Wednesday, July 13, 2016 – Mission Training Meeting, Bessemer Stake, Ruth & Adam Gurr & Family

This morning was our weekly Mission-wide training meeting in Nauvoo. These meetings are always very good. I am always amazed at how insightful and inspired Pres. Hall is.  He instructed us for forty five minutes on how we can do our work better and what we should do to be better missionaries. One of the things he said was that we are always able to receive personal guidance from the Holy Ghost but then he said “. . . . during companion study, that’s when you receive revelation.” Sis. Johnson & I are enjoying our companion study together very much.

This morning we had four tour buses in the parking lot of the Carthage Visitor’s Center. It was a Stake Youth Conference from the Bessemer Stake in Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham.  They came with 154 young men and women and about 40 adults. Bessemer is about 700 miles from Nauvoo so it was a long bus ride for them but well worth it.  

Once again, it is amazing to me, some of the people I get to meet. During the tour one of the adult leaders asked for me by name. It turned out that her name is Wendy Dennee Johnson and she is the daughter of Don Dennee, one of my best friends from my youth that I haven’t seen in over 40 years. The miracle of Face Book made this connection possible. We had a good time visiting about her dad, my best friend from high school.

The long awaited visit of our niece Ruth & her husband Adam Gurr & their family has arrived. This evening while Sis. Johnson and I were performing in “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” the Gurr’s arrived at our home in Carthage. We are very excited and delighted to have them stay with us tonight and then again on Sunday night. Thursday through Saturday they have hotel reservations in Nauvoo.  

The Gurr’s drove in from Kirtland, Ohio today. Their trip started in Palmyra, NY and they are visiting all of the church history sites as they drive cross country. They are having a wonderful time and making great memories. I highly recommend this to all families both young and old.