Day Three in Palmyra

This morning we began our work. (It is difficult to call it work! It isn’t play, but it is absolute delight.) Our first assignment was to patrol the path deepest into the Sacred Grove. We just walked around and were supposed to help anyone who needs help and keep people from going off the path or doing things to destroy the Grove like picking the wildflowers or carving names on trees. It was very easy this morning because no one went that far into the Grove so we had another morning of enjoying the solitude and reverence. I’ve never been in a place that feels as much like a temple as the Sacred Grove. I wish everyone could bring their children here and let them feel the place. It would help our children understand why we want them to be temple worthy so that they can go to and be renewed in a place like this.

Our second station was counting visitors as they entered the log home where Joseph Smith was living at the time of the first vision in 1820 and where he was sleeping Sept. 21st, 1823, when Moroni awakened him to tell him what the Lord wanted him to do with his life. Six boys sleeping in that tiny room and Joseph visiting with Moroni all night long. You never know what the person next to you is experiencing! And such an amazing message. A message that change the course of my ancestors lives and allowed me a life that includes Jesus Christ. I am so grateful.

Our third station was the entrance to the visitors center. So many wonderful people and a special surprise--one of my BYU students from many years ago came through with his four children! FOUR! How could that have happened?

At 2:00 our shift ended and we went to Canandaigua to a little crepe shop for lunch. The entire Main Street of Canandaigua looks like it did in the early 1900s. Such a delight to step back in time while using my IPhone and enjoying amenities such as air conditioning. After lunch we visited a small specialty store that sells flavored vinegars and oils. I tasted peach balsamic vinegar and blueberry balsamic vinegar and you won’t believe this one—chocolate balsamic vinegar. Such a taste treat. I want to make salad dressing out of the chocolate! I wanted to buy some but I’d have to drag them to Ireland so I’ll wait until I get home and then order some. If you want to check them out (It’s worth it!) they can be found at www.folivers.com. I just wish I could give you a taste!
After F. Olivers we rode out to Bristol to a pottery shop. We got there a little late and the potter was just closing up shop so we could watch him at work, but I bought a beautiful bowl inlaid with leaves that I’ll send home with some clothes before we leave for Ireland. (It won’t be as difficult to ship the bowl as it would be to ship liquid vinegar!)
Every place I go I wonder if Joseph walked here. I know he was on the Hill Cumorah and all around the Grove. But did he also travel the path to Canandaigua? Did he go to Seneca Falls or Macedon? He was here and now I am here and it makes me think of the miracle of it all constantly. So amazing!

We’re going to the dress rehearsal of the pageant tonight! Wish you were all here with me!

The First Two Days

Monday night we boarded the midnight special (aka the red-eye special) and arrived at JFK airport at 6:00 in the morning tired, but excited. We rented a car and drove to Palmyra, NY. According to our Google map it should have taken us 5 and ½ hours but a left turn that should have been a right turn made that a seven hour journey. We arrived at our hotel tired and hot—it seems New York is experiencing a heat wave and we have been inundated.

We unpacked, and took a ride to get our bearing then ate dinner at The Depot, a restaurant situated in a Railroad depot built in 1911. The walls were covered with memorabilia and being in the room made you feel like you’d been transported in time back to the days of railroad travel. The surprise was that the food was wonderful. I had eggplant over penne pasta that was fantastic and for dessert we share a piece of crème Brule cheesecake that was absolutely heavenly. I usually don’t eat sugar or dessert, but I had to try a few bites of that cheesecake and I was glad I did.

This morning we went to the Sacred Grove first things. We took the tour and then walked around the grove and finally sat in a secluded spot where we spent the next few hours. Carl took pictures and I read the Joseph Smith History from the Pearl of Great Price. To read those words in the place they happened, written in first person as if Joseph were there speaking to me cased my hair to stand on end in delight. Electricity surged through me, and I felt as much as read the words.

Finally it was time for our orientation meeting and we drove down the street to the Palmyra stake center where Pres. Jack Christenson, and President Lakin, the director of the historical sites, spoke to a chapel full of couples like us volunteering to help out during pageant. The spirit was so strong and the feelings so heavenly. Someone quoted President Hinckley who said that next to Palestine, this is the most sacred place on earth. I believe it. You don’t have to be told that. You can feel it. We sang “Praise to the Man” as the closing hymn and again the electricity surged through me. It was here that Joseph “communed with Jehovah.” I know that! And my life is blessed so very much because of that visit.

Tonight we went to the Smith farm and received more training and tomorrow morning we begin our two weeks missionary service.

(It is so late and I am so tired, I hope any of this even makes sense, but I wanted to share with you what we are experiencing. It is amazing!)

Soaring on the Wings of Truth

The last few days I’ve heard a lot about patriotism, freedom, and the wonderful people who have made liberty possible. I say, “Amen!” to all of that. But before we get too far past the Independence Day celebrating I want to celebrate a different kind of freedom. I am free when I live in Truth. That is the true freedom in my life. When I live in Truth I release the chains of the past and open the door for possibilities in the future.

As the Savior said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). To be free means to be free from the bondage of the natural man. It means you are free from the unnecessary pain of anger and hurt, free to obtain peace, joy and happiness. And obtaining that freedom comes when we choose to avoid the Pit of Illusion and Live in Truth.

I am a child of God and as such do not need to be chained to the bondage of Illusion. Instead I write the story of my life in terms of faith, hope, and love. I am not confined to telestial realities because I know about celestial truth. No longer do I accept a limited story of my life. Instead, I stand in the fullness of my divine nature. I know that in Truth I am absolutely and unconditionally free. As the Savior went on to say in the book of John, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36.

Governmental liberty is a great blessing, but to be free from internal bondage is an even greater blessing.

Celebrating the Sabbath

The Sabbath and Independence Day! 

Have a great time contemplating 

the relationship between the two.

The Preacher Says to Rejoice

We’ve been talking about how rejoicing and being happy is a commandment and this morning I found an interesting verse about that. In Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 (Ecclesiastes means “preacher”) it says, “I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”

So the advice from the Preacher is that there is no good except to rejoice and to do good, and that we should enjoy the fruits of our labors. The ability to enjoy is one of the gifts God has given us! I like that, and it is a great reminder as we go into this Fourth of July weekend. God wants us to celebrate and to rejoice and enjoy.

So while I’m watching fireworks and enjoying the holiday besides rejoicing over our freedom and our country, I’m going to rejoice in a God who wants me to be happy.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Happy July!

I read an affirmation on the Internet this morning that I liked, especially since I am about to have a new experience. It said, “I step confidently into each new experience, expecting only good.” Having been born the world’s biggest pessimist and then cultivating that negative way of life for years, I struggle to change decade old habits. I know I should expect only good, but when you’ve traveled life seeing only the bad and have so often encountered failure and the “not so good,” it is hard to change.

However, I know I should. All I’ve learned about Living in Truth tells me that there is always some good even in what appears at first to be disappointment or failure. And I am determined to learn to see that good and to expect that good. I’m working hard at it and am finding this is another area in which the Truth Tools are valuable.

So I am flying out for New York and then Ireland with expectations of good things ahead. I’ll keep you informed as to how I’m doing, and what good things I’m finding. July is going to be a good month!

Dead Computer

My laptop died this morning. I am going to miss her. We’ve grown rather attached over the past few years so that I feel rather like I’ve lost an arm. (A writer without a laptop is like a flower without water!) The worst part is that the timing of her demise is atrocious. We are leaving on Monday to spend two weeks at the Hill Cumorah Pageant as volunteers to supplement the missionary force. They usually get about 200 visitors a day, but during Pageant they get about 2,000 so they need a few extra missionaries for two weeks. After the Pageant we are flying to Ireland to spend two weeks attempting to find remnants of Mr. J’s mission life still flourishing. I am excited about the trip, but at this point there is nothing I can do about replacing my laptop before the trip. (Don't worry, a few years ago this would have caused me a lot of unnecessary pain in the form of devastation, but I'm using my Truth Tools and staying in Truth.) The Truth is the computer is dead. That hurts, but vexing about it would only cause me pain. I’ll just wait until I get home and hope there is something left over for a new computer. If there isn't, "Come what may, and love it."

So, I’ll try to use Mr. J’s computer for daily updates and to take you along with me to New York and Ireland, but things may be sporadic. I think we have wireless Internet at all of the places we are staying and Mr. J is very generous to let me use his computer, but if I miss a few day’s posts, you’ll know why.