March 4, 2016 - Friday in Nauvoo

There are lot's of fun things and challenging things going on in the mission field in Nauvoo!  Wonderful friends are leaving this month, and over 75 new missionaries are arriving in the next two months.  Can you imagine the matrix of housing and scheduling and accommodating this new group of missionaries while keeping the older guard happy??  We keep praying for the new mission president!

Mom and I were up early to prepare for the mission breakfast this morning.  We took some pictures of the outgoing missionaries and that was interesting!  It seems that the mission presidency is still trying to decide what to do with the Pickle Barrel program, but, for now, mom and I are getting acquainted with the 35mm camera!  Here are some shots I took today;

Orme, Davenport, McKnight, Veenker, Chamberlain

The theme of the final play given by the departing missionaries

Each of these senior missionaries we have come to know fairly well.  They have been fun to work with, and associate with, and especially to watch and participate in the Rendezvous and Sunset productions.  The pictures look pretty good, don't they?  In focus and no red eye!  Not sure how that happened....

I caught mom in action today on her first assigned day as a wagon narrator.  She bundled up nice and warm since the sun failed to shine.  The temperatures were in the high 30's and the low 40's with a mild wind.  Here are a couple of action shots on her second ride... I missed her first pass by the Brick-yard!

Here she comes!

The bundled narrator with no one to narrate to!

Happy Camper with the whole wagon to herself!  Come to Nauvoo and take a ride!

I worked in the Brickyard, and our first visitor came about 1:30pm this afternoon.  This was a lady in her 50's who came to the area to work at the fertilizer plant in Ft Madison.  She is a welder and was called in to the job.  When she got to the site, they had her do other things instead of welding.  When she realized this she had a pretty neat experience.  

You see, she was raised in Utah, without being close to the Church, as her dad went off in a different direction away from the Church.  But her grandmother was active and was close to her until her dad moved her away.  Her grandmother passed away and she realized that she had some connections to Nauvoo.  She came here today and the first person she spoke to at the Family History Center shared her first name with that of her grandmother. 

She became very emotional with that connection.  It was then that she realized she needed to get reacquainted with the Church.  We spoke to her about the Book of Mormon, and the Elder that was serving with me handed her a study guide to help her start her reading.  I asked her what she would do, now, knowing that she had felt the Spirit, and she said she was going to get in contact with her extended family to learn more.  Such a sweet experience!  

I was able to teach her about how the brick-maker was very careful to remove the rocks and grass and foreign items from the clay to make the perfect brick.  And this was the way we are to follow in our lives by removing the imperfections we have through faith and repentance and allow the Atonement to make our lives perfected.

 

Speaking of happy, can you possibly guess what mom is so happy about?  Take a look at these pictures;

That is a pretty good look of relief?

Maybe just happy to be a missionary?

We have been given the green light to move and mom and I went to the house this evening right before Rendezvous to check it out.  You will be very excited to see the pictures I post here tomorrow or Sunday.  We just did not have enough time to take some pictures this afternoon!

And this is what I saw this morning as I walked out of our current house.  We were on our way to the mission breakfast;

Two deer right across the driveway

They just wanted to check me out!!

Our Rendezvous Play was given to a crowd of nine tonight... I think that the Lord blessed us exceedingly throughout the performance.  I felt that this was one of our best nights!  It has been such a tender mercy to be able to tell the story on Nauvoo through this play.  And to work with mom and so many wonderful missionaries has been such a wonderful experience for me.  Bring on the summer crowds!!