Is it Spring Yet?

So we have really wondered if there will ever be Spring here in Illinois. But I have proof in pictures that it is really happening as I write this post.

The daffodils are absolutely beautiful, and the tulips in the Women's Garden would be also if the deer would leave them alone! They come in nightly and raid the tulips pulling them up one by one and eating it all--then trampling the others. Of course, being FM missionaries, we get to clean up after them!

You really can't tell, but I am soaking wet in this picture. My two great FM buddies and I were caught in a downpour and finally decided to just finish the job and call it a day. We were soaked to the skin.

 The tulip magnolias are really showing their pinks and dark purples. Soon to come will be the dogwoods.

Another sign of Spring here are the birds. I know this picture is not the best, but you must see what I see out my RV window where I have a bird feeder in a tree. This is a Cardinal. Can you believe it? They are everywhere here and they sing beautifully. LeRoy even gave me an early birthday gift of a Midwest Bird Identifier chart which I use every day. Would you like to know what birds we are seeing? From the Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, to the Tufted Titmouse (don't you love that name?) to name a few. The other bird is a wild turkey--we have a large tom who often wanders through with his dozen or so hens.

The most dramatic sign of Spring here, though, is the RAIN. Let me be clear--it RAINS here. I have never in my life experienced thunderstorms that lasted for two days. They call them "training" storms here because they are like a train--one storm right after the other. They began this week on Wednesday afternoon right after we finished our garden work. The lightning and thunder was almost constant, and it was a steady downpour. We went out to dinner in Keokuk with our dear friends, Karl and Jana Hendricks from Yakima, WA. (It was so neat to see someone from home!!) They were here with their sons Kelly and Casey and his wife Amber, and they spent almost three days here in Nauvoo seeing the sites and experiencing the Spirit of Nauvoo. Well, while we were eating, it began to hail and blow, and then there was a tornado warning! We rushed out of the restaurant and headed back to Nauvoo. Their son Kelly was ecstatic about the storm because he had served his mission in the St. Louis, MO area and had loved tracting in that kind of weather--crazy!

The trip back to Nauvoo was interesting as we dodged large flooded areas of the roadway. They went to their nice, safe hotel and we headed for the vulnerable RV. If any of you have ever been in a thunderstorm in an RV you will understand what I mean. It is LOUD! And
when it is pouring we can hardly hear each other speak. Well, the
tornado warnings on the radio were constant in Iowa (across the river) and into Illinois. We watched the weather map online and kept waiting for the tornado siren here in Nauvoo to go off. It was a very long night . . . . The storm blew over several storage units out here in the RV park, our little home was shaking like crazy, there were lots of branches in the roadways, and the creeks were raging.

 This is a before and after picture of the stream we cross every day. Today the Mississippi is threatening to flood. Dear friends, do not fear, we are high and dry.

On Thursday, the Hendricks came to see us perform for the second time with our cast of "Rendezvous". They were kind and told us that it was great and we did a good job with our parts--I know that it for sure brought laughter. I kept punching LeRoy as he would sing along with the women during their parts and then forget the words when the men were to sing. But he can "kick" with the best of them!

Last Saturday, we took a trip through the country to Carthage to see the Carthage jail where Joseph Smith and Hyrum were martyred.. We had never been there and wanted to experience it as visitors before we might be assigned there as missionaries. It was quite a moving experience to see and touch it as we heard the missionaries tell about it. The mob who killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith thought that the "Mormons" would be eliminated by their act. How wrong they were! And how grateful we are!

 It has been wonderful to attend the Nauvoo Temple weekly. What a gorgeous and spiritual place! If you have never been here, this alone would be the reason to come. All of our temples are sacred places, but this one is exceptional with the beautiful murals, and rich, dark wood interior.

 

Tonight we are going to dinner with the Jensons. We met them at the MTC and they were in our District. They have become fast friends. Here they are in their site clothing after serving for the day. They are from Amalga, UT.


Last night we played "Hand and Foot" with the Hufstetlers from Layton, UT. Boy, are their rules different than ours! When we return home we will have to be reminded of the old rules (McBeans and A & B). There really are no strangers here. When the Hendricks were here, their son Kelly said that every missionary greeted them like they were old friends. That is the true spirit of this place, and we love it!

 

 

As an afterthought, I want to include this picture of one of the statues in the Women's Garden. It makes us think of our children as we raised them and anticipated the day they could walk on their own. Now, we watch them with their own children. Ashley and Brent will soon be having their first child. We are so excited to meet and know another of our grandchildren. We love them all and miss them so much!

 



Nauvoo the Beautiful

Boy, what a trip! We left Provo, UT, about 1:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday, March 20th. We had finished our experience at the MTC at noon that day. Everyone in our group was anxious to get on the road. We could see that the weather was worsening and was forecast to be snowy, windy, rainy all the way to Illinois.

That last morning at the MTC was a very interesting lesson for us all. We had been asked to bring an "artifact" and use it as an object lesson for teaching an aspect of the gospel. We chose the "Thompson family plant" for our artifact. I had to bring it along with us--I mean doesn't every RV'er carry a houseplant? This rather homely begonia has quite a family history--according to LeRoy's mom it came across the plains with her ancestors, the Kearl's, when they made their way to the Salt Lake Valley. So, when I married LeRoy I was given a cutting of the plant, and I have since tried to pass it on to my children, but as of yet none of them have a cutting. But I have certainly passed it on to friends through the years with a challenge to keep it going. So, using the plant, we taught of the sacrifice made by our forefathers who gave their all to live where they could worship as they chose. It was amazing what other couples used for their artifacts--from wedding rings to pictures of ancestors.

The trip to Nauvoo was fortunately uneventful except for the weather--it was as forecast-- snowy, WINDY, and rainy. The storm was literally right on top of us as we traveled. Many of our group had traveled faster and were ahead of it the entire way. But we really enjoyed the trip. Neither of us had been in that part of the country. That southern route through Wyoming was really ugly, but as we moved into Nebraska and Iowa it was absolutely beautiful. The rolling hills and fields of winter wheat and corn stubbles went on forever. We stopped one night in Kearney, NE, and found a nice RV park along the Platte River. All that afternoon we were truly in awe as we saw the sky absolutely filled from horizon to horizon with migrating water fowl of every variety. The fields were covered with Sandhill Cranes and geese. That night as we went to sleep we could hear the geese honking overhead as they continued their trip north. I went to sleep thankful for such an experience and so grateful for the Lord's creations. I wish I could put a picture in of the experience--I can still see it in my mind.

We arrived, finally, about noon on Saturday, the 23rd of March. We were the last ones of our group to arrive. I think our mission president had almost given up on us. We met him and his wife and received instruction after instruction and then were led to our RV park here which is just for missionaries. It is beautiful, as you can see. The first thing I did was get out a bucket of water and wash our filthy windows. We could not see out of them after our very messy travels.

 We attend church on Sundays at a chapel not far away from here. All the missionaries, about 160 of us right now, whether site missionaries, or temple missionaries attend together for sacrament meeting. Then, we move to the Nauvoo Visitors' Center for Sunday School, and Relief Society/Priesthood meetings. That Sunday morning dawned cloudy and snowing. We got about 4-6 inches that day. After church we all have assignments of some sort. Most of us work in the sites. The sites are the restored homes and workplaces of the members of the church who lived here in the years from about 1838 to 1846. There were some home sites still here when the Church began restoration in the 1960's, but most had been leveled or were in poor condition. Today they are restored as close to the originals as they can be. Some are modernized with electricity and running water and air conditioning. Many of our group live in some of the old, restored homes. They are usually very narrow homes with about 3 levels and very narrow stairs to each floor. But they have such charm! We have decided to move into one of them in the winter time next year. We are tired of being cold!!

So, what do missionaries do? In a word, EVERYTHING. We have been busy from sunup to sundown-thirty. We had training all of last week--from singing to working in the various sites. Our mission president and his wife had a small group of us over one morning last week for a breakfast of waffles. They seem like wonderful people and have a great sense of humor. Whenever we, as couples, address each other in public by our first names (we are supposed to call each other Elder or Sister) we are chided by them and told  that our mission has been extended by a week! Yikes!

We have to learn about the history of each site so we can share it with visitors. Last week and this week have been spring break for many parts of the country so we have had lots of people visiting. I can't imagine what it will be like this summer when there are thousands of visitors every day. This site to the left is the Brigham Young home while he lived here. It is a beautiful home--one of the nicest here.

One of the things that all of you will love doing here is riding in the horse drawn wagons or carriages. These beautiful animals live right down the road from us and we pass them every day as we go to our work. They are so friendly, but so BIG. They are all Clydesdales or Percherons.

 Tonight LeRoy and I have song practice again for the production that is done 365 days a year here--"Rendezvous". It is a really fun/sad story about Nauvoo and what happened here produced and acted by the Senior Missionaries of Nauvoo. Even LeRoy will be singing and acting! Next week we will be assigned a group to perform with. ALL Nauvoo missionaries take part in some way, and from what I can see they have great fun. More later on that . . . . .

Between all these activities we have zone and district conferences, firesides, talent shows, breakfasts, numerous dinner invitations, training meetings, etc. The spiritual instruction is humbling and inspiring. Just this morning we were encouraged by hearing that, "We are a small force, but our service is always followed by an outpouring of blessings."


So what do Elder Thompson and I do daily from 7am to about 1:30pm? Right now we are working in the beautiful flower beds cleaning them out from the long winter's nap. We are a group of five. We have been instructed to think of the temple grounds, and try to achieve something very close to that. Tall order I would add. Today we went back and redid the work we tried to accomplish yesterday. I am feeling muscles I had forgotten I had!

We are going to be doing all we can to convince you that you need to come to Nauvoo. We are so thrilled to be here and to be experiencing all of this. I pinch myself every morning as I walk to the shower and hear the birds waking up and see the stars still winking. We love you!