A Walk Down Parley Street

We heard about Parley street in General Conference right before we left so we decided to walk down it to the river before dinner on Monday night. There are plaques that line the street with quotes from saints who had lived in Nauvoo at the time of Joseph Smith. It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was starting to set and there was a nice breeze and a comfortable temperature. The circumstances for our walk were quite different from those of the saints who were forced to leave in the cold, ice and snow. As we walked down, I turned to look back at the temple and tried to imagine what those faithful saints must have felt like. To be forced out of a city, beautiful, leaving behind a temple they had just built. What a trial. What a test of faith. What would I have done? I want to think that I would have been faithful and continued to "press forward with a perfect brightness of hope." But would I have? I have visited Nauvoo 3 times prior to this and I always seem to come away with the same feelings of gratitude for the early saints. They are an inspiration to me. My trials will most likely be very different than the ones they faced but my goal is to face them with the same faith and hope and obedience.