It's all about love don't you think?

As often as our schedule will permit, I take a mile and a half power walk around the block. The views are breathtaking. I could capture a beautiful scene at every turn. With fall in the air, I chose a few favorites for you.

  As I walk, I have been memorizing scripture passages recommended in our guide book called, Preach My Gospel. This month the chosen scriptures are from the chapter on God's love for his children. They seem appropriate to accompany pictures of our beautiful world.

 1.
Believe in God, believe that he is; and that he created all things
both in heaven and in earth,

believe that he is all wisdom and all power both in heaven and in earth;

believe that man doth not comprehend all things which the Lord can comprehend. 

(Mosiah 4:9)

2. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son 

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the the world,

but the world through him might be saved.

(John 3:16-17)

 3.
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and everyone that 

loveth is of God, and knoweth God. 

(1John 4:7)

4.
 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

(John 14:15)

We had Stake Conference today. For those of you who are not LDS, Stake Conference happens twice a year within the LDS Church. Stakes are similar to wards in that they are chosen geographically and are usually composed of about 6-8 wards or branches I think. The Nauvoo Wards are included in a stake that is composed of members from three different states. Anyone living close (30-45 minutes away) is invited to the church here in Nauvoo. Anyone located farther away for example Quincy, Hannibal, and Macomb experience the meeting via tele-conferencing in their own building.

 We heard a beautiful story today illustrating God's love for all of His children. I'll have to make it short so bear with me as there are various details that will come together and show you how by small and simple things, great things were brought to pass. The wife of Nauvoo Temple Mission President McArthur gave the story.

First, Sister McArthur went grocery shopping in Keokuk and left her favorite rice in the cart. She needed to make a special trip back to Keokuk which is about 20 minutes away to retrieve the rice. There was a tour of LDS members from Korea who had made arrangements to have a special early morning session in their Korean language in the Nauvoo Temple. Their contact person was Brother Sao. President and Sister McArthur don't speak Korean. :) Brother Sao doesn't speak English very well. All parties were aware of the language barrier. President McArthur made all the arrangements with the Nauvoo temple missionaries for the special session. However, Brother Sao called and cancelled all their plans the day before the event due to complications. Because of the change, President and Sister McArthur left their assignment at the temple early to pick up the missing rice. On their way home they passed a bus full of Koreans parked outside the Nauvoo Temple.

Making a few assumptions, President McArthur asked the driver if he could speak to Brother Sao. There was no one by that name on the bus. However, the passengers were from Korea, they were prepared to go to the temple in Nauvoo, but they had a problem. The temple was closed for the night, and the bus driver was on strict regulations on how many miles he could drive in one day. He did not have the ability to bring the group back to the temple the next morning since they were spending the night in Keokuk and he wouldn't be able to come through Nauvoo on their way to the airport. Many of the group were deeply saddened because they had saved for years to come here to Nauvoo and attend the temple. They were only going to be able to look at it from outside.

Well of course, this was no coincidence that the McArthur's were driving by the temple at this odd hour so they agreed to get missionaries to drive to Keokuk the next morning and bring all who wanted to come to  Nauvoo. You can imagine the joy that circled the tour bus.

To make things even more bizarre, Brother Sao called later the next day from Carthage and said, "Okay, we're here and would still like to go to the temple. When can we come?"

Is that wonderful or what? Both groups were from Korea and needed special translations. One group didn't get here in time but the temple workers had everything in place to accommodate Korean so another group from Korea who hadn't made arrangements were able to take their place.

Yep, God loves all his children even you!

Will you do something more this week to learn this truth for yourself?