A Good Fall

Sorry, it has been so long since I have posted. Writing is not one of my favorite activities and I am sorry for that. Things are going well here in Nauvoo for the most part. We are challenged right now because the horse program has been suspended since Labor Day and we have received no explanatin as to why. They still drive the horses and keep them in condition so it gives the teamsters something to do. they also mended a lot of fences and did a lot of upkeep around the barn, but it has  been really hard on them not having any interaction with the visitors. The end of October, though, they let them give wagon rides with the oxen so that has been really good. In fact, Melanie's family was the first family to ride on the Oxen Ride since it had been shut down.
     The other thing that has been quite a surprise is that they are retiring our play, Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, at the end of November. It has been such a part of our life out here, its hard to imagine how things will be without it. We have become very close with the people in our cast and it has been a great experience. At first it was a bit intimidating learning everything that we were supposed to, all the songs and lines, but our cast always had so much fun doing it and we were the best, of course. It has run continuously for thirty years, every night but Sundays and Christmas. We don't know if there will be anything to replace it or when, but I will miss it. It had a great message and touched a lot of people. I am so glad I got to be a part of it.
     Now we are working on the Christmas Walk. It will be held Dec 1. There is a program at the Visitor Center and a lighting of the tree there. Then people walk around downtown in Old Nauvoo and hear stories and carols at the sites. My assignment it to tell the story of Joy to the World and have people sing it in the Tinsmith Shop.
     In February we will have the Reenactment of the Saints leaving down Parley Street and crossing the Mississippi. Our assignment be over the carriages and wagons. I hope we have the horses back by then. Otherwise we will pull the wagons with pickups.(honestly not period). I am making a bonnet to wear for it.
      We have move to a different house that is closer to the barn and is bigger than our last place. We now have two bedrooms so if anybody wants to come they can stay with us. Melanie and her family came in October and it was really great to have the room. We are upstairs so we do have a stairway but once we get up there its all one level. The best part is that it is right on the banks of the Mississippi River about 50 yards away. The channel is right near our shore so we have the big barges passing closely. Who would have thought that I would ever lived on the banks of the Mississippi?

A Mississippi River Sunset

At Carthage

                                                 Erik petting Abe

Lucas with Ike and Abe

   

A Great July

      We had a good month  in July. The pageant was going on and we were pretty busy. It is actually fun to be busy. The older missionaries who had been here last year kind of had us scared about how hard it would be to handle all the people, but I only had one day in the Family Living Center that was really hard. Most of the time people didn't have to wait very long if at all.
       The  pageants were really great, so inspiring. If  you get a chance to come you really should. They have a country fair before the pageant that everybody loves. They have all kinds of pioneer activities like walking on stilts, sawing logs, pulling handcarts, dancing, making rag dolls, hoop game s and more. One of my favorite parts was the bagpipe band . They would play over by the entrance and then lead the beginning of the pageant. It was so fun to hear and made me a little homesick for our bagpiper.  The pageant core cast is so talented and I loved the families that were in the cast. What a great experience for them. Applications for next year will be available soon.
    All of the YPMs (Young Performing Missionaries) have left to go home. They brought such a special spirit and energy with them. I could not believe how hard they worked and how physically demanding it was, but they all loved it and were sad for it to end. Some of them came after their full time mission and some of them came before their missions. One young man was leaving on his  mission 12 hours after he got home. Some of them it was their mission and I am so glad they got to come and be a part of Nauvoo.
    We also have had about 18 Young Sister missionaries. Half.of them go home this week from their mission and half of them will go outbound to other stateside missions for the winter come October. We get the opportunity to have them over for dinner sometimes.  It's really fun to get to know them.
      I feel so humbled to be here in Nauvoo and to be able to feel the spirit of the saints who lived here. One of my favorite things to do is to read their journals and the history of what happened here. There is always a book of the lives of Brigham Young, Heber C Kimball, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff  in their homes that we can read when we are not giving a tour in the site. And they are available on kindle.
      Also, the missionaries we work with here are amazing people. I love every one of them. We have an auhor here, Lee Nelson, who wrote The Storm Testament series. Last night we heard one of our Elders, Elder Lowe who was a concert pianist when he was younger give us a classical concert last night. It was so beautiful. We are coming into fall when a lot of the missionaries go home. In fact we lose abou 15 couples in the next 2 weeks and about thaat many more 2 weeks after that. It is hard to say good-by.

Spinning at Nuavoo on the Road

Nauvoo Pageant

British Pageant

Joseph at the Finale after the temple was built

Some of my favorite YPMs singing at the Family Living Center
Elders Sykes, Larsen, Cottam, Munci. Sisters Gardner, Smith, Meikle
 and Greenwood

Pageant Starts

      This week has been crazy busy. I served in the Sarah Granger Kimball house, the Log School, and the Family Living Center twice. Today I will be in Wilford Woodruff Home. Sarah Granger home was not terribly busy however. I've heard it said it is the best kept secret in Nauvoo. It is a sweet little house that is kind of out of the way so many people don't get out there. She is creditied with first having the idea of a women's society to sew shirts for the temple workers. The Lord and Joseph Smith thought that was a good idea and so Relief Society was born.
        We also get the opportunity to pass out newspapers that tell what is happening .in Nauvoo at the Pageant gates. We have an anti-Mormon across the street passing out his newspaper  so we ask the people who come in if they want the real one and a lot of them haven't realized it's anti. But then we have a garbage can right there so they can throw the other one away. We are told not to engage with them in any way because they are videoing us and they would alter it and post it online.


[4:50 AM, 7/11/2017] Darren: Yesterday, up by 6 fixed breakfast ,went to the barn,watched the horses run the mile in ,helped teamsters carry and put on harnesses, went in break room to read Book of Mormon  ,4 teams left for assignments,Elder Hunter and I harnessed our team taking special care not to let the bridle rub on the sore behind the ear,drove to the carriage depot,narrat                      
[5:10 AM, 7/11/2017] Darren: Narration given on 3 rides,35 min each ,was driver for 2 rides,ate lunch on 2 five minute breaks,grained and showered my horses,home by 4,fixed supper, went to first play with mother,was told by a sister that she was told by a visitor that I made them cry for the entire 35 minute ride that day, performed almost all of the play , tornado warning stopped the play 5 min early ,everyone to the basement all 200, standing room only,a young woman close started to hyperventilate, almost went down, rain continued hard , canceled other play,20 min later still raining, borrowed an umbrella to get ours from car, got soaked any way,water was running two inches deep on seemingly level ground,thunder rolled non stop ,went home ,holed up went to bed!!!!                      
Another yesterday, with the oxen, happy 😊 families,some from Texas,Utah, Idaho Falls, Montpelier, Cardston, Minnesota, Virginia, Hawaii,Scotland,,England, Ireland (whose mother's name was McBride).too hot, some shows canceled, helped with pageant.

Tonight I'll tell you of our day.Our preparation day or our diversion day.Of course I did our laundry and made "hatchbrowns" and scrambled eggs for breakfast 🍳 then put out the garbage.(Do I sound put upon?)great day!We first went north along the river past where the old North Landing used to be then to an ancient mound out in some beautiful woods. Archaeologically I was not impressed but the place was very pretty as was the company.

Then we again went along the river to Fort Madison then across the river to the town of Montrose.first we went to an old cemetery. If you get a little closer you can read the name on this stone (Wych Hazel) We wondered what she was like? Then we went on into the small town.Flowers on the sides of the bridges, a big monument to an orchard planted in the 1700's and had grown under the flags of France ,Spain and the United States The Lilly pads above were in a pool by the river. We ate lunch at a buffet in Keokuk and bought groceries then home 🏡 for a nap 😴.Oh, I forgot,when we drove down Main Street of Montrose we could see across the river framed by the trees ,a direct view of the magnificent Nauvoo Temple!!After dinner we went to help at the British Pageant.first we greeted people at the gate and gave them the right paper to replace the one they had received in the street from the antagonist trying to disrupt the work of the Lord.We then enjoyed the Pageant and were moved by the story of the twelve bringing the gospel to the British Isles. We went on stage in the finale with our host of missionaries to sing.We have prayed for each one of you.

June 2017

Hi Everyone,

      Things have been going fairly smoothly out here. I've learned what I am suppose to say in the sites and have served in all of them but a few that are for just the elders.  It is special to be able to interact with the visitors that come. I am surprised, however, that we haven't been as busy as I thought we would be. June is a great time to visit because all the productions are going on except the pageant.  So we  have Sunset by the Mississippi, Just Plain Anna Amanda, The Promise, Trail of Hope, Youth of Zion, and other performances by the Nauvoo Band and Young Performing missionaries besides Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo which goes on all year. There are people here but seldom do they have to wait for tours at the sites.

      We had our first golden ticket last week. That means our first opportunity to  teach in RS/Priesthood. Every couple gets 3 golden tickets, one for speaking in sacrament meeting, one for teaching Sunday School, and one for teaching Relief Society or Priesthood.  It was very scary. i mean we are teaching the whole mission! It was a conference talk so we basicly had to make up the lesson. It was one S Mark Palmer's talk "Jesus beholding him, loved him." The best thing I did was share Elaina's poem called "Shelves" that she wrote on her mission from a talk given by John Bytheway. The sisters really like it.

       One of the funnest things here is to find connections to people. A couple came to the Print Shop where I was the other day. They had on missionary badges so we asked them where they were serving and they said they were returning home from their mission in Tennessee. I asked which mission and they said Knoxville. I got really excited and asked them if they knew Elder Hatch. They said yes, they had just been with him yesterday. The sister started to tear up and gave me a hug and said that had made her day. She had been feeling pretty tough about going home. The thing was they had been to the visitor's center and had come straight to the Print Shop to see if they could catch a site before we closed. Tender mercies for that couple.

With our friends the Finlinsons and the Thompsons

In front of our house

Some of the teamster guys

Week of May 29

Hi there,
     This week has been a lot of fun although very busy. Darren is taking people on rides on the wagon or carriage or oxen wagon every day now. I have been in the sites this past week. We started our stage productions of sunset by the Mississippi on Tues. It went fairly well although we forgot the actions on our "Nauvoo Sunshine" song. The director spruced us up though and we did a lot better on Saturday. In fact we got a standing ovation. It helped to have a lot of youth in the crowd.
     We had  my brother Ryan and his family here in Nauvoo on Wed, Thur and Fri. It was great to see them. They could use our house as a crash pad when they needed to and we fed them supper Thurs night. It was one of the spiritual highlights of the week when I took them on  tour of the Wilford Woodruff home and got to bear my testimony of Lord's remembrance of the sacrifice of His saints. We were all touched by the spirit.
      Saturday, we both got to go with Nauvoo on the Road. That's where we go out to festivals or gatherings in the surrounding areas and set up a booth to advertise Nauvoo and invite people to come. We went to Pittsfield, Ill. about 2 hours away where they were having a civil war re-enactment. We wear our site clothes and take a rope making machine and pioneer games and I took my spinning wheel. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Whereas in Nauvoo most people who come are members, out there about nobody are members. I am surprised about how few people even know about Nauvoo.
        However, just as we were packing up and I was standing by while they were loading the heavy stuff and man came up to me and said he didn't know there were any Mormons in his county. Then he told me he was a member and that he was a member because of Nauvoo. He had gone there several years ago and went to the visitor's center  and heard about all that had happened to the early saints. He said the man who was speaking had probably given that talk 200 times but that it touched him and now he was a member. It was so special for me to hear   him. Most of the time we have no idea how things turn out with those who visit here.
       I also had a very good conversation with the lady who had the booth next to ours. She was selling pottery and soap she had made. But she came over to talk to me about spinning. She had done some in the past and even owned a sheep. She admired the shawl I had made and talked about different kinds of sheep and so on. I invited her to come to Nauvoo, told her about what was there and gave her some pamphlets about it. She seems interested so I hope she will come and that I can see her there when she does.
       Our schedule is very busy here. For instance, Friday morning at 7:00, we had a farewell breakfast for the couples that were going home that involved the whole mission. Our cast set up on Thurs. night. I scrambled 3 dozen eggs for it the next morning. Then my shift started at 8:45. I got off at 3 and fixed supper for the Young Sister Missionaries (one companionship). Then we had to be to our Sunset performance by 6;15. We usually don't have and early breakfast like that but Darren has to be to the barns by 7:30.
        We love it here serving the Lord.

BIG horses at the barn

Sunset by the Mississippi on the out door stage

Gideon Geisler, my nephew, in the Children's Parade at Sunset

Nauvoo on the Road

Elder Hatch showing sick pulling

Lincoln was there

Fully Engaged

    The time here so far has been in preparation for the summer season. We will have lots of visitors come to enjoy what is here.  I have served in every site except a couple so far and will hit them this week. I love serving in every site and can't say that I have a favorite. Every site ties into a gospel message and a testimony of what the saints accomplished here. I do like to serve in the Family Living Center where I can demonstrate spinning, however. Darren is on the wagons driving the horses every day now. They take turns driving or giving the narration. He is really great at connecting with the people.  He also does the Oxen Ride.

 

 We also get the opportunity to serve in other ways such as planting flowers. Here we donated some time to plant the flowers at the end of Parley Street near the statue of Joseph and Brigham.  This week we will clean the statues in the women's garden.

   Everyone who serves here participates in the productions.  "Rendevous in Old Nauvoo" is put on every night but Sunday year round. It just inIt wcludes the senior missionaries and is delightful with song and a little dancing and a lot of acting.  We are in 3 numbers there. The other production that we are in is "Sunset on the Mississippi". This production is put on from Memorial Day through Aug. 15.  It stars the Young Performing Missionaries who are here for the summer  with the seniors as backup and a few numbers of our own.  There are 3 casts that rotate and perform 2 nights a week in each production, so we are in productions 4 nights a week during the summer.

     Once in while we get the chance to have some socialization and recreation. Saturday we went with our cast of the productions down to Hannibal, Missouri and took a dinner cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat.  It was a beautiful evening and the sunset was gorgeous.

with Sister Finlinson

Some views of old Nauvoo

The peonies are beautiful at the Sarah Granger Kimball house.

Varieties I have never seen before

Our mission buddies, Elder and Sister Finlinson from Oak City, UT

Turtles like to sunbathe on logs in the Mississippi

Ready for our First Day

My first day was in the John Taylor Home. The weather was very rainy and we only gave one tour that day. Darren worked in the Tinshop. Not much practice but it was fun getting to know some of the Sisters and Elders in the mission.

We have three shifts, A, B, or C, each is about 6 hours and they rotate so there are two sisters serving at a time in each site. In the evening we are in Rendevous in old Nauvoo or Sunset on the Mississippi, two plays put on by senior missionaries. Each one is two nights per week and there are three casts so each one is put on every night of the week. Rendevous is year round and Sunset is only in the summer with the Young Performing Missionaries.

In our mission at last

We arrived in Nauvoo on April 21. Our travels were very good, driving to Rawlins, Wyoming the first night after leaving the MTC at 4:00. The next day we traveled to Omaha, Nebraska where we visited Wi#nter Quarters visitor center. It's a great little visitor center and a very nice missionary couple gave us a tour. The next morning we went to Kanesville (Council Bluffs).the church has avisitor center there also and a building there that replicates the one that was used when the first presidency was reorganized for the first time after the martyrdom. The same couple were there we had met the day before in Winter Quarters and gave us a tour of that  site. We drove on Thursday all the way to Keokuk which is just across the river from Nauvoo where we stayed that night. We planned to go to the temple in Nauvoo Friday morning since our appointment with the mission wasn't until 11:30, but we found our the temple was closed for cleaning and the sites didn't open until 10:00 so we just kind of wandered around for a couple of hours.

We found the house we had been assigned to. 

This is the William Mendenhall home that we will be living in for the coming months. 

It has a living room/kitchen on the main floor. The bedroom and bathroom are upstairs and the washer and dryer are in the basement. Small, but sufficient for our needs.

The view from our backdoor.

Catching up

       Due to technical difficulties I haven't been able to post pictures so here are a few.

Our call finally came.

We opened our call at our son Jotham's house. All the family joined via the internet.

Our car was LOADED!

Pointing out our mission on the legendary MTC world map.

Our district at the MTC

                                            We were truly uplifted.

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