Nauvoo Tidbits and Treasures: December 2022

December 26th 2022

Goodies Galore!

Christmas in Nauvoo. It is pretty wonderful. We have had the pleasure of gathering together as missionaries away from our loved ones to share our love with each other.

We were invited to a luncheon with the employees of the temple because we work with engineering and clerical, that was very nice. A lovely couple from Hamilton invited all temple workers to their home to enjoy the 150 nativities they have collected over the years. It was amazing! Then Dave organized for all of us temple missionaries to travel to Amish country and have a yummy home cooked meal in an Amish home. That was delightful. On the way we went to another nativity collection in a bank that had over 2500 nativities from all over the world. Then our upstairs neighbors, the Cooks, invited us temple missionaries to a Christmas open house with beautiful handmade Nauvoo decorations and goodies galore! Then all Nauvoo missionaries organized a lovely Christmas Eve dinner and program of course with goodies galore! Dave and I were on the program in a skit titled "The Old in the Cold!" You had to be there to think it was funny, but it was very fun to be involved in it. Then, the temple missionaries got together on Christmas Day Night for soup and other goodies galore! We had a short little sharing of some songs and then we played "Four Men on the Couch" which I think everyone enjoyed. The men won both rounds.

We were able to facetime with all of our kids and most of the grandchildren on Christmas day and that was wonderful! Many of them got games and activities that I'm looking forward to playing with them in a few more weeks.

Our mission is quickly coming to an end, it's hard to wrap my mind around it and looking back on our previous mission I'm still processing all that happened and all the experiences of my heart. I believe this one will be similar in the processing but so different in experiences.

The temple has been pretty quiet and peaceful with few patrons. It's very cold here and many have to travel hours to get here. We love every minute we get to spend in the temple. We love every face we see whether we know them or not. No one is a stranger here. We know each other's hearts because we know what each of us have covenanted to do and become, at least our desires to do so. It's a very unique and special place to be.

Went spent most of today with our friends Diane and Perry eating more food and playing games. It was a good day. Tomorrow back to the temple. At times it feels a little like "ground hog day" doing the same things over and over and the days blend into the other but it's been a privilege and blessing every day to be here.

The wonderful Wyndam family nativity celebration

Just a few of the many beautiful and unique nativities

Dave continues to perfect his bread making skills

The Mayberrys and us at the Bank nativity display

This is a teeny tiny pewter nativity

A spice can nativity

another teeny tina nativity in a little box

Hundreds of different nativities

The temple missionaries and temple presidency

at the Amish farm home for lunch

Brother Cook's homespun Nauvoo Christmas tree.

He gathered acorns and made them into garland

He even decorated his kitchen light

A gingerbread house of the Nauvoo temple

at our all missionaries Christmas Eve

Photo opportunity with brother Cook assisting

Old in the Cold skit.

Christmas gift from our kids.

Sister Amos from our branch with me and Sister Werrett

Darling appetizer platter at our Christmas Night gathering

Lots of good food and good people

I had to get a little bowl of each soup. They were all so delicious!

All the temple missionaries

except for 3 other couples who weren't there

So fun to capture a picture of a woodpecker outside our door

December 12th 2022

Celebrate!

The celebrations have begun! Nauvoo had a Christmas walk on December 9th (Happy birthday to Emilie) where they give out cider and doughnuts in the Living Center, tell stories in the Print Shop, have a choir with live nativity in the Visitor's Center, wagon rides with jingle bells and continual musical performances from 6 to 9 pm in the Cultural Hall. It's a pretty wonderful event. All communities were invited!

Our friend, Diane Coffman was in charge of filling up those three hours with performers and she asked Dave if he would take 15 minutes playing the piano. We work in the temple Friday night usually until 8 but our sweet shift coordinators let us go a little early, so we were able to enjoy a few of the other things before he was scheduled to play. It was such an enjoyable time!

When it was his turn to play, I went back with him at the piano to turn pages and he started his first song, Winter Wonderland and the audience started singing! It was delightful! Then he played Silver Bells and they sang again. They sang every song he played. When he didn't need me to turn pages I went on stage and lead Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer which the kids loved and then he played The Nativity song from the Primary songbook. This is the song we would sing as a family at every Christmas party. I would get nativity stickers from Oriental Trading and give them a piece of construction paper and as we sang to story they would put the stickers on to make a nativity scene. Most of them have gotten a little old for it but we have three little ones still that we'll do it for a few more years, I hope.

When we were on our mission in Guyana on Christmas day, Our son Nate and his wife Brianna and their four children Facetimed us and sang the whole song to us! We were both in tears. It is a gift and memory that we treasure. So, I got a wee bit emotional when I was leading that song, plus it was impromptu so I wasn't prepared for the feelings it would stir in me. It was such a sweet experience.

The surrounding community puts on The Messiah, so we went to Carthage for that. There were a handful of temple missionaries and district workers that worked so hard to be able to share that with all of us. It really was a beautiful and amazing program.

We have some more celebrations to attend during this month of remembering our Savior's birth. We love the baby Jesus and are filled with gratitude that He grew up, lived a perfect life and died for us. He lives now and has conquered death and sin because He loves us. So much to celebrate!

We went to Burlington, Iowa to see The Chosen with a few of our fellow temple workers and enjoyed a meal together.

We stayed so long chatting that they closed down the mall...

it was only 7 pm though...

Beauty is everywhere even in the dead of winter

At the Living Center Dave played the piano

while people came to get their treats

One of the musical numbers was this amazing sister that lives in Nauvoo. She makes all her instruments and plays them beautifully. We were happy we got to see her.