June 15, 2016 - Wednesday in Nauvoo

Another day in Paradise!  Mom had the assignment to work in the gardens and I was assigned to the Handcart Station with Elder Heslop.  We had our regular Wednesday morning training meeting at 7:30am, but we also had a handcart trek scheduled at 8:30am.  So I opted out of the training meeting to get the handcart site ready for our first trekkers.  The morning was very humid, and in the high 70's by 8:00am.  And we had four treks on the books for today.

Working with the families, coming to have the trek experience, is a special treat.  Parents come with their young, and not so young, children to give them the sweet opportunity to experience the handcart challenges of the 1850's.  Today we had three families, and one youth group on a Church History tour.  One of the families came all the way from Iceland, and we were touched and excited to have them here with us today;

The family from Iceland

We introduce the families to the experience that the Edward Martin Handcart Company experienced.  The orientation includes the possible challenges of both staying on the trail, and getting off the trail.  The experience parallels the Gospel in so many ways!  Staying on the trail is the safest and, even then, special care needs to attend us all, along the way, so that we are not tempted to stray.  Getting off the trail has so many potential hazards with the Thorny Locust tree and the Poison Oak and Poison Ivy hidden along the sides of the trails.  And some of the hidden hazards appear to be "trekker friendly", and tend to entice the trekkers to come and explore these off the trail hazards!  

Elder Heslop and I also got to clear some pretty fast growing vegetation along the 3-mile trail.  Once we got the last family off, on their 3-miler, we went out and did some clearing;

Clearing the trails along the 3-mile trek

Driving along the trail on the 4-wheeler - Thorny Locust!

Broken handcart and the skeleton of an animal - so realistic!

As we were driving the 4-wheeler along the trail, we had some low hanging tree branches.  Certainly a sight that repeats itself so many times with all the lush vegetation.  We had a huge downpour last night so the fields all got a much needed drink.  However, as we were about to duck under this low hanging branch in the picture above, we discovered it to be the Thorny Locust Tree.  Looks pretty safe up close doesn't it?  That is how the Adversary works when you let your guard down.  So far this summer, no one has let this dangerous tree spoil their experience!

We closed down the handcarts at 12 noon after the temperatures reached the mid 90's and the humidity was very high.  I got home about 1:00pm, and I was soaked to the bone!  Today's afternoon shower was awesome!  And it was just the perfect thing for mom as well when she got home.  We both relaxed around the coolness of our little cottage and then attended the 4:00pm temple session.  

We worked hard today and when we got home from the temple we had a wonderful surprise!  Someone had mowed the half acre the home sits on and had detailed the hard to cut areas.  What a wonderful feeling that gave us as we marveled at the excellent job! - 

This has been a very busy week and a rapidly increasing temperature week.  I just was not able to get to the lawn on Monday.  In fact, with the lack of rain, I was hoping to postpone the mowing of the lawn until next Monday.  Tonight, however, I have the distinct satisfaction of knowing somebody cares enough about this senior missionary couple to detail their lawn for them!  Tonight, it was a very special treat to be on the "receiving" end of this service!  Thank you, kind person(s), from the bottom of our hearts!