Dad's Journal

Friday 15 August 2008

Replaced a few light bulbs and then went to a ceremony at the Old Catholic Cemetery, for Seymour Brunson. I had never heard of him but a lot of nice things were said at the dedication of the head stone. He was one of the Nauvoo Saints who did a lot and sacrificed a lot, for others, but apparently didn’t keep a journal and those who did, didn’t record anything about Seymour. The significant occurrence connected with his funeral was, Joseph Smith revealing the principle of Baptism for Dead, as he spoke at the funeral.

Sister Susan Easton Black attended the dedication of the monument and spoke to us for a few minutes about the details of the funeral. She told us, there were so many dying in 1840, it was decided to only have funerals on Thursday and Monday of each week, which would mean, many caskets in each funeral procession. Those days were chosen because Thursday is the traditional day Moses went up on Mt. Sinai and Monday is the day he came down. Included in the many being buried that day, was a young man, 9 years of age, who had not been baptized. When his mother heard the Prophet Joseph explain the principle of Baptism for the Dead she was excited, and immediately after the funeral, requested one of the nearby Elders to baptize her for her dead son. Another sister overheard and asked if she could watch. Together, they headed for the Mississippi River. The grieving mother, the Elder, and the interested sister went out into the water, the interested sister riding her horse because the water was cold. The baptism was accomplished, and later, the Prophet was asked if it would be acceptable. Brother Joseph said, it was done by the Priesthood, and there were two witnesses, the sister and her horse, so it would stand as the first baptism for the dead in this dispensation.

A lot of speculation could be raised about the importance of gender in ordinances and the agency of the spirits of animals, but Sister Black ended the story there.

Not much happened the rest of the day and we quit work at noon because of lack of work. I got a call about 4:00, from the carpenters. They had excavated for footings on a side hill and exposed conduit and sprinkler control wires. We will take care of that Monday.

Saturday 16 August 2008

I got a haircut this morning, then Carolin and I went to Keokuk to get the weeks supplies. I spent the afternoon deleting pictures off my hard drive. Elder McKissick had given me all his discs with Elder Lyons Nauvoo pictures on them. They contained, over 2100 pictures, and with the two DVD, 1 hours shows I loaded, my computer slowed way down. I took off a lot of flower pictures and other shots which had no meaning, beyond nice.

Our cast had a pot luck dinner this afternoon, just before Rendezvous. When we put on 4 shows a week with this group, they become like family, and it was nice to get together and talk.

One performance of Rendezvous tonight, because of the farewell social for the young people, but we still only had 60 people in the audience. The numbers are down in the Sites also. A sign of the pending winter season, when we go days without a tour, in some of the Sites.

The farewell social was a good activity. It gave everyone a chance to exchange addresses and E-mails, with the YPM.


Sunday 17 August 2008

Attendance was way down at Sacrament meeting this morning. Another indication of the tourist season ending. Tomorrow, 80 people will leave the mission. September will see 17 more leave, with 16 in October, and 13 in November. The Temple Missionaries leave in October but I don’t know how many.

Carolin and I are scheduled to serve in the Bakery today, but the smell, which closed the Site Saturday, is still there, so we get the day off.


Monday 18 August 2008

Mostly engineering today. The carpenters are putting a retaining wall around three sides of a transformer and some panels. They want to move the panels to the new retaining wall, but aren’t sure how it should look. Everyone over the age of 60 years, has an opinion, and expects an agreement from all concerned. I am amazed anything gets done here. When the new NRI building was constructed, a draftsman was hired to draw the plans. Changes started the day after construction began. Someone wanted a wall moved so their office would be bigger, another thought a door should be added and the stairs were in the wrong place. Walls were framed, conduit installed and wire pulled, and they still moved it. This project with the retaining wall is the same. We are going to talk it to death before anything is decided. I did get some sleeves cut and tapped, for the blockouts.

Tonight, we heard Susan Easton Black talk about the Savior and events leading up to his birth. She explained Jewish custom relating to betrothal and divorce, and told us about what “no room at the inn” might have meant. 1- It was the custom, for people who had room for visitors in their house, to hang a banner on their door, so those coming to the village would know where to stay. When Joseph and Mary got into town, all the banners were taken in. 2- The traditional meaning is that the establishments in the business of providing rooms were full. 3- In some areas, a stockade was provided for travelers, which gave them protection and a place for their animals. These stockades were usually along roads frequented by the Roman solders, who like to torment travelers and their animals. As darkness would descend, the gates on the stockade were closed, locked, and not opened until morning. If someone would knock, a person inside would call out, “there is no room in the inn”, and refuse to open the gate.


Tuesday 19 August 2008

A typical day. Replaced a switch at the Morley apartment, visited with Elder McKissick at the Blacksmith shop, checked the outside lights at the Seventy’s Hall, adjusted the time clock, checked the exhaust fan at the Family Living Center, went to Carthage to fix flag pole lights. The screw on one of the ground lights wouldn’t come out, so I sprayed it with WD-40 and left it until tomorrow.


Saturday 23 August 2008

This morning, in a preparation meeting, Elder Russell M. Nelson’s wife and Sherry Dew, spoke to us. Sister Nelson told us about her experiences leading up to and including her engagement to Elder Nelson. Sister Dew spoke about Prophets and how important they are. One of her quotes was from Elder Holland. “We live our lives as though we were always going to be here. We aren’t, we can’t and we won’t be.” She went on to explain how we can prepare for the life, which will go on forever, and not spend so much time in pursuits, which will end when we move on.

Carolin and I went to Burlington to shop and to get me a pair of boots, to go over my leather boots, to keep me out of the mud.

Rendezvous tonight, and we only had 2/3 of a house. There were two sister missionaries, waiting for the second show, and when they found out they were the only two, they said, “forget it, we aren’t going to have you put a show on just for us,” and they left.


Sunday 24 August 2008

Church attendance was down again today. We now pass all the sacrament from the front table, although we used 12 brethren to pass, it is still less than the 26-28 we had two weeks ago. The weather is cooling off and we have had a nice breeze for the last couple of days.

Carolin & I served in the Brigham Young home today. We had 4 tours with a total of 10 people in the 2 ½ hours we were there. We talked to a couple who were in the Pendleton School, they didn’t have anybody stop in. A sign of things to come.

We had our MTC group dinner this evening, at the Beazers home. They are a couple from southern Alberta, Canada. Sister Memmott was having trouble with her knee, so we gave her a blessing. These five couples are a fun group to be with.