January 14, 2016 - Thursday in Nauvoo

I had to do a double take this morning.  The temperature was 32 degrees and the wind was quiet.  That made for a beautiful morning walk.  I had to check the calendar to make sure this wasn't the first day of Spring!  We were up, at our usual time, for our devotional and prayers, and were ready to begin the walk at 5:50am this morning.  What a great formula to start the day!

The morning sunrise over the Mississippi River

We served at the Visitors Center this morning from 8:45am to 1:30pm.  We had a few missionaries coming and going, and only one visitor all morning long.  The day has been absolutely gorgeous outside!  The wagons were running today, without passengers, to help train new sisters who will be giving the history dialog for the rides later this Spring.

Tomorrow the new mission president and his wife are scheduled to arrive.  President and Sister Hall are coming in from the Mission Presidents MTC and they are from Rexburg, Idaho.  We are looking forward to meeting with them when the opportunity comes up.  I can just imagine all the senior missionaries making the effort to get to meet them "first"...  

It goes with our geriatric make-up!  He will inherit two mission counselors and one will be leaving in March.  Things will get interesting, I am sure, and mom and I have a front row seat working at the Visitors Center three or four days each week!  However, it will be fun to meet him at the right time, and have the connection with the Rigby/Rexburg home-base!

Mom and I took separate ways home from the Visitors Center after our shift.  She went home to prepare our meal and I went  to the Post Office to mail off my first birthday hat!  Maddie is celebrating her birthday later this month and I am using her to help me size the other hats.  I get to make at least 20 of them this year!  Wait until you see the yarn colors mom and I have picked out!

Then we closed the day with our Emma Hale Cast going to the 6:00pm temple session.  This was our 40th visit to the Nauvoo Temple.  We had about 20 members of the cast there and some of our favorites as well!  Mom and I were able to serve as the witness couple and that is always a treat.  It was a great way to close out this beautiful day!