July 28, 2016 - Thursday in Nauvoo

Happy 10th anniversary Ali and Jared!  Mom and I had just settled in Rigby and hosted their reception in our new home.  It seems like only yesterday!  Jared, do you remember the interview we had on the front porch of our new home when you asked for my daughters hand in marriage?   Ahhh classic interview..... Congratulations to both of you as you begin the next 10 years... and beyond!

The Handcart Station was very busy today.  And it started off with our first group at 7:30am, so mom and I were down there by 7:00am getting ready for the crowds.  We ended up having 195 trekkers come through the station by 12 noon.  Each family and group came well prepared for the adventure, and we sure enjoyed the morning with each one of them.

After our morning devotional and prayers, and while I was waiting for mom to finish in the bathroom, I went out in the yard and cut down some additional overgrowth.  The morning temperature was a cool 70 degrees, but the humidity was close to 90%.  It was so wet that the lawn looked like it had been watered!  But I did catch a fascinating picture of the sky;

Here is a thunder cloud developing this morning

The Nauvoo Pageant building was dedicated this evening at 5:30pm

After our last group came in from their trek, we cleaned up the Handcart Station and headed home.  We showered and then went to the temple and caught the 1:00pm temple session.  I was surprised that there were only about eight men and 12 or so women in the session.  This was our 89th visit to the Nauvoo Temple during our mission here.  

We also received word from the mission president of our release date being adjusted to August 31st.  After our temple session on Monday, we felt strongly about requesting the release date to correspond to serving 18 months, and in going to Virginia to see PopPop.  The impression was that it was time to go and spend the month of September with him even though he seems healthy and active.  It has been almost 20 months since our last visit, and he will be celebrating his 93 birthday in September.  It will be a great opportunity to spend the time with him and be there to help celebrate that special birthday.

Then we came back home and had our lunch together.  We then got ready to go to the Nauvoo Temple Pageant building dedication.  When we came here last February, the facilities management group, along with the pageant folks in Salt Lake City, were in the process of buying this building and remodeling it to suit the needs of the Pageant.  

Mom and I got to go over to the facility, last March 2015, and help wrap up the racks of clothing for the pageant participants.  After over a year of remodeling, Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the First Quorum of the Seventy came to Nauvoo to officiate in the dedication.  It was fun, and historic, to be a part of this day of dedication!  The picture I took above is the core cast of both the British and the Nauvoo Pageant.  There are some very talented individuals in this group!  We have had a full day!