Parting is such sweet sorrow

Eagle days.  Photo taken by Elder Bruce Cornwell on the Mississippi

Once again I will combine two weeks, mostly because these last two weeks flow together as the Lusvardis take their leave of the mission.  We also did the same work each week, MWF on grounds, TTH with the paint crew.

Sunday, January 5th was Sister Lusvardi's farewell fireside.  The sisters had a party the night before, but this was for the whole mission.  She and President Lusvardi presented their message together.  First they handed out three sets of gloves, one thin, plastic pair, one pair of winter gloves, and one pair of heavy duty work gloves.  At different points in the lesson they had the glove wearers find scriptures in a bound book, not on a device.  The gloves represented different ways people feel the spirit and how hard it is to understand things of the spirit if you are "past feeling".

With our mission president and his wife.

 This past Wednesday was President Lusvardi's last mission training.

President Lusvardi introduces us to our new Historic Site director, via media.

                                   

He taught me what to think about the last week of my mission. 

President Lusvardi says good-bye to the FM group.  He came to our 7:00 prayer meeting almost every morning. 

We also said good-bye to our zone leaders and fellow grounds couple, the Pinettes.   Little by little the people who were here when we came have left.  The only ones still here are the 23 month missionaries, like the Pinettes.  They  kept the Visitor Center and the Women's garden looking pretty and neat.  We loved working with them when there was a big project, like planting annuals or bulbs, and on smaller projects like leaf raking.  In the winter they washed pots with us and did other greenhouse work.  All the missionaries are wonderful, but some we get to know more than others.  The Pinettes were part of my grounds world and I miss them.

Richard presents Pinette's with their FM flag.

Grounds Crew farewell lunch for Pinettes at the Red Front

We get told all the time that no one works harder than the grounds crew, but I beg to differ.  The paint crew works equally hard if not at times harder. What we did this week with the paint crew was as hard as anything we've had to do. Both groups have work that needs to be done.  I'm just glad I have been assigned to grounds, but this winter the paint department needs some help to get things finished before spring, so we volunteered.  We worked in the young sisters' apartments and also the Browning Gun home.  The sisters' live in a regular modern apartment and that wasn't any different than painting our own homes.  Doing historic preservation work is very different.  The previous paint was rolled on the walls.  There were no rollers in the 1840s so all of that had to be sanded down. Not fun.  In another room the old paint wasn't adhering properly to the wall so we had to chip it away.  That was actually fun when it did give way to our knives. The rest of the time we worked in the paint shop with Elder Mensel, who was a professional painter in a former life.  We mostly sanded baseboard molding that will go in the Hunter home.  It feels good to make a small contribution to preserving the historic homes of Nauvoo.

The paint crew

Sanding Browning Gun wall

Sanding molding for Hunter home

We also started coleus cuttings - again.  But this is one of the most interesting things we do.  I love it.

We cleaned up this garden 

And found this little house

Carving class

Our district's assignment was to clean up the grove.  Louis added his "stick" to our trailer. 

Irene's dulcimer Tuesday group

In our mailbox.  It really is getting close. 

Saturday evening, on the ice, we had to do security.  They haven't found someone to hire to do security on the weekends, soooo the missionaries get to do it.  We check every building, including the FM buildings and the historic homes.  It would have been fun, except we were on ice the whole time.  Elder Barrow did meet the new president of the historic sites - we are no longer a mission, even though we are still missionaries.  I stayed in the car.

Checking the doors at the FM compound.  Slippery business.