Our Days in Nauvoo  July 27 - August 2, 2014

Wow!  Goodbye July and Hello August!  

Sunday, July 27 – The Davis’s drove to Ottumwa today.  They won’t be with us for the next few weeks.  They are leaving this Friday for SLC for surgery on his neck and shoulder.  Hopefully they will only be gone for a few weeks.  Sarah Lee was there with her 3 kids and we had a really good visit with her and her sisters. They are all hoping to come to the pageant this Wednesday.  The
The Palma’s were at church too (minus Brother Palma – who was at work).  Dad went into a Spanish Gospel Essentials class with Sister Palma that the full time sister missionaries taught.  They have been working with this family too.  We were barged on the way home from church.  We had to wait about 30 minutes. 

Monday, July 28 – We had a great, normal day at the temple today.  Some days are just nice and 

calm - but we are wishing for busier.  We went upstairs to McKechnie’s for FHE – we talked about the wards we visit and had carrot cake and ice cream.  It was a really fun evening. 

Tuesday, July 29 – Jerry and I did Kathy Crockett's walk this morning.  It is a good workout with some good, uphill roads which is good since we haven’t been doing so good with walking.  Marsha Morton, a roommate from our younger days came this morning.  She is here to visit until Friday morning.  It has been so fun to catch up.  We did have to go to the temple this afternoon and she visited some sites and went to Rendezvous.  Our shift today was so slow.  We sure wish people would come.  
This is a lane that goes down to Lake Horton.  We walk in the most beautiful areas.

            
Wednesday, July 30 – Dad went to the Visitor's Center early this morning to get tickets for Marsha and I.  We really enjoyed it.  We went a few weeks ago with Jeremy's family but it was raining.  It was much more pleasant with the sun shining.  The new temple film started last week.  Marsha did a session this afternoon and we helped on a later one and we saw it for the first time.  I like it - each of them are so different.  Dad translated the British pageant tonight and Marsha and I went.  We saw several of our Ottumwa ward members there.  

         
Thursday, July 31 – We were guides at the temple today.  It was scary and fun.  If I could do it again soon, I could do it better but I will probably forget how by the time it is my turn again.   Dad took the couple over to look down the spiral staircase but the groom was really afraid of heights so he sort of crawled over and looked down through the railing on his hands and knees.  Needless to say, we went down on the elevator.  I went to the RS vignette, “Women of Nauvoo.”  These vignettes are performed by the core cast from the pageant.  They are incredible.  Marsha and I went to Sunset by the Mississippi and then the Nauvoo Pageant.

 Friday, August 1 – I cannot believe it is August already.  Marsha left this morning. It was so nice  to have her here. She took us out to breakfast to Grandpa John’s.  Dad went with Jim McKechnie to Hamilton to the 47th Annual Western Illinois Threshers event.  He loved the time there.  Both men had a great time.  There were miles and miles of tractors.  I went with Linda McKechnie to the vignette by the Mansion House, “Letters of Joseph and Emma” (I wish Tammie could have been to this one) and then later Jerry and I went with Dennis and Barbara Johnson to the “King Follett Discourse” vignette in the Nauvoo Grove.  While at the Grove we ran into Yvonne and Bud’s daughter Jana and her husband.  They are here to see the British Pageant. We have been hearing the Nauvoo Bagpipe Band playing all over the Flats these last few weeks.  I found out that they come from all over and have to audition and be selected, just like the Brass Band and the Young Performing Missionaries.  Dad thought he was done translating but they called him and he needed to help again tonight with the last performance of the British pageant.  I just planned to walk down at the end and sing.  As I was getting ready to leave there was lots of thunder and lightening.  I got our 2 umbrellas and headed out.  I was almost to the pageant and they announced that they were going to stop the performance and wait out the rain.  They wanted everyone to find shelter somewhere – in their car, under one of the tents, etc.  I just hurried to the translation tent to find Dad.  It was like sardines under it.  I ended up just on the outside edge of the tent.  Just as I got there, Jana and her husband came up to the tent too so I gave one of the umbrellas to them.  It was tricky holding the umbrella by the edge of the tent roof.  If we held it straight, the rain ran off the edge and onto the people under the tent.  They checked the weather radar and told us the storm would be over in about 30 minutes and it was.  They started the pageant back up and finished.  Some had gone home but lots waited out the storm.  Chairs were wet but people wiped them off.  The storms here are so interesting.  I can't help but love them.  We didn’t get home until after 11:00 and have the temple at 7:00.

             

Saturday, August 2 – Well, we were guides again today.  It went much better today.  It is a really sweet experience.  My biggest adventure was that I had 2 Spanish sisters at the veil that couldn’t speak English and we had to use a language card.  The first one was great but I was so nervous that I didn’t even realize I had the card backwards and she reached out and turned it around.  The second sister didn't go quite as smooth.  We both lost our place with the brother and it was very confusing.    I hope I will do better next time using a language card, but I kind of hope I don’t need to.  I do need to go into the Sealing Office and study the card so that at least a few words look or sound familiar.     Dad is filling in at the translation tent again tonight for Brother Lee, who has been in the hospital most of the week with a bleeding ulcer (they think).  Dad has never done the Nauvoo pageant and he has a small part, but it is the Joseph Smith lines.  But you know Dad – he didn’t seem to be too worried.  It's kind of sad that the pageants end tonight.

Often this whole mission seems like a dream.  We are having so many wonderful experiences.  We miss all of you but realize how blessed we are to be here.  Try to go to the temple as often as you can.  We are so blessed to have them so close and blessings come from being there.    

We sure do love all of you! 

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

  
PS  I can't get the pictures from Dad's phone to download, so I guess I will have to put the pictures of the barge and the threshing event in next week's letter. xoxo

           

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