Christmas Week

Our little tree.

Busy Sunday

 President Lusvardi and his wife spoke at Sunday Sacrament on giving as Christ gave.  President Lusvardi pointed out that the wise men brought rather strange gifts for a baby.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh are not on the baby register.  But then one word in the scripture brought more meaning to the story.  They opened their treasures. We give what we love, and Christ gave what he loved - service, teachings, healing.  Then President Lusvardi asked us to think about who he gave to - everyone, the thief, Pilate, Nicodemus, Zaccheus. He taught under all circumstances, even when he was tired,  even when he wanted time to himself, even from the cross. It is a challenge to give as Christ gave, but it's good to try. 

Later we delivered our candy trains, which were big hits with the children, not sure about the parents. The Lusvardi's invited each zone to an open house.  

Christmas Eve

I worked in the Family Living Center - the funnest place to work in Nauvoo.  I can weave, tie fringe on rugs, or sew scraps together for shuttles.  Or I can tell visitors about candles, bread baking,  fibers they wove, or weaving.  We had lots of visitors.  The Childers' family baked pizzas in the beehive oven. 

Fiber center

 

FM Christmas Eve party - we were getting ready for games.

Christmas Day the sites were closed which gave us time to talk with each of our family. The weather was lovely, so I took a walk around historic Nauvoo.  The peacefulness gave me time to reflect on the Savior and all that He has done for us. 

Patty Session's cabin - pioneer midwife

 We invited the newest missionary couples for dinner. 

Bakers and Spellmans joined us.

Christmas dinner, some of it was on the buffet behind us. 

There was some excitement at the Post Office on Wednesday.  Visitors often point to artifacts, asking what is this, or what is that.  In the post office a visitor asked me what was that on the window behind me.  I turned around and calmly replied, "That is a bat."  I then proceeded with my presentation - but my mind was on that bat.  I prayed he would stay put.  He actually was very sound asleep.  The next visitor was my boss, Richard, and his little family.  I was never so glad to see him.  Richard just happened to have work gloves and a towel in his car, because apparently bats hanging around the sites is not unusual.  

A bat!

What's that?

Thank you Richard

I worked in the homes of John Taylor, Heber C. Kimball, and Wilford Woodruff this week.  Reading about these men and their families, then presenting a few stories about their lives really makes me appreciate the commitment and sacrifices they were willing to go through, because they knew what they were doing was the work of the Lord.  Restoring His church was not for the faint of heart.  They had to really feel that what they were doing was worth all the cost.  John Taylor said,

 When I first entered Mormonism, I did it with my eyes open. I counted the cost.

After reading that quote I asked myself,  When I joined the church did I count the cost?  And what was the cost?  It's a good question to ask before committing to anything.   I don't know that I understood the cost, but I did know that if I joined the church I'd be all in.  My membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has cost me something, but the blessings have infinitely  covered the cost.  

Happy New Year!

 

Things to do on a 12' ladder

    By Dee aka Elder Barrow
So this past couple of weeks has had a theme. Everything I'm doing has to be done off a 12' ladder.  They have large garages here that they keep all the diesel front end loaders, tractors, and various large machines with diesel engines.  They keep those areas warm because it is very hard to start a diesel engine in the cold.  They use gas radiant heat tubes which run all across the ceilings of the garages. They have 6 of these and waited until all but one of them has quit working before calling in the work order. Turns out mud daubers like to build their nests in the fresh air intake vents and the gas vents on these heaters.  When they do it on the air intake side the motors drawing in the air can't get any air so they run 24/7 and burn out. Or if they build on the exhaust side, the flames back into the control area and burn up the wiring which shorts out burning out transformers, controller boards, etc.  Any way I spend several days on a 12' ladder cleaning nests out of vents, replacing motors. transformers, controller boards and rewiring.
    Then I get called over to the temple's warehouse, where they have a nice standard gas heater but it is 12 feet in the air also.  I walk into the warehouse and the whole floor is covered with carpet and there is a guy in there sewing them together to make hall runners.  I explained that I need to get a ladder across all the carpet and set it up to fix the heater.  He told me, 'Don't worry about it someone will vacuum it.'  Did that and found out it needed a part that I didn't have but I could start the unit up and it would run until it brought the room to temperature.  He said that would be great he was finishing up today but need it be working the next Wednesday.  This was Friday I told him I would get the part Monday and would fix the heater on Tuesday.  God Has a Sense of Humor. The temple has been closed for the last 2 months and was reopening the next week.  They asked for volunteers to help clean and we volunteered.  Guess who got to vacuum the carpets on the 5th, 4th and 3rd floors.  Me and my companion.  He was right thought they got vacuumed.  Oh yea that part came in on Monday and I went over on Tuesday to put it in and the Temple Dept. decided to buy 68 new dressers for the temple worker housing and they stacked them under the heater.  I didn't have to move all 68 only 12 to get my ladder to the heater.  But as the man said, Welcome to Nauvoo.
    Next we replaced the A/C units on the roof of the visitors center in late October and November.  Had to replace all the copper pipes that carry the refrigerant. They wanted us to get the A/Cs working again but we needed to insulate all the new pipes.  Now most of the pipes were in the basement but  our boiler rooms have 16' ceilings and most of the pipes were 10' and higher so I spent the next 4 days on my ladder again gluing insulation on to pipes,
   The best thing I made since being here was this.  Love being here.

Christmas house

This house is on the last street before leaving Nauvoo.  An FM employee lives here.  Now we know what he does in his spare time. 

Sunset in our backyard.  My camera doesn't do sunsets well, but just believe me, we see beautiful ones over the river. 

T'was the Week Before Christmas

                                             

Merry Christmas from the Nauvoo Visitor Center

Monday I served at Heber C. Kimball's home and Wilford Woodruff's home.  If you come to Nauvoo, after the visitor's center, I'd go to Sarah Kimball Granger's home, which is interesting because the house was here before Nauvoo was. Then I'd go to Heber C. Kimball's home, because this is where the restoration of Nauvoo began.

 Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young were born days apart, and joined the church one day apart in Mendon, NY.  They came to Kirtland together to meet the prophet, Joseph Smith.  Their wives were close friends.  When Brother Brigham's wife died, Vilate Kimball took care of his little girls until he remarried.  In Nauvoo, Heber eventually built the beautiful home that exists today.  And then, after living in it for a very short time,  he left it for the journey West.   Years later his great grandson, Dr. Leroy Kimball, purchased it and start restoring it.  When it was dedicated, by Spencer W. Kimball, 1500 people showed up for the dedication - people not related to the Kimballs.  Dr. Kimball caught the vision of Nauvoo Restoration and Nauvoo Restoration Inc. was formed.  So it's a good place to start explorring Nauvoo.





Monday night Elder Stephen Snow, the church historian, spoke to the mission. The missionary department of the church has had the responsibility for chruch historic sites until recently, when it was turned over to the history department. Their vision for Nauvoo is to make it historically accurate, even to the landscape.  For instance the grove where Joseph Smith preached, just below the temple, has been planted with native trees.  Right now it isn't much to look at, but in a few years it will look as it did in 1840.
         They hope visiting Nauvoo will strengthen and promote faith in the Jesus Christ.  The missionaries will do that by sharing the stories of the Saints who lived here.  This isn't a proselyting mission.  Visitors won't be preached to. They will just tell about the people who lived here. I hope people leave asking why would they leave a place where they worked so hard to beautify and which had such promise of prosperity. 

Tuesday I worked in the sewing room.  I learned to make pre-fab skirts for the pioneer dresses.  Sleeves and skirts are made before the new missionaries arrive.  Then a bodice is fitted to the new sister and the dress is quickly finished - quickly is a relative term.  I've taken 18 hours to finish mine.  It is the most complicated dress I've ever sewn, but the sister over the sewing room is so knowledgeable and easy to work with that it has been a great learning experience.

     Tuesday evening we visited Rand Park in Keokuk.                                                         

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Wednesday I worked in Heber C. Kimball again, and Wilford Woodruff's home.  Elder Woodruff also lived in his home a very short time, and in fact left it unfinished.  In our information book his building time-line is printed.  Anyone who has built a house will sympathize with Wilford.  He kept going on missions and leaving the building to be done by others, but again and again upon returning, the house hadn't progressed much.  They finally moved into a partially finished house.

I forgot to take a picture, so this is from the lds history site.  The notable thing about this house is that it had 8 fireplaces.  After years in log cabins, I guess the Woodruffs wanted to be warm.

Wednesday night the mission enjoyed their Christmas dinner.  Imagine potlucks cooked by experienced grandmas.  The food here is so delicious, it is hard not to over eat at our dinners.  The quilts were donated to various churches around the area.

Mission gathers. 

President Lusvardi tries to get us to sit down. 

The Christensens, good friends.  She organized the quilt drive. 

My group did the second from the right. 

  Thursday I worked at the Family Living Center, which everyone enjoys.  We get lots of visitors, and when it is quiet there is weaving to work on and shuttles to sew for.  The history department, in their effort to portray history accurately has a problem with the weaving.  We weave rag rugs, but rag rugs came into style in the 1860's.  The rag rugs we use are in every house and our apartments.  So do they get rid of all of them in the sites? And what do we weave.  I'll have to come back in a few years and see how they resolve this. 

Friday, I was back in the sewing room finishing my dress.  It just needs a hem and grow pleats.  And buttons.  Saturday, P-Day we finished up our Christmas plans - gingerbread cookies for the missionaries and a couple of candy trains for our "boss's" kids. 

Mine

Dee's

The preparation for the Christmas season started in October, with practices of various kinds.  There was the light the tree practices every Wednesday night, angel choir every Friday morning, and Messiah practices.  I wanted to do more singing for Christmas than we do at home and I certainly achieved that goal.  Add to that quilt making.  Sometime in the last week our mailboxes started filling up with goodies from other missionaries.  We now have a  pile of goodies.  And I'm ready for a long winter's nap.

John Taylor home, Post Office, and Print Shop

This week flew by. Friday marked our 3rd month in Nauvoo.  It must be longer.  How can someone have so many experiences and learn so much in so short a time?
Sunday we had no assignment.  I had a long list of things I wanted to do on Sunday.  I didn't do any of them.  I talked to my children, each family separately.  It was a wonderful way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Grounds crew doesn't have much to do.  These are the tables that hold the plants in warmer weather. 

So I spend my time during the week doing other things.

Monday and Thursday I spent in the John Taylor home.  On Monday we actually had two tours.  Sister Flanders, who came out just before we did, led the first tour.  I listened carefully, then studied the guide book.  As I started to give her a practice tour a man from Virginia! came in.  So I started over and gave a real tour.  He came in about 20 minutes before closing, but we invited him to come to the Print Shop and the Post Office, which are both combined in the off season with the John Taylor home.

The print shop, John Taylor home, and post office
photo from lds.org

After joining the Methodist Church, John felt strongly that he should go to America to preach the gospel.  During the sea voyage a terrible storm blew up, frightening the passengers into thinking they wouldn't survive.  But John had no fear.  He knew the Lord wanted him to preach in America.  So certain, he actually went out on the deck during the storm and declared he felt as safe as if he was in his own parlor.
He ended up in Toronto, where he met his wife, who was 12 years his senior.  She showed no interest in his courtship until she had a dream where she saw herself as his wife.  The second time he proposed she said yes.
In the print shop we explain how important the newspapers were to people in the 1840s as well as the process a newspaper goes through to be printed.  Demonstration sites are the easiest because there are props to help you explain the process.  When all the other apostles were sent out on missions in 1844 Joseph told John Taylor and Willard Richards to stay and publish the newspaper.  He explained that the newspaper would reach thousands, while they would only be able to speak to a few at a time as missionaries.  For this reason these two men were with Joseph and Hyrum when they were murdered.  John Taylor was seriously wounded, but he lived to become the third president of the church. Doctrine & Covenants 135 is his eye witness account of the martydom and his testimony of Joseph Smith's mission. You can read it here:
 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/135?lang=eng

Tuesday I worked with the FM missionaries cleaning up leaves and fallen branches at Carthage.  I loved being outside.  The weather was cool, but we dressed for it and I was comfortable.  I was blowing leaves away from the corner of the jail by the well.  The wind picked up the leaves I'd blown, and blew them around the well right back to the corner I'd blown them out of.  Thanks a lot wind.

Wednesday and Friday I got to work in the sewing room with Sister Hayhurst, who is a trained tailor and a great teacher.  I am sewing my own pioneer dress.  I was very nervous about getting the cording on my dress straight.  But the machine had a neat little cording attachment that made it hard to not do it right.  I used my favorite tool - the seam ripper - less on this dress than on any other dress I've made, chiefly because Sister Hayhurst was there to tell me exactly what to do next and how to do it right.  It was the best sewing experience I've ever had.

Sewing room. There are 8 sewing machines.

Sister Hayhurst shows how to put in a zipper .

Sister Hayhurst - master seamstress

Cutting table

Sewing room Christmas tree

And with everything else going on, I finished one more quilt and helped tie a few more.  Quilts are done I think, for awhile at least.  We made 13 large quilts and 15 lap quilts. These were given to families with special needs. 

Friday night we volunteered to help clean the temple, which opens on Tuesday after 3 months of renovations. Dee and I were assigned to vacuum the 3rd to 5th floors.  Afterwards they invited us to go up into the tower where the bells is.   Dee went up to the top, but I was satisfied to not go up all the way.  I hoped the bell didn't ring while we were up there with it. 
We learned in church today that the temple's outside walls get whiter as they get higher.  I looked today and sure enough the main floors are light gray, the lower part of the tower is whiter, and the very top part of the tower is very white.

One day was really foggy. 

Saturday we cleaned house, and then did another performance of the Live Nativity and the Christmas Walk.

 And because this is Nauvoo, of course we had to eat after the performance.  Sweet rolls and fruit baked and served by our director, Sister Bingham (not pictured).

Sister Lusvardi plays Silent Night in the Post Office.

Sister Adams tells a story in the Tin shop. 

Elder Flanders with the horses and the Christmas Wagon. 

Today the Community of Christ Church did a Christmas play and invited us to see it and to have a pot luck lunch with them.  Our mission president really wants us to not be exclusive, but to reach out to all parts of the community.  The pastor and maintenance director of the Community of Christ comes to our Facility Management prayer meeting every morning.  Our properties and our missions join so we are good neighbors.  They take good care of the properties that belonged to Joseph Smith and those who lived in that part of town. When you come to Nauvoo don't miss those sites.

A little catch up post and the Villages of Van Buren County, Iowana

Things happen faster here than I have time to record.  So these are just some photos that haven't made it into the blog yet. Sorry if there are repeats. I'll start this clean up with the drawings I received from the Bradley grandchildren. 

We've been checking out the nearby parks so when we get young visitors we can show them the sights.

Hamilton park - 20 minutes south of here

Nauvoo City park's digger

Last Saturday was the first sunny Saturday we'd had for awhile, so we went exploring the Villages of Van Buren County, Iowa.  Each little town has one or two shops worth visiting, but the villages are all within 10 miles of each other.  So the travel bureau of the county encourages you to just village hop.  It was very entertaining, full of charming little surprises.  Like the Mennonite owned Dutchman store in Cantril, where you can buy all those things you use to be able to buy, but can't find anymore.  They cater to the Amish communities here.  There are signs around the store saying things like "This store belongs to God.  If you steal, God will see you, and a Dutchman might."  In Bentonsport we visited the Iron and Lace store where the pottery has Queen Anne's lace impressed into the glaze.   Next door is an antique store in the old General Store.  In the middle are cases of ancient American Indian artifacts.  And then there was Bonapart, Iowa.  See photos below.

We ate lunch at Bonapart's Retreat

Unique menu - prices subject to change (they are written in pencil)

Notice the portrait of Bonaparte on the wall.

Geode on window sill.  Des Moines River in background.

Hanging on the wall be the restrooms.

The restaurant brochure says that Mormons built many substantial buildings here before crossing the river to continue their trek west. 

Across the river

Des Moines River

Bentonsport - Iron and Lace

Antique toy in General Store

Bentonsport

Museum piece in the General Store

Cantril, Iowa

This is not Halloween.  It's Elder Barrow biking in sub-freezing weather.

Saturday night I sang in the Messiah.  These were some of the Altos and Sopranos.