March 1, 2015 - Sunday - Bobby's 8th Birthday!

Happy 8th birthday to Bobby!  This is one of the tough sacrifices we  have to make when we miss a birthday and soon a baptism.  We got to talk to Bobby this afternoon and got pictures this morning of him dressed in his new suit and white shirt and tie and his own set of Scriptures.  I showed your picture today and Bobby, we are so very proud of you!!  We love you so much!!!!

We woke up to about 4" of beautiful fluffy snow and I have pictures to prove it!  It was lightly snowing this morning as we left for our meetings.  We have Sacrament Meeting at 8:00am at the Stake Center right near the Nauvoo Temple.  Then we move to the Nauvoo Visitors Center for Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society.  Sister Lasher and I got our first teaching assignment today.  Sister Lasher was asked to teach Relief Society on March 22, and I was asked to teach Priesthood on that same day.  We are grateful for the opportunity!

This mission is a complete education in how a Zion Society operates.  The lessons are taught with so much love and appreciation for the Gospel and it makes me want to work harder in my studies.  Today we were taught about the Wentworth Letter and how it was written by John Wentworth who was a friend of the Church.  Incidentally this letter was published on March 1, 1842 in the Times and Seasons, a Nauvoo newspaper.  What a great lesson in history and testimony.

This afternoon Sister Lasher and I worked in the Family Living Center.  I have some pictures there as well.  We were there with another couple and a single sister and we got to spend most of the time getting acquainted with them.  The single sister is serving here until January 2016, and the other couple leaves here in April of this year.  It is amazing how attached you get to the other missionaries and you don't want them to leave!... and they have a hard time leaving!!

Every month the missionary couple assigned to take mission pictures, makes a DVD for all the activities of the previous month.  They put together the mission pictures for February 2015, and this is the first one Sister Lasher and I were in.  It was wonderful to see the month in review and all the activities that were captured throughout the month... and they do this every month so we will each have a history of our mission experience on 23 DVDs.  There is another sweet experience we were told about, and that was that in the Land records office here in Nauvoo, they asked all the missionaries last month, (January), to put together their ancestral fan charts and bring them to the Land Office.  There, they research any ancestors the missionaries might have connected to Nauvoo in the 1840's.  Out of about 120 missionaries there were only about 10 who did not have any connections to the Saints in Nauvoo!  That's one area I want to explore a little better for sure!

Then the Mission President lead the Zone Conference discussion at 7:00pm about difficult questions that members and non members might have in their visit to Nauvoo.  What an informational and spiritual meeting.  He had us tie these questions into experiences and Scriptures that made the questions a little more manageable for those struggling.  What a choice meeting that was!

Well, Sister Lasher and I are certainly staying busy.  We have so much to learn and we have been so extremely blessed to be in an atmosphere where we can be taught by the Spirit and by choice Elders and Sisters and our mission President and his wife.  President and Sister Gibbons have been all over the world on Church assignments when he was in the 2nd Quorum of Seventy.  He is kind and soft spoken and firm in his testimony.  What a privilege it is to learn from him!

Today we also got notes from Cambry, Cody, Zac, Callie and Courtney.  It warms our hearts to hear from our grandchildren!!  Keep those notes and texts coming!!  I will answer all of them in due time!!  I promise!

Now for some more pictures:

Another view of our cozy apartment

A view leaving the bedroom into the sitting area

 

The dawn of a perfect day in Nauvoo!

March 1, 2015 - Sunday Morning in Nauvoo!

The Family Living Center - Sewing Presentation

The 1840's sleigh carriage

Heber C. Kimball's carriage he used in Salt Lake City

Tools of the trade - everyone worked together!

Typical Carriage - 1840's - One horse power!

The art of the Cooper (Barrel making)

The tools used to make the barrels

They built homes with these tools!

This is a working display of how to make rope!  Come to Nauvoo and let's make some together!!

Look at this beautiful pioneer lady!  (Granny)

The fireplace and the bread oven!  Fresh bread is made here every day but Sunday!