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