June 21st 2022

How We Spend Our Time

This week was pretty quiet. We spent most of it in the temple with very little outside activities. Our summer schedule is Mondays: 7am to 2pm temple office and engineering. Tuesday: is our preparation day when we do laundry, shopping, errands and other important things like rest :) Wednesdays: 7am to 2pm temple endowment coordinators. Thursdays: 1pm to 8pm temple ordinance workers. Fridays: 7am to 2pm temple initiatory coordinators. Saturdays: 7am to 2pm temple office and engineering. Sundays: Church 8am to 2pm because we have a 3 hour round trip drive to our branch where we get to teach the 3 to 5 year olds. It's a wonderful way to spend our time and we feel so grateful to be here! 

One of the main engineers is on vacation for the next two weeks so Dave will be doing engineering instead of his regular temple work on Thursdays and Fridays. 

We had a sweet situation in the temple this week. A young man who's parents were deceased was coming in to receive his endowment and be sealed to his wife but prior to that he was standing as proxy for his deceased father and his wife standing in for his mother to be baptized and confirmed, then his father in law and wife would stand in as proxy for initiatory and endowment while the young man received his initiatory and endowment then he would be sealed to his parents and then sealed to his wife! What a joyful day for everyone involved! I am so overwhelmed with God's love for each of His children that He would give us this great plan of happiness and that Jesus would be so willing and anxious to make it possible for it to take effect in each of our lives in such a deeply personal way. I believe with all my heart that because of the restored priesthood power, temple ordinances and covenants and Jesus' atonement we can be together with the people we love forever.   

Remember when I was complaining about how cold it is....I'll try not to mention how hot and muggy it is instead.... 

This is what we get to hear and see just outside our door every day! This morning they were playing the lively "76 Trombones!"

Big fat toad!

This is the resident beaver in our neighborhood. 

The May flies are starting to appear

Bird's nest in the parking garage

Mississippi Sunset

We got barged again, this time with a 15 container barge

This tree suddenly transformed into a feathery beauty

It's a sweet chestnut tree

Fun T shirt

Hugh Pierce. He has lived in Nauvoo for 50 years, former Mayor and  Nauvoo missionary.  He gave a presentation on the building of the Nauvoo temple with a slide show. It was wonderful

 June 15th 2022

A Visit From Friends

Our good friends from Utah, the Harrisons came to visit us here in Nauvoo! We had a fabulous time seeing all the programs put on by the performing missionaries and seeing the sites. If I haven't said this before, (but I think I have) Nauvoo is really a very special and amazing place to experience, especially with all the performances. The talent that these young people have is so impressive and the spirit that you feel through the words and music is very powerful! Grateful, happy, love filled tears are present often. 

We continued to do our temple work and Wynn and Kim attended the temple and would see other sites and meet us after we were done. Wynn even spent one morning doing engineering duties with Dave.  It was a delightful time spent with them! I guess that's all the words I'll write and let pictures tell the rest of the story. 

Waiting to see "Love of the Savior" It was my favorite!

There are 24 performing missionaries with additional band and orchestra missionaries.

The Trail of Hope has 6 or 7 stops along Parley's Street where the 

players (performing missionaries) tell journal stories of 

residents of Nauvoo.

The Trail of Hope was Dave's favorite presentation

Another beautiful sunset on the Mississippi

Waiting to see "Sunset on the Mississippi"

Nauvoo Brass band does a pre-show

The energy on the stage is very engaging!

Another production called "The Promise" 

All of the shows are free and the same 24 missionaries do them all! 

We went on another carriage ride....we really enjoy them

The Community of Christ is finally open so we got to get tour of their properties. 

This is the Redbrick Store

The main room in the Homestead where Joseph and Emma 

first lived in Nauvoo

A room in the Mansion house where Joseph and Emma lived later and where Joseph and Hyrum were viewed by 10,000 people after they were murdered.

We saved a turtle from getting crushed by a car. 

It also had a leach on it!!!

A real live Bambi just outside our door

We even got to see it nurse! I tell ya, Nauvoo is pretty special!

 June 7th 2022

The Temple Has Power To Change Us

This week I have pictures! It's been a fun week! I'll let the pictures tell the events, while I speak of some musings. 

I work in the office Monday and Saturday mornings. It can get pretty chaotic and people could choose to get impatient and testy but since it's the temple there tends to be a different atmosphere most of the time. Unfortunately last Saturday we had two sister service missionaries working in the office that had to be "let go" because they were not able to play nice. Being in the temple is such a great laboratory to developing Christ like characteristics. You absolutely know that everyone there is trying their best to be as loving and holy (covenant keeping) as they can be, so you are able to see lots of examples of goodness. And if you are introspective, you can use all kinds of situations to "put off the natural man" tendencies and change your behaviors, thoughts and hopefully your hearts to be more like our Savior. It is a great privilege and opportunity to smooth out our rough edges and not just "be in or go through the temple" but let the temple and it's spirit "be in and go through us" Being in the temple 5 days a week has really emphasized to my mind what is important in our lives and what we need to overcome as far as how we spend our time and what character traits we are developing. I find it's much easier to be loving and patient in the temple which tells me I have a ways to go when I'm out in the world and in my home life to make that a more natural way of being. Basically, choosing Christ or choosing to be holy at all times, in all things, in all places makes us new creatures and our world and home relationships will be more consistently positive, loving and peaceful.    

I'm grateful for the great blessing of being able to repent daily and find much joy in that knowledge and ability because of our Savior!  

We had a "break the fast" meal with two of our new temple missionaries. The Solomons and the Funks.

Dave's second cousin Casey Wells Hall (Dave's mother's brother's daughter Janet's son) is living in Nauvoo working for the Church and they ran into each other this week.  

I went on a walk and discovered an archeological dig at the site of the Times and Season's printing shop here in Nauvoo. 

They invited me to help go through the dirt. 

They dig scoops of dirt and then we go through it and 

try to find treasures. It was very fun!

I found a nail possibly 182 years old

I found a charred of possible 182 year old window glass.

They have found type print letters and pieces of ceramics. 

On that walk I found a turtle and it had a black slimy thing on it that I knew didn't belong. I pulled it off with quite a bit of effort because it was stuck on pretty good. You can see where it was on the upper right area near the head where a kind of triangle is a little more yellow.

This is what it was. I think it's a leach and I saved the turtle's life!

Cause, if it would have gotten to it's neck, it would be sucked to death. Yay for me!

It would shrink up when I got close to it.

and roll into a ball.... so interesting!

This was the view on my walk along the Mississippi River.

We went to the Chamber of Commerce in Nauvoo and learned the history of Nauvoo after the Saints were driven out. This is a picture of the Catholic School and auditorium that was west of the temple, which you can see where it was is just covered with trees. It closed down in 2001 after the Church bought the property in 1999. The complex was razed and the statue of Joseph and Hyrum are in the grassy area west of the temple. 

Another fun find in the Commerce building.