Thursday, November 24, 2016 – Prayer Mtg., Bald Eagles, Sis. Spradlin & Milkweed, Land & Records, Mission Thks Givg Dinner

It’s Thanksgiving morning and what better way to express our thankfulness to the Lord for all of our blessings than by serving him with a full day of work; cleaning, pruning, and hauling. As missionaries and servants of the Lord, today was a regular work day for all of the missionaries in the Nauvoo Illinois Mission. Yesterday during our FM prayer meeting announcements, Jordon said, “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the employees have tomorrow and Friday off, the missionaries will be doing all of the work without us.” That’s when we heard Elder Hopkin in the back say: “So, what’s new? ” 

Early yesterday morning we were treated to the sight of a herd of deer in our yard. This morning we were delighted to see three Bald Eagles fly right over our heads and land in a nearby tree next to the river. Wow, what a beautiful sight. Yet another reason to be thankful for serving here in the Nauvoo Illinois Mission. The sights, the beauty, the wildlife we’ve experienced have been spectacular and we are truly grateful to the Lord for the majesty of His creation. What a great Thanksgiving treat.

Today we were back at the historic “Land and Records” site to finish the cleaning we started yesterday. We thought it was going to be a big job and it was. There are very large flowerbeds as well as bushes and hedges to trim. We ran out of time before I was able to prune and shape the hedges. I did manage to kill all of the rogue, volunteer trees though. And there were a lot of them. Some of them were too big for my large tree loppers; I had to use the saw to bring them down. Then there was the inevitable Poison Ivy to take out before I could get into the hedge to take out the volunteer trees. Even though we didn’t get the hedge trimmed, the rest of the flowerbed and gardens look really good now.

There were more things to be thankful for today in the Mission. This afternoon was the mission Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone from the Nauvoo Illinois Mission, the Senior Couples, the Single Sisters, the Service Missionaries, the Temple Missionaries, and any family they had visiting from out of town were all invited. It was a wonderful meal and everyone worked hard to pull it off. A special Thank You has to go to the leader who put in overtime for everyone else, especially the District Leaders and Zone Leaders. There tireless efforts were truly appreciated, it was no small task. We are truly grateful for our associations with all of the missionaries in the mission. They are wonderful, hard working and dedicated servants of the Lord. We value their friendship and we give thanks to the Lord for each of them.

And today still isn’t done and there are more things to be thankful for. As Senior Missionaries we get to perform two nights a week in “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo.” That includes holidays, so tonight at 8:15 Sis. Johnson and I along with the rest of the “Emma Hale” cast had a “Rendezvous” show. More blessings to be grateful for, Sis. Johnson and I truly love performing on stage in “Rendezvous” and sharing our testimonies with music and dancing. Today was a day full of things to be thankful for.