11 - Monday, June 30, 2025 -- A Busy Week

 

In one of our preparation meetings this week, a facilities management person came in to review emergency procedures.  "If there is a storm, a fire, or any natural disaster," he said, "the temple is the safest place to be. None of those things will affect this building.  If fact, you are probably in the safest building in Illinois."   He went on to tell us that over the years in his construction career he has never seen a building built so well and so securely.  

Save this structure from desecration of any kind. May it stand immaculate with "holiness to the Lord. Strike down the evil hand of any who may seek to injure or destroy. Preserve this Thy house from the storms of nature and destructive elements of all kinds. (from the dedicatory prayer, June 27, 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley)

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It's been a busy week.  Last Sunday we had two couples for dinner and enjoyed playing some games afterward--and no photos were taken.  We had enchiladas left over, so Monday had another couple over.  No photos were taken.  

Larry and Cydney Blocker (who are leaving), Sheldon and Pat Dance (who were our host couple), Stan and Sharon,, and Christine and John Norman (who live in our same building).  

Tuesday evening we were invited to another neighbor couple's home for some games as they are leaving this week.  

Temple Arrival Center

Both our baptistry shifts this week we were assigned to the Arrival Center.  On those days we don't dress in our white temple clothes, just Sunday dress.  This building is across from the temple north and is a place where groups, families and individuals who are traveling might come to change clothes before going to the temple.  It is nice especially for groups who come to the baptistry because recommends can be prechecked and those who have issues or those who have forgotten their recommends (which are many in the youth groups) can get checked and cleared prior to entering the reverent lobby of the temple.  We then escort the groups across the street to the temple.

A crowd of people attending the Martyrdom Memorial.  
We were quite far back.

Stan, Sharon, Zach and LeAnn.  Zach Eyring is the son of Brenda (Sherwood) Eyring, one of my friends and classmates with whom I grew up in Kirtland, New Mexico.  When Stan served as a scoutmaster, Zach went with his troop to the 1993 Boy Scout National Jamboree.  They have remained in touch somewhat over the years, and we were happy to discover that he now lives in Carthage, Illinois.

Stan and Zach

Friday evening - June 27th - we met up with old friends Zach and LeAnn Eyring in Carthage, went to dinner (Mexican), and then attended the annual Martyrdom Memorial.  It was a beautiful evening and tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. the Nauvoo Brass Band played, Nauvoo Performing Missionaries sang, a young sister missionary spoke, the keynote speaker was Brother Adam Petty, a LDS Church Historian with the Joseph Smith Papers Project.  He spoke about the reasons for the martyrdom.  It was EXCELLENT.  Closing remarks were by President Daniel Mehr, President of the Historic Sites Mission.

Here is the link to listen to the actual memorial.  It will be better seats than we had:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H19VX5vo5lQ

Sunday we both spoke in church -- another reason we did not attend tours this week.  That's over!  Our ward also had a Linger Longer after meetings, the first since we've been here.  It seems that's a fifth Sunday happening; it gave us the opportunity to meet more of the members.  

Sunday evening we attended the first performance of the season on the Pageant stage (with the temple in the background). The rest of the season the stage will be used on alternate nights for the Nauvoo and British pageants. The performance we attended is only done two times a year--last night and July 27th.  Again the Nauvoo Performing Missionaries were awesome in Our Story Goes On, a cycle or circle of life told in story and contemporary song. 

Finale -- with addition of ALL Performing missionaries.

June 29th -- the corn is "as high as an elephant's eye, and it's reaching clear up to the sky."

10 - Monday, June 23, 2025 - Trail of Hope, Etc.

The Nauvoo Temple's south side, showing 42 windows;
126 of the 138 windows, distinctive features of the Nauvoo Temple--then
and now--were crafted just up the street from the temple by the 
recognized experts in historic restoration of window sashes and doors. 
States Charles W. Allen who heads up the family operation, "We've been
blessed to have our abilities and talents extended far beyond our normal 
capabilities."   (Sacred Stone The Temple at Nauvoo)

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Summer has arrived--the heat, the humidity, the bugs!!!   We can't complain because we have air conditioning wherever we are; and sometimes that's even chilly.  

This week we went on the Trail of Hope.  We remember that 1846 began the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, leaving behind their homes, beautiful city, family and friends who they quite possibly would never see again in this life. As they journeyed west, many recorded their feelings and experiences in personal journals. 

Along the trail, Nauvoo Performing Missionaries were at various stops and presented very poignant and sacred experiences and remembrances from the journals of the Saints. 

From these journals we get a sense of what it would have been like to have traveled with them.  Some selected writings from these journals are reproduced on the signs along this trail on Parley Street where they made their way to the Mississippi River for crossing.

		This one deleted and I can't get it back.  It keeps causing issues. It may show up in a different place.                 Wilford Woodruff "I stopped my carriage on the top of a rolling prairie and I had a most splendid view. I could stand and gaze to the east, west, north & south & behold the Saints pouring our & gathering like clouds from the hills & dales, grove & prairie with their teams, wagons, flocks, & herds, by hundreds & thousands as it were until it looked like the movements of a great nation."
		End of Trail of Hope where the  Saints crossed the Mississippi  River.

Into the Unknown -- Church leaders planned to leave Nauvoo in the spring of 1846. Saints gathered supplies, built wagons, and organized into companies. They hoped to build a new community west of the Rocky Mountains. However, threats of violence persisted. Brigham Young advanced the departure of the first 2,000 emigrants. Despite the cold, they felt compelled to leave in February. 

Their journey began by taking a ferry across the Mississippi river--the first of several river crossings. Already cold temperatures plummeted further. The river froze, enabling 500 more people to cross and join the group. Their hasty departure left many ill equipped for the road ahead. Winter weather made conditions even worse. It took them a month to travel the first 100 miles instead of the expected 10 days.

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On our weekly shopping trip in Keokuk, we drove down Grand Avenue where we heard there were old, large mansions overlooking the Mississippi River.  Several were being worked on, several needed to be worked on, but here are a few typical midwestern nice homes from the turn of the century:

	Notice the bright red painted chimneys!

A couple of weeks ago we posted a photo of us in the cornfield next to the meetinghouse where we attend church in Galesburg, Illinois.  It's so fun to watch the height of the corn each week as we drive.  We thought we would post in a month to see the difference, however, the corn loves this soil, sun, and rain:  This is only two weeks!

June 8, 2025

June 15, 2025

June 22, 2025

Until next week...