Wagon rides

Dear Family and Friends,

 It was a wonderful day serving together on the wagon. We had 3 school tours and 3 regular tours.  It was quite nice. School tours are a great way to give students a  taste of Nauvoo and often they have so much fun they bring their parents and families back for a regular tour.  This is a way to  get people softened on their views about the church.  There is a lot of bad propaganda out there and it helps build bridges.  People can come see  for themselves that we aren't so different. 

I know the Lord takes care of His missionaries.  This is an experience that was a comfort to me.  Maybe silly but not to me.  Ginger, my little Cocker Spaniel, is 13 years old.  One evening, Karen called and told me that Ginger wasn't doing well.  I told her to take her to the vet and if she was bad not to let her suffer.  That night I had a dream that I held Ginger for a while and stroked her head. She responded like she had just been missing me and got up and ran around.  The next morning when I awoke, I was so happy and then remembered it was just a dream. At morning prayers, I asked for a blessing on Ginger.  Not too much later, Karen called and told me that Ginger was running around like her old self.  It was a tender mercy for me. 

Of course, there have been many more blessings.  The Lord wants to bless each of His children and does all the time. Sometimes it's just not so easy to recognize those blessings. 

We have had some great missionary opportunities.  This past week I met 2 different families in the Scovil Bakery and was able to tell them about the temple, give them more information and invite them to the pageant.  They will call me and I'll reserve seats.  Elder talked to a bag boy at the grocery store and invited him to the pageant and also gave him some information. These are just a few of the contacts we've made.  We'll probably never know the whole story but it's fun to be a part of their lives in a positive way.

Come see us during pageant time or whenever. Just let us know when so we can get reserved seating for you and spend some time together. 

We love you as always,

Elder and Sister Long