Sunday, August 13, 2017 – Sacrament Meeting, Dinner with Young Service Missionaries, YPM Sociable

We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting this morning. The topic for the speakers was “Safety for the Soul.” Sis. Maldonado and Elder and Sis. Rober were our speakers and they gave excellent talks.  Elder Rober said we find “Safety for the Soul” in the teachings of the Book of Mormon, in attending the Temple and through obedience. He also told the interesting and powerful story of his conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the age of 39!

 Sis. Rober gave a great talk too and pointed out that we find safety where we find Zion. She quoted one of our hymns, No. 248 “Up, Awake, Ye Defenders of Zion”

Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion!

The foe’s at the door of your homes;

Let each heart be the heart of a lion,

Unyielding and proud as he roams.

Remember the trials of Missouri;

Forget not the courage of Nauvoo . . .

. . . . Stand firm and be faithful and true.

As we serve here in Nauvoo I am reminded every minute of every day the great courage of those faithful saints that paved the way for the rest of us today. They showed through word and deed that they each had the heart of a lion. We owe so much to them. They were courageous, faithful and unyielding in defending the truth.

This evening we had the young service missionaries over for Sunday dinner. Sis. Johnson loves spoiling them with a large home cooked meal as often as she can.

After dinner we went to a “Farewell Sociable” at the visitor’s Center in honor of the “YPM’s,” Young Performing Missionaries. At the meeting we heard talks by two of the YPM’s as well as the director of all of the Nauvoo Productions, Elder Schultz.  The talks were very good, including Elder Schultz as he told the amazing story that brought him to find to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a young man.

 The YPM’s, their leaders and support staff are truly dedicated missionaries; they sang one song for us at the end of the meeting, “When Two or Three are Gathered.” I could listen to them all day and not tire. It was a wonderful evening of music, Gospel stories and testimonies.

 

At the end of the meeting the Seniors stood and sang to the YPM’s our traditional “Farewell Nauvoo” song. When it was over everyone of the YPM’s were wiping tears from their eyes. This powerful song never leaves a dry eye in the place.