July 20, 2016 - Wednesday in Nauvoo

Things were really heating up today in Nauvoo.  The heat index was closing in on the "extreme" setting, as temperatures reached into the 90's and the humidity was in the mid 90's.  It was a good day to be in a cool building after 1:00pm.  I had the assignment to be at the Handcart Station at 6:45am to get ready for a group of 125 youth from Ohio.  I worked with Elder Heslop and we had the 20 handcarts ready for our first four groups including the 7:00am group.  However, the 7:00am group did not come until 8:00am.  

Mom and I walked down to the handcarts for an abbreviated walk.  We left the house about 6:15am after our morning devotional and prayers.  As we walked along the back streets towards the Handcart Station, I caught some great morning pictures; 

Some interesting clouds out the back door of our garage this morning

I saw this one over the Mississippi in front of the Temple

Another morning sunrise reflection over the Mississippi

Once the youth group arrived, we got them quickly organized.  They were divided into nine families and scheduled for the three mile trek.  They were excited and very enthusiastic as we got them ready to go.  Our new handcarts have taken quite a beating this season.  The humidity and the mud and the rain have caused some of the joints to come apart.  We have a solution to repair them, but we need to get through the summer season first.  Here are some morning pictures;

The cleaning of the handcarts after three miles of mud

They did a great job on the clean-up today

I have enjoyed working with the young people that come for the handcart experience.  Some have experienced trek before and others are having this experience for the first time.  It is a great way to learn to work together as they navigate the trails and play out the hardships of pushing the carts up, and over, muddy trails, and then holding the carts back as they take them down some very steep terrain.  But, so far, they have all come back happy and enthusiastic about their experience.  We had over 200 trekkers today!

Now, from news back home, we got these pictures from Ali.  The temple session was first on her list today.  Then the check-ups for the healthy and happy grandchildren.  We sure love our precious grandchildren!

The Rexburg Temple - the beacon on the hill!

Four precious grandchildren in for check-ups!

Tonight we closed out the day with our Rendezvous Play.  Mom and I had our supporting roles that kept us busy.  We will do our major parts on Saturday.  We got home about 9:45pm and we are ready for bed!  In fact, mom has already beat me to the slumber!  Thank you for joining us tonight!  We have over 100 scheduled for trek tomorrow... and the heat index is going to climb even higher and sooner than it did today.