Message 18 July 2011

Message—18 July 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

As we told you in last weeks’ message, we were invited to help at the Grandin Building during the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  The name has been changed to the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site; but I will use Grandin Bldg to abbreviate in this message.  We were at the Grandin Bldg on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 11:30am to 5:30pm.  There was a steady flow of people who came to the Grandin Bldg; so we were busy during the full time we were there.  There were family groups, youth groups, bus tour groups, and a variety of other people.  The majority of the people were members of the LDS Church, but we also had a number of people were not members.  There were a number of referrals that came from the visitors.  One man was driving through town and saw all the groups of people in front of the Grandin Bldg so he stopped and came in and asked what was going on.  Elder Nielsen, one of the supervisors for the site spent an hour and half going through the displays explaining them and answering the man’s questions.  At the end of the time, the man gave his name and contact information to Elder Nielsen and asked to have the missionaries come and visit him and tell him more.  Elder Nielsen also gave him a Book Of Mormon.  We will not likely find out what happens; but he did feel the Spirit.  There were a few people who came that I knew from BYU connections.  While I was sharing my presentation with one group in the bookstore, I saw Paul Jensen and his wife walk into the bookstore behind the group I was talking to; and he was turning to walk into E. B. Grandin’s Office, so I would have missed seeing him.  I stopped in the middle of a sentence and spoke a little louder and said, Paul Jensen, don’t leave until I talk with you; I then continued on with my presentation to the group.  After finishing with the group I apologized to them for calling out to Paul; and explained Paul was my neighbor from Provo.  The group then went in to Grandin’s office with Maxine.  I had a chance to visit with Paul and his wife who live on 1100 West in Provo at about 1030 South; which is almost directly East of our home on 1600 West through the fields of the farmers between us.  It was good to see them for a few minutes.

On Saturday evening after we finished our assignment at the Grandin Bldg; we drove down to the Hill Cumorah and put a quilt on two chairs for us to save a place for us to see the pageant.  We then went back to the Grandin Bldg to attend a 7pm specially arranged demonstration by the owners of Experience Press; this was done after the visiting hours were over and the doors were locked.  This business is one a few book printers and bindery’s who do modern replicas of old books.  One of the main books they do is the Book of Mormon.  They are currently working on printing and binding copies of the book “Voice of Warning” which was written by Parley P. Pratt.  Mark and Jay are the names of the two guys who run the business; they have website at www.experiencepress.org.   They advertise what they have for sale and what they do.  All the couples who had helped at the Grandin Bldg during the Pageant were in attendance.  Mark and Jay demonstrated, with the use of the printing press and other equipment in the Grandin Bldg, how the Book of Mormon was printed and bound.  It was very special for us to be able to see this demonstration.  They also answered all of our questions, which were quite a few in number.  After the demonstration we rushed down to the Pageant and witnessed it a second time, it is just as impressive the second time.

On Sunday evening we drove to the Grandin Bldg for another special presentation about the restoration of the Grandin Bldg and also the Joseph Smith Log home.  Earlier in the week a man named Ken Graham came to the Grandin Bldg and while there he talked with the site supervisor, Elder Shepard.  Elder Shepard arranged for him to come Sunday to do this presentation.  Ken was the contractor who supervised most of the work on restoring the Grandin Bldg and making it into a visitor’s center; and he also was the contractor for the restoration of the Joseph Smith log home.  Ken shared a number of stories and experiences and pictures about the restoration work.  He has a lot of great memories and shared them in a very interesting way.  I will make record of what he shared and we can share it with you later.

These two events provided a lot of information that has helped to add to our testimony of how the Lord’s hand was directly involved in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and making it available to the world.  So many details had to happen in just the right sequence and timing to make it possible for the Book of Mormon to be translated and published.  These events have added to our testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon; but we also know the book is true because of the witness of the Spirit that the fullness of the gospel is in the Book of Mormon.  Today in our Mission Office Staff Meeting, Sister McVea shared the idea that we need to continue to read the Book of Mormon daily and pray every day to know the truths in the book are really true.  We should not rely on a witness from years ago; we need to continue reading and applying Moroni’s promise in Chapter 10 verse 4 and 5.  As we do this our testimonies will continue to grow and become stronger and have more power as we testify to others.

Friday afternoon we were blessed to see the marriage of our grandson Austin to Josie by the means of Skype.  Jana tried sending the wedding through her computer, but the wireless signal was not strong enough; so she used her cell phone and we were able to see the ceremony.  Thank you to Jana and the rest of the wedding group for waiting for Jana to get it set up so we could see it; we really appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness.  We were also able to visit with Austin and Josie and others of the family for a few minutes by means of Skype after the wedding ceremony.

This is long enough, we will close for now.  We love you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers in our behalf.  They do make a difference and the Lord does answer your prayers and we know he answers our prayers in your behalf as well.  The work we are doing is the Lord’s work and His hand is guiding all that happens; we know this to be true.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine