YOU ARE INVITED!!! EXODUS MEMORIAL 179 years!

This annual event in Nauvoo, Illinois, is dedicated to remembering and honoring the departure of the Saints from Nauvoo in 1846. As the Saints left Nauvoo, they carried with them an unwavering faith in God, a bright hope for the future, and the empowering strength of their sacred covenants. Throughout their journey, they did not leave behind their covenant community; instead, they brought it with them. Our theme for the event will be Step Forward with Faith, Hope, and the Power of Sacred Covenants. Elder Cullen and I have been asked to be in charge of food for this huge Exodus Event that commemorates the fatefull day when mobs drove the members of the Church of Jesus Christ out of the United States. We're expecting 300 people to attend. When the exodus actually happend, thousands of people were driven across the frozen Mississippi. We've been told up to 500 have come in the past. We are counting on a "Widows Flour and Oil Miracle" with regard to the food if that's the case. So we're excited to do this. Hot Oatmeal (butter, brown sugar, raisons, cimmamon), Hot Biscuits and Gravy, Hot Corn Muffins with honey and butter and HOT Apple Cider. Wondering why all the food is going to be HOT? Because the temperatures are in the single digits! The day starts with grab and go HOT breakfast and picking up a name to walk for if you didn't find your own.

I have had a very fun time researching my ancestors for this event so I can walk in their name. Our daughter, Autumn, and her family are coming to walk and so is our son, Ben and his family. I have found 125 names of direct ancestors who lived in Nauvoo. Great Great Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Great Great Uncles and Aunts and Cousins from both my Mother's Mother's side and my Father's Mother's Side. Elder Cullen found 19 cousins who lived in Nauvoo that were part of this exodus and he thought he was the only member in his family!

This is Eliza Doty. When her husband Austin died in Nauvoo her brothers offered all the comfort that their money and wealth could buy for her if she and her children would leave Nauvoo and return back east to live. She remained with the Saints. She received her endowment just weeks before the temple had to permanently close. She made the journey alone with a newborn baby, four daughters and a young son, all under the age of 15. One child died on the trail, the rest arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on Sept 11, 1850. Or little Aaron Thomas Goff who was 6 years old at the Exodus and died the following year.

Elias Hicks Blackburn who had the gift of healing. He wrote in his journal, " My father died when I was one year old. In 1833 my mother moved with her family to Ohio and later to Illinois. In April 1845, I was baptized. At Nauvoo, Ill, I assisted in finishing the Temple, and in 1846 I took part in the exodus from Nauvoo. I witnessed the starting of the Mormon Battalion and spent the winter of 1846-47 in aiding the families of those who were in the Battalion. I married Sarah Jane Goff in 1847." And on and on it goes, a 4 month old, a 2 year old, a five year old, a 68 year old, family members in their 20s, 30s, 40s...all ages, all levels of finances, all walks of life, all sacrificing all they had for the right to worship Jesus Christ as they pleased. I am honored to walk for my family in Nauvoo. I will tell you how it goes when the event happens!