Saturday, June 10, 2017 – “Just Plain Anna Amanda,” Carthage Jail Tour with Dan & Mindy

P-day (Preparation Day) is wonderful when we have family in town. It is the one day we get to spend with them and we don’t put in a full day of work. We still have our regular housekeeping chores and shopping to do but we have a lot of time left over to spend with our family.

This morning we had tickets to see the YPM’s production of the show, “Just Plain Anna Amanda.” This show is geared toward children but it was a hoot for young and old alike. Our son, Daniel and his wife Mindy have 5 children from 11 to under one year old so they really enjoyed the show. We laughed, sang along and enjoyed every minute. 

Sis. Johnson and I have never seen the show “Just Plain Anna Amanda” before. All last summer we were living and working in Carthage and we never had a chance to come to Nauvoo in the morning to see a show. Hopefully this year we will get to see it several times as we have more family visiting us.

Next we went to Carthage to take the Carthage jail Tour. This was our daughter-in-law, Mindy’s first time to see the Carthage Jail. Daniel was here as a young man over 20 years ago so both of them were experiencing special spiritual feelings as they toured, listened and felt the spirit. In all of Church History the martyrdom room in the Carthage Jail this is one of the most sacred and hallowed spot.

Three of their children are too young to understand or appreciate the tour, Carissa is four and a half and Carter is two and a half years old. Their baby, Ricke, is only eight months old so he took the tour in his parent’s arms but the other two stayed outside on the grass with me while the rest of the family went inside. Carissa, Carter and I had a grand time playing with some toys we brought along. We had a lot of fun together.

At 8:00 PM Illinois time we had a video chat with our son Ernie and his two sons in Australia (10:00 AM Sunday Morning in Western Australia). Daniel really enjoyed a long visit with his brother Ernie, they don’t do this sort of thing very often. They talked and their children got to see and hear their cousins for over an hour and a half. Skype is a wonderful tool to keep in touch with. We love this internet miracle of modern communications.