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| Nauvoo Temple Creation Room Here, hand-painted murals especially commissioned for the Nauvoo Temple symbolically depict the earth's creation and help remind us of the magnificent beauty of God's creations and of His love for us. The creation room is the first in a series of instruction rooms in which we are taught about God's eternal plan for His children. In this room, we learn of our premortal life with a loving Heavenly Father and of the plan of happiness for us during our mortal existence. * * * * * We took a short drive north on Nauvoo's Main Street and came to the old Nauvoo Quarry site:
The sign, a sunstone, and across the bridge is the actual quarry site, beautiful, peaceful, but filled with water after these many years. On Tuesday we went with a group across the river to Montrose to see the Phoenicia Ship Restoration Site. "The Phoenician Ship Expedition led by Phillip Beale recreated a 6th century BC Phoenician voyage using a replica ship. This very ship departed from Syria in 2008, sailed through Suez Canal, around the Horn of Africa, along thew west coast of Africa, through the Strait of Gibraltar,, and across the Mediterranean before returning to Syria. In 2019, this ship sailed to America and landed in Florida. Both journeys aimed to demonstrate sea worthiness of ancient Phoenician ships. This vessel, Phoenicia, modeled after the 2,600-year-old Jules Verne 7, sailed 30,000 miles, proving ancient seafaring capabilities. However, the ship then needed reconstructing. Its components were shipped to Montrose, Iowa, where it has been being reconstructed." The group is out of funds, and we were told the board is in negotiation with three entities for the ship to be sent to Salt Lake City. If interested, the website is www.phoenicia.rocks. Here are some photos of what we saw:
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21 - Monday, September 8, 2025 -- Two Discoveries
20 - Monday, September 1, 2025 -- A Bit of Diversion
This whole post will be a bit different as I try to catch up!
Monday morning I (Sharon) was playing my usual pickleball with missionary friends at the Nauvoo Stake Center. After playing with the ladies for awhile, everyone rotated and I ended up with three men. And then Dave Hodson and I went after the same ball! He is much bigger and his force pushed me and I fell -- flat on my hip.
Long story short, because Liz Pickering, Nauvoo resident and NP, was also playing, she insisted that we go to the hospital in Carthage, IL -- because they have an LDS orthopedic surgeon. Who would have thought -- little Carthage as opposed to a larger city.
Well, my hip needed surgery. It was fractured in two places and Dr. Drake White came that evening and did the surgery. One of the places he said would heal and the other he put in a plate and screws. By the next morning, I had to get up and do some walking.
Memorial Hospital is a small, but "critical access" hospital out of Carthage and off the freeway. It is built for access for all the surrounding rural towns. There are 15 clinics in the towns that feed into this hospital.
The pain aside, this was a most pleasant experience. The personnel at the hospital was tops. They took me right in when I arrived and were attentive, kind, helpful, interested and caring until I left -- and that is every level of staff, including housekeeping, cafeteria, CNA's, and beyond. Then the hospitalist, Dr. Joshua Byrd, came in and he is from Provo and graduated from Timpview High School the year after Michael and we discovered they have friends in common. Small world, tender mercy, and a very pleasant experience.
Our wonderful children sent a beautiful bouquet. Everyone coming in the room commented on how lovely it is and how pleasant the aroma.
Saturday was the Grape Stomp--the 5K run/walk. I had signed up, but alas, Stan had to walk for both of us.
This is an annual event in Nauvoo--benefit for the Sts. Perer and Paul Catholic School. It's a pretty big deal for this small town. It was literally right outside our door. People came from many miles around to attend the carnival and vending booths.
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The park across from our house was full of all sorts of booths--food, and all sorts of things for sale. There was a swap meet and a small carnival. This booth had some very nice wreaths. But there was a question of how to get it home.  |
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Just a sampling of the 388 vintage cars that paraded through town and then displayed at the car show.
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Sunday afternoon after the parade (which we did not attend, even though it was only feet from out house) was the awards ceremony. We could hear them. They gave out awards and quilts to many winners and veterans. By Monday morning, there was no sign of former activity -- only the porta-potties that had not yet been picked up.
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| One last photo. I did walk around the block to see, hear and take in the sights. |
19 - Monday, August 25, 2025 -- Random
Once completed, the temple tower was a favorite lookout for Nauvoo residents who climbed the winding stairs to the lofty perch. We were blessed this week to be able to climb those very (reconstructed) stairs to the top of the bell tower. We were not directly under the bell, but just a level below when it struck eleven bongs! It is a picturesque view on all four sides -- of Nauvoo, countryside, and the mighty Mississippi River.
The original bell was contributed by British Saints. Wilford Woodruff, then in England, put out an appeal and some ten thousand saints contributed to a bell and clock. The bell was cast in bronze in England and brought by Wilford Woodruff to Nauvoo.
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| Stone Arch Bridge - used in the kissing scene of the LDS movie, Prophet of the Restoration. This bridge was actually built in 1850 by a German man, but it covers a drainage ditch that was originally used when the Saints built drainage ditches to drain the swamps to the Mississippi.  |
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Afterwards we drove through the small village of Montrose to the dock where the Saints crossed the Mississippi River and not far from this place, set up their Sugar Creek camp, where they stayed for quite a while--too destitute to move on.
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Sunday morning we were just arriving at our church meeting (which is a drive of 80 miles) and were back in our chapel for the first time in 5 weeks, and Sharon saw a couple walking into the building. She said, "There's a couple I don't recognize, except it looks like Stan's sister and her husband. But they are no where close.
Surprise!! It was Becky and Fred Slade, who had sleuthed where we attended Church and had come for quick trip to Nauvoo -- and to surprise us!. That they did.! So fun to see them. They joined us for dinner with two other missionary couples and we had an enjoyable evening.
18 - Monday, August 18, 2025 -- Peaceful Pastures and Magnificent Meadows
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| 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.'
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Enjoy a peaceful week.
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