First visitors

It was great to have the Andruses and Jim and Carrie visit us. Especially since we'd been missing friends and family.

Sydney and Maia sang us a song they've learned from "Annie"

Sydney liked the Womens' Garden statues

At the visitors center

On Sunday we drove down to Carthage and gained a greater appreciation for Joseph Smith by watching the film and touring the jail.

Carrie and Jim at Carthage

Two brothers

In between thunder storms we saw an outdoor variety show which was a hoot. Since it was Memorial Day, they honored the veterans of all the branches. Eldon stood up for the Army's song and flag and Jim stood up for the Coast Guard's.

Nauvoo's a great place to renew friendships. At Relief Society I saw Judy West, my cousin whom I hadn't seen for many years. She looks like I remember her mother! Then on Saturday I was working in the office and one of our Elders from San Diego walked in with his wife! I was dumbfounded. He was Eldon's assistant and one of our favorite Elders. Loved seeing him!

A few days after their visit I was coming out of a shop on Mulholland running to the car because it was raining and a car drove past and stopped. A guy came running back to talk to me and it was Elder Lovell! He brought his wife and two little girls over to the apartment to visit. He's doing well, is department head at a private university in St. Louis and in the Elders Quorum presidency. So nice to know how his life is turning out.

"What have you learned from your children?"

Today Eldon and I discussed President Packer's talk in conference.  He said, "...we learn far more about what really matters from our children than we ever did from our parents." We decided to explore that thought from our own perspective.

From Ken we learned what President Davis told us: "Never give in and never give up." We learned to be patient. We learned that it's good to have enthusiasm for new things and ideas. And to have good technical skills.



From Neil we learned the value of persistence. And of being a peacemaker in times of contention. And not being afraid to tackle problems.




 From Sheryl we learned you can't expect your kids to be like you. We learned you just keep on trudging up the mountain or through the problems. And to have confidence that you can do hard things.

From Brenda we learned that your friends are part of your persona and if you criticize your child's friends you are criticizing your child. We learned that love is all there is and that agency must not be taken away.  That friendships and community service are good.





From Carl we learned the joy that comes from repentance and turning your life around. We learned the value of a good and amazing wife. We learned to appreciate his poetic, philosophical nature and his sensitivity to our needs.

Force versus submission

We just finished reading aloud "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle as we drove 25 minutes each way to Fort Madison to exercise. It amazed me how much Christian symbolism was in it. You had to compare IT, an over-sized brain that controlled everyone to be identical, no aberrations allowed, to Satan who wanted to force everyone to obey.

So how is that different from submitting your will to Heavenly Father? I think it's a matter of choice, of having agency. Heavenly Father does not plan for us to lose our individuality. He wants to to choose the right and be blessed for it.

Meg learned in the end that love was the answer. It was the only way to rescue Charles Wallace from the bonds that held him tied to IT. At first she thought anger would do the trick, but that just made her start to become subject to IT. As Elder Soares said in his conference talk, "If our attitudes are bad, we are being influenced by the enemy because he persuades men to do evil." So when I get ticked off, I know who is influencing me!

Regarding love, Elder Koelliker said, "The feeling of love from our Heavenly Father is like a gravitational pull from heaven." Meg's love pulled her little brother to safety. Love is sometimes all we can do for those who have problems.

They gave us two copies of the conference issue so we've each been going through marking what impresses us. Then we'll sit down with a talk, compare markings, and discuss it!

PS Blooper of the day: I was trying to tell three brand new sister missionaries to take the spiral staircase to the next floor and I called it the "sterile spirecase." They were patient with me.

Special events

Susan Easton Black

Occasionally there is a "sociable", the Pioneer counterpart to our firesides. Last Sunday we heard Susan Easton Black and George Durrant. She is a widow Aunt Gail's age, petite and glamorous. I'm sure she's had something done to do away with wrinkles and gray hair. She owns a home here and often visits. George Durrant stayed in the GA cottage on our street. He's in his 80th year and the mother of his nine children died not too long ago. Evidently they are "dating."

 They each spoke for a half hour with no notes at all.

Sister Black taught us about the beginnings of baptisms for the dead here in Nauvoo. In the early years there were so many deaths they held mass funerals on Mondays and Thursdays. Joseph would often go out to the old burial grounds up Parley Street to speak at these funerals. On one occasion he was speaking at Seymore Bronson's funeral and introduced the doctrine of baptisms for the dead. The Saints were amazed. One woman immediately grabbed a Priesthood holder and went down to the river and was baptized for her dead son. Later they worked out witnesses and recorders and actually doing it in a wooden font in the unfinished temple. It was built after the pattern of the one in Solomon's Temple. Later that font started to leak and they built a stone one which they never had time to use as they had to leave. A very interesting lecture.

Solomon's temple with baptismal font

Present day baptismal font in Nauvoo in exactly the same place as the original (the largest font in the church)

George Durrant

George Durrant reminded me of Garrison Keillor the way he talked. He said he used to be called "Garge" back when he lived in American "Fark" but then a teacher from out of town came and set them straight. He said he sometimes gets discouraged. But when he goes to the temple he gets ENcouraged. He likes to paint and one time he took a class where they all did a painting and then were critiqued. He said one girl said, "I like his sky!" And then another student said, "But the foreground is all wrong." He said we should look at the sky. He said the best thing our kids can write is, "We've been to the temple."

We have P-day groups who go on an excursion about once a month. There are 8 couples in our group and today we had our first excursion. We went to three little towns in Iowa about an hour west of Nauvoo. First was Bentonsport where we watched a woman throw pots and her husband demonstrate his blacksmithing abilities. She puts Queen Anne's lace (the flower) on each of her pots and it leaves an imprint when she fires it. We bought a pretty blue bowl she made.

There was an inn there the sign says was built by Mormon craftsmen on their way west. It looks like the places in Nauvoo.

Evidently the Des Moines River has flooded several times and was marked on the building!

Then we went to Bonaparte and had lunch at a quaint restaurant. Our waitress (and cashier) was an 84 year old woman who treated us like friends. Then we drove to Cantril to a store called The Dutchman which is run by Mennonites. There we bought nuts and honey and such. It was a fun outing. The Ekins rode with us. They're from Delta where they ran a dairy farm.

Living in a bubble

We've heard people say living in Nauvoo is like living in a bubble. That is true in many ways.

First, we're surrounded by wonderful people! We work with them every day. A little humor adds zest. Yesterday right after a training film in the creation room, President Condie looks at a sister in the front row and says, "Sister Miller, have I told you lately that I love you?" He has her and her husband come up and puts an arm around each of them. Then in a serious way says, "Sister Miller has had some health problems lately. She went to the doctor and he said, 'Do you wake up grumpy in the morning?' She said, 'No, I let him sleep.'" The room erupted in (reverent) laughter!

Then there is the spirit of those who used to live here. We drove up to the spot where the Foutzes lived. You drive up Mulholland past the temple a few blocks and turn right on Wilcox and then right on White. It dead ends in a woods. There are two modern houses there now, but Eldon's ancestor, Jacob Foutz had a home there when he was a bishop in Nauvoo.

The road the Foutzes lived on

Another home that intrigues me is the Joseph Coolidge home. After the exodus a Mr. Kaufman lived there and hospitably put an inscription on it in German that means, "This house is mine and yet not mine. Who comes after me shall find the same. I have been here and who reads this shall also have been here." This two-story home is right across the street from the brick duplex where Margaret Johnson's ancestors lived.

The Coolidge home

Most homes have had to be re-built. Only five have been lived in continuously: Sarah Granger Kimball's, Brigham Young's, John Taylor's, Heber C. Kimball's, and Wilford Woodruff's. The story is that the restoration started with the Heber C. Kimball home. His grandson bought the home and planned to restore it to use for a summer home, but as he was in the process, so many people wanted to tour it he decided to open it to the public. That was the beginning of the Nauvoo Restoration organization.

At Fort Madison, the furthest western fort of the War of 1812

Another way this is a bubble is the beauty of nature all around. We've never lived in a place with so much birdsong! When we come out of the temple after our shift it's usually sunset.

There is one way it is NOT living in a bubble. Have you ever tried to go grocery shopping with your spouse? Eldon says I'm a drag and spoil his fun. I think he's an irritation and takes twice as long as I would on my own. I'm thinking I should start staying in the car and let him have at it like he does at home. Grocery shopping is his recreation. I was thinking we needed to stay together as missionary companions, but Brenda says no. I'm thinking of this quote from Kahlil Gibran:

"Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of heaven dance between you."

But the rest of the time, hold hands!

Getting aquainted with people and places

There are several kinds of missionaries here--first us 120 temple missionaries. Then at least that many or more site missionaries. Then young single sister missionaries who serve in the visitor's center. Then the young performing artists who just came. They're called for three months and put on performances. Then there are restoration and maintenance missionaries.

There's a lot of love here. As we see the couples taking walks and going to the temple, they're holding hands whenever possible.

On fast Sundays there's an organized "break the fast" where 3 couples are assigned to go to another couples' house for dinner and each brings part of the dinner. Yesterday we ate at the Andersons. Such interesting people. They're from Orem, Utah and used to be Uncle Clif and Aunt Peggy's home teachers! While we were there they called the Pynes so we could all chat.

The way the Andersons met is an interesting story. They met when Sister Anderson hosted an engagement dinner for Elder Anderson and his first wife, who was her good friend! The first wife had 3 children and then died in her 40's of hepatitis in Indiana. Our Sister Anderson heard about it and went to the funeral. She had been divorced from her erring husband for several years. The Spirit told her she should marry Elder Anderson. So in a few months they did marry. At that time she had two married daughters, plus they each had an 18 year old son, then each had 16 year old daughters both named Rebecca, and then each had a younger child.

Brother Anderson was a chaplain and was stationed at the Pentagon. His office was on the western outer edge of the building, but that section was being renovated on Sept. 11, 2001 when the hijacked Boeing 757 was crashed into the western side of the Pentagon, killing 189 people including five hijackers, 59 others aboard the plane, and 125 working in the building. The death toll would have been very much higher if that section of the building had been occupied at the time. Divine intervention.

We've been trying to visit a site each day and we've seen about half of them by now. We drove out to the burying grounds way outside of town where Eldon's ancestor, Henry White, was buried. We later attended a "sociable" where Susan Easton Black spoke and she said that cemetery was hallowed ground because Joseph could be counted on to preach at the funerals that were held there each Monday and Thursday. It was there he revealed the doctrine about baptism for the dead.

We drove to Keokuk where there was a Civil War celebration.

By the ox yard there is this plaque telling about Eldon's ancestors--Catherine Foutz and Sam White who settled in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

When we go over to Fort Madison to exercise we cross the bridge over the Mississippi. Occasionally we get "barged" when part of the bridge is turned sideways for boats to go through.

Each day in the preparation meeting one of the temple presidency gives us an inspirational talk. The other day President Rutowsky told a story about needing to give a talk to a group and he wanted so much to touch their hearts. He went in the celestial room and prayed about being able to touch their hearts. The answer surprised him. It was, "I will touch their hearts."

So we're enjoying the people and places here. And we're learning and loving more each day.

The 3 missionary couples at 860 Kimball St., Nauvoo

We started an FHE group last night for the 3 couples in our building. We couldn't be more different, but I think we'll get along great. We just got acquainted last night and had black bean brownies and ice cream.

The Peals are from Arlington, Texas. He's been a stake president and a sealer. He was in charge of several YMCA's in their area. He was a convert so didn't serve a mission as a youth but they served a proselyting mission in Oakland. They have 3 kids, all married.

The Winegars are from Huntsville, Utah and live on a ranch with cattle and horses and chickens. They've just been married 6 years and have 6 kids between them. He owned a grocery store chain from Centerville to Bountiful. I gather they're wealthy. They have the distinction of being the youngest couple here. He's 56 and retired early. She is glamorous.

A big difference from Portland is that there we'd never see each other all day. Here we're together a lot! If I have an assignment in the Celestial Room, so does Eldon. If he's on the recommend desk, I'm at a station behind him. We do sealing and endowment sessions together. Yesterday we did a sealing session with the 3 couples in our building, Brother Peal doing the sealing. He stopped in the middle, got emotional, and said he felt that our serving in Nauvoo was evidence of God's love for us. Which is true.

Stained glass window in the ceiling of the celestial room showing sun, moon and stars