Friday, July 22, 2016 – Rain, Cleaning, Trimming Limbs, Fayetteville GA Youth Conf., Letters of Joseph & Emma, King Follett Discourse

Wow, what a storm overnight. We had 1.62 inches of rain between 3 and 8:00AM. Sis. Johnson & I had a lot of cleanup to do. We had to blow the sidewalks while it was still raining because we had to be done before the tour buses arrived. And there were five tour buses in the parking lot by 9:30 this morning. 

One of the tour groups were from Fayetteville, GA. Their youth conference is called “Nauvoo Trek 2016.” After their first group finished their tour of the Carthage Jail, I enjoyed listening to them sing “Praise to the Man” as they held a devotional and sang hymns next to the jail. They were a good group of youth & leaders.

This afternoon we went into Nauvoo to watch two vignettes. In both, Dallyn Bayles played the part of Joseph Smith. I can’t say enough about what a good job Dallyn Bayles does portraying the Prophet Joseph Smith; he even has the facial profile that looks like Joseph’s. In both vignettes I had to remind myself several times that I was watching an actor and not the real Prophet Joseph Smith, Dallyn Bayles was that good.

The first vignette was called “Letters from Joseph to Emma.”It was a touching portrayal of the letters Joseph and Emma wrote to each other starting while Joseph was in Liberty Jail in Missouri and ending while he was in Carthage Jail just before his martyrdom.  Dallyn Bayles and his wife, Rachel, played Joseph and Emma and they each did a marvelous job showing the love and devotion each of them had for the other. Joseph and Emma were truly each other’s best friends.

 

The second vignette we saw was titled, “King Follett Discourse” and was acted out in “The Nauvoo Grove” in surroundings that were not unlike the very grove Joseph preached this very powerful sermon.  In April of 1844 many of the saints that lived in outlying areas had come to Nauvoo for protection against the mobs so the number of people that attended and witnessed the “King Follett Discourse” were almost twenty thousand!

History records that on that day April 7, 1844, there was a large storm to the west of the city and Joseph asked all present to pray that the storm would be abated and also to pray that he, Joseph, would have the strength of voice and stamina so that all could hear him. The prayers of the saints were answered, the storm split in two and went around Nauvoo and Joseph Smith spoke for two hours to the large gathering and all heard his voice.

The Prophet spoke about so many things that I don’t have time or space to mention them all here but a few of the subjects that standout in my mind were: the nature of God and man’s relationship to his Father in Heaven. He also spoke about the nature of the eternal family and what becomes of little children who die before they reach the age of accountability. The Prophet spoke with the power of the Holy Spirit as he received revelation. These concepts were completely new to the saints of Nauvoo and to all Christianity for that matter. Today we take them for granted.

There are other vignettes that Sis. Johnson and I have not seen yet. We hope to see them all. So far everything we’ve seen has been excellent.  I would highly recommend anyone planning to visit Nauvoo, to do it during the weeks that the Pageants are in town because that is the only time these vignettes are acted out.