Cullen Clan: 2025

Saturday, December 20, 2025

There and Back Again: Week 50: OUR 32nd Anniversary!

THIS week was so fun. We had an activity night where everyone who performed anything at the Christmas Walk did a "re-do" for the mission so we could ALL see each other's efforts.

Then we watched Scrooge with Albert Finey...the BEST. Then we Caroled for the Town of Carthage Event for FOUR hours.

Elder Cullen and I only did two of the 4 hours because it was our 32nd wedding anniversary and we wanted to go to dinner.

He ALWAYS gets a Mochahete and I always get the chicken soup. BOTH last us 2 or three meals!

Then we put on a christmas show for the homeless/people in need Christmas dinner in Fort Madison.

And today I taught a Candy Chemistry Class for the local homeschoolers. I showed them a video on chemical conversion that I made a while back.

We made homemade peppermint patties, cherry cordials, and toffee.

ALSO this week as I helped the Blue Belles Clean on Wednesday I had the honor of deep cleaning a bathroom. My favorite.

The shower curtain rod was rusted. It was still strong and secure...just oxidizing. If left alone it would eventually dissolve away and break and be useless for the purpose it was created.

I went at it with a green scrub pad and barkeepers friend (which is not good for shiny chrome by the way) and it came clean as new. It reminded me. When we tarnish ourselves with sin or find that our lack of daily soul scrubbing (repentance) is causing rusty build up in our lives...we have a FRIEND in JESUS! All it takes is for you to ask Him for help. Have a GREAT WEEK! Can't wait for Christmas next week. Ephraim is coming to spend it with us! HUZZAH!

Saturday, December 13, 2025

There and Back Again: Week 58 Sacrifices and Snow!

Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW!!! We've had more snow since Thanksgiving than all of last WINTER. Last night we had our Nauvoo Christmas Walk. We were SO blessed that there was a break in the snow, the temperature rose to about 32-34 which BELIEVE me felt warmish! LOL The Christmas Walk entailed performances by local choirs and pianists (I had a solo), A Live Nativity

The Live Nativity started with a Roman guard introducing you to the tax collector, Matthew. He testified of the Savior then gave each family a little linen bag. Then our guide took us to meet shepards who explained what they were doing and testified of Christ and gave a little tin crook for our bags, then we moved to the "field" where the Angels sang

and several other stations where we collected items and people from the Bible testified of Christ. Then there was Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. It ended with the wise men telling their story and testifying of Christ. That was very cool. Then there were other buildings where you could go in and listen to Christmas stories or play parlor games.

There were horse drawn wagon rides, the wagons were totally decorated beautifully and people caroled on the wagons. little performances were going on in the historic cultural hall and free hot cocoa and cookies...just the BEST night ever. SOOO fun. On our way out of Nauvoo we stopped by our mail box and found several Christmas Cards and several little gifts from fellow missionaries.

This morning it started snowing again and as of 1:19 our time it has dropped about 8 inches of snow. We've been plowing, blowing, and shoveling since 7am. Just to keep it manageable...I slipped while managing the blower, it lurched forward and my feet went out from underme. I flipped over on my stomach and army crawled as fast as I could away from the spinning blades. LOL I wish I had gotten that on video.

I got a phone call from missionaries in Nauvoo that a family was leaving there to come to Carthage and would I please give them a tour. INDEED! It is an honor to take a break from work to give tours. The spirit is always so wonderful.

about 45 min later I got a knock at my door. SURPRISE it was a DIFFERENT family who just happened to pull in and asked if they could please have a tour! There was a mom and dad and five sons. We went into the visitor's center and waited for the other family to arrive.

15 min later a mom and her two daughters arrived. We did the tour together. I was impressed by the amazing faith and love these parents had for their children, that they would weather the weather and allow their children these spiritual experiences and gain knowledge. Both families just HAPPENED to be from Montana, so this weather was no big deal to them...BUT their efforts were noted by me and appreciated. It made me think about sacrifice and how it works. Being a California girl...taking my family out in this weather would be a huge sacrifice...verging on crazy. But to them it was a little tough, but no big deal. As we experience life and trials let us remember that mole hills for some are MOUNTAINS to others and vis versa. We can't really judge because we don't know back stories, nevertheless...with all your stress, trials, strengths, or sense of adventure come and learn more about Christ and his servants and get stronger!

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Vinyl Revival Christmas

Saturday, December 6, 2025

There and Back Again: Week 57 SNOW MIRACLES

Elder Cullen got terribly sick on the way home from Kansas City last Sunday. He tried to work Monday, figuring he could be sick sitting in the tractor as easily as being sick in bed, but after a few hours he came in because a bolt/knob thingy on the tractor brush vibrated loose and was lost in the snow. The Brush could not function now.

The next day he was in bed all day. It had snowed again in the night and I had all of Carthage to do by myself. Since the tractor was out of commission, I got the gas powered back pack blower and started in on the sidewalks. Soon the mechanics from Nauvoo came out and discovered that the part that came off cost $90, John Deer made the bar with a special thread so that you had to buy their part, and they didn't have one in stock, it would be in by Thursday! OH NO!

The decorations crew and missionaries helped me to shovel AND look for the part. We searched and prayed as we looked all over the parking lot for that elusive knob.

We gave up and they went on decorating fences and gates and I started decorating the inside of the Visitor's Center.

4 hours into my day, Elder Allen came into the Visitor's Center with a look of amazement on his face, "I was walking across the North lawn to help tie swag to the corner fence and when I followed my footsteps back across the lawn the knob was sitting in one of my footprints in the snow!!!"

How did the knob get SO far from the parking lot? How did it end up in his footprint when he had NOT felt like he had stepped on something large and metal while walking across the lawn? We deemed it a Carthage Miracle in the Snow. We got the part on and we were back in business. I brushed the parking lot clean.

Then I got the walking blower which the mechanics had also miraculously repaired while they were there after leaving the tractor. ALL was well in Carthage. I was greatly impressed that Heavenly Father cares a lot about keeping this place safe and beautiful.

He cares a lot about us missionaries being able to do that work and not be overworked. He sent others to help and He sent a miracle in getting the machinary up and working. Thank you God for all You do that we know about and all You do behind the scenes to help us that we don't know about.

Have a great week!

PS Elder Cullen was well enough Wednesday night to come to the Checker Tournament and win FIRST PLACE. Sister J. Won Second. LOL

Sunday, November 30, 2025

There and Back Again: Week 56 GRATITUDE for THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY THANKGIVING! We hope you all feel loved and that you have a lot to be grateful for. We were able to leave Wednesday morning to drive to Kansas City to spend the rest of the week with our son Ben, our daughter in law, Courtnie and grandson, Wells! We worked really hard on Tuesday to make sure the Visitor's Center and Jail grounds looked great.

We woke up Wednesday morning, packed and got into our car. To our DISMAY there had been a wind storm in the night and it had not only undid our work it added ten times as much debris!!! First we cried, then laughed maniacally from frustration, then WE WERE SO GRATEFUL to the Nauvoo Crew who came up with the vacuum truck and cleaned it up.

We are grateful we arrived safely to Kansas City, Grateful to find Ben and his family all well and happy. GRATEFUL to help him dig fence post holes for the picket fence he's building to keep little Wells Safe from the busy road that goes right by their front yard.

We were grateful to have such a delicious dinner!

AND to be able to play fun games with Courtnie's family Wednesday night and with Courtnie and Ben the other days.

We were grateful to go to the giving machines at the Union Station in Kansas City. Grateful to have the means to use the machines to buy people things that they couldn't provide for themselves.

SO FUN to go to the Christmas Tree Lighting party there as well.

WE were grateful to interact with our sweet grandson, Wells and create memories with him.

WE are grateful that we were able to attend Ben's Christmas Concert where he was able to play his cello!

We were grateful to spend time with his family in natural and quiet ways.

We were grateful for the rainstorm that stopped us from digging fence posts on the second day and gave us time to lay backsplash tile in the kitchen! AND the rain kept the concrete moist so we didn't have to keep going out there and watering each post.

We are SO grateful that God blessed this project and our bodies that we finished mounting all the tiles on both walls in ONE day!!!

I don't have any finished pictures! BUT, I'll have Ben send one when the grout is finished so stay tuned for next week. We are grateful that we got back to Carthage safely.

Here's a link for a giving machine near you. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/christmas/light-the-world/giving-machines?lang=eng ALSO I have a new blog for stories I'm writing. Check it out here https://dreamsshehad.blogspot.com/2025/11/chapter-1-bit-of-good-fortune.html

Saturday, November 22, 2025

There and Back Again: Week 55 So WHAT's up with Joseph Smith?

Last week I was unexpectedly called up during church to share my testimony of Joseph Smith...OH NO! I had just been writing a journal entry for the Carthage Missionary Book. I was prepared.

>My Testimony of Joseph Smith and how it has changed over the years. By Heather Cullen When I was eleven years old my life became very difficult. We moved across town and I left a ward/congregation that had many girls my age who I loved and had been with since nursery to a ward that had only two girls my age and they were best friends and made it clear there was no room for me. So church was no longer fun.

My old school was exceedingly “groovy” and did not believe in giving grades or correcting things like spelling because it might hurt our feelings and stunt our creativity. The new school we started going to was a back-to-basics charter school which relieved my mother but was very hard on me as I suddenly had to up my game educationally, they were not so impressed by creativity. So, school was no longer fun. Then my dad took in a cousin whose home was not so safe to live in. But he made our home not so safe to live in… so home was no longer fun. I became a very angry little girl.

At school it seemed that the bullies were pandered to and the “victims” were ignored. This seemed very unfair to me so I started taking matters into my own hands. I began to fight with the bullies. Even if they were bigger than me. I remember being in the office with blood on my hands and my mom weeping, “This is not the gospel way!” I was so tired of being angry and feeling guilty I decided I couldn’t do “The Gospel Way”. I decided I needed to quit church.

If I could free myself from the church I wouldn’t feel guilty all the time for how I wasn’t good enough. I told my mom and she said that if I read the book of Mormon and didn’t know it was true I didn’t have to go to church anymore. I was VERY excited about this. I was a fast reader and read copiously every day. I was sure I could finish the Book of Mormon in a week and be FREE. I started out feeling very determined and satisfied that soon my life would get better…no more church, no more rules, and Sundays would be free to play with my nonmember friends. I plowed through First Nephi, “and it came to pass….and it came to pass…” All boring.

My parents were good at having devotional. I had heard all this before. Then I got to 2Nephi chapter 4. Nephi was talking about how angry he felt and how guilty he felt about it and wondered WHY he was letting his enemies destroy his peace. I paused and thought, “WHAT? Nephi was angry? He’s a prophet, how can that be?” then I thought “Huh…maybe there’s hope for me.” The moment this thought entered my mind I felt a pouring out of the spirit like fire into my head and out to my extremities. I KNEW there was a God, He loved ME, and this book was true. I slammed the book shut and flung it from me, BUT it was too late. I knew it and I knew God knew I knew it. I had enough integrity that I couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen.

Now I had to go to church. My mom and dad weren’t making me go anymore, I went because I knew it was true. But I was still me. I still had a stressful life, I was still a problem. I felt like a wild pony that someone had gotten a halter on. OK I’m caught, but I still kick and bite. What was I to do? “It sure felt good to read that Book of Mormon” I thought to myself, “ maybe I should just keep reading.” And so, I did. I never stopped. I read it and read it, repeatedly. I read it two and three times a year. Every year of my life from that time on continued to have it’s ups and downs, but each year ended a little happier and content than the year before. Things were looking up!

I knew Joseph Smith was a prophet because I knew the Book of Mormon was true. I didn’t think about him much. As I got older I would hear people say wonderful things about “Brother Joseph” and get teary eyed and I would just think to myself, “Hmm, those are strong feelings but I don’t feel that way. I just know he’s a prophet because The Book of Mormon is true.” Then as an adult I started hearing weird stuff about Joseph and I would just have to hang those things on a “hook” so to speak. I was busy with college, raising a young family, etc.…I knew Jesus was REAL and the Book of Mormon was true, Joseph was something to deal with later because it just didn’t matter to me.

Time went on and I retired and my husband, who was a convert at age 39, and I decided to go on a mission. We applied for Mongolia, Serbia, the Philippians, and Hungary. We got called to Nauvoo, Illinois as FM missionaries. I was very confused. Nauvoo was cool and all but was it really a mission? AND what was an FM missionary? Soon we found out. It was REALLY REALLY fun. FM means Facilities Maintenance. I was helping in housing, my husband was helping in carpentry. Were missions supposed to be fun? I was ready to slog it out for Jesus in the hardest places. Why did it feel like I was having a really wonderful time? We had a lot of devotionals and trainings on church history topics.

The month we entered our mission they were in the middle of talking about plural marriage and Joseph Smith. I mentally rolled my eyes. OH Geez, I was going to finally have to stop ignoring this and face it full on. The historians gave great workshops, I studied about controversial topics regarding Joseph Smith from authors inside the church and outside of the church. I prayed and fasted that the Lord would reveal to me how I was supposed to feel about Joseph Smith.

I knew he was a prophet because the Book of Mormon was true. So what happened after that? Was he a fallen prophet? Were the accusations against him just more lies from satanic sources? Was it a little of both? Then the Spirit told me. “Write a monologue about Joseph Smith. Have him tell you about his life and why he did what he did.“ So, I began to write and research and write. I questioned the historians that hung out in Nauvoo and came to speak at our devotionals.

I started the monologue with Joseph at age 8. As he grew and changed and experienced trauma after trauma I felt as if Joseph was actually talking to me. We were becoming friends. After six months, my husband and I were transferred to Carthage. Because we were independent workers and good workers we were asked to care for all the grounds and outside of the buildings. I cried for three days like a big baby. It was SO fun being in housing with the sisters I worked with. We were like the Navy Seals of cleaning. There were so many cool things to do in Nauvoo.

Carthage was…well, it was Carthage. One story and besides that, I felt that I was now being forced to LOOK Joseph in the face and face him head on. I write this from my caretaker’s cottage. The windows of my living room and kitchen face the very window Joseph fell from on the day of the martyrdom. We have been here six months and have asked to stay here until the end of our mission six months from now. Why did I waste my time crying in Nauvoo? Carthage has become my favorite place. As I clean the statue of Joseph and Hyrum, wiping webs and bugs from their ears, nose, and eyes, I feel a motherly and protective love towards them.

Although I am an FM missionary here, on Sundays and sometimes at other times, my husband and I have opportunities to do tours! I feel the spirit here so strong you can cut it with a knife. I do not think of this place as a place of great sorrow and evil.

It is a place of triumph and glory where Joseph and Hyrum finished their earth missions with honors. My faults do not negate my awesome qualities and my awesome qualities do not negate my faults. It is the same for ALL of us including Joseph Smith. The D&C says several times that Joseph is forgiven of his sins, and ask others to forgive him of his sins.

He lied to Emma and others as he struggled to obey God and not offend people. We are all daily striving to learn how to trust God in all areas of our lives and daily repenting when we fail to trust Him and put Him first, when we sin.

I can now stand beside Joseph in full confidence and say that he was and still is a prophet in good standing with God. I can say with confidence that he is a good man, that he was a man with sins and faults and that he was repentant and void of offense towards God and man when he finished the work God gave him and sealed his testimony with his blood. Carthage is where Joseph triumphed.

He stopped fearing for his family and friends, stopped fearing his enemies, and stopped fearing what God required of him. He graduated from this earth school with honors.

Cullen Clan