Friday, September 29

I started the day by doing the last big watering of the gardens around Nauvoo.  It was cool, and I got very wet for some reason.  I'd done this job before, but it was warm and I didn't notice the wet.  I need to get some boots.

After watering we cleaned up around some trees, healthy ones, and dressed them with wood chips.

Then we weeded.

After work I went over to the Family Living Center and Sister McLeod instructed me in the art of weaving.  It was my favorite part of the week.

Then Elder McLeod showed us where to find geodes.  There are geodes all over this part of Illinois.

And Sister McLeod bequeathed her boots on me, because they will be going home soon.  Thank you so much.

First full week of work

Monday

Our first job was to cut the tops off of the chives at the Lyon Drug and Variety store.  Then we weeded the garden. 

This week was full of tree cutting.  Many trees in Nauvoo have rotted from within, some because of age, and many because of insects.  Our job was to go in after the main clean up and rake up the left over branches and sometimes acorns.  Last week it was walnuts, this week acorns.  I hope the squirrels get all they need before we clean up their supply. 

Garden at Lyon Store

Gourd archway in Lyon Garden

Can you see the black tube? This is a super blower.

Tuesday

Another tree cleaning day.  We filled the truck with debris and then the skid gently placed this giant on top. 

Wednesday/Thursday

It turned cool mid-week, so we took a much needed break from raking and weeding and worked in the greenhouse making coleus cuttings.  I never knew there were so many varieties of coleus.  Another day we did basil cuttings.  

I also learned to drive the gator.  It's fun. 

We had to go to Carthage on Thursday afternoon to get our car aligned.  Illinois doesn't do car inspections, but NC said if we'd go have something done, they'd defer our inspection and send us a sticker.  Carthage had the nearest tire place.  While they worked on our car we walked over and took the tour at Carthage Visitor Center and the jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred.

Carthage visitor center

Stay tuned for Friday.

Sunday, September 23

Sunday meetings here are amazing. Choir practice is at 7:00 AM. We need to meet that early because we share the building with two other wards, and the site missionaries need to be at their sites by noon.    The sacrament meeting talks are so well prepared and delivered. After Sacrament meeting we leave the ward building and have Sunday School and RS/Priesthood in the Visitor's Center.  The lessons have lots of intelligent discussion, especially from the Young Sister Missionaries.   All of this will change for us eventually, or so we are told.  The FM missionaries go out-bound to strengthen other units.  So far we haven't been assigned so we go to the missionary ward.  I listen to the other FMs share their outbound experiences.  Because we don't work on the sites, we don't engage with other people very often.  Being in a regular ward would allow us to serve directly with people.  I mean, I love my weeds and flowers, but I'd like to teach a primary class.

On Sunday afternoon we decided to become better acquainted with Nauvoo by taking the wagon and carriage rides.  The wagon ride goes through town and the narrator tells the history of the area.  The carriage ride goes out in the country and the narrator tells stories about the people who lived in Nauvoo.  Immigrants came to Nauvoo by the thousands, as a result of the missionaries going out "to all the world".  Most of the early immigrants came from Great Britain.  Both rides are very different, so when you come schedule time to take both rides.

Wagon ride through the town. 

Sunday night the YSM gave us a concert. They all leave by the end of October.  Some are leaving their missions for good.  The rest are being sent all over the United States to serve with proselyting missionaries.  They will return when visitors come back in the Spring.  But things are so slow in the winter that not so many missionaries are needed. The YSM sung their testimonies of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.  They sung so sweetly. Dee and I completely enjoyed the concert. 

Young Single Missionaries after their concert. They are a very happy crew.

Time Flies Part 2

Friday

After Thursday I didn't know if I'd be able to get out of bed Friday morning.  But this is a place of miracles and I did get up, actually anticipating the day's work.  Instead of watering the greenhouse plants, I was chosen to go with Sister Nelson to water the beds of flowers around town.  The watering truck is much smaller than the dump trailer truck, so I got brave and drove it - successfully!  The gardens around town are so beautiful.  And Friday was much cooler than Thursday.  It took us more than  2 1/2 hours to water.  Afterward we did coleus cuttings in the greenhouse.  It gave me a chance to visit with some of our crew.  One of the sisters was Jenny's experiential education professor at Ricks. Her specialty is backpacking with llamas.  So many interesting people here.  By the time you are a senior, we all have stories. 

Since Friday was a very restful day, Dee and I did our grocery shopping after lunch.  This freed up our P-day on Saturday.  Friday night the sunset was beautiful.  Our phones just can't capture the bright red, so I won't even post it. Our neighbors said it was the prettiest sunset they've seen - and they've been here almost 18 months. 

Saturday

P-Day!  First of all, we slept in. We didn't get up until 7:00!.  We Facetimed Gideon, who had invented a new truck to show us.  I got to show him the trucks I get to play with, making me a very cool grandma.

It was a beautiful fall morning, so before the sites opened we went for a bike ride down to the river and the Community of Christ sites, which include Joseph and Emma Smith's home and store, and the Smith Family Cemetery.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Community of Christ church help each other out with their complementary historic areas. 

The rest of the morning we washed all the bugs, cobwebs, and dirt off our kitchen windows.  Now we can enjoy the sunsets without going outside. 

After lunch we went on the Wagon Ride and the Carriage Ride.  The Carriage Ride takes you through country while the narrator tells stories about the early settlers of Nauvoo.  The Wagon Ride narrator tells more history of the area, starting with the First Nation people and including some information about the Mississippi. When you come to Nauvoo make sure you do both.  Each one was about 30 minutes. 

Dee enjoyed the BYU football game - since they won. We had a short choir practice at 8:00.

Sunday

I can't believe this is only my second Sunday in Nauvoo.  I've learned so much in the past week.  Each day has been very different.   We went to choir at 7:00 AM, and were ready for sacrament meeting at 7:50.  The YSM (young sister missionaries) who are going home this week gave the talks. The topic was revelation.  I just finished reading all of President Nelson's conference talks, working backwards from his earliest talks in 1984. Yesterday I read all of his talks from April Conference.  So the talks on receiving revelation added to my week's reading.  We are all anticipating general conference in two weeks.  They told us at the MTC that the general authorities have said to be ready for more of what we were given last conference. 

Over the last year I've found myself pondering Brigham Young's statement.  “There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to God’s people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord to signify to him his will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises. I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. and arr. by John A. Widtsoe, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1973, p. 32; emphasis added.)

I've wondered what privileges and how do we obtain those privileges.  I think President Nelson is trying to bring us to a point where we can enjoy the privileges that can be ours, teaching us exactly how to receive personal revelation.  It certainly has been a theme I've heard many times while here, in a place where so many revelations were received as the gospel was restored. 

Time Flies Part 1

Every day something new to post. So here is my catch up blog.

Thursday

First full day on the job.  And was it a full day!  We have prayer meeting every morning at 7 AM.  And we do eventually have a spiritual thought and a prayer, but not until a whole lot of joking around.  The FM missionaries are a very happy, jovial lot. It's a great way to start the morning. 

Our crew is in charge of watering all of the greenhouse plants first thing.  After we did that we got in this big truck that hauls a dump trailer.  I'm told that I will learn to drive this monster.  Driving it will not be a problem.  Not knocking down things will be.  But for now Sister Dare likes to drive it and we all seem fine with that. I know I am.

Just to give you a sense of the variety of things we did on Thursday: First we emptied pots of flowers at the Chamber of Commerce. Then we raked up what our "boss" called "a million walnuts". I think maybe that was under estimated.  Then we cleaned up branches from a wind storm that came through during the night.  Finally we cleaned up after a tree cutting crew had cut down a couple of trees.  To finish out the day we went back to the green house and made some coleus cuttings. This day gave me a good work out.  I'm told I'll get use to this sort of work out.

While driving around looking for fallen branches, we saw some students running an interesting machine.  We pulled over and went to investigate.  The machine is a ground penetrating radar. Two corner stones of a building were exposed, so they knew there was a foundation there.  This radar tells if there is some structure buried.  The professor told us it was the store of Ezra Oakley. Joseph Smith originally divided the city into 4 acre blocks, with 4 one acre parcels in each block.  This gave the Saints enough land for a house, animals, fruit trees, and a garden.  But so many immigrated to Nauvoo that the parcels were subdivided. The area these students were working had become a business district. The professor said there were many foundations buried in these blocks. They told us to come back in the afternoon if we wanted to see what they dug up. I would really have liked to have done that, but unfortunately I was so tired when I got home, about 1:30, that after lunch I fell sound asleep.

Empty pots

Planted pots

Before

After

Ground penetrating radar

Dump

We Got Our Assignments!

My first bucket of weeds. 
That thing hanging from my waist is a very cool spade, made in Italy. One edge is a sort of knife, sharp enough to cut grass.  It's a great weeding tool. 

After 10 weeks of waiting, including 2 weeks of orientation, I can finally tell people what I'll be doing on my mission. This morning Dee was assigned to work on air conditioners, of course.  I was assigned to the grounds crew - which is what I was hoping for.  Autumn is my favorite season, and I get to be outside every day for 6 hours, playing in the dirt, watering the flowers, pulling up the flowers, getting things ready for winter. I work on a team of women, whose husbands are all doing specialized maintenance tasks.  We are like the pioneer women, whose husbands left us to run things at home.  Only instead of plows and horses, we will be driving trucks with dump trailers, water pumps, and running other machines that our husbands normally would do. And we'll be weeding and doing other grounds keeping jobs.  I don't think I'll be mowing, although those rider mowers look fun.  People walk by and tell us how beautiful the gardens are, and we agree.  Some sisters work in the green house, and I'd like to do some of that if I get the chance.  

So today was my first day, and I admit, I'm very tired - but happy that I'll be outside and getting in shape. And the sisters I work with are very nice and a happy bunch. They are fun to work with. 

Our First Weekend

Our First Weekend

Saturday morning started with a visit from Bishop Gerald Causse, the presiding bishop.  His responsibilities include the church historic sites.   He noted a few of the ways The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is unique.  He bore testimony of the first vision, saying that we pray differently because of the First vision. The heavens are not sealed.  We have a living prophet. Bishop Causse spoke about President Nelson.  He said he'd never known anyone so old who was so interested in the future.

 

It was a wonderful way to start the day. Afterwards we hurried up to Burlington, Iowa, about 40 minutes north.  Burlington is much bigger than Keokuk.  I'm sure we can find anything we need there. 

Later we met the seamstress director to choose our costumes, should we need them.  As FM missionaries we won't have a lot of opportunity to dress up, but there will be times when we need to be in costume. 

We spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting a little more organized.  The days fly by. I'm ready for them to slow down a little. 

This morning church started at 7:50.  We met in the chapel for sacrament meeting, then moved to the Visitor's Center for the other meetings.  The theme for sacrament meeting talks was Follow the Prophet.  The talks were about two pioneers who stayed faithful through all the persecutions of the early church members.  I'd never heard of either one of them - Joel Johnson and Gardner Snow.  I love Nauvoo. 

This afternoon Dee and I visited some of the sites in Nauvoo.  We really enjoyed visiting with the missionaries in each site as well as learning about the people who lived in the homes. Everyone is so welcoming. 

 

Our first weekend has ended. We are still in training tomorrow and Tuesday.  Hopefully by Wednesday we can get to work. Right now I'm going to go watch another sunset on the Mississippi. 

P.S.  While we are having this wonderful experience we are ever mindful of our family and friends in NC as they deal with Florence's flooding.  So far we don't know of anyone who has been without power for very long or have flooded homes.  But I'm sure there will be a few Helping Hands weekends.  Thank goodness for your willingness to help. 

A brief encounter

A Brief Encounter

Before I tell you about the men I met in the breakfast room, first I have to make a record of the room we stayed in.  We've been staying at Best Westerns so that we could eventually earn a free room.  Well, we hit the jackpot Wednesday night.  The hotel was full, but because we had a reservation they upgraded us so that they could sell our room for more.  We walked in to a suite - full kitchen and living room.  At first I couldn't find the bedroom.  It was huge, with a walk-in closet and big bathroom. BUT Dee was in another bedroom with an even bigger walk-in closet.  When he checked out the next day, the man at the counter explained that this room was used for long-stay customer, but since it was empty they just put us there.  Too bad we were just sleeping. And it was our free room.  Now we start over. 

At breakfast two older men were sitting next to the window behind us and making exclamations over the sky.  Being out on the plains, I was concerned.  "What are you looking at," I asked?

"At how fast those clouds are moving.  We're on motorcycles and are watching the weather."

We started chatting.  They are semi-retired farmers from Michigan and were full of interesting facts.  They told me that the Amish are running out of room for farms for their children so they are moving out of Pennsylvania and Ohio and buying up farms further west.  One Amish farmer has set up a steam run factory, making siding. 

I told them that we were headed for Nauvoo, which of course they'd never heard of.  I invited them to motorcylce down the Mississippi and check it out. Then the more talkative man said he had a friend who was a Mormon and had told him a lot about the church.  He said, "I'm still thinking about it."  I told them to have a safe trip and went to finish my breakfast.  As we were all leaving he stopped me and said, "I just want to tell you something. I've been married 56 years, and one thing I like about the church is that they believe I can be married to my wife after this life."  "Eternal marriage," I said.  "Yeah, that exactly. I just wanted to tell you that."  I hope they will come to Nauvoo. 

First Day

First Day in Nauvoo

We arrived in Keokuk, Iowa around 4 yesterday. After a fruitless search for a place to eat that wasn't fast food, we decided to just do our Walmart shopping and eat at home.  Fortunately, because we had stopped at the FM office on our way to Utah - three weeks ago - we had a key to our house.  We arrived around 6:30.  While I put the groceries away, Dee unloaded the car.  We are in one place now for 18 months.  No overnight trips anywhere.  No packing and storing.  A simple life. 

 

Last night I went outside to try and get a photo of the beautiful sunset over the river and met our upstairs's neighbor, Elder Barton. Later our district leaders, Elder and Sister Nelson, from Farmington! visited us with a basket of bread from the Family Living Center, and some homemade jam. They invited us to dinner the next day.

Our kitchen after we unpacked. 

This does not do the sunset justice.  It was red all across the horizon.

Soup, bread, and homemade jam welcome gift.  Sister Nelson explained this was a Nauvoo mission tradition.

Today Dee was up early bike riding around town. After breakfast we visited the mission post office, which is not the US post office exactly, but all of our mail was there. Plus a mission DI where people leave things they don't want to take home. 

At 10:00 we met with the mission president and his wife, Elder and Sister Lesvardis, along with our MTC friends who came out with us, the Weldons and the Cornwalls.  Then we went to the FM office and got some of our shirts. We hurried home for a quick lunch and had just enough time to go to the temple before our dinner appointment.  The Nauvoo Temple closes after Saturday until mid-December.  Every where we go the temple closes.  The Nauvoo temple is one of the few temples where we progress through 3 rooms where the walls have beautiful murals.  

The evening started with a nice dinner at the Nelson's, who then took us next door to meet the Zone leader and his wife, the Christensen's from Idaho Falls. Then, because we are in Nauvoo, we went to a lecture by Susan Easton Black Durant and her husband George Durant.  She spoke about Emma Smith.  The Durant's own a house in Nauvoo - and I guess they drop in often between their BYU responsibilities. 

And tomorrow Elder Causey drops in for a few minutes to speak to us.  I don't know what I'll be doing in Nauvoo, but whatever it is, the perks are immense. 

On the road

On the road

After spending the weekend at Ann's we returned to the MTC for two more days of training. Elder and Sister Hawkins were our instructors. They had served as mission president in Hawaii and then as the visitor center director in Hamilton, NZ. Dee served his first mission in New Zealand.  They instructed us in how to help visitors to the visitor centers get the most out of their visits. Elder Hawkins said the average visit lasts 12 minutes! 

We practiced greeting each other, introducing a video, and following up after a video. We learned about the church's call centers, where people from all over the world call to learn about the church. We won't work in the call centers. The young missionaries do that. 

One of the most interesting things we learned to do is how to teach gospel principles using the historic site that we are serving in. Elder Hawkins emphasized that we aren't historians. Of course people visiting a church history site, especially one like Nauvoo, will learn the history, but the religion of the people can't be separated from the history of the place. 

Today we traveled from Farmington to Kearney, Nebraska. The motel is full, so since we had reservations they put us in a two bedroom, full kitchen suite! I wish we'd had these kind of accommodations when we were traveling with 5 kids.  

Tomorrow Nauvoo! After 6 months of tearing our house apart, and 3 weeks of living from our suitcases, we can't wait to unpack, get settled, and get to work. 

First Week of MTC (Mission Training Center)

Sorry for the long post, but this covers a whole week.  The posts should get shorter once we are in Nauvoo. 

The Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah

Some key things I learned this week:

• The Doctrine of Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism or for baptized members, the Sacrament, and receiving the Holy Ghost, or revelation, was presented in a circle.  Endure to the end was in the center, because we go through this process over and over as we move closer to Christ.It is a life-long journey. 
• There are no boarders in missionary work.  Our call is to bring others closer to Christ. "Others" include anyone we interact with, not just those in our mission.  
• Where ever someone is on their path towards Christ, our mission is to invite them to do something that will bring them closer to Christ. 

 A typical day at the MTC:

6:00  Wake up,  prepare for the day.  This wake up time was our choice.  No one told us when to wake up. 

7:00 Breakfast 

8:00 Large class with all of the Senior missionaries

9:00 Break into districts for small classes

11:30 lunch

1:00 small classes

4:30 dinner 

7:00  Monday - Family Home Evening

         Tuesday - Devotional with a General Authority

         Wednesday - Free time: We visited the large murals in the high rises

         Thursday - Free time: We went to Provo City Temple, which has the most beautiful wood work.

         Friday - we finished at 3:00. We visited Dee's oldest sister, Joan, in Santaquin and then we headed up to Ann's in Farmington. We report back on Monday for two more days of training in historic site work. 

This experience was totally different from our first Mission training experience.   First of all, I knew my companion, and had even chosen him.  It made it so much more fun to be with my best friend. Secondly, while our first mission, 45 years ago emphasized teaching the discussions, the emphasis  this time was on how to bring people closer to Jesus Christ.  We were organized into districts of 4 couples.  Our district worked together really well.  Everyone had great experiences to share and were very eager to learn from each other.  Our teachers, Sister Barlow from Burlington, NC, and Brother Keepman, kept us awake with their energy.  They had such well-prepared interactive lessons.  I never felt sleepy, even in the afternoon. 

 We did have a lot of teaching experiences. In the past the missionaries did a lot of role playing, pretending to be people who didn't know about the church.  Now we taught other missionaries as themselves. This gave us a chance to let the Holy Ghost inspire us rather than just pretend.  We had to determine where they were in their relationship to Christ and help them take a step closer.  On the last day we taught a volunteer from the community. Dee and I taught the sweetest lady, Sister Read.  She comes every week to let the missionaries practice with her. 

The MTC was a taste of Zion.  We were all of one heart and one mind. And we were all worn out at the end of the week.

This mural depicts Moses 1:4 - 6

4 And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease.

5 Wherefore, no man can behold all my works, except he behold all my glory; and no man can behold all my glory, and afterwards remain in the flesh on the earth.

6 And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all.

                                    Martha - Jenny says she looks like she'd like some help. :-)    

 In one hall are many photos of missionary moments.  This one caught my interest. I don't know where it was taken.