This Beautiful Place That Makes My Heart To Swell! (August 6, 2017)

Dearest Family and Friends,

The time has come. This is my last email from Nauvoo as we are at our last week here in Nauvoo and it is a bittersweet time. I have so many thoughts and feelings as this experience comes to a close and we are returning to the "fake world" as Elder Camp would call it and our other lives. 

I have to share a quick hilarious experience real quick. During the Promise this week, there is a moment in the show where we are little boys and we have to climb over this back wall of the stage. It is about a good 4-5 ft from the ground and I always do this bit where I pretend like I get stuck and can't get over. Well this day I did it and when I got over the wall I sat on the ledge waiting during the scene and somehow I lost my footing. What happened next was literally like slow motion to me. I start to feel myself fall backwards and I think "oh no! I'm going down!". Before I knew it, both legs were in the air and I was falling backwards off the wall. I fell and hit my tailbone and just died of laughter. I contemplated getting back up and going on stage, but I was a little humiliated of completely falling off a wall during the show and also I couldn't stop laughing. Someone one of the sisters backstage got the whole incident on video and we all watched it about 30 times that night and everyone died laughing. It was a hilarious incident and as I think back on it, I think it needed to happen. The Lord blessed me with a funny experience to lighten my mood and somethings I was feel and it I was also able to bring joy to so many in our group and I feel like this experience brought some group unity that was needed this week. Just seeing everyone come together and laugh made my heart happy! :)

As our time comes to a close I have many thoughts and feelings. I have been pondering much over the last few days and what I feel more than anything is just gratitude. I never planned on coming back to Nauvoo as a YPM and when I got a spiritual prompting to apply again I was quite hesitant and unsure. Even after being called I went through times where I didn't really want to come and wanted to do other things with my summer like make money. I followed what God wanted me to do and I'm grateful. Coming here a second time has not been easy in the least, but I'm thankful for the challenges I have had, the people I have met and my testimony that has been strengthened. Nauvoo is an incredible place of learning, of healing, of growing. I feel forever indebted to my Heavenly Father for bring Nauvoo into my life 2 years ago and how it now continues to bless me so much. I have been impacted greatly by the lessons I have learned from the Saints who lived here and the hope and faith they had. I have learned life lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my life. As Joseph Smith says in the Nauvoo Pageant, "this truly is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens". He then goes on to say "little do they know the trials that await them". I feel that there will be great trials in all of our lives, but the lessons I have learned in this lovely place and the people I have met here will help me through anything I am called to go through in this life. Words cannot describe how I feel about Nauvoo. 

Elder Dayne Joyner & Elder Chris Sykes

I know God lives. I know He is well aware of us and is watching over us day by day. Every single day I have felt His love and care that He has for us. I know Jesus Christ lives and that he is our Savior and he is ready and willing to help us in our trials as we call upon him and repent. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. Though an imperfect man, he worked diligently in his life to do God's will and bless the lives of God's children on the earth. 

I love Nauvoo!

I love my Heavenly Father! 

I thank you all for your love and support of me this summer. 

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner 

Happy Week! (July 30, 2017)

Hi! 

I didn't have time to compose something because I was busy dealing with some other things. Sorry! This week was the week of happy and so much happened and many experiences of joy serving the Lord! Happiness is a choice and makes life better! CHOOSE to be happy this week! 

Love you all! 

Elder Joyner

Nauvoo Miracle! (July 23, 2017)

(Dayne didn't write an email the week we were in Nauvoo with him)

Dearest Family and Friends! 

This has been one of the most joyous, and hardest weeks of the whole summer so far. So many extreme ups, as well as extreme downs. I'll try and capture just a bit of what our week was like. 

Some of my YPMs from 2015 surprised us this week by coming out and visiting for Colin Wylie's wedding! It was such a joyous reunion to be with them and here in Nauvoo too! Sister Hipwell and I were able to attend the sealing on Friday and there were 7 of us from 2015 who were all together again and it brought much joy and happiness into our week. I love them and it was wonderful being together in this place where we shared so many experiences together and we could reminisce about our times serving as missionaries together.  

This week we had to say farewell to one of our YPM sisters, Sister Wadsworth. She has been struggling with some health problems and we have been holding on to her as long as we could. It was decided that it would be best for her health to be released and and return home. That was really hard to have a member of our group, our family, depart. It has kind of been solemn since then, but we press on and continue the work and we are in the middle of making a few adjustments to fill her roles in some of the shows. She is greatly missed, but we know it is for her benefit. 

Now to the main subject and highlight of the week. We witnessed a miracle of healing this week like I have never before experienced first hand. As I retell this story, I hope I can stay true to the details of how everything happened, but know that mine is a secondhand account and there may be some things left out. One of our Elders, Elder DeWitt, hurt his knee about 2 weeks ago in one of the shows. He didn't know how it happened, only that is was all of a sudden and it caused him great pain. A few doctors tried to look at it, but they couldn't really diagnose what the problem was. He tried to get an MRI a few times, but for some reason the appointments always fell through and the hospital could never get him in. He was in extreme pain for all this time and we had to modify all his roles in the shows and rearrange things to accommodate the injury. We thought it could be a torn meniscus or many other things. This week his was going to decided whether or not to stay here and tolerate the pain, or go home and get well. One night at pageant this week, he was praying with his companion trying to figure out what to do. He had multiple people say prayers with him continuously and each prayer spoke of the power of healing and faith to be healed. All of this was happening during the Nauvoo Pageant scene of Jane Manning, where she talks about how her feet were healed after walking thousands of miles to join the saints in Nauvoo. Elder DeWitt says that as he was praying with each person, he would be rubbing his knee and it would feel weird almost like he couldn't feel anything which is odd. This is where I will pick up the experience in my own words. Everyone was praying and we had to leave him to go dance. As we returned from our number, I saw him sobbing and praying with another Elder. I assumed he was just upset and frustrated by his injury. When they were done praying, he stomped the ground a few times and then just took of running. We were all confused as to what was happening. He came back and told us that he felt no pain whatsoever in his knee. None! The pain was gone and he felt just as well as ever! He took off joyously skipping and running around the whole backstage area. It was incredible! I was dumbfounded and in awe and didn't know what do think. I still can't believe to this day what I witnessed, and even now, he has not felt an ounce of pain in his knee and he is back full force in all of the shows. It truly was an Nauvoo Miracle and unlike anything I have ever witnessed before in my life! 

My testimony has strengthened of the power or prayer and faith. Faith is such a strong force and with it we can do anything, even have the power to be healed. I know that miracles and healing are real even in our world today and that they are not just biblical stories! God loves us so much and He is very aware of us and our needs and He is very involved in our lives. I'm grateful for this even that I was able to witness this week that has changed me!

We only have a few more weeks left here in this beautiful place! We are soaking up every minute! 

I love you all! God is so good! 

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner 

Pageant Begins! (July 9, 2017)

Hello Family and Friends!

This will be quick.

Great things are upon us! Pageant opens this week and that is always a party! We have been hard at work rehearsing and this week we added the family casts so we are ready to go! 

To keep things short, I will share some insight I have been studying this week. Various things are starting to become a little difficult and there are constant obstacles that are being thrown in our path. It is interesting how with everything going on, in my personal Book Of Mormon study I have been reading in Mosiah about trials and tribulations that came to the people of Alma. I have been intrigued and struck with how they dealt with their trials "with patience" and "cheerfully". Also it mentions how the Lord never took away their burdens, but he "eased" them and lightened them. Sometimes God doesn't take away from us our trials, but he will help give us strength and carry us through them as we submit to His will cheerfully and with patience. That is what I have been learning and hope to apply that even more to my life this week. 

I love you all! God is good! Nauvoo is heaven on earth....but except with heat, humidity, and TONS of bugs...anyway...

Sincerely yours, 

Elder Joyner 

Busy Season is upon us! (July 2, 2017)

Dearest Family and Friends, 

Pressed for time as usual, so this will be quick!

We have had an incredible week! Pageant has come to town and we have been busy with rehearsals! It has been so fun to see some of my friends from BYU and Sister Bill who is also working on the Pageant! What a tender mercy! 

We were able to participate in 2 commemorations this week of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith--one for the community of Christ, and the other for our Church at Carthage. Both very different meetings, but very special to be able to pay homage to the prophet Joseph!

Being here in Nauvoo, I have strengthened my testimony of the prophet Joseph and I am grateful for all he did in magnifying his calling from God to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth! We are so blessed to have the fullness! I'm grateful for the lessons that I learn everyday from Joseph's life and how even though he was a human who made mistakes and just did his best, he strove to do what God wanted him to do. 

Sorry, that is all I have time for, but we are happy and excited to be in Nauvoo! These next few weeks will really start to pick up and will are excited to be missionaries! 

God loves you. I love you. 

Till next time! 

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner


To view a sample of the Sunday Concert:

         Lord's Prayer & Come Thou Fount

         https://youtu.be/xuQfLF3eGhQ

Week of Blessings! (June 25, 2017)

Dearest Family and Friends!

What an incredible week we have had! This has been one of our strongest weeks of missionary work yet and we have even been able to see some of the fruits of our labors! I strong feel God's hand in everything we do and He truly does guide us in this work at every moment. 

Things have been kind of slow here in Nauvoo recently. Starting this year, the BYU performing groups have are not coming out to perform in Nauvoo anymore and we have seen a decline in visitors during the month of June and probably due to that very reason. Things are quickly about to change as tomorrow we start rehearsals for Pageant and more and more people will be arriving very soon. We have been incredibly blessed with the weather this week as it has been in the low 80s with little humidity. To me, that seems rare for Nauvoo this time of year. But hey! We aren't complaining and I know it won't stay like this. 

So onto our missionary experiences from the week. This mission is difficult sometimes in that we do a lot of seed planting and rarely get to see any of the fruits of our labors. This week God blessed us with the opportunity to see some fruits. Last week I may have mentioned how we did  an extra performance of Trail of Hope on our night off for a Texas youth group. Well this week we received a packet of letters from them each thanking us for allowing them to go down the trail at that time. They each expressed how their time in Nauvoo changed them and some told some very personal experiences and how Nauvoo has helped them heal, gain testimonies, and decided to make changes. It was something little, but very neat to see and read personal experiences of how our work and efforts have helped people. 

Another experience that really touched me was talking to a young man after one of our Promise shows and he was very touched my the messaged we shared. The Promise has been changed a little to reflect personal conversion and he expressed to us how uplifted and touched he felt by seeing the performance and how it really brought to reality for him the lives of the saints. He became quite emotional and overcome with the spirit. Again, this was a little thing, but really stood out to me as a testimony of what we are doing here is important. 

The greatest day was Friday! Our morning Nauvoo singers cast spent our time in Carthage singing there and greet visitors. There was a youth group and we were able to have some powerful experiences and spiritual conversations with them. We came to a point where we needed to decided to stay in Carthage or go back to Nauvoo and see what we could do there. We prayed and many of us got the impression we needed to go back. When we got back we had planned to go sing in the Visitors Center, but there was no one there. We went outside to the Carriage Ride Depot and there were a group of about 20 international students from a Masters Program in Iowa visiting. They were from about 10 different countries and were visiting Nauvoo only for about an hour. We asked if we could sing for them and we sang them a few songs. It was incredible to see their faces and countenances change and lighten up as we sang for them. You could tell they were definitely overcome with the spirit. After we sang we had some incredible conversations with them. Elder Thomas and I went and talked to a group of people from Colombia and we gave them a Book of Mormon. They spoke decently English, but after Elder Thomas bore testimony, I was able to bear testimony to them in Spanish! It was incredible! I was able to explain more about the Book of Mormon, the Restoration of the Gospel, and Joseph Smith. I felt like I was in Mexico preaching again! We left a passage of the Book of Mormon to read and they seemed interested. I'm so grateful unto God for blessing me with the opportunity to be able to continue to use Spanish to preach the Gospel and bless His children even here in Nauvoo. I have had quite a few experiences being able to use Spanish and each time I just feel so blessed and grateful! These experiences are tender mercies and blessings from God in my eyes allowing me to continue my proselyting mission language to preach the gospel even after all this time! It is just incredible and I'm so thankful to have this opportunity!

I'm grateful for the power of music and the spirit that we have with us as we perform! There is no other place I would rather be right now. It is crazy to believe that yesterday we hit our halfway point and that we only have a month and a half to go...but we aren't thinking about it....Anyway! I testify of God's love and care for us in everything we do. He leads and guides our actions every single day whether we know it or not. He loves us so much! 

Love you all! 

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner 

(June 18, 2017)

Dearest Friends and Family!

Time keeps moving along here in Nauvoo and it is crazy to believe that we are almost half way through our adventure! We have had a lovely week full of work and some beautiful experiences! Luckily we are all on the uphill and have recovered from our sicknesses! The temperature is starting to rise here as well as the humidity. I think I had forgotten how get and drenched you get from performing in outside, especially during Sunset! But it has been a fun time! We just embrace it! It's Nauvoo!

We were able to go to the temple a few times this week which was really special. Once to do an endowment session on P-day and then the next day for baptisms and iniatories. I love the temple and the peace and spirit it brings into my life. I feel like it really helped me to refocus and recharge this week and I was reminded of what is important. 

One of our favorite things we do here in Nauvoo is Trail of Hope and we were able to do it 3 nights in a row this week for a special circumstances. There was a youth group in town and the night we were to do the trail it stormed quite a bit, but cleared so we didn't cancel. They didn't know that and they really wanted to go through the trail and felt like their group needed it. They approached us the next day and it was something E. Schultz felt like we needed to do, so we were able to perform for them. It was an incredible night and the spirit was strong. I know that the power and testimony of the saints that is testified of on the trail is powerful! There were a million fireflies out that night as well and i felt like is was a testament of God's love! The fields looked a like a sea of glitter with brilliant, incredible light flashing from these creatures.

I'm at a loss for time, but I love you all and am thankful for your support. I feel God's hand leading us and guiding us everyday! Nauvoo is a place of peace, a place of hope, a place of healing! I feel that God loves Nauvoo!

Try and serve and a love a little more this week! 

Sincerely Yours,
Elder Joyner