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
