Merry Christmas From Our Home to Yours

On our journeys, we seek for evidence of the Savior Jesus Christ. Everywhere we look, the beautiful world and the goodness of people prove to us that He lives. We love and worship Him and are ever grateful for His gift to us.

When we return home, we try to bring with us a depiction of His birth to display during the Christmas season.

Please enjoy a glimpse of some of these mementos which are displayed in our home this year.

Ancestor Guru

Have you discovered the new Family History games for your children and grandchildren at ancestorguru.com? 

This website offers four fun games that will help children get better acquainted with family members. It ties into your LDS Family Search account to populate the games with family names, dates, places, faces, etc.

Scrambled Tree: Mixes up the generations on your family tree. Exchange pictures one by one until the generations are properly lined up. Here is an example of a beginning screen. By clicking on the picture of Samuel Harris Hurst and then of Harold Arthur McCracken, the pictures will swap places and my Dad will be in the right generation.

Memory: Simply a good old fashioned memory games using the faces of family members. These pictures are hidden underneath the pins below. Select the pins that match to reveal the pictures.

Life's Journey: This game acquaints the participant with the dates and places on a family member's timeline. By moving the balloon to the cloud containing true facts for that person in each category, you receive points. For example, on the sample screen below you would drag the balloon to the cloud labeled Rigby, Jefferson, Idaho, to verify Grandma Beard's birthplace.

Fast Photo: A simple game of face recognition of family members. Click on the faces that belong to the family and they will be added to the basket to score points. 

Nauvoo Endowments

Soon after the saints moved to Nauvoo, they prepared to build a temple. On April 6, 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid. The beautiful structure was to be 128 feet long by 88 feet wide with a clock tower and weather vane reaching to a total height of 165 feet - a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple.

Weather-vane atop the temple tower

There were many similarities to the Kirtland Temple which they had been forced to abandon. For example, there were two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second. One difference with the Kirtland Temple was a full basement which housed a a baptismal font.

Construction was only half complete at the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1844. 

As mob violence increased during the summer of 1845, Brigham Young encouraged the saints to complete the temple even though they were making preparations to abandon the city, so they could receive the sacred ordinances before they departed on their perilous trek across the continent.

Due to persecution, the saints were not able to entirely complete the construction during the Nauvoo era, however the basement with its font had been finished and dedicated in 1841, as were the first floor assembly hall and the attic (dedicated November 1845). When these parts of the building were completed they were used for performing ordinances (basement and attic) and for worship services (first floor assembly hall).

 

Assembly Hall today in the beautifully reconstructed Nauvoo Temple

During the winter of 1845-46, the temple began to be used for endowments and sealings. The first endowments were performed in the temple on December 10, 1845, and before the saints were expelled 5,615 endowments were performed and recorded.

Erastus Snow

Elder Erastus Snow beautifully described the spiritual outpouring upon the saints during this time, “The spirit, power, and wisdom of God reigned continually in the temple and all felt satisfied that during the two months we occupied it in the endowments of the Saints, we were amply paid for all our labors in building it.” 

The building was in use for only a short period, but during that time period, many of my ancestors were privileged to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple, including the following. Many proxy baptisms for their departed loved one were also performed.

                                                            Birth date                     Endowment

• Bateman, Joseph                    04 Sep 1802                28 Jan 1846
• Bateman, Thomas                  17 Sep 1808                 27 Jan 1846
• Bateman, William                  24 Apr 1824                29 Jan 1846
• Chase, Abigail Eliza                04 Oct 1820                15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Abner                           18 May 1813                06 Feb 1846
• Chase, Amos S.                       18 Dec 1820                 06 Feb 1846
• Chase, Charlotte                     11 May 1825                 15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Darwin                         25 Feb 1816                 06 Jan 1846
• Chase, Diana                            23 Jul 1827                 15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Ezra                               04 Feb 1796                15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Isaac                              12 Dec 1791                 13 Dec 1845
• Chase, Phebe                            07 Dec 1794                13 Dec 1845
• Chase, Tirzah                           29 Jul 1796                 15 Dec 1845
• Edwards, William                    16 May 1810               31 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Edward M.                    20 Jan 1792                20 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Hannah                         24 Jan 1797                20 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Hannah E.                    24 Feb 1827                29 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Ovanda                          27 Jun 1822                20 Dec 1845
• Greathouse, Mary Ann           04 Nov 1827                02 Feb 1846
• Pond, Abigail A.                       14 Jul 1828                 30 Dec 1845
• Thorn, Abigail                          02 Apr 1821                20 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Asahel                          04 Sep 1808                28 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Joseph                         22 Dec 1811                 28 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Richard                        18 Jun 1825                 22 Jan 1846

I am certain that this group also volunteered to labor during the construction, the brethren giving one-tenth part of their time, while the sisters knitted socks and mittens, and preparing garments for the laborers.

Most of the Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, but a small crew remained to finish the temple's first floor, so that it could be formally dedicated. Once the first floor was finished with pulpits and benches, the building was finally dedicated in private services on 30 April 1846, and in public services on 1 May. 

In September 1846 the remaining Latter Day Saints were driven from the city, no doubt looking over their shoulder at the temple they loved.

Christmas Day

As I’ve decorated my home for this festive season, I’ve wondered what next Christmas will bring, in Florida on a mission, without the boxes upon boxes of ornaments and decorations collected throughout the years. 

Frederick William Hurst

This pondering reminded me of Christmas entries in the journals of my Great, Great Grandfather Frederick William Hurst, who spent many holiday seasons far from his family and home. 

For example, while on a mission to Hawaii, he wrote one Christmas day:

"We left Waiakane about six o-clock this morning. We walked about ten miles and then sat down and ate some cold potatoes we had brought with us by a big spring. I could not help thinking how different they would spend Christmas at home. I got into a sort of reverie and fancied I could see their happy faces around a table loaded with the good things of this world, such as plum pudding, roast beef, etc. ...

I spend the day pleasantly thinking how much better off I now am than I was before I became a member of the Kingdom of God, not in the things of this world, for I have only a suit of clothes and they have seen their best days, for I see my elbows begin to show through my coat sleeves. I am almost barefoot.

I have an old pair of low shoes and every now and then I have to take them off and empty the sand out of them as the roads are very sandy and heavy. I have no socks so I will leave the reader to imagine the state of my feet, especially when I arrived at the end of my journey.

If I had liked I could have made myself miserable, but no! I put my trust in the Lord and He blessed me with a light heart, occasionally singing a hymn ...

We called at Pokea .. they had no poi in the house, but they gave us some fish, and after resting awhile we continued our journey to Kauwila where we stopped and bathed and ate some sugar cane. 

We reached Kamalua about sunset but could not obtain a house in which to stop so we had to continue on ... ten or twelve miles farther, in the dark.

Brother Keanu being tired out stopped at Kiliula and I pursued my journey alone to Waialua. I arrived about nine o'clock. 

Brother King was praying when I got to the house so I stood outside until he finished although it was raining pretty hard and had been for the last mile or so. With the rain and perspiration I was wet through and had to change my clothing. I had traveled 15 hours and walked about 40 miles. I suppered on poi and hee (squid)." 

I'm quite certain that next year at this time my shoes will have no holes and they will not have to carry me 40 miles on Christmas Day. I hope that I remember to count my many blessings and sing a hymn.

Another inspiring Christmas entry occurs in Frederick's journal when he and his brother, Charles C. Hurst, were serving in New Zealand on a mission to the Maoris. When his call was received, Frederick had described his feelings this way: 

"I felt at once to drop everything pertaining to my business and fix up my family as well as possible and be prepared to start with the rest of the missionaries. Means, I had none, and no property to dispose of, however ... President Brigham Young informed me that he had instructed Bishop W. B. Preston to look after my family and see that they would be provided for while I was away."

A few months into the mission, on Christmas Eve that year, he wrote: 

"I could not help thinking of home. What a good time the children would have hanging up their stockings, and wondered if Santa Claus would remember them all round with his usual liberality. I heartily wish them all a happy time, and a Merry Christmas all round. But I find I must change the subject."

No doubt he was homesick, but on the following day, Christmas, Frederick recorded:

"Took a walk round the bay, found a secluded spot on the side of a mountain. While reading from Hebrews 13;5, I was very much comforted by the words, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." I read the whole epistle of James, and then sought the Lord to open up our way in this mission, that the hearts of the people might be softened, and that He would give us, His servants, influence among the people to do good. For I earnestly desire to be more actively engaged. I returned comforted.

I spent the day drawing and finishing up some of the sketches ... It has been a beautiful day. Took another walk this evening ...

We had quite a Christmas dinner, a small piece of roast beef, and the lady of the house sent several pieces of plum pudding."

Rather than dwell on his loneliness, Frederick chose to spend Christmas reading the words of the Savior, whose birth he was celebrating, and then sought guidance to serve Him better on his mission.

The following, though not in Frederick's own words, is written about his Christmas time back in Utah, working at the remote Ruby Valley Pony Express Station: 

The Indians in the vicinity at that time were very hostile, since they felt that the white man was usurping their lands and food supplies.

The winter was exceptionally severe, and many of the tribesmen and their families were dying of cold and hunger.

Frederick believed in the policy of Brigham Young - that of feeding the Indians rather than fighting them - and being a naturally kind-hearted man, he desired to alleviate their suffering. Many times he gave the Indians who came to the station bread and also a kind of poi he had learned to make in the Islands.

At Christmas time he gave them a special treat of a large plum pudding which he had steamed in flour sacks over a bonfire. The Indians were deeply appreciative of these acts of kindness and often warned him of hostile bands who were bent on destroying the station. Thus he had time to secure proper defenses.

Great, Great Grandfather Hurst's wonderful example of Christmas behavior inspires me.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The following video is Andrew and my Merry Christmas wishes to you all! It was filmed at our ward party. You might recognize a familiar face somewhere else in the video ...

Look what came in the mail today!

We've been hovering around our mailbox for days waiting for a large white envelope from Salt Lake City. 

Our previous Stake President told us that all mission calls come to St. George on Thursdays, but there was no large packet for us in the box that day. 

Of course, we assumed that meant the postman would deliver it Friday for sure, but no, not so. 

Our Bishop told us that all mission calls come to St. George on Saturday. We decided he must be more up to date than the previous Stake President. 

Saturday morning we leaped out of bed to get all of our chores done before the mail arrived. Dean was outside washing windows in twenty-nine degrees so nothing would distract us from our postal vigil. But, no, nothing in the box.

Just to be sure, Dean checked the neighbors' mailboxes, three houses in each direction, on the chance that the mailman was careless. After all, our neighbor's flyers were in our box two days in a row. But, no large white envelopes graced their boxes either. 

He hopped in the car and chased down the mail truck. He told the carrier, "My wife made me come ask you a question. Has all of the mail been sorted today, or is there still some in the post office?" (I'm not quite sure I sent him on that errand, but I didn't keep him from it either.) Unfortunately, she said that every single piece of mail had been sorted and delivered.

Today, Monday, found us in the temple, fully aware that the mailman would come and go beyond our watchful eyes. During a break in my assignments, I scurried home, and there it was! I stashed it in my purse, along with a letter opener and hurried back to the temple to find Dean.

By the time his shift was over, most of the temple workers were aware of the letter in my purse and were as nervous as I was to open and read it. Nevertheless, we found a private spot and shared the special moment of receiving a call from the Lord together.  

I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas

One of my funniest Christmas memories was the year that Dad and some other church leaders in our ward lip-synced, "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas" at our ward Christmas party. I don't recollect all the details, but if my memory serves me correctly, he was wearing a curly wig for the performance. I'm sure such silliness was outside his comfort zone. 

I wish I had a video of them, but since there isn't any evidence of the hilarity, you'll have to imagine him on stage with other priesthood leaders singing the song in the video below. This version is a condensed version of the original song by Yogi Yorgessen.