November 26, 2015 - Thursday Thanksgiving Day!

Certainly, it is apparent that one of the most exciting things we are thankful for this year is that we are here in Nauvoo serving our mission, and NOT in the Philippines!  We have been enjoying our time here in Nauvoo and we are especially blessed to have met so many wonderful fellow missionaries.  What a difference it has been to be here this year compared to our experience so far from home last Thanksgiving.

We woke up early this morning and noticed that the temperature was in the mid 50's. The sky was overcast but the air was fresh and our walk around Nauvoo was invigorating.  We were back at our home by 7:15am and we were ready to walk to our 9:45am site assignment by 9:00am.  So we walked over to the Visitor's Center and just as we walked up to the doors, the rain started falling.  By the end of our shift at 12noon, we saw a steady downpour and hitched a ride back to our home!

I got to take a little nap this afternoon before our Zone Thanksgiving dinner.  We also had Rendezvous tonight so I was not too hungry for a lot of food.  Just like the game days in high school!   I could never eat before a game although Sierra High School always fed the athletes before each home game.  But we sure enjoyed the fellowship of the senior missionaries at our dinner party this afternoon!  Take a look at our pictures;

Our Zone Thanksgiving Dinner party!

Here is a great group of missionaries.  That is Elder Hall in the middle.  He is about 6' 8" tall and the site leader for the teamsters.  We love working with him and Sister Hall, and they are both in our Emma Hale cast for Rendezvous.  They have previously served as senior missionaries in Africa.

What a feast!

Thanksgiving with all the trimmings.  While we all enjoy each others company and we work hard every day together, we did miss our precious families today.  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families back home!!

Our special punch drink mix

Mom and I were in charge of the drinks so we checked out our mission cookbook, "Our Best Bites" and found a nice beverage recipe that I altered slightly.  It was, one part of cranberry juice, to one part lemonade, to two parts club soda.  It was actually pretty good and refreshing and very complimentary to our turkey dinner!  We had cooled the unopened bottles in the freezer for about 4 hours and created a nice little slush before we mixed the beverages together!

About 30 of us for dinner before Rendezvous

The Appersons - entertainment, and check out the turkey pumpkin behind them!

Elder Apperson was a member of a 1960's rock group the Buffalo Springfield.  He played the base guitar and he is very good.  He is such a kind man and he and his wife arranged a song about the Nauvoo Temple construction, taken from a song that was written for the Manti Temple,  and played it for us tonight.  His wife had an ancestor who worked on the Nauvoo Temple, and when Elder Apperson read us the words to the song before he played it, he was very emotional.  What a treat it is to serve with special missionaries like the Appersons!

And take a look at the pumpkin in the background.  I did not pay much attention to it until we had this activity right after dinner.  On our tables, we had paper cutouts of large turkey feathers taped to a pointed stick.  On the feather we were asked to write down something we were thankful for, having been here in Nauvoo.  We then told our group what we were thankful for and stuck the feather into the pumpkin.  

The "thankful" turkey

This is what we created after this fun little effort.  I thought this was a great idea!!  There have been so many wonderful blessings and tender mercies by being here and serving a mission, but just think of the potential this would have sitting around the table with our families!

And then there was Rendezvous tonight.  We had about 50 or 60 in attendance and it was a very good audience group.  Some of the audience came to have dinner with grandparents and parents, and some were here just for a different Thanksgiving experience.  They were such a great audience!  After I gave my closing lines at the end of the play, and as I was exiting the stage, the applause was loud and several members of the audience shouted "bravo"....  I felt really good about our performance tonight!

We hope you had a wonderful day of Thanksgiving!  For mom and me, today was a joyful day.  It was a day that started off by us looking up and seeing our precious family smiling at us from their perch above our bulletin board.  Mom and I shared happy memories about previous Thanksgivings, and realized that Granny and Grandpa were in the right place this year, and doing exactly what the Lord wants us to be doing at this time... sharing His Gospel with His precious children here in Nauvoo.  

Yes, it will be wonderful to be back with our family when our mission ends, but oh what great joy and happiness there is in serving our Father in Heaven and His children here in the Illinois, Nauvoo Mission!

Thank you for joining us tonight, and Happy Thanksgiving!