Nauvoo Women's Garden

Glenn and I had the assignment to clean the statues in the Women's Garden last week. This is the third time we have been asked to do this. We wash off the bird droppings, spider webs and sweep the leaves off the base of the statues. Last winter when we had the assignment we knocked off icicles from the chins of the figures!

I love being in the Women's Garden, even when cleaning the statues. There is almost a reverent feeling as we clean them. There are trees, bushes and flowers that protect the garden from outside view. There is a very solitary, peaceful feeling in the garden. The statues are beautiful sculptures and tell the story of the different stages in a women's life. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity of spending time in the garden, even if some of the time it was a cleaning assignment.

(Sorry, can't figure out how to get rid of the blue print and the underlining!)

Pictures with "The rain fell and the wind blew" .

Sorry, I don't know how to delete this duplicate picture!

And the rain came down and the wind blew!

I thought I would share with you a few pictures from one of our "wild" rain storms during the pageant. This one occurred early on a Sunday morning. The rain pounded us, the wind blew hard and there was lots of lightening. The wind blew over all of our plastic chairs, covered many of them with mud and grass, some of the panel from our stage blew off and our large banners to the side of the stage were ripped. There was about 4" of water around the stage and seating area.

By Monday morning the ground had obsorbed the water and we were able to get onto the site. Early that morning, the young men in our work crew and the Yellow family cast came to the site and within an hour had all of the chairs cleaned and in place. Many hands made the work go fast!

That morning we had registration for the new family cast out at the school. While we were there another big storm rolled in and the rain came and the wind blew and......all of the chairs were blown over again!!! The family cast practicing on the outdoor stage had to move into the school while registration was going on. Let's see...that made about 260 people, many of them soaking wet, in the school lobby and gym at one time! It is amazing how things work out. In a short amount of time we were able to regroup and get people into areas where they could continue with meetings, rehearsals, etc.

Heavenly Father certainly blesses us so His work can move forward. We deal with the elements, rain or heat, and the work goes on. It is great to be a part of it!

Nauvoo Pageant 2010

Elder Neil Andersen, Brian & Tiffany's family, Glenn & Annette
Whew! Another pageant season is over!! What a success it was. Our attendance was up 21% and we gathered 12,000 referrals. We had no rain outs, a couple of very hot days - 110* with the heat index, a few skunks that took up residence under our stage (but only one spray), great visits from family that came to Nauvoo and many new friendships made with the casts and volunteers. Brian, Tiffany and family were in one of the family casts and spent two weeks in Nauvoo. They were awesome on stage! It was a shock to see Brian with a full beard when they arrived! Glenn's sister, Rita, and husband spent almost four weeks volunteering. Sue, Ed, Lisa, Nick and family came during the pageant. Their stay went by way too fast. But....it all comes to an end and it is so very quiet here in the office/home!



Our pageant presidency was released on July 29, 3 days before the end of the pageant. John Ricks has been called as the new president, Ross Schmid as 1st counselor (previously 2nd Couselor) and Glenn has been called as the 2nd counselor. Elder Neil Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve was in Nauvoo to make the change. Elder Andersen grew up in Tyhee and knew Glenn's family so it was a bit of a reunion. What a great experience to be able to spend some time visiting with Elder Andersen.



We are thrilled with Glenn's new assignment. We love Nauvoo and the Pageant and can't think of a better way to serve. It means we will be spending about 7 weeks each summer for probably 5 years or so during the pageant. (No time given on the length of the call!) A couple of other trips will be made during the year when needed. We have been asked to extend our mission to April of 2010 when another couple will replace us as pageant missionaries. We will be able to make a few trips home during the winter which makes us very happy!



We hope more of our friends and family will be able to join us in Nauvoo in the coming years.

The Spirit of Nauvoo is strong as is the Pageant. I wish we could share it with more of you.