Sunday, June 19, 2016 – Father’s Day, Boutonniere, Family Living Center, Carthage District, YSSM’s

It’s Father’s day! Sis. Johnson gave me a boutonniere to wear to church this morning.  There were about 150 other men in the congregation and I was the only one with a Father’s Day Boutonniere. I must be pretty special. 

And to prove I’m special, I got phone calls or video chats from four of my sons, their wives and our grandchildren. Yes, pretty special indeed!

Today after our church services were over, Sis. Johnson and I had an assignment to be tour guides at the Family Living Center. Our shift was from 12:30pm to 5:00pm. The Family Living Center is a great place to visit, bring kids to and to learn how the pioneers lived in the 1840’s. At the Family Living Center the senior missionaries give demonstrations on how the pioneers made and used some of the household necessities they had around the house. We give demonstration on lots of things like candle making, open fireplace cooking & bread making, spinning, looming, rope making, pottery and barrel making. All of us enjoy giving the tours and the demonstrations.

 

As soon as our shift was over we had to race back to Carthage, prepare our assigned dinner dish and make it to our District Training Meeting & Dinner. All of the Seniors that are assigned to Carthage were there, however all six of the YSSM’s (Young Single Sister Missionaries) have their own district and are not a part of ours.

 

Dinner was wonderful, Sis. Johnson volunteered to bring a taco salad. There was sooo much good food. I went back for seconds and tried to eat it all but there was just too much! Wow, was I full.

Our district meeting was good too. We discussed all of the previous month’s training from the Mission President as well as how to handle the huge crush of people that is expected in the month of July. Estimates are around 300 guests per hour will tour the Carthage Jail at the busiest times. That’s a real problem since the tour size has to be limited to only 30 people per tour. The next problem is: tours can only be started once every 15 minutes, so you can see there is going to be a big problem for the tour guides.

Later, after we returned to our home, all six of the YSSM’s came over to our house to visit with Sis. Johnson and I about finding service projects the YSSM’s can do around the visitor’s center. We have a big need and the YSSM’s will be a great help. One project they will help with is preparing the grounds for the June 27^th commemoration of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum here at the Carthage Jail. We expect between 300 and 400 guests for the 5:00 PM program. The YSSM’s will be a big help preparing the grounds and making sure every detail is ready for the event. We only have a week to have everything ready.