Happy Mother's Day

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!