Mucky Stuff!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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!!