Week #43, 2 - 8 October 2017

It was a good week with plenty of time in the temple.  Monday was a bit of a bummer in that we did not have a single patron in the baptistry.  We had to stay on our toes with finding things to do.  Our daily shifts went well and we actually did three sessions on Tuesday.  That was our day off and we went to one in the morning and then we subbed for the Sorenson's during the evening shift.  We were officiators on the first session and then sent as patrons on the last session.  What a neat P-day it was!  We did more sessions during the week and on Thursday I spent time training a new district ordinance worker.

We were busy with the usual of laundry, cleaning, shopping, haircuts, and scanning.  I had light therapy and we both had a checkup with the dermatologist.

Friday brought a surprise:  We worked our shift and patrons were in and out all day.  The West Plains Missouri Stake Relief Society was in for a two day conference.  They came in shifts to participate in ordinances in the temple.  At the veil, Bob presented a brother who recognized him.  He didn't say anything at the time but later he and his wife inquired at the front desk if they could speak to Bob Brown.    

Bob was able to see Tom and Sandy Fox, former members of Yuma First Ward during the 70's.  He was a Marine helicopter pilot and stationed at MCAS.  It worked out they came by that evening and we had a fun reminiscing over old times.  She is the Stake Relief Society for the West Plains stake and they live just across the border in Arkansas.  As we talked Bob commented that he knows Arkansas is a big state, but they wouldn't happen to know Ron & Carol (Boswell) Burrell (Bob's aunt)?  They looked at each other, smiled, and said they did.  They were actually in their ward before they moved to Utah!  They know them well and we were amazed at how small the world is.

Our dermatologist ran in a half marathon on Saturday that ended in Nauvoo.  She was excited to tell us about the upcoming event at our appointment with her on Wednesday and invited us to meet her at the end of the run.  Saturday turned up cloudy, breezy, and rainy.  The run started in Hamilton and came up the road by the river, ending in the park across the road from our apartment.  We went over plenty early and enjoyed visiting with others while trying to stay dry.  We cheered when she came in and talked afterward about her run that ended in the rain!

Katie's family met us Sunday at the branch in Washington for church.  Afterward we went to a park for a picnic.  They were super happy to be able to run and play.  The weather had been cloudy and rainy all week, and then on Sunday the sun was out and the temperature was very pleasant.  On the way home to Nauvoo, we stopped in Burlington and drove down Snake Alley.  It has made the Guinness World Book of Records, as the tightest curved road.  The kids thought it was pretty crazy.

Having fun at the picnic with plenty of space to run and make noise.  Thor, Katie, Lorili, Game, Henry, Gabe, Eliza, and Grandpa.

True to Brown tradition, they had to get a silly pose.  Lorili didn't want to be in on it.

When we arrived in Nauvoo, they settled into the cabin rental, we had dinner, and then we took a drive out to the Old Burial Grounds where ancestors are buried.  It was getting dark when we drove up to the temple.  They enjoyed a walk around it.

Temple Fact:  After the assassinations at Carthage, the church experienced a year of peace beginning in August 1844.  Leaders and residents focused on Joseph Smith's most important project--the temple.  To complete the temple became the focal point of all that was done.  Church leaders made a call to members to come, give of their time and resources to build the temple.  Many members moved to Nauvoo and laborers came in numbers and tithes were paid and the work moved forward at an increasing rate.  During the summer young volunteers moved to Nauvoo to work on the temple after the crops were planted.  A reporter wrote of this time thirteen months after the Prophet's death:  "The building of the Mormon Temple under all the troubles by which those people have been surrounded, seems to be carried on with a religious enthusiasm which controls all the movements toward its completion."  (Nauvoo A Place of Peace A People of Promise, by Glen M Leonard, p 475-476)