The New Stage

I thought you might be interested in seeing some pictures from our big "stage project" that has been ongoing since the Pageant ended. This first picture was taken from one of the light towers. All the side ramps and wood frame structures for the cabins and temple are stored away during the winter. You can see the one section in the back stage area that can be moved up and down. There is one other section like that. It creates a nice affect in some of the scenes to be able to change the level of those stage sections.

Before the Pageant people who are in charge of the stage site left for home, they took the stage all apart so a cement pad could be poured under the stage.

Several weeks later workers from NRI set forms for the cement pad. Here they are ready to pour the cement.

They poured the cement in three sections.

We were happy the weather cooperated during this time!

The cement pad for the stage looks nice and level. It was difficult to keep the stage level with the gravel base. The sections of the stage would shift so there were places where people would catch a toe or heel and sprain an ankle.

Our house/office is to the left of the barn in the background.

We had 5 men from Utah work on the stage for five long days. Each piece of wood is cut at an angle. It is very time consuming to cut and place the wood in the right position. All the lines on the stage floor point to the temple. A very subtle way to draw attention to the temple.

The steel framework under the stage was quite a puzzle to put together as well. Each section is numbered to help them remember how it fits together.

This is how the stage looks now. The light wood is the new wood. The dark area has been stripped of the old wood. In a couple of weeks NRI will finish putting on the new wood. Glenn and I have been given the assignment to stain the stage. We will do what is completed this next week if the weather is good. Not in our job description but more than happy to have an outdoor assignment! A heavy tarp will be placed over the stage floor to help preserve it during the winter. The is the first time to relace the original floor. It lasted 5 years. Hopefully with some improvements this stage will last a little longer.

SLC won't let us use any artificial material on the stage floor. It has to look as much like the materials used in the 1840's as possible. Sure wish we could use something like Trex!

Our little Sophie

Stefanie has posted these pictures on her blog but I thought I would add them to mine for those who might not follow the other blog.

Sophie was blessed on Sunday, Sept. 13 in Aurora, CO. Stefanie's mother and brother, Michael, were there for the blessing.

Our First Site Assignment

This past Sunday was the first time we have been assigned to serve in an historic site. Pres. Ludwig asked if we would like to serve every other Sunday. We are excited to have the experience. Sunday we served in the Stoddard home and Tinsmith Shop. We served from 12:30 - 5:00pm. We had seven groups of people come through the shop. Not real busy but not bad for this time of year. There is a dialog that we are to give and we are to take not more than 10 minutes to give the tour. That's not hard for me but a bit of a challenge for Glenn! We borrowed clothes from the sewing room. They have quite a few "loaners". I wanted to take a pioneer dress home with me so this was a good excuse to have one made. The ladies in the sewing room are more than happy to sew one for me as they are not very busy now.

We enjoyed our experience there and are looking forward to our next assigment. The assignments for the next week are posted online Fri evenings.

Beauties??? of Nauvoo ( spiritual and physical)

Sorry, this picture goes with the story at the end of my blog. Just can't seem to get things in the right order!!! I never get tired of pictures of the Nauvoo temple. I hope you are the same! I thought this one was awesome!

This picture isn't nearly as awesome as the temple picture! But, I thought you might get a kick out of seeing us in costume. One of the pageant staff members took pictures of all the families, plus many candid pictures during the pageant. He has made them available on line. It was a big job to take all the pictures and then to download them. A very nice thing he did!

We have a farewell breakfast once a month to honor the missionaries going home. This past Friday was had about 20 missionaries who were honored. President Ludgwig, our mission president, talked to Glenn and I after the breakfast and asked if we would be willing to teach the combined RS/Priesthood lesson once a month. Glenn cheered and I cried! I have already figured out that we will only have to teach 8 lessons! (Next May we will start meeting with the temple missionaries again!) I would much rather give a talk than teach a lesson to approx 75 missionary couples who are probably all seasoned teachers!

Three other couples have been called. They are E/S Bitner, who take care of the lawns, flowers, etc., E/S Hughes, who are the public affairs missionaries for the mission and E/S Carlson. Elder Carlson is the director of NRI (Nauvoo Restoration Incorp). Glenn and I call all of us the "misfits" because none of us really fit into any other group here in the mission.

I have been thinking a lot about some of the pageant participants who have been a real inspiration to me. I'll tell you about one of the families.

The Todd & Allison Mitton family are from Lindon, UT. They have three children who are triplets. The two boys, MacKay and Alex, have cystic fibrosis. The daughter, Abby, is a normal healthy 13 year old. The dad and sons helped with the preshow. The mother and daughter were in the pageant. It was so touching to watch the father getting the boys in and out of the car, into their wheel chairs and pushing them down to the preshow. Todd took care of his responsibilities with the boys there by him in their wheel chairs.

The family participated in the baptismal session for the pageant youth. I was told that the father stood in the font and held each son as he baptized them for the dead. He would then hand the boy to someone else who carried him to the dressing room and helped him get dried and dressed. The last night for their family cast to perform, the whole family was on the stage for the finale. What a touching scene to see those two boys there with their whole family surrounded by a whole lot of people that had come to love them very much. It was a very tender scene.

What a beautiful example of a family loving their special needs children and providing opportunities for them to associate with others and be spiritually uplifted along with everyone else.

The picture is of Bro & Sis. Mitton with the boys on the preshow dance floor. It looks like they are having a great time!