LESSON FROM THE PLASTIC

Where has all the time gone????  Last week we made a “bucket list” of all things we wanted/needed to do or to complete before we sadly leave Nauvoo on September 17^th.  We have a few more sites on the flats to visit, pictures to take, service project to finish, and nearby places to visit which resulted in the blog post being so slow.

The Sarah Granger Kimball home was a pleasant surprise.  This home is not close to the other homes in the flats.  Sarah was instrumental in funding the shirt project for the men working on the Temple.  This project was a factor in Eliza Snow writing the bylaws for the women’s organization which led to the Relief Society.  One of the young site missionaries portrayed Sarah and told us her story in first person.  It was awesome.  If you search Sarah on LDS,org, there is an interesting story about how some Young Women researched and honored her.  Elder Talbot was fascinated with the four fireplaces in the home and how they were connected, and I was fascinated with all the “short” chairs in the home (which is indicative of the time period). I’m not quite sure whether all the people were shorter during this time frame or that there was a shortage of wood! 

Sarah Granger Kimball home with one chimney and 4 fireplaces

Small chair (just right for Sister Talbot)

Sarah Granger Kimball

From there we visited the Red Brick Store (which the Community of Christ owns).  The lady was very friendly and helpful.  The main floor still serves as an active store with all kinds of pioneer “stuff”.  Elder Talbot found a hat like the ones worn by the YPMs.  But, the upstairs was quite breath taking and spine tinkling.  Several events happened in the Assembly Room including the organization of the Relief Society.  I had some mixed emotions as the Community of Christ had a PowerPoint presentation going listing all the events that had happened including those after Joseph and Hyrum had been killed.  But, as I stood in the doorway of the room Joseph Smith had received many of the revelations I had been reading in the Doctrine Covenants, a special feeling came over me and I knew without a doubt that he was a Prophet.  I then wondered about all other times we had walked on the same ground as Joseph.  It gives one a lot to ponder.

Joseph Smith's room where he received several revelations.

Assembly Room at the top of the Red Brick store.

Pioneer hat for Elder Talbot.

Another item on our bucket list was a trip to Amish country.  On Monday we went with 48 other temple missionaries to Kalona, Iowa about two hours from Nauvoo to visit the farm of Ila and Dean Miller.  Elder Talbot thoroughly enjoyed walking around the farm and looking at the farm equipment. The true Amish do not use electricity or cars – only generators and horse and buggies.  The Miller’s have eight children.  One daughter drove the buggy and the other three helped their mom feed us.  And boy they did.  The food was out of this world!  The family was very friendly, and we enjoyed the day getting to know and understand a different religion and culture.

Corn crib at the Amish farm

Our buggy ride.

Some of the food served - delicious!

Not far from our apartment is the Nauvoo State Park which includes a grape patch.  We discovered that anyone could go pick the grapes, so we did.  They were very flavorful concord grapes which would have made awesome jelly but I don’t have my “Tutti Fruitti” with me so we just picked a small bag.

Yesterday, we drove to Bentonsport and Cantril Iowa to visit the Iron & Lace shop and the Dutchman store.  The Iron & Lace shop is a small store where Betty Printy created and copyrighted a style of pottery using the Queen Anne’s Lace wild flower (which the Iowans claim is just a weed).  Betty takes a flower and presses it into the clay, which burns away, leaving the unique impression of that blossom.  Her stone ware is amazing, and yes, I had to buy a couple of pieces for our antique bedroom.

Queen Anne's Lace pottery.

Just a white flowered weed - Queen Anne's lace????

Bridge over the Des Moines River at Bentonsport.

Our next stop we in Cantril where we shopped at the Dutchman store which is a grocery store run by the Amish.  Prices were amazing.  Homemade bread was delicious.  The jam was interesting. I had to buy some “Traffic Jam”!!!!    Also, I bought some pearl tapioca to try and make a fruit salad that Ila made for us in Kalona.

Lego display at the Dutchman Store.

Most of the time at home has been spent trying to finish the plastic bag mat for the homeless.  Making the mat 36” x 60” has taken me quite a bit longer than I first anticipated but I have enjoyed crocheting it.  All my FHE group and a couple of other friends have been saving the bags.  I just have the edge and the handles to finish it but I have also learned some valuable lessons from this project.  As the mat started to get longer I focused more just on one row at a time and didn’t bother to look at the overall mat.  Pretty soon I realized that I had been making the mat smaller with each row completed.  Now came the dilemma as how I was going to fix it or was I just going to leave it as it was.  As the 60 inch length was getting closer, I decided that I could maybe fix the uneven edges when I completed the final edging row.  Excited, I started on one of the edges last night and thought I was making the mat even again.  Which it did – except for a few inches.  Then I had my ah ha moment.  The mat is just like our life.  Sometimes we focus so much on the day to day events that we forget to look at the eternal perspective of our actions.  When we focus on eternity and our Savior, we are striving more to be like him – and we don’t have to be perfect!  We just have to be trying our best.  Through the atonement we are able to “fix” all that we can, and then our Savior will cover the rest for us. We know that he loves each and every one of us.

Focusing just on one row at a time led to a uneven mat. (Earthly events)

Fixing the mat to make it even!  (Atonement)

We love and miss you all,

Elder and Sister Talbot

PS by Elder Talbot:  Now you can see why I fell in love with Sister Talbot.  She is still working on smoothing out my rough edges.  I'm not sure that is an ah ha moment but an eternity moment.

                    Sister Talbot is use to brown dirt - then when married, the red dirt from Paragonah, Utah - now the                gray dirt in Nauvoo and Iowa!

Another beautiful sunset across from the Temple

Corn keeps growing!!!

Cloud formations are awesome in Nauvoo!