Our Days in Nauvoo Sept 28 - Oct 4 2014

Hi Family and Friends,

Well, our last month has started and we know it will go by quickly. I am having lots of mixed feelings as we start this last month of our mission. 

Sunday, Sept 28 – Church was great and we had a nice drive home.  We had Break the Fast with the Monte Peterson’s, Tom Curtis’s and Steve Wilson’s.  These Fast Sunday dinners have been so wonderful and have helped all the missionaries get better acquainted with each other. I wish I had taken pictures each month of those we met with. 

Monday, Sept 29 – We had a good day at the temple.  The session we were supposed to follow was small so we were patrons.  We were in two prayer circles and did some sealings.  Roger Grover had some family names where we acted as the parents and had 9 sons sealed to them.  There were also some daughters sealed to these parents.  I think there were some happy parents on the other side  We went with Andelin’s and Mckechnie’s to Burlington to Gator’s for dinner for FHE.  It was fun.  We ate lemon meringue pie outside when we got home.

             

Tuesday, Sept 30 – Went with Jim and Lynda McKechnie over to Carthage to the Kibbe Museum.  We got there at 10 but it didn’t open until 12 so we drove to Golden and did a tour of the Prairie Mills Windmill.  They used to grind corn and wheat using the windmill but do it now in the grainery to the side.  They also offer lunch to farmers.  They come in for lunch and then go back out to work every day for a couple of weeks.  We were also invited to buy our lunch while we were there.  We came out and found a praying mantis on the tire of our car.  There was also a lavender German cookie cutter house next door to the windmill.  On our way back we stopped at the Museum.  The tour guide gave us the short version of the tour (I’m glad it wasn’t the long one) and we got home about 3:30.  We had the temple tonight.  It was good.  They grabbed us at the last minute to be the witness couple.  There was only one brother and us.  We had a full 7:00 session and a few on the 8:00 so we didn’t get home until after 10:00. 

 

Wednesday, Oct 1 – We got up early and went to the Visitor’s Center and watched the movie “Meet the Mormon’s” with the site missionaries.  It is so wonderful!!!  Our church does things on such a grand scale.  What a great introduction of the church to people who don’t know much about us.  We came home, walked (jogged some) and lifted weights and watched Elder Bednar’s talk on social media.  It was wonderful too.  We had the temple this afternoon and led the 4:00 session.  We got done just in time to come home, eat dinner and go to Elder Brinley’s marriage fireside.  Another great meeting.  We had a great day!!

Thursday, Oct  2 – We were busy in the temple this morning.  We were 2^nd followers on the 9:00 and it was fun.  We had almost forgotten how to do it because we haven’t needed followers for such a long time.  We did a little shopping after the temple and bought a few books and ornaments.  We came home and got our grocery list ready and headed to Keokuk.  We were almost done with a book on tape so we sat in the car for awhile to finish it.  Kathy Crockett called us on our way home to say that her granddaughter, Brittany was in the hospital and probably would pass away within a few hours.  She is 21 and has had muscular dystrophy since birth.  She was spotlighted on a Mormon Message a few years ago.  If you go to the church website, and then to Mormon Message and type in "Cheering Each Other On" you can watch the short clip about her.  It is beautiful.  We went over to Crockett's and visited for a minute.  She called a few minutes ago to tell us she had passed away.  They will go to Utah for the funeral next week and then come back to finish the last few weeks of our missions.

           

Friday, Oct 3 – Our day off.  We went with the Roger’s Geocaching.  When we went to Hannibal, we rode with them and they told us they did it often.  They wanted to show us how it’s done.  It was really cold – I wore a thermal garment top, a long sleeved tee shirt, a sweatshirt and my winter parka, gloves and a headband.  I was still cold.  I slipped in the mud and came home with really muddy shoes and levis but it was fun.  We found 4 out of the 5 treasures.  Some of them were hidden on a busy highway or park but one was in a beautiful wooded area.  It made me think of the Sacred Grove.  It is something I would like to learn how to do.  The Roger's would like to find at least one in each of the 50 states and have also found some in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.  

 

             

Saturday, Oct 4 – We walked up to the mail room for a walk before conference.  It was in the 30’s here and windy and it was really cold.   We made it home just as the morning session of conference was starting.  We were invited over to Rod and Kathy Crockett’s for lunch, along with Roger and Kathy Grover.  We ate and visited and then walked home to watch the afternoon session.  We picked up Roger and Kathy after the afternoon session to go to the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church fundraiser taco supper.  It was fun and delicious.  We saw several temple and site missionaries there.  We got home in time for Priesthood Meeting.  It has been a nice, relaxing day.

          

We are happy and well.  We love Nauvoo and the temple.  We love our children, grandchildren, family and friends.  We are so thankful you are in our lives.  Have a good, happy week and do what is right!!

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

Our Days in Nauvoo Sept 21 - 27 2014

Dear Family,

We have had a really fun, full week with lots of pictures.  I may not be able to do all of the pictures this week. 

Sunday, Sept 21 – I love our Ottumwa ward.  We have made some wonderful friends there.  The speakers got done a bit early this morning so they called on Dad and Clair Davis to share their testimonies.  We ate dinner with Clive and Linda Parcell again today.  We walked around their beautiful yard while we waited for lasagna to cook. She is the perfect hostess – the kind I would like to be.  They are a wonderful couple and we will really miss them.  We stayed there until after 3:00 and then had our drive home.  The leaves are just starting to turn.  Some of the tall trees have a  red Virginia creeper climbing up the trunk.  It is so interesting and pretty.  We had a missionary report meeting tonight.  President Nelson told some of his experiences with the building of the Nauvoo Temple.  It was so interesting.  He said that SLC thought there would be about 20,000-30,000 visitors to the open house.  President Nelson told them it would probably be much higher.  They ended up having 330,000 people to the open house.  Lofthouse cookies (who the owners aren’t members but knew someone involved the the open house) furnished all the cookies for the open house.  He said they brought them in, in refrigerated semis and as soon as one was emptied another one would appear.  One of President Nelson's personal miracles was that the Palmyra Temple was dedicated just before the Nauvoo and they did the first broadcast of a temple dedication (so Nauvoo wasn't the pilot one) and several bugs were worked out before the Nauvoo dedication.  

Clive and Linda Parcell   They were called to be temple workers this past week and will start after the temple opens in November. They will be wonderful and we are thrilled for them.

Monday, Sept 22  – The temple was nice.  We did have a tour bus come so that made for one bigger session.  We had one of the most enjoyable activities of our mission tonight.  We went as an apartment to Irene and Tomasi Tukuafu’s home for FHE.  They live in a dome type or round home.  She builds harps and plays every kind of string instrument.  They gave us a tour of their home (small) and it is incredible – full of every kind of everything.  They played instruments for us and sang.  Irene had baked several loaves of  herb bread in tin cans in a 100 year old stove.  The roof of their home is built like a Mongolian yurt with a sky light.  The walls are barn wood.  The floors are all small wood pieces pieced together.  They have big tree trunks that were going to be burned as pillars in the middle.  They also have a railing made out of aspen trees that had been in a fire.  Irene sanded off all the black.  She has built almost everything inside their home or found it on ebay.  She is from Hawaii and he is from Tonga.  They have 14 children.  He knew Marsha Morton’s Dad, Ermal Morton when he was the principal at the Liahona High School in Tonga. This night was almost magical!

 

             

Tueday, Sept 23 – Today was a bit slower.  We didn't go to the temple until evening so we did some deep cleaning.  We got some baseboards washed and cleaned the windows.  I’m glad to have that done.  We did our evening shift at the temple.  We were assigned the 8:00 session and no one came so we finished earlier than we thought we would.  

Wednesday, Sept 24 - Haircut today - too short.  The temple was very busy this afternoon but we are short workers on the afternoon and evening shifts now since they split the one afternoon into two shifts.  The Durrant's are gone but now our treat is Doug Brinley, the author of family and marriage relations books.  He and his wife are here in Nauvoo as new site missionaries.  He is teaching a marriage fireside each week for 8 weeks.  We will go to the ones we can but we will go home before they are done.  They are going to be wonderful.

Thursday, Sept 25 – What a great day!!  We were busy in the temple.  I was able to be a patron on a session and then spent over 2 hours in initiatory.  We had one sister that did 26 names.  After the temple we went with 6 couples to Carthage with Dr. Craig Dunn.  He is a chiropractor here and runs Nauvoo Tours.  He took us on the Martyrdom Trail and it was wonderful!  We learned so much about Joseph and Hyrum's last days.  On the way home, as we were driving along the Mississippi, we saw a river boat.  We decided to drive back to Keokuk with the Ricks' and watch it go through the locks.  It was coming pretty slow so we drove in and got dinner at Taco Bell and then drove back out.  We still waited about 45 minutes but when it came through it was so worth the wait. It was dark by then and our pictures weren't as good as I'd hoped.  It was a huge river boat with a paddle called the American Queen.  People have private rooms with patios.  They said that sometimes, depending on the length of the trip, that it can cost $4000.  It was such a beautiful boat - at least 5 stories.  We watched it go into the lock and then drove so we could watch it come out the other end.  It was great!

            

 Friday, Sept 26 – We went on our P Day tour to Kalona today.  We left t 8:00 and drove almost 2 hours.  They were having their Kalona Festival.  It is kind of like the Blackfoot Fair – lots of people, food booths and lots of craft booths. They had lots of old machinery and a man doing chainsaw sculptures.  We walked around and ate lunch and then left at 3:00 for a tour of an Amish Bakery with delicious baked goods, JK Creative Wood, a shop with beautiful handmade Amish furnishings, quilts, etc. and then to an Amish Country Store (which Dad thought was a lot like the Menan Coop.  As we were driving to the Country Store I realized I couldn’t find my phone.  I remembered having it as we got off the bus at the Wood Shop.  We called the store back and they found it and said they would bring it to the Country Store.  We didn’t realize there was 2 stores and they took it to the one where we weren’t.  They ended up taking it to the fairgrounds and leaving it at their booth there.  I was so thankful to get it back.  We had dinner at a little 81 year old Amish lady that had cooked for the 16 of us. We had a wonderful roast beef dinner.  She cooked it all and her 15 year old granddaughter served us.  She served 26 two nights before and 12 the night before us.  Her husband was killed in a tractor accident about 20 years ago and she has been doing this ever since to provide for herself.  There was a wonderful spirit in her home.  We had an older gentleman in his 80's, that drove our little tour bus.  He was kind of a scary driver, backing into a delivery truck at the bakery on the tour before us and sideswiping a barricade pulling into the fairgrounds when we got back.  We were all worn out by the time we got home. 

  

           

Saturday, Sept 27 – The temple was very busy this morning.  I was Initiatory Coordinator for the first time on a morning and it was kind of crazy.  But I survived. The only little grocery store in Nauvoo is struggling and may be closing next week.  They have been trying to find investors to help keep it open.  We have had some credit there and we went there to buy our groceries and use up the rest of our credit.  I went to the Visitor's Center for the RS Broadcast. 

We are starting the countdown for having our mission end. It is bittersweet.  A month from now we will be on our way home. This has been a beautiful experience and we are so thankful for this blessing.  Our testimonies have grown and we will be forever changed because of this mission.  We love it her!  But are really looking forward to coming home.  We love each of you so much!  Choose the Right!!

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

Our Days in Nauvoo Sept 14 - 20 2014

           

 Sunday, Sept. 14  – Loved church again today.  Elder Epperson was transferred- we felt bad about that – but Elder Wilcken is the new Elder with Elder Hensley.  I took pictures of them after church and sent them to their Mom’s and have heard back from each of them. Elder Wilcken has a cleft lip and palate.  It made me so homesick for Kade.  I just wanted to give him a hug.  Sister Howell went home this week and now they have a threesome – Sister Egget, Sister Zomora and Sister Felix.  It will be fun to get to know them better.  We stopped at the Gothic House on the way home and got some fun pictures.  Dad and Elder Davis were good sports and put on the costumes.  We had our choir picture taken on the temple steps, then choir practice at the stake center and then a Carthage Crime Scene fireside by Dr. Dunn at the Visitor’s Center.  It was full, interesting evening.  

             

Monday, Sept 15 – We had a good day at the temple.  We led the 9:00 session – only 7 people though.  We came home and then went back to do 2 family baptisms.  I ended up doing 4 names for Sister Wilson and Sister Hanson. Dad was baptized for 1 but he baptized Brother Thaxton for about 7. These 2 are names that we will take through for our “white Christmas.”  We have been encouraged by President McArthur to take a name through from baptism to sealing.  We have found a family, Fred (father) whose work is done, but not his sealing to his wife Lilian.  Lilian (mother) whose work has not been done and Ernest (their son) whose work has not been done.  We will do the work for Lilian and Ernest and then seal Lilian and Fred to each other and then Ernest to them.  Getting involved in family history has been a really rewarding part of our mission for me.  I forgot to take a brush to the temple with me so I looked a bit scary when we left after the baptisms.  It was our big temple group FHE cowboy wiener roast at the end of Parley Street. It was so much fun, but a little cold.  We had rain this morning and we were thankful we didn’t get wet.  Our temple president, President McArthur is in the BYU sweatshirt in the second picture.  He is wonderful!

Tueday, Sept 16 – Believe it or not, but I am still trying to figure out a schedule for living life here in Nauvoo.  I decided last week to do housework all on the same day so this morning was spent cleaning.  I went to Sister Robison’s art class from 3:30 – 5:00 and Dad picked me up a bit before 5:00 for our temple shift at 5:30.  We had 2 sisters that came for the 8:00 session so most of us were there until 10:00.  There are only 7 on our evening shift and one of those is our coordinator.  One sister went home sick and they sent another couple home a bit early because they have to be back early in the morning.  We were working with a pretty slim crew.   

Wednesday, Sept 17 – Kathy Crockett woke me up with a phone call to walk at 8:30.  I got to bed pretty late last night and didn’t set an alarm.  We still got a walk in.  The only thing I accomplished was to lift weights before we had to leave for the temple at noon.  We had a quiet afternoon.  I missed a prayer circle because I didn’t get released from initiatory in time.  This Tuesday went much smoother than last week.  We came home, ate and then went back for our 2nd cleaning assignment at the temple.  I did lots of vacuuming and cleaned 9 big silk flowers arrangements with a blow dryer on low.  There were still patrons in the temple so I had to carry them to a room where I could close the door before turning anything on.  We have to be back early in the morning. 

             

Thursday, Sept 18 – The temple was good.  Dad and I were able to do Lilian and Ernest's initiatory.  I had the Celestial Room at 9:00.  I love going in there early in the morning.  It is so beautiful with the sun coming in.  There was a beautiful young sister that came in to sit for a little bit.  We visited for a minute as she was leaving and she shared with me that she is overwhelmed with being a mother.  I tried to encouraged her to enjoy the journey, that her children will only be little once and then grown and gone.  She gave me a hug as she left and told me that she had needed our conversation.  There are so many sweet experiences that have come as we've been in our different assignments.  I'm so thankful for each of them.  We also led the 11:00 session.  That always makes the shift seem faster. We also went to the Community of Christ Visitor's Center and watched the video there.  We missed that when we did their tour - their machine wasn't working.

Friday, Sept 19 – Day off.  We went on the carriage and wagon rides this morning.  We had such a gorgeous day.  We also went to see the Old Arched Bridge.  It is so pretty.  We decided to go to Rendezvous again tonight.  And it must be about time to come home.  I think I’m getting on Dad’s nerves.  Well, I've probably been on his nerves long before now  . . . . .

Carriage Ride - King Follett well

  

Wagon Ride - Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store 

Dad at theStone Arched Bridge by the Nauvoo State Park 

         

Saturday, Sept 20 – We had a really busy day at the temple.  The session we were supposed to follow was small but the next few sessions were so big they couldn’t fit everyone in.  They have asked me to be the initiatory coordinator every other Saturday morning.  I’m nervous about that.  There has to be a happy medium between nothing happening on Tuesday nights and crazy busy on Saturday mornings.  We also had a sister go through initiatory this morning for her mother-in-law who passed away 1 ½ years ago.  It was a really tender time for all of us involved.  We invited our neighbors (the Johnson's and Andelin's) over tonight to watch the movie "God Is Not Dead." McKechnie's didn't come - they had company from CA.  Good movie and even better company!!

Love each of you!  We are so thankful for the gospel and for our testimonies.  Thank you for being so wonderful!  Please "make good choices!"

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