June 24, 2016 - Friday in Nauvoo

Today was another opportunity for mom and I to take our full morning walk together.  We both had site assignments that gave us the time we needed to enjoy the morning exercise.  After our prayers and devotional, we left the house at around 5:00am and we were met with a cooler morning air.  We got home a a few minutes past 6:00am and finished our exercises, and our preparations, for the day.

Mom was assigned the second wagon narrator spot, and I had the early shift nod at the Browning Gun shop.  I had mom take the car to the wagon depot since she had to be there at 8:00am, and I walked down to the gun-shop to be there at 8:45am.  We are getting more bus loads of folks here in Nauvoo.  The youth conference groups are beginning to arrive and the Browning Gun shop is one of the favorite attractions.

What was really fun today was we had three descendants of Johnathan Browning come in for the tour.  I love his story!  He was drawn to religion and it was well noted of his honesty and integrity throughout his life-time.  When he moved to Quincy, Illinois, in the 1830's, he came in contact with the Mormon people. Then, later on, when he met Joseph Smith in the early 1840's, he was drawn to the religion and he and his wife were baptized.  He absolutely loved the Gospel and spent the remainder of his life in supporting and sustaining his membership and his testimony of the Church.

When he and his wife had their 6 week old daughter Emma Elizabeth die during the Nauvoo years, he was grateful for his knowledge of the temple ordinances that insured that if he lived his life as a faithful member of the Church, he would be reunited with his family beyond his mortal sojourn.  He was especially proud of placing the label on his gun stocks with the message, "Holiness to the Lord, Our Preservation".  There is a little white picket fence in the yard of the Browning Gun shop that marked the resting place of this precious daughter.  The Nauvoo Temple is directly in the sight of the property overlooking that grave-site.  It is one of my favorite pictures here in Nauvoo.

As I was serving in the Browning Gun shop, the Young Performing Missionaries were heading toward their assignment.  The come and sing along Main Street and give impromptu performances for Nauvoo visitors.  They are on the run constantly!

YPM's 2016

And then the Nauvoo Brass Band stopped by the gun-shop and performed a number for me and for my guests later on in the morning!

How fun would this be to perform around Nauvoo?

Our Rendezvous Play went well tonight.  Mom and I had bit roles and played to smaller audiences tonight.  We did have a visit from our former mission president and his wife at the play.  President Gibbons and several missionaries that served with him came for some kind of a reunion.  We had a chance to say hello to them as they came out of the first show and greeted our cast.