Anticipation Builds for Youth Group’s Spiritual Journey to Illinois
Kara SchofieldFeature Photo: Prosper youth orchestra of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photo by Rich Thrasher.
Youth and their families of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Prosper, Texas, attended an evening gathering on Sunday, April 23, to kick off an upcoming summer youth trip to Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo, a small town of about 1,100 residents on a bend of the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa, is a place of significance in the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ. The church, formally organized in April 1830 by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, was headquartered in Nauvoo from 1839 to 1846, and the town population climbed to over 10,000 residents during this time.
The Prosper gathering included spiritual messages about Jesus Christ and the faith of the early Saints. Approximately 140 teens performed a selection of choral and orchestral songs of worship — arranged especially for the event — to honor the life of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith’s role as the first prophet of what members of the Church of Jesus Christ call the Restoration or the “latter days.” Several other teens showcased artwork centered on themes of church history and Joseph Smith’s life, faith in the Savior, and the natural beauties of the Mississippi.
Youth display their Nauvoo-inspired artwork. Photos by Cherise Sallaway.
Around 340 youth ages 14-18 and 40 youth leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ in Prosper will attend the five-day trip to Nauvoo by bus. There they will experience historic sites that tell the story of early church members, including the life and death of Joseph Smith, who was killed by an unlawful mob in 1844 in a jail in nearby Carthage, Illinois. A central event in the schedule is for the teens to attend a worship session in the Nauvoo Temple, built in 2002 and one of 315 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints currently operating, under construction, or in planning stages across the globe. President Russell M. Nelson has said, “The temple, the House of the Lord, stands as a symbol of our faith in life after death and as a stepping stone to eternal life for us and our families.”
“The temple, the House of the Lord, stands as a symbol of our faith in life after death and as a stepping stone to eternal life for us and our families.”
President Russell M. Nelson
Kara Schofield lives with her husband, nearly grown youngest, and the family doodle in the Prosper Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She can often be found at one keyboard or another: writing, documenting personal and family history, accompanying school choirs, and learning how to play jazz music. Her greatest joys are her four children and their spouses, a sizable extended family, pies, mountains, and Jesus Christ.
