David's Chamber - Nauvoo

 When Joseph Smith Jr was killed on June 27th, 1844

in Carthage Illinois, Emma was expecting their ninth

child.  David Hyrum Smith was born Nov. 17, 1844.

This is the place where David would go to paint.

It is noted on the highway heading towards Keokuk but

it does not get many visitors.  Kinda hard to get off the

road in this spot.

 It is a very beautiful and serene place.  All you can hear

here are the birds singing and the Mississippi River making

a very gentle sound as it passes by.

 The creek cuts through one small area of this clearing and

it only adds to the beauty and quietness.

David died at age 59 - a troubled man having had to

deal with the trauma of his father's death.

The father he never knew.

MEMORIAL DAY

Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead.  It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order no. 11.
      "The 30th of May,1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,"  he proclaimed. 
     The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn't the anniversary of the particular battle.  Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service.  First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War [it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War],  it was expanded after World War 1 to include American casualties of any war or military action.
     THANK YOU OUR VETERANS.

Inspiring morning

 We could hear a brass band and some drums from our

kitchen window this morning.  We walked out the front

door to see - right down the street - the "Young Performing

Missionaires" here for their first day performing in Nauvoo.

They walk around the streets of old Nauvoo and through

all the sites here in the flats where all the old restored homes

are.  They are all 18 to 25 years old.  They had to audition

and be selected for their singing and dancing.

What an inspiration they are.  So happy to be here performing.

One of the girls Patty talked to is just home from her full time

mission to Spokane.  Can you believe that!  We didn't know

her from Spokane, but what a darling she is.

They perform in a couple of plays as well as walking around

making people happy.  They also go to Carthage for some

performances. 

The reason this works so well for the Church is really kinda

basic to me.  They have a testimony of Jesus Christ.  They want

to please Him.  They want to touch hearts.

To me this is why a restored village wouldn't work for the

world.  They would all want to be paid and some would say

'you cannot pay me enough to do that all summer long!' 

But we say, we will do that, and we will pay our own way.

Because He asks us to bring peace and happiness to others.

Good for our community

All the school districts are able to bring their school

kids to the displays here in Nauvoo.

We see buses here everyday from all over the area.

Many different school districts.  It appears they come for

the day and are taught and entertained.

This picture is of the kids eating their sack lunch's. 

You can see many buses on this day.  At least six buses.

All ages come for the day.  Little first or second graders

to Jr High kids.  They walk up and down the streets

in single file, sometimes holding hands.  They all go into

the Brick Factory, the Printing Press, they ride

the oxen pulled wagons.  All the shops and stores

that are restored teach a gospel principal with their

talks.  Like the Brick Factory teaches that all bricks

are not perfect, and some have small cracks, or turn

different colors and get hardened too much, but they

are all usable just like we are all useful to Heavenly Father.

We have been blessed with several geese and their babies.

These little guys are all up and down the river in the grassy

areas.  They are so cute and they certainly grow fast.

Looks like to me they double their size in the week since

we last saw them.  So Fuzzy....



I need to pay closer attention....

Last night I was assigned to the Recommend Desk.  I was watching the four video feeds that we are supposed to, we watch all the exterior entrances and steps for security, - we are also asked to mark which local ward attends, and if the patrons for the temple are out of our temple district, we write down where they are from by state. 
So I am dutifully performing my assignments, it is raining cats and dogs, we have a wedding going out to the front steps for pictures, and I have an elderly couple ringing the door bell for the handi-cap entrance, which I need to notify security to let them in.  Busy. 
A man walks up to the recommend desk and asks if he can slip in and do a session of initiatory?   Yes, I said without looking up at him.  He handed me his recommend which would allow him entrance, as we know.  I said to myself, 'This voice sure sounds famaliar'.  I receive his recommend - scan it through the computer - and then we verify that the name matches the computer screen identification.  The name on the computer says Lloyd K Newell.  Well that is a good reason to look up and smile.
That certainly is why I recognized his voice.  He is in Nauvoo filming something down at the Visitors Center.  He had a break and wanted to run up to the temple for a session of Initiatory.  How special is that.  Many were impressed to see him in Nauvoo.  He is taller than I thought he would be, looks a little older without his stage make up, but don't we all?  He is very kind and considerate, more than the average person we meet on the street. 
So, the next time you are watching 'Music and the Spoken Word', know that he has attended the Nauvoo Temple on his dinner break.  That desire impressed me that he would do that rather than eat a meal.  I like it.

From Persecutor to Member

We went to an Institute Book of Mormon Class last evening.  It was a small class but very uplifting.  We had heard a story of a lady who joined the Church here in Nauvoo, after having been a persecutor for a few years previous.  Well, we met her at this class last evening.  She was a protester as we had heard.  She would be with other protesters during Pageant Month.   She was married to a Baptist Minister here in Nauvoo.  She discovered that he was committing adultery.  In her grief of a broken nine year marriage, she somehow turned to a tract from the LDS Church that was in her house.  We have not heard the entire story yet, but in her pain from the broken marriage she found the love of Christ through the Church of Jesus Christ which she had been against for so long.  There she was last night in this class, loving the scriptures, giving comments about how wonderful this church is and looking forward to attending the temple in July.  From protester to member - there she was.
Great to hear her story, great to be in the class to meet her and hear from her own lips that she is embarrassed for what she did, and so glad to bear testimony now of the true church and of Christ's atonement.  I just thought this was a great little extra for our time here.  Hope you do too.

First Week working in Nauvoo - and learning

This is a cute way to decorate a tree.

It is a tree up by the center of the town of Nauvoo.

It is in a park.  I think it is a door for the Trolls?

At one of the sites we discovered some Iris.

We are missing ours blooming at home, so this

was a kind way to think of the flowers in Spokane. 

This building is Lucy Mack Smiths 'smoker house'.

Brigham Young had a lovely house built for her, and a

carriage house and this smoker house.

He knew she was suffering from arthritis at age 70, 

she was alone at this time and BY made sure she

would not suffer for the things he could provide.

This lady is one of the wonderful 'site missionaries'

that works here for 12 - 18 months.  Her husband works

over in the teamster area driving wagon trains. 

These are two more site missionaries working

in the school house. 

The School house exhibit has a part of the tour where 

we get to do math on our chalk-boards.

I passed the math test. 

We visited the "Trail of Hope".

A wonderful display that is about half mile long

of entries from journals of the pioneers.

Some of the entries are very emotional to read.

They had so little, and gave all they had to

the building of the Nauvoo Temple, so much

faith and hope in the Temple Endowment. 

Walking back from the Trail of Hope we caught

this shot of the Temple on the hill.

Sure stands out doesn't it.

I hope the Temple stands out like this in all of our

lives, not just the Nauvoo Temple, but every Temple.

It has such a strong part of our lives in the Church. 

So far the excitement has not wained at all.

If anything - our love for this area has increased.



Living conditions in Nauvoo

This is our exterior on Kimball Street.  It is a four-plex.

We are on the upper left.  It is small but very cozy.

There are several of these brick buildings built for the

temple missionaries.  There are 60 couples that came in

the same time with us.  The first week of training was

very uplifting.  Our time here is going to go fast for sure.

We start actually working the temple schedule this week

now that the training is over and the extensive cleaning

is completed.  What a beautiful building.

One interesting fact is the temple baptistry is almost

completely filled everyday from July through August.

There is family times, but no more times for wards or

youth conferences to come.  Our temple president has

called SLC to try to get permission to add more sessions

beginning at 4:00 AM.  There is that much demand.

We are assigned to attend church in within a two hour radius

of Nauvoo.  All of us have an assignment for Sunday's only.

We are blessed to attend the Hannibal Missouri Branch.

It is a great group of people.  Testimony meeting was rich

with the spirit of the Lord today.  We loved it.

More to follow - time permitting.