Grandpa and Grandma McMinn

Relief Society Commemoration 2011

2011-03-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Each year the sisters of the Illinois Nauvoo Mission have met on the second floor of the Red Brick Store in commemoration of the organization of the Relief Society. Each year a different program is written as a re-enactment of the events that transpired on March 17, 1842. This has been a highlight of my mission as I have attended the re-enactment twice while here in Nauvoo.

The sisters dressed in modern clothing were part of the program representing a RS presidency of our day and age. We were gathered outside of the carriage shed to load the wagons and go down to the Red Brick Store. Many hours of preparation went into this program. It was very well done. I am sure that many hours of preparation took place to prepare for the organizational meeting of the first Relief Society.

The evening of the commemoration was a very comfortable evening. It was a warm day. As we rode to the Red Brick Store, one of the sister missionaries gave a commentary on what was taking place in Nauvoo at the time of this meeting. It helped us modern day sisters to reflect on what it must have been like back then. I am sure many of the sisters that attended the organization of the RS walked to the Red Brick store. They had many responsibilities in their homes that we now have appliances and many, many conveniences to help us do our work.

This is the view of the temple as we went down Partridge St. What an amazing accomplishment it was for the early Saints to complete the Nauvoo Temple. The RS sisters played a great supporting role by sewing shirts for the men working on the temple. They also collected pennies, $10,000 worth, to help the funding of the temple.

Elder Lamar Taylor from North Ogden, Utah played the part of Joseph Smith. Joseph took a five dollar gold piece from his pocket and gave it to Emm, the newly elected RS President, and stated, "All that I have to give to the poor, I shall give to this society."It is a privilege to be part of this organization that is still in existence 169 years later!

The wagons are unloaded in front of the Red Brick Store. The organization of the RS took place in the upper room of the store. It is a humbling experience to sit in that room knowing all that took place there. Not only was the RS organized there but some of the first endowments took place there also. Joseph Smith's office is on the upper floor. He received some of his revelations there.
There is a fun gift store on the main floor. Lots of fun memorbilia of the early days of Nauvoo. The Red Brick Store is owned and run by the Community of Christ church. Whenever I have been in the store, they have made me feel very welcome.

After the commemoration was over a group picture was taken of all those who participated in the program and those who attended. It is hard to get everyone's attention as all are wanting to visit. What a happy group!

Just before we loaded the carriage to return to the Vistor's Center, the two of them met at the road to pick us up. The wagon on the left cut across the grass. Just as these two wagons are meeting to take the sisters on to their next assignment, we can look at this point in our lives as a crossroads of the many opportunities to serve others. We can be empty or we can fill our lives with great job as we do the work of angels--"the errand of angels is given to women and this is a gift that as sisters we claim to do whatsoever is gentle and human to cheer and to bless in humanities name."

Winter in Nauvoo - Fun in ElPaso

2011-02-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

On February 2 Nauvoo had a big snowstorm that dropped 15-18" of snow with high winds. The historic sights all closed and there were no plays or meetings held for the next two days. This is how it looked after we got back from ElPaso - about a week after the snowstorm.

The school where many of the pageant activities are held.

Any of you who have come to Nauvoo and stayed at the condos, this was certainly a different sight from what you saw!

A path clearned to the cars after the snowstorm.

Glenn and I recently spent a long weekend in ElPaso with Kevin, Stefanie, Rylee and Sophie. We were hoping for some warm weather but instead we found freezing temps, broken water pipes in their home and flooded floors! Before we left the temps were warming and things were returning to normal at their house. In spite of all the excitement we had a great time!

We drove to the White Sands National Park which is in the Desert about 90 miles from El Paso. We could only drive partway into the park because the road was closed because of snow! We did get out and walk on a boardwalk and Kevin and Rylee had a snowball fight. At times it was hard to tell the sand from the snow!

Grandpa and Grandma ventured out for a walk with the girls once it started getting a bit warmer.

We even spent some time at the neighborhood park.

Christmas at the McMinns

2011-01-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Guess it's about time to get back to the blogging!

We had a great time at home in Pocatello during the Christmas holidays. Kevin, Stefanie and girls and Kristen, Craig and family were with us on Christmas morning. Brian and Tiffany and family came on Christmas day. We loved spending time with these families as well as Rob and Jeff's families. We had one big party for a week!

Here are a few pictures from our get together.

Sorry Christmas morning pictures come before Christmas eve!

Christmas morning with Rylee & Sophie.

I lightened the picture but it didn't save. Sorry! The Campbell grandkids peeking to see if Santa had come.

Christmas morning at the McMinns.

Christmas Eve Nativity with the grandchildren.

Janelle, Sylvia & Stefanie

Glenn, Kevin & Stan

Christmas Eve family gathering.

The mission teamsters were giving sleigh rides one afternoon this past week. We decided to take a break from the office work and go for a sleigh ride. It was fun!! As you can see it was a beautiful day, cold but pretty. They took us through some fields on the flats.

These horses are so big. Once we were going the direction of their barn, they took off on a trot. They knew where home was!

After our sleigh ride we couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture of the temple!

Kevin's Graduation

2010-11-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

Big smile at the end of the last day of school!!!!!

Graduation night

Rylee

Sophie

The girls with Grandpa.

Last night when the sunset was reflecting on the temple.

Glenn and I drove to Denver and spent Tuesday thru Thursday with Kevin, Stef and family. Kevin's graduation from his orthodontic residency was Tuesday evening. What a great celebration! Ten years of college behind him and a graduation certificate in hand!!

It was a very nice evening. We are proud of Kevin and Stefanie for this accomplishment.

They are moving to ElPaso, Texas where Kevin will be working for a large orthodontic group. Hopefully we were a little bit of help with some packing and cleaning in preparation for their move. They had packed most of their belongings in a container which was picked up last Monday. They had no furniture left, just lawn chairs and a few other basic items.

Thanksgiving dinner was at Maggiano's Italian restaurant. It was a wonderful dinner served family style. They had a Thanksgiving Day menu with a five course meal. It was quite the memorable Thanksgiving dinner!

We had a great time playing with Rylee and Sophie. Rylee has an imagination that doesn't end! We played princess, farm and Pretty Pretty Princess game. Sophie is constant motion and very entertaining to watch her mimick everyone and everything. We were so glad to be able to spend a few days with the family.

We are back in Nauvoo now. John and Peggy Ricks are here for a week to work with us on preparations for the 2011 pageant. Yes.....we are well into the plans for next summer!

Great days in Idaho!

2010-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

I guess it is about time that I get back into the Blogging! We had a great 5 weeks back home in Pocatello. Our time at home was a combination of family time and pageant work. Nice to be able to do pageant work from home!

Thought I would tell you about our trip home with pictures -- so here goes!

This picture was taken the day before we left Nauvoo. This is the group of missionaries leaving the mission during October. (60+ missionaries) Sorry it's not a bigger picture. We right in the middle.

We stopped in Denver on our way home and spent a few days with Kevin, Stefanie, Rylee and Sophie. While Kevin was at school, Stef, the girls and Glenn and I drove up a canyon to a mountain lake. We went to leave and found out that the road would be closed for 1 1/2 hrs for construction! We threw lots of rocks in the lake, walked the parking lot and hopped in and out of the car in between rain showers. Quite an adventure!

Sophie - 13 months

Rylee - 3 yrs.

Getting acquainted with our newest grandchild - Tyson Glenn (2 mos)
He is Jeff and Maja's 4th child.

Here is little Brianna - 6 months. Such a happy little girl!

Kristen & Craig's 6th child.

Maja planned an afternoon of "A Minute to Win It". Kev and Stef were the only family not there.

It was great fun! Notice who has the most Ding Dongs!!

Another Minute to Win it activity. The kids loved this!

Glenn hit the Salmon River the day after we got home!

Glenn & Ryan had a good day of fishing at the American Falls Reservoir.

Another great day of fishing at the Reservoir with Kyle and Rob.

We roasted hot dogs at Brian and Tiffany's home while we were visiting in Layton.

Kristen and Craig's family were there also.

All our family was home for Halloween weekend except for our Denver family.

Pumpkin carving in the garage was a big hit!

Halloween! Quite a group of grandkids. It was a crazy, fun night!!

One sad "Banana" - Tyson.

Kyle had his 12th birthday while we were home. We were able to be present when he was ordained a Deacon. What a special day!

The beautiful fall weather ended just before we left to come back to Nauvoo.
This is what it looked like from our back deck when we left.

We are planning to be home for Christmas! It is nice to be serving as volunteers now. It gives us the freedom to come and go when the pageant work allows.

Farewell Nauvoo - Temporarily!

2010-09-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

A tradition in the mission is for the departing missionaries to create a Farewell Sheet that is put in all of the missionaries' site mail boxes. Even though we are returning to Nauvoo in November, Pres. Ludwig wanted us to go through the "farewell" process because we will be released as missionaries. There is a farewell breakfast Friday morning that is attended by all of the missionaries honoring the missionaries leaving during the coming month. There are 65 missionaries leaving in October! Talk about mass exodus! Pres. & Sis. Ludwig host a dinner at their home for the deparing missionaries after a temple session with the same group. This will also be on Friday. We are sad to think that so many of our good missionary friends will be gone when we return in November. It will almost be like starting a new mission.

When we return in November we will be doing the same work in the pageant office but as a member of the temple presidency rather than full time missionaries A new couple will be ready to replace us as the pageant missionaries in April.

Our Farewell Sheet - kind of hard to see clearly with this small view.

The temple missionaries have been so good to include us in some of the activities. Last Wednesday a group of missionaries arranged for a tour of the Community of Christ sites led by Lochland MacKay, the director of the C of C Visitors Center. We were invited to join them on the tour. We have become acquainted with Loch as we have had some pageant business with him. He is a wonderful person and so knowledgeable about the historic sites in Nauvoo. We enjoyed the tour and would encourage any of you who come to Nauvoo to take time to go on the tour. It includes the Mansion House, the Nauvoo House, the Smith Homestead and the Red Brick Store.

(sorry! can't get ride of the underlining)

Touring the Mansion House

Lochland MacKay, director of the Community of Christ Visitors Center outside of the Nauvoo House.

Great Meeting

2010-09-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

What a spiritual feast we had today in our Sacrament meeting. Elder Craig Zwick and his wife spoke in our meeting. He is a member of the First Quorum of the 70. Last week Elder Donald Hallstrom and his wife spoke in our Sacrament meeting. Elder Hallstrom is in the presidency of the Quorum of the 70. We have had so many opportunities while on our mission to be taught by General authorities and other church leaders. As I listen to them teach us, I have such a good feeling, just a nice warm feeling that what they are saying is so true and right. I also feel so inspired to work harder, to do a better job of keeping the commandments, to be more dedicated as a disciple of Christ. If only that feeling would remain with me all week -- maybe I could do a better job of being a missionary.

Miracle Grow

2010-09-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

One of the amazing things we've noticed here in Nauvoo is how the plants and flowers grow so big and thick. This spring we planted some marigold seeds in the flower beds in front of our home. We planted two varieties. One was to grow 6" tall and the other 12" tall. I planted some purple petunias in between the rows of short marigolds and the tall marigolds. Well..... as you can see in the picture, there are no petunias! Both varieties of marigolds grew so big that they choked out the petunias. The 6" variety are about 12" tall and the 12" variety must be nearly 24 - 36" tall. I wish we could import some of this climate to Idaho! (In moderation of course) Lots of moisture and warm air both day and night make a difference. In Idaho I guess we'll have to settle for the artificial "Miracle Grow"!

Proud Grandparents

2010-09-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

What a bunch of good looking grandkids! Makes us proud to be their grandparents!

All of our children and grandchildren had a family reunion in Pocatello the weekend of August 28. It sounded like so much fun! Craig and Ashlyn's soccer tournament kept them home and Kyle was on a back packing trip with his scout group. Everyone else was there. We are so glad that they were able to gather for a couple of days together.

The Nauvoo Grape Festival is this weekend. Other than the Nauvoo Pageant, this event draws the biggest crowds of the year to Nauvoo. Years ago Nauvoo was known for it's vineyards. The tradition to celebrate the grapes continues on! There is a wine tasting tent, carnival, car show of 500-600 cars, 5K race, pancake breakfast and a few tents with business displays. They even have their own little pageant which tells the history of Nauvoo. We attended the pageant last night and it seemed to have improved from last year. Guess we are a bit prejudice but it doesn't hold a candle to the Nauvoo Pageant!

Nauvoo Women's Garden

2010-08-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

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" .

2010-08-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

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

And the rain came down and the wind blew!

2010-08-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

I love Father's Day! I was blessed with a wonderful father myself. He was all that a father should be and then some. I miss being able to wish him Happy Father's Day today.

I love Father's Day because it gives me the opportunity of honoring Glenn for the great father he is to our children. I sure don't let him know often enough how much I appreciate his example, his unselfishness and most of all the love that he shows to our children and to me.

What a blessing he has been in our lives.

I'm not good at words so this is short but the thoughts are humungus!!

Where Has The Time Gone?

2010-06-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone??? We will have people arriving to start the stage set-up on Mon., June 21, then the pageant core cast, directors, etc. will arrive on Wed., June 23. The first family cast arrives on Mon., June 28. Right now we feel like we are in over our heads, trying to finish our preparations! It seems to be busier than last year with new ideas being implemented and additonal asignments. It is nice to know that Heavenly Father is working with us, otherwise I'm not sure we would make it. In spite of the stress, it is very exciting work and the anticipation of the opening night on July 6 is growing.

The Young Ambassadors from BYU have been in Nauvoo this past week. On Thurs. evening they performed in a newly remodeled auditorium in Carthage. Glenn and I attended the performance and it was fabulous!

By many church members, Carthage is thought of only as the martyrdom site of the Prophet Joseph & Hyrum. However, in recent years the town of Carthage and the church have worked together to create a more amicable relationship. Thursday evening was a wonderful example of how much more accepting the locals are of the church. They loved the performance and were so impressed with the quality of the young people. As the group sang, I Am A Child of God, for their closing number, you could feel a spirit of friendship and love in the room. What would Joseph have thought to have witnessed this? Maybe he did.

Love those Grandkids!

2010-06-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

While we were in Idaho we got to see our newest little grandbaby, Brianna. She was 4 weeks old. What a special surprise to see her - we didn't think we would see her until she was several months old. Love holding those tiny little ones. Brianna is Kristen and Craig's baby.

As you can see, Grandpa had a good time with his granddaughters!

Wish we would have had more time with all of the grandkids.

My Father, Wright Hanks

2010-06-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

My father, Wright C. Hanks, passed away on Monday, May 24, one week after having suffered a heart attack and a stroke. His funeral was Friday, May 28.

Glenn and I flew to Pocatello and were able to spend 3 days with Dad and our family. What a special time it was to be able to sit by him in the hospital and to hold his hand and tell him that I loved him. We did not fly back home for the funeral. We felt that Dad would have wanted it that way.

We rejoice knowing that Dad and Mom are together again. What a reunion after being apart for 16 years. It is a comforting thought.

I have been so blessed to have such a special father. The memories I have of him are priceless. The examples of Mom and Dad remain with us, helping us to be more faithful and devoted to our family and to our God.

Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughtful notes. We have been comforted by them and given strength.

This picture was taken in January when we flew to SLC for the final Nauvoo Pageant core cast auditions. It was the last picture taken of Dad and me together. What a treasure.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

It is hard sometimes to think of what to write about in our blog. So much of what we do during the week is the same - lots of computer work, answering emails, phone calls, putting out little "fires". The last couple of weeks have gotten even more busy and it am sure it will continue to get busier the closer we get to the pageant. We enjoy having Pres Renouf and his wife here in Nauvoo for 10 days. We had a few lunch meetings and several good visits with them here in the office. It is nice to have the counsel and wisdom of Pres. Renouf to rely on.

This morning in our sacrament meeting the comment was made that there are now 360 full time missionaries here in Nauvoo! It is the largest concentration of missionaries in the church other than in the MTC. I can't describe to you the spirit we feel from all of those missionaries!

I played for the young sister missionaries who sang a special number in our sacrament meeting. I was to meet them at 7:15am to practice the song. I wanted to practice on the piano in the chapel before I practiced with the sisters so we left home at 7:00. When we got there the chapel was already 1/3 full....and church doesn't start until 8:00am! Our sacrament meetings fill the gym about half full. The last ten minutes before the meeting starts it becomes very reverent and quiet. It is like no other sacrament meetings I have been in! The reverence really adds to the meeting. Each week we come away from our sacrament meeting saying the speakers were the best...and the next week they are as good or better! Well, enough of this!

Today is Mother's Day and I have been thinking how grateful I am to be a mother and a grandmother. I appreciate the respect and love our family shows me. When I think of all the good things in my life, you are all a part of what I think of. I do miss all of you so much but I am grateful for the support you give us while we serve our mission. Thank you!

Springtime in Nauvoo

2010-04-23T17:39:00.001-07:00

This last week I sent some pictures of springtime in Nauvoo to one of the ladies in SLC that is involved with the Music & Cultural Arts Dept of the church. She responded that Nauvoo must be like the Garden of Eden in the spring. She is so right! These are pictures taken the last couple of weeks. I wish the blossoms would last year round!

Prairie Grass Fire

2010-04-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

Glenn's brother, John, has been visiting this past week. Saturday we drove to Springfield, IL to visit the Lincoln Presidential Museum. It is worth the 3 hr drive! Here we are posing with manikins of Abraham Lincoln and his family. We also visited Lincoln's tomb which is quite impressive.

We have had a great visit with John. He has spent his days visiting all of the sites here in Nauvoo and has also taken some side trips

These pictures are in front of the magnolia tree in our yard. It is in full bloom now and beautiful!

Every since we arrived in Nauvoo we have heard about the burning of the Prairie Grass field which is across the street from our home. Well the big day was last Monday! The missionaries and visitors who heard about it all gathered along the street to watch the lighting of the fire and the burning of the field. We decided that it would only be appropriate for us to hold a hotdog roast at our house just before the burn! E/S Hill who are known for their homemade rootbeer brought some for the picnic. A few of the missionaries brought additional food to go with the hotdogs. We served approx. 160 hotdogs! We had a great time. The missionaries seemed to enjoy being together and the casual visit. The prairie grass before the fire.

Missionaries & visitors eating hotdogs.

The city brought two fire trucks down to the area just in case!

Boy was I glad - the wind was blowing the direction of our house.

Men started the fire around the outer edge of the field. It only took seconds for the fire to start roaring and it moved through the field in approx 4-5 minutes

Seeing this fire helped us understand how dangerous the big prairie fires were in the days of the early settlers. They moved fast and covered a lot of area. We were told that the prairie fires moved more quickly than a running horse.

Lots of smoke for a few minutes. We were surprised that our home didn't smell of the smoke any more than it did.

Already we are starting to see green shoots of new grass growing in the field!

2010-03-28T19:48:00.001-07:00

The Riser Boot Shop

Workin' on a shoe!

Sorry, don't know how to delete a picture!!!!

This was our last Sunday to have a site assignment until early fall. We served in the Riser Boot Shop. What a fun place to serve. We got to demonstrate how to make shoes! We had five groups tour the shop today. Not bad for a spring Sunday.

The George and Christiana Risers were immigrants from Germany. They were living in Ohio when they heard about the church from an employee in their shoe shop. They sold their successful business and traveled 500 miles in a wagon to Nauvoo to find out more about the new religion. Shortly after they arrived their baby son became very sick. Joseph Smith and Orson Hyde gave him a blessing and he was healed immediately.

This experience convinced the Risers to join the church. They were baptized in December 1841 in the Mississippi River. They had to cut a hole in the ice in order to be baptized in the river. What faith they had to want to be baptized right then and not wait until warmer weather. Not too many months after their baptism their baby got sick again and inspite of blessings he died at fourteen months of age. The Risers felt like their son had accomplished his purpose in this life by bringing them to the church.

The Risers had a successful shoe business. The shop was on the main floor and they lived upstairs. The building was 16' x 16'. Can you imagine living in that small of a place?

The Risers left Nauvoo when the Saints went West. At that time they had a two year old girl. Two months after leaving Nauvoo a baby son was born and named Joseph Hyrum. (Bet you can guess who they were named after!) The Risers reached the SL valley in Sept. 1847. George opened a shoe shop in an Army tent and had the first shoe shop in the valley. They were great pioneers in the west and remained faithful throughout their lives.

A special Pageant story as a result of the Risers story......

We had a single missionary sister in our mission last summer named Ora Mae May. Her inactive son and non member wife and daughters came to Nauvoo last summer. They went to the pageant the night it rained so hard. The husband told his wife that they could come back another night if she didn't want to sit in the rain. They had been to the Riser Boot Shop earlier that day. She had been so impressed with their story. She told him, "If the Risers can be baptized in the freezing Mississippi, we can sit in the rain to watch the pageant." They were able to see the Pageant three nights and were touched by what they saw and heard at the pageant and also in the sites. When they went home, Sis. May's son overcome his Word of Wisdom problem, his wife and daughters had the missionary lessons. He was able to baptize them and they are now a very happy active family in the church.

I love learning about those early Saints that lived here in Nauvoo. Their courage and strong faith are such a wonderful example to me.

Reliving the Past

2010-03-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Our week began with a fun visit from Ellen & Thayne Smedley who were returning home from their mission in Richmond, VA. We had a great time hearing about their mission and reminiscing about old times together in Tyhee. What wonderful friends!

Wednesday, March 17 was the commemoration of the organization of the Relief Society. It was 168 years ago that Joseph Smith organized the RS in the upper room of the Red Brick Store. I was invited to participate in the re-enactment of the organization. Two missionaries sisters wrote a very nice re-enactment with an original song and a couple of other special musical numbers. (Talent abounds in this mission!) I was asked to take the part of Julie Beck and had a short part near the end of the program. We had the program in the actual room where the RS was organized. What a sweet spirit was there in that room. We felt as those the 20 sisters who were in the original meeting were right there with us. It was one of the very memorable moments of my mission. The sisters were transported from the Visitors Center to the Red Brick store in horse drawn carriages. Only the sisters were invited and then it took three peformances to be able to seat everyone.

The sisters were invited to wear their period clothing. Here are two of my friends in their "fancy" clothes. I was the only one not dressed in 1840's clothes since I was portraying Julie Beck. I felt a little out of place!

Elder & Sister Guymon, friends of Julie's from Boise, were Joseph and Emma.

Do you recognize these two people? Elder Gary & Sister Coleen Saville from Pocatello. Elder Saville took the part of John Taylor.

It is quite amazing to me to think that the RS which started with 20 members now has at least 5 million members. The early RS sisters provided many acts of service to the poor and needy, not much different from what we are doing today. The only difference is that we do the charitable acts in a more modern way. The need is still there and the sisters are still willing to serve. I am so grateful to be a part of such an organization.

2 GA's In One Week!

2010-03-14T19:15:00.001-07:00

What an awesome week! Monday morning Elder Richard Hinckley and his wife, Jane, met with the missionaries for 2 1/2 hrs. Elder Hinckley is a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and head of the Executive Missionary Committee. Both Elder Hinckley and his wife spoke. Sister Hinckley told a sweet story. I'll try to write it in a condensed version.

Sister Hinckley had been bed ridden for about 2 months. It was almost time for April Gen. Conf.
The Hinckley children were worried that if Sis. Hinckley died before conf. that Pres. Hinckley wouldn't be able to carry on with conf. Pres. Hinckley had a little sign in his office that said "Don't Quit". He brought it to Sis. Hinckley's bedside and told her to put her glasses on. He told her to read the sign. Then he said, "Don't quit! Conference starts tomorrow. Please don't quit."

The Tues. afternoon following Gen. Conf. Pres. Hinckley spoke to the area authorities that had been in town for conference. Right after the meeting, Pres. Hinckley went back to his apartment to see Sis. Hinckley. He told her, "Okay, you can go now. Take a little vacation for a short time. When I get there we'll have to get back to work." Sister Hinckley passed away about 5:00pm that afternooon.

Weren't we blessed to have such a wonderful couple to look to as examples of faith and devotion.

Elder Hinckley talked a lot about the connection his father and grandfathers had with Nauvoo.
His grandfather, as a mission president in Chicago in the 1930's, had made the suggestion to the First Presidency that the Nauvoo temple be rebuilt. Nauvoo was in his mission. They had reasons to reject the suggestion.
Elder Hinckley told of going to his father's office shortly after he became president of the church. When he entered the office, his father was looking at a set of blueprints of the original Nauvoo temple. Elder Hinckley said to his father, "You're going to rebuild the Nauvoo temple, aren't you?" President Hinckley answered, "Yes, but don't tell anyone!" You can see that this was something Pres. Hinckley had a great desire to see completed.

Elder Holland was in Nauvoo this weekend for the Nauvoo Stake Conference. He spoke to the misionaries in a special meeting late this afternoon. When the meeting was over, the missionaries just sat there. It was like no one wanted to move or leave the room. We had been so spiritually fed.

I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful to know that the church is lead by a prophet who receives modern day revelation. What great men he has who help him lead the church. We have certainly been blessed to have had the opportunity of being taught by two of those men this week.

News from the Nauvoo Homefront

2010-03-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

The commemoration of the organization of the RS is on March 17. I am looking forward to this! It is a big event here in Nauvoo. I have been asked to take a part in the little play that will be put on in the Red Brick Store. It will be on March 17 and we will present it three times during that day/evening. The upstairs room in the store won't hold very many people so that is the reason for the multiple presentations. I am excited to be a part of it. There are some very talented sisters in our mission. One sister wrote the script and another sister composed a song just for the occasion.

Elder Richard Hinckley is touring the mission this weekend. He will speak to us Monday morning during our combined preparation meeting. Elder Holland will be in Nauvoo for the Nauvoo Stake Conference the weekend of March 14. The missionaries have been uninvited to the meetings! The stake president is afraid there won't be seats for the stake members if all the missionaries come. Elder Holland will speak to the missionaries in a special meeting that Sunday evening. We love hearing from the General Authorities who visit Nauvoo.

We were invited to attend a Coordinating Council meeting with the area authority and stake presidents in the St. Louis area. Since the meeting was early this morning, we were given permission to spend the night in St. Louis. Ah, a good choice of restaurants for dinner, a motel room with a TV and 50* temps! Oh, the things that make us happy as missionaries!?!

"Our Story Goes On", the pageant outreach program, is going to be presented in the St. Louis area this next summer. We were there to familiarize Presidents with the program, give some ideas on organizing and answer questions. We felt like it was a great opportunity for us to get the ball rolling for this event.

We have been seeing a lot of cardinals around recently. They are such a pretty bright red and they have a very distinctive song. Red cardinals are kind of a "signature" of Nauvoo.

The best news I have for this week is that we can now see grass in our yard! This picture was taken 1 1/2 wks ago. This week we had temps in the high 40's and we had a lot of melting. Now instead of snow in the driveway we have mud!

Happy Birthdays!

2010-02-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Two of your grandchildren celebrated their birthdays this past Friday and Saturday. Rylee turned 3 yrs on the 19th and Corbin turned 4 yrs on the 20th. Oh how I wish I could have given them a big birthday hug and kiss! We are blessed with 19 beautiful grandchildren. What did we ever do to deserve such blessings?!?

Rylee (Kevin & Stefanie's oldest)

Corbin (Brian & Tiffany's youngest)

Being Obedient

2010-02-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday we served in the Blacksmith Shop. We served with Elder & Sister Dayley who are from Albion, ID. It is a fun place to serve. Glenn learned how to make a horseshoe. He made some very small ones which he is holding in the picture. Elder Dayley said he hopes we get to serve with them again so he can have Glenn make some large horseshoes. Last week our District had the assignment to clean the statues in the Women's Garden. One other couple and us were asked to take the assignment. It was pretty funny because it snowed the day we were assigned to clean. We asked if they still wanted us to do it and they said yes.

All we did was brush the snow and ice off the statues.....no cobwebs or bird droppings!
The icicle beards gave us a good laugh!

Burrrrrr!

Exodus Commemoration - February 4, 2010

2010-02-07T14:58:00.003-08:00

Ever since we arrived in Nauvoo we have heard about the Exodus Commemoration. This is an annual event honoring the Nauvoo Saints who left Nauvoo on Feb. 4, 1846 on short notice and in extremely cold winter weather. The day was all it was built up to be. As we walked down Parley Street I fought back the tears thinking about all that was left behind by the Saints and especially the temple that they had worked so hard to complete. They faced such difficulties as they camped across the Mississippi River in snowy, frigid weather with very little food. They could look across the river and see their homes which were not fancy but kept them dry and warm. So close and yet so far.

Their struggles continued as they crossed Iowa and finally reached Winter Quarters.
More lives were lost on the journey from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters than those lives lost the rest of the way to Salt Lake. (Other than the lives lost in the handcart companies.)

One of the great blessings of serving a mission in Nauvoo is the love and appreciation we have gained for the early members of the church who lived in Nauvoo and the surrounding areas. I am so grateful and appreciative of their great sacrifices to help the church become established. Both Glenn and I have ancestors who lived in Nauvoo and crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. The only way we know to show our appreciation is to stay faithful and to help others gain that same appreciation.

Here is a picture story of the Exodus.

The morning began with pastries & juice at the Family Living Center. It was estimated that approx. 300 people participated in the Exodus event. Elder & Sister Sweat are dressed as Brigham & MaryAnn Young.

Brigham & Mary Ann Young (E/S Sweat) got in the carriage.

Site missionaries, temple missionaries and local people were involved in the Exodus Commemoration. There was a group of 8 ladies who came here from out West to be a part of the Commemoration. They have an annual tradition of coming - this was their 7th year.

Gathering in front of the Cultural Hall to begin the Exodus Walk. The national flags in the back ground were carried by people who had ancestors who came from the country represented by the flag. We each had an opportunity to wear the name of an ancestor who left Nauvoo to go West. It was a privilege to represent Syvlanus Hulet, my great grandfather. Glenn wore the name of Lyman Wight, his g g grandfather.

Turning the corner onto Parley Street. It was a very comfortable morning, about 32*.

Missionaries representing the Nauvoo Legion.

There is a statue of Brigham and Joseph at the end of Parley St. The lady in the middle and the young man to the right are direct descendants of Joseph Smith. Kim & Brian Smith - they gave a fireside this winter at the Chubbuck Stake in Pocatello.

There was a brief program at the end of Parley St. Missionaries who had family that died enroute to the Salt Lake Valley read their names, followed by a moment of silence. We then sang Come, Come Ye Saints.

The horses used to pull the wagons are big, beautiul horses.

A Surprise Trip to Utah

2010-01-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

We were so surprised when President Renouf, the Pageant president, called and asked us to fly to SLC for the core cast final auditions! We could hardly believe he was serious! We flew out Fri., the 22nd and came back to Nauvoo on Mon, the 25th. It was a wonderful trip.

We spent Friday from 5:00 pm - 12:00am at the auditions and evaluation meeting afterwards. They were held in the Bountiful Conference Center. Then on Saturday we were at the auditions from 9:00am until 8:00pm. It is quite an experience to witness the auditions and then to hear the evaluations afterwards. It is amazing to me what a spiritual experience the auditions are. We hear those who participate comment that it is one of the most spiritual eperiences they have had.

I am sure glad we don't have to make the final decisions! All but three of last year's core cast returned to audition again. There were approx. 200 people auditioning for 20 characters. Those who were at the final audition were very good actors and actresses. There were about 40 people at the final audition. It's going to be a great core cast regardless of who they select!

We were able to spend time Friday afternoon with Kristen, Brian, Tiffany and kids. On Sunday we had a nice family gathering. Rob, Janelle and family and Jeff, Maja and family came to Layton. Rob brought my dad with them. It was quite a reunion! We had a wonderful dinner prepared by Tiffany and Kristen. My how the grandkids have grown in the last 10 months. It won't be long before some of them will be as tall as I am! We have a wonderful family and appreciate how they support us.

We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to make the trip. It was nice to see that everyone is doing well. It was good to spend time with Pageant people. We were able to visit about some pageant business while there. Out here in Nauvoo there is one member of the pageant presidency. Other than that we are the only "Pageant" people here so it was nice to be surrounded by our Pageant friends and co-workers.

I have some fun pictures of the grandkids taken at our mini reunion. Hope you enjoy them!

Guess they're not all grandkids pictures!

Father & Daughter!

Brooke, Grandpa Hanks & Jocelyn

Ryan & Kaylee

Taryn & Ashlyn

Dylan, Nathan, Kyle & Garrett

Glenn & Kali

Corbin

Madi & Kaylee

Jessica & Taylor

Dylan and his guinea pig that he got for Christmas.

Nathan & Tanner

Madi, Corbin & Garrett

Great Grandfather Sylvanus Hulet

2010-01-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

I have been doing some research on my great grandfather, Sylvanus Cyrus Hulet, the father of Emma Wight Hanks. I found some interesting facts about him that I will share.

Sylvanus was born in Nelson, Portage, Ohio in 1826. In 1830, Joseph Smith and Parley P. Pratt came to his parent's home and taught them the gospel. After much study, Charles and Margaret Ann were baptized the following February, 1831. The family moved to Jackson County, MO where they were persecuted by the mobs. Later they moved to Far West and were again persecuted. They moved to Nauvoo where they lived until Dec. 1845. When Sylvanus was 10 years old, his father took him to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was also at the meeting when Brigham Young was chosen to take the place of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Sylvanus and his father helped to build the Nauvoo temple.

Sylvanus married Catherine Stoker in 1829 in Mt. Pisgah, IA. The went west with the James Pace Company. They settled in Sprinville, Ut. They later moved to southern Utah where Sylvanus became the first bishop if the Summit, UT ward. It was in Summit where Sylvanus married our great grandmother, Alice Elizabeth Dalley.

I found all of this very interesting and didn't know if any of my sisters had read this information.
I found it by Googling Sylvanus Cyrus Hulet and also his father, Charles Hulet. For more details you can go there yourselves and read.

Hope you find this as interesting as I did. It makes Nauvoo an even more special place for me knowing that some of my ancestors were living right here and walked the ground where I am walking myself.

An Invitation to the Nauvoo Pageant

2010-01-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't already seen this invitation, I will post the link so you can see our invitation to the 2010 Nauvoo Pageant.

http://invite.nauvoopageant.net/2010/Invitations/links.htm

When it comes up, click on McMinn

2010-01-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we served in the Lyon Drug and Variety Store. The store is just across the street from our home. It was fun to look closely at all the items in the store. There is quite a variety of medicines and domestic goods. There is a beautiful herb garden to the side of the house. Well, beautiful in the summer!

Yesterday we went to Macomb, IL about 1 hr away, with E/S Thompson. We went specifically to see a quilt shop called Piece to Peace. We spent about an hour looking at all the quilt samples, fabrics and patterns. It was a small shop but had so much in it! We sent the men exploring in town so they wouldn't get too bored! They found The Old Dairy and had milkshakes! There was a quilt exhibit in a county museum with "antique" quilts. There was also a quilt show in another building that had contemporary quilts that were made by local quilters. There were some amazing quilts! It was a very fun day - a nice break from the office wori.

2010-01-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

We heard the most tender story in our Preparation meeting. Sister Steadman related this: Elder Dove, a 24 year old Downs Syndrome young man, is serving a mission here in Nauvoo with his parents. Before winter came he worked with the grounds keepers watering plants, blowing leaves, etc. Sister Steadman was looking out at the Women's Garden from the second floor of the Visitors Center. She saw Elder Dove blowing leaves from around the statues. He was by the statue of Joseph and Emma. He stopped, put down the blower and put his arms around Joseph and gave him a hug. Then he went around to Emma and gave her a hug. Such a sweet expression of love and testimony. The missionaries all love Elder Dove. He is so genuine and innocent.

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-27T13:44:00.001-08:00

We had a very nice Christmas! It was definitely a Christmas to remember. We missed being with our family. We are so grateful to have all the technology available so we can talk and see them. It makes them feel close. We talked with all of our children and families and even watched Jeff and Maja's kids open their gifts on Skype! We had a very nice mission Christmas dinner in the afternoon with approx. 270 other people!

We had a very rainy Christmas eve. Singing on the steps of the temple with the other missionaries was wet but sweet. We had hot chocolate and Christmas breads at the church afterwards. Later on we had a fun visit with our friends, E/S Thompson, who came over to our home and had clam chowder and homemade bread with us. It was nice to share the evening with friends.

This is our little Christmas tree. We loved the tree ornaments made by the grandchildren with their pictures on them. They will be saved as a real treasure!

I bought this Amish Nativity here in Nauvoo. I thought it would be a nice remembrance of our time here. One of our favorite places to go is to Cantril, IA to the Dutchman's Store which is run by the Mennonites.......almost Amish!

Notice the family picture behind the natvity. What a great surprise to receive this new family picture taken in Layton at the family Christmas party just a week before Christmas.

We forgot to bring our Christmas socks with us so we improvised!

Glenn's present to himself! He made a steelhead fishing rod. It really is a pretty rod!

Pres. & Sis. Ludwig, our mission president and wife, and Pres & Sis. Petersen, temple president and matron, at our Christmas dinner.

Mission Christmas dinner with E/S Carlsen, our Wed. temple night friends.

Sis.Carlsen would "shoot" us if they knew we had posted this picture of them!

Almost Christmas

2009-12-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

I came in Sunday singing the Hallelujah Chorus - I gave my RS/Priesthood lesson and now I can relax and enjoy my evenings again! Wish I didn't stress so over those lessons but it is just so intimiating to teach a large group of very seasoned, knowlegeable missionaries.

We received the best Christmas package today. Our children all met in Layton, Ut last Saturday for a family Christmas party. What we didn't know was that they were having a family group picture taken. We received a framed picture of the family and a picture of the grandkids. Oh, what a handsome group! Also, the grandkids made Christmas tree ornaments for us with their individual pictures on them. They also painted a Nativity set that is quite unique! The older kids helped the younger ones paint the ceramic figures. When we opened the package and found all of this we were delighted! Christmas could be over now and we would as happy as can be.

We are going to the temple tonight with our friends, the Bitners and the Carlsens. Today is Joseph Smith's birthday and I can't think of a better place to be on his birthday. We will walk by the Nativity on the temple grounds on our way tonight. It is a beautiful sight. I am so thankful for my Savior and for the gift of the Atonement. I am so glad I can serve a mission. The message the missionaries have to share can make such a positive change in people's lives. Even though our assignment is somewhat different, I still love the opportunity to bear testimony of Jesus Christ through the pageant.

Hope you have a fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We love you all.

Christmas Season in Nauvoo - Part 2

2009-12-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

(Sorry, I was interrupted so had to publish what I had posted earlier because I can't seem to find things when I save them on this blog. There I go admitting my lack of computer savy!)

It was a beautiful day here in Nauvoo on Wednesday after the clouds moved on and the high winds stopped blowing. There was a blanket of snow on the ground and the temple seemed to blend right into the snow. It finally felt like Christmas to see a little bit of snow!

In Glenn's weekly letter he has written about the very spiritual Sacrament meeting we had today with Pres. & Sis. Wayne Petersen, our temple president and matron, speaking about Christmas. We feel so blessed to have the opportunity of being taught by such wonderful people. Glenn carried on the spirit of the meeting with the lesson he taught to our combined Priesthood/RS meeting. I love the feeling that comes from being so spiritually fed.

In many ways Christmas will always be Christmas......there is a lot of exchanging of Christmas goodies and cards among the missionaries. There have been quite a few musical programs and events during the month to celebrate the holiday season. We were invited to dinner today by E/S Foote who are temple missionaries. We invited E Gary & S Charlene Saville to dinner last week. They are from Pocatello North Stake. It is fun to be able to talk "home" with the Savilles!

I am grateful to know of the life of our Savior. How blessed we are to know of His gospel and to be able to share it with others. I hope you are taking time to refect upon His life during this Christmas season and to give thanks for the many blessings that have come your way.

This nativity is in the Nauvoo Visitors Center.

There is a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the Visitors Center. Last week there was an official lighting of the tree by the Mayor of Nauvoo. There was a short program with the High School Jazz band playing and songs from their choir. It is nice to see the community come together with the church for some of the holiday programs. The site missionaries sang a song about lighting the Christmas tree. There was all standing at the railing of the second floor.

Christmas Season in Nauvoo

2009-12-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a little sample of what the Christmas season is like in Nauvoo. There is Christmas garland hung along most of the fences in the area with the historic businesses and home. Makes it very festive! We meet each morning except Sunday for a short Preparation meeting. We meet with the group in the 70's Hall. There are only two of us who can play the piano so I get to play prelude and the opening song usually 3 days a week. It has been fun to play some Christmas carols!

I help in the 3rd grade class at the Nauvoo Elementary school for an hour on Tuesdays. Two of the children in the class came to our Christmas Walk last week. Next best thing to being able to hug my own grandkids!

A Great Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

We were so happy that Kevin, Stefanie, Rylee and Sophie were able to come to Nauvoo and spend 4 days with us the week of Thanksgiving. It was so fun to finally see Sophie. She is a darling, cuddly baby and I just couldn't get my fill of holding her. Rylee has really changed since we last saw her in April. We had a fun time decorating our little 4' Christmas tree. We strung popcorn and used it as garland. Rylee placed the little balls together in "families"! What an imagination she has.

Stefanie's birthday was Thanksgiving day. She was such a good sport because most of the day was spent getting ready for the big dinner and then cleaning up from the dinner!

We loved playing games with Kev and Stef in the evenings.

The time went by way to fast and before we knew it, it was time for them to leave.

But, we are so glad they came and they will always be a part of our Nauvoo Thanksgiving memories!

Not a very good picture but maybe you can get an idea of how full the gym was for our mission Thanksgiving dinner.

A great day!

2009-11-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry, no pictures again this week. Just haven't had anything worth taking pictures of!
But......I had the best day today. It was the first time in 7 months that I have been in pants the whole day!!!! It felt so good! It was our P-day. We just stayed home today and did things inside so I never did get into my "missionary clothes". This probably won't happen again for another 7 months!

We sent three hours on the phone today with Peggy Ricks reviewing the family cast applications. We had 290 families apply for 130 spots! Awesome families applied - it will be a great pageant again!

The duck and goose hunting season has been going on for awhile. We live close to the river so every morning it sounds like the 4th of July fireworks - the guns are shooting away! I feel sorry for the geese. All fall we have had a great amount of geese around. They are pretty birds. It is also deer hunting season. I don't feel so sorry for the deer. There are so many deer around. They ruin the trees and eat the plants. Almost weekly a missionary hits a deer on the highway. We will be loaning our truck to a missionary couple who hit a deer last week and will be without their car while it is being repaired.

We are very excited for Kevin and Stefanie's visit. They will arrive Monday evening and stay until Friday. We will finally get acquainted with little Sophie!

Hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Another week flew by!

2009-11-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that another week has gone by! This was our last week to accept family cast applications and we sure had a lot come into the office. There are a lot of procrastinators out there!! The deadline is tomorrow - I am sure we will still have some come in late but we have received the bulk of them.

I have also been busy trying to finalize plans for our mission Thanksgiving dinner. Everytime I think I have things figured out, Sis. Ludwig, our mission president's wife, calls and suggests something else either for the dinner or the program. She is a lady with a lot of ideas - maybe to many!! Thank goodness I have a good committee working with me. My biggest worry is that we will have enough food. We have planned for a few extra because I have been warned that the missionaries often have family come at the last minute. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

We talked to the Cottles this week. They are in Hawaii and having a great time. Glenn gets calls weekly from his fishing buddies telling him about how great the steelhead run is this year. It's a shame that we miss such worldly things so much!!!!

The best is when we talk to the grandkids and they tell us that they miss us! That melts my heart. We sure appreciate all the love and support we feel from our family and friends. You are great!!

In The Right Place at the Right Time

2009-11-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

A new single sister missionary arrived in the mission Friday. She is Marcia Geilmann who was the director of our Pageant Family Services the past 4 summers! Friday afternoon, we went to the site post office to get our mail and there was Sister Geilmann, just getting into her car. A lady friend had come out with her because single sister missionaries are not allowed to drive out to the mission unaccompanied. Marcia had checked with the missionary travel department to make sure that she would be allowed to drive her friend to the St. Louis airport to return home on Sunday. When we saw Marcia, she had just had an interview with a member of the mission presidency and had been told that she could not drive to St. Louis because that would require her to return back to Nauvoo alone! (Major problem with communications!) Marcia was quite upset because she had no idea how to get her friend to St. Louis. There are no shuttles from Nauvoo and there are no one -way car rentals available from here. She explained to us her situation. We offered to drive them to St. Louis Saturday afternoon if her friend was willing to spend Sat. night in a motel. It worked out perfectly! Saturday is our P-day so we were free to drive to St. Louis and it solved a big problem for Marcia and her friend. They were most appreciative and we were so glad that we were there to help them out. It makes you feel very humble to know that sometimes Heavenly Father helps others through you.

The temple from our home in the fall! Just in the few days since we took this picture, most of the leaves have now fallen from the tree!

Monday evening we had a special experience of having dinner in the Willard Richards home. It is owned privately, not by the church, but is in the historic area of Nauvoo. The owners use it as a Bed and Breakfast. The lady who manages the bed and breakfast went to Utah for the birth of a grandbaby. Our temple missionary friends, Sister JoAnn and Elder Nathan Howard, were taking care of the Bed and Breakfast for her while she was gone. They had no guests Monday so the Howards invited us and another couple to have dinner with them. After dinner we watched a DVD called "I Witnessed the Carthage Massacre" which was narrated by an actor acting as Willard Richards. Quite a touching experience to see this story in his home.

We had never been in the home so it was a fun experience to get a personal tour! It is decorated very nicely with antique furniture, some artifacts from the early Nauvoo period and many pictures of Joseph, Emma, the temple and other early church people. I would love to spend a night in the home sometime! This picture is of a painting of the Willard Richards home which is hanging in the home.

The Howards are both walking miracles! Sister Howard is a breast cancer survivor and Elder Howard has had a heart transplant. The transplant took place 10+ years ago. They left for their home in Spokane the end of this week. They were serving a 6 month temple mission here in Nauvoo. They are always happy and one of the most kind, loving couples we have met! You have all probably had an experience where you have met someone and have become instant friends. This was the case with the Howards!

Nauvoo's Halloween Pumpkin Walk

2009-10-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

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?

The New Stage

2009-09-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-09-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

We had a terrific visit with Brian and Tiffany. It was so fun to have their unexpected trip to Nauvoo. Glenn was able to ordain Brian a High Priest which was the purpose for their trip. Two of our good friends, Elders Bitner and Carlsen stood in for the ordination.

We were able to attend a temple session with Brian & Tiffany. We are looking forward to their coming next summer with all of their family.

Thought the family would enjoy seeing this picture of our cousin Greg Green and his wife Diane.
They stopped in Nauvoo on their way to New York state to see his son. It was the first time I had met Greg's wife. She has a real fun personality. It was great to get to visit with them.

Glenn and I were asked to speak today in the Nauvoo 1st ward. Bishop Glen Anderson
asked us to talk about the pageant and to tell stories about how the pageant had changed lives. It was a fun talk to give because we have accumulated so many touching stories from people's experiences with the pageant. I thought you might enjoy reading one of the stories.

The West family came to Nauvoo and participated in the pageant. There were 7 children in their family. Their 17 yr old daughter, Raelyn, has had problems with lack of self confidence for years. She was being kind of rebellious and didn't want to participate in church activities. She didn't have very many friends and those she had were not members of the church. She was rude to her family and very disrespectful. She and her younger sister, Ashlyn, did not get along together at all. Raelyn didn't want to be in the pageant because she didn't want to be on the stage.
The family stayed with their grandparents who are serving a mission in Nauvoo. Each night after the pageant the family would gather and talk about their experiences that day. After being involved with the pageant rehearsals a few days, Raelyn was making some rather positive comments about her experience. Her grandmother said." Raelyn, I'll bet you would be enjoying this more if you didn't have to be on the stage." Raelyn answered, "Oh Grandma, I love being on stage!" During the 2nd week when the family was actually on the stage performing, the grandparents noticed that during a couple of the scenes when the families are on stage together, the two sisters had their arms around each other. Then they noticed that when the girls left the stage the sisters were hugging each other. The oldest son in the family said,"Grandma, I have never felt so much love in our family as I have during this week."
Sister Randall, the grandmother, visited with me and said she wondered how this change could take place so fast? Was it the directors or the people on the stage?
Peggy Ricks once said that this takes place because there is so much truth on the stage. Truth brings Christ like action. Love being the foremost of these actions. When you are surrounded by so much truth it makes you want to be Christ like.
A good lesson for all of us!

New Grandbaby!!

2009-08-23T20:01:00.001-07:00

Kevin and Stefanie have given us a new little granddaughter, Sophie Marie McMinn. She was born early in the morning on Aug. 22 (almost on her grandpa's birthday, Aug 23rd!). Isn't she darling?! She weighs 8lbs 1oz and is 20". Thanks Kevin and Stefanie!!

Great visits with Family

2009-08-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Two emails in two days -- shocking!! Actually, I was part way posting a blog last Sunday when I had to leave for a few minutes. When I came back my internet had timed out and I lost what I had done. It made me mad so I went on strike! Therefore, no blog last week!! I have repented.

We have been so fortunate to have a lot of family visit us this summer. Here are some of the pictures from their visits.

Kristen and 3 of her friends were here for opening night of Pageant. The stayed four days. Kristen went sight seeing with her friends during the day and then came to the pageant every night. We got to sit together and then had fun visiting afterwards.

Karle, Dad, "Joseph Smith" and Julie. What a treat to have them here at the same time as Kristen. Our regret was that we didn't have more time to visit. We still managed to have some lunches together and then of course spent the evenings at the pageant together.

Jeff, Maja, Ryan, Kaylee and Taylor were here last week. It was so fun to have those big hugs from the grandkids!

We finished up our post pageant meetings with the Pageant presidency part way through their visit. It gave us a little more time to spend with them during the days.

Jeff, Maja and family were here on a Sunday so we were able to go to church together. Picture taking in front of the temple is a popular after church activity here in Nauvoo!

Rob, Janelle, Kali, Kyle, Taryn and Brooke just left Nauvoo yesterday. They were here for three days. We loved having them here in Nauvoo with us. Vocal Point, a BYU men's acappla group of 9, were here in Nauvoo performing for two weeks. We got to attend their programs with both Jeff and Rob's families. They were awesome!

Pioneer Pastimes was a favorite visit for the grandkids in both families. They have dress up clothes, two cabins to play in and several pioneer games and activities. Aren't these cute pioneer children??

Our friend here in Nauvoo, Randy Douglas, owns Adventure Zone. It is a family acitivity center. Even though it was closed for the season, he opened it up to us so Rob's family could drive the go-carts. Even Grandma had to give it a try. A little hard getting in and out with a skirt on!!!

This was great fun for everyone!

We loved every minute that we had with family this summer. We are so grateful that we were able to see so many of them.

Pageant Visitors

2009-08-15T19:53:00.001-07:00

Matt & Cara Singer & 4 darling children spent a day in Nauvoo!

They were visiting with Cara's family in St. Louis. Matt & Cara live in Connecticut.
Matt, Mary and ?(sorry!) getting ready for a gunny sack race during the pageant country fair preshow.

What a surprise to run into Corinne & Annette Merzlock one evening at the pageant site! They were with a tour group on a church history tour.

Glenn's cousin, Beth, and her husband, Paul Chambers, spent two days in Nauvoo. We had a great visit and sure appreciated them stopping to see us. Chambers live in Blackfoot.

Ginny Bright spent many long hours in the sewing room! Mike spent much of his time building some very nice cabinets for computers used in our preshow.

Lois and Merlin Blad spent two weeks volunteering. Lois helped in the office (and what a help she was!). Merlin worked hard doing a variety of things during the day and then took several shifts during the night with security. I'm sure they needed several days to rest up after getting home!

A great day in Nauvoo!

2009-07-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

I have just a quick minute to make a post. I will copy my journal entry for yesterday. It was a great day! Just like many others we have had this summer.

Tues., July 28, 2009 - Things are starting to wind down to the close of Pageant. The comments are all about “this is the last time for……” It makes me sad to think about everyone leaving. We have been surrounded by “the best people under the heavens”. What a choice experience this has been to rub shoulders with spiritual giants and sometimes the giants are in little bodies!
Our missionary orientation meeting this morning was so spiritual. The Tues morning missionary meetings have all been a spiritual feast. How often do you get to hear your mission president, temple president, pageant president and wives all speak in one meeting. Then adding to that the singing of the Core Cast, the work crew (14 young men ) singing Sons of Helaman and the closing hymn “I Stand All Amazed”. Brad Thompson, our pageant music director, leads the closing song and through his directing he helps the song become a true bearing of testimony for the people in the congregation. This has been one of the highlights of our experience this summer.
We had a young man come up to us during the preshow, gave us a big hug and was so excited to see us. We didn’t recognize him at all but during the course of the conversation we found out that he was a full time missionary in Pocatello. He had Thanksgiving dinner with us in our home on Moonglow. His name is Nick Conrad. Sure wish I could remember the situation.
A neat experience at the pageant last night…….There was a group of 5-6 retired age people sitting across the aisle from us. We could hear their comments during the pageant. They were really into the show, laughing at the right times, making very positive comments all through the production. We could tell that the cast really had these folks with them. The young sister missionaries were right there with them when the pageant ended. One of the sister missionaries came to me just bubbling over with excitement. She said this family had come to Nauvoo because the older man had been raised here and he just wanted to come back and visit. They had just “stumbled” onto the pageant and decided to stay and watch. Their comment to the sister missionaries was , “You Mormons are not at all like what people say you are like. You are really nice people!” They wanted to know more about the church and filled out a referral card.
We have so enjoyed getting to know the core cast. They are the finest people you could know. They are not only good on the stage but they are wonderful people off the stage. They are so kind and respectful and appreciative. It has been a delightful experience to get to know them. I feel like the young adults are “my kids” and they will really be missed.

Three Days 'Til Opening Night

2009-07-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

I have to begin by bragging about our tomatoes plants! These plants look like big bushes and are loaded with green tomatoes. They were planted early in May. Oh how I wish we could grow tomatoes likes these in Idaho!
Sorry for the lack of entries lately. Our days have been long and very busy. I have resorted to short phrases in my daily journal entries. I am hoping they will remind me of things I will elaborate on when pageant is over. We are having so many incredible experiences meeting so many new people and seeing little miracles almost daily. Hopefully these pictures will give you a little idea of what we are experiencing.

This was what our preshow field looked like about two weeks ago! Glenn, John Ricks and a member of the pageant presidency dug trenches and laid pipe to help the water drain off the field. When our work crew (12 young men ages 18 - 22)arrived, the three men were relieved of their back breaking work and the young men took over! Oh, were they glad!!

This is what our preshow field looks like now. Quite an improvement in a little over a week's time. All the trenches that were dug have been filled in. Some sod has been laid. In other places grass has been planted and covered with straw. It isn't perfect but oh so much better. It is even smelling better now! The water sat on top of the ground so long that the grass was breaking down and it smelled horrible! We had perfect weather the last week and a half, no humidity and comfortable temperatures. We did have 3 1/2 " of rain today but it is supposed to dry up and be nice through Friday. The water seems to be draining fairly well.

All 3,000 of the chairs have been set up in preparation for the pageant. Merlin Blad has been here working as a volunteer. He worked with the boys on our work crew and set up the chairs. Merlin now has the nickname of "Mr. Chairman"! Lois has been helping in the office. Sure been good to have some extra help!!

This is picture was taken during a rehearsal on stage with Joseph (Jeff Dickamore) and some of the children in the family cast. Notice Jeff's boot on his right foot. He broke his toe two weeks before he came to Nauvoo! His healing time is supposed to be 4-6 weeks. We are hoping that it will be healed in 4 weeks which will be just in time for opening night!

Things are really coming together well for the pageant to begin on July 7. It is so amazing to me to see how everyone works together so well, learning music, dancing and blocking so quickly. Of course, we are always seeing little miracles that help the work to move forward!

Sister Smith and I went to a Strawberry Festival in Farmington, IA. a few weeks ago. Farmington is a pretty small town about 30 miles west of Nauvoo. There were signs all around advertising Hel Mart. We thought it must be quite a store but this is what we found! There were a few antiques for sale and a lounge and that was about it. We laughed at the name because we were sure it was a take off from Wal Mart! Some of these small towns are pretty "down home"!

We never tire of seeing the beautiful sunsets here. We were driving back to our house one evening when we saw this view of the statues. Glenn is patient with me - I'm always saying "stop, I need to take a picture!" The setting sun peeking through the trees at the stage area was another good photo opportunity.

Mucky Stuff!

2009-06-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Exploring the Back Roads

2009-05-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took part of our P-day and went exploring. The postmistress at the Nauvoo post office told us we should visit Canril, IA which is a settlement of Mennonites. Canril is a very small town in southern Iowa about 60 miles from Nauvoo. There is a store there called The Dutchman's Store. It has a HUGE fabric section and quite a large food section. I enjoyed browsing through all the fabric - Glenn endured! I think they must buy their dry foods in large quantities and then repackage in smaller packages. The food items were in smaller clear plastic bags with labels. Shelf after shelf were full of these bags of pasta, beans, flours, nuts, etc. We bought some red popcorn seeds and a yummy dried raspberry/nut mix. The people working in the store wore the traditional Mennonite hats and dresses.

We drove on further to a place (can hardly call it a town) called Rutledge (another suggestion from the postmistress). We got a bit lost trying to find our way there and we even had a map and our GPS! Our GPS didn't recognize the town so we were on our own! Once there we were a bit disappointed because all we found was a much smaller version of the Dutchman's store in Cantril. What amazed me was their HUGE fabric section. The Mennonites sew most all of their clothing so I guess the people who live in the surrounding area must come there for their fabrics. Just seemed strange to be in the middle of "no where" and to have such a big fabric store.

The country side was beautiful - lots of green rolling hills. The farms were quite small and not real prosperous looking. Sure quiet and peaceful!

Last Sunday afternoon we visited the Pendleton home and school in Nauvoo. Brother Pendleton had a room at the back of his home where he taught school. Sister Smith gave us the tour through the home. How would you grandkids like to have this for your classroom?! Notice the little blackboard and eraser that each student had. This

was used instead of paper and pencil.

On the road between Cantril, IA and Rutledge, MO we saw this one room school house. I'm sure it is being used because the school was very well kept and the grounds mowed and clean. The sign above the door said it was built in 1980! Now this is real back country!!

Glenn found his "dream home" yesterday! The back of the house is over the water. He wouldn't even have to leave the house to go fishin'! Many of the homes we saw had their own little ponds. But no one had a home situated like this one!

A Look at our Office

2009-05-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Proof that Elder McMinn really does work in the office! He is becoming quite good at the computer. We have had to hollar "help" several times but people are patient with us and we are gradually gaining a little confidence in dealing with the computers. We have had to send out mass emails this past week so we have learned how to put together email groups. May sound simple to some of you but it was quite an accomplishment for these two rookies!!

I thought I would tell you a little about our Sunday meetings. We go to sacrament meeting with the site and temple missionaries. We fill the chapel and 3/4 of the gym! They have two sacrament tables, one in the chapel and one in the gym. I counted 25 men passing the sacrament today!

We meet at 8:00am so that the two Nauvoo wards can have their building from 10:00 on. The site missionaries leave after sacrament meeting for their assignments for the day at the historic homes, visitors center, etc. The temple missionaries stay for the whole block. Our mission president has asked us to attend with the temple missionaries this summer since we don't have Sunday assignments on the site.

They have divided the Sunday School class into two groups. One is for those whose last names begin from A-H. The other class is for those whose names begin with I-Z. They use people to teach the class who have signed a list indicating they would like to teach so we have a different teacher each week.

For RS and Priesthood we go our separate ways. It was pretty funny today in RS. The sister teaching had something on the overhead projector. She was asking for someone to read it out loud. She had to ask several people in order to find someone whose eyes were good enough to read that far away! I fit right in with the ones who couldn't read it!!!

It is a neat experience being in SS and RS with these people. They are so knowledgeable in the scriptures and have had so many experiences in life. We enjoy visiting and getting acquainted with them.

We are neighbors to a couple from Spokane, Washington, Elder & Sis. Howard. They are temple missionaries. We have invited them over for a barbeque tomorrow. Couldn't have Memorial Day without a barbeque!! Elder Howard has had a heart transplant. He looks to be about our age. It is quite amazing to think what modern medicine can do for us!

Another Interesting week

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I sat by a man in church who is from Loa, Utah which is between Hanskville and Capital Reef Nat'l Park. I mentioned that I was a Hanks. He said there were several Hanks families who live near him. I asked if he happened to know where Ephriam Hanks burial site is and where the Floral Ranch was. He gave me the phone number of a Walter Hanks who could tell me exactly where they are! I plan to call him tonight. This Elder said that Walter had taken youth groups to the gravesite for firesides in the past. I am anxious to talk to him. I have often wondered about the location of these places. When I talked to Dad he told me that a Walter Hanks was Dad's father, David Capener Hank's, half brother. I think the Walt Hanks I will call must have been named after Grandpa Hank's half brother. Interesting!

Thurs night and Friday we had a HUGE rainstorm. In 18 hrs there was 5 " of rainfall!! I have never seen it rain as hard as it did. We took some pictures of farm fields near Carthage, approx 15 miles east of Nauvoo. The fields look like lakes! It will be a long time before the farmers can get out in their fields.

I can't resist taking pictures of flowering bushes and plants here in Nauvoo. These spirea bushes have come in full bloom this past week. The house across the street is where a group of sister Young Performing missionaries live. There are 27 YPMs here for the summer. Ten perform on stage as part of the pageant, Sunset on the Mississippi, a variety show, and other smaller productions going on around Nauvoo. The rest, 17, are the Nauvoo Brass Band which plays around Nauvoo all summer long. I can't think of a more fun way to spend a summer if you enjoy doing these kinds of things!

This past week at one of our preparation meetings, the Nauvoo Brass Band performed a few numbers. They were awesome!! They have only been together 1 1/2 weeks and sounded like they had practiced together a couple of months. Their leader is Elder Blackinton, father of Todd Blackinton (Poc. channel 6). He just retired as the head of the BYU band program. This is his second year to lead the Nauvoo Brass Band. They have 55 songs in their repertoire and didn't get their music until they arrived here!!

There is always something new and interesting here in Nauvoo!

Tulips Everywhere!

2009-05-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

We took our Preparation Day this week on Friday. Another missionary couple, Elder and Sister Smith from Mesa, AZ invited us to go with them to Pella, Iowa to a Tulip Festival. Pella is about 2 hrs from Nauvoo. It is a town of 10,000 people. They say that approx. 150,000 people attend the festival. The Tulip Festival is an annual four day event that includes programs, several parades and lots of food boths.

Pella was originally a Dutch settlement. The town has carried on with many Dutch traditions. We watched a program and the parade from a grandstand. We also tried some of the Dutch pastries. Our favorite was called Dutch Letters. It is a pastry shaped in the letter S and filled with Almond Paste. Yummy good!

The tall pillars are on the stage where a program was held. This is all in a park in the center of town. There were numerous beds of tulips in many colors in the park. It was beautiful!

Pella's visitors center is in the windmill.

Both homes and businesses have tulips planted along the streets and in the yards.

One of several city parks.

I really didn't have to ride in the tractor!

The tour of the city was very interesting and we saw tulips everywhere!

We watched people in Dutch costumes dance in the streets as we walked around the city center. They were having a good time.

There was a parade in the afternoon. We sat in a grandstand to watch it. The parade lasted about an hour. There were lots of school bands from surrounding communities, quite a few floats but most of all groups of people in native costume. It was fun to watch!

The people of Holland pride themselves in having clean streets in their towns. Before the parade began they washed the street in front of the grandstand! Men with buckets of water hanging from wooden yokes dumped water on the streets. The women and children would follow with long handled brushes and scrubbed the streets. The streets looked nice and clean when they were finished!

How do you like this style of baby stroller? There were several old fashioned strollers in the parade.

This was one of the entries in the parade - wooden shoe carts!

This morning after our church meetings, we walked through the Women's Garden at the Nauvoo Visitors Center. It was a beautiful sight! For those who aren't familiar with the Women's Garden, it is an area with statues honoring women. The statues depict different stages of women's lives. There is almost a feeling of reverence in the garden. There are benches where you can sit and ponder and soak in the feeling that is there.

Our weekend was very much filled with tulips!

Life in Nauvoo

2009-05-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday aftenoon we took a tour through the Lyons Drug and Variety store. We thought of Grandpa Hanks when we saw all the bottles of medicine. I'll bet he's glad he was a pharmacist in the 1900's and not the 1800's!!

We attended our first Zone Conference this evening. President and Sister Ludwig both gave remarks. Sis. Ludwig keeps a running count of how many grandchildren the missionaries couples have. Tonight the count was 2,314 and she reminds us that they are all praying for us! What a sweet thought!!!!

We did a variety of things this week from checking out a possible apartment to rent in Ft. Madison (11 mi.) for pageant staff to ordering supplies such as pamplets with Vignette schedules, soundtrack CD's of pageant, and creating a poster to include in advertising that will go to surrounding communities. Glenn struggled with setting up accounting sheets on the computer but I think he has that under control - somewhat! I spend a lot of time on the computer keeping track of forms and payments that are being sent in by family casts, volunteers and staff.

We have been stretched to our limits at times but are feeling the blessings of a loving Heavenly Father.

This is one of my favorite scenes in Nauvoo - the statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in front of the temple. Every time I see this statue I think about the strong bond between the brothers and how they both sacrificed so much. The big Mississippi River makes a beautiful backdrop.

In spite of all the rain we have had, the tulips have been in full bloom. The tulips around the temple are planted so close together that it is a solid bed of plants. So gorgeous!!

We're still happy!

2009-04-26T11:05:00.001-07:00

We can hardly believe that we are finishing our second week here in Nauvoo. We thought we were coming to a less windy country but wrong!!! They tell us there is a lot of wind here that comes off of the Mississippi River. The farmers in the area are concerned because it has been too wet to plant their corn. We have had a lot of rain storms. They put down a lot of rain in a short amount of time!

In one of our orientation meetings we were told what to do if there was a tornado. We are supposed to get into a basement. We have a little area under the house which we access from outside. The ceiling is low, the floor very, very damp and I am sure there must be lots and lots of spiders. Oh I hope we don't have to go down there and stay for any amount of time!!!!

The Pageant work is coming along good. When I find myself feeling nervous about what I am doing I have to remind myself that faith and fear cannot exist together. I must increase my faith that the Lord will give us the abilities we need to accomplish our task. We are becoming more acquainted with what's in the files and on the computer and how to run the equipment in the office. So many times it takes so long to complete a project because we are having to "figure out" where to find or how to use something!

There is a lot of US history that has taken place in this area. We were in Quincy, IL this week for a Pageant meeting. They have a park in the center of town which was the location of the famous Abe Lincoln-Steven A. Douglas debate. The building where Douglas had his law office is across the street from the park. Quincy also has a street with beautiful large historic homes. We want to return on a Preparation Day to spend more time looking around.

This weekend in Keokuk there were two reinactments of Civil War battles that took place in the area. I need to "bone up" on my US history so I am more familiar with what took place in this region.

Glenn and I are still happy as companions! We heard about a couple who married (both had lost their spouse) and immediately went on a mission together. When they arrived home a year later they got a divorce as soon as they got home. Funny - but also sad story!! It is nice to be able to work together here. At home it seems like we were always busy with our own projects,etc. We feel very blessed to be in such a lovely place and to be surrounded by such nice people.

First Week in Nauvoo

2009-04-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Nauvoo Tues afternoon. We took two cars, Glenn drove the pickup and I drove the Honda. We drove to Denver the first day and were able to spend Easter Sunday with Kevin, Stefanie and Rylee. We got to watch Rylee try to figure out what an Easter egg hunt is on Easter morning! Pretty fun! Monday we drove to Omaha and then Tues on to Nauvoo. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I got along driving for such long hours! I think I was blessed to be able to stay awake and alert. The longest I have ever driven was to Boise!

We are living in the Orson Hyde home which also serves as the Pageant office. It is a comfortable home. The living room and main floor bedroom are used for the office. Our bedroom is upstairs and quite large with a king size bed. That's an upgrade from home!! There is no dishwasher or garbage disposal in the kitchen so I guess that is my big adjustment.

We have been very busy this week. There is so much to do and learn. Thank goodness John and Peggy Ricks have been just a phone call away because we have been on the phone with them every day asking lots of questions. There was a lot of mail to open and responses to make. There is a lot of filing of applications and entries to make on the computer. We spent an hour with the Pageant treasurer teaching us how to make the deposits locally and electronically to the church.

We are trying to get acquainted with local people who will be involved with the Pageant.

Glenn went to the Mayor's office and had a nice visit with him. Kathy (former counselor in the Gen. RS Presidency) and Dean Hughes (well known LDS author) are Public Affairs missionaries here in Nauvoo and we are planning to meet with them next week. They have been laying some good ground work for the Pageant. Next Wed we will go with the Hughes and another local church member who is involved with the church's PR to meet with the mayor of Quincy to see if we can finalize plans for the Pageant's outreach program to take place there. The outreach program is a musical program that the Pageant core cast presents, about an hour long. The music is Broadway songs that are used to tell a story about families. A very impressive program and not religous oriented.

We were invited to attend a temple session Thurs. afternoon with the mission president and other new missionary couples. The Nauvoo temple is such a beautiful structure as well as having

a beautiful spirit inside. Later that evening we were invited to the Mission President's home for dessert and visiting. There were about 8 new missionary couples as well as the Hughes and the mission presidency and wives. It is nice to have an opportunity to visit casually with the leadership of the mission and other missionary couples.

Spring time is beautiful in Nauvoo. There are quite a few blooming trees. We have a beautiful Magnolia tree in our front yard that is covered with pink blossoms. There are daffodils, and other spring flowers in bloom. We have had beautiful weather since arriving until today. It rained but it is still in the 60's.

I will post a picture of our home. When we look out from the front of our house we can see the temple up on the hill. What a wonderful thing to see everytime we go outside! The picture of the temple is from our home.

Sorry to be so long but we want to acquaint you with what we are experiencing.

2009-04-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

2009-04-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

2009-04-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Our big day finally arrived! We entered the MTC on Monday, April 6th. We spent Sunday evening with Brian and Kristen's families. Kristen and Tiffany prepared a nice dinner for us after the last conference session. It was hard saying good-bye to Kristen and Craig's family when the evening was over. There was another tearful good-bye Monday morning when we left Brian and Tiffany's family. Sure glad we can make phone calls and send e-mails!

It seemed so unreal when we got to the MTC and found ourselves actually beginning our mission. We were there Monday through Friday. It was a wonderful experience. We learned so much about being good missionaries. They bring in volunteers from the community to role play with us. During the week we taught the first three discussions. The first one was pretty scary for me but after that I started relaxing and by the third one I was really having fun with it. Of course it didn't take Glenn long to get the "hang" of it! It kind of made us wish we were going to have more opportunity to proselyte. We were kept very busy each day. We were in class all morning. Then had a 1 1/2 hr. lunch break. Back to class for the afternoon. We were through for the day at 5:00. We had reading assignments each evening to prepare for the next day. They were pretty lengthy so much of our evenings were spent reading. Tuesday evening we had a devotional with Elder Vaughn Featherstone speaking.

There were about 50 people in our group. Pam and Kim Johnson and Elder and Sis. Tower, both from Poc., were in our big group. Johnson's are going to serve in the temple in Finland. Towers are going to proselyte in Mexico. There were 4 other couples going to Nauvoo. All of the Nauvoo couples were put in a group for our small classes. Our instructor was a young sister missionary who had been serving in Nauvoo last summer while we were there. We really enjoyed getting acquainted with these couples. Two will be serving for 6 months; the other two for 18 mos.

I just have to post a picture of us in front of "the map". I remember pictures of our sons in front it!
The other picture is of the couples going to Nauvoo.

Party Pictures

2009-03-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Hanks with our grandchildren.

Grandchildren getting ready to sing.

Opening the gift from our family.

A Great Party

2009-03-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, March 14 our kids and their spouses put on the greatest party for us!! It was to celebrate Glenn's "retirement" from practicing ortho for 30 years and for our leaving on a mission. They really know how to put on an awesome party. We felt so honored that so many family, friends and patients came to see us.

My favorite part of the evening was when all of the grandchildren sang "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission." Our family presented us with a scrap book filled with their pictures and quotes. There is room for us to fill it up with mission pictures and more family pictures and notes from home. What a treasured keepsake!

We had family pictures taken before the party. Maja has posted some of the pictures on their blog, McMinnBunch.blogspot.com.

We leave for the MTC on April 6, about 1 1/2 weeks. We have boxes all over the house! Boxes to take to Nauvoo and boxes to store in the basement. Our neice, Megan, and her husband, Steve, might be moving into our home this summer so we are making room for them.

We are excited to get on our way! I am dreading the "goodbyes" but it helps to know that we will get to see all of our children and grandchildren sometime while we are in Nauvoo. All of them are planning trips back to see the Pageant and the historic sites. Yahoo!!

Cruise pictures

2009-03-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Skyline of Miami from cruise ship

Grand Cayman

I paid $3 to hold this!

Haiti - a few sunbathers!

2009-03-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

Family Cruise

2009-03-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

We find ourselves daydreaming about the wonderful Western Caribbean cruise we just went on. It was supposed to be with all of our children and spouses but Brian, Tiffany, Kevin and Stefanie weren't able to go after all. We missed them a lot! The cruise was so relaxing and the warm air was the best feeling ever. We did a variety of excursions, some together and some on our own. Glenn and I did a flight line in Haiti, climbed the Dunn River Falls in Jamaica, swam with sting rays in Grand Cayman and had a great snorkeling adventure in Cozumel. We were all together in the evenings for dinner in the dining room. We had some excellent dinners and we all ate way too much! We went home with several more lbs. than when we started the trip!! We all agreed that we should do a cruise again only next time we will have all of us there.

Mission Call

2009-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

MISSION CALL

We were trying to be patient as we waited 3 weeks for our mission call! It arrived on Saturday, Jan. 25 while we were in Utah. Jeff checked our mail and told us it had arrived. We decided to wait until Sunday morning to open the letter. It was exciting! We had Rob & Jeff's families come for the grand opening. We had Brian, Kristen and Kevin's families on three different phones as we read our letter. It was a neat experience to share our call with our family.

Glenn and I have been called to serve in the Nauvoo Illinois Mission as full time Pageant missionaries. Our title will be Pageant Administrators. We will enter the MTC on April 6th - what an awesome day to begin our mission! We will serve for 18 months.

We will be responsible for everything except for the artistic directing of the Pageant. We feel so blessed to be able to serve in Nauvoo and especially to be a part of the Pageant. The message of the Pageant can really touch the hearts of those who see it and those who participate in it. It is quite a life changing experience. We hope to see many of our family and friends in Nauvoo! Be sure to find us if you do come. We will be living in the Orson Hyde home which is also the Pageant office. If you ask where the Pageant office is, you will find us! This year the Pageant runs from July 7 - Aug. 1.

Hope to see you there!!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

Glenn and Annette -
Merry Christmas! I hope you will find this blog useful for updating all those that love you while you are on your mission. We love you and are excited to share those mission moments with you.

Love,
Stefanie, Kevin, and Ry