2016 Youth Conference: Nauvoo - Part 4

Dear Friends:

This is the fourth blog post on the week that we spent with our Stake youth in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Friday was our last day in Nauvoo.  We spent the morning packing and getting the cabins prepared for inspection.  The Food Committee cleaned that kitchen to an exceptional level, something the Camp Nauvoo staff really appreciated:

Once the cleaning and packing was done, we had the families hold a small devotional before leaving camp:

I was delighted when my own kids arrived at camp - this was an awesome picture of my youngest daughter rushing to hug me that morning:

We had all of the families walk from Camp Nauvoo to the Nauvoo Temple.  It was about a mile-and-a-half.  We wanted them to enjoy the walk through town, as we assembled them for a group picture at the temple.

My wife and I drove ahead of the group, to prepare everything for the pictures.  The building was as gorgeous as even, in the late morning sun:

The time came and all the youth and leaders arrived.  We quietly and carefully assembled them on the front steps of the temple, keeping things as reverent as possible.  This is my wife - the official photographer - working the 280 people into the right position.

The final picture was so great.  Having all of those turquoise shirts against the white background of the temple walls, was a real treat:

This picture was taken moments later, when I addressed the group about how amazing they looked at that sacred location.  My voice started to break, as I tried to help them understand the potential that I saw in each of them.

Once the group picture was finished, we moved the entire group across the street for individual “family” pictures.  The view was like watching a wave of blue move down the hill and across the street:

We lined each group up with a view of the Nauvoo Temple behind them.  They looked fantastic.  The last group we assembled was the adult leaders.  Like I’ve said before, it was a fantastic group to work with…

The entire group spent some time in Historic Nauvoo for part of the day.  Many families were able to go visit sites they had missed earlier in the week:

At that point, I said goodbye to my own family, as they needed to get out on the road towards Salt Lake City, another 18 hours on the road.  My wife is a rockstar ; )

After dinner, we loaded everyone up on the buses and took them back to Carthage Jail.  As mentioned in a previous post, this is a very sacred location, with great meaning to our faith.  We decided to hold a testimony meeting there, for all the youth.  We had each youth bring a camp chair, and after the visitor’s center had close, we assembled all of the chairs just under the window where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.

It was an incredible meeting.  Another highlight of the entire week.  We proceeded to let the youth share their thoughts and feelings about the Nauvoo experience.  There were some very emotional and precious moments that were shared by the youth.  We had almost 100 youth stand-up to speak.  At one point, we actually had to cut off the line, and asked them to continue to share their testimonies on the buses afterwards.  After three hours of an intense and spiritual experience, we concluded the meeting.

We assembled the kids back on the buses, and headed back to Austin.

Early in the morning, we made it to Oklahoma City.  We parked right next to the Oklahoma City Temple, where we served breakfast to everyone, and then got them right back on the bus ; )

It was another sleepless night, as we drove in the chase car behind all of the buses.  I managed to catch this priceless shot of my Stake YW President, collapsed in the seat behind me.

Hours later, we finally arrived at home.  Kids were reunited with their families, and all of the adult leaders were able to rejoin their own families, as well.

When all was said and done, the trip was a huge success.  We met all of the goals that were set out over a year before our departure.  The youth expressed their appreciated for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Testimonies were strengthened…and in the words of one parent, “lives were changed forever.”

I’m exhausted, but so grateful for the unbelievable experiences I had during the trip.  My time in the Nauvoo Temple and the Carthage Jail testimony meeting were my “pay-off” for almost two years of planning and preparation.  What an incredible joy, and I won’t forget it for the rest of my life.

[A few months after posting this entry, we created a video to recap the entire trip.  We ended up showing it at a Stake youth event.  I wanted to make sure I included it here]