Sunday, March 12, 2017 – Sacrament Meeting, Sis. Crandall’s Memorial Service, Waiting in Line to See Elder Russell M. Nelson.

This morning we had wonderful talks in Sacrament meeting. Pres. Hall quipped: they prepared so diligently to have great talks because there was a chance Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve would be in attendance. But alas, Elder Nelson won’t arrive in Nauvoo until later this afternoon. Even though President Nelson wasn’t in attendance at our Sacrament Meeting the talks were excellent.

Today we had a combined Relief Society & Priesthood meeting. We met together to have a memorial service to remember and honor the life of one of our Senior Sister Missionaries, Sis. Harriet Crandall that passed away last week on the 8^th of March. Since last fall she had been ill but the doctors thought it was only cold like symptoms. But then in January she was found unconscious on the floor, she had suffered a subdural hematoma. The cause of the brain hematoma wasn’t diagnosed until two weeks ago when the doctors at the University of Iowa Medical Center finally discovered Sis. Crandall had cancer. 

Sis. Crandall was a wonderful missionary, mother and grandmother. All three of her children were here this morning for the memorial service. Sis. Johnson and I knew Sis. Crandall very well. She was in our cast for “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” so we got to perform with hear twice every week. All last summer we sat together and performed with her in the “Sunset by the Mississippi” shows. For Pres. Hall to conduct a memorial service and for us to attend the service for a fellow missionary isn’t something we expect to do during our mission. It has been very difficult for those of us that knew and loved Sis. Crandall. The Memorial service put together by Pres. Hall was a wonderful tribute to her life and her service.

After church today Sis. Johnson and I volunteered to help out Richard at the greenhouses. Normally Richard goes to the greenhouses every Sunday after church to check the moisture levels of all of the plants and “spot water” what will not wait until Monday. However, today Richard was assigned to be at the Stake Center all afternoon to be an usher for the special fireside with Elder Russell M. Nelson this evening. Large crowds are expected and people will start lining up before the last block of meetings are over.

 

We finished a great day attending a fireside with Elder Russell M Nelson, Pres. of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. During Sacrament meeting Pres. Hall said: “Today will be a special and spectacular day!” And, he was right! For an hour we got to sit at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord and hear him speak to us directly. Understand, there were well over 400 missionaries and temple workers in the room and Sis. Johnson and I were only two of them but we still felt like he was speaking directly to us. It was a very good fireside, it isn’t very often you get to sit just four rows away from an Apostle of the Lord.

The chapel, overflow and cultural hall were full of missionaries that included all of the Senior Couples from the Illinois Nauvoo Mission, all of the Temple Missionaries, all of the ordained ordinance Temple workers (300+), and all of the proselyting missionaries from the Iowa, Des Moines Mission that were serving close enough to come.

While we waited in line for two hours we found ourselves next to Elder & Sis. Thompson. They are here serving a Temple Mission. They are from the Fairway Groves Ward of the Alta Mesa Stake. The same stake were our son and daughter-in-law live. As we’ve visited our son and his family we’ve noticed the picture of the Thompson’s on the plaque in the hall and wondered, will we get to meet them in Nauvoo? Well, yes we did.