Oh beautiful Nauvoo! How we love everything about you! Wonderful, unforgettable experiences keep coming our way. I did something I never thought I would do...I bought blackberries! I wanted to make my blackberry cobbler to share with our FHE group so I had to buy them, it was painful. I'll probably make it again. There are many occasions here to make some kind of food dish to share. We are eating lots of good food, way too much. Our Thursday evening temple shift has a monthly potluck meal during our shift, so we get to sample lots of good food there.
We visited an Amish community in Cantrill, Iowa. Beautiful country! Lots of corn and soybean fields just like we see everywhere we go. We are looking forward to seeing the harvest in the Fall. They just plant and watch it grow, no irrigating, so they really count on the rain, which we haven't had too much of this Summer. So, visiting Cantrill was fun. There is a huge store called The Dutchman where they have a little bit of everything including groceries. They even have quilts made by the Amish, so beautiful! I couldn't resist, so I bought one. The colors in it are the same colors in the temple so it reminds me of the temple. I will treasure it forever. We enjoyed shopping & looking around. Nearby was an Amish furniture store called Yoders. They have the most amazing, well built furniture. A wonderful, friendly Amish man working there told us all about it. Elder Birt and the other two missionary elders with us each bought an Amish hat, pretty funny. We had a good time. As we were getting in our car to leave, the Amish man hitched up his buggy with one horse and off he went, waving to us. It's very beautiful country out there, and lots of it, acres and acres!
Visiting the Tukuafu family was an amazing, unique experience. Brother Tukuafu is Tongan. They met and married in Hawaii, lived there for many years then ended up in Nauvoo, where both of them serve in the temple. They have 14 biological children, who are all married and on their own. They have a unique home they built on the Mississippi River. Whenever new temple missionaries arrive, the Tukuafus invite them to their home for a family home evening. Our FHE group enjoyed an evening there where they gave us a tour of their round house, sang and played musical instruments and served us refreshments. Sister Tukuafu builds harps, ukuleles, and many other instruments in her very small shop next to their home. She is very talented. The recent past general RS presidency visited her a few months ago and sent a video of Sister Tukuafu singing & playing her harp to President Monson. We took videos of her also, she told us "don't you dare send them to President Monson".They are wonderful people with strong testimonies. We sure enjoyed the time we spent with them and we enjoy serving with them in the temple on Saturdays.
One of the things we are enjoying here is doing family history work. We have found many names, which we have taken to the temple and hope to do much more while we are here. We have so many wonderful resources to help us right at our fingertips. There is a Family Search Center next door to the temple, where we have spent many hours. We are presently taking a class from a sister who lives in Nauvoo. Now if we can just remember the things we are learning.
We enjoyed a great visit from two of our kids and their families; Larry & Angela, Shaury and David and all their kids came and spent a few days with us. We had a great time showing them Nauvoo and letting them feel the wonderful Spirit that is here. It's always so fun having family visit, but it's sad when they leave us. Before we finish our mission we will have had visits from all of our kids and all but two of our 17 grandkids. Also, all of my siblings will visit (my three brothers). Elder Birt's brother Ralph & Dana are coming also.
Our time is growing short now. We are trying to take advantage of every precious minute here. We are surrounded daily with rich spiritual experiences that I don't think we could get anywhere else. We are, of course, in the temple five days a week, sometimes six. On the other days, we attend various firesides, devotionals, programs etc.
Last week in the bapistry, there was quite a bit of sand in the font for some reason. The engineer thinks something was wrong with a filter since he had never seen it before. We had a family with two young boys come to be baptized, President Irion told them they were having an authentic experience like being baptized in the Mississippi River. The boys loved it. The engineers are still working on the problem.
Oh beautiful Nauvoo! How we love you! Nauvoo means beautiful city.
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