June 16, 2016 - Thursday in Nauvoo

I mentioned last night how warm it had gotten yesterday.  Well, we got home from the temple at about 6:30pm and settled in for the evening.  I had just finished blogging and sat down to read when the power went off!  Yes, it appears that the power was off in all of Nauvoo last night from about 8:30pm until around 1:30am.  That meant that we had no air conditioning!  How did the pioneers handle this kind of heat in the summer?  I am sure they would be quite entertained by the conveniences we enjoy today!

We had an early start to our day with our assignment to the Handcart Station.  We had four groups this morning with the first group at 7:30am.  What a great time of the day to get started!  The temperatures were a little more mild and we had lower humidity, so the cool breezes were very much appreciated.  In between groups, mom got some detailing done on one of the handcarts;

The rain two nights ago brought some extra mud today!

Our final group got back into the Handcart Station at around 12:30pm.  Each of our groups, and families, seem to have had some great experiences together.  Then mom and I  took the 4-wheeler and drove the 3-mile course checking to make sure gates were closed and reviewing the condition of the trails.  It was mom's first time to take the full ride on the 3-mile trail.

At the final activity of the day, we participated in the Sunset show.  We have now been designated as the official counters of those in attendance.  The evening was very pleasant and we had a good show.  We are now one third of the way through the summer shows.  And the biggest month for the summer shows is coming up in July....  We have a big group of trekkers scheduled for this Saturday of around 180.  The city of Nauvoo comes alive in the summer!

I have written about the Thorny Locust Tree here in Nauvoo.  It is a very dangerous tree that has 2", 3", and sometimes up to 4" pointed thorns on the branches.  It is very well hidden with beautiful green leaves.  I have used the analogy of how the Adversary carefully camouflages bad and dangerous things to make them look good to us.  And my point was that if we stay on the trail, we can be protected by these temptations from Satan.  

From a distance a beautiful tree....

However, as we have seen today, even the trails can sometimes be infiltrated by Satan. We had this reinforced today when a Thorny Locust branch from higher up in the tree, was seen over the trail that would normally be safe and secure.  We need to be ever vigilant in our efforts to stay away from what is a potential hazard, in our lives, as it makes its way into our pathway, and tries to divert us from what will bring us eternal happiness!  Striving to "always have His Spirit to be with us", will keep us alert and attentive to these ever present dangers as we make our way along this trail back to our Heavenly Home.