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!