Burns in Nauvoo: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I know, it's before Thanksgiving but we had snow Friday, we started decorating the historic sites for Christmas this week and it was really a lot of fun! We were able to finish five sites on Friday and will work on the rest during this week. It was really special to help with that and to imagine what Christmas must have been like for those who lived here during the 1840s. I took a few moments in John Taylor's home to feel the spirit that is there and to think about his family and the many sacrifices that they made by being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the early days of the church. I'm so grateful for their faithfulness and testimony that carried them through the hard times, as well as the good times.

Decorating the sites put me in the Christmas spirit and we decorated our place on Saturday. I usually don't decorate until the day after Thanksgiving, but this year is different. I'm totally enjoying the trees we have up. One is just ornaments that we have received/purchased since we have been here in Nauvoo. As I placed each ornament on the tree and remembered the missionaries that gave us that ornament, I was filled with a special feeling and remembrance of the love that I have for them. Most of them have returned home and I will forever love them! Many of the ornaments were sent to us from our children and grandchildren last year (homemade nutcracker ornaments) and we treasure each one of them - the kids and the ornaments! Family, friends and the Gospel is what life is all about!

A few weeks ago, a senior couple lost their son-in-law to Covid. A few days later, another couple lost their brother-in-law to complications from a car accident. This week, a friend of mine (a former Sunshine Generation student that has kept in touch with me) was killed in a car accident as she and her family were traveling to St. George for a rodeo. As I've thought of these losses, I've felt so blessed for the testimony and knowledge that I have that families can be together forever. Death is not the end! I still miss my parents everyday. There are so many times that I want to call them and tell them what's happening, get their opinion on something or just talk. I don't know how those who don't have the knowledge of eternal families get through the loss of a loved one. I remember, as a junior high school student, going to the funeral for a fellow student. It was held in a different religion from mine and I was seated behind her parents. I remember the Preacher saying that Amy is no more, she's now just dust, as he would hold up the urn holding her remains. Her parents would wail in sorrow and loss. I remember wanting to tell them that there is hope, that they can see Amy again, that she still lives!

I love this quote from Joseph Smith - "How consoling to the mourners when they are called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that, although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more, but they shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." It brings great peace to me to know that we will be together again with our loved ones! I'll be able to unite again with my parents and grandparents and meet all of my ancestors that walked these streets of Nauvoo. I look forward to meeting them and thanking them for all they did, so that I can have the gospel in my life today.

I am so grateful for my Savior, who through Him, all things are possible. I'm grateful to be serving here in Nauvoo. I'm grateful for you! You make a difference in my life!

Love and blessings to all!