Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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This summer, we took our first trip to Nauvoo as a family. I've been there before—to work—when the LDS Nauvoo Illinois Temple opened for the public open house, prior to its dedication. Seems like all I had time for was shooting several stories in a short time frame and running back-and-forth back to do live shots…so I didn't get to really soak-in the experience of actually "being" in Nauvoo.
On our July trip, we toured the historic district with its restored buildings and missionary tour guides, walked through the Visitors' Center and lovely grounds, and enjoyed the Country Fair and amazing Nauvoo Pageant. We also marveled at the stately temple, overlooking the sprawling Mississippi River. In the heat of the humid Midwest summer, it's hard to visualize hundreds of freezing Mormon pioneers taking their wagons and handcarts across that river in the month of February…leaving their homes forever and not fully realizing the hardships of travel, safety, lack of food and illness that lie ahead.
The experiences of those early Saints are part of the Sunday School curriculum this year, as adults study church history and the Doctrine and Covenants. And, this Sunday on "Mormon Times TV," Susan Easton Black—a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University—will join us. She'll lend her expertise on how to make the most of your study of the Doctrine and Covenants this year.
Parenting experts Linda and Richard Eyre will also be along on our January 13 episode. They'll help us with our 2013 resolutions to set spiritual goals with our families.
We'll show you one of the fastest men on the planet. He's LDS, Irish, and has been compared to Olympic great, Usain Bolt. But, remarkably—he's technically blind. You'll find out how sprinter Jason Smyth has turned his trials into triumphs.
Plus you'll see how one young woman found a solution to the search for the modest formal dance dress—not only for herself, but for hundreds of other girls, too.