← Don't Miss This Study
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- [00:02]
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Hi there. Welcome to Don't Miss this, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman.
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Each week we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss.
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Thanks for listening. Hi there, everyone. I'm Dave Butler.
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I'm Grace Freeman.
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C
Welcome to Don't Miss this, our weekly scripture study.
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Oh, I thought you were going to say class, so I was waiting for that, y'.
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All.
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We just so you know, we're a.
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Little bit off on our schedule.
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A
I think this is coming out October 20th.
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C
I'm. I'm headed to the Holy Land for a trip, so we're. We're a little ahead on, on our lesson. So this is the very first time that we've recorded after kind of a troublesome week that we had just having President Nelson pass away and all of the sweet remembrances of, of him and just what that feels like to lose a beloved leader. Even though we're confident in the church moving forward and the Savior leading the work, it just is. It's tender and sad to say goodbye. And then of course, like the tragedy that happened up in Michigan just right after that. So this is our very first time recording since something like that happened. And we're on a field trip today. We're going to Nauvoo. And I just kind of think that is super, super fitting in context because.
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We'Ve read about a lot of sad.
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Things that happen in church history. Then you get to Nauvoo, and Nauvoo seems to be this, like, happy spot. It's like this even when you go to Nauvoo and we'll take you there if you've never been in just a second. It just is this time of, of new revelations, of temple building, of people finally got to plant their gardens and have neighbors and white picket fences. It just has that kind of feeling and vibe to the whole thing. And so our whole lives are going to be filled with both sadness and happiness and tragedy and restoration and all those things. And this particular chapter feels like a.
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A
Great spot to celebrate just a happy.
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C
Just a happy moment in the history of the church.
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And that is one of the reasons that the tippins. It just feels so needed right now, at least in my life, that I. I'm so excited about these tip ins. And it's because there's this verse that we're going to study that talks about a house that will be built, a house of refuge. And it is in doctrine and covenants 1, 24, 23, and it talks about it Being a good house, a house where when you are tired and exhausted from the world, that you can go there and find peace. And that would have been really needed for the saints back then and is still just as needed today. And it gives us a second, these tippins do, to pause. And rather than thinking about the house that they would have built so long ago, it, I feel like, gives us this chance to pause and think about the world around us and mortality and all of the things going on and everything in the news and everything in our neighborhoods and everything that we're thinking about and saying, wait, how can I build my house into a home of refuge, a home like this, to pause, think of ideas, and remember that even in a chaotic world, even in a messy world, even in a tragic world, there can still be homes that are refuge.
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C
Yeah. It just made me think about the parable of the Good Samaritan and that inn. And historically, you may know this, but historically, those inns that they're talking about in that parable, they were put into the places of greatest danger and the places of greatest hurt on the pathway that was close to some of the hurt. And I just think that is also a call and a reminder to be that little inn, like we have a chance in these places of hurt in our lives, in our neighborhoods and families, friends, whatever, to become that refuge, to become that little inn. It kind of goes along with this word that you'll find in section 124 about holy, and we'll talk about that, too in the lesson when we get there. But this word holy, remember, in Scripture, holy means the opposite of ordinary or the opposite of profane, which is another word for. For ordinary doesn't mean that today, but it meant just ordinary to be someone or something different. And I. I see a connection there. To have lives, to have homes that are something different than the ordinary. They are. They're holy. Their refuge. They're. They're safe. They're encouraging. They're. They're sacred places. And so that can be a great talk by defining this word and then leaving this. This poster up as a reminder to create lives and homes of holiness, something different than the ordinary. I mean, right. Don't you want to. Like, we hear so much when you're out and about in school and working in the news and then come back to a place that is holy. So that can be a reminder through the week, too.
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So there's your intros for it.
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We are so excited for you to.
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To go to Nauvoo on this field trip. And then we will see you next week. Hi, everyone, I'm David Butler.
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D
I'm Emily Freeman.
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Welcome to Don't Miss this. Here we are again on one of our field trips and we are particularly happy because this is Nauvoo. I mean, such an awesome city. City of Joseph, this place that just, ah, this is just amazing. We're going to show you a couple places here and can't wait to be here to teach this lesson. Section 124 in this place. Let's catch you up a little bit from last week. History wise. Joseph, remember, was in Liberty Jail. Those sections we read were right at the end of his stay in Liberty Jail. And he'll be there until April of 1839. But the fall before 1838 is when the extermination order happened. They had to leave Missouri right when he was in prison for all of those months through that winter. And they came across the river into Illinois, but had nowhere to go. But luckily they came into Quincy, which is a city that everybody who was there just took all of the saints in and gave them shelter and gave them food and took care of them in that place. And remember when President Hinckley dedicated the Nauvoo Temple, he actually paid tribute to that city and the people who were there for their kindness and taking care of all the saints. Well, eventually they buy this land where Nauvoo is now. And when they got here, it was a nasty swamp. And they come in the summer of 1839 and it is just gross. And they have to dig all these ditches and work together to drain this place to make the city what it is today. And you might remember that when they got here because it was just mosquito and muck infested, that everybody got sick either with malaria or some sort of disease like that. It was just gross. And there is a day in history that you ought to go read a little bit more about called, what they called the Day of God's Power where Joseph was sick. And he called in, oh, was it Brigham? I can't remember. Called in some elders to be healed. And then he just started going from tent to tent to tent, healing people of their illnesses. It's almost like this wasn't always the case with him, but he was just given like the green light to heal and everybody. And he does and he moves. There were even some citizens on the other side of the river from the city called Montrose with a man with a pair of sick twins, not of our faith, who heard and sent a message to Joseph and He says, I hear you have the gift to heal. Will you heal my twins who have the same illness? Anyways, just an amazing day with a lot of accounts. And that's how like this whole city begins. It's how it all begins.
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D
I love thinking when I come here that sometimes in our life we have liberty moments, which is what we talked about last week. And sometimes in our life we have Nauvoo moments. And Nauvoo moments, in my mind is a gathering, a period of joy, a rest, peace for a time. It's the welcoming in, and that's why we started our video right here, is because we want to talk about some of the lessons from Nauvoo that have to do with that welcoming in and what happened there. But do we want to do the proclamation first before I go there?
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Yeah, okay. Okay, first. Well, first let's do this because this will be on your paper there. What we've called like the foundations of this city. It's neat that their beginning stories are stories of kindness, they're stories of miracles, and it's stories of sacrifice and unity. Right. Those are the foundations of this city. Nauvoo, a Hebrew word that means beautiful place. And it's neat to think about that. So section 124 comes when they've been here for a while and the city is going and moving. And one of the things that is revealed to them in section 124 is to write a proclamation to the world. We just had one of those recently. That was the sixth proclamation to the world. The fifth one was the one on the family, the fifth. This was the first one. So in the first couple verses of section 124, there is an assignment from the Lord to write a proclamation to Earth. And we want to read you a little bit of it because it's so awesome.
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D
Let's just say that while you're getting into it, it's going to be a solemn proclamation. Tell the verse you're at in verse 2. In verse 3, it shall be made to all the kings of the world, to the four corners thereof, to the honorable president elect and the high minded governors of the nation and. And to all the nations of the earth. So it's gonna go out everywhere, which in our time, it feels easier than it did in their time. In fact, just say what it says at the end of the proclamation right now. It's so funny about. If you want a copy of this.
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Oh yeah. It's like, if you'd like a copy of this, we can give you 100 copies for 50 cents and all editors, will you please put this in your newspapers? So neat.
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D
I love verse four, which says, let it be written in the spirit of meekness and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be in you at the of the writing of the same. So you just love. Just. It's almost like that defines the spirit of a proclamation.
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Right. Which is a pattern that still continues today, that same spirit of writing them.
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D
So some you're going to love. We're just going to read a couple years from so long the longest proclamation ever written.
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A
Yeah. Jenny and three of my kids memorized the proclamation that was given last year from President Nelson at conference. And now I want to give him this one just like. Why don't you try and memorize this one? A proclamation of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to all the kings of the world, to the President of the United States of America, to the governors of the several states, and to the rulers and people of all nations. Greeting. And it says this. Ready know ye the kingdom of God has come, as has been predicted by ancient prophets and prayed for in all ages. Even that kingdom which shall fill the whole earth and shall stand forever. That the great Elohim Jehovah has been pleased once more to speak from the heavens. So it's just this very noble and bold and beautiful proclamation. And we just want to tell you this one part it right smack dab in the middle that just like caught our hearts as we read it. And it says this. Come then calling to all these people of the world. Come then to the help of the Lord. Let us have your aid and your protection and your willing and hearty cooperation in this, the greatest of all revolutions. And that to me is so rad to put it in language like that, like this is a revolution, a fight against evil and a fight for a good cause, and that will one day have the kingdom of God filling the entire earth. I love how big they thought from this place, you know, in a dungeon prison, that, you know, those were the liberty moments. But here in Nauvoo, it's like, oh, it's just growing and big and beautiful.
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D
And gathering and going out all over the whole world. There's several lessons in this chapter. We're going to take you to different parts of Nauvoo for each of the lessons. But we chose this part because one of our favorite lessons from. From 124 happens here. And it's in verses 22 and 23 are where I'm going to start, and this is going to tell you a little bit about this house. It says, let my servant George and my servant Lyman and my servant John Schneider and others build a house unto my name. Such a one as my servant Joseph shall show unto them upon the place which he shall show unto them also. And it shall be, the scripture is so good, I have this hanging in my house right above my fireplace. And it shall be for a house, for boarding, a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein. Therefore, let it be a good house worthy of all acceptation, that the weary traveler may find health and safety while he shall contemplate the word of the Lord. And then a little bit down in the next verse from that, it says, if it shall be built unto my name, it shall be holy. I love that verse so much. In fact, several years ago, I read that verse in August. For some reason, I was in this section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and I read that verse and I thought, I really want that to be my house. That's. That's how I want my house to be described. And I was riding in the car with Megan and Grace, and I said to them, what if we choose a theme scripture for the school year? We had never done that before in our life, but just that year, it felt like the right thing to do. And maybe you've always picked a theme scripture for your school year, or maybe you never have in your life and there's an invitation for you. Some years are really good for a themed scripture for the year. So my girls loved the scripture, too. So we were like, yeah, that will be our scripture. And what we wanted to learn from it was this idea of that people could come, it would be a good house, everyone was going to be welcome there, and they'd find safety there, and you'd be able to talk about the word of the Lord there. I just loved that it was this welcoming in and this gathering spot. And in my mind, this is what I envisioned for that year. Megan was a senior, Grace was in ninth grade. And I thought to myself, what I will do to live this scripture is I will make sure my pantry is always full with brownies and stuff to make Rice Krispie treats. And I will get enough stuff that if anyone wants to come over for lunch ever during the school year, my girls could bring their friends home and we would give lunch to people. And in my mind, that was how we were going to live out that scripture. It's so interesting to me when the spirit and I Do not have matching visions of how the year's going to turn out, because what really happened, I did go buy all the brownies and the Rice Krispie treat stuff and also all the lunch stuff, just in case someone showed up. And then what happened is in October, someone did show up. There was a knock on the door, and it was a boy from the lacrosse team my husband had coached who wanted to turn his life around. He had seen what had happened in Garrett's life. Garrett was currently serving his mission, and he wanted to have the same experience and start going to church again. And he wanted to prepare for a mission. And he asked if he could move in the house. And so we put him in the room upstairs. No one was using it, so that was perfect. We put him in the room upstairs. Well, in December, Greg's sister called and had been having troubles in her marriage and had decided that she needed to separate from her husband for a time. And she called to ask if we had a place where she could come and stay while that was going in. And so she moved in with her kids. And as we thought about the best thing to do, we decided maybe she should go in the basement where the girls room was. Megan and Grace. And we decided to move them into the little living room with the grand piano, which was fine because we just put bunk beds in there. And I bought one of those little divider things and also those little standup hanging things for their closets. We just stuck them in there and that was perfect. Greg had an office upstairs where there were six people who. Their business was up there. So that was the other bedroom. And. But it was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine. And then we had a son come home from his mission, and we just stuck him up in the room with Ian. And four months later we had another son come home from his mission. So we stuck him up in the room with Ian. And there was a boy in our neighborhood who was struggling at the time. He was okay to sleep at his house, but he wanted to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and spend every waking hour at ours. So he lived in the kitchen. That's where what happened with him. And then Caleb was going to come home for the summer from college. His. His thing, his rent had ended, and by the time we got to Caleb, there was going to be 11 people living in our house at that time. And I can remember when Caleb was coming home thinking, somebody's got to go, like, we don't have any more room and we don't have any more Money for all these people that we're feeding. And. And I knelt down to pray about what were we going to do. We had a business that was not thriving. We had all these people living in the house. Meanwhile, all those four kids who were now in high school who lived in my house did bring their friends home for lunch. And we made turkey bacon avocado sandwiches every single day for lunch and used all the brownies and all the Rice Krispies all the time. And I can remember kneeling down and saying to the Lord, I don't have any more room. The only place that was left was to put a mattress under the ping pong table in the basement. That was it. That was all that was left. And as I thought about who was going to go under the ping pong table, and I just knelt down and said, stop, we have no more vacancies here. The spirit said to me, and, and no way to feed all the people. The spirit said to me, is the boy upstairs more important than the ping pong table? Which is clear as day. And of course, the boy was more important than the ping pong table. And then the spirit said this. You provide the space. Let me provide the means. And we were provided for in that time, miraculously provided for. And I look back at that time and it is some of the sweetest memories of the house that we live in. And what I will remember the most for the rest of my life about our house is that little window of time which was what we call the welcoming inn. That's what it was. And the moments I will remember most are around the kitchen counter making those brownies and their ice Krispie treats and the turkey sandwiches every day for lunch. You even came over sometimes that year for lunch with all those kids in the kitchen.
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A
That's when Caleb wrote that email and he said, oh, and when did David become a member of the family? Do you remember? Or when was that on his mission?
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I can't remember.
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D
But he was like, ps, everywhere you move in. And the other times that I won't ever forget are we moved scripture study till 9:45 at night so everyone could come, even the boy down the street. And we would all squish together in our family room, which is not very big, and, and everyone had a certain place and we would read our scriptures for 15 minutes and then we would talk. And I just, every time I read this, I think to myself about this house for boarding. A house that strangers may come to lodge in a good house that everyone would be welcome in, that the weary traveler would find help and safety while he would contemplate the word of the Lord. And that is what the. That year was. It was just a time when we were all strengthened by each other and by the Word of the Lord. And every time I come to Nauvoo, this is the place I stop first, because this is what I want in a home. If I could have anything for a home, I don't care what the front looks like. I don't care what color the carpet is. I don't care what the furniture is. But I want my home forever to be known as this home, as a section 1, 24, 23 home. That's. That's the definition of the home I want.
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A
And this house that they built behind us was really built for that purpose, to be a hotel. Those verses are talking about a hotel. But what's so interesting is, if you didn't know that, you would think they were talking about a temple. It's so powerful to me that he uses the same words for a place of hospitality that he's going to use for a place of worship, which I think that's really, really instructive in this section, because then next, right after, he's going to say, and I want you to build a house of God, meaning a temple. It's funny, because it really is the same words.
- [21:19]
D
You have to watch to see which house he's talking about. This house he gives a name for in verse 60. It's going to be the Nauvoo House, is what he's going to call it. A resting place for the weary, which is.
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A
And all the, like, dignitaries and everybody, they planned on coming to Nauvoo.
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D
And then the other house will obviously be the Nauvoo Temple. And so you want to watch for references to both.
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A
Yeah. You'll find at least some of the verses about the Nauvoo Temple, starting in verse 26. And I have always loved the way that these verses talk about it. Because for Solomon's temple and the temple in the wilderness with Moses, there is really similar language because it says in 26, send swift messengers, chosen messengers, and say to them, come with your gold and your silver, your precious stones, with all your antiquities. Those who have knowledge of antiquities, come, bring the box tree and the fir tree and the pine tree with all the precious trees, and iron and copper and zinc and brass, and with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my name for the Most High to dwell therein. And I love the thought of him saying, we are about to build a house to honor and worship God. So bring the very best that you have, bring your finest. And that is a principle that we've talked about a lot and we love so much that it's like in both of those places, if you're going to be showing love to God, bring your finest. And if you're going to be showing love to people, bring your finest. And that is this city encapsulates what it looks like to live the two great commandments in action on the banks of a muddy river.
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D
Okay, we're at my favorite house in Nauvoo right now. This is the Sarah Granger Kimball home. One thing we want you to know right off the bat about Sarah Granger Kimball is that her dad was Oliver Granger. And do you remember his story? He's the one who was sent back to Kirtland to try and settle all that debt. He's the one who the Lord said his sacrifice would be more important to him than his increase. And I love that that is Sarah's dad because we're going to see that he handed that down to her. Sarah is came to Nauvoo. She married someone who was not a member of this faith. And which is interesting to me. And one of the things that I love that she still was so committed into what was going on here, even as she worked through that with her marriage. Her husband will eventually convert to the faith. They have six kids, three of them are adopted. And you're just dying to know all the stories about this woman. She was a thinker, she's a go getter. She's strong minded. She will have a lot to do with women's suffrage. So just one of those women that you just can't help but admire.
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A
One of the things I read about her once is they said she is the kind of woman who has the courage to say what she thinks. So what do you want to think about that?
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D
I love women like that. So one of my favorite things about this woman that we don't ever talk about is it was Sarah Granger Kimball who had the idea that is going to lead to the relief society program of the entire church. Church. And this is where it happened was in this house. And what happened is every day when she was in her kitchen just doing the work of being in this home, she could look out the window and it probably was that window right there. And she had a straight shot view to the building of the temple that was going on. And every day as she would watch out that window, she would think to herself, what could I do to help further the work? And obviously the women were not up there cutting stone and, and doing all the work of building a temple. But she really wanted to be involved in that. And so she talked to her friend who was a good seamstress, and she said to her, I'm not great at sewing, but I could buy the flannel. And her friend said I could sew. And what if we got a whole bunch of women together and we, we just had this little society that was start making flannel shirts for the men who were working at the temple. And so they decided that's what they were going to do. There were 12 women who came to that very first meeting and talked about how as a women's society, they could sacrifice for the good of what was happening here. When I go in that house, I love to stand at the window and just look out at the temple. There's a tree in the way of this window now. So if you ever come, come here, you have to actually stand in this window right here and you just have a clear view of the temple. And I love that Sarah Granger Kimball was a woman whose home was faced towards the temple and that it was that temple that helped to mold and create all of the desires of what she was doing in her day to day. It makes me think to myself, am I that same type of woman that I would do that? And the thought that she brings these women all together and then they're going to have these future service projects. And this is from this meeting is when Eliza R. Snow puts together that formal guidelines that they're going to have, and then they're going to end up moving over to the red brick store, which we're going to take you to in just a minute, and starting what will become the Great Relief Society that fills the entire earth. One of the words we want to focus on right now in this next segment, we have two stories we're going to tell you. Sarah's is one of the stories is the word if. It's so interesting in scripture when the Lord uses a word like if, because what it tells us is he's going to give us an invitation that if we enter into, great blessings will come. And one of those invitations has to do with the building up of the Nauvoo Temple. And it's an invitation that Sarah Granger Kimball grabbed onto and it changed not just her destiny, but the destiny of every single woman in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's found in section 124, verses 43 and 44. And it says this, talking about the temple. And ye shall build it on the place where you have contemplated building it. For that is the spot which I have chosen for you to build it. If you labor with all your might, I will consecrate that spot that it shall be made holy. And I love that if in there, if you labor with all your might. It's so individual. It's individual to every person who lives in all of Nauvoo. And that if included a woman who lived in a tiny white house on the outskirts of town, who just in her normal ordinary duty and work of her house, would look out her window every single day and say, how can I help? And her accepting that if to labor with all her might is going to create a holy place, not just for her and not just for those 12 sisters who walked in the door of this home and had a vision of a group of women who would be able to serve not just in Nauvoo, but eventually across the whole entire world. That one if and this one window in this house and that view of the temple created something bigger than Sarah Granger Kimball could have probably ever imagined. And when Joseph hears about this conversation that takes place in the walls of this home, he says to all these ladies in Nauvoo, you all come over to the red brick store, because I have something in mind for you that is bigger than any of them probably could have imagined. So we want to take you from Sarah Granger Kimball's house over now to the red brick store and just tell you a little bit about that.
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A
Well, before we do that, I just think when you were reading that there's that one spot in 43 where he says they're talking about the temple, but it says build it on the place that you contemplated building it. And I love that someone had already been thinking in their mind this would be a good spot for a temple. And the Lord's like, yep, that little contemplation is spirit led. And just how her right, her idea is like, hey, you know that idea you've been contemplating as you've been looking out the window, Move on it. Because you moving on, that one is about to turn into something holy. Yeah.
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D
So it's so neat to so good. So we're going to take you over now to the red brick store, which you're also going to love. There's not one bit of this whole video today that you're not going to love.
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A
That's A prophecy.
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D
Okay, this is the red brick store, everybody. So it's in the top of this store where the Release Society comes together like it all comes to fruition. And I love that as they're talking about what the name of that organization is going to be, they toss around the idea of Relief Society. And Eliza R. Snow actually does not like the name at all because she said it sounds as though they were responding to extraordinary occasions instead of meeting the common occurrence. And you love Emma's reply to that. She says, we are going to do something extraordinary. We expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls. Who loves that vision from the very beginning from Emma? Sarah Granger Kimball. You love the end of her story as much as you love the beginning here in Nauvoo. And that what we learned about her, about contemplating and always just thinking about how to gather the women of the church, that's what she'll spend the entire rest of her life doing, is gathering and leading the women of the church. In 1867, she's called to be the Relief Society president in her ward in Salt Lake. And it's a position that she will serve in for the rest of her life until she dies. 42 years, she's the Relief Society President. Can you imagine? 42 years. I also love that she is the one in 1868, you love this. That laid the cornerstone for the first Relief Society building of the church. Don't you love that they chose her? I just a little bit love because she's the one who just stood at that window and saw the temple and was like, I could help with flannel shirts, you know? And then that's the beginning of that whole thing. Then, in addition to being the Ward Release Society president, she got called to be the general secretary of the Release Society. And after that, she became a counselor in the General Release Society. And she served both callings, the counselor in the General Release Society and the president of her Relief Society. Here's your favorite. At the same time, at the same.
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A
Time, till she died, she called herself as the first counselor.
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D
No, she served as a counselor in the General Relief Society.
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A
Was there no one else?
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D
Confusing. Served as a counselor in the General Relief Society, everybody. And still was her ward Relief Society president. She died on December 1, 1898. And this is what I love about her. Guess what it says on her tombstone? Strong minded and warm hearted. Is that so cute? We love her. So as you think about Sarah Granger Kimball, we want you to think of the power of that word if and those moments when we contemplate what the Lord might have in store for us as we look to future events and future things that we might be involved in. And just that blessing that comes when we take the ifs that the Lord invites us into.
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A
Yeah, because it's going to extend even bigger than just a worldwide organization. It's really powerful to me that the Relief Society was organized up on the second floor of this building. This is an ancient wagon passing behind us like we have gone back in time, essentially. You're welcome. But up on the upper floor of this building, when Joseph gathers them together and he says, oh, like what you've put together is really powerful and it's really good, but not quite big enough. He says to them, this society is to get instruction through the order which God has established through the medium of those appointed to lead. And now I turn a key in the name of God, and this society shall rejoice, and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time. Do you remember when Joseph organized what was called the School of the Prophets back in Kirtland, where it was a society of people gathered together to prepare themselves to enter into the presence of.
- [34:06]
D
God and you love. Let me just add in here that Sarah Granger Kimball, did you know, attended those meetings. She was part of that. I just love the thought of that.
- [34:15]
A
Now it is being extended to all the women of the church, this school of the prophetesses. And up here in the second floor is where the ordinances of the endowment and sealing were first administered. And that is how Joseph connected them together. That the Relief Society was to prepare women to enter into the presence of God to be sealed together. Kings and queens, priests and priestesses. It had a big, big mission. In fact, if you look in that. In that chapter that we've been in, chapter 124, section 124, here are a couple purposes of the temple that they were building, and it will connect it to the. The purposes of relief. I mean, it's crazy just looking out the window with a flannel shirt. It's like, oh, my darling. Three verses to look at the purposes of the temple. 28 to restore again that which was lost or which he has taken away, even the fullness of the priesthood. And also in verse 40, where he says, and verily let this house be built, that I may reveal ordinances unto my people. And 55 which says, build this house and look at the end, that I may bless you and crown you with honor, immortality and eternal life. The vision that he had for this society of women that began in A small window with a flannel shirt is just extraordinary and astounding to even think about just with that word. If now we're going to go over to another spot to tell you another story that includes that word as well. Okay, this is our last stop in Nauvoo, which makes you kind of sad. Sorry, but you'll just have to come here another time. But it is so fascinating to walk up and down these streets and look at the names of people on all the houses. Some of them you recognize and some of them you don't. And just to consider what God did in all of their individual lives. And to think, like, what great things can he do with me? And what great things are in store for me? Am I going to be a Sarah Granger Kimball, or am I going to be someone like William Law? This story here in this section here is. It's so heartbreaking in actuality, but it's like, thrilling with possibility at the same time. But if you go in that section we've been in 124, William Law is called to the first presidency as a counselor in the first presidency. And he's given these potential promises. If in 97, it says, he'll be humble and receive my spirit, even the comforter who will manifest unto him the truth of all things, he says, and these signs shall follow him. This is verse 98. That he will heal the sick, he will cast out devils, will be delivered from those who try to give him deadly poison. He'll be led in paths that cannot hold him. And this line, I love this line. And he shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts as upon eagle's wings, just to think about the potential to do the very work of Jesus himself. That is his potential. And then this verse is our favorite verse. 100. Oh, we're so glad it's 100 right now. You'll never, you know, because that's like the best of the best, right? And it says, and what if. And what if I will that he should raise the dead just to think, what if I used him to do something extraordinary as raising the dead? And then this advice, let him not withhold. It's so interesting that there were those verses with Sarah Granger Kimball that said that we talked about contemplating and follow those contemplations. The same invitation was given to William. Let your imagination run on eagle's wings. Don't withhold anything. And everything is possible with you and the path in front of you. Sadly, William will ignore that counsel. Sarah Granger Kimball's following that path will lead in the Relief Society. Can you imagine multiplying all the relief societies across the world? What miracles, what like relief, what glory you're finding with that. And William Law will forever be known as being one associated with the martyrdom that turned Joseph's name over to be killed eventually. Like I said, it was heartbreaking with what actually happened, but the advice there is actually thrilling when we think about what's in front of us. What if. What if God could lead us to do the miraculous? What if he could lead us to bring down the miracles and the powers and the glory of heaven? The advice in there is let your imaginations run on eagle's wing and let him not withhold what it is that God can actually do. We hope that is something that you remember from this place in Nauvoo.
- [39:23]
D
Yeah, we love that lesson. Just as you look at. And we probably should just pull it all together. This was such a what if place. It was such a place of potential and promise. And we started out at the mansion house and talked about just that welcoming in and then the temple and that preparing for what was going to lie ahead for them. And then these two what ifs. Sarah Granger Kimball, who that one thought led to the whole Relief Society, and William Law, who we should remind them, is the one who started the expositor and wrote the letter and is the domino effect that leads to the death of Joseph Smith. And just that thought of the what ifs in our life, that we can take either side of that coin, we can embrace it and fill the earth with goodness or the opposite and just end what is happening. And to think about that as we leave from this place. Which one are you and what, what ifs are you taking in your life and not to limit God?
- [40:29]
A
Yeah, it's cool. I was just thinking that in the beginning when they got here and it was just a muddy swampland and to see, like, what it became. And isn't that neat when you think about him calling Jesus, calling fishermen just on the shores of that normal sea, those rough fishermen on just the banks of a lake.
- [40:48]
D
Yes.
- [40:48]
A
And to see what, like the what ifs and the like. That is where he shines.
- [40:52]
D
Which makes me want to go back to the proclamation and that one line in there that they invite the entire world, all the kings.
- [40:59]
A
Oh, yeah. What was the line? The greatest of revolutions.
- [41:05]
D
This was such a what if community and place in the world. And you feel the spirit of it when you come here. So this will be the end of what is nauvoo for us. And when are we doing.
- [41:21]
A
Oh, no, we'll be back with more teachings in the basement. And then we still have to go to.
- [41:28]
D
We still have to go to Carthage and we're to going to do the travel ball.
- [41:31]
C
Yeah.
- [41:31]
D
And wait, there's something else.
- [41:32]
A
Really awesome baptisms for the dead and parley. Like there's wait.
- [41:36]
C
Yeah.
- [41:36]
A
This is just the first time of Nauvoo. Welcome to the party. Just getting started.
- [41:40]
D
So many things still to come.
- [41:42]
A
Okay, we'll see you next week. If you want to follow along in everything we're doing, you can find us on Instagram at don't miss this study, at this week's Grace and at MrDave Butler.
- [41:52]
B
And if you want to subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found@don'tmissthisudy.com.
- [41:58]
A
See you next week.