Blessings of Modern Times

Corsets are not for me.  I would never have survived them.  I doubt I would have survived a wagon train or pushing a handcart across the plains to the Great Salt Lake Valley.  I certainly would not have survived long dresses with long sleeves and petticoats in desert heat.  I appreciated drugs during childbirth, and the fact that because of modern medicine, my babies survived a variety of life-threatening events at their birth.  I believe Heavenly Father saved me for 1954 because he knew if I'd been born any earlier, it would have spelled disaster.

I feel so blessed to live in these times.  I can't imagine having to follow Moses in the desert for 40 years to hear a prophet's voice, or walk from village to village following the savior to learn about God's eternal plan.  I don't think I would have done very well camping in a tent to hear King Benjamin speak words of prophecy.

On October 1 - 2, 2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will hold their General Conference.  This regularly happens every six months; the first weekend in April, and the first weekend in October.  I have always been in awe of the fact that I can listen to the prophets and apostles speak from the comfort of my recliner through the miracle of television.  General Conference can now be seen via cable systems, satellite, and can be streamed via the Internet.  The printed word can be read and studied in the May and November issues of the church publication, the Ensign.

Today I read a guest blog from the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, in the Washington Post.  I find that completely amazing!  A prophet of God blogs!  How cool is that!

Now more than ever before in the history of man, we have the opportunity to hear Heavenly Father's word.  We have been given living prophets and apostles who have technology available to them to reach more people on the planet than ever before.  It makes me think that possibly it is more imperative that we hear what He has to say now.

How well do I listen?  If I lived in Noah's time, would I have jumped on the arc, or would I have played in the rain?  If I had been in Nauvoo, Illinois when the mobs came, would I have walked on the ice and snow and wallowed in the mud to Winter Quarters, or would I have cowered in a corner hoping the mobs wouldn't notice?  If I had been with my 3rd great grandmother in Denmark, would I have been willing to sail to America and push a handcart across the desert plains knowing there was a very good chance I would die in the process?

Just six months ago, I heard the words of inspiration from prophets and apostles during the April General Conference.  President Monson admonished us to attend the temple more often.  He talked about the great sacrifices that others have made to attend the temple, and reminded us how blessed we are to live in such close proximity to temples.  He asked us to be good citizens of the nations in which we live, and to reach out to others of different faiths.  He reminded us that maintaining a strong testimony and studying the scriptures would see us safely through the sin around us.  Others at April's Conference gave us so many more words of advice and good counsel.  I find it interesting to look back over the last six months and evaluate how far I've actually reached for the "arc."  Sometimes I've run up the plank, and sometimes I've clung to a tree and hoped for a life line.

October's General Conference will be exciting for me.  My husband and I are travelling to Salt Lake City to sit at the prophet's feet in the Conference Center.  This is only the second time we've been able to make the trip to Salt Lake for conference.  I pray that I'll be a sponge to soak up the inspiration that will be given.  I pray that I'll be humble and teachable enough to run up the plank to the arc in the next six months -- do not pass go; do not collect $200.  I pray that I'll take advantage of the great blessings available to me in these modern times and not waste them on worldly things.

Nauvoo Retirement Trip

Kaylonnie Surviving the Cold in Nauvoo

Danny retired from Caltrans after 35 years working for the State of California in September, 2004.  Prior to his retirement, I began saving money for "the retirement trip."  I asked him where he wanted to go, and he said he wanted to go to the church history site at Nauvoo, Illinois.  Nauvoo was where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) were driven from in the dead of winter to begin their trek west to the great Salt Lake Valley.  This was supposed to be sort of a second honeymoon for us, this little retirement trip.  The closer his retirement came, however, the more we realized what a great experience the trip to Nauvoo would be for our youngest daughter, who was in high school.  We decided to take her with us, and we saved a little longer.

In October, 2005, the three of us departed by airplane to St. Louis, Missouri, where we did a little sightseeing, rented a car, and drove to Nauvoo, Illinois.  We had a great time in St. Louis, saw the giant arch, as well as the outside of the St. Louis Temple.  The trip from St. Louis to Nauvoo, however, I was beginning to wish I could put a sock in my teenage daughter's mouth.  It was nonstop talking from St. Louis to Nauvoo.  Unfortunately, I lost my clip-on sunglasses somewhere and couldn't find any to fit my glasses until long after my light-sensitive eyes had given me a major headache--and the kid's nonstop mouth wasn't helping.

We were supposed to check in at the Nauvoo Motel by a certain time, and it became apparent that we were not going to make that deadline.  We stopped somewhere and called the motel to make sure they would hold our room.  The owners of the Nauvoo Motel also own the more pricey Nauvoo Hotel, which is where we were to pick up our keys.  The Nauvoo Hotel has quite a fancy buffet dinner in the evening, and the owners are busy there after a certain hour.  They were very sweet and told us they would put our keys in the mailbox, and we could pick them up there.  (You've got to love small towns!)

As we drove around the last curve in the road before Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Temple was in sight.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  It was all lit up, and the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen simply enveloped the temple!  None of the pictures we have, nor none of the postcards we bought due justice to that beautiful site, so I have not included a picture here.  Danny and I had the opportunity to attend the temple later in the week.

We drove into the parking lot of the Nauvoo Hotel to pick up our keys, and got out of the car.  I suddenly realized that for the first time in at least 12 hours, my lovely teenage daughter was silent.  I said, "What's wrong?"  (I mean, when the kid shuts up, there has to be something wrong, right?)  Almost in a whisper she said, "Mom, do you realize we could be walking where Joseph Smith walked?!"  That one moment in that parking lot was well worth making our second honeymoon a kid trip!  We took a couple of minutes in the parking lot and talked about many other early church members who walked the streets of Nauvoo, as well as Kaylonnie's fourth great-grandmother, Ingeborg Mortensen Jensen, who passed through Nauvoo on her way to the Salt Lake Valley from Denmark--a handcart pioneer.

We spent several days in Nauvoo, and we also made a trip to Carthage to see where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, and Quincy, Illinois where the pioneers found brief refuge from their enemies.  Thank you, Quincy!

There were many special spiritual moments.  I think I'll never forget, walking the trail of tears--the street the saints walked down on their way to the river when they had to exit Nauvoo.  The three of us walked the trail of tears one evening on down to the Mississippi River.  We stopped at each marker and read the personal stories of some of those pioneers.  I would read until I would begin crying, and Kaylonnie would take over.  Then when she began crying, I would pick it up again.  Danny stood almost motionless as he would listen to us read those markers.  It had been very warm in Nauvoo until that evening.  The next morning we couldn't help going back to the Mississippi River on our way out of town.  It was so cold I thought our feet would freeze solid on the ground!  As we stood looking across the Mississippi River, we talked about the fact that it was much warmer that morning than it was for those first evacuees from Nauvoo.  We had much warmer clothing, and dry shoes.  I'm crying as I write this remembering the experience.

Our trip was not yet complete, however.  We realized that we had taken our other children to Salt Lake City, but we had never taken Kaylonnie.  Since she saw where it all began, she needed to see where the trek ended.  A couple of years later, we made that trip too.

Danny and I have since had several little trips on our own, but I'm so grateful that the Spirit guided us to take Kaylonnie with us on that trip to Nauvoo! My oldest daughter saw Nauvoo when she was in college in Missouri. Someday I hope our other two children will have that opportunity.

Danny and I in front of the St. Louis Temple

Kaylonnie, Danny, and Laurie at Seventy's Hall

Danny and Kaylonnie at Seventy's Hall

Danny and Kaylonnie - Quincy, Illinois