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Evening at the Nauvoo Temple
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"The idea of rebuilding the Nauvoo Temple had surfaced before. President Hinckley's father, Bryant, who was the LDS mission president over the Nauvoo area in 1939, proposed rebuilding the historic temple. Having just come out of the Depression, the Church did not act upon his suggestion. It is curious that President Hinckley in his great push to complete temples around the world would preside over the rebuilding of this remarkable structure. 'I count it something of a strange and wonderful coincidence,' he states, 'that I've had a part in the determination of rebuilding this temple.'
"But it is Joseph Smith who is most pleased with the rebuilding of the temple, according to President Hinckley: 'This was his crowning objective. This was the great desire of his heart. This represented his final great effort.'
"The Nauvoo Temple 'occupies a unique place in history and in the interest of our people,' President Hinckley states, 'It represents a backward look, a peek into our history, restoring the memories of the past.' He further suggested, 'The Nauvoo Temple might represent to the world a recognition of the maturity of this Church in its history. It says that we are aware and conscious and grateful for a great history that lies behind us. And that we are aware and conscious of a great opportunity and challenge which lies ahead of us. And this restoration stands as something of a monument to that maturity in the Church." (Sacred Stone: The Temple at Nauvoo)
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We were treated by a visit from our friends, Tom, Dixy, Josh and Mary Christensen.
After dinner we enjoyed playing games.
More company is welcome anytime. |
Because this is the slow time at the temple, we have had opportunities many times to perform ordinances for our own ancestors while on our shifts. That has been a blessing and special experience. However, they keep telling us be prepared, the temple is going to get crazy busy starting next week.
The other interesting phenomena is that all we heard before we came is "be prepared for the heat and humidity." We've had one day that was hot so far; it's been chilly and rainy a lot. We did not have any tornado issues. However, we saw a large branch that had fallen off a tree near us. There was much wind yesterday.
For our P-Day this week, many of the senior temple missionaries had a field trip--to Hannibal, Missouri, to visit the Mark Twain cave and have a short ride on the Mighty Mississippi River on the Mark Twain steamboat.
The Mark Twain Cave is the cave where Samuel Clemens played and explored as a boy. He later used this cave in his books, i.e. Tom and Becky were lost in this cave for three days; Injun Jo hid in this cave and starved to death here. Random views inside the cave:
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 | | There are 260 passageways in the cave. |
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 | | The temperature stays at 52 degrees year round. |
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 | | When water drips on you from the roof of the cave, that is a cave kiss. |
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 | | Jesse James Hideout |
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 | | "Signature Alley" -- Jesse James signed a couple of times and a C.C. Tucker signed over 100 times. He would have signed more, but he was "tuckered" out. |
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 | | Of course there are stalactites and stalagmites, but you can see the structure on the bottom left corner--part of the rail or stalagpipes! |
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 | | Norman Rockwell set up his easel in the cave and painted his Tom and Becky painting while inside. |
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 | | Aladdin's Palace. |
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 | | By the time Mark Twain wrote his books, he was long gone from Hannibal. He wrote all the cave experiences from memory. |
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| Mark Twain Steamboat |
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Mrs. Holiday always had a light shining because her husband was a riverboat captain. He died in a river-boat accident. The lighthouse was built in his memory. Mrs. Holiday became the Widow Douglas in Twain's stories.
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 | | Jackson's Island on the Mississippi River served as a refuge for Huck Finn and Jim during their journey downriver. |
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 | | Storrs Ice & Coal Company (the boat was moving) was very prominent and needed when chunks of ice would be cut from the Mississippi in the wintertime and sold to those who could afford to buy ice in the summertime. Of interest, in the flood of 1993 the water rose 21 feet higher than it currently is. |
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 | | Barge on the Mississippi. It takes 962 trucks to fill 19 barges. Thus it is a savings of 50% to those who ship by water transportation, . . . |
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 | | . . . unless the barge gets stuck on a sandbar and it takes tugboats hours or even days to pull it out. |
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Just a few words of wit and wisdom from Mark Twain:
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered--either by themselves or by others.
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it ceased to be one.
Truth is stranger than Fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.
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