Praise To The Man

We have been enjoying Nauvoo, and have been blessed to come here. The Spirit of this place is strong, wherever you may visit. Each site speaks of the dedication and faith of a people who were not afraid to follow a prophet of God. It also speaks of a wonderful prophet, who did not expect anything of his followers that he did not live himself. He was an example, leader, friend, and prophet. The Saints called him "Brother Joseph". They loved him, and we also love him. He knew that trials built and strengthened a people. The important thing is to not lose faith, no matter what. He said,"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" We shall go on, just as Joseph and the early Saints went on. He and many others paid the ultimate price for this cause. We must also give our lives. We probably will not be asked to die for it, but we need to live for it by being obedient, following the prophet, and serving our fellow men.

Hail to the prophet, ascended to heaven!

Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.

Mingling with Gods he can plan for his brethren;

Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Nauvoo the Beautiful

We drove into Nauvoo on Wednesday afternoon. It is truly a beautiful place. We have enjoyed an abundance of the Spirit as we have visited a few of the sites here, in spite of the cold. The temperature is hovering in the high thirties, with a strong wind. We froze today even though we dressed in many layers. The picture above is the new statue that the church erected in front of the temple called "The Loveliest Place". It depicts Joseph and Hyrum as they passed the temple on the way to Carthage, stating that this was the loveliest place and the loveliest people, and they would never see it again. Thursday we toured the Joseph Smith sites that are operated by the Community of Christ church. We toured the Smith farm, the Mansion House and the Red Brick Store. From there we went to the Brigham Young home where we were given a tour by Sister Wilson from Enterprise, UT. After lunch we went to the Wilford Woodruff home. We were given a tour by the Browns from Provo, UT. This home has particular interest for us, because Wilford Woodruff is Nona's Great Great Grandfather. We went to see the oxen, but their driver was having difficulty with them, and they drove the the wagon into a tree! We will try for pictures tomorrow. I never knew exactly what an ox was, but now I do. We went next to the church visitors center, and watched "Remembering Nauvoo" it is a wonderful movie, but Kipp, Ethan and I slept through it. This wasn't so bad, since we have already seen it, and then we were able to stay awake for the temple session last night. The temple was the highlight of the day. A perfect ending to a perfect day...

Enough is Enough

This is my kitchen...

Think I'll go to Nauvoo...

Things will look much better in 10 days...

(I hope)