March 18, 2015 - Wednesday

Today was our preparation day that started with a 7:45am mission training meeting.  We were all together with the other missionaries and the mission presidencies announced the changes and new assignments.  Mom and I were called to serve full time in Carthage beginning this Sunday.  The assignment is typically for 4 to 6 months and this will give us the sweet opportunity to be there during the month of June and specifically on the anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.  Mom and I are serving there tomorrow to cover a P-day and this will be our second time.  We are excited!

We drove to Carthage after our training meeting and attending the 10:00am Temple session.  We met with the couple who are leaving Friday as their mission is coming to a close.  We were able to look at the house we will be living in as well.  The home is about 40 years old but does not have the "old home" smell, which is wonderful!  It is about 3 times larger than our current apartment in Nauvoo.  The home in Carthage is 3 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 baths, large office, large kitchen, large living room and an enclosed back room that is about the size of our current apartment and it has a beautiful baby grand piano.  And the piano is tuned and ready to be played!  We have 2 queen size beds, one in each room, and 2 twin beds in the 3rd bedroom.  We have enough space for two families at any given time!  Elder and Sister Lasher's "bed and breakfast".

For the balance of the day, we left Carthage and did some light grocery shopping and gathered some moving totes and headed for home in Nauvoo.  We took a walk down Parley Street and the Trail of Hope. This was the road filled with the Saints as they were forced from their homes and were waiting to be taken across the Mississippi River into Iowa.  They went from Iowa to Winter Quarters in Nebraska and then from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City.  The total trek was about 1,400 miles and started on February 4, 1846.  It was a cold day with temperatures at -14 degrees.  The river was full of ice floes and the barges had to navigate around the ice to get to Iowa.  Then, the Saints realized a great blessing that came from the extreme cold when the river iced over around February 25th, and they were able to drive their wagons across the ice saving days and weeks of time in getting started.  They were about 4,000 wagons that left Nauvoo from February to August 1846.

Here are some pictures along the "Trail of Hope";

 This is an old period barge that would have been used to take one wagon across the Mississippi River as the Saints moved from Nauvoo.  Very time consuming and often the oxen would fall off the barge and start swimming along side to get to the other side.

 There are about 30 of this markers along the Trail of Hope and the pictures I have here are some of the ones that have recently been redone.  Apparently a worker was washing these markers and used something that took the printed letters off the metal.  All need to be replaced by May.

The Trail of Hope: Exodus from Nauvoo

Art and early Church members’ words can help us imagine what the pioneers felt when they were forced from Nauvoo.

At the final dedicatory service for the Nauvoo Illinois Temple on June 30, 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) asked those in attendance to walk down Parley Street to the waterfront on the Mississippi River. Though it was a hot, humid day, President Hinckley asked everyone to imagine that it was a bitter cold day in February 1846. That summer evening, more than one thousand Latter-day Saints walked down Parley Street, now referred to as the Trail of Hope.

Today those who visit Nauvoo can also walk the Trail of Hope and imagine that it is a bitter cold day in February and how the pioneer Saints felt when they looked back at the temple for the last time. Plaques line the Trail of Hope with quotations from pioneers who left Nauvoo on that February day or during the following months.¹ They help us imagine what it was like.

Mary Field Garner, 10 years old when the mob drove her family to leave Nauvoo in September 1846, tells how her family hurried to pack food, cooking utensils, clothing, and bedding. With the bread dough risen and ready to bake, Mary’s mother simply took it with them to bake after they crossed the river.

During one of the earlier crossings of the river, a boat sank, and Hosea Stout recounts how several Saints were tossed in the cold and unrelenting waves.

Describing some of the pioneers’ first camps, Gilbert Belnap states that some had only a sheet drawn over a few poles to make a tent. He remembers hearing the crying of children and the groaning of those sick with fever.

Zina H. Jacobs Young gave birth to a baby boy after traveling about 80 miles west. She says she did not mind the hardship because her life had been preserved and her baby was so beautiful.

Some Saints were unable to go west. Martha Ann Smith was five when she said good-bye to her dear but feeble grandmother Lucy Mack Smith, who shed bitter tears knowing it was the last time she would see her son Hyrum’s family.

“Those of us who can remember when we were compelled to abandon Nauvoo, when the winter was so inclement, know how dark and gloomy the circumstances of the Saints were, with the mob surrounding our outer settlements and threatening to destroy us. … The word was to cross the Mississippi and to launch out into an unknown wilderness—to go where, no one knew. Who knew anything of the terrors of the journey thither, or of the dangers that might have to be met and contended with? … [We moved] out with faith that was undisturbed by [these] unknown terrors. It was by faith that this was accomplished.”

George Q. Cannon

“My last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep up the floor, and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart … I gently closed the door and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God.”

Bathsheba W. Smith

“Here we all halted and took a farewell view of our delightful city. … We also beheld the magnificent Temple rearing its lofty tower toward the heavens. … My heart did swell within me.”

Newel Knight

“How well I remember what a hard time [father] had breaking in the animals to draw the wagon. There were six cows and two oxen. The oxen were well broken and quite sedate. But the cows were wild and unruly. … Many nights when we were in bed asleep [my mother] would go out into the orchard … and there pour out her soul in prayer, asking the Lord to open the way for us to go with the Saints.”

Margaret Judd Clawson

With this advanced camp of the great exodus there had come a brass band, led by Captain Pitt. After encampment was made and the toils of the day were over, the snow would be scraped away, a huge fire or several of them kindled within the wagoned enclosure, and there to the inspiring music of Pitt’s band, song and dance often beguiled the exiles into forgetfulness of their trials and discomforts.”

B. H. Roberts

Annually, the Nauvoo Mission commemorates the February exodus on February 4th.  Many ancestors of those early pioneers are invited to participate in this reenactment and it draws hundreds of people from all over the country.  Mom and I came into the mission two weeks later and we will look forward to this part of the history for our 39th anniversary!  (We were married February 4, 1977)

Well this has been a full and relaxing day.  Surprisingly I did not get much of a nap!  We are looking forward to serving in Carthage tomorrow and then preparing for our move next week. 

Thank you for joining us tonight and we will look forward to a great day tomorrow!  Don't hesitate to leave a comment on the blog!  We love you!