This morning we had scheduled a session at the Nauvoo Temple. We had planned on having Courtney stay in the waiting room. Here she is all dressed and ready to go.... playing Angry Birds of course... while she waited for us to finish getting ready....
This ended up being one of those amazing life-changing cross-roads. We dropped her off and headed the temple and had an amazing session. (Really incredible.) When we returned to pick her up, she rushed over to us and told us that she had the most amazing experience ever. First, McKenna came in with her group to watch a movie and she got to go in with her and watch it! She was thrilled! Second, while she was looking at some of the paintings by my great-grandfather, a older woman approached her and started asking questions. She told Courtney that she didn't know anything about the church, and was curious. Courtney talked to her for awhile, even sharing her testimony and the story of the First Vision. She said it was like teaching the first discussion to someone! She thought it was hilarious when the lady asked her who "Brig-Ham" was....
Suddenly, the ladies grandson walked over and said, "Grandma, lets go! This is so boring!" And so they left. Courtney said she started to panic because she didn't have the ladies information or a Book of Mormon to give her. The missionaries over-heard her telling us this story and ran and got her one. They told her that this woman may have been to frightened to talk to one of them... someone with a badge... but that she had felt comfortable talking to her. They were so proud of her! They told her that she had planted a seed, and that this woman would probably seek out the Church again... or Heavenly Father would send the someone else to follow up. They ran and got her a Book of Mormon and some pictures and challenged her to find someone to give it to before we got home. She took this challenge very seriously, and even had us drive around Nauvoo looking for her just in case she hadn't left town yet. She carried the bag she put it in every where we went the rest of our vacation. More about that later....
When we left the visitors center to go back to our room and change, we offered a prayer, thanking our Father in Heaven for this experience and praying for an opportunity for her to give the Book of Mormon to someone who was ready and searching for the gospel. She also insisted that we return to the temple waiting area and thank the missionaries for not bending the rules. If they had, she would never have been able to have this experience. When we walked in, they looked up and saw us coming, and honestly looked a little nervous. Courtney walked up and told them thank you for not bending the rules for her and told them her story. They got teary-eyed and told her how proud of her they were. She told them that this was a good life lesson of why you should never "bend the rules" or "make an exception just this once." Because they followed the rules, good things happened. We couldn't have taught her this lesson in a more profound way.
One of our favorite things about this trip, were some of the people we met. This cute missionary is Sister Brooks from Canada. She was adorable! When we pulled up to this house... Lucy Mack Smith... she opened the door and came out to meet us, calling to us, "Welcome Home!" This was our final home to visit in Nauvoo. Our last stop of the day. She is one of our new favorite people ever! (Indeed) (This was one of her favorite words... very endearing!) She adored Courtney... and kept hugging her goodbye and told her she loved her. We have her email and plan on staying in touch.
We finished off our final evening with a good-old-fashioned firefly hunt. We got a jar from the Zions Mercantile and headed out...
We pick up Kenna in the morning... can't wait to see her, but this week has gone by so fast!!!!!
1 comment:
What an amazing experience for you all and for Courtney! A very special Courtney Bug!
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