Sunday, September 03, 2017 – Fast & Testimony Meeting with Departing Missionaries,  Elder Wayment Update, Blacksmith & Wainwright Shops, Elder & Sis. Metcalf, Cliff Dahl & Family

Our Sunday started with a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting. This was a special Fast & Testimony meeting because it’s the last Sunday before the large group couples leaves the mission for home this coming week. Many of the Elders and Sisters bore powerful testimonies as they said goodbye to the rest of us. 

Most of the large group of senior couples arrived in the mission just two weeks before Sis. Johnson & I arrived on the first of April 2016. Since their group and ours arrived so close together, they have been our very close friends the past year and a half. They are all truly great missionaries and we’ve grown to know and love each one.

 UPDATE ON ELDER WAYMENT: At the beginning of our Fast & Testimony meeting it was announced that Elder Wayment will be released from the hospital today and he will be coming home to Nauvoo. Elder Wayment is in excellent spirits and his quick recovery and positive attitude is a testament to the power of prayer. The life threatening accident in the horse barn happened only five days ago. For him to be coming home this soon is nothing short of a miracle.

Today it was our turn to serve as tour guides in one of the historic sites of Old Nauvoo. This is only the second time Sis. Johnson and I have given tours at the Blacksmith and Wainwright Shops. We had a lot of visitors come through the doors too. We were busy from start to finish. Over a hundred and twenty people took the tour.

 Part of the reason there were so many visiting the Blacksmith & Wainwright shops was because this weekend is the Nauvoo Grape Festival and the town is full of visitors for the parade, festival, and carnival. The most significant thing about the extra guests is that a lot of our visitors today were not members of our church. It is a lot of fun and a real pleasure to teach and testify to them about the history of the church here in Nauvoo.

This afternoon while we were serving in the Blacksmith Shop we had a surprise visit. This time it was an old friend from almost 20 years ago in the Alma 5^th Ward in Mesa Arizona. His name is Clifford Dahl and he was with his wife Katherine and their son Liam. They were here in Nauvoo last March during spring break and stumbled on to us quite by accident. However today, they asked at the Visitor’s Center where we would be serving today so they could drop by and say hello.

 Brother Dahl is a good man; back in 1990’s and 2000’s Cliff was Executive Secretary to three Bishop’s in a row. We had a wonderful time reminiscing about the old days in the Ward and the Stake. Today Cliff and his family live in Batesville Indiana which is about six hours from Nauvoo. What a surprise and what a pleasure to have them visit us again today.