We survived our
second full week with the summer schedule.
We serve 5 days a week averaging 7-8 hours per day. We rotate responsibilities every hour serving
in various parts of the temple. We have had
some special experiences in serving the patrons from all over the country. It is surely a spiritual high to be in the
House of the Lord for all those hours.
Sunday, we
attended the Canton Branch in Canton, Illinois.
The Branch members are so close and look out after each other. Us and the other three Temple Missionary
couples fed the regular missionaries who are assigned to the branch after the
meeting in the cultural hall. We also
invited the Branch President and family and the Relief Society President. Her husband serves as the Branch President of
the Havana Branch which is an interesting situation, but the branch didn’t have
the priesthood needed for that position, so the wife and son attend Canton as
the husband serves the people in Havana.
Small branches require a lot of dedication and flexibility.
Later that
night, we attended a Parley Street “get to know you” dinner at the park. One of the site missionary couples organized it
so we all could meet our neighbors and know where the tornado shelters were
located. Ours is in the white house next
door. Hope we never have to use it.
Yes, we have
talent!!! Not!!!! For our Family Home Evening on Monday, two
FHE Groups organized a talent show.
Since none of our six-couple group had a talent, we did a funny skit
based on the song “Sweet Violets” sung by Dorothy Collins. (If you want a good laugh Google the You-Tube
Video). We added our own verse at the
end written by Sister Hawkins. It
depicts our work here in Nauvoo.
Time
in Nauvoo
Time
to get work done for
Relatives,
ancestors waiting for us…
Work
to be done with our
Time
in Nauvoo
There
once was an elder who came to Nauvoo
He
thought he’d retired but he found lots of work
To
be done in the temple and more
His
ancestors found him and asked for his wife
To
work with him and help them progress
Do
work for their family connect them
In
heaven to cousins, relations and all
To
be a strong line by work done with their
Time
in Nauvoo
Time
to get work done for
Relatives,
ancestors waiting for us…
Work
to be done with our
Time
in Nauvoo
On our visit this
week to the Blacksmith Shop where the wagon wheels, horseshoes, and oxen shoes
were made, I compared our preparing for our trip to Nauvoo with our ancestors
preparing for their trip to the West. As
I was listening to the presentation on how the wheels where made I kept looking
at the size of the covered wagon. It was
only 3 feet wide and 11 feet long. That
was not very much space to carry all the equipment, food, clothes, cooking
utensils, seeds, flour, salt, lard, and even a beehive, etc. The
wagon was full and that didn’t even account for family members. As we packed our car, we struggled to make
everything fit and we only brought clothes, a printer and computer, and a few
cooking utensils such as my Instant Pot.
I marveled at what treasures the mothers had to leave behind in order to
make room for the essential items needed for the trek. Again, we both are very touched with the
faith and courage of the pioneers. The
primary song, Pioneer Children, has a different meaning for me now as I sing, “they
walked, and walked, and walked, and walked” because there was no room in the wagon!
Also, as we visit
the sites, I have discovered the history of some of our phrases, such as “the
squeaky wheel gets the grease”. In reality,
the pioneers had to put grease in the hubs of the wooden wheels to keep them
from breaking so when the wheel squeaked, they added grease. In other words, whoever yells the most, gets what they want.
Our service
project for now is crocheting plastic bag mats for homeless. One of the sisters (who is a few inches
shorter than me!!!!!) from the Nauvoo 1st Ward, has started this
project. I take plastic shopping bags and
cut them in strips, tie them together, then crochet the strips (plyarn)
together. I love crocheting again but it
sure takes a lot of bags for one row.
The mats will be 3 x 6 feet. It
is amazing who comes up with these ideas but I’m glad that it might help
someone stay a little dryer and a little warmer.
Again, someone
knows someone is Nauvoo. Thursday night,
we invited the “Nevadans” to dinner. (Which
we didn’t even take pictures – will next time).
Sister Moss from Sparks, came with her two companions, Sister Bush from
Texas, and Sister Jones from Montana, and Sarah Wadsworth from Winnemucca. Sarah, President Wadsworth’s granddaughter, talked
to Brent Weed from Wisconsin, who is President Weed’s son. Brent was here with the youth group. Sarah is here from BYUI doing an internship
with the Facilities Management Group (FM) who do all the landscaping on the
church grounds. They even take care of
the Smith Family Cemetery on the Community of Christ property. The last couple of weeks three baby oxen
(calves) have been born so Sarah is even helping to fix their meals and feeding
them.
Yes, the big
buses keep rolling in from all over the country. There has been a lot of groups from Texas,
Tennessee, Ohio, Wisconsin, and of course, Utah, just to name a few. Our granddaughter, Annie, from Henderson,
Nevada, will be here the end of June on one of those buses. One morning a few
adults came to the temple and said they had brought 260 youth. Most of them do baptisms at the temple, visit
the sites, and some work with the FM for service projects (which Sarah helps to
oversee).
Every
day as we enter and leave the temple, we look at the heroic-sized statue of Joseph
and Hyrum Smith’s final moments of freedom as they started their journey to
Carthage. It was placed Dec. 8 in the pedestrian plaza west of the temple. Sculpted by LDS artists Stan Watts and Kim
Corpany, the piece is entitled "Calm As A Summer's Morning." The
sculpture, more than 11 feet tall, stands atop a granite pedestal and depicts
Joseph in an easy-going conversation with his brother. To both of us this sculpture shows their
willingness to do the Lord’s work. This
is a great example for all of us.
We love Nauvoo! (but miss you all!)
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| Feeding the missionaries at Canton after Sunday meetings. |
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| "Calm as a summer's morning" Statue of Joseph and Hyrum |
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| Blacksmith shop where wagon wheels were made. Check out the size of the wagon. |
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| "Sweet Violet" skit and song for entire group at FHE Talent Show. |
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| Elder Talbot's artwork depicting the lecture on horses for the talent show. |
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| Baby "Oxens" |
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| Sister Bush, Sister Moss, and Sister Jones |
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| Service project - plastic bag mats for the homeless. |
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