Go Team!

Here is the team photo for summer 2016.  This photo includes all the 12 month (20 couples) missionaries, the summer 6 month (33 couples) missionaries, a couple of full time district temple workers and the recorder. The temple presidency is in the back row middle, left to right: The McArthur's, Nelson's and Hansen's. Not sure why we had to stand front and center, but at least you can find us!  These are all amazing people with amazing talents and testimonies.  It is a privilege to know them and work with them.

The temple is beginning to get more busy (yay summer!).  Saturday in the baptistry we were busy all shift long. Monday we had some good size sessions.   (Yes, we were open on Memorial Day.  We are open all holidays except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!  Even the 4th of July, we will be open!)

This is a view of the temple from Parley Street. 

 The baby geese are growing!  Sadly most of those large families are down to about 3 or 4 babies.

 This crane standing in the Mississippi River shows just how shallow that river is in most places.

Remember the prairie burn?  Well, this is the field that was burned.  It is growing and beautiful.  

It will be allowed to grow until burn day next spring.

Elder Thompson was the closing speaker Sunday in sacrament meeting in the Galesburg Ward.  His topic was based on Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the of the Twelve Apostles conference talk entitled, "Standing with the Leaders of the Church". Many in the Ward came up to him after the talk and at our linger longer and commented that it was a very good talk, including the Bishop's mother who was particularly touched by it.

Elder Rasband said,
"Many times in conferences, sacrament meetings, and Primary we have sung the tender words, "Lead me, guide me, walk beside me."  What do those words mean to you?  Who comes to mind when you think of them?  Have you felt the influence of righteous leaders, those disciples of Jesus Christ who have in the past and continue today to touch your life, who walks the Lord's path with you?  They may be close to home.  They may be in your local congregations or speaking from the pulpit at general conference. These disciples share with us the blessing of having a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, the leader of this church, the leader of our very souls, who has promised, "Be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you".

There were about 80 people at the linger longer.  This ward on the 5th sunday has a pot luck after church.  It was fun.  It makes it a bit longer of a day for us.  But, hey, we are happy to be here.  Sister Thompson gets to substitute Primary in a couple weeks!!  They have a new Primary President as of last sunday, a darling YSA!

Here we are waiting to go see "The Promise" a production put on by the Young Performing Missionaries.  Behind us is a sunstone from the original Nauvoo Temple which as it says on the front of the temple, building was commenced April 6, 1841.

The Young Performing Missionaries pre-show singing from the mezzanine.

The stage of The Promise. It's a great show!

The calendar of events happening for the summer is unbelievable.  

There is lots to see and do here in Old Nauvoo!

Morning Star

We love this temple and all the symbolism inside and out.

  The stained glass star windows are so beautiful, you can see a row of them at the top 

and in between each window is a Starstone.

The early Saints call the starstone "The Star of the Morning".

This is a physical reference to the planet Venus, which borrows its light from the sun

(as the Son reflects the light of the Father).

In the morning Venus is directly below the horizon, giving it the

appearance of an elongated ray.

  Dating back to the early Christian church they have been known as the 

"Morning Star" and is symbolic of Christ..  

In Revelation 22:16 it states Christ is the morning star: 

"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you thee things in the churches. 

 I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

Hugh Nibley said that the elongated point of the Starstones of the Nauvoo Temple indicate 

"the projection or transmission of light to the earth from on High," 

a primary purpose of temples.

The window stars are referred to as "Day Stars".

The star set in a circular window which also carries a level of 

symbolism since it is surrounded by a circle, the symbol of eternity.

Christ, represented by the star, within the context of eternity.

The colors are symbolic as well; blue for the water in baptismal fonts, 

red for the blood of Christ, and white representing the Holy Spirit of Promise.

So much to ponder upon and contemplate. 

Everything about this temple points to Christ and reminds us of Him.

This is Stone Arch Bridge just south of town.  It is a bridge that spans a drainage ditch that was built by the early Saints.  We didn't have a P-day this week, so when we had a minute we visited some places close by.

This is at David's Chamber, about a mile further south.  David Smith was the son of Joseph Smith born after his father was martyred.  He was an artist and poet and would often come here to meditate.  It really is a beautiful spot with a cute little waterfall.

For FHE we watched a dress rehearsal of Sunset by the Mississippi, 

one of the fun entertaining summer shows.  

So, here is our sunset on the Mississippi picture we captured the other night.

 

Truly these missionaries are good sports.  The singing and the dancing, oh my.  The show is fantastic.  Things here in Nauvoo are starting to pickup. Summer is coming and so are the visitors!

The Young Performing Missionaries arrived two weeks ago.  This brass band is all young performing missionaries, and they are great.  They will be performing all around town this summer, even riding the wagon and playing.  Can't wait for that!

 We got a shot of some of the temple missionaries behind us watching the show!

Some missionaries danced while the band played some swing songs.

A tribute to the branches of the military. 

These young performing missionaries are so talented, it's crazy.  They serve here for four months as called set apart missionaries.  They come from all around the world and most every state.

This number was so fun.  A little fun being poked at the amount of bugs in the summer in Nauvoo.  The Elder in the center is from Brisbane, Australia and has an amazing voice.

We had another fantastic week serving here in Nauvoo in the temple.  

We love it. We love it. We love it.  

While doing some training on the Arrival Center

 (The Arrival Center is where baptismal groups gather beforing going over to the temple, or where families can come and change chothes, etc. before going to the temple).

Pres Nelson told us a story from before the Arrival Center was there.  A young man from Mexico came into the baptistry to perform baptisms for the dead.  He left and about 20 minutes later another young man from Mexico came to do baptisms.  He left and 20 minutes later another young man came.  Curious to what was happening someone went outside to find a family with five boys that owned only one suit.  One boy would enter the temple to serve.  After returning to the car, the suit would be traded to a brother so he could serve in the House of the Lord. 

Back on Schedule

This week it was back to our normal schedule after all the training of the new missionaries. 

So here is a break down of what we do each week...for now.  

We serve in the temple everyday except Thursday and Sunday.
(except this week we are subing on Thursday, so no Pday this week)

Monday--7:10am to 1:00pm Endowment Coordinators
Tuesday--3:25 to 9:00pm
Wednesday--3:25 to 9:00pm
Thursday--P-day
Friday--7:25am to 3:00pm
Saturday--7:00am to 2:00pm Asst Baptistry Coordinators (but when summer comes, that 7:00am will continue to get bumped up earlier to get all the youth in who want to come do baptisms.)
Sunday we travel to the Galesburg Ward. It is an hour and half ride from here.

On our P-day we drove to the Villages of Van Buren County, Iowa.  It follows and crosses over the Mormon Pioneer Trail.  There are fun little places along the way.  We stopped at the Dutchman's Store, a Mennonite run store.  It was really fun.  Down the road a bit is the Milton Creamery.  They make the most amazing cheese using Amish farmers milk.

A little further around the loop is Bentonsport.  It is a teenie tiny town on a beautiful spot along the Des Moines River.  They have an awesome pottery store and a quilt shop.  We will be going back here!

This is a bridge crossing the Des Moines River in Bonaparte.  As the sign shows, it is where the Saints crossed over on their way west.  There is also an Amish Bakery here that we might have stopped at!

They actually have water in the rivers here!  If you are familiar with Arizona, you know what we mean.  It is so beautiful and so GREEN everywhere to look!  This is the Des Moines River.

Our group took the carriage ride after working for FHE.  It was so fun and so beautiful.  

This is a rebuilt well where King Follett had his accident and died.  Joseph Smith's famous King Follett Sermon was made at his funeral.  (He was not a King, his given name was King) The place this discourse was given is up town.  It is an empty lot right now.  We are grateful for all the doctrine taught by Joseph Smith.  Especially to know that children who die, are not lost from us.

"Will mothers have their children in eternity? Yes! Yes! Mothers, you shall have your children; 

for they shall have eternal life, for their debt is paid." --Joseph Smith

This is Inspiration Point.  A favorite spot of Joseph Smith's.  There is a great view of the Mississippi  River from up here.  You can see across the river to Montrose, Iowa.  Montrose is where the miracle of the quail occurred.  Some Saints while headed west were so pour and lacked the necessary means to head west.  They stopped and made camps in Montrose.  They were starving, but for several weeks, quail would arrive every morning and evening.  They were so tame and timid that the children could gather them up and take them to be cooked.  Manna from heaven!

These beautiful horses pulled our carriage, they are named Nephi and Lehi!

We had a couple of the sister missionaries on our carriage.  Remember her from our Print Shop tour?!

This is the Sarah Granger Kimball home.  She has the most beautiful garden. 

 The peonies are just starting to bloom.

We need to keep checking on the garden for new blossoms.

The corn is starting to come up.  These are about 2 week old sprouts.  

There are field and fields and fields of corn.  We will keep you posted on the progress.

 Corn field with Nauvoo Cemetery in the background.

  

40 Stars

This picture shows the stars on the gates as you enter the temple block.  There are 40 stars you pass through, 20 on each side of the gate.  The number 40 in the scriptures represent purification. 

 The flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, 

Christ fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, just to name a few examples.

We pass through trials in this life as represented by those stars, but as we enter the

 Lord's House we leave behind those cares and focus on things of eternity.

Last Monday night for FHE we had a presentation of the accomplishments of 

Nauvoo Restoration, Inc. It was so interesting to hear of all the progress that 

Historic Nauvoo has had in the 50 years of it's exsistence.  

(Sister Palmer who wrote the article in the link works in the temple.)

We love Wilford Woodruff's quote, 

"I left Nauvoo for the last time perhaps in this life.  I looked upon the Temple and 

City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a 

monument of the sacrifice of his Saints."

It is a great monument to those who lived here.  Their spirits are felt here.  

We know they watch over this place and that Wilford's prayer was answered.

Training for the new six month missionaries continued throughout last week.  We had to work our usual shifts+, but we were able to sit in on the training on Thursday.  We watched "Quincy, A Rescue Never to be Forgotten".  It is a video about the people in Quincy, Illinois and how they literally saved the saints from dying when they were driven out of Missouri.  It is a fantastic video.

"In the annals of our Church, the city of Quincy and its citizens will always occupy a position of the highest esteem.  We shall always be grateful for the kindness, the hospitality, the civility with which your people met our people who were exiles from the state of Missouri.  When Govenor Boggs issued his infamous extermination order, our people were compelled to leave the state of Missouri.  It's almost impossible to comprehend in this day and time that such a thing could occur.  But the fact is it did occur, and they traveled across most of the state of Missouri seeking asylum, not knowing where to go or what to do.  And the citizens of Quincy welcomed them, took them in, sheltered them from the winter which was all about them until they were able to find a place up the river in Nauvoo, where they established that beautiful city on the Mississippi."  --President Gordon B Hinckley 2002

After the video we held our last meeting in the solemn assembly room.  (The First Presidency has to give permission to use that room.)  President McArthur talked about the dedication, along with others who were also here then; Pres & Sis Nelson, Pres & Sis Hansen (temple presidency).  He has a bound book that contains all that was said in each of the 13 sessions. It was a great opportunity to hear some of the great things said by President Hinckley.  One of the temple missionaries was in the Tabernacle Choir and sang at the dedication.  It was one of those experiences we shall never forget.  We didn't want it to end, we didn't want to leave.  To be in that room.  It was such a great spiritual experience.

"The Lord has beheld our sacrifice: come after us."

This was written by a group of Saints on the wall of the 

assembly hall in the original temple just before leaving Nauvoo.

We are so grateful we were able to 'come after'.  So inspiring and humbling.

The assembly room has a Steinway piano.  It is gorgeous.  The music stand on it has a wood inlay Sunstone.  Not many people get to see it because that room can't be entered.  What a privilege.

This is the view we had while we stood on the temple steps waiting to have our 

missionary 'team picture' taken.  Because of the trees it's hard to see the beautiful statue of 

Joseph and Hyrum on horseback.

We got to have lunch with the new missionaries for a few days during the training.

It was a busy, busy week.  Serving as missionaries and ordinance workers is truly a blessing.  

"And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, 

and thine angels have charge over them; 

"And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, 

unto the ends of the earth, that they may know that this is thy work, and that thou hast

 put forth thy hand, to fulfil that which thou hast spoken by the mouths

of the prophets, concerning the last days." 

--Doctrine and Covenant 109:22-23