me to do.  I wear a badge each and every day that says,

  SISTER JARDINE

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Am I worthy to wear this badge, in some ways, probably not, but am I trying? Absolutely, to be what He would have me become. To realize that this life is meant to be a learning process, to come to know Him more fully. To change what I can and to try to become what I am not yet. It is about my heart, my faith, my gratitude and my knowledge and how I lift my brothers and sisters. Maybe in some ways, I am like these pioneers in Nauvoo.  I am shaping the legacy that I will leave to those who follow after me.

Maybe trying to put into words what my feelings about Nauvoo and this experience means  is tentative at best. It really is about my heart and hopefully others will be able to know about Nauvoo and about this tender mercy  by knowing what a difference it has made to me and to who I am trying to become.