Circle Your Wagons! Happy 24th!

July 25, 2021

When I arrived at the Lyon Drug gardens Monday morning, I had a panic attack of sorts! The gourd arbor was dying - the leaves were yellow or brown and the green leaves had a mold or fungus of some sort on them. I was heartbroken, upset and not a happy camper or gardener in this case! Everyone talks about the gourd arbor and how much they love it and I felt that I had failed everyone. After texting with Richard, he assured me that that is normal and happens every year. He told me to remove the dead leaves and things would be good. I was still feeling like I had failed when Sister Koop came to comfort and encourage me, then along came the Conservation Sisters to do some things in Lyon Drug. They walked through the arbor and loved it! They saw the beauty in it - the gourds hanging from the top and they told me how beautiful it was and that I was doing a great job with it. Then some visitors to Nauvoo came through and said basically the same thing. I had numerous people come through that day, and since, that have loved it. It got me thinking - how many times in life do I focus on the negative around me and I don't see the beauty that surrounds me? I do that a lot! In fact, I joke sometimes that I was born negative (I have a negative blood type so I was literally born negative! Haha) I am going to try really hard to see the beauty and good in each situation. 

We are going outbound! President Rizley had all of the FM Missionaries come early for a special meeting Wednesday before our training. He talked to us about going outbound - attending church in the other wards and branches in the Nauvoo Stake. We were assigned, along with E/S Elia and E/S Brown, to attend the branch in Fort Madison. We attended our first meetings this morning and were asked to help in Primary. I'll be honest - I was (still am) torn about this - it's a bittersweet. I'm excited to attend a family branch and help in it but I will miss attending church with the other missionaries - the Seniors, the YSMs and the YPMs. They hold my heart and I will miss meeting with them but I know serving in the branch is where we are needed so I will serve happily! Little did I know when we attended church last week with all of them, that it would be our last. That's probably a good thing!

Our cousin, Jerry Carpenter and his children, Adam and Emily, were in town this week and we were able to spend a few minutes with them. I attended "Sunset by the Mississippi" with them. Doug had a rehearsal (details later). It was great seeing them, even if it wasn't for very long.

Saturday night we celebrated Pioneer Day with our own "Circle the Wagons" Round-Up. It was a fun night of wonderful food - smoked brisket and turkey, Dutch oven potatoes, baked beans, veggies and wonderful cobblers - they even had some that were gluten-free so I was able to have some - yumm! The entertainment was provided by several of the missionaries playing fiddle, guitars, harmonica and banjoleles. There was also singing and it was such a fun program. Elder Burns was a part of it and they had several rehearsals throughout the week for this night. It's always a great time when we all get together! 

My thoughts turned to my pioneer ancestors as we celebrated their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. I am forever grateful for their strength and courage and mostly, for their love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am thankful for those who stayed strong in the gospel, even through intense opposition and mobbing. I am blessed by their sacrifice and will cherish the time when I am able to thank them in person. When I see the Nauvoo temple, I think of them and their sacrifices. The temple was so important to them, to finish it so that they could receive the blessings of the temple before they left Nauvoo, not knowing where they would end up. One of the lines from Sunset that touches me is something like "They left Nauvoo, not knowing where they would end up. West is a direction, not a destination." I love the faith that the Saints had and I hope that I can live up to their example!

Our "dinner bell" - Elder Williams can sure crack a whip!

Elder Burns and his banjolele

I should have taken the picture of the program

before we ate and food was spilled on it. It 

was a wonderful, fun evening!

A beautiful sunset after watching "Sunset". I walked

home that evening and it was a beautiful walk.

Another view from my walk. 

The trail that Elder Burns has been working on.

Flowers at the Hyde Home.

I thought these were iris plants until they

bloomed. They are beautiful, whatever

they are. 

The gourd arbor. I can't believe how

fast the gourds are growing!

The nasty leaves from the arbor. 

The sheep by Lyon Drug. They greet me with loud 

baaing when I arrive. They get pretty loud when I don't 

bring them food! 

We, the garden sisters, took a small break to cool down

and were given a tour of Lyon Drug by these cute Sisters,

Sister Cisneros and Sister Rodriguez.

So many pretty flowers! The red one is larger than my hand!

Adam, Emily,  & Jerry Carpenter, along with us.

A small section of Lyon Drug Gardens.

 

Exciting things are happening!

                                    

July 18, 2021

 I am so excited! More sites are opening tomorrow and Lyon Drug is one of them! That means that I'll have people walking through the gardens and I am excited for that to happen! It is so beautiful and there are so many different plants in it. I really wish that I knew the names of all of them. Our supervisor, Richard, is on a long, well-deserved vacation, but I might just have to text him pictures of the plants so I can learn the names of them. Some are really interesting looking. I'll have to take pics and post them next week. They are also opening the John Taylor home. Baby steps but we are getting there and it is exciting to see Nauvoo come alive again after the Covid shut down.

So, in addition to working on my sites, we also helped Doug on one of his huge projects. He has been working on a trail that goes from the Vacation Villas (these are nightly rentals that a lot of the pageant core cast and participants stay in) to the Pageant Headquarters Building. He has put in culverts, lined ditches with rocks, trimmed trees, leveled it out and will be putting gravel down soon. Sister Koop and Sister Coffman helped me with tree removal one day. It took us all day to get them removed. I was grateful for their help! We make a great team and I love working with them. It was also a great change from the daily weeding we do. I also washed lots and lots of pots and made a fun pyramid with them! 

We welcomed three new couples to the mission this week. Two of them are FM missionaries and the Sisters will be working in gardens with us. Welcome Sister Cole and Sister Wood.

A fun thing happened this week - we were getting ready to go to the store when I received a text from our Ivins neighbors, the Borrowman's, asking if we were in Nauvoo. I replied, "Yes, are you?" and they were so we put the shopping on hold and spent the evening with them! We watched "Sunset by the Mississippi" and then had Annies. It was a wonderful evening spent with even more wonderful friends and was a lot more fun than shopping! I love seeing friends and family here!

Saturday we had a Senior Sisters breakfast and that night the Ballard's and us went to dinner. They leave in two weeks and I'll miss them - a lot! During the breakfast we were asked to share what our favorite place in Nauvoo is. How do I pick one? I love Nauvoo, all of it! ♥️ I love working at Lyon Drug. I can look up and see the temple from there, I see the teamsters drive by every morning on their way to give tours and see the beautiful four-legged missionaries, I hear the Nauvoo Brass Band as they perform up and down Main Street plus I'm in the beauty of God's creations. What's not to love?

Each Sunday, Elder Burns and I serve at the Visitor's Center as incident commanders. Basically, we greet guests and assist where needed. Sometimes it's pretty quiet but at other times, it's pretty busy. Today we met (again - we first met them at Aldi in Keokuk) a couple, E/S McAllister, that served with Austin on his mission in England. 

As I've said before, we love serving here! We love our Savior and are so grateful for the blessing we have of serving Him daily. We are busy, we are tired and we wouldn't change it! 

Our outgoing and incoming Presidency.

E/S Ballard & E/S Massey are heading home soon.

Annie's is thee local frozen custard place

and people write on napkins and place them

under the plastic tablecloths. When Sydney and Austin

were here, they made one. When the

Borrowman's came, Ava made one and placed

it next to Sydney &  Austin's. It was too cute!

Lots and lots of pots!

With the McAllister's. 

At "Sunset" with the Borrowman family.

Clearing the trail from the Villas to 

Pageant Headquarters. That's Elder Burns

on the tractor.

I love my work Sisters! Sister Koop, me and Sister Coffman.

The gourd arbor

Below are pictures from "Sunset by the Mississippi"

The Grandma is my 4th cousin, Sister Bowman, through 

my Hatch line. We made the connection here and it's a

 forever connection! I love my sweet cousin!

Nine months - what?!?!

Great news!!!! Monday, July 12, we open the Lucy Mack Smith home and the Sarah Granger Kimball home to live, in-person tours! Progress! We are so excited for these sites to open! I hope that Lyon Drug opens soon for selfish reasons! Haha! If people walk around the gardens, then I won't have so many weeds to pull from the pathways!

While it's burning hot in Utah, we have been in the 60's and low 70's here. This is unusual compared to other times that we've been here in July. Usually it's hot and humid but it's been raining and chilly the last few days. I actually had to pull out my sweaters.

The cooler weather sure makes it easier to work in. Speaking of work, we did a whole lot of mulching and wood chipping this past week. We mulched around 40 tree circles at the VC, the front flower beds at Lucy Mack Smith home and wood chipped the gardens at Sarah Granger Kimball home. That was all in addition to keeping up with Lyon Drug and Orson Hyde home. We have been working hard to get Lucy and Sarah's homes ready for their opening.

Bunnies! Bunnies have become my nemesis in the gardens at Lyon Drug! I want them gone! They are so cute but such a nuisance. There are a bunch of babies and they chew the plant off at the bottom and then leave it to die. There is a huge arbor that is full of gourds and it is beautiful! This past week, the bunnies bit off so many of the plants right at the bottom of the vine and then the vine dies. I lined the area with moth balls and I hope that keeps them away. Does anyone have any ideas of how to keep them away? They also chewed up my artichoke plants. I'm not happy with them, can you tell? 

We had a great training on miracles and realizing what miracles are and what miracles we have witnessed here while serving. Miracles happen here everyday and I love to look for the miracles. 

I am lucky enough to get to work with the YSMs in making fleece blankets that will be donated to the Nauvoo Fire and Ambulance and other places around the area. The Senior sisters are donating fabric or money. I  went yesterday and bought a lot of fleece. When Sister Elia and I went to the store, we found that the fleece was 30% off, which was great! Then, when we were checking out, the lady there gave us a 25% discount on the whole purchase so we saved 55%! We took what we bought to the car and went right back in and bought more! 

My cousin, Vicki, was in town and we were able to get together for a few minutes. I wish we could have spent more time together but I'm thankful for the time we did have. Another friend, Rhonda Monson (we were in the pageants together), was here and we saw each other basically long enough to give each other a hug. Life is great, my friends!

Elder Burns and I were asked to help with the program for a 24th of July Celebration and dinner that the Senior Missionaries will be having.

Friday night we went to Pageant Headquarters and watched the broadcast of the final performance of the Palmyra Pageant. 

I love serving here in Nauvoo! I know I say that often, but I really do! Saturday we hit our 9-month mark! How did that happen? We are half-way through our mission. Time is flying! I just had the thought that I wish my pregnancies had gone by as fast as the nine-months of our mission has! 

Love to all!

Some of our oxen

The sheep are kept in a field next to Lyon Drug.

We have one that loves to escape!

Mulching around the tree rings in the VC. Elder and 

Sister Elia are in the trailer shoveling out the mulch. 

My sweet cousin, Vicki

There is beauty all around!

 

Happy 4th of July

July 4, 2021

Happy 4th of July! Fireworks last night were fun to watch. We gathered with others on the lawn in front of the temple and watched them as they were shot off from Montrose across the Mississippi. We started this morning off with an early-morning flag raising ceremony at the Visitors Center. Elders Elia, Koop and Bingham raised the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance was said by all there and we all sang "God Bless America". I love this great country of ours, I love those who sacrificed so much so we can have the freedoms that we do. We really are a blessed nation!

During Sacrament Meeting today, President Ballard and President Massey, counselors to President Rizley, were released in preparation for their return home. Elder Alston and Elder Smith were called to those positions. I will miss these great couples also, but especially Elder & Sister Ballard. We have become close friends and there will be an empty spot in my heart when they leave. Good-byes are hard and there are so many of them on the mission!

This week in gardens we did a lot of weeding, mulching and wood chipping and my body knows it! I'm so sore but it sure looks great! We worked at the Land and Records Building (which is now open again and you can get maps of where your ancestors lived in Nauvoo), the sidewalk by Pendleton School, the Family Living Center, the Diagonal (a really long sidewalk with gardens on both sides of it) plus work at Lyon Drug and Orson Hyde home. It was a busy week!

Elder Burns fixed the garden trailer (again!) and finished up the work he was doing on the temple fence. He is now working on the path from the Villas to Pageant Headquarters.

We are saying good-bye once again to an amazing couple. Elder and Sister Chestnut are leaving this week and they will be missed! We've had some great Sunday walks with them and Doug did a bike ride with them. I also said good-bye to Deborah, one of the summer interns that I was able to work with. She is a hard-worker, kind and fun to be around. I'll miss working with her. On the flip-side, we welcomed three new couples. One of those, the Mills, are in our District.

We had an amazing training this week on building a Temple City. We were "transported" back to the 1840's in Nauvoo. Imagine living at this time and ladies, you have lost your husband and a child. Men, you lost your wife during childbirth, as she delivered your twin babies. Now ask yourself, why was building the temple so important to those early saints? Why was it so worth the sacrifice to build? At this period of time, the prevailing tradition was that all unbaptized were damned. Can you imagine the joy when Joseph Smith brought forth the revelation that we can be baptised for our family members who have died? Then he brought forth the revelation that we can be sealed to our family, united forever as loved ones (Doctrine & Covenants 132:46)? They knew the temple needed to be built for them to receive those blessings and saving ordinances. Can you see why it was so important to them to finish the temple? Can you see why they persevered, even as they were being mobbed and persecuted and driven from Nauvoo? They sacrificed so much to build that Temple on the hill, even as they knew they would be leaving it. As the Saints were leaving Nauvoo, they thronged the temple so that they could receive the ordinances that they could only receive in the temple. They wanted those blessings before they left Nauvoo. 

Not being able to attend the temple these past 14 months has really made me appreciate the temple more. I pray that I will never again take the temple for granted. 

I had an ah-ha moment the other day. Before we came to Nauvoo for our mission, we had been warned of the dreaded "Nauvoo 30". This is the 30 pounds that you put on while serving here. As healthy as I ate (Snickers Ice Cream bars are healthy, right? haha), I was still putting on weight and I am determined that I will not go home with the "Nauvoo 30". Besides that, my clothes were all getting way too tight and I was not going to buy new clothes so a change was needed. Not knowing if it's thyroid or eating that is causing the gain, and with a plan recommended by my doctor, I started on that change this week.  I have spent a lot of time planning menus, shopping lists, prepping and preparing the meals. With this plan, I have to eat at certain times. My alarm is set to remind me that it's time to eat again. I'm taking this seriously - not only do I want to lose weight, but more importantly, I want to be healthy! So, to the ah-ha moment. During prayer on our dinner last night, Elder Burns mentioned that we have both a physical body and a spiritual body and  prayed that we would be able to nourish both. That was the ah-ha moment right there. I was spending lots of time making sure my physical body was fed but how much time was I spending and dedicating to feeding my spiritual body? Doesn't it need the same attention, if not more? It is important for me to take care of my body because it is the temple that houses my spirit. I also need to care for my Spirit and feast on the words of Christ! Yep - my ah-ha moment. 

As I've said many times before, I am so thankful to be serving here in Nauvoo. I love my Savior, I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can't count the blessings that have come into my life because of my membership in this church.  Thank you all for your love, prayers and letters. I love you all!

There are so many beautiful flowers in Nauvoo!

Lyon Drug gardens - the gourd arbor is getting so full

and I have baby gourds growing! They are so cute!

President and Sister Rizley

The grounds/garden crew waiting for our 

weekly Monday morning meeting.

The condo monthly dinner resumed this week.

Covid put a stop to them for a while.

A small group of YSMs performing before "Youth of Zion" 

at the Singing Tree. We had just finished wood chipping  

nearby so we took a small break and enjoyed the show.

The walk to the Family Living Center. We

wood chipped the garden beds. This is a

small portion of the beds.

I can't claim this picture. Sister Christensen, 

a YSM serving here, took this picture.

 I love this view. I see it daily as I work in the Lyon Drug 

gardens but my pictures have never turned out this good.

This was taken while waiting for the 

fireworks to begin.

Sisters Koop, Chestnut & Burns

Elder & Sister Chestnut - you will be missed!

It's kind of hard to tell, but this is the lock on the 

Mississippi River by Keokuk. If you look close enough, 

you can see the barge in it. We watched the water

go out and the barge take off.

Flag raising this morning

Deborah saying good-bye. We had a

potluck lunch to say farewell to her

and E/S Chestnut.