Nauvoo Temple

Michael Stanfill took these gorgeous pictures of the temple during our trip! I can't wait to see the rest of them (hint, hint!!)



Monday, May 10, 2010
This weekend was a hugely exciting one. I took the kids to Nauvoo and received my endowment! The Temple was amazing and Nauvoo was so neat. The kids did not want to leave!

On Friday (5/7/10) we drove with Kadarah and Annie to Nauvoo. It took seven hours to get there... The temperature dropped 20 degrees during that time and Nauvoo was quite chilly! I had packed for hot, humid weather and the kids were FREEZING. Our first stop was at our hotel, Nauvoo Villas and Condos, to check in and drop off our stuff. Then we went shopping for sweatshirts. Our first stop was Allyn House which was really cool, but no kid seatshirts... We did get Hannah and Leah pink bonnets there, along with some jacks, a temple magnet, recommend holder, and 3 squished pennies. Next stop was Latter Day Harvest where they DID have the cutest "Old Nauvoo" sweatshirts that became the kids' uniform for the weekend. I also bought a Simon Dewey print "As I Have Loved You" and a rubber band gun for Elijah. I saw the Simon Dewey print that I *really* want in a HUGE frame... too bad it cost about $600! Then we drove by the Temple and I jumped out and snapped a picture on my phone to post on Facebook :) By that time it was 4:30pm and we only had 30 minutes before the demonstrations closed. We went to the Scovil bakery and got our gingerbread cookies (yum). I got a text from Vanessa saying they wouldn't be getting into town in time for dinner, so we decided to eat and go 'home'. We ate a pretty expensive buffet at the Nauvoo Diner (Grandpa John's, I believe)... fried shrimp, which was good, and the kids ate most of mine!




The next morning (5/8/10) Vanessa and I had to be at the Temple at 9:30am to prepare for the 11:00 endowment session. Kadarah came along to do some initiatories before the endowment session. We met Vanessa and Michael at the Temple Arrival Center and exchanged Vanessa for my three kiddos. Michael and Annie took Hannah, Elijah, Leah, Jed and Zoe to all the cool demonstrations. Apparently, they got a lot of puzzled looks as people tried to figure out the ages of those five kids ages 7 and under :) Annie wondered how she, at not quite 21, could possibly have that many kids!




Inside the Temple, the Brother in charge of getting my records in order forgot that endowments use the maiden name, so he couldn't find my records... that took a few extra minutes! Kadarah took my cards of ancestors who needed initiatories done for them. Then she and Vanessa each took one to do the endowment for them. What wonderful friends!!

I was quite overwhelmed with the endowment session. Too much to learn at one time for sure! It's a good thing they walk you through every step :) If I go alone next time, I'm sure to get an "I don't know what I'm doing" sticker for sure, lol. I know it will get better each time.

After the Temple, the kids were a cranky, hungry mess! Hannah had scraped her knee on her boot (brace for her hurt foot) and was very sad. We had a yummy sandwich lunch at Nauvoo Mill and Bakery and everyone felt much better :)

We dropped Kadarah at the Land and Record building, then we managed to get on an unadvertised wagon ride! Even wrapped in quilts it was a pretty cold ride, but it was worth it. Leah fell asleep on me for the entire hour ride!

The kids had missed the barrel making exhibit at The Family Living Center so we went to that and then got to hear about candle making before it closed. Everyone we met commented on Hannah's cute bonnet!

We had a light dinner at McKee's (??) , then it was time to head to "Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo". It was very entertaining to see so many of the missionaries performing!

Sunday morning we went to the 8am missionary Sacrament Meeting and we saw several of the performers from the previous nights show passing the Sacrament. That was neat! There were something like 346 missionaries in Nauvoo!! The place was packed... We sat in the 2nd overflow!

After church we headed back to the Temple and Michael took pictures. The kids all touched the Temple, and Hannah can't wait to be old enough to do baptisms there!

We went back to the condo for an early lunch and to pack up the car. We headed home at 11am. Amazingly, Michael and Vanessa, who were staying elsewhere, ended up behind us on the highway. After a while I had Michael pass us and we followed him and his GPS most of the way home.

The kids are ready to go back! Maybe in the fall...

General Conference - Saturday

I took notes for the first time during General Conference. I left my kids with their Daddy and went to the Stake center to watch and actually LISTEN!

Boyd K. Packer
- it's the father's right and DUTY to preside over his family
-it is time to activate the FULL power of the Priesthood

Julie B. Beck
-we have too much distraction in our lives
- revelation can come when we are doing the right things
- you lose the Spirit when you lose your temper
- ask, prepare, and go forward in faith to receive personal revelation
- refine ourselves and cultivate things that are GOOD
- we need to do our part to teach our children in order to build Zion

Keith B McMullin
- God forgives us when we forgive others
-things can get better even in the face of tragedy
-duty does not require perfection but perserverence
-duty = keeping our covenants in daily life
- pray, it is the life line to heaven

Wilford Anderson
- during the Nauvoo exodus the saints were filled with hope
-faith is the source of hope
- true faith requires work
-sadness disappears when we put our faith in the Lord
- we are engraven on the palm of HIS hand

M. Russell Ballard
- women have a divine nature to mother
- what you DO is more important than what you say
-be a good role model
-mothers teach moral values
-show daughters how to make good choices
- even when you think they are ignoring you, they are still learning by watching you
- refrain from gossip and passing judgement on others
- children learn to nurture by being nurtured
- God is the source of all spiritual power
-make and keep covenants
- teach modesty and purity
- have frequent and open discussions about sexuality, modesty, and purity
- listen to and learn from one another

Henry B. Eyring
- teach children when they are young and help them back onto the path quickly when they wander off
- straight is the gate and narrow is the way
-children who are strengthend are less likely to need rescue when they are teens and they can help rescue others
- pray with faith and help will come
- prepare WITH your children to stay on the path back to Heavenly Father

L. Tom Perry
-preparing church lessons helps us teach our own children
- parents must ensure that their children are taught what Heavenly Father would have them learn
- teaching by parents should never be devalued
- teach by example and precept
-it is our sacred duty to do our very best

D. Todd Christofferson
- through the scriptures God shows his power, enlarges our memory, and corrects our errors
- those without scripture will eventually forget about God
- good is NOT relative
- the commandments are the voice of reality and protect us from self-inflicted pain from sin
- the moral core of society disintigrates without the scriptures and commandments
-faith comes through the witness of the Holy Spirit
- reading scriptures is one way to receive the Holy Ghost
- No one has been as blessed with scripture as we are
- we NEED the scriptures MORE than previous generations!

Koichi Aoyagi
-RESCUE others!

Bruce Carlson
- strict obedience brings blessings, selective compliance will fail to
-"When the Lord commands, DO IT" - Joseph Smith

David Bednar
-spiritual warnings should make us vigilant
1. read and talk about the Book of Mormon with your children
2. spontaneously bear your testimony to your children
3. invite your children to act in Gospel matters (ask questions, bear testimony, etc)
- The Book of Mormon in clear and concise and invites the Holy Spirit

Jeffery Holland
-lust is the most deadly of the seven deadly sins.
-go to the temple as often as possible
- keep as pure as Heavenly Father would have us be
***
All of the questions I had thought about were covered... and there's still 2 more sessions! It's painfully clear that I need to be teaching my children the Gospel more often and praying with them more often. We started tonight!

On Becoming Self-Reliant

I know the church has taught self-reliance for a long time, but it seems like there is a HUGE push for it right now. I definitely want to do my part and get a 3 month supply of everyday meals, but I've been a bit stumped for recipes and planning things my family will eat. There are a few meals that I already make that are shelf stable, but not enough to make a 7 day menu.

I had a birthday recently and my mom and sister sent money :) I put that toward a pressure canner. Then I found a blog that talked about canning things like sloppy joes! Now I want to can that along with meatballs, and meat sauce for spaghetti, and chicken, and beef, and ....

This morning I canned a batch of pinto beans for the maiden voyage of my new canner, and it was a success!! I think my next mission will be sloppy joes. Now, I wonder how many quarts of sloppy joe you get from 5 lbs of ground beef??

"As has been said so often, the best storehouse system that the Church could devise would be for every family to store a year's supply of needed food, clothing, and, where possible, the other necessities of life." Thomas S. Monson, "Guiding Principles of Personal and Family Welfare," Ensign, Sept. 1986, 4

Stake Conference

I was asked to talk at Stake Conference about my conversion experience! I was going to speak on Sunday morning to the entire Stake, but it was moved to the adult session and I *only* had to speak in front of a mere 300 or so adults.

Here are the notes from my talk, but it's not exactly what I said since I like to wing it once I'm up there.
***

April 13th will be the two year anniversary of my baptism. However, my conversion story starts over twenty-five years ago when I was 10 years old. My then 15 year old sister had planned a night of binge drinking with a group of her friends. Since I wanted no part of the aftermath of that I asked to spend the night with a friend. My sister was dropped off on our front porch late that night and she was unconscious. Thankfully, my mom is a nurse, and she checked for vital signs. My sister was not breathing and she had no pulse. While my dad called for an ambulance my mom resuscitated her. My parents spent a long night in the emergency room.

As luck or fate would have it, my dad shared the ER waiting room with a group of Mormons. One of the youth had broken his leg badly during a ball game and this group was there waiting as well. Someone noticed my dad and offered to pray with him. He gladly accepted. Very soon, he was being taught by Elder Dave Arnold and Elder Ken Vineyard [No, I don’t remember their names, but they are written in the Book of Mormon that they gave my dad. And if anyone happens to know someone who served a mission in OKC in 1984, I’d love to hear about it].

I honestly don’t remember much about this time. I know I listened during at least one of the missionary lessons while my mom hid in the bedroom to show her lack of support. I know that my mom and dad and I attended one Sacrament meeting together. I remember my dad’s baptism and confirmation. I also remember the onslaught of anti-Mormon literature that arrived in the mail from my grandparents… I’m not sure how long my dad was active, but it was only for a few months. Several years later he wrote to Salt Lake City and had his name removed from the church rolls.

When I was in college my next door neighbor was an inactive member of the church, but she had nothing but positive things to say about it. She introduced me to her friend who would later send me a copy of The Book of Mormon, at my request… I was interested, but I didn’t want to talk to any missionaries. By that time I was married, and my husband read my email request to this friend, and he was very unhappy with me. He told me if I wanted to go to church I needed to go back to the church I had been raised in. My husband is Jewish though not religious, and when we were married I was not religious either. I considered converting to Judaism, and did quite a bit of studying, but no one was terribly supportive of this endeavor so I stopped.

Now we move to September 2004, when my little Hannah was not quite 2 years old. I was a stay at home mom and I spent much of my spare time on the internet talking with other like-minded moms. I didn’t have much of a support group in real life. I had a couple of friends who I rarely saw, and I only saw my family once a week since they lived an hour away. So, I became very close to several moms in this online mommy group. One of these moms is named Venita and she lives in Alabama and she is LDS. At the time she had 6 kids and the youngest was named Christian who was 13 months old. One day I read a message that Christian was really sick and she asked that we pray for him to get better. I did pray for that little boy to get better, but he didn’t. He died. A few days later Venita wrote that her husband had given her a blessing and in that blessing she learned the reason why Christian died so young… but Venita didn’t tell us that reason. I was totally consumed by this concept. I HAD TO KNOW what that reason was. I didn’t want to pry into this family’s life. Surely she had her reasons for not telling the group. But I HAD TO KNOW. So, I sent her a private email telling her that I was compelled to know why. She wanted me to call her on the phone because it was too personal to just type in an email. I called her… and it was difficult for me to hear the pain in her voice. Christian was on this earth for 13 months "to remind people that Christ exists for them, to be a light unto people and bring them to Christ." Venita was positive that was talking about me personally… Her little baby died so that *I* would find Christ. That was pretty powerful to me. I really didn’t want to believe her, but I promised that I would do something…

I had already read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon, I’d gotten stuck somewhere in Alma (which has happened to me more than once!!) and quit reading. However, I found the Gospel Principles manual on LDS.org and I started reading that. I had a hard time getting past what I had been previously taught and I had a laundry list of things I didn’t agree with… But I wasn’t praying about these things I was just thinking about them.

In 2005 my son was born and we moved to Evansville when he was 2 months old. I literally knew NO ONE.
In August of 2006 I was busily reading some anti-Mormon book when the doorbell rang. Guess who it was? Missionaries! The timing did not feel coincidental to me. My husband was in Mexico for the week, so I told them I was interested in being taught. They wanted me to come to church on Sunday and I said I would, and on Saturday Tasha Denton showed up with brownies to remind me to come. I thought that was really funny, though brownies are always a good idea!
I came to church and I LOVED it, and I definitely wanted to come back. However, my husband had come home from Mexico and he was greatly displeased. We had a huge fight, and he asked me not to go back. I went back the next Sunday and felt more welcome than I ever have in any other church. Ann Price who was in the RS presidency spotted me immediately and helped me get Hannah to Sunbeams (which she loved, and was taught by Bro and Sis Felt) and took me to the Gospel Principles class where Elijah toddled around the room.
However the problem this caused at home wasn’t worth it at the time. I like to avoid contention, so I didn’t come back… for a while.

Friday, September 15, 2007 my world was turned upside down when I found out about some very poor choices my husband had made. I seriously considered packing up my 4 year old, 2 year old, and 2 month old and driving the 12 hours to Oklahoma back to my parents. But I didn’t. Good old Venita suggested that I should go back to church on Sunday. And I did, completely out of SPITE!

I was shocked when Pres Rogers who was our Bishop then remembered me from the year before. The missionaries weren’t exactly sure what to do with me, and none of them approached me about being taught. I wasn’t exactly sure what to think about that, but I wasn’t ready anyway. In November I asked to be taught the discussions, but that set of missionaries had a tendency to cancel at the last minute. I was starting to get a little discouraged about it, but I kept coming to church. Then one evening in March, when my inlaws were in town, Elder Smith and Elder Stirland knocked on my door. They were the new missionaries. They were persistent. They never cancelled a lesson. They brought treats on several occasions because Elder Smith liked to cook. On St Patrick’s day they brought green Jello, which wasn’t a big hit at our house, but the sentiment was deeply appreciated. Elder Smith pushed me to set a date for my baptism. Even though I’d been happily attending church for SIX months I really didn’t want to. I still didn’t feel like I had a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet. However, Elder Smith was definitely in tune with the Spirit, and he would drop off note cards with scriptures on them pretty regularly. One of them was D&C 6:22-24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God? And now, behold, you have received a witness: for if I have told you things which no man knoweth have you not received witness?”
I set a date, and I was baptized on April 13, 2008.

As for my family? My husband now says that joining the church has made me happier than anything else. That’s quite a statement considering a few years ago he told me he wouldn’t have married me if he’d known I’d become a Mormon…

It’s been a long road for me, and it stretches ahead of me into Eternity! I hope to one day be sealed to my entire family in Temple… but it will take a LOT of prayers to get there I think.

One More Link in the Chain

I've been attempting to do geneology on my paternal grandmother's family, and it has really seemed like a dead end. Grandma was orphaned when she was about 10 and all the kids were farmed off to live with different families. Thankfully, tonight I found birth records from Grandma's twin brothers (thank goodness they were born in Texas and not Oklahoma or there'd be no records), and now I finally have her first name. "M. Evalyn Foster" is now Martha Evalyn Foster and there are census records of her! Now I know the names of her mother, step-father, brothers, and step-siblings. Unfortunately, Indian Territory records are even worse than early Oklahoma records...