Eldon's birthday and other amazing things

We went to a concert last night put on jointly by all the churches in the community. It was held in the Catholic church which was ornate to the fullest extent. Quite a contrast between the Father's opening prayer and the stake president's closing. The theme was "Journeying through Music" and started with the Catholic choir singing some Catholic songs such as "The Bells of St. Mary's." Then the Icarian period was represented by some French pieces, and the Nauvoo LDS heritage was represented by the LDS choir singing "Redeemer of Israel" and "Come, Come Ye Saints." Then finally the Nauvoo German heritage with a Bach organ solo and the whole congregation singing Luther's "A Mighty Fortress if our God." That was cool to sing with such good acoustics.

Today Eldon turned 72. I announced it in prayer meeting in the course of giving my testimony, which we were asked to do just a few minutes before the meeting started! It was a cool experience and I thought we had similar thoughts, just expressed differently. Eldon said he felt he had gradually changed here in Nauvoo and come closer to the Lord. He quoted Doc. & Cov. 121:45 - Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost will be thy constant companion...  to describe it.

My thoughts were based on Ether 12:27 where the Lord says to Moroni that if we come to him (which we do in the temple), He will show unto us our weaknesses. (I've had many shown to me here.) He says if we humble ourselves and have faith in Him he will make our weaknesses become strong. I also told them when irritations or challenges happen, I say to myself, "This is a test," and remember the skit the young performing artists did about "This is a test." Life is supposed to be a test. But His grace is sufficient to help us pass the test if we but ask.

Our neighbors upstairs brought down a beautiful fruit pizza with a candle in it for Eldon's birthday.

What we do in our spare time

Four or five mornings a week we cross the Mississippi River into Fort Madison, Iowa and go to the YMCA to exercise. I take a water aerobics class and Eldon takes a Silver Sneakers class which uses elastic bands and balls. He enjoys it in spite of being the only man in a class of women. (Or maybe because he is the only man in a class of women.) So we've both toned up a little and lost a little weight and it seems like climbing all those stairs in the temple is easier than it was at first. So that's all good.

Our teacher, Kathy

Eldon's in his Silver Sneakers t-shirt

Eldon has become the geode guru of the temple missionaries. He has gotten several others interested in it. Our car will be several inches lower with the weight of all the geodes we'll be bringing home with us. He keeps thinking he wiped them all out of the Joseph's Creek area, but the next time he goes back, he finds more. He's gotten the equipment to split them, including safety glasses. And he lined the beautiful flower bed with them.

Our FHE group had a nice outing yesterday on the Martyrdom Trail. Brother Franklin was our guide. Evidently there was a road leading up to the front of the temple at the time, right where the sculptures are of Joseph and Hyrum on their horses heading off to Carthage.

The picture is at a place where Joseph stopped called Golden's Point which is the junction of the roads to Warsaw, Nauvoo, and Carthage. (None of the Golden brothers joined the church, but their sister did and after she moved to Utah she became a plural wife of Heber C. Kimball and named their son J. Golden.)

Elder Franklin, Terry and Judy Peal, us, and Sandi and Kent Winegar

This story is told about Golden's Point. The constable went to Warsaw to get volunteers to keep the mob under control, but he was run out of town. He met Porter Rockwell and two other men here and deputized them to protect him. Porter stood in the middle of the road and three rednecks galloped towards him shooting. He shot the first guy in the stomach who died before they could get him back to Warsaw. Porter was charged with murder but acquitted because it was self defense.

After we got to Carthage we went to the Dairy Queen and enjoyed sundaes and socializing.

During waiting times at the temple I've been reading the Bible Dictionary. (I finished the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price.) I'm to the D's. Once in a while I come across a thought provoking entry. For example, damnation is the opposite of salvation and also exists in degrees.

A variety of activities

Eldon has been collecting things from nature. Osage fruit and chestnut pods.

Chestnuts out of the pod.

The perfect geode.

Wicked thorns!

We drove over to Montrose to a rest stop the missionaries maintain called "Linger Longer". Great view of the temple from there.

We arranged an FHE at the Tukuafu's. They live in a round house on the river. She makes wooden instruments and they sing.

Brother Tukuafu is Tongan. They raised 13 children in Hawaii.

There was a farewell openhouse for the Ekins, a delightful couple from Delta.

It was held at the Arrival Center.

Our P-day group went to Kalona, Iowa to visit a Mennonite community. Sylvia was our host for a delicious lunch. She's a widow and lives way out in the country.

We went to the church and their pastor met with us and answered questions. The Mennonite congregations are independent. One teaches baptism by immersion, another by pouring, another by sprinkling. Its up to the pastor. He said their biggest problem is not agreeing. They lack a prophet! He was very articulate even though he only had an eighth grade education.  They don't vote.

Meaningful embroidery on Sylvia's wall. I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Book of Mormon battles

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon straight through. Some days in the temple I have quite a bit of time to read--a half hour while posted in the Celestial Room (a very quiet place to read), or interrupted reading time when posted on the first floor to greet people and point them in the right way.

I am really tired of the war chapters and have decided never to read them again except when we study them in SS. I'm going to choose the chapters that are inspiring and uplifting, full of doctrine and good counsel and just read them over and over again! Like 2 Nephi 9 and King Benjamin's speech and Alma 32 and 3 Nephi 11-14 and Ether 12 and the whole Book of Moroni.

I know the war chapters are included to provide us advice on how to meet the challenges of the last days before the second coming. Fortify and arm yourselves and all that good stuff. But enough is enough. Ether is awful bloody too.

But someone in SS last week made an interesting comment that it's not just nation against nation, but one on one personal relationships that are stressed in the Book of Mormon. I've been thinking about that all week.

First there's the overriding advice not to contend, that contention is of the devil and not the Savior's gospel. Then there's Moroni's beautiful words on charity and that we should pray for it. The golden rule is there. Judge not and be forgiving are in there too. There is advice to parents to teach your children to love and serve one another.

Then there are examples to learn from. Nephi who did frankly forgive his brothers. Lehi who agreed with his complaining wife that he was a visionary man rather than fighting back. Ammon who was wise and yet harmless. The Anti-Nephi-Lehis who buried their weapons of war rather than fight again. Pahoran's patience with Moroni when he complained about the government's neglect. You can probably think of others.

One of my favorite passages is in Moroni 7 in Mormon's letter where he tells the people he knows they are followers of Christ because of their peaceable walk with the children of men. President Hunter said, "May we walk the quiet way of the Lord." I would like to do just that, but it would mean going through life not getting irritated, not taking offense, not criticizing or pouting. What a challenge!