June 18, 2014

Last week on our Prep-day, we drove to Sprinfield, Illinois, to visit the Abraham Lincolm Museum and his home. We didn't get back here to Nauvoo until about 10:00 p.m., so I didn't get time to do a blog post for the previous week. I'll include pictures from our trip in this post. I hope it's not too long to bear!

First, some shots of what we saw in Springfield. (I have to say that the Lincoln Museum is one of the finest museums I have ever visited. The displays were very well done, and their use of digital and visual media was extraordinary. If you ever get a chance to visit there, I highly recommend it.)

Lincoln in front of his boyhood cabin

Lincoln, his wife, Mary, and three sons

Mary Lincoln in her formal gown

Three of Lincoln's servants

Lincoln's family home

Guest parlor

Kitchen stove that Lincolns actually used

Lincoln's desk where he wrote some of his speeches.

Lincoln's bed

Lincoln's boys' room

Jan in Lincoln's neighborhood

Monument at Lincoln's tomb

Lincoln's tomb

Lincoln's Law Office

Back here in Old Nauvoo, things seems to go on as usual. One of our teamsters is finishing his mission, so we held a little send-off potluck dinner for him.

Jan gets a chance to serve with several different sisters in various sites here in Old Nauvoo. I think she knows just about everyone--at least the sisters--here in our mission now.

Sisters Udall and Pierce with Jan in Lucy Mack Smith's back yard

Sisters Shepherd and Curtis with Jan in the Heber C. Kimball home

She even gets to stop the Brass Band for a pose!

This week in Nauvoo, there have been a couple of performing groups from BYU. Their shows were amazing to watch. I wish we senior missionaries had half the energy they expend during one of their shows!

The Living Legends (formerly the Lamanite Generation).

BYU's Synthesis Jazz Band

BYU's Contemporary Dance Theater

A parting thought:

The Lincoln sites were truly wonderful and paid such a tribute to him and his core belief that the union needed to stay together.  We just had the feeling throughout that the Lord put him in that place at that time to keep the country together for purposes of spreading the gospel.  He was a great man who believed in God, prayed regularly, and tried to do as the Spirit directed.  We just need to do the same!