February 24, 2015 - Tuesday

Sister Lasher and I began our first day of hosting historical sites here in Nauvoo.  I took some pictures with my phone of our Nauvoo Period clothing, but I'm not sure how to download them on the blog.... any suggestions?

We were up at 5:30am this morning getting ready for the day.  We normally read together and exercise together and then we decided to bundle up and take a walk together before breakfast.  It was cold and invigorating!  The city is so quiet and peaceful this time of year!

After breakfast we dressed, for the first time, in our site clothing.  Sister Lasher in her beautiful dress and all the accessories, and I in my slacks, pioneer shirt, vest and black English/Greek sailors cap.  Oh what a sight I must have been!  She was beautiful and radiant!

We walked to our assigned areas down Partridge Street to Kimball Street to Brigham Young's Home where mom worked and I doubled back to the Brickyard on Kimball Street.  Sister Lasher gave one tour today and witnessed two other tours as she learned the details of her site responsibilities.  I worked with Elder Orme and was taught the processes of the Brickyard.  Later Elder Larson and Elder Prescott joined us.

There is a lot of work to do in addition to the training on the site presentation.  By the beginning of the summer season, over 60,000 individual Nauvoo bricks need to be made for expected visitors.  I plan on making one for each grandchild with my own hands!  We made 120 bricks today.  

The brick making process is amazing.  The Nauvoo area is rich with natural ingredients.  With the Mississippi River adjacent to the city, there is an abundance of clay and sand and water.  The clay has iron oxide in the soil and that one ingredient, when fired to a temperature of between 1,200 and 2,000 degrees, turns the brick red.  Mixing four parts of clay with one part of sand and enough water to form a thick "cookie dough" consistency is the magical formula.  A good brick maker with proper help could make up to 3,000 bricks a day.  The average home used about 40,000 bricks.  The outside walls were three bricks deep and the inside walls were two bricks deep.  There was no brick veneer here!  And each brick sold for 2 cents.  The equivalent of about $800 for one home.  Not too bad at today's prices, yet back in the 1840's, men would earn about $1 per day.  I have more to share when you come!

Now, in addition, in Old Nauvoo, there were seven brick yards. Out of about 2,000 wood homes in old Nauvoo in the 1840's, only seven remained when the restoration of Nauvoo began in the 1960's.  Of the approximately 350 brick homes, 49 remained.  Quite a difference in strength and longevity!  And of course there is speculation that some of the brick homes were taken down to reuse the bricks in other areas in town.

Now, along with the story and wisdom from the three pigs, (building a house out of bricks), and the scriptural knowledge that building your house on a solid foundation instead of a sandy foundation for it to stand, my thought for us as solid members of the church and the community, is this - it doesn't matter which "brick" you are in the structures of life, you are equally important!  Building together and holding tight to our designated positions, we can endure any of life's challenges.  The key is working together and being strengthened with the proper formulas of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ready for work!

Ready for work!

Then tonight, we found out we will be part of the "Emma Hale" cast in Rendezvous.  We have just a short time to get up to speed.  I must admit I have never wanted to be on stage to sing or dance. With all the years that I have had the privilege of standing in front of congregations to speak, I have always been nervous, and my hands have been ice cold.  Ask my wife!  Yes, my blood stops flowing when I am in front of people.  On stage?  Singing?  Dancing?  Come to Nauvoo and see!  You won't be disappointed!!