October 20, 2015 - Tuesday in Nauvoo

Today is mom's 43rd anniversary of joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She was in college at the University of Missouri when she made the commitment.  It has been quite a life changing experience for her and has yielded four wonderful children and 4 amazing spouses and 19 precious grandchildren, all living with the sweet influence of the Gospel!!!  Happy Anniversary Granny!

We woke up to much warmer temperatures this morning.  We were seeing the low 60's on the outdoor thermometer and our walk was great under these conditions.  However, as the morning continued, we had a lot of the "corn bugs", that look just like lady bugs, covering our house and the sites we were serving in.  Our little home is somewhat protected with a good dose of Permetherine.  This is the same insect control we used in the Philippines and it seems to at least keep the insects at bay.  

Mom served a full day shift at the Scovil Bakery, and I served a split shift at the Tinsmith, and it was a shared site with the Boot Shop.  The Boot shop was the site pretty much infested by these corn bugs.  Mom and I are scheduled at the Boot Shop all day Friday, but I think we will protest working there until it gets sprayed for these critters!

Lucius Scovil uses China plates like this one as tracts for his mission.

It was literally raining leaves when I snapped this picture in front of the Tin-shop!

 It was a very quiet day for me while serving in the Tin-shop, and also covering the Boot shop, about a block away.  There were only 3 tours at the Stoddard Tin shop and one tour at the Riser Boot shop.  I worked a split shift and got to go home for two hours for lunch and a nice nap!

I am always impressed with many of the visitors we have coming to Nauvoo.  They all seemed to be drawn here and there are so many who can't quite understand why.  They are quick to tell me they have their own religion and don't need any more religion, (sound familiar), but they love the feeling and the work ethic of the Nauvoo Saints, and the Mormon people in general.  

You can imagine what a sweet experience it is when some of them are able to connect the dots and see that the force that draws them here is really the Holy Ghost, and that there is more for them to learn about the purpose of life.  Now that gets so exciting when we can share experiences and testimonies at that point.  And not all folks beg to be baptized at that point, but we know that seeds are being planted and that the nurturing of those seeds will continue to be cultivated as they go to other sites or as they meet other members of the Church.  

How sweet it is to be involved in this great work!  Imagine if we decided not to go on this mission??  I would just be getting in the way at the deli and walking around my cement driveway marveling at the fine work that Mike did for us!  As much as we miss the grandchildren and our family members, this is one of the best decisions we have ever made!