Pam has been asked to be the Site Leader of the Lucy Mack Smith Home, and I have been assigned the Site Leader of the Blacksmith Shop. Only problem is, the Blacksmith Shop is probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular site here, and we are nearly always inundated with guests, so very little time to rest. This coming week, I will be spending 4 days driving the teams of horses, and the rest at the Blacksmith Shop. Pam will serve at the Lucy Mack Smith Home, the Log School House, and the John Taylor Home. Starting next week, we will be performing in "Sunset by the Mississippi" twice a week, and "Rendezvous" twice a week. They start at 7:00 PM and each runs an hour. I have been asked to be the Narrator of "Sunset" so I have spent all my waking hours memorizing my part. Good thing God keeps Pam and I strong and healthy,,,wow. But it is wonderful!!!
And now another story of Nauvoo Pioneers.
PHINEAS BIRD
41 year-old Phineas Bird and his sons, age 18 and 21, were among 150 temporal Missionaries sent by Joseph Smith to harvest wood in Wisconsin, The trees in Nauvoo rot from the inside and are not good for building lumber, so the men traveled up to the Black River area of Wisconsin during 4 different winters to cut logs, and float them down the Mississippi to Nauvoo to use for building material. The men would tie the logs together to form a barge the size of a football field, then float for 2 weeks down to Nauvoo. While on the raft, they would cut shingles for the houses and businesses, and for the Temple. They brought down over a million and a half board feet of lumber, and cut 250,000 shingles on the way down,
While in Wisconsin, they shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Chippewa Indians and other native american tribes. After spending 4 winters in Wisconsin, the Birds were tired of the cold and decided to move to Texas when the Mormons left Nauvoo, rather than move to the colder climate of Utah.
But Phineas, despite being a tough old lumberjack, loved the Lord. In a letter to Joseph Smith, Phineas wrote, "We feel greatly encouraged to spend and be spent in the cause of Christ, according to the will of our Heavenly Father".
Here are some pictures of interesting things we have seen while here in Nauvoo.
There are many Amish people who live in the mid-west. Their farms and barns are very neat and they still use many of the old-world traditions, such as driving buggys, wearing traditional clothing, (long dresses, hand made shoes, etc). Many of their barns are decorated with a large pattern such as seen here, depicting a family pattern they use on their quilts. There are many of these barns in the area, and they are called "Quilt Barns". Very colorful.
This is a "Barge Tow", pushed by a tug boat,,,It carries the equivilent of 870 semi trucks of material. It is approximately the size of a football field. The Mississippi runs at about 7 miles per hour, and is 2,340 miles long.
This one may be a little hard to read, but it is a photo of the official records of the "Seventies Hall", where Mormon Missionaries were trained to be missionaries in the 1840's. This one shows Pam's Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Chester Loveland, Colonial in the Civil War, resident of Brigham City Utah. He attended the Nauvoo Temple in January, 1846, just a few weeks before departing in a wagon trail to Salt Lake City.
Lots of history here....lots of sacred places. We are constantly in awe at the sacrifice of these people.....what they endured to worship their religion. We are proud of that heritage.
More later.
Jerry and Pam
