I never
take vacations, the last time I left Lake Havasu for a vacation that was not a
family reunion was 2009. I did go to girls’
camp in 2010, but if you hate camping that is not a vacation. I am not a believer in the importance of
vacation, I get a breaks from school and those weeks (spring and fall) those
are spent in bed reading or just having jammie days. Oh, wait that is not true, I usually spend it
in my jammies but grading papers or working on lesson plans.
Last
week I was able to go to Nauvoo, Illinois.
I know this isn’t Disneyland or a cruise, and certainly it isn’t a huge
vacation spot in the US. In fact on our
plane trip there were 5 people on the plane that knew where it was and we had a
map. It is a small town on the
Mississippi River that has 1,100 people that live there. That has to be close to the amount of people
that Disneyland employees as cast members.
So why would that be a place I would have saved money to go?
I needed
my girls to know why we do the things we do and believe what we do. I have been blessed to grow up in my faith
unlike many others LDS people. All of my friends know that missionaries are
going out and talking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. They talk about the mission of
Christ and why His mission is just as important if not more as it was when He
was on Earth. My family listened to
Joseph Smith himself. They knew him and
believed what he said. They helped him
with food, paper, and transportation.
This was just on my mother’s side.
On my father’s side of the family, those families left England to come
to America to walk across the plains to come to Utah. How and why could they do this?
The
Knight family knew Joseph Smith they talked to him and worked with him. They were the first members of this new
church in the 1830’s. My family in England
read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true. They heard the call about gathering the ‘Saints’
and went. Sold most everything to come
across the Atlantic Ocean and then walked across most of the US to be with
those people that believed what they did.
In
Nauvoo, we were able to walk those streets that the early Mormons walked. I was able to go into the Prophet’s home, see
and go into the temple, and walk where my family walked. I read, researched, and felt like my family
was blessed to be where I felt we needed to be.
How did this help my daughters’ faith?
The
stories learned and told there helped them answer some of those questions I
wanted answered. We came home and
journal writing became important. In
fact Katie spent a great deal of time looking for a journal with the Nauvoo
Temple on it.
During this trip prayers were asked
and answered, I felt closer to my grandparents that have gone before me. I realized that because I had forefathers
that walked the US, that I can overcome some of my problems. Yes, my problems are different from theirs
but, I didn’t have my homes torn down, I didn’t have to give up my worldly
possessions, or I haven’t been ridiculed because of my beliefs. There might be people talking behind my back
about those things, but it hasn’t cost me anything.
I think like many Catholics it
would be like going to Rome. For Jews it would be like going to Jerusalem. I grew
up in the Salt Lake valley so seeing church headquarters was not a big
deal. I wanted to go someplace that was
special to my ancestors. To be in the
last place they were truly hurt by mobs and really ridiculed by the people in
surrounding areas.
I will
never regret going to Nauvoo. I am
grateful to Brett and Marie Allen for housing my family so I could afford to
go. I am thankful to Maureen Harshman
for letting me crash her vacation. I
forgot how much I missed traveling with Mo.
I am happy that my girls were not upset that we didn’t go to a fun place
for a vacation.
So why
are vacations important? Sometimes you
just need to get out of Dodge and do something you want to do. I might not be able to go on another vacation
for many more years, but I am happy that I got to do something for myself and
for my family.
