October 15, 2014

It's been a while since we did our last post on our blog. Sorry 'bout that. The past few weeks have kept us VERY busy. We'll try to give you a little idea in this post of what's been going on with us lately.  This past month there have been a lot of missionaries who have finished their missions and returned home. This necessitated combining three Rendezvous casts into two. 

So in order for us to get to know our new fellow cast members well, we, of course, had to hold a cast party, which was a gigantic outdoor potluck around the fire down by the Mississippi River.

Fortunately, in our new cast (the Parley Pratt Cast), we have a lot of very talented missionaries, so we had a really fun fireside program.

I was even "forced" to sing a number with several of my fellow teamsters! (Sorry the picture turned out so lousy.)

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we acquired four new horses this past summer. A couple of them are still pretty skittish around some fairly common items around here, such as a handcart. So we have to do a little "fear reduction" training until they don't present any danger to our guests.

One day I was assigned to give tours in our oxen yard. While there a former Bear River High School classmate of mine, Virgil Pugsley, showed up. He was there with his wife, Marie. It's amazing how many familiar people come to Nauvoo.

Jan's main assignment is as Site Leader of the Tickets and Tours operation. She is usually there three or four days a week.

The Tickets & Tours desk is in the Nauvoo Visitors' Center.

Each Monday, Jan (a.k.a. Sister Larson) and I are assigned to work in sites other than where we have our principal responsibilities. A week ago Monday, we were assigned to the Carthage Visitors' Center. I'm convinced the Nauvoo experience is not complete without visiting Carthage. 

Statue of Joseph and Hyrum in front of the jail

I'm holding an actual musket of the type used by the mobs from Warsaw and Carthage. (This musket is owned by a gun collector who lives in the area and was visiting the Center the day we were there. The gun doesn't belong to the Center.)

The Dungeon Cell where John Taylor was hidden inside the jail

Notice the bullet hole in the door of the Martyrdom Room. The bullet that made that hole was the one that killed Hyrum.

The window through which Joseph was shot and fell to the ground

Jan had the good fortune this past week to serve in the Brigham Young Home.

One of the rooms of particular interest inside the Brigham Young Home is the Council Room, where Brigham often met with members of the Twelve and other Church leaders.  We tell our guests that Brigham Young was commissioned to do three things:  finish building Nauvoo (many of the houses were not finished), finish building the temple, and get the Saints to the west.  Most of the planning and decisions made to accomplish this were done in this room.  It's a pretty powerful feeling to know that much of the history of the church during this period centered around this room.  Brigham Young had only 11 days of school, yet the Lord knew his abilities and used them to further His work.