Brigham Young the great colonizer and Repentance

For those of you who just started following our blog, you may have missed the part about Elder Johnson and I being sequestered in Carthage giving tours of the Historic Carthage Jail for the first four months of our mission. Therefore, you may not know that many of the sites in Nauvoo are still new to us. 

This week I served in the Brigham Young home for the first time which means of course that I spent a day consumed in the life of Brigham Young in preparation for giving a stellar tour. What a great man I found him to be. Here are a few fun facts.

 Brigham  Young was born in 1801 in Vermont. The ninth of eleven children, he learned to farm and work with wood. He was 30 years old before joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brigham wrote of feeling the Holy Ghost bear witness of the truth of the gospel. He declared, “When I saw a man without eloquence, or talents for public speaking, who could only say, ‘I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,’ the Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and the light, glory and immortality were before me.”

That’s pretty cool don’t you agree? Actually, I've been thinking quite a bit about the Holy Ghost lately. I feel his influence so much more clearly and often since we started our mission.  I wrote in my journal this week, “Understanding the Holy Ghost takes finely tuned feelings. It is a perception that is easily missed if I’m not paying close attention. Those tender feelings are easily blocked by drugs and alcohol or any addictive substance or behavior for that matter.  Even being caught up in 'busyness' can be a deterrent simply because it is a distraction. However, simple things like reading scriptures, kind acts toward others, and prayer especially prayer filled with gratitude, can help tune my spirit so I can hear/feel the Holy Ghost more readily. Most importantly, when a message from the Holy Ghost is perceived, there is no doubt or confusion on what that message is. It is clear, thorough, and completely convincing. There is always choice in it however. It doesn't ever feel forced on my mind in any degree. It is like a gift—free for the taking.”

I am sure that there is absolute truth in this world. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who had extraordinary experiences or else he was a great deceiver. There is no room for anything in between. You and I can know for ourselves which it is by the power of the Holy Ghost. Will you find out for yourself? Remember, you must go to the right source. Popular opinion is not a good indicator because the disciples of Christ have always endured persecution. Neither would you interview Judas Iscariot to learn more about Christ, so I invite you to Mormon.org or your local missionaries to learn what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly all about. 

Oops, I got a bit carried away--back to Brigham…

…He is considered the greatest colonizer that ever lived. He not only organized and oversaw the migration of tens of thousands of families from all parts of the world, but he was behind the colonization of around 400 communities in the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. That’s kind of a big deal I think. In 1950 his statue was placed in the National Statuary Gallery in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington DC as “America’s Greatest Colonizer”.

 This is off scrip, but I thought it interesting that some important people did not really like Brigham. Abraham Lincoln for example called him a lion and agreed to leave him alone if Brigham would leave President Lincoln alone. There were others of course, but the point is that I suspect if you’re going to boss that many people around, you’re going to step on a few toes. My personal opinion.... I like the man and know for myself that he too was a prophet of God. I'll give you more evidence of that truth on another post.

This is off scrip too but just as fascinating. When Brigham was planning his funeral with his family, he asked that he be buried with his face turned to the side. When asked why, he replied that he hoped the Lord would not recognize him in the next life and he longed for a little rest. :) Great men and women apparently don't always ask for the responsibilities given them. Perhaps, they never do.

I don’t want to give you too much information about Brigham because that would be boring for both you and me, and anyway, you really ought to come to Nauvoo and see for yourself so I’ll make just one more point.

While restoring Brigham’s home in Nauvoo, a large amount of broken china was discovered in the above ground root cellar. No one attempts to guess why it was there at least that I could find, but a missionary in 1990 worked the broken pieces until he had the china pieced back together. He re-fired some of the dishes dissolving all cracks, but others he left with the old scars representing the power of Christ’s atonement.

These cream pitchers were in many pieces as shown above. 

Now I can't see a single crack as shown below.

Above ground root cellar














As we accept Christ and repent of things along the way, we can be made whole again. No matter what we've done wrong or how crushed we are, we can be restored to the beautiful condition that we started out as. The atonement is the healer of all wounds whether we are tarnished from our own sins, or bruised from other people’s bad choices; we can be healed as if bad things had never happened.

 I am deeply grateful for the atonement and have felt it’s power many times in my life.

In conclusion, I promised in prior posts to hound you about seeing the “He is the Gift” clip at

 http://www.mormon.org/christmas

So, have you done it? I just watched it again….you gotta love it.

Stay tuned mid week and I'll give you a couple more things I learned about Brigham Young and the exodus from Nauvoo while working in the Blacksmith Shop today for the first time. It's fascinating to me!

Christmas Walk and Family

Christmas in Old Nauvoo is apparently a big deal. Last year they had 400 or 500 guests, and they had at least that many people this year. All the sites are dressed up for Christmas along with Mulholland Street which is the main street running through Nauvoo. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints funds most of it. I heard some very large figures floating around that may represent what the budget is, but they aren't documented so I'll refrain from spreading a rumor. Anyway, the little town of Nauvoo is beautifully decked out and charming.

 The event started with a tree lighting program. Our son, Adam and his family joined us from Chicago.

 The tree lighting program included the Warsaw High School band and choir as well as a few musical numbers from LDS missionaries and a talk from the mayor of Nauvoo, John McCarty.

 After the tree was lit, Christmas stories were told in the Tin Shop, Post Office, Browning Gun Shop and Print Shop. Elder Johnson and I were part of a live nativity acted out in the Cultural Hall. We performed 5 or 6 times. I lost count.

 Doesn't Elder Johnson look kingly? Elder Doug Brinley, a retired professor at BYU and President Harwood, Counselor of the Nauvoo Mission Presidency are on the left.

 Mary and Joseph were acted out by Elder and Sister Aaron who used to be in the Oakland Temple presidency. Some of you may recognize them. They know my brother, Dennis Broderick, from Danville, CA.

 Here is my chance to shine my halo. Mostly, I wanted you to see the cool backdrop.

 All guests were invited to the Family Living Center for live entertainment and treats. We had about 11,000 home made cookies, hot chocolate, apple cider and vegetable trays. By the time Elder Johnson and I got there, it was mostly over.

 We love family. We arranged to have our preparation day on Saturday this week so we could spend our day off with these fine folk. Aren't they the cutest?

So did you go to the site http://www.mormon.org/christmas?

You might as well give in and check it out because I plan to bug you about it, excuse me, I mean remind you from now until Christmas. Just do it! :)

I enjoyed this one too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugV6QGcafEE&feature=share

Happy Thanksgiving and He is The Gift

We actually celebrated Thanksgiving out here. Well, not in the normal way but Nauvoo sites did close at 3 pm instead of 5. Thanks to my sister, Becky, and mother, who visited Nauvoo, we had a Thanksgiving feast. Like you, I'm still stuffed. I hope you remembered to turn your scales back 10 pounds. :)

 We invited one of my favorite missionaries here in Nauvoo to meet Mom and help eat our dinner. Sister Olsen is one of those sweet women whom everyone loves. You just can't help be charmed by her quick wit and fun responses to life's predicaments. She and Mom had a fun evening.

 One morning we visited the Carthage Jail and were able to be the tour guides for my family. Elder Johnson and I still love Carthage. What an amazing place with the beautiful Spirit that fills the visitor center and jail. It has certainly become a shrine of sorts for Joseph Smith.

 Below: me, my mother, and sister

Just in case you wonder if we are still good hosts, check out the bedding arrangements below. Apparently, the bar near the back of the couch is bent so nephew, Jeremy got creative.

 Here he is below sporting his sleeping arrangements. I think it's going to be a hit don't you? Stores across the country are going to be promoting it so remember...you saw it here first. :)

With Thanksgiving behind us, Christmas is on center stage. I hope you are having fun with the holidays and not loosing your mind. To keep Christ the center of Christmas, I have a suggestion.

Visit http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Once you've enjoyed the video, will you discover, embrace and then share the gift with your friends and family?

(After that, you may even want to continue sharing with your second and third favorite folks. :)  )

Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds

We've been here for about seven months and finally found a minute to drive about five minutes out of town to see the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds.

The structure below is lined on all walls with names of those who lived and died
in the Nauvoo War which ended in 1846 with the expulsion of the LDS people.

 There are literally hundreds of names. Elder Johnson found the names of a few of his relatives who were related to his great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Most of my relatives joined the church and migrated to Utah as early as 1850 missing the Nauvoo War.
There is one exception which is a story for another day.

 It's a beautiful place!

 And, it was very cold that day.

You can't help but ache for the families that buried their loved ones here.
It's all so senseless...
...extreme intolerance for religious differences.
But, I suppose the followers of Christ have always been persecuted.

I believe that Christ will indeed come again. Do you? 

He lives with a body of flesh and bones and will one day soon reign here on our earth as Lord of Lords and rule as King of Kings. Are you ready?
It will be exciting if you are prepared.

All who have suffered will be given rest. 

No suffering will go unaccounted for, and all will be made right.

Through the same power of the atonement, 
all of us can be forgiven and cleansed of all the hurt we've caused others.

We simply must have a broken heart and contrite spirit and come unto Christ through baptism.

Not just any baptism of course, 
but a baptism performed by one who has authority given to him by the Savior himself.

 It's all true. Will you find this out for yourself?
Will you do something about it this week?

The harvest is in and so comes winter.

Nauvoo is surrounded by acres upon acres of farmland. Corn and Soybeans are the primary crops and seem to never end. The picture below was taken a few months ago showing how dry the corn gets before harvesting. Soybeans are the same. Once the crop appears dead, it is harvested by huge harvest combines. Those mountain sized machines work day and night to bring in the harvest.

 The yellow rooftop below is actually no roof at all but a giant mound of corn. A week or so after this picture was taken, we saw a white plastic roof layered on top of the corn before the weather turned wet.

 This storage plant is located on the flats of Nauvoo, right along the Mississippi River. We are told that the corn will be taken to large barges that will float six at a time down the river for processing. Much of it will be used as a gasoline additive.

 We're also told that the crop this year has been plentiful. Elder Johnson and I have a new perspective on a bountiful harvest. With Thanksgiving around the corner, it will give food for thought.

Indian Mounds

We visited old Indian mounds a few weeks ago. Apparently, upon excavating, the hills were found to be full of old Indian graves.  It was decided to leave them untapped and remain as sacred ground.

 There is a sense of peace and serenity here. I wonder about the history.

 Home Evening

Our most rewarding activity this week took place last night. We were invited to dinner at a member family in the area struggling with crazy "Indian" children of their own. It reminded me of our own tribe at home--wild, crazy and lots of fun.

 We were asked to provide a game.  We talked about keeping God's commandments and comparing temptations to crocodiles along our path. The children were blindfolded one at a time and asked to find their way to their parents. The rope represented the rod of iron or laws of God which can guide them to safety if diligently followed.

 The game was a hit and each of the four children wanted a turn. Earning the trust of a thirteen year old boy meant success in our minds.

 We love the Shaw's and hope to have more opportunities to help strengthen their family.

 

We've been asked to be the site leaders at the Family Living Center. We are also moving to three casts for Rendezvous in place of two. I have been asked to be the cast manager for the Emma Hale Cast. We will continue to perform the vignette of Thomas and Elizabeth, solo, rather than sharing it with another couple. However, two performances per week rather than three will be a tremendous lift.

We continue to be pulled and stretched to the max in every direction. 

We had a true Sunday today not being required to work at a site. The summer brought thousands of guests but with hundreds of missionaries assigned  to handle them, it was doable since we were required to work only one Sunday a month. Now, the guests have dwindled but so have the missionaries so now we only get one Sunday off a month. I prefer the summer schedule and will never complain again of a crazy itinerary as long as Sunday afternoon can provide time for a rest and rejuvenation.

How is your scripture reading coming? Will you look at your schedule and make more time for it if you did not do so well last week? Remember my challenge with the Book of Mormon.

We Talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ!

Before I jump into my main message, here is a little more love as I call the beautiful scenes around me. Can you believe how red those fall leaves are? I am still in amazement at the world around us.

Also, a quick message about our recent activities. Elder Johnson and I are being trained on how to thread the looms. Threading is a tedious and time consuming project, and with numerous missionaries needing to be trained, we had a "Threading Party".  Actually, we had a late night of hard work that started with pizza and cookies. (You can't fool us.)

 However, we turned a week's worth of work into about three days worth of concentration. After our "party", several missionaries were able to finish up threading one loom the next day, and Elder Johnson and I have been asked to finish the second one tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that we won't run into any major snags.

There is 200 feet of thread for each color you see above. After winding each group of threads, we have to tie off every strand with a strand left from the older threads and then pull them through the loom to the other side. Then each group is tied off tight to a canvas and we'll be ready to start rug weaving demonstrations again. All of the sites here in Nauvoo and Carthage are covered with rugs made here in the Family Living Center.

We currently have fabric cut and wound on shuttles ready for the next few rugs. We just need threaded looms.

Life in Nauvoo is never dull even with the number of guests starting drastically to wane.

However, here is my main message. 

Amos 8:11-12 says, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."

"And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east, and shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."

Have you ever felt like this? I have from time to time. I've wondered: What is the purpose of life? Is there truly a God in Heaven? Does he love us or is He even aware of us? If He is indeed our Father and we his children, what does that mean to me? How can I feel His love if he does love me? How can I return to Him if there is life after death.

 Joseph Smith wondered these same things and did something about it....he asked in prayer and with faith where to find the answers. He was told that there was no organized religion on the earth at that time with all the answers... with the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

He was given that message by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

 It's all true! It did happen as Joseph declared and he was then an instrument in the hands of the Lord in restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ just as it was originally during Christ's life.

 Jesus Christ is at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and it is therefore not a man made church. I have never felt His love so strongly as I have at this time in my life as I dedicate myself, and time and talents to whatever is needed here in the Nauvoo mission.

2 Nephi 25:26 in the Book of Mormon says, 
"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

2 Nephi 2: 6-8 says,
"Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.

Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being first that should rise."

Would you like to know this for yourself? I invite you to go in prayer and ask for help to know the truth.

If you don't have a Book of Mormon check out Mormon.org and ask for one. If you have a book, will you read it? If you've read it already, will you read it again? It's powerful. It's full of the Spirit of God, and He will manifest the truth of it to you by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Your happiness depends upon it.