Sunday, July 27, 2014

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 3rd 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 
           

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