A VERY SPECIAL SUNDAY

        Yesterday, Sunday, October 25, 2009 was the last Sunday that many of the Temple Missionaries will be in Nauvoo. We are all going home for 2 weeks while the Temple is being cleaned and only 17 couples will be turning. Therefore, that morning we all met together in the Assembly Room of the Temple for a Sacrament meeting and a testimony meeting! It was an awesome experience to sit there in that sacred room (used only by permission from the First Presidency) in that VERY special Temple …the Temple of Joseph, surrounded by so many people that we love so dearly and whom we did not know at all 6 months ago!! It was a beautiful morning and the sun was streaming in the East windows of the Temple- in such a way you could almost envision the Spirit entering the room! The sacrament was blessed and passed by the missionaries who have been here for 18 months. They are all such awesome people, and have been the ones who have trained us. WE ARE GOING TO MISS THEM! I have never heard the Sacrament prayers given in such a reverent and special way. I was moved to tears. There was not a sound in the room as the bread and water were being passed and I felt, as I had never done before, the sacred significance of that ordinance. The Testimonies given were all wonderful and strengthened mine as I listened to them! The Spirit was so strong from the very beginning of the opening song – Our Savior’s Love to the end when we sang Because I Have Been Given Much ! And we HAVE BEEN GIVEN MUCH! It has been such a blessing to be serving here in this Temple this past 6 months, and to be associating with the other couples here who are so outstanding. Our testimonies have been strengthened and our lives have been changed forever because of this experience and these people and this place! We will forever be grateful to the Lord for this blessing and hope and pray we can live worthy of it.

       In the evening, we were all invited back to the Temple...this time with all the local ordinance workers too, who come from all over Illinois and Iowa (about 150 of them) to a Temple Devotional. This was also held in the Solemn Assembly Room and Elder William R. Walker who is in the First Quorum of Seventy and the head of the Temple Dept. was the speaker along with President and Sister Walker. It was again a very spiritual experience, and to make it even more special I was able to sing with the Temple Missionary choir who provided the music for the Devotional. We sat in the raised pulpit area in the back of the room and sang two of my favorite songs Consider the Lilies of the Field, and as the closing song In This Very Room!
That song ends with these words... (to hear the music click here) http://www.my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/veryroom.html

In this very room there's quite enough love for all the world,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all the world,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power
 to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.

Then we continued standing silently while Sister Hawkes (a local ordinance worker) gave the closing prayer. It was so powerful....we all felt that HE WAS IN THAT VERY ROOM!

Our Temple Missionary Choir, taken on the steps of the Temple after the Devotional

The back of the Temple as it looked yesterday...the leaves are still beautiful.