January 27, 2013

Wow! Yuck! And all that jazz! It's Sunday here in Nauvoo, Illinois and we have the freezing rain and they canceled church and are not opening the sites today. Willie went out and said it's deceiving. The road looks clear but it's slick, very slick. Even the hand railing is slick.

January 25, 2013

Last night's performance

Inbox

x

nauvoo director <nauvoodirector@gmail.com> 2:12 PM (2 hours ago) to Richard, Yuri, Connie, Al, Karen, Russell, Gilliland, Chad, Jennifer, Floyd, Jack, Gregory, Sergio, Thomas, Michael, Orson, Shirl, Earl, Russel, Russell, me, Sims, William, Stephen Hello Joseph Cast! Last night was wonderful! You all sounded great and the chorus numbers just sparkled. We are all SO proud of Elder and Sister Germer....what a great addition to our vignettes. That was a strong and solid Debut!  Everyone all did such a great job of getting up to the stage so that the first lines of the chorus numbers could be heard clearly.  In Little Town...S/Johnson...one of the audience members commented about you laying your head on your husband's shoulder and how much it added to the "feeling" of that scene. They had no clue that you were having a coughing fit....WAY TO GO! You covered it SO well!! E/Jennings had a good strong performance, nice work...the Dr. has to keep that scene going! I think we had a wonderful week of performing after that long dreary week of being locked out of the Cultural Hall. We also had some good-sized audiences. Nice to meet the Allen's daughter and family too! Have a great day! Sister Poulsen

Brian Taylor's letter, January 20, 2013

Greetings--cold hands, but warm heart

Inbox

x

Brian L Taylor Jan 20 (4 days ago) to Aaron, Annette, Tracy, Preston, Brad, Reid, RANDALL.WOOLSEY, me, Toni Dear Missionaries,         Elder Jeremy sent word about his departure from the MTC to begin his labors in Naga Mission, Philippine Islands.  I'm sure that most of you who are now serving have gone through that feeling of being anxious to begin, but a bit apprehensive of what you will be experiencing.  In a few months he will be settled in and "anxiously engaged."  I hope all of you in the mission field will reflect very often on the great support team you have in your homes and wards and all over the Church.  And I repeat that even the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve remember you in their prayers--even their meeting in on Thursday mornings in the Temple.         Today I would like to share with you a story that was related by Elder David A. Bednar.  The story begins with a young father who had been active in the Church as a boy abut had chosen a different path during his teenage years.   After serving in the military, he married a lovely girl, settled down and began raising a family.         One day without any warning, their little four-year-old girl became critically ill and had to be hospitalized.  For the first time in years the father dropped to his knees and pleaded with the Lord to spare his little girl's life.  Still her condition worsened.  Soon this father sensed that he might lose his precious daughter, and his prayers changed.  He began asking that the Lord's will be done; shortly the little girl went into a coma.  Then the young couple prayed for the opportunity to hold their precious daughter in an embrace one more time while she was awake.         The daughter's eyes opened and she reached out her frail arms for that prayed-for final embrace.  And then she was gone.  This father recognized that their prayers had been answered.  A loving Father in Heaven had comforted their hearts.         You and I can imagine the rest of the story (although it was not given in print).  For parents to have come so far that they were ready for the Lord's will to be done just speaks volumes.  I feel comfortable in assuming that this father lost no time in making the stride to become temple-worthy.  Deepest love for our dear ones can change our loves.         It has been a few decades since I was in your position.  I still recall the deep feelings I had for members and non-members alike.  Oh, I wish I could know whether some of those faltering members and "undecided" prospectives had been fired by the Spirit to make the right decisions and avail themselves of the blessings of the temple.         Because of my bad fall the week before Thanksgiving, I have been unable to attend the temple.  Today my son Dave said he would be able to help me through a session this week at the new temple in Brigham City where our ward is having a session together.  You'll probably never know how deeply grateful I am for this opportunity again.  Oh, how blessed we are!!!         God bless you in this wonderful work.  You're in my thoughts and prayers.   Love, Grandpa Taylor

catch-up for January 1, 2013

Remember New Years Eve and write it.

Hi Dan Jones District members. Happy New Year! Just a little reminder about our January assignments:

1.  The following are our assignments for cleaning the Stake Center: 8:00 am

Date	District	District
January 05	Parley Pratt	Dan Jones
January 12	Dan Jones	Orson Pratt

Each Saturday morning two Districts will be assigned to clean the Stake Center.  The first District listed is the lead and the second is helping and learning to be the lead on the following Saturday.

2.  The following are our assignments for January:
Sunday, January 13:  Bless and Pass the Sacrament
Cleaning:  The Grove, Hwy 96 Kiosk and Old Nauvoo Cemetery

Week of	January 13
Cemetery	E/S Scott
The Grove	E/S Christensen/ E/S Call
Hwy 96 Kiosk	E/S Green

Please call if you have any questions or suggestions.  Thanks for all you do for the mission.  You are engaged in service to your Father In Heaven.  May your blessings be magnified and your memories be cherished.

Please let us now if you receive this email. Thank you!

Remember, use “the fleeting moments” as best you can.
E/S Scott

January 2, 2013

Jan. 2, 2013:
I can't help but think of the song about the fleeting moments this morning. This morning, the spirit told me to get up and look out. I got out of bed about 5:30 am and of course, went right to the windows to look out. The moon has been beautiful for several nights and it casts it's light across the snow so you can see pretty good outside. There again, right in our backyard, were "my" wonderful deer. They moved across the road from the north, along our driveway, to the tree to check out the bird feeder (they like the bird seed Elder Scott puts out to attract them and birds), to graze on the tender grass that isn't covered by snow, and then meander southeast to the spot where the four fences would meet if there wasn't some of it left out so the mowers can move from place to place to mow in the summer, and I'm sure they move on to the bluff to bed down for the day, grazing along the way. Some nights they stay for hours, even bedding down under the big pine tree out there in our backyard and across the fence in the Heber C Kimball Home's side of the block. Other nights, they just move through, on there way back to their thickets, I'm sure. This early morning, they just came through, only eating as they moved on. Now about the fleeting moments song. My mind thought, "presses on to our view and eternities here, presses on to our view and eternities here". If I wouldn't have looked out when I did, I would have missed them totally. How like our lives this is. Sometimes I get so bogged down by the busyness of my day that I totally miss out on the good things in life. The things that last, the things that matter, the sweet things, the best part of life. Thankfully, I don't always miss out. I listened to the spirit this morning and saw the best part of that fleeting moment. It told me to get up and look out and I did.
On Christmas morning, when I saw the buck move into our yard, my mind thought of the poem about Christmas and Santa Claus: The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave a luster of midday to objects below. I could change it to, When what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a beautiful, majestic   buck and on other days, seven beautiful deer. We see a herd of seven a lot, but this morning, I think I counted eight. Maybe I counted one of them twice?
Well, better go get at it. The busyness of the day calls.

December 29, 2012

About last night!

Inbox

x

Gretchen Poulsen <poulsen3@gmail.com> 12/29/12 (3 days ago) to Richard, Gail, Yuri, Connie, Al, Karen, Russ, Russell, Karen, Russell, Chad, Jennifer, Floyd, Jack, Judith, Greogory, Serfio, Thomas, Michael, Orson, Earl, me, Robert, William, Stephen Hello Joseph Cast! You gave a wonderful performance last night! We have had good-sized audiences the past two nights! Unfortunately that "dog-gone" cooling/heating unit ran almost the ENTIRE hour! It made it difficult to hear some of the lines in the vignettes. Just a reminder to ALWAYS project as much as possible. Peter and Abigail...you did a great job last night. The audiences particularly enjoyed Peter's chuckling on the line..."why don't you read it....to Ezra?" Nice work both of you on your lines and blocking. Relief Society went really well and I could see each and every Sister last night. Nice work! Willingly was really good and I appreciate you MEN acting like MEN and filling the gaps in the FIVE on each side....even if your name was not on the list. WAY TO GO! That's what makes this show run so well without a weekly rehearsal (like in the REAL world.) You ALL pitch-in and work together so well. THANK YOU!!!! On "Streets" we can do a little better with the KICKERS centering themselves. The past few performances it looks as if you are jammed too close to the pillar on the piano side. The first man on the curtain side will need to watch it and try to be only about 3 ft. from the curtain-side pillar....and everyone else stagger themselves. We may need to practice it once ...but let's see if you can fix it without an extra rehearsal. NICE WORK on the kicking.....It is pretty impressive to see all those ol' legs going so high up in the air. I can tell the audiences LOVE it! On POTTERY...you all do just fine...but remember as you stretch your hand out to the right....  don't have your hand in the face of the person next to you. Think about keeping your hands a little above the waist line.