Sunday, July 17, 2016 – Nauvoo Grove, Trail of Hope, Riser Boot Shop, Sarah Granger Kimball, FM Greenhouses, “Be Still”

Wow, what a wonderful Sunday we had today. After church we went to the “Nauvoo Grove” with our niece, Ruth Gurr and her husband Adam and children. The grove and others like it, is where the Prophet Joseph preach to the church in Nauvoo. The Temple wasn’t finished yet and they had no church building or tabernacle to use as a meeting house. “The Grove” was used for Sunday meetings, Conferences, sermons, funerals, etc. 

Many great and marvelous revelations were revealed and expounded upon in “The Grove” of trees. Benches cut from logs were used for seating however there was standing room only at many of the meetings of the early saints.

Next we all walked the “Trail of Hope” to the banks of the Mississippi River. February 4, 1846 the saints in Nauvoo were under orders from the governor to leave immediately. So within the week, in one of the coldest winters on record, the Saints hurriedly packed their wagons with only their essential possessions and walked down Parley Street to the Mississippi River.

During the winter of 1846 more than ten thousand Saints left their homes. As they left their beloved Nauvoo they looked back at their beautiful town, their homes, their shops, their farms and their Temple and knew they probably would never see any of them again in this life. But they had hope in the future. They had the promise of a Prophet that they would be able to find a new home and once again have the peace and happiness they so desired. Thus, these first steps on their journey west became known as “The Trail of Hope.”

Next we visited two historic sites, the Riser Boot Shop and Sarah Granger Kimball’s home. Then we went by the headquarters of FM (Facilities Maintenance) to give Ruth, Adam & family a tour of the greenhouses. Even though most of the greenhouses are nearly empty in the summer we still found a lot of colorful and interesting potted plants to see.

 Our final stop of the day was at the Nauvoo Visitor’s Center to experience the performance of the YPM’s (Young Performing Missionaries) in “Be Still.” The performance was only 15 minutes long and was nothing like the YPM’s high energy show we saw yesterday called, “The Promise.” This show, “Be Still” had no dance routines but it did have songs. The whole show was profoundly spiritual and very reverent. It had the effect of making a person reflect on the power of the restored gospel and the glory of the work going forward throughout the world. 

 

The last two minutes of the show were eloquently profound and moving as “Be Still” concluded with one of the YPM’s quoting “The Standard of Truth” by the Prophet Joseph Smith  “. . . the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

Like I said, it was a great day!