June 24, 2015

Since our last blog post, we have had a lot of special visitors here in Nauvoo. First, Greg and Rachelle Hymas and their children came on May 26th and spent a few days with us. It had been so long since we had seen them that they had had two new additions to their family that we hadn't met before, Max and Isaiah. We very much enjoyed getting re-acquainted with them.

Soon after Greg and Rachelle left, Julie came on June 11th with some of her family: Marisa and Jud, Jen and Michael, and Marci and Marc.

Just as Julie and her family were leaving, our kids and grandkids came. And after our kids left, LeVae and Kip Heiner came and spent a couple of days visiting Old Nauvoo. While they were here, we had a chance to take them to an old-style Amish dinner served in an Amish wood-working shop. The food was great and the atmosphere was authentic!

Our kids began coming on June 13th. First, Jill and her gang and Jami and hers arrived. The next day Jeff, Jodi, and Jason showed up. It was such great fun having so many of them (30!) with us for several days. 

On Monday Jan and I had our "Prep Day" and were able to visit several of the sites with everyone. First, we went to Carthage and enjoyed the spirit there. Being where the Prophet Joseph was martyred was a meaningful experience for all of us.

On our way home from Carthage, we stopped at the Hamilton Family Cafe and more than doubled their clientele that afternoon!

Having family around us just wouldn't be the same without a little "fun 'n' games"! So Monday night we participated in the Bingo Championship of the World, thanks to Jill's planning and preparing.

During the next couple of days, everyone visited historic sites and attended Old Nauvoo programs, including watching Grandma and Grandpa perform in Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo and Sunset by the Mississippi. In fact, Austin and Dylan even got to dance with Grandma on the Sunset stage.

Dylan marched with the other children and the Nauvoo Brass Band in the Children's Parade.

Going on carriage and wagon rides with Grandpa as the teamster also seemed to be a hit.

Meet Abe and Ike . . . 

. . . and Duke and Dan, our two new oxen.

No visit to Old Nauvoo would be complete without a stop at the Family Living Center. Here everyone learned how to make barrels, rope, pottery, candles, and even brick-oven bread!

I'm quite sure that the favorite site for the grandkids was Pioneer Pasttimes.  Bailey remembered this place from last year and couldn't wait to dress up and play "pioneer mommy" again!

Mitchell enjoyed making the bear climb the ropes.

Of course, all the kids--and some of the grown-ups--had to show that they could walk on stilts.

And the girls had to show off their latest bonnet fashions!

But I think the highlight of our family's visit was just being together again, eating dinner, and enjoying one another's company. 

Heavenly Father really knew what He was doing when He created families. There's no more enjoyable place to be than with our family. Thanks to all of you for coming and making our mission even more special. We love you!!

May 24, 2015

It's truly unbelievable how fast the time flies by. I thought our last blog post was only a couple of weeks ago, but it's been a month ago! Sorry for not keeping up.

On one of our prep-days this past month, we decided to go down to Hannibal to check on Mark Twain. (You do know that he lived only an hour and a half from Nauvoo.) Besides making sure that he was still sitting in his chair, . . . 

we also went over to visit the house of Tom Sawyer's girl friend, Becky Thatcher, and check out the fence that Tom persuaded his friends pay him to whitewashed.

While we were in Hannibal, we decided to take a little trip down the Mississippi on a steamboat.

While floating leisurely along, we enjoyed the view along the banks of the River . . . 

and came across one of the famous Mississippi River barges . . .

and even passed by one of the tug boats that push various barges and other water craft up and down the river. 

(Unfortunately, we didn't see one of the gigantic barge-tows that carry huge amounts of grain, coal, or other exported products down the River to ports in the Gulf of Mexico. These barge-tows carry the equivalent of what it would take 870 semi-truck trailers to transport!)

Back here in Nauvoo, spring has been popping out all over. One of the beautiful sights right now are the peonies that are in full bloom.

During the past couple of months we have welcomed to our mission several new missionaries, including the Young Performing and Brass Band Missionaries. Yesterday I was driving the Nauvoo Brass Band wagon around Old Nauvoo, and we stopped to let the band members off the wagon at the Pioneer Pastimes site to march around with the little guests who were playing pioneer in their pioneer dress-up clothes.

This little video might give you a better idea of what went on.

We teamsters have also added to our ranks; we have been joined by 14 new teamsters, so we had an early morning breakfast in the equipment shed to welcome them. We also had a little "shindig" this evening (a potluck dinner and program) to invite them and their wives into our little "gang."

And in keeping with mission tradition, we also had a Mission Breakfast, when we welcomed 90 new senior missionaries, 20 young sister missionaries, 20 young performing stage missionaries, and 16 young performing band missionaries.

The mission is divided into three separate performing casts. Each cast performs Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo two nights a week and Sunset by the Mississippi another two nights during the week. Because we had a lot of new missionaries come into our cast, the Emma Hale cast, we held a hot dog roast down by the Mississippi on one of our two free nights. It was great to get to know our new cast members a little better.

During the month of May, we have had a gazillion school groups come and visit. (Jan is in charge of organizing these tours, and it has kept her VERY busy. She's even organizing tours in her sleep!) The other day I was assigned to drive the "school wagon," which took several loads of children around the center of Old Nauvoo so they could get an "historical" view of what Old Nauvoo was like. These tours have to be strictly historical in nature; we can't give any religious messages or even refer to the residents of Old Nauvoo as "saints." We have to call them "pioneers." I believe that the major benefit of these school tours is that the children really want to come back with their parents--then we can give them the "real" message.

It's incredible how fast the time is going by--and the busiest season is just starting tomorrow with Memorial Day. The next two months and half of August will be crazy busy. But we're looking forward to meeting and sharing the gospel with the thousands of visitors who will soon be here.

April 23, 2015

Well, Spring has finally sprung here in Old Nauvoo. Just to give you a flavor of what things are beginning to look like around here, here are some of the trees we took pictures of this week.

Tulips have begun popping up all over as well. Take a look at these in the Women's Garden by our Visitors' Center.

Only surpassed by those on the Temple grounds.

One of the annual activities that happens here in Old Nauvoo is the prairie grass burn, when we light fire to an acre of prairie grass--with the local fire department present, of course--to illustrate how fast it can burn. Some estimates have indicated that it can burn up to 70 miles per hour. Our little acre is totally consumed in about three to four minutes.

This spring we have acquired two new oxen. They came to us from Maine. They are a  breed of cattle know as Devon. The Devon is an ancient breed of cattle from the south western English county of Devon. As you can see, they can have fairly long horns. To keep them from poking one another, we put some "purdy" brass balls on the tips of their horns. Their names are Dan and Duke. Aren't they lovely?!

A couple of weeks ago, we went down to Quincy, IL, to see a few of the sites down there. We went there a while ago and posted a few pictures then, but this time we visited an old Savings & Loan that has been turned into a museum. The craftsmanship of the interior was amazing. Besides the artifacts exhibited inside, they have also turned part of it into a dining area.

On our prep-day this week, we decided to go up to Burlington, IA, to do our shopping and visit a little street that several people have told us about, Snake Alley. The alley itself is impressive; it's a steep red brick roadway that goes steeply down the hillside. But just as amazing are the houses in the area that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

This week we held our District Meetings together at a place called Richardson's Point. It's a place where the saints stopped on their trek west due to the rain and muddy roads that were nearly impassable. While they were there, a couple of people in their group died, a 30-year-old man and a 15-month-old baby. The people who live in that area now--mostly non-Mormons--have built a memorial and maintained the grave sites. 

The owner of the property has done a lot of research about the saints passing through there and shared with us what he has found out.

Last week we enjoyed our annual talent show. This year our teamster site leader was in charge of putting the program together, and it was wonderful. He is able to get people to participate who normally would never be caught dead on stage. I am including just sample of the numbers that we enjoyed.

 The "Dalton Gang"

 Sister Veenker

 "June Carter and Johnny Cash" (Elder & Sister Hatch)

 Our Young Sister Missionaries

 Elder and Sister Schultz

The famed "Teamster Choir"!


As you can see, our mission is FULL of variety and enjoyment. Serving here in Nauvoo, I'm afraid, would spoil anyone. We have truly made some wonderful friends here. We're looking forward to the summer crowds who come here to enjoy Nauvoo. There really is a special spirit felt here.