What on earth am I doing?

You may well be wondering to yourself, “How can that clown be off gallivanting around Church history sites right now?  Isn’t he teaching?  Doesn’t he have a job?”

Your questions would be understandable.

I do indeed have a job.  And, yes, we’re well into the Fall 2015 term at BYU.  I’m teaching IHum 242, MESA 250, Arabic 362, and Arabic 490R.

So how am I out here in Ohio?

Excellent question.

I was approached to lead this group back toward the beginning of the year.  I ran the idea past the appropriate folks at BYU and obtained clearance for it, on condition that I could cover my classes.

Thanks to the generous kindness of Andrew Smith, one of the finest students I’ve ever had at BYU, who is now a doctoral candidate at Claremont Graduate University and who has been a helpful colleague in the Interpreter Foundation, my classes are covered.

And others have been generous with their time, too.

Lachlan Mackay took us around the Joseph Smith historic sites in Nauvoo.

Susan Easton Black invited us to an evening lecture on Emma Smith that she gave in Nauvoo, took us around several important sites there the next afternoon, and gave a special lecture to our group on the second evening, focused on Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign.

Here in the Kirtland area, Karl Ricks Anderson spent today with us at such sites as the Kirtland Temple, the reconstructed Kirtland village, and the Isaac Morley farm.  We’ve been able to see some things that tourists typically don’t see.  He’ll be with us tomorrow, as well.

I’m deeply grateful to all of them.

Posted from Mentor, Ohio