October 2nd 2022

First Week of Second Closure

We just finished up with the first week of the second temple closure during our mission. This one is only 4 weeks instead of 2 months so that is nice. Dave has been serving in the temple all week doing various maintenance jobs that can't be done while patrons are there. Running wire, sheet rock patching, realigning doors, painting the baptismal font etc. The windows are getting replaced slowly and the crew manager has promised it will be done in the allotted time. 

I have been mostly recharging from being quite worn down from constant temple activity. It's been nice not to wake up to an alarm and have the time to put things in order in the apartment since I never had energy to do it before. I have helped organize a bit of the mission DI because Sister Coffman, who has the assignment is also the mail sorter as well as a grounds worker. There has been a lot to organize since we've had several missionaries clean out there apartments as they leave the mission. It's a fun thing to do and it's instant gratification as you can see the results immediately.   

We got to see parts of Nauvoo that are off the beaten path, possible site of Joseph Smith's tomb, ancient Indian burial ground and city and the movie set of a new Nauvoo movie the Church is filming. 

The highlight of the week was General conference. I just want to soak up every word and hope it penetrates my heart so it stays forever. This has been an amazing conference with one more session to listen to. I always love to hear our Prophet the very most though and I was buoyed up by his message. I have on occasion just wanted to stay in my PJ's, curl up in bed and not get up with all that goes on out in the world with it seeping close to home with ones I love. I am so grateful for his direction so we know where we can get the power we need to continue to move forward and know we can find peace and rest as we do our best. It all comes from the covenants we make and keep with our Savior and Heavenly Father. I believe this with all of my heart! 

It's beginning Fall here in Nauvoo and it's beautiful. We are very grateful to be able to serve here, whatever that looks like from week to week. 

This property has been surveyed by ground-penetrating radar so they can see what's underneath the ground. Large pillars have shown up so they replicated them above ground which indicated posts which indicate walls and look out towers and gates in the city. 

Pretty fascinating. 

Sign put up by the state of Illinois for this area

diagram of location of mounds. They of course are all covered by trees by you can definitely see where the mounds are. 

Indian burial mound where many bones of bodies were found 

and DNA tested.

The Werretts, Cunninghams and me...

Dave is of course taking the picture.

me holding on to one of the posts that indicate where a pillar was originally, you can see them all down the line. 

The fence put up by the Church surrounding the 

"possible" site of Joseph's tomb

 Whether this is actually a tomb of Joseph is not important other than it's an interested historical finding. 

 This area is hidden and is not widely known. Other sites have been suggested by other people but this is the only one the Church has chosen to protect with a fence. Again, not important as to critical truth etc. just an interesting find. 

This is taken from the Mormon trail on the way to Winter Quarters. The last time the temple can be viewed heading west. 

Replacing windows one at a time... 

Location of the new Nauvoo film. This is all made of Styrofoam.

Another view

Looking forward to seeing this film some day.

Our temple recorder, Brother Macotel and his wife have been "extras" in the movie. He was there on the set when we visited. 

I hardly recognized him! He looks pretty scruffy!

 September 21st 2022

These last few weeks have been busy and full of joyful tears. All but 7 temple couple missionaries will be leaving this Saturday when the temple closes for 4 weeks. Some have been here for 2 years because they started then stopped because of covid. others have been here just for the summer to help with the busy time in Nauvoo. All of them we love dearly and will miss them. 

We had a very fun gathering last week with all missionaries in Nauvoo. Site, FM, temple, and Performing missionaries. It was a great time. 

I woke up one morning with all of them on my mind and decided to leave a note for them, so I wrote this and put it in their cubbies.

To ALL you dear temple workers,                           September 15^th 2022

We have experienced a taste of heaven with you here! Even if we haven’t had

 an opportunity to know each of you better, we are not strangers. Just seeing

 you here, we know you. We know your heart and desire to be a true follower

 of Jesus Christ and to work tirelessly for His cause.

The temple is unique above all other places in that everyone who enters has

 made the same covenants and promises we both have made. That connects us

 immediately for eternity!

Each one of you has strengths, beauty, talents, and gifts that when those are

 combined creates a most powerful force for goodness and love. There is

 nothing we could not accomplish together!

We will experience what the early Nauvoo saints experienced with seeing

 loved ones leave or stay and long to be associated with them forever. We have

 been promised that will happen!

We love each of you deeply and thank you so very much for this heavenly

 experience!

David and April Weeks

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." Eccles. 7:8

Often as we drive up to the temple both Dave and I sit in awe that we are here. It truly is such a special place and when you are here, you feel it. 

My musings today have to do with the "Come Follow Me" program. I am so grateful for that divine instruction by our Prophets. I am 64 years old and have never read the Old Testament with any success but with this program and the podcasts that are available I have been able to really enjoy and actually "thrill" with the things that are being revealed to me! Psalms, Proverbs, even Isaiah! My awareness of my loving, mighty, powerful Father in Heaven and of my beautiful, faithful, merciful Savior has grown so much! I feel to PRAISE and love them with my whole heart! 

Emotionally and physically I am weary but feel it a great pleasure and honor to continue to give it my all! The minute I walk through those temple doors I am infused with energy and a deep love for every face I see. It is pretty amazing. Then after our 7 hour shift we get home and I can hardly move for the fatigue. Then we get up and do it all over again the next day. I do not doubt we are being sustained by heavenly power.

"Even to your old age I AM he: and I will carry you: I have made, and I will bear: even I will carry, and will deliver you." Isaiah 46:4

I work with a delightful young woman named Emmie in the office on Mondays and Saturdays. We have become very tender friends. She has one of the purest hearts I have ever known. We laugh a lot together and share sweet things. She has all kinds of animals that she cares for and loves deeply. She sent me this story that I wanted to keep as a memory of her.     

So yesterday my mom, little brother and I came home to one of our quail missing we found it across the road by the river. And I waited for it and tried to catch it for two hours. And I had no luck.  And what made me tear up is when our other quail started calling for the missing quail. The Quail knew that one of their buddies were missing and they kept calling for the missing quail to come back. And that night I prayed that the quail that escaped will be safe and will find her way back to our house to her friends. And this morning at 6:00am my mom and I heard some happy quail noises and so my mom went outside and the quail was in front of our house and then I went out and we caught the quail and put it back with the other quail. And I cried even more when I saw them surrounding the one that was missing. Quail have a sweet personality. And Jesus Christ is the God of Miracles!❤️

Being on a mission gives you unlimited opportunities to stretch and grow, feel strong emotions and serve with all your heart. It is a powerful tool for our Heavenly Father to help us become more like Him and our Savior. Plus, work for the cause of Jesus! That is really the only thing that matters because it encompasses everything and everyone. 

This is the cause of Jesus to make known:  

"I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance:" Isaiah 43: 25

Now for pictures:

Pictures at the Fall dinner

There are over  200 types of missionaries in Nauvoo

We had great entertainment and yummy food and fun games

These ladies all served as the first missionaries in Nauvoo in 2002. They gathered here for a 20 year reunion. 

Dave's sister Celia and husband Gordon visited us in Nauvoo. 

It was great to spend time with them.

Dave and Celia at the stone Quarry

Crane on the Mississippi at sunset

American Queen riverboat on the Mississippi 

at sunset

Our Branch President and Sister Overy 

were neighbors of 

Gordon and Celia in Rexburg. Small world!

 Sept 6th 2022

Thank Goodness for Pictures!

More weeks go by...and sometimes the only way I can remember what happened is with pictures, so I'm grateful Dave is a picture taker! I'll let them, the pictures, tell about the events. 

The temple presidency farewell party went very well! I was happy to be a part of it. Dave, as always, helps and does whatever needs to be done without being officially assigned. He took care of all the sound needs for the evening and took a video of the program and then spent hours editing it. He sent it to over 300 people as a beautiful memorial gift. The link below can be downloaded to watch if you feel so inclined. It's 30 minutes long and the song I was in charge of is five minutes into it. 

Nauvoo Temple Presidency Farewell Celebration 29-Aug-2022

Our days are filled with office work, engineering duties, temple experiences, sweet friends, and resting. (for me anyway) Dave has been spending lots of time organizing the volunteer window watching schedule for the upcoming temple closure. He had 138 spots to fill and they are all filled except for 3. He is pretty amazing that way and so are the many people who choose to accept the assignments. 

We have a new set of performing missionaries here until mid October, so we have been going to the new "shows" It's been wonderful! These young people add such a strong spirit of testimony here in Nauvoo, plus it's just fun to enjoy their amazing talent! 

It truly is an incredible honor and blessing to be here serving in Nauvoo. How did we get so lucky to be here....it's a wonder.....

All you can eat Watermelon Festival in Montrose Iowa

Dave eating a "walking Taco" which is a bag of crunched up 

Doritos with taco meat, salad, tomatoes and salsa.

  

We got to play Bingo

An old prairie school that we pass every Sunday 

on our way to church

Cicadas shells...skins...whatever you call them. 

They are loud noisy and everywhere!

We got to go up to the tower of the temple. 

You have to climb four 15 (est) step spiral staircases. I had to go pretty slowly...when I was young and in Paris in the Eifel tower I didn't go all the way to the top (stupidity of youth) 

but I made myself finish this one. 

Yeah for me!  

The view from the tower

Temple presidency from 2018 t0 2022

Couns. Kooymans, Couns. Marshalls, Pres. Andersens, 

Couns. MacKays

Us with President and Sister Andersen. 

Four quilts were made with temple worker couples creating a square. UNBELIVEABLE!

Us with President and Sister Marshall

Us with new Sister and President Church. He was the original engineer for the temple in 2002

The ladies that created the program.

Sisters Miles, Wallace, Cox, Cook and me

Dave received this award from the outgoing presidency

A gourd tunnel here in Nauvoo. So Cool!

Our friends, the Coffmans, planted it. 

Large acorns here in Nauvoo, as big as golf balls!

New performing missionaries

They have amazing amounts of energy

The shows are always filled with a beautiful spirit.

"Break the Fast" group this month

Us, McMurdies, Eccles, Smedleys 

 Thursday, August 18th 2022

Three Weeks Condensed

The weeks go by and I think nothing of interest has happened but we do have some lovely days along the way. In the past three weeks we had a delightful dinner with our dear friends the Coffmans in Burlington, Iowa. We toured Quincy, Illinois which is the city that saved the saints from becoming extinct. We hosted a group of temple missionaries for our monthly "break the fast" meal. I made a curry dish that they even had seconds and Dave's bread is always a hit! My brother Robert, wife Tami and a few of their children dropped by. We loved seeing them and spending that time with them while we went to the Sweet Corn Festival in Iowa. They cook up hundreds of ears of corn and they're free to eat as many as you want. We went to Kolona, Iowa and had a delicious home cooked meal with 10 other temple missionary couples in a New Order Amish home. New Order means they have modern conveniences, but still dress and live in a traditional way. 

Our temple presidency is changing at the first of September so we are having a farewell reception for them in a couple of weeks. I was put in charge of a musical number with a small group of missionaries singing "So Long, Farewell" from Sound of Music. I changed the words to be more meaningful for us. I've done some of the same movements as the song and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. 

There’s a sad sort of chiming in the clock on the wall

and the bell in the tower too

And down in the break room we all speak of the place,

that we all love, the place Nauvoo.

Nauvoo Nauvoo 

Regretfully they tell us but firmly they compel us to say 

goodbye to you

So long farewell, we think of our first day.

You said, be still, and learn the Nauvoo way.

So long, farewell, we send you off with care,

and how we’ve loved the things that we all shared.

So long, farewell, we send you on your way.

Dear Lord, please bless and keep them, this we pray.

We folded towels and they were not a few,

We didn’t mind, we loved what we could do.

Some times, were slow, that mattered in the least,

for us, with you, was truly a great feast.

For you, the time, is done in old Nauvoo,

thank you, for love, and counsel to be true.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Today was rather exciting. We were asked to bring 20 bake potatoes to our Thursday night shift potluck in the temple and I put them in the oven and was going to go take a shower. Dave had gone out on an errand.  I was heading to the bathroom when I saw a light in the oven. I thought "why is the oven light on?" I went over to turn it off and it didn't do anything, the light was still very bright so when I went to open the door of the oven to see why, the oven coil was on fire!! Yikes! I started hopping around not sure what to do...I ran to the door and yelled, FIRE!!! of course no one heard me and I ran back to the oven which was still on fire! My mind was racing about what to do... I remembered about throwing flour or baking soda on it to smother it so I opened the cupboard where the baking soda was and of course it was on a high shelf so I was stretching and jumping trying to reach it. I thought I should turn the oven off too. I finally got the soda and threw it on the flames which were about two inches high and moving along the oven coil and popping up. I called Dave and happily he answered cause he was driving. As we were talking the fire stopped and all was well... I did need to cry a little as I was taking my shower out of fear and gratitude because if I hadn't noticed the light before I showered it would have had 15 minutes to burn and I could have come out with the kitchen in flames! Perhaps...or it would have just burned itself out with the door being closed... but the potatoes would not have cooked! We have some really sweet upstairs neighbors that I was able to take the potatoes to and she baked them and even took them to the temple for me.  Whew! I don't think I like that kind of excitement though!

Dinner on the Mississippi with the Coffmans. 

That is a triple layer ice cream dessert!

Break the Fast dinner. We rotate who hosts and who we have dinner with. Next to Dave and I are the temple President and his wife, the Andersons, then the Christensens and the Evansons. 

Very nice group of people. 

 Filling our faces with yummy corn! 

Dave, Rob, Me, Alex, Alexa, Nash and Tami in the back.

Me and my littlest brother Robert. Love him so much!

We took a walk to Horton's Lake which is 

very close to our apartment.

a feather I found along the way.

Us on the trail to the lake

This is in the gardens at Governor Wood's mansion in Quincy. 

He is the man who rallied the people in Illinois to help the saints.

Governor Woods mansion 

I always hug big huge trees at historic places cause 

they might have been alive at important times.

A sign we saw on our drive to Quincy

I got tons of chigger bites on our hike up to the lake. 

They really are pretty miserable things!

our first practice of the Farewell song. Brother Werrett, Brother Williams, Sister Miller, Sister Ward, Sister Petersen and me. 

We got to do yard work instead of our shift on Tuesday. We worked for 3 hours. While we worked I felt strong and energetic but as soon as we were done, I couldn't move my muscles. I truly feel like The Lord infuses us with strength and energy while we are serving and then we get done and our bodies go back to normal, aches, pains and weariness. Pretty amazing! 

Dave edged all the temple parking lot and temple grounds! Then we both used the leaf blower to clean it all up. It looked pretty nice if we do say so ourselves. There is only one grounds keeper employee now, two quit a few months ago so she is doing it all by herself.  

Burnt out oven. It was like those snake things we used to have except the flame was much higher and scarier to have in a house. They (temple engineering) actually already put a new range in when we got back from the temple tonight! Oh and Dave was put on another engineer shift for the next few months. So now he does engineering on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.