18 - Monday, August 18, 2025 -- Peaceful Pastures and Magnificent Meadows

 

A spiral staircase of poured concrete sits in the southwest corner of the temple looping from the basement to the fifth floor.  The first temple had similar stairs made of wood in three of the four corners of the temple.

When the baptistry patrons are finished and if they have never been to the Nauvoo Temple, we always have them stop and look up to the circular staircase, and of course, they do so with awe and wonder.  It is amazing to think about the pioneer builders being able to construct these with the limited tools they had. 

This week as Sharon escorted a group of patrons who had completed their baptisms, they stopped to look at the staircase.  For two members of the group this is their temple, but they had brought family from the west for their first time.  Of course, the visitors were impressed.  Then one of the sisters from Missouri commented, "We brought a Latino sister from our ward to receive her endowment, and when she was finished she looked down at the stairs from the third floor and said, 'Hmm, they look just like they did in the dreams I had over and over as a child.'"

* * * * *

This week we decided to find a new city for our weekly shopping, so we went to Burlington IA.  It's a larger city than Keokuk and has a Kohl's and a Marshalls, but neither yielded any 'fruit.'  We did our shopping at the same two stores as usual--Aldi and Walmart.  But they were bigger and nicer stores--and different.  We found a nice place to eat--Pancheros, a Mexican Grill.  It was great--the best place we're eaten so far!  

And we drove down Snake Alley, a steep, winding road akin to Lombard Street in San Francisco--although not quite as long or as famous.

Snake Alley - Look closely to see the hairpin turns.

As mentioned before, Nauvoo is a very sacred city.  It is also very quiet and peaceful.  Sometimes we are very surprised to see hundreds of people show up at a program when we have not heard or seen them around.  Part of the reason the city seems so peaceful is all the greenspace throughout. Following the original Nauvoo layout, houses are not so close together.  So this week we are just sharing photos of some of these 'peaceful pastures.'

	This one is a sample of prairie grass as it was  in Nauvoo.

Enjoy a peaceful week.