July 12, 2015 - One month left!

Dearest Loved Ones, Welcome to Nauvoo where we have 50F nights and 70F days! Gah! This weather though! We have been so blessed and fortunate to have such great weather and rain! From what we are told this is unusual and very rare for summer here in Nauvoo. What a blessing! Although today is hot and this week will apparently be quite warm. I forgot to mention last week a really sweet gift we all received that I will treasure forever. They recently re-roofed Carthage Jail and one of the Senior Elders who was apart of that took the original wood from the Jail roof and mail each of us picture frames. How cool is that! So I can say I have original wood from Carthage Jail! I only have time for a quick story. So yesterday before our first show I saw a lot of our group very tired and sleepy and lethargic and I decided we all needed some energy and pumping up. I remember many times on my first mission how hard it was some days to leave the house and have the energy and desire to go out, but some days you just had to force yourself and do it. Same here! We have to serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength even when we are tired so I decided to remind everyone! I went around and individually gave every member of our cast a pep talk and sending them good energy vibes. I don't' know why but I had a lot of energy and that helped me. I began pumping them up an inspiring and reminding them to serve and preach the gospel through our show with everything they got. By the time we performed everyone was pumped and we had great performances the rest of the day. During the show I was backstage giving mid-show pep talks to keep up the energy and I also passed out the cookies mom sent in the package I got yesterday so it came at quite an ideal time. Thanks mom! By the time I went to bed I was exhausted from helping everyone else but I went to bed happy knowing that I tried to serve with all my might and strength. Well, I love you all very much and am thankful for you support! I can't wait to see you all this week and share my mission with you! It is all true, I know it! Sincerely Yours, Elder Joyner