Nauvoo Tidbits and Treasures: April 2022

April 25th 2022

More Travel

I did not intend this blog to be a travel log of trips here and there but with the temple being closed and our mission being temple work it makes it difficult to record mission experiences.

We were back in Nauvoo for three days and we were taught how to make the Nauvoo bricks! Nauvoo is gearing up for a very busy summer and wants to have lots of bricks to give out to people who visit here so we get to help with that. There are 19,000 already made but we need to make thousands more.

Then we were on our way to Wisconsin to visit our friends, the Murphys from Bountiful who had moved there over a year ago. We love this family and were sad when they left our neighborhood. So, being only 7 hours away made it possible to have a visit.

On our way to the Murphys, we stopped in Galena, Illinois. It's a charming, picturesque little town with darling shops and restaurants. Then we went on our way to see the Wisconsin Dells. It's an area where a gorge has carved lovely trails into the rock similar to the Narrows in Southern Utah. We only touched the surface of what is available to enjoy there. It is a beautiful drive through Wisconsin. Lots of wooded areas, large fields and rolling hills with homes, red barns and silos spotted here and there. It hasn't totally awakened from winter yet but imagine it would be stunning in the summer and fall. Originally, the Nauvoo temple as well as the Nauvoo house were built with Wisconsin pine which was floated down the Mississippi river.

We arrived at the Murphy's beautiful home that is surrounded by beautiful woods and has a stream in the back. We had a wonderful visit with this delightful family!

Now, we're back in Nauvoo and will work on making bricks!

The process of making bricks. Lubricate the molds.

Put in the plugs.

The clay is mixed there from the mud dug up in

Nauvoo mixed with sand.

Press down the molds with the hydraulic machine. Of course, the pioneers did not have these machines but it's helpful when you are making lots of bricks.

Scrap off extra clay being careful not to gouge the bricks

Place them on a rack to dry for three days, then the edges are cleaned and then baked in a kiln for 15 hours.

Beautiful Galena...pictures do not do it justice and the leaves aren't all out yet either.

Another view

Wisconsin Dells in the gorge area.

It was a lovely mile and a half walk.

Another view

Beautiful jutting rocks and crags

Madison, Colleen, Steve and Aliza Murphy

with their dogs Kylo and Cypher

Loving on this family!

Resident eagle's nest here in Nauvoo with the mother eagle

Magnolia blossom. It is spring in Nauvoo!

April 18th 2022

Filling Our Time

Another week off from the temple and we went to the Family Search Center here in Nauvoo. There are missionaries there that can teach you all kinds of cool things to do on the familysearch.com site. I finally understood that your page is really a digital book of remembrance that you can fill up with pictures, memories even audio memories that no one can see until you are dead and then it can become public. I'm still learning but I think you can share memories and tag people that will show up. It was fun to get my family all in order according to age etc. I haven't dabbled much in this pastime until now and find it is a really engaging thing to spend time on.

We took a trip to Carthage and went to the Hancock Museum there and the jail. The museum was kind of overwhelming because they had so much stuff it was hard to focus on anything. There is a small section about the Nauvoo temple and the murder of Joseph and Hyrum written in the paper but none of it tells the "other side" of the story and that is sad to me.

The jail tour was very interesting and I always love it when the floor is the original wood because I imagine Joseph and Hyrum walking on it. It's a sacred place and the site missionaries did a beautiful job with their presentation.

Then for the weekend we took a trip to Springfield, Illinois with our friends, Diane and Perry. We spent the night at a hotel there on Friday and then toured the Lincoln Museum, went to Lincoln's Tomb and Lincoln's home on Saturday. I didn't know that the whole neighborhood with Lincoln's home is a National Park! They preserved two blocks of houses that are original to the time of Lincoln living there. We got to walk on the same floors that Lincoln walked on too! The museum is so well done and very touching in many ways. He was a great man! It was a great little excursion!

It's been rainy and cold but occasionally we get a beautiful sunny day and the magnolia trees, daffodils, and other trees are blooming and the grass is green. It's getting beautiful here in Nauvoo.

There were so many things written and shared about Easter and the gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ that I loved.

"He knew the price of those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was you and since he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without you, he chose the nails."

"Easter the day the dark died"

"His true specialty is each of us. He specializes in YOU. That one night covered lifetimes, to which He came to know every heartache, sorrow and sin so intimately that He became an "expert", if you will, in exactly the path you are walking. And Easter we celebrate that Sunday finally did come--so that we may joyfully await our own, promised, Sundays--because of Him."

I love Jesus! I want my life to reflect that love...

The City of Springfield has done a remarkable job of highlighting and celebrating Abraham Lincoln.

Highly recommend it.

Here we are with the Coffmans and Lincoln's family, only one son lived to adulthood. He really had so much sorrow in his life.

The tomb of Lincoln. It's pretty massive.

His wife and one son are buried here.

Picture displayed in the Hancock Museum

Copy of the first and only printing of the Nauvoo Expositor which with it's destruction tipped the scale to the murder of our Prophet and his brother.

Carthage jail

Lincoln's home for 17 years before he moved to

Washington DC to be president

A tree on the street where Lincoln lived.

I always hug old trees because I feel like they have seen so much!

It was a BIG tree!

Tuesday, April 12th 2022

When I'm 64

Another week goes by with the temple closed and we are off to Mississippi/ Tennessee. We stopped in St. Louis to stay in a B&B and it had a large jetted tub! Perfect gift for my birthday! I reached the age of 64 years old. I have been looking forward to that number because my mom passed away at age 64 and 10 months. It has kind of thrown me a bit emotionally but I have determined this year to be one of gratitude and celebration!

We drove on to Hannibal, Missouri and learned all about Mark Twain in the museums there. He was a very remarkable man. Then on to Counce, Tennessee. Our friends, Dennis and Wanda Mayes have a two bedroom trailer on their property that they generously let us stay in. They are the creators of this Karaoke group of which we were so fortunate to be included in while Dave was working in Mississippi. We love these people so much! A couple of the group has already passed and we have our Johnnie who is fighting cancer, so we wanted to be able to spend some time with them all. There were 11 of us on Saturday night and we sang and sang and sang!

Once upon a time I had a lovely soprano voice and was even asked to do solos now and then, well, then I had breathing problems and one surgery after another through my vocal cords did a lot of damage so my voice was changed permanently and I mostly croak when I sing. When I sing in this group with songs that are changed to my range I can belt them out! I am filled with the joy of singing! I'm filled with gratitude that I can't express in words. This group is so supportive and cheer us on! Dave's voice also blossoms and we both enjoy this wonderful activity with these wonderful folks!

We drove around the area and visited with many of the people we have grown to love from the ward we were in. Just loving on these people and them loving on us! It was a great trip!

This is the monument the Church placed in Quincy acknowledging the gratitude felt toward the people for taking in the Saints when they fled from persecution in Missouri.

You can see Missouri across the river

Old time bicycle in Samuel Clemens'/Mark Twain's era museum

Don't think I'd ever be riding one of those!

Lunch in town down Hannibal. It is a very cute little town.

Our room at the bed and breakfast. The tub was amazing!

Cool carving out of Elk horns at the B&B

An official bear hug!

Really cool place

Loving on Santa Floyd. Her husband Tom died 3 years ago.

Dave was their home teacher

Loving on the Whites.

Members of the ward but she is homebound with COPD

Pickwick Karaoke group. Salt of the earth kind of people. All members of the ward. Ricky and Johnnie Howell weren't able to make it because she is just feeling too weak. We went to see them but didn't get a picture.

Loving on the Mayes' Dennis and Wanda

Loving on the Baths, Alison and Kent.

They had us over for dinner and games

Members of the ward and Dave and Kent worked together.

Monday, April 4th 2022

ALL IN!

How has another week gone by! This was our first week with the temple closed and it was pretty eventful.

We went to lunch in Fort Madison with a few other missionaries, We toured a few sites and took a wagon ride around old Nauvoo on a beautiful day, we watched the demonstration of a prairie fire, Kae and Kent Servoss from our neighborhood in Bountiful came for a day and we went on a few site tours and had lunch together and a very enjoyable time and the biggest event was right after Saturday morning conference we get a knock on our door and it's Margie and Tom Wright from Bountiful! He was working in Omaha and she flew in to spend the weekend and they decided to drive to Nauvoo to surprise us and surprise us they did!!! They stayed for the afternoon conference and dinner then went on to her brother's who lives a couple hours away. It was wonderful to spend that time with them!

Conference was amazing for me and for Dave but since I write this, I can only express my feelings most of the time. I felt like we were being told to "be ALL in" if we wanted to be able to experience lasting joy. All of it is our choice. We choose our future lives and Jesus is THE way and because of Him we will all be happy where ever our choices take us. There is a beautiful, happy place for ALL.

We are grateful for the Prophet's counsel to remove the conflicts in our lives and we want to diligently work on that. We are grateful to be on a mission. Karaia, our granddaughter begins her mission a week from today!

We were told by someone that when the Nauvoo temple was announced in 1999 that Tee shirts were made that said " Mormons: we drove them out once, we can do it again!" It is a sad thing that feelings like that still exist here. Talking with a patron one day she said " Some people feel like Nauvoo is a sad place, because of all the persecution that happened here." The tours of the sites most always speak of how the saints were driven out and abused. The plaques on main street telling of the history of Nauvoo start in 1849. No mention is made of how with Joseph Smith's vision and encouragement and all the saints hard work, Nauvoo was drained and cleared and made habitable and beautiful. So, it can be a very sobering thing. The population of Nauvoo at it's peak was 12,000 people. In 1846 it went down to 1,100 and has basically remained there.

Nauvoo is a sacred place and it is a declaration of commitment to Truth, a consecration of lives to God and a rock solid belief in our Savior, Jesus Christ. They were ALL in! Being here and learning all the stories of real people, some even my own family, makes my resolve to be ALL in stronger! Listening to all, every. single. one. of the conference talks, makes my resolve to be ALL in stronger. It is a privilege and a blessing to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We are ALL in!