Sunday, August 20, 2017 – Heber C Kimball Home, Our MTC Group Dinner

After Church services today Sis. Johnson and I got to serve in the historic home of Heber C. Kimball. We enjoy these Sunday afternoon assignments to give tours once or twice a month. We enjoy meeting the guests and teaching them about the history, faith and dedication of the early pioneers. And we enjoy learning new things ourselves. 

 Heber C Kimball was a dedicated and loyal servant of the Lord. Heber served eight missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, four during the Nauvoo period. One of my favorite stories is about the time he left on a mission to England from Nauvoo.  Heber left his wife in bed shaking with “Ague” (Malaria like symptoms) and his children sick.  It was only by the assistance of others that Heber himself, could climb into a wagon.  He later remarked:  “It seemed to me as though my very inmost parts would melt within me at leaving my family in such a condition, as it were, almost in the arms of death.  I felt as though I could scarcely endure it.

“Hold up!” said Heber to the teamster. “Brother Brigham, this is pretty tough, but let us rise up and give them a cheer.”  Brigham, who was also ill at the time, rose to his feet and joined Heber in swinging his hat and shouting, “Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, for Israel!”  Heber’s wife Vilate and the wife of Brigham Young, hearing the cheer came to the door – Sister Kimball with great difficulty.  The two women waved farewell.  The two apostles then continued their journey without purse or scrip to England.

This evening we attended a dinner with all of the missionaries that we were with 17 months ago in the MTC.  There were 20 of us in our MTC group and we are very close friends now. This will be the last chance for us to get together before everyone goes home in September. 

We had a wonderful meal but the best part was after dinner. We each took turns and talked about our favorite mission experiences, stories and what the Nauvoo Mission has meant to us. I really enjoyed listening to everyone tell their stories and experiences. We talked for an hour and a half. It was so good, I could have listened all night.