Monday, June 30, 2008

"Heavenly Father is the best matchmaker of them all"

Quote from a visitor. I’m not thinking about making a match for myself, but I thought it was cute and quite profound.

LIGHTENING AND LIGHTENING BUGS….AGAIN!
Some of you more faithful readers may recognize this topic from last yr. The other day I had a cool mid-west experience though. We were coming home from a show and a crazy lightening storm happened. I think it rained for a second but mostly just warm wind and CRAZY lightening everywhere. Me and the other sisters I live with (we moved into the little “sidekick” house last transfer, not the main big one so there’s only 4 of us now) went out and watched it for like 20 min and had lots of fun playing games with the lightening (don’t worry, there were many things taller than us and I wasn’t wearing anything metallic.) Anyway, then when we were going to bed I was laying there awake after I said my prayers (this 8 hrs of sleep thing is a different world. I haven’t fallen asleep face-down on the floor or in my scriptures even once!) and I was still pretty wired from the lightening, so anyway…I was looking around and see tiny but very bright white light in the room. It would come and go and move around the top of the windowsill. All very strange. A list of things it could be. Headlights from far away, a white laser pointer, my mind…..I couldn’t tell. The lightening was still going like crazy outside so somewhere in the back of my mind (I wasn’t going to tell anyone this but I let it slip to my comp) I thought maybe it was a bit of lightening that had gotten stuck in the room in the drapes. I know, it doesn’t make ANY sense. I know. And it wasn’t my FIRST guess, just an option. Eventually I got brave enough to get up and try to get close to the light to see what it was and it came at me then flew around the room, then I solved the mystery. It was so cool though to have lightening outside and this little traveling light inside. Anyway, by the time my comp finished prayers I told her everything that happened (the bug was of course gone) and I just hurredly told her all the things I was guessing it was. A little while later after some silence she goes, (in her Aussie accent), “A piece of lightening got stuck, ay?”

DEAF COUPLE!!!
We had a deaf couple named Eric and Debbie visit and I got to spend a couple hours with them in the VC then our at the carriage ride. They’re newly married and pregnant. She’s just started coming back to church (she actually served a mission in the south) and he’s investigating. He’s planning on getting baptized but has some issues. It was way cool to get to spend so much time with them. I really prayed for the Lord to help me understand. That’s usually the problem—I can sign fine and even interpret but when they sign back my mind goes blank. But He totally helped me and I got mostly everything they said, even if it took a couple times. I wish I was skilled enough to have more in-depth conversations so I could really do missionary work in the way that I would in English but I guess all I can do is study and prepare my hardest and the Lord will make my skills equal to what He needs me for at the time. He knows what I am capable of and if I can’t help them in the way that they need, He will put them in the place of whoever can.

MARTRYDOM COMMEMORATION
We ended up getting to go to 2 programs—one that we do with the Community of Christ down at the Smith Family Cemetary (really good and very interesting to see how their church is so very different with some similar threads) and one at the jail. After the jail one I got to take a tour group through and then later all the sisters went into the martyrdom room as we closed and sang “Praise to the Man” and just had time to reflect. I know that Joseph Smith was not only an unbelievably dedicated servant of the Lord but indeed the first prophet in these latter-days. I think of not only the things that he himself suffered but the things he watched those around him to suffer, and I know that he only had the strength to bear those things because he had the assurance that it was the Lord asking him to go through it. I know that all of the things that he and the early saints suffered have been consecrated to our gain in profound, immeasurable ways.

SUNDAY SOCIABLE
So this year all the young sister missionaries did a musical fireside thing. We did one last yr too. It’s always cool because there’s no better audience than 200 beaming grandparents. We could seriously get up there and do anything and they’d be so proud. :) But plus I love it because the Spirit in the room and the love just radiates because the love that each of the missionaries and visitors in attendance carries. Their testimonies and love of the Savior radiate. The theme was Becoming One in Christ and at the end they did a video with clips of missionaries from all different parts of Nauvoo (performing missionaries, temple, Nauvoo Restoration, gardening, sewing room, teamsters, band, etc.) sharing their feelings about the gospel. Really just reminded me that as we all try to align our will with the Father’s, we become one in Him. We do this by making His highest priorities become our highest priorities and we learn in the scruiptures that His #1 priority, or rather His work and His glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” All of our most sincere, concentrated efforts in that area, whether that’s through parenthood, missionary work, being a good friend or good visiting teacher, will bring us closer to God because we are making our personal missions in life become the same as His.

After the sociable Sis Ludwig had us all over for an impromptu ice cream party. Gotta love it. :)

Ok, love you all!

Monday, June 23, 2008

"There are days when it's easy and days when it's hard, but if you are doing God's work, then there are no bad days."

This quote compliments of Amanda Lilly Menghini who found it in a book. Good find! Good quote. :)

FLOOD UPDATE
So really don’t ask me for an update cause we really haven’t been able to see how bad it is. Everything still seems fine here in Nauvoo but apparently there’s been tons of damage done in some of the surrounding areas. But the sandbagging has definitely helped. The coolest thing was that since the flood’s so severe, we got more chances to help sandbag. Tues we went back to the tiny town of Niota (by tiny I mean abt. 60 ppl) and then Wed they took all the young sisters off the schedules again, did serious rearranging and sent us all down to Quincy (abt 45 min away) for a full day of sandbagging. There we met up with about 70 missionaries from the Peoria mission and about 30 from St. Louis. Wow. It was quite the force. About 130 missionaries total. We all got those yellow shirts that the Church passes out now for natural disasters and on the back they say “Mormon Helping Hands” so there was no mistaking what group we were with—just in case people missed seeing the black badges. :) It really was amazing how many of us were able to go and we worked with the National Guard, the community members, and the convicts (they kept to themselves…) So yeah, it was way awesome.

MY NEW BEST FRIEND
So while we were sandbagging in Quincy I saw this woman there with her 3 little kids, ages 10, 7, and 5. They, obviously, weren’t the MOST skilled sandbaggers, the little 5-yr old taking fistfuls of sand to dump in buckets, but they were out there working as a fam. It was a little strange to have all those kids out there and even stranger cause they weren’t LDS. But I started talking to her and she’s totally my hero! This woman lives in Chicago (at least a 4-hr drive) and saw on the news that they needed help sandbagging on the Mississippi. She loaded her kids in the car (she thinks it’s vital that they’re personally involved with service as often as possible and takes them to soup kitchens at least once a month, among many other things), drove out to Quincy, rented a hotel room and are planning on staying until the river crests. Wow. She was so stinkin cool. We talked for a long time. She told me about how she never thought she wanted to have a family because she loved her career traveling as a filmmaker. However, as soon as she had her first daughter she dropped everything and now her family is the total center of her life. She was way excited to bring her kids to Nauvoo when I told her about it and even more excited when I told her about the Book of Mormon and how it’s another record testifying of Christ. I told her of all the things my family could’ve taught me, what I valued most were the teachings of Jesus Christ found in the Book of Mormon. She’d heard of the book before, but like most people, didn’t really understand what it was. It was so cool to talk to her. She said, “I believe you can always add to the truth you have” and she’s dead on. I’m so excited for her to get to read the Book of Mormon and see the changes in her life and her family’s.

Got 2 new sisters this week. Woohoo! Sis. Rancie and I moved into our little house down on the flats with 1 other companionship. It’s right there in the middle of everything.

Friday is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith so we'll be down in Carthage for that.

Keep up all the good work and remember that Heavenly Father loves you each enough to provide miracles in your lives. :)

Love,
Sis Cartwright

Monday, June 16, 2008

“The Lamanites were mean to the Nephites, but they loved them anyway.”

Quote from little 5-yr old visitor. He and his little bro were totally the highlights of my day! I’d just finished explaining to him a quote from John Taylor telling the Church members “we will suffer wrong rather than do wrong.” I was trying to explain what that meant to him and then he piped up with that insightful comment, so I guess he definitely understood the lesson. I seriously almost cried. It was so sweet.

WE’RE ALL STILL AFLOAT
If any of you pay more attention to the news than I ever did, you may know there’s some flooding around here. In fact, you probably know more about it than I do. Apparently it’s pretty bad. Here’s what I know…up the river in Cedar Rapids and stuff it’s ridiculous flooding. Here all the river towns are sandbagging. The river is WAY up and should crest by mid-week (I’m learning a little about how rivers and floods work, you see.) We actually got a chance to go to Niota (a teeny, tiny town about 15 miles away) and sandbag for a couple hours. Most of the missionaries have made time to go out there, including the BYU performers who were here for a couple weeks, and even some visitors. It was really good to spend time outside doing some manual labor and mostly really good to help out in the community and get to know some people.

Nauvoo’s safe for now because apparently it’s a slightly higher elevation. The only thing in danger right now are the Community of Christ sites like the Nauvoo House but the Church has been over there a ton helping and things are ok for now. They’re even still open for tours. There was a storm in Carthage and some damage was done but it was fairly minimal and they’re business as usual today. The weather itself is actually quite pleasant. We even got sunburned out sandbagging. So things are fine. I’m praying all the people in the towns are ok but as far as the flooding, it seems like it’s a really good chance to serve!

TRANSFER NEWS
Not much news. Sis Rancie and I are staying together. We’re moving to the other littler house in Nauvoo. Our p-day will still be Monday. We may stay together for a long time because President wants us together to be working on the pageant. So that means she’s my second-longest comp so far! In light of that, I thought it appropriate to tell a little more about her.

She’s from Melbourne, Australia, which you already knew. This means I get to translate for her when people can’t tell what she’s saying. I also get to learn cool phrases like, “no, I can’t be bothered” for “I don’t feel like it.” She’s a total powerhouse and loves to work. We have tons of fun together. She’s 5’ 1” so we get to share lots of clothes but she’s also skinny as a rail so, you know how that goes… She told me the other day that I’m the only person she’s ever met who’s worse in the kitchen than she is—so that gives you an idea of our combined homemaking skills. Last night she suggested that with our p-day we spend some time baking. I looked at her like it was the dumbest thing she’s ever said and couldn’t figure out why she was so excited…until we realized the language barrier had struck again and she really was suggesting we lay out in the sun. Ha! She has 5 siblings and they’re all around her age. In fact, two of her sisters were on their missions at the same time as her. Cool, huh? She came out the transfer right after me so we’re both going home in December. She served her outbound assignment in the Sacramento Mission and she’s, of course, filling my mind with grand plans to go play in Australia. We have almost identical “deciding to go on missions” stories (meaning several years of prayers and indecisions). She’s a champ!

BRING THE WORLD HIS TRUTH
This summer we’re able to spend a little more time getting to know the YPMs (the performing missionaries who come out for 4 months.) they’re total champs. The other day one of them opened their mission call (they’re church service missionaries who serve at ages 18 and up so some of them get their full-time mission calls out here if they haven’t already served.) Anyway, one of them opened his call the other day. We do it in the 70’s Hall cause that’s the building they used here to train the missionaries back in the day before they went out. It’s just such an amazing spirit as mission calls are opened. This was particularly powerful though because the entire room was full of missionaries. There wasn’t a single person in there without a badge on. He got called to a Brazil mission (one that he actually totally had predicted, cool). The coolest though was being in the room with all them and singing Called to Serve and then I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go. It was cool to be able to look around and see 50 other kids or amazing adults who’d decided to spend so much of their time serving the Lord. The last verse the kid sang it as a solo (at first I was all nervous for him before I remembered that’s what he does all day. Ha!) and it just really hit me that it’s a matter of personal dedication between you and the Lord. That’s what all missionary work is—a sincere willingness to do what He’s asked. So if you get a chance, I recommend reading through that last verse and really likening it to yourself and then thinking about that throughout the day in matters of obedience…asking ourselves “how willing am I to do the Lord’s work?”

Thanks for all of you and your examples. I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such solid family members and friends. Love you guys!

Love, Sis C

Thursday, June 12, 2008

"I feel Amish..."

Quote from Sis. Rancie as we were in the Women's Garden pulling up wild onions next to someone who was laying bricks and someone else trimming trees and everyone who was waving happily to each other. Ahh, yes.

SIGHTINGS
i got to see a senior couple that i served closely with in GA. they came through nauvoo adn it was so good to see them. i got to show them how to make shoes with wooden pegs. yes, i'm becoming so self-sufficient!

i also saw devan w quackenbush adn his wife amy (blair's cous) for those who that concerns. it was way good to see them adn to talk about their missionary work with their possibly mofia-invovled friend. :)

i also saw an elder from GA. incidentally, every time i saw him i was gardening, on a mandatory temple assignment, out to eat, or some other very non-proseylting type activity. i think he's pretty well convinced i'm not really serving a mission. or maybe he's just jealous...

THOUGHT
So this was some insight from Elder Burt when he came to visit (I love that I get to be uplifted by the visitors all day...). He was telling me he was tihnking about the scripture that said "many are called, but few are chosen..." and saying that he used to think that it was kind of an exclusive thing where God didn't choose us. He then realized that the really choosing happens with all. "Many are called..." meaning the gospel is offered to many or many are born into it. "...but few are chosen" really refers to the individual choice we each have whether to cling onto the truths we have or accept them when they're offered to us. One of Satan's biggest weapons, as we know, is complancy--feeling like we're doing fine and that just being a good person is enough. We have the option to CHOOSE Christ every time we prioritize our day, every time we debate doing something that we know we've been taught not to do, or doing something that will require extra faith on our part. Another visitor said that, along those same lines, we are "rejecting" Christ in those little ways when we deliberately choose things that drive us further away from Him.

Anyway, I loved their insights.

I loved talking to you, fam. And Happy Mother's Day to all my psuedo-mothers out there! Love you!
-- Sis C

Monday, June 9, 2008

“The Worst Man in Hancock County”

Quote from a story told at a fireside thing. Details later.

So everything here is great!

ADVENTURES TODAY
We’re off with a senior couple to some Mennonite town or something. I don’t really know. But apparently there’s some cool, old-school little villages around here (not like I don’t live in one or anything…) so we’re gonna go check it out today.

DEAF VISITOR AT LAST!
So we had our first deaf visitor. Her name’s Jenny and she’s 17. we got to interpret for her at all the shows. Her family was very appreciative because they’ve raised her oral (lip-reading and speaking) and she’s just starting to get into the ASL scene. Her fam’s trying to pick it up too but they still don’t know tons. So it was really good. She was way cute. She was here for a few days so we got to bond with her a bit. It’s not our first deaf person period though cause there’s a local recent convert, Chad, from Quincy. He comes in at least once a week. We’re really the only people he knows (other than his regular interpreter) who know ASL. He took me on a tour of the VC the other day. It was hysterical. He was teaching me all about Nauvoo. And actually, I learned some new facts. Helps to have the locals around. :)

GRANTSVILLE REUNIONS
So for those of you who don’t know, there’s a little town in Utah near Tooele that my ancestors helped settle and as consequence, we’re related to nearly everyone there. I’ve run into quite a few people now from that tiny town and we always seem to make connections pretty easily. This last one was weird though. Do you remember last summer the story about the old man who was very hard-of-hearing so I was shouting my testimony at him? Good times. Well he was from Grantsville. He was a total character. He was a stubborn old man who wouldn’t let the missionaries come and work with him even though he knows full well that the gospel’s true. He said if I showed up, he’d let me in, but other than that he’d run the missionaries from his house. He’s just making excuses. So anyway, I’m talking to my friends that were here, the Wickhams, and not only do they know him, but she cuts his hair and just happened to, at that moment, be wearing a necklace he and his wife gave her. What the? We took the random connection as a sign that she needs to call him and hassle him for me. Plus, they happened to be descendants from the same ancestors as some other G-ville visitors from a couple weeks ago who told me about MY ancestor there. Anyway….

HANGING WITH THE LOCALS
So this week we volunteered at the town library. It was so trippy. I could just sit back at different times and observe all the small-town goings-on and pretend I was a part of it. Everyone who came into the library the librarian either knew, or it was a stray visitor who stumbled in. Us Westerners really do stick out like a sore thumb here. I could only notice once I was on the other side of it. We were helping with craft time and one of the girls who came in comes into the library at least once a week (reads books dozens at a time like KT) with her g-ma when they go for a Girls Day Out. She comes in from a town even smaller than Nauvoo and comes “into town” to shop and go out to eat. Keep in mind there’s probably 15 functioning businesses in Nauvoo. Even fewer that an 11 yr-old would be interested in. It was fascinating to us. The librarian was this sweet lady from Germany and we talked to her for a long time about Nauvoo and different things about the town. It really made me realize how much of an impact that we as visitors and missionaries have here. This is their precious little town and we have such a powerful effect for better or for worse here. I think the LDS tend to have a feeling of ownership or entitlement here because Nauvoo is a place we’ve heard about our whole lives. However, for the people here, they remember when it was even quieter than it is now and it’s sacred to them. Their little town is at threat of dying away because of the absence of job industry out here but it’s such a precious place. We need to do all we can to work together with them.

GENEOLOGICAL COOLNESS
Two stories:This random guy came in and introduced himself to me. He’s not a member of the Church but he’s way into fam history. He has lots of it in this area and had ancestors who were persecutors of the church and also ancestors who went and settled Provo, UT. We were talking about the Church and he was saying how he was open-minded about it. I asked him how he thinks we know when something’s true and he says, “No one can tell you. You just feel it here and here” and points at his mind and heart. I smiled real big and told him that was exactly right. (I love it when people who know nothing about Church doctrine quote scripture without knowing it!) He said he got a copy of the Book of Mormon when visiting here at age 8 but he’s never read it. I gave him a chapter to read and he said he definitely would. I read him Moroni’s promise and he thought it was “very powerful.” I told him that’s the Spirit already starting to affirm what’s right. It was awesome.

Another one was the BYU Folk Dancers here this week gave a little fireside. One of them talked about how his g-ma was a convert to the Church and when she did her fam history discovered that her g,g, gpa was labeled “the worst man in Hancock County.” He was one of the total ring-leaders for the mobs. He took part in any significant mob activity here, including the burning of the temple. The next guy, one of his best friends, who got up to talk was a descendant of John Taylor (an apostle in Nauvoo who was with Joseph Smith during the martyrdom and later became the prophet after Brigham Young). They talked about how this was like the closing of a book and a way of making things right. They talked about how they’d like to think that on the other side of the veil that their ancestors are pleased to see that they’re friends. The first kid’s g-ma had had a moral dilemma about doing temple work for the mob guy and presented her problem to Joseph F. Smith and was told very emphatically “you do that work and let God be the judge.” I love that. I love to know that the Atonement is so comprehensive that we don’t understand. The mercy of God is so powerful. I also know that having the truth while we’re here on the earth is so powerful and it’s worth every effort to make sure we find and retain it throughout our lives.

Love you all. Talk to you later!
--Sis C

Monday, June 2, 2008

"The pen is better than any mind."

Quote compliments of Sis. Rancie. I'm pretty sure she was meaning to say something more to the effect that "the dullest pencil is better than the sharpest mind." ..an oft-said quote. Perhaps it would've been better remembered if she'd written it down...

NEW RUNNING BUDDY
So this was cool—we were greeting at one of the shows and I saw a woman sitting alone (unusual for Nauvoo. People generally come in packs.) so I was visiting with her and she was a local (more unusual) who was just out for a walk, heard a show going on, and decided to come see what it was. For someone who’s LDS this wouldn’t be that strange but in Nauvoo, there’s not a lot of “fence-sitters” when it comes to the Church. People are either members of the Church or they’re definitely not interested in spending any time around hoards of missionaries. So I was intrigued. I thought even that maybe she’d just moved in, but no, she’s been here for years. So we got talking. She knows a fair amount about the Church and has LDS friends. She has a copy of the Book of Mormon and has read some. She kept saying how she sees what the draw is to the Church because of its focus on families and the members’ dedication to their beliefs. Her family is such a priority to her and they sound amazing. The more we talked, the more confused I was. She sounded so open yet obviously had some setbacks from being ready to learn more. What I gathered from our conversation was that it was probably the social/family pressures that are holding her back. There are still plenty of misconceptions about the Church in this area. It was neat though to hear that her LDS friends have been doing their best to break down those walls and to invite them to things. The best part was that while we were talking we found out she’s a runner and knows about some trail runs in the area. Woohoo! So the next morning we met up and went for a run around a mini lake that I’d never been able to find on my own. It was really cool. She was so stinkin sweet. Hopefully we’ll be able to do lots more with her. She even talked about doing a yogo/weights class in the mornings for the sisters. I love her and I love getting to know the locals. :)

AUSTRALIAN MIRACLES
So this was cool…Sis. Rancie and I during comp study were going over possible scenarios in teaching/tours situations, trying to practice resolving concerns that people have. We ended up, though we were talking about hypothetical situations, talking more about her own friends that she used to room with that she’d never gotten to share the gospel with in the way that she wanted. I told her that if this person was still popping up in her mind, that it was the Spirit and that she needed to get in touch with her. This was virtually impossible because she didn’t have any of her contact info other than a description of how to get to her house. But I committed her to sending the missionaries over there to meet her and Sis. Rancie, being a woman of GREAT faith, said that she’d do it. So…THE LORD ALWAYS PROVIDES A WAY. Less than a week later we met a visitor who was soon to go into the mission field to one of the several missions in Australia. Just so happened to be the mission that Sis. Rancie’s friend lived in. She didn’t think about it right away—was just chatting with him about the area. Then after she finished it popped strongly (good description, huh?) into her head to tell him about her friend. She left him with all the info she had about how to get a hold of her friend. Something so simple but as we looked back at the whole situation we could see so many different aspects of it where the Lord had His hand in the whole process. Way cool. I’m excited to see what will happen.

MORE FRIENDS!
So I got a nice surprise in the Wilford Woodruff home. Some visitors pulled up and we can see out onto the street from the 2nd story study area we have so we can see the visitors as they come. I saw many kids piling out of a van and a boy who I recognized vaguely. As all the dots were connecting in my head I realized it was Stephanie Chidester’s husband…which meant that those were Stephanie’s children…and that she was here too! :) It was really fun to see her and so, so fun to see her kids. She has 4 stinkin adorable boys. A couple were old enough that they were like real people. It was crazy! They’re such a cute little family and such a good example of putting the Lord and His gospel first in your lives. They just finished med school with a family of 6. No small feat! It was great to see them. :)

FUNNY EPIPHANY
So a few weeks ago, in that same historic house, I was sitting looking out the window and being very pensive about things. I was pondering on why people have such strong misconceptions about the Church and how so many people think that Mormons are so weird. I was thinking to myself, “why would they think that. We’re so normal.” Then suddenly I looked down at myself in this pioneer dress, perched in an upper room of a really old house in rural Nauvoo waiting for people to come so I could talk to them and I just started laughing out loud. Nothing is normal about what I was doing.

But alongside that, I know that the message we share is even less normal. Even though it’s as old as the earth (old really) it’s so powerful and unusual to proclaim that the heavens are still open, that the Lord speaks today to us individually as well as through a prophet of God. I know that’s true and that His restored church is one the earth again today and that it’s The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m so grateful to be able to spend all of my time trying to tell people about cause, well, it’s kind of a big deal. :)

Love you all!
-Sis Cartwright