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)