May 6th - 12th

Another week has passed, spring is in full swing here in Nebraska. People are coming for tours and numbers are increasing. This week was full of things to do. Spring flowers are coming out of the flower beds and they are planting the summer flowers here at the the Mormon Trail Center and Kanesville Tabernacle.

 

 

This past Saturday was Florence Days, a local celebration that has a parade and other events. All of the Sisters at the Trail Center walked in Parade, along with some if the Seniors, and local member families from the wards. Then people were invited to the Trail Center for Ice Cream and tours. Sister White helped carry the banner.

In studies this week came across an address by President Nelson titled Spiritual Survival in Oct 2016. This is what he said about Joy

"Clearly, Lehi knew opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain, disappointment, and sorrow. Yet he declared boldly and without reservation a principle as revealed by the Lord: “Men are, that they might have joy.” Imagine! Of all the words he could have used to describe the nature and purpose of our lives here in mortality, he chose the word joy!

Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us. Yet we are here to have joy?

Yes! The answer is a resounding yes! But how is that possible? And what must we do to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us?

Eliza R. Snow, second General President of the Relief Society, offered a riveting

answer. Because of Missouri’s infamous extermination order, issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838, she and other Saints were forced to flee the state that very winter. One evening, Eliza’s family spent the night in a small log cabin used by refugee Saints. Much of the chinking between the logs had been extracted and burned for firewood by those who preceded them, so there were holes between the logs large enough for a cat to crawl through. It was bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid.

That night some 80 people huddled inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square (6.1 meters square). Most sat or stood all night trying to keep warm. Outside, a group of men spent the night gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing hymns and others roasting frozen potatoes. Eliza recorded: “Not a complaint was heard—all were cheerful, and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us to be pleasure excursionists rather than a band of gubernatorial exiles.”

Eliza’s report of that exhausting, bone-chilling evening was strikingly optimistic. She declared: “That was a very merry night. None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.”

That’s it! Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!"

President Russell M Nelson

Oct 2016

It reminds us of the saying we have often heard "Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG
difference" Our attitude makes us who we are. May we have a good attitude as we face
the obstacles, experiences, and challenges in our lives. May look to the Lord with Joy.