Nauvoo's Halloween Pumpkin Walk

Nauvoo's Halloween Pumpkin Walk is the biggest event in town next to the Pageant and the Grape Festival. People from all the surrounding communities come for the event. With the help of the community and the missionaries 400 pumpkins are carved and placed along the sidewalks of Nauvoo's main street. Each one has a candle and is lit just before dark. They have games for the kids, food sold by various organizations and several baked food sales along the side walks. It was a lot of fun to be a part of it. Glenn and I carved pumpkins two afternoons. They had us in a large warehouse. One table for tracing the patterns, a table for those scooping out the insides of the pumpkins and then several tables for those carving.

Certainly a Halloween we will remember!!

Glenn's work of art!

Four hundred carved pumpkins were set out along the sidewalks of Mulholland St, the main street of Nauvoo.

These are some of the pumpkins that were being auctioned off. Quite the intricate carvings!

People lining the street for the parade that lasted about 5 minutes! The parade consisted of local people dressed in Halloween costumes, a couple of horse drawn wagons carrying people playing various instruments - not really a band - and that was it! People come to Nauvoo to see the pumpkins, not the parade!!

We are blessed with great friends!

Yesterday Glenn and I spent the day cleaning up the stage and then staining it. Glenn cut off the excess chalking that was used on the seams and I swept up the sawdust. The men cut the wood on the stage so there was sawdust in all the grooves of the wood. The wind was blowing so the dust just kind of swirled around! We stained all but 1/4 of the stage (ran out of paint!). Late in the afternoon as we were starting to moan from the sore muscles and tired backs, here comes one of our favorite temple missionaries, Sister Howard. She brought us each a cup of her famous smoothie! It was so refreshing and more than that, we appreciated the thoughtfulness. While we were visiting with Sister Howard, up comes a pickup with Elder and Sister Bitner. They had finished their work for the day and stopped by to see if they could help us out! We must have looked like we were in pretty bad shape to have all of these kind people come to our rescue! Seriously, we are so blessed to have such wonderful thoughtful friends.

Trees by our stake center.

I had a few minutes this afternoon so I headed out with my camera and took some pictures of the fall colors here in Nauvoo. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Fall Is Here

We served today in the Cultural Hall. It was a slow day with only four groups of people coming to see the Hall. It was interesting to study the script for the tours. Construction on the Hall began in 1842 and was completed in 1844. It was used less that two years before the Saints left for the west. It was used for concerts, plays, banquets, business and church meetings, storage of grain, school, funerals and a doctor's office. During the fall and winter of 1845-46 the first floor was used as a wagon box building factory as the Saints were preparing to leave Nauvoo. Over 100 wagon boxes were made for the covered wagons. The church was not able to sell the building before they left Nauvoo. In 1851 it was sold at the Hancock County Sheriff's auction for $4.47!

The church bought it back in 1967 (and not for $4.47!!) and in 1982 reconstructed it to look like it did originally.

The Saints sacrificed much to build their homes, the temple and this hall for culture, entertainment and education.

The Cultural Hall

We headed out on Saturday and went to a small town in Iowa called Winterset. There are several covered bridges built in the 1800's in the area. The bridges are known as the Covered Bridges of Madison County. Some of you who are our age might remember the movie, "The Bridges of Madison County". The movie was filmed in this area. We were hoping to see a lot of fall colors but we seemed to be too late in some areas and too early in others! It was a fun day even though we spent 7 hours in the car! This is John Wayne's childhood home in Winterset, Iowa. We weren't impressed enough to pay the $6 to go inside!

A bell tower was at the end of a windy, hilly road in the Winterset City Park. There was a fantastic view of the surrounding area from the top of the tower.

A view from the bell tower.

This was my favorite bridge. It is the Cutler/Donahoe Bridge built in 1870. It has been moved to the Winterset City Park and restored. The park was gorgeous. It was filled with lots of trees in full fall colors!

President Monson in Nauvoo

Today was a very memorable day! President Monson was visiting in Nauvoo today. He met with the temple missionaries in the temple at noon. He met with the other missionaries this afternoon at 4:00 in the Visitors Center. The sites were closed at 3:30 so the missionaries could attend the meeting. He spent about 45 minutes just visiting with us. When he walked into the room there was a piano at the edge of the stage. He sat down and played a simple little song from the John Thompson piano lesson book one. Then he played one other little tune. We had a good laugh with him about his lack of ability to play the piano.

There was no preaching, just reminiscing about his youth, his mother and siblings, some experiences in the Navy and some experiences as a bishop. What a once in a lifetime experience to hear a prophet talk so casually and to be so relaxed. He said that this week he could be anywhere in the world and he chose to be in Nauvoo! He is going on to Kirtland and then back east. He was accompanied by his daughter, Ann Dibbs, and Sister Dibbs’ daughter. They are escorting his granddaughter to her home. No one seems to know where they are staying. Even President Ludwig doesn’t know. I am sure it is kept quiet for security reasons but also to avoid crowds and wanting some privacy.


Rendezvous, a play presented by the senior missionaries, was presented this evening for President Monson and his family and a few guests. We were fortunate to be invited to attend. When he came into the hall he asked each one of us where we were from. We sat right behind President Monson. When it was over he turned around and shook our hands. He is a very friendly person and was making friendly comments as he left the cultural hall. The cast that presented Rendezvous did an outstanding job. E/S Andrus were in the play tonight. They are leaving the mission the first of the week. What a memorable experience for them as they leave. Elder Andrus plays the part of the editor which is the narrator. Also, Sister Donna Gibbons, who directs Rendezvous is leaving the mission in a few weeks. What a memorable experience for her!

President Monson closed his comments this afternoon by promising us that the Lord would be on our right hand and on our left hand and angels would hover over us as we serve our missions. He talked about how small choices make such a big difference in one’s life. Serving a mission is a choice that will have a positive effect on us and our family forever.

I am grateful for a living prophet. As I looked at President Monson I tried to imagine what it would be like to be a prophet. The weight of the calling must be unbelievable. The responsibility he has to lead a church of several million members is something that could only be done through inspiration from above. I feel so blessed to live upon the earth at this time and to have the blessing of a living prophet.

A Busy Week!

This last week was a very busy one. We did quite a variety of things. Here are a few pictures to fill you in on our activities. Last Sunday we went to the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds. This statue is in the cemetery. It really touches your heart to see the sad faces on these people. The writing on many of the headstones is not legible. Some families have placed new headstones next to the old ones. t

There is a very reverent feeling in the cemetery. Many of those buried here were children. Those Saints sacrificed so much. I have gained such a love and appreciation for them as I have learned more about their trials here in Nauvoo and also the trials of the Saints in the early years after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. I feel a real obligation to do all I can to be a good missionary to show my thanks for all they sacrificed

It has been interesting to follow the growing season of the corn and soy beans here in Illinois and Iowa. Can you believe the height of these corn stocks?! The corn is field corn so the farmers let it get very dry before they harvest it. The fields are looking very brown now as are the soy bean fields. It is quite a change from the lush green that bordered the roads everywhere.

I guess I didn't read the fine print on our mission call to know that I would have to paint while here! Actually I have enjoyed doing something outdoors. Glenn paints with a roller and I use a brush to paint the grooves in the board. Half of the stage is done (see last week's blog). We decided that it might be easier to paint the boards before they are put on the stage.We are painting both sides of the boards. We had a lot of rain this past week so we were not able to get much done. We paint at the barn by the Sarah Granger Kimball home.

Friday morning at 7:00am we had a Farewell Breakfast to honor those missionaries leaving for home during the month of October. As you can see the gym at the Nauvoo ward building is very full. There are three preparation meeting groups in the mission. Each group has people sign up for food for their group. There are three serving tables and we serve ourselves from our preparation group's table. There is always a good variety of breakfast foods!

There is a short program in which the outgoing missionaries do a little skit, reading or just make a comment or two. The last two months because so many have been going home, they have done a big group skit. The skits are pretty humorous and light hearted! I hope there will be a big group leaving when we leave next Oct. so we don't have to do something individually!

We served in the Seventies Hall today from 12:30-5:00. We had quite a few visitors, 23. Not bad for this time of year. We enjoy getting acquainted with the history of the places we serve in.

We have a pecan tree in our yard. Glenn has been picking up the green pecans that have fallen to the ground. He has been breaking open the outer green layer so the pecan will dry and not mold. It has stained his thumbs so bad that nothing will take away the color! We have tried lemon juice, soft scrub with bleach and clorax. Any suggestions?