Here in Nauvoo

Seems like only yesterday that I posted our last comments, but it has probably been a couple of weeks.  Time has flown by, and we are occupied here from dawn till dusk, and then some.  We will try to catch up on what has been happening.

The Drive Here

The ride across America was relatively uneventful.  Weather was great.  We heard a storm was coming as we left Salt Lake City, but we were a day or so ahead of it all the way to Illinois.  We went from the tall mountains of Utah, then across the high plateaus of Wyoming, imagining the wagon trains that crossed the plains at this location.  We crossed the Platt River and the Sweetwater River several times, recalling the stories of the wagons and the pioneers who had to cross those rivers when they were half frozen with ice, and everyone got soaked, then got frostbite when they could not dry out. In Nebraska and Iowa, it flattened out to farm land, and we immediately missed the mountains and forests of Idaho.

We stayed the first night in North Platt, Nebraska, and the second night in Iowa City, Iowa.  The next morning, we traveled about an hour and a half south into Nauvoo.  What a beautiful spot.  It was starting to get green, with blooming red bud and pear trees, alongside the Mississippi river.  The Mississippi is about a mile wide at this location, very slow and meandering. We were shown to our apartment, a small fully furnished unit over the very old "LYON DRUG AND VARIETY STORE".  See picture with Pam and I in our period clothes, standing in front of the store.  The apartment is on the second floor, and we climb a steep set of stairs to a very nice little place, with a great view.

Our first day there confirmed our worst fears....we would be busy day and night.  We looked at each other and said, "Can we do this?"  And immediately said "YES".....because we would have lots of help,,,,heavenly and otherwise.

Monday with the SEWING LADY

The sewing room is a rather large area with about 6 sewing machines and several layout tables, where the pioneer outfits are made.  There are several racks of dressed already made, along with stacks of hats, vests, aprons, shirts, pants, and other things.  Pam found a dress that fit, and had it altered for length. Jerry found what he needed, several vests, pants and shirts and after a few hours of fitting and measuring, we returned home to study our outlines for assignments the next day.

We were all given a wagon ride around the city, and shown the places we would be working.  In the evening, we were taken to see "Rendesvous in Old Nauvoo", an hour-long musical in which the senior missionaries are the stars.  Then home to bed.

Sunday morning, we attended church services, then were taken on a tour of the Carthage jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by an angry mob. We will tell you more about the jail later, as we had one of our first assignments as guides at that location a few days later.  That evening, there was a meeting of all of the new missionaries and we were given our schedules and got our first look at how busy we would really be.

Typical weekday and Saturday:

Up at 6:00 am: eat breakfast and study for our days assignment. Be at song practice for the musicals at 9:00 AM, practice 12 songs till 10:30.  Then to our site location at 10:30, then work at that location till either 4 or 5 pm. Eat lunch when we get a minute.  We will tell you about the sites and what we do there later.  Home for a quick dinner, then to the theatre at 6:30 for the first of two performances of "Rendesvous in Old Nauvoo", the show lasts an hour....a short rest, then do the second performance at 8:15, end by 9:30, greet the audience for about 30 minutes, then home to bed.  Up again at 6.....so yes, we hope to lose weight because is so little time to eat.  But we are loving every minute....it is a real honor to be here.  We are told that this is the Mission that is the second-most requested by Senior Missionary couples in the world....Martins Cove, (the site of the Martin-Willie handcart tragic winter disaster) in Wyoming being the most requested.

We want to get this posting "on the way" now, so will post it, then tell more details later.  Below are some pictures we have taken recently.

Taken at the Missionary Training Center in Salt Lake City just before we departed for Nauvoo.  The other couple is Lois and Paul Nemeck, also from Hayden, Idaho, who are here in Nauvoo with us.

As you turn off of Interstate 80 in Iowa City, Iowa, heading south to Nauvoo, the highway is named "Mormon Trek Blvd", because it follows the route of the Mormon pioneers as they left Nauvoo, crossed the Mississippi River, and headed north toward Council Bluffs where many spent the winter before heading to Salt Lake City.  Hiway markers along the route spell out, "Route of the Saints", as the exodus from Nauvoo of about 10,000 Mormons was a pretty dramatic event in this area, taking Nauvoo from the third largest city in Illinois in 1846, about the same size as Chicago at the time, to under a thousand people within a few years.

And finally, the picture you have all asked for,,,,Sister Meier and I in our site clothing...in front of our apartment. This is the front door of the Lyon Drug and Variety Store...and our apartment is above on the second floor.  Pam is cute, I am not.

More later.  Love to All.