Nauvoo Time...Fast Time

Nauvoo time must be faster than normal time because time is passing so quickly here. So much to experience here and seemingly little time to do it all, but we are sure trying. Of course our happiest time is when we are serving in the beautiful, unique temple. 

Pageant is in full swing bringing many visitors to our quiet, little Nauvoo. We can easily walk to pageant just a block from our apartment. In recent years, they added the British pageant two nights a week, which tells the story of the British saints who were prepared to accept the gospel when missionaries were sent to them. It was unprecedented that eight of the 12 apostles were sent to one place to preach the gospel. Many people were baptized then sailed to America, leaving their homeland to come here to help build up Zion. I especially love the line in the pageant that says, "when you're here, we're here", meaning those saints on the other side of the veil are here with all of us in Nauvoo. It's so true, we feel their presence daily.

We were sure surprised a while ago when a young couple came to the temple from Iowa and her last name was Birt! We talked with her and discovered that she was a convert of just two years and was from Iowa, the only one in her family who has joined the church. She married a man also from Iowa. We couldn't figure out a family connection, but there must be one somewhere. We just don't see that spelling of our name very often.

We witnessed the sealing of a beautiful little family with three young children. We spent an hour with them as they prepared to be sealed together as an eternal family. With tears in the eyes of all present, they were sealed together. I will always remember the little daughter looking at her mother with tears of joy in her eyes. What a blessing for this family. They were so happy. We walked them to the doors of the temple and watched them leave. I am so grateful for temples to bring families together eternally.

Elder Birt was so excited to find a farmer's market! In Ft. Madison, just 15 min. away. It was a very small market but very fun to see some fresh produce. There was about 8-10 vendors. One of our favorites was the Amish family selling baked goods. They have what they call fry pie and oh, are they yummy! It's kind of a deep fried, fruit filled tart then glazed like a donut. We saw a young French mother with her small daughter selling French pastries. She told us about another market on Tuesdays in Montrose, across the river, so we checked that one out the next week. It's a little bigger with live music and they serve dinner. We will probably be regular customers.

We were happy to have some visitors again, Kendall, Lindsey and Nate came and spent a couple days with us. We loved having them visit. We visited some of the sites and enjoyed the pageant. We took them to Keokuk where they have the locks on the river to allow the huge barges to go past the dam. The barges enter the lock, the water level is lowered then the gate opens and the barge goes out into the level of the river. It's pretty cool watching the process. Also, on the bridge where we watch, there is a fence & gate where couples put a regular padlock on the fence and throw away the key showing they have "locked" their love.

Some temple missionaries told us about a house for visitors to rent on River Road. We took a drive to see it. We met the owner, a great guy who is a Viet Nam vet who just started renting this house. He gave us a tour, it's a great house for a great price with a beautiful view of the river. We loved hearing his stories and enjoyed his garden produce he shared with us. He has a huge collection of "geodes", rock formations with sparkling crystals inside...google it (I had to). Lots of places around here have geodes. They are kinda fun to see. 

Nauvoo has a spirit all it's own. We are hoping all of our family will be able to come and experience it.  President Hinckley has said he would mortgage the farm to have his family be able to go to Nauvoo. We are having experiences on this mission that are very unique and are on a spiritual level we wouldn't otherwise have. We not only get to be in that beautiful, historic temple five days a week, but they have many firesides, programs, performances, etc just for the temple missionaries. We are immersed in the spirit of this place, which is sometimes overwhelming. We don't want to miss any of it. We are serving with some of the finest people you could find. We feel a real connection to some of the friends we have met and are enjoying spending time with them. We daily wonder how we are so blessed to be able to be serving this great mission in such a special, historic place.

On a lighter note...we are becoming regular Walmart shoppers!!! It's about the only place nearby (Keokuk) to get groceries, etc. Also, as if we weren't getting enough exercise, we joined the local gym. It's kind of nice to go there and get in a little workout. There are so many stairs in the temple, you wouldn't think we needed any more working out, but we like it, so we'll go 2 or 3 times a week. Other missionaries are enjoying it too.

Oh! We got to experience a tornado warning! It rained, thunder, lightning like we have never seen before. The thunder & lightning was literally nonstop with no breaks. They broke into the regular TV shows to give updates and tell us to get to safety in the center of house or basement.  The warning sirens were sounding. It was a little frightening since we have never experienced a tornado. It continued throughout the evening and into the night, but all was well by morning. It happened on the first night of pageant, so they delayed for half hour then did a shortened version so visitors could see it.

Nauvoo is beautiful, we are enjoying every minute here, trying to soak it all in so we can remember all of it when we leave here.
 

Singing???

Temple service is where we spend the majority of our time here, but there are many other things going on here that we can enjoy if we choose. I'm still keeping an eye on the lilypads as they continue to grow and spread out into the river. I also love those little fireflies and I'm determined to get a good video of them. 

On June 27th, the anniversary of the martrydom of Joseph and Hyrum, we attended a nice commemoration of that event in Carthage. The YPMs sang & the band played. A soloist sang " A Poor Wayfaring Man" against the backdrop of Carthage Jail. It was very moving and thought provoking. 

We were told before we accepted this mission call that we would not have to sing and dance. Well, they were 50% right. Alas, we attended a "singing" practice for all missionaries. The pageant director gave us a little pep talk about what a great experience this would be. Oh, and bring your kleenex and bug spray! We sat up and listened to the director since he is the director of all the church pageants, general conference, etc. Well the practice was pretty amazing so I can only imagine what the actual performance will be. There are two pageants that alternate every other night during pageant season. One is the British Pageant which tells the story of the British saints who were prepared in their homeland to accept the gospel. At the end of the pageant, ALL missionaries; temple missionaries, site missionaries, YPMs, etc. come onto the stage at the finale, from the audience, singing Called To Serve & a couple other songs. There will be a sound track playing behind us so I don't think you will be able to pick out our voices, however good or bad we sing. We are actually pretty excited. So, whenever we are in the audience, we will join in the finale onstage. So, I guess we will be singing on our mission  after all!

Last night the community band played a concert on the grounds West of the temple. Afterwards, the city of Montrose, across the river, did fireworks that we watched at the end of the band concert. It was just like the concert and fireworks at WSU (friends in Ogden) only a much smaller crowd, but still wonderful. And, we have fireflies here that add to the show!

Last week we attended a special missionary mtg where Robert Wright spoke. He is the author of Testament in Stone. His book tells about the symbols on the outside of the temple. Very interesting and informative. There are many symbols on the exterior so it was so interesting to hear him talk about them. The temple is so beautiful, inside and out.

Again, we feel so blessed to be serving here at this time. We are surrounded by such deep church history. We also feel we are walking in the footsteps of some ancestors who lived here. We have spent time at the Family History Center and researched family names, with the help of the great missionaries there. We have had many amazing, faith building experiences. It's hard to believe we have been here two months now. That means our mission is 1/3 over! Nauvoo is a beautiful place with a spirit all it's own.