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

Prayer is Power! (June 11, 2017)

Hi Family and Friends!

Sorry, I spent a lot of time taking care of some business and now have like 3 minutes to throw something down!

This has been a crazy week! Basically ALL of us got sick at one point, and I mean ALL of us! So that has made for an interesting time. We have had do so some switching casts and roles around to accommodate people sitting out of performances. But somehow we made it work. I think most of us are on the uphill now and getting better and we are taking extra precautions to prevent anything else.

Amid all this sickness, prayer has been vital to us this week! We could not have gotten through all the changes and rearranging and trials without pleading for help and relying on the Lord. That is one of my favorite things about missions is that each time I have learned more and more about trusting in God and relying on Him. "For as to my strength I am weak" and "I can do all things through Christ". We have had much help from Priesthood blessings and praying with all our might and then going to work. We have still been able to touch many and share the spirit with so many youth groups and other visitors who have come this week. Prayer is so powerful and it is still something I think I'm working on and perfecting even after 3 missions! Ha!

I know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. He is so involved in our lives and is constantly watching out for us, even when we may feel like He is not. I am constantly amazed at all He has blessed us with even this beautiful earth and mortal experience to learn and grow and become more like Him. How amazing!

God lives! The Gospel is true! Pray to Him a little more this week and be a little more sincere!

Love you all! 

Sincerely Yours,
Elder Joyner

(no subject) (June 4, 2017)

Dear Family and Friends!

The weeks keep flying by here in Old Nauvoo and tomorrow marks one months since we have arrived! Which means we only have about 13 weeks left...yikes! That is nothing! We had such a great first week full of performances and were able to touch many lives! Our favorite thing is to be able to talk with our audiences after our shows and have missionary discussions with them and invite them to remember the things they felt here in Nauvoo! We had a few youth groups here this past week mixed with Memorial Day crowds which gave us a lot of people to contact and talk with!

One of the things we do here in Nauvoo, is Nauvoo singers. It is a great opportunity we have to go out on the streets of Nauvoo and sing fun and spiritual arrangements of primary songs and hymns for our guests and then to interact with them. This year, there have been some changes and we are able to go out and do Nauvoo singers at Carthage and we also have about a 3 hour block in the afternoon every other day to sing as well. We have had some pretty amazing experiences where we have been able to touch individuals and testify to them. I have especially enjoyed going to Carthage! It is such a sacred and special place with a spirit that can't compare to anything else. I also love being in the Visitor Center here and singing by the Christus Statue. There is a quiet reverence and sacredness that is found singing next to a statue of our Savior. We have many families who stop to here us sing and are touched by the spirit they feel through our music. It is interesting how even young children between the ages of 1-5 are just enthralled with us and watch us with inquisitive eyes and are amazed! I truly believe that even they can feel the spirit through our music.
This afternoon we have our first performance of our Nauvoo Sunday Concert series that we will do every Sunday. It is like an informal fireside that we do with the band. We have some beautiful arrangements and are excited to share that with those who come and be able to share more spirit of this beautiful place with those who come!

A few former YPMs from last year were visiting these last few days. Although, it was fun to have them here, it really made me miss my 2015 group! I love you all so much and am grateful for the love and support you have shown Sister Hipwell and I! Come visit us!

Well that is basically all I have time for. Sorry, I can't write too much now. I love you all! I know that our Heavenly Father is constantly aware of us and watches over us always!

Sincerely Yours,
Elder Joyner 

Opening Weekend! (May 28, 2017)

Dear Family and Friends, 

Well we have finally opened our shows as of yesterday! How good it feels to be back in the swing of things and to be performing here in Nauvoo! It is so crazy just to jump back into these shows and the schedule. Although it has been 2 years since I was here last, most of the time it feels like I never left and it just feels so good to be a performing missionary in this beautiful place!

So many great experiences I could share! It makes all the difference to finally be performing for visitors and sharing our testimonies through our performances. We have already had so super neat experiences. It is so great to meet people when they first arrive here in Nauvoo and when they leave and the difference they got through being changed by the peace and healing and beautiful spirit found in this place. There have been so many instances where we have prayed with all of our might and we know that the Lord is on our side helping us every step of the way. 

This week we had a new choreographer here, our third one for the summer, to help us out. He is a close personal friend of our directors and he is a professional choreographer who danced with Michael Jackson for a few years, and he choreographs for Disney and all over the world. He came in to help us with some numbers for our show Sunset By the Mississippi! It was great to get to know him and work with him! He seemed to have made a change here in Nauvoo. It was so interesting to watch him all week and to see how the spirit influenced him and last night as we said goodbye, he expressed through many tears how grateful he was so have been here helping us and how we helped him to get back on track with some things in his life. It was a beautiful experience. 

I have been contemplating a lot recently about how integral all of us YPMs are in this work. This is not a work we can do alone, but we need each member of our group to contribute and help to be successful in sharing the gospel It is interesting because usually in theatre there is a big focus on finding yourself and what sets you apart from other performers so that you standout and shine on your own. Here in Nauvoo that can't be the case! I have felt last time I was here and even now, that some of my abilities have been muted or diluted if that makes sense. I don't feel like I perform the best that I know I can or like my voice functions to the extent that I know it can. Yet all that is okay, because we don't need to stick out. I am just able to give enough of my talents to add to the group, and together all of us can be strong. I believe that in that sense we are much more powerful at relaying the important message we have to share and able to touch those who come and see our shows! How wonderful!

So many great things are in store for the coming weeks and months! This afternoon we are going to tour Carthage and then tonight we have our first performance of The Trail of Hope which is one of my favorite things we do here I just want to encourage anyone who can to come to Nauvoo this summer and experience the spirit and beauty of this city and all it has to offer! It is truly a special place of hope and healing and of faith. Even if you don't think you have the time or means, I know the Lord can provide a way! So come to Nauvoo! You will be changed forever!

That is all I have time for! 

I love you all! 

God is good and is watching over us! 

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner 

I find JOY in His Service! (May 21, 2017)

Dearest Family and Friends,

I'm just a bit pressed for time today, but I'll try and fit in everything I can and share some experiences from this past week. 

First, thank you for all the emails I received this week! It was fun to hear from many of you and although I would love to respond to you individually, time just doesn't permit that with only 30 minutes to email a week. So just know that I am grateful for your thoughts and messages of inspiration. And if you send me your addresses, I can respond personally! ;)

I think the biggest theme for me this week was JOY and love! All week I had the lyrics in my head to our Sociable song from 2015 entitled "Joy". It goes: 

"I find Joy! Joy in His service, joy in the service of God. I find joy! Joy in these people, together with love from Christ."

I truly find joy in the service of my God! There have been so many time and so many experiences where I have been reminding of God's love for us and how He is very much present in our lives. He loves us so much and is always watching over us. I am reminded of this almost everyday as we sing "Whenever I hear the song of a bird or look at the blue, blue sky"! One of my favorite activities is to be in nature and to marvel at God's creations. I had a few instances where I could do that this week. 

One morning, one of our casts was able to visit the Old Nauvoo Burial grounds. It was such a beautiful and sacred resting place of those who lived here in Nauvoo in the 1800s. I never had to chance to visit last time I was here so I was grateful to go. It is like a beautiful grove with trees, overgrown grass and wildflowers with a few marked gravestones. Most of the graves are unmarked so you never know where they might be. It was wonderful to walk through the grove and ponder life. I tried to sympathize with the saints and feel sad for the losing of loved ones, but every time I tried to feel the only thing I felt was hope and love. I do believe that is how they felt as they lost love ones. They had a knowledge of the plan of salvation and knew that this life wasn't the end and that they would return to live with their loved ones again. How beautiful! 

Nauvoo is gorgeous! Is the most green and lush you have ever seen and that is saying something for me being from the south and having green everywhere. It is really miraculous the beauty in this place. My favorite thing is at night to look up at the stars and because it is dark all around, the stars really pop out and the heavens are illuminated. Every so often there is a rain storm and you can witness beautiful lightning shows on the prairie lands. How great is our God and His creations and all that He has given us. I'm grateful for that!

Well, I wish I could share more, but time is up! I love you all and am grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary at this time and serve God's children! Our shows open this coming Saturday and I'm excited to meet all the visitors who will come here and to be able to share the gospel with them!

Sincerely Yours, 

Elder Joyner 

NAUVOO!!!! (May 14, 2017)

Dearest Family and Friends!

Wow! Just Wow! What a week!

I'm back in Nauvoo and it feels so good! It feels like home and like I have never left! I just love being here in the beautiful place and feeling the constant peace and spirit of the saints! And more than anything else, I LOVE being missionary! It is so great to be able to completely forget myself and my life basically and just to serve others! I feel I'm a lot happier than I have been in the past few months and just loving living in the moment and being surrounded by the spirit and in a Zion community where everyone is so loving and all are focused on the same goal.

Coming back to Nauvoo a second time has been quite an experience. I knew with our previous directors, The Camps, gone that it would be completely different, but I don't think I really prepared myself for how different things would be. But it is good and I just have to stop myself every so often during the day and tell myself to let go and that it is okay that things are not like they were the first time. In many ways it is a lot easier than this time the first go round, but also us former YPMs are finding new challenges and trials that we never expected. I am so so so so so grateful for my friends Sister Hipwell who served with me before, and Elder Sykes. We have all been a really great strength to each other through all the changes and we have been able to support and uplift on another when things get rough. I honestly don't know what I would do without them here and it is a true blessing sent from above.

In talking with some of the other former YPMs, we really feel that one of the reasons that we have been called back to serve this year is to help this group of YPMs really learn how to be missionaries. Our directors and leaders are so focused on getting the shows together and making sure everything is set, that it is really up to us to help our Elders and Sisters be missionaries and how to take part in this work. I think it is a really cool responsibility we have and I have just loved getting to know everyone and watching out for them. One of my greatest joys so far has been to just talk with the elders individually and see how they are doing and help build them and share experiences to encourage them to keep going. Most of our Elders are younger around 18-20 and most have not served previous missions, so this is their first experience being full-time missionaries.

We have been going non-stop with rehearsals and it has been intense! We have already learned all of our music (over 30 songs), blocked 2.5 shows, and started working on choreography for our Sunset show. And that is only week 1! It feels like we have been here for months already and we still have 2 more weeks left of rehearsals. It has been exhausting and even though it feels like you can dance anymore or like your voice will give out at any moment, it's NAUVOO and the Lord is blessing us so much and giving us the strength we need to do His work. We cannot do this on our own.

I love these Elders and Sisters so much already and we have so much power singing together! Everyone is so talented and on top of things and it is awesome! When we do our choral numbers, it is so cool to hear how resonant and in tune we are with one another and the spirit is so present. Although I know not all those voices are ours, and there are angels close by on the other side of the veil singing and testifying with us.

I absolutely LOVE Nauvoo, I LOVE being a missionary, and I LOVE being able to testify of joy and of the hope of the gospel through song and dance! We have already had so many special experiences and miracles just in one week, and I can't wait to see what kind of amazing opportunities and experiences await us for the rest of the summer!

 Love you all!

 Sincerely Yours,
 Elder Joyner
(that sounds so good..for the 3rd time! Ha)