Our Days in Nauvoo, 2014 July 20th - 26th

Our Days in Nauvoo   July 20 - 26  2014

Dear Family,

Time for another letter.  The weeks just go by!

Sunday, July 20 – We had a nice drive to church today.  Sister Gordy was at church again this week.  Her and her husband (who we haven't met yet) were baptized, along with their 12 year old daughter, a little over a year ago and are expecting a baby in October.   Sister Davis talked to her about their family going through the temple before the baby comes and she said they had been talking about that as well.  Hopefully we can get a temple prep class going.  We ate dinner after church with Linda and Clive Parcell again.  They are one of the nicest couples.  We had a picnic lunch celebrating the 24th of July - which they don't do out here. We had such a wonderful meal and visit.  We got home in time to rest a minute and then head to a 6:00 choir practice before a temple missionary report meeting.  At the meeting we had a vignette performed by some of the core cast from the pageant called "Go Ye Into All the World."  It was on the 12 apostles going to Great Britain to do missionary work.  It was so wonderful and there were lots of tears.  We had several of the temple missionaries tell of their experiences visiting the wards.  We are doing some real good in lots of the wards.  We stopped on the way home from the fireside to pick up some air mattresses from the Bassett’s for when Jeremy gets here tomorrow but we didn’t think they were home.  We called and they were, so we went back.  The Lord wanted us come back at a better time - Jan Vasas had hurt her knee again.  We got there just in time to help get her into the car and off to the hospital.  Everyone is sure worried about her. 

         

Monday, July 21 – We got sad news today at the temple.  President Nelson’s 19 month old granddaughter died this morning.  His son and family have been living with them since their home burned few months ago.  It is so sad.  I was a sealing patron today and was the proxy with a brother who had his parents sealed to each other.  He was proxy for his father and I was proxy for his mother.  I wish he could have had family there to help but it was such a special opportunity for me.  He also had his grandfather sealed to his grandfather's parents and he was the grandfather and I was the great grandmother.  Jeremy and his family were here and unloading their car when we got home from the temple!!  It is so great to have them here and be able to hug family!  We did some site visits and then went to Sunset by the Mississippi.  We saw fireflies on the way home and then there were 3 bunnies in our yard that Kade, Colton, Carson and Kennedi were trying to catch. Great fun!

 Tuesday, July 22 – Went on the Carriage Ride this morning in the rain but it was still wonderful!  Such a great ride and we learned so much.  We all went to the Family Living Center and Jeremy’s family stayed and we came home to get ready for the temple.  We had a great afternoon.  They did some sites this afternoon and Jeremy, Tammie, Kade and Kennedi left for another show of Sunset (moved inside in case it rains).  We will end today with Rendezvous.  

Nauvoo Temple

Pioneer Pastimes

 

             

Wednesday, July 23 – We had a great day at the temple.  Jeremy and Tammie did a session and Jerry baptized Kade.  We went this afternoon and one of my assignments was to help in the laundry.   I was there for 1 ½ hours - ended up staying through my break. I love working down there – really nice people.  I did sealings and and had another tender experience.  It’s what we do all of this temple work for - helping connect forever families.  We went to the British pageant tonight.  Jerry translated and we watched.  Great messages in these 2 pageants.  

             

Thursday, July 24 – We traded our P-Day for today.  We did several sites.  At Pioneer Pastimes we saw Sister Allred.  She is one of the missionaries they call outbound missionaries.  They are called to serve for 18 months but serve 2 summers in Nauvoo and then are sent somewhere else for the winter.  She was sent to the Pocatello Idaho Mission last winter and was serving in Rigby and Tammie recognized her from her.  She helped, with other missionaries, rake leaves at Sister Free’s - a widow in Jeremy's ward.  That was a fun connection.   We spent the afternoon at Carthage and ran into my cousin and her husband, John and Mary Blacker.  We drove to Keokuk to see if any barges were coming through the lock and there was, so we watched it go through.  It was really neat.  We headed up to the Nauvoo Pageant tonight.

Carthage Visitor's Center

             

Friday, July 25 – It was a sad morning to have Jeremy’s family go.  It is always so fun to have company but not fun at all to have them leave.  The Temple Missionary Choir sang at  President Nelson's granddaughter's funeral.  That was tough.  When I got home Kevin’s family was here.  They will use our apartment as a resting and eating spot as they do the sites.  Their motel is in Keokuk, about 30 minutes away.  Our temple assignment today was at the Arrival Center.  It was really busy with people coming and going all afternoon. We stopped to take the air mattresses back to the Bassett’s and stopped to visit Jan Vasas.  She had her 3^rd surgery and I guess they have all kinds of pins and screws in this time.  She also has a staph infection now, with a picc line and will need IV antibiotics for 6 weeks.  She is having a really hard time.  Dad went to translate at the pageant and I walked down to sing at the end. 

             

Saturday, July 26 – Kevin, Debbie, James and Melony came to the 8:00 AM session today.  It was fun to see them there.  Ryan and Maria decided to stay with their kids and catch a few more of the sites.  We hurried to Keokuk to buy groceries after the temple.  By the time we got home the sites had closed and Kevin was here and we were able to visit with them for a few hours.  We left to go sing the mission goodbye song, “Go Now in Peace” to the Christensen’s.   They have served for a year at the Family Search Center and she has served on Wednesday afternoons at the temple.  They have helped so many of us find family names.  We will miss them.  There were lots of us there and it was neat. We met Kevin at the Nauvoo Pageant and watched it with them.  It was so fun to have them here.  I wish I had taken a family picture of them.

We love you all so much!  It is harder to be away when I know there are family things going on at home but I am still so thankful for this opportunity to be here.  We are busy and happy and enjoying what we are doing.  We pray for you every day.  As Heather tells us all often - "make good choices."  We love you!!

Love, Mom and Dad / Grandma and Grandpa / Elder and Sister Hall 

           

Our Days in Nauvoo  July 13-19, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow!  Another week already.

Sunday,  July 13 –  Church was good.  Sister Gordy and her daughter were there but we didn’t know it until they announced that she would give the closing prayer in RS, so it was at the end of the last hour.  We did get a chance to visit with her for a few minutes.  I guess she was at church last week too.  We got home about 2:15 and had been invited to Mike and Cathy Garrett’s for lunch at 3:00. They are a couple from FL.  There are all kinds of wonderful people here. She is one who enjoys entertaining and using nice things.  She brought 3 sets of china and all kinds of home decorations.  She made a bedspread and took heirloom doilies and stitched them on the decorator bed pillows (all 18 of them).  We had a Martha Steward lunch.  She had the table set with china and candles, cloth napkins in napkin rings, goblets.  It was beautiful and delicious.  You can definitely tell she likes to entertain.  Jerry is wondering what I will do if  / when we invite them back. So am I.  Taco salad on paper plates?  We had such a fun time.   

Monday, July 14 – Our temple assignment today was the Arrival Center.  We had a really good time there today.  It wasn’t crazy busy but steady with people coming in to change clothes either before or after a session.  We had a few kids that came through for baptisms and a few that came after baptisms waiting for their parents who were doing a session.  One man from Utah had a dad who had a dairy in Burton that Dad remembered going to.  And we also had some really pesky flies that we spent the entire 5 hours trying to get, but never did.  In the afternoon we went and did the Community of Christ (Reorganized LDS church) tour.  They own the Red Brick Store, the Mansion House, The Nauvoo House, Joseph and Emma’s first home and Joseph, Emma and Hyrum’s graves.  The tour was very interesting and it was just Dad and I.  You aren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the homes, only the outside.  We had a darling, young girl who is on an college internship from Grayson University here for the summer.  She did such a great job and was so willing to answer our questions. 

 This is in front of the Mansion House - the home Joseph built for Emma, owned by the reorganized church.

Tuesday, July 15 – We walked this morning and ran into Angela Thornton (from Grant) at the Visitor’s Center.  We saw her and her parents, Ann and Stephen at the temple this afternoon.  We went to the temple thinking we would just have a normal line assignment but they ended up needing us to be the initiatory coordinator for the .  The scheduled coordinators had been called in early to help with a bus of Spanish members and they had been there since early and were needing to go home.  I was sure glad I had done it last week for the first time, without it being sprung on me.  It went really well.  I’m thinking I will have it tomorrow as well.  The sister that trained me, Sister Anderson fell last weekend and cracked her knee.  We didn't get done until a little after 7:00 and I remembered as we were walking out that I had choir at 7:00 so Dad dropped me off.  I got home at 8:20 and we had planned to go to the Nauvoo Pageant for the first time and it started at 8:30 so we hurried over.  We walk to the pageant because we are close - then we don't need to worry about parking.  The Nauvoo Pageant is wonderful!  Both are so professional and beautifully done. 

         

Wednesday, July 16 – We were anxious to hear about the Rexburg flooding and spent some time on the phone this morning trying to find out more about it.  We have a few friends serving here from Rexburg that we were checking with.   I walked this morning with Kathy Crockett. She has quite a good walking route.  Some of it is uphill and then some down.   She walks up and jogs down (which she didn’t tell me before we left).  I'm not very good - but Sheila, maybe I’ll be good to jog a little when we get home.  I will have to do it mostly by myself because our shifts don't match.  I felt a bit bad leaving Dad to walk on his own but he didn’t want to butt in on a girl’s walk.  He told me after that he quite enjoyed a “quiet” walk.  Hmm . . . I must talk too much?  Our shift at the temple was good.  We went thinking we would be over initiatory again but Sister Anderson was there (Yay!!) and so we had regular lines.  We went to the lecture tonight.  She talked about Joseph Smith’s bid for President of the United States.  He had over 1000 political missionaries in all 26 of the United States campaigning for him.  They left Nauvoo in March and he was killed in June but his platform was received with enthusiasm and the talk was that he had a honest chance.  He wanted to free the slaves, have a standard monetary system, give the saints back their land in Missouri, cut the government work force down and pay politicians $2 a day for their work in Washington.  When asked about the low pay he said, “a farmer works hard and makes $2 a day and the only difference is that the farmer is honest.”  Dad translated again and I will leave in about ½ hour to go up to sing in the finale.  

Thursday, July 17 – Shin splints today from the walk / jog yesterday.  We had a great day at the temple today.  Things are starting to get busy.  We followed a session yesterday and today.  I have also had the Celestial Room the last couple of days for an hour.  The big arched windows face east and the colors in the room are yellow and pale green.  When you go in there, with the sun coming in those big, high windows,  it is breathtaking and so incredibly peaceful.  It is my favorite place to be in the temple.  The only place I would rather be is with my family.  It was a wonderful day there.  We went to visit Jan Vasas after we got done today.  She is feeling better but very discouraged. We are trying to figure out how to get her over to see the pageant.  

             

Friday, July 18 – Today is our hump day!!  We have been here 3 months today.  In some ways it seems like we just got here and in another way it seems like we have been here forever.  But it has been good!   Today was our P-Day and we went with 6 other couples to Hannibal MO to see everything about Mark Twain .  We had a great day.  It is about an hour and 15 minutes away.  We took an hour trolley ride around the town and then a riverboat ride on the Mississippi.  We went to a Mark Twain museum and heard an African American storyteller, 70 year old Gladys Coggswell, tell a Mark Twain story of the life of a slave.  We had planned on going through a Tom Sawyer cave but the one there in Hannibal didn't look like more than just looking in an entrance and cost $19 / person.  The better caves were about an hour farther away so decided that we will probably go back over and do a better one. 


Here are a few pictures from our trip to Hannibal.  Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher, us on the riverboat with the Rogers and Wilson's behind us and a statue of Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Saturday, July 19 – We had another busy day at the temple this morning.  We had a young man come today with his parents to receive his endowment before his mission.  He doesn't have his call yet.  They were hoping his call would come, and they checked - it's in the mail.  He really wanted to go through the Nauvoo temple.  His Grandparents are here serving a site mission.  They got permission to go through the temple today and will try to fax the call here.  We came home and have been getting ready for Jeremy’s family.  They left today and will get here Monday!  Can’t wait!!

The church is true and I'm so thankful for all of you.  I'm thankful for temples and the blessings we receive there.  We love all of you and hope you are happy.  Please be good!

Love, Mom and Dad / Grandpa and Grandma / Elder and Sister Hall 

           

Our Days in Nauvoo July 6 - 12 2014

Hi Family and Friends,

It seems like I just was trying to figure out how to do this.  Here's hoping with week 2.

Sunday, June 6 – We didn’t go to Ottumwa today because of the flooding but went to church with the Nauvoo 1^st ward at 10:00.  They had over 1500 people there for church.  I’m sure there are lots of the pageant cast attending.  There was a bus unloading youth when we got there. They even have ushers when their meetings are this full.  We were sitting there before it started and a few rows ahead of us we saw Renee and Jason Dye. Renee was our lifesaver when Nova was born (6 years ago today - Happy Birthday Nova!).  She gave us so much encouragement and helped us with PKU recipes.  We ended up going outside to visit a minute after Sacrament Meeting and were able to visit them a few times before they left on Tuesday.  They are on their way to Vermont for work.  We felt that the Lord had a hand in our bumping into each other.  It was great to spend some time with them.   We even had dinner with them and helped them celebrate their daughter, Cozette's 10th birthday.  Cozette has PKU and we had a fun cake of watermelon with candles.   After dinner we all went to the dress rehearsal of the British Pageant.  It was almost over when it totally started to rain.  So they ended up cancelling the rest of the rehearsal.  We were all really wet by the time we got to the car. It was a crazy, fun time.

 Tuesday, July 8 – We had a quiet day at the temple.  We had a brother from the Marshall Islands (no one could spell or pronounce the language he needed) that went through the 5:00 session that we officiated.  He needed the language headsets so we ended up seeing the old A film.  It was interesting to see it again.  We ended up eating at Peter’s and the Grover’s (temple missionaries) were in there eating so we sat with them and had a great visit.  Great new friends! Dad walked down to the first night of the Nauvoo Pageant tonight to see how the translation was going. 

             

Wednesday, July 9 – So Dad and I did our first solo initiatory coordinator assignments today and we both did OK.  I had patrons steady most of the time and it really wasn’t too bad.  Sister Suzy Swing gave the opening prayer in preparation meeting this morning and said, “we are so thankful to be in this loveliest of places with the nicest of people.”  I need that hanging on my wall.  I think that sums up where we are perfectly.  We visited Jan Vasas on our way to the temple.  She is feeling good and hoping to be back to work soon.  We went straight from the temple to the lecture and then home for 5 minutes and then walked back to the pageant.  Dad was in the translating tent and I ended up on the back row, back corner seat.  There were so many people there.  I couldn’t have been any farther back.  The pageant is great!  Dad felt good about his contribution.  At the end of the British pageant they have all the site, temple and single, proselyting missionaries walk in for the finale singing, “Call to Serve.”  It is a wonderful experience!  This whole mission is amazing!!

             

 Thursday, July 10 – We had a really busy day at the temple.  I heard we had a tour bus that wasn’t scheduled, come for the 8:00 session.  Our rooms hold 48 and we had 56.  We had 47 in the 9:00.  Dad and I officiated at the 1:00 session but we only had 3 sisters and 2 brothers on that session.  It is crazy.  The baptistery has been really busy.  We walked about dusk.  The water is down quite a bit.  The wagon is still in water but the water is off the road. We bumped into the Wood’s from Mud Lake and had a nice visit.  Then on the way back we stopped to visit with a couple from Utah.  They have both worked for BYU.  He has been an extra in some of the church Bible videos.  Greg Venema is their nephew and her mother was a Jennings from Menan. Again, small world.

Friday, July 11 – Dad walked this morning without me.  He said he actually jogged some of his walk.  What???  We subbed for the Marshall’s at the temple today so we ended up not having a P-Day this week.  The afternoon was pretty slow but they were short workers so it was kind of wild.  I took the wrong stairs and ended up in the men's hallway on the 4^th floor.   Oops  ):   I also helped in the laundry twice which they were really grateful for. I don't know if I mentioned that we are scheduled to help in the laundry and clothing rental during our shifts. Occasionally we also dust when the afternoon shift is ending.  Dad went to his translation at the pageant.  I’m leaving at 9:30 and will pick up Kathy Garrett(temple missionary) and we will walk over so we can sing in the finale.  We need to be ready to go right to bed when we get home – tomorrow is our turn for 6:10 AM at the temple.

          

Saturday, July 12 –  It was our turn to go to the temple early (6:10 AM).  It is starting to get busier in the mornings but slows down in the afternoon.  I think people come in the mornings and then go see the sites and performances during the afternoon. We found out that Jan Vasas had to have surgery on her knew again.  Some of the screws came out.  We are all feeling so bad about that.  We are all praying that she heals quickly.

We love all of you so much!  I can't begin to thank my Heavenly Father enough for His plan that will let us be  together forever.  What a beautiful blessing! 

Love to all!

Mom and Dad / Grandpa and Grandma / Elder and Sister Hall

OK.  I don't know how to put pictures where I want.  This is a picture we took right after we go here. We went with the Johnson's to Pella IA to their Tulip Festival.  We had a great time.

We loved having Beau's family here for a few days.  We loved visiting the temple after church.

 Here are the Randall Lineback cows that I tried to send pictures of awhile back.  I think they look like skunks.  They use these for the oxen rides.

Our Days in Nauvoo June 29 - July 5, 20

Dear Family and Friends,  I am hoping this blog thing will work better than sending a letter.  I have 4 things I'm hoping to accomplish by changing to a blog.  
     1. Continue to write about our mission week.
     2.  Be able to add pictures.
     3.  I'm hoping it will eliminate several steps when I'm sending my weekly letter - once I figure
             out how to do it - if I do. 
     4.  Those interested can go to this blog when they want, instead of me sending it out to those who
             may groan when they see another letter. 

So here goes!
   
Sunday, June 29 – We went to Ottumwa today and had a really nice day there.  We are getting better acquainted every week. I had choir practice at 7:00 and then we went to the pageant production “Our Journey Goes On” that was held on the pageant stage.  It is a beautiful story of our journey through life and how our own family stories continue through the eternities with our families being together.  We had the backdrop of the temple throughout and as it got dark it was beautiful to see the temple all lit up.  Our evening was marred as we were walking back to our car.  We had parked by and sat with Jan Vasas, a temple missionary from Blackfoot.  Her husband had stayed at their apt.  She stepped in a hole in the road as we walked in the dark and fell, dislocating (we think) her knee.  It looked pretty awful.  Jerry and another Elder administered to her as we waited for an ambulance to come.  She was embarrassed.  We waited while they got her moved into the ambulance.  They are such good friends.  They serve on Saturdays in IF but we would never have got to know them this well if we hadn’t come here.

             

Monday, June 30 – We found out this morning at the temple that Jan’s kneecap was broken in half and she will need surgery.  I talked to her after the temple this afternoon and she said that she is in Burlington and will have surgery tomorrow afternoon.  She is discouraged but thankful they have told her they will not send them home.  When we walked outside to leave the temple the humidity was so high that our glasses fogged up just like when you open an oven.  We have had a wild rainstorm again tonight.  We had major waves in the street again but it was too dark to video.  I sure hope I can get a picture of that before we go home.

Tuesday July, 1 – We went for a walk 1^st thing this morning.  I expected to see lots of downed trees from last night’s storm but not any.  We walked by the pageant stage and they are starting to practice. Our shift was good – we were endowment patrons for the 5:00 session and we took the first of our own family names through.  After we got home Jerry mentioned that the Wilson’s had invited us to go to dinner with them but he told them we had something already planned for dinner.  I quickly decided that we could eat that another day so we hurried out to Peter’s Restaurant and ate with them.  They are from WA but served in the Portland OR temple.  We had such a nice time. 

             

Wednesday, July 2 – Dad had his translation practice this morning.  I worked on letters today and then Suzanne helped me with trying to get this blog set up.  We had a fawn run across the street and through our yard.  I tried to get a picture but was too slow.  Initiatory was a bit better today.  I think we may get it figured out.  We hurried over to the Durrant lecture after the temple.  We were a bit late but it was so good.  She is starting over with Joseph Smith.  

             

Thursday, July 3 – We got to the temple this morning and had to trade lines with the Dalling’s because Dad had scheduled an oil change in Carthage at 2:30 and we were scheduled to do the 1:00 session.  The trade worked out great – I was able to see Bruce and Marie Weekes in the chapel before their session and then again in the lobby before they left.  It was so fun to see them.  We have had a lot of rain lately but the forecast is good for the rest of the week.  Jeremy had to change his plans for when they are coming.  It will be during the pageant and I was sure we wouldn’t be able to get tickets for the performances but we had a Nauvoo and Temple miracle and we were able to get 6 tickets to all 3 performances on the days we needed them.  I was so thankful!  I got a long walk in to the Visitor’s Center to change the tickets since Dad had the car in Carthage. We went over to visit Jan and Bill Vasas.  She is home and doing very well but it will be a 6 weeks recovery.  We didn’t have anywhere to go tonight and actually ate dinner early and watched “Monuments Men” and then walked at dusk.  It was so nice out tonight.  We even saw fireflies as we walked.  It was fun. 

Friday, July 4 – Today is the 4^th of July and I forgot!  There was a flag raising this morning at 7:00 at the Visitor’s Center and I totally would have gone but it just didn’t register that it was the 4^th.  I felt so bad.  I haven’t missed a flag ceremony in forever.  There aren’t any scheduled parades or fireworks today or tonight.  We did laundry and housework and drove to Keokuk to buy groceries.  We did have a great evening.  We went to dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo with Bill and Janice Kukuk.  As we were leaving they said that we could have a free carriage ride.  It was a fun treat.  Their daughter Cynthia serves in the YW’s with Suzanne in CA.  Small world.  But I couldn’t help but be a little homesick today as I thought about everyone celebrating the 4th.

          

Saturday, July 5 - Had our early shift at the temple today and it was a good one.  I did a couple of things I hadn’t done before and it made it interesting.  There aren't very many lockers in the dressing rooms so if they anticipate a larger group they send some patrons upstairs to use lockers there. This was my assignment and they have kind of a confusing way to keep track of who is up and who is down and thankfully it wasn't too large of a group as I was off with my count.  All ended up OK, but no thanks to me.  After some lunch we went to the family history center.  We were able to find 3 males names for Kade to do baptisms for when he comes and 4 female names that we will send home for Mckenna.  Marie and Bruce stopped by to say good-bye.  They are leaving in the morning to head back to Kansas. We have had lots of rain the last few days and there is major flooding here and in the areas around here.  Most of us won’t be visiting our wards tomorrow because bridges are out and the water level is too high.  We drove down to the end of Parley street after the temple and the covered wagon that is on the ferry, showing how they were ferried across the Mississippi, is in water.  Part of the road Dad and I walked on Thursday night is under water.  I took pictures.  Hopefully I can get them to print on this letter.  I wish I had a before picture.  I thinking Heather or Grandma Terri probably has one. There were supposed to be fireworks here tonight in Nauvoo but they were postponed until tomorrow night due to the weather. 

We sure do love and miss everyone at home!  The holidays are the hardest - I guess because we know you are getting together and having parties without us.  We do know we are where we are supposed to be and we are happy.  Just know we miss you. I'm so thankful for Heavenly Father's plan and that we can be together forever.  And I know the church is true! 

Love, Mom and Dad / Grandma and Grandpa / Elder and Sister Hall

Here are a few pictures.  I won't do too many until I can figure how to do them.  Then I may go back through my pictures and catch you up on some things.

The trees in the pictures below are usually on dry ground.  The covered wagon and ferry that is on the right, is also usually on dry ground.  I think Heather or Grandma Terri got a picture of the girls in this wagon. 

           

A sunset on the Mississippi

Heather, Quinton and Mckenna after our morning in the temple.  It was a wonderful time!