Nauvoo Dream: Week #31, 10

We started pageant this week and that meant going in at 6 a.m. on the early shift and noon on the afternoon/evening shift. Getting up at 4 a.m. took me three days to actually get up when the alarm went off! We took naps in the afternoon to catch up. We were at the Arrival Center on Tuesday and enjoyed welcoming patrons, giving directions, offering assistance, and sharing the gospel. A tour bus was in on Wednesday filled the 10 a.m. session. I was on the register in clothing the hour before to help issue clothing and enjoyed being busy the whole time.

We had two storms during the week with one setting off the sirens notifying people to seek shelter. The thunder cracked, the lightening flashed, and the rain came down cancelling the pageant rehearsal Monday night. Wednesday night the second storm stopped the British Pageant. Many left but after the weather they started up with skipping a lot of it to end close to time.

Early morning at the Arrival Center offered a lovely picture of the temple in the aftermath of the rainstorm.

We continue to enjoy the weekly emails from other family missionaries, Jay in Brazil and Tanner in the Oakland area speaking Spanish. They are having great experiences in sharing the gospel, giving service, and strengthening their testimonies.

Jay

Tanner

It was memory lane for me this week. A high school classmate had called me the first of May to invite me to a 50 year reunion of sorts. At our alma mater, Antelope High School, they have begun inviting the class of 50 years ago to lead the graduates in during the ceremony. They don gold robes and caps and walk in together as the "Golden Grads." I was excited to receive pictures and learn of everyone's lives to date.

Rick Kelland, Sharon Grover Taylor, Laura Bibby, Burt Galindo, Carvin Short, and George Moore.

Kathy Clark Farar and Michael Farar

Ronnie Beck

When we were at the Arrival Center on Tuesday, a woman came in to see if could schedule a time for her two granddaughters to do baptisms. After I replied to her question she asked where I was from. When I said Arizona. She asked: "Are you Barbara?" She then said her name, Geri Pratt (now Nelson) and we had a fun reunion. In 1965 she and I were state officers in Future Homemakers of America (FHA) and traveled with the other officers to the national convention in Philadelphia, PA. That was a very long time ago. Her family lived in Bob's stake then and he knows her older sister and she is Rod Nelson's sister-in-law.

Barbara & Geri

Come Wednesday, we began getting ready for Nelson's family to come. We cleaned, did laundry, shopped, and planned menus. Thursday morning we got haircuts and took care of any last minute tasks. Thursday was busy with our afternoon/evening temple shift and such.

We were off to the temple Friday morning and then joined Nelson's family at Sonic in Keokuk when they came in the afternoon. The early mornings do offer different photo opps.

Nelson's family has been on vacation for two weeks already and even stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park in Montana. That is where Bob and I met in 1967, and they had a fun time. They told the clerk Bob had worked there in 1967 and they rolled out the red carpet giving them all kinds of memorabilia to bring to us. Nelson even sent us a post card announcing their soon arrival.

We did many things with the family, some we have already done and some for the first time with them.

The British Pageant

We ate dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo. They were offering complimentary carriage rides with your meal. We climbed aboard and had a ride around the block.

We enjoyed the carriage, wagon, and oxen wagon rides. Isabel liked getting friendly with Dan.

We also went to Sunset By The Mississippi, which was full of song, dance, jokes, slapstick, and plenty of audience participation. What a grand time it was.

The Nauvoo Pageant

"Here comes the ox cart, oh how slow. . . . ." Isabel, Pearson, Barbara, Jack, Nelson, Julie.

A stop at Carthage was memorable to think of being in the very room where the Prophet was when his life ended. The jail was constructed of rock and hand-hewn logs in the 1830's. The jail and surrounding property were sold to the church in 1903 and the church restored the building in 1939. The jail, gardens, and monuments stand as a tribute to the lives of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who sealed their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with their lives.