Mucky Stuff!

There is a line in the Pageant that has taken on a whole new meaning. Charles Makepeace and King Follette are digging a ditch to let the water drain off the swampy area of Nauvoo into the Mississippi River. "This is mucky stuff, your Majesty!" Charles Makepeace says.
Glenn is covered with that mucky stuff. It is very black dirt that just sticks to you!

We had a big thunderstorm during the night and another inch of rain. Today it was 93* and extremely humid. Glenn and John Ricks and two other men were out digging ditches with a back hoe in preparation for laying an additional pipe to help drain the water off the preshow field. We have had so much rain and the ground is so saturated with water that the water is just sitting on the field. They figure it will probably take a week for the water to quit running down the ditch. Then the pipe will be laid and the dirt put back in place.

We are exercising our faith that things will dry out and be okay for the start of Pageant on July 7. However, we decided that we had to do all we can to correct the problem and then rely on Heavenly Father to help us the rest of the way. It is pretty worrisome!

We have gained a whole new appreciation for what the Nauvoo Saints went through when they were trying to drain the swamps in Nauvoo and build their city!

" It's mucky stuff, your Majesty!"

The pageant stage.

Notice the dirt and water that is falling out of the bucket.

It's like a little river running under the ground.

More standing water.

Glenn and John would have thought it fun to run the back hoe if we weren't facing such a bad problem!

It's Not All Play!

Final scene of Nauvoo Pageant

From reading my blog entries, you might think that all we do here in Nauvoo is play around! Well, this week I'm going to share a special experience I had that will prove otherwise.

A couple weeks ago we had a family drop out of the Pageant. We needed to replace then with another family. It is so late to ask a family to come. I really doubted that I could find a replacement.

I called two families who hadn't been accepted earlier and asked if they would like to come and participate. Neither of the two families could because of having made other plans for their vacation time. Understandable!! I was pondering over my list of possible names to call when I got a phone call. It was from the father of a family who had applied. He said that they had never heard whether or not they had been accepted. They had moved from CA to UT and I think their mail from us telling them they were not accepted was lost. After visiting with him a few minutes I extended an invitation to his family to come and participate in the family cast. He was very excited. He called me back later in the day and said his family had been able to arrange things so they could come when we needed them and were most excited about it! Finding housing at this late date was a concern and yet a spot in the church RV park opened up for the family the next day.

I know that Heavenly Father's hand is involved in this work. He has a way of orchestrating things to accomplish his work. I am so grateful to have this experience of being on a mission and particularly to be involved with the Pageant. It is such a wonderful missionary tool. Our lives are being blessed by experiences we have every day.