Stake President Wrap Up

Who knew that when a person gets released from being the Stake President that an area historian would contact them and ask for you and your wife to do an oral history?  Certainly not us!  This wonderful woman, Sister Rosemary Palmer along with her husband are area historians.  The best part of their calling is that they live in Nauvoo kitty corner from the temple.  A beautiful home built to look like it fit in the Nauvoo era.  This oral history could easily have been done via the phone but they live in NAUVOO so we made the trip.

We left on a Thursday afternoon and stopped for the night in Poplar Grove to spend some time with Jack and Sharmon Ward.  We love those two people.  We met them while he served as an area seventy.  They have been called to serve as President of the Roseville, California Mission.  We asked some questions about their receiving this call.  They talked about a lot of things and concerns they hadn't spoken to anyone else about.  I guess we are far enough removed that they didn't have a problem voicing the things they are feeling.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening meal and another wonderful meal for breakfast with them.  It was just so great being with them again.  They are truly kindred spirits to us.  Our entire visit consisted of talking about the gospel.  We didn't worry about the things of the world and barely discussed anything like that.  Just a good-for-the-soul kind of visit.

We traveled to Nauvoo on Friday and stayed at "Nauvoo Neil's" home on the flats.  We took the Community of Christ tour.  I can imagine what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would do to those homes if they owned them.  Still, a nice tour.

We attended the temple in the evening.  It was the first time in months that I have gone through an endowment session as a patron.  I believe October was the last time.  As I sit through it, I image what I need to do as the follower.  I did help an elderly woman with dressing as much as I could.  It was a very nice evening and we went home and to bed early after finding out how the boy's basketball team fared.

The next morning was our traditional meal at Grandpa John's and then over to the Palmer's for the purpose of our trip.  We spent 3+ hours with them talking about the history of the church in our area as well as our time growing up and what our families were like.  We spoke of our important callings through the years.  By the time we were finished, we hadn't even begun talking about the stake president calling.  We agreed to finish the interview on Tuesday evening via phone due to our need to get on the way to Wausau for stake conference.

The time we spent at the Palmer's was very interesting spiritually.  Pat shed quite a few tears and I only a few.  It was basically us talking about our lives and adding our viewpoints or other details when each of us took our turn.  It was quite spiritual reliving those time and experiences.

On Tuesday we finished the history.  This was most exclusively about the calling as stake president. This time Pat did the bulk of the talking and I added a few details here and there.  It was much more spiritual for me this time.  I could barely speak without shedding a tear.  At the conclusion we were able to bear our testimonies.  It was a sacred experience for me/us.