Elder Barrow's post

           Thoughts about Nauvoo by Elder Barrow

As I serve in Nauvoo as a facilities management missionary, I find that I am gaining an appreciation for more than buildings, HVAC systems, and their general welfare.  Nauvoo is a special place because of the people who created it and lived here.  A lot of these people came as refugees from a hostile Missouri environment.  They had to leave practically all their earthly possessions behind and were for the most part destitute.  Kindly Iowans andIllinoisians took them in and sustained them until they could get back on their feet and support themselves.  By following their prophet leader, Joseph Smith, they once again established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by making covenants with the Lord and keeping them.  They created a beautiful city out of a waste land and members of the church from all over the word, began to gather there.  They were a different people and as their numbers grew outsiders with selfish worldly concerns became concerned that they would lose power over life style and these strangers would begin to dictate how they should live.  This was never in the hearts of the saints because they knew what it was like to live under the rule authoritarians who used the threat of physical harm to force their will upon others.  They also learned that it was better to follow the dictates of Christ and love their neighbor and enemies rather than fight them.  As pressures were put upon them to leave they resisted and stayed because they had promised the Lord that they would build a Temple to His name.  In turn the Lord promised that he would give unto them sustaining eternal blessings in the temple.  They stayed and constructed a grand and fitting house of the Lord that was worthy to have His name upon it, knowing that they ultimately would have to leave it.  They did it to fulfill their word to the Lord and to receive His blessings.  Ultimately they received those blessings and they abandoned the temple they loved so much because their sweat, fortune of both money and time, went into its’ construction but the blessings they received from the Lord were grand and eternal and they sustained them through the next period of hardship they would have to endure to follow the Lord and His prophet.

            There is a special spirit here that endures and is part of the heritage of every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As you walk the streets of this place you can feel the love those people had for the Lord.  Gratitude overcomes you as you look at their example on how to follow the Lord. A feeling of inadequacy is also present when you realize that you need to do better to live up to the standard they set.  At the same time there is a loving feeling here that says you can do it, because they did it.  Trying harder is the way of the Lord.  Nauvoo is a great place, you should come and feel it.  You might want to look at the buildings also since I’m spending so much of my time taking care of them, so you can.