Lots of excitement around here!

August 22, 2021

Hello!

Some exciting things are happening here in Nauvoo! First off, the Young Sister Missionaries (YSM) have received their outbound calls! Let me explain a little - when you are called as a YSM to Nauvoo, you spend 12 months serving in Nauvoo and then you serve 6 months away from Nauvoo serving as a proselytizing missionary. The YSMs that are going outbound will start leaving Sept. 22. The rest of the YSMs that are heading home leave in October. Since they have been giving tours, those going outbound need training in giving discussions before they leave so we are helping them in their transition. At first, we were going to have a companionship come for dinner and then give us a discussion, but since covid has reared its ugly head again, we now will be doing the discussions over zoom.  Also, the YSMs have been doing a lot of the Zoom tours and we, the Senior Missionaries, will be trained in how to take over the tours and do them. All of the missionaries, whether we are FM, Sites or Teamsters, will be learning how to do them. 

I am so excited for the new experiences that the YSMs will have, whether heading home or outbound, but I will sure miss them! They bring such a spirit of love, joy and testimony to the mission! I love seeing them and hearing their happy greetings - "Hello Sister Burns!", "I love you, Sister Burns!" "Have a great day, Sister Burns!" Every time that I see them, my spirit is touched and I am filled with His love, through them!

Another exciting, but kind of scary thing (haha), is that I have been put in charge of the mission side of Boo-tiful Nauvoo. For those who don't know what this is - it is a Halloween celebration in Nauvoo. Mullholland, the main street in upper Nauvoo, is lined with jack-o-lanterns, there is a parade and lots of kettle corn and fun to be had. So, I will be attending the city planning meetings, organizing the pumpkin carving (around 400-500 pumpkins) and getting them lined up on Mullholland. Also, making arrangements, etc, for the mission entry in the parade and making around 4000ish (so I've been told) bags of kettle corn to pass out. I'm a little nervous and a lot excited to help make this happen this year! It was cancelled last year so we want to make up for that this year!

Monday night we took a boat ride on the Mississippi with several other missionary couples. It was a fun, relaxing evening and I really enjoyed being on the water. We went through Lock 19 so that was interesting. It was probably the first and last time that I'll experience that. We went into the lock, waited for the water to fill up high enough so that we could go out the other side. On the way back, we entered the lock and waited for the water to empty. I love spending time with the other missionaries. 

Today is my birthday and I am so blessed! I received so many birthday wishes, texts, treats and love! I also had a two hour Google Meet with my kids and grandkids! They are the best and I love them! Elder Burns took me to dinner last night and then out for ice cream after. Gluten-free shrimp scampi, sweet potato fries (the first I've had since I left Utah) and a German Chocolate shake. It was yummy!

My work truck is in the hospital. It quit working and the diagnosis is that it needs a new starter put in. In the meantime, Sister Wood was very kind and let me hang out with her and her truck this week. She was a huge help at Lyon Drug and helped me cut back more of the lemon balm and also the Tansie plants. The areas look so bare now but it reminds me that sometimes, we are cut down so that we can grow stronger and better. It's during these times of "pruning" that we need to continue to have faith that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that we need to hold fast to the faith and promise that He knows us and what we need to grow closer to Him.

As I look back through my life, I can see His hand in so many things where I felt forgotten, felt like He didn't care about me or where I was struggling to understand why something was happening. In my times of struggle, He was there all along and His timetable always works out better than mine! I just need to remember that during the trial!

I love being here in Nauvoo! I love serving here! I love each of you!

The gourds in the gourd tunnel are falling off of the 

vines. This makes me sad. ;-(  This one was almost as 

tall as I am.

The Temple gardeners asked us to help them plant some new flower beds around the

Temple Arrival Center. We had a lot of fun helping them plant them. 

This is called Snake Alley and is in Burlington, Iowa. This picture 

doesn't do it justice. I'll have to go back and take a picture

looking from the bottom to the top.

A lot of pictures from our cruise on the Mississippi.

Sweet Sister Bingham! I asked Doug, something like,

"Honey, should we take a picture?" Sister Bingham

answered by hopping in next to me, hence the

laughing from me! I love her and will miss her when

they leave in a few weeks. 

Heading into Lock #19

E/S Elia, Us, E/S Brown in front of the Fort Madison Branch building. 

This is where we are assigned to go each Sunday as we do our outbound service.

Notice how tan my arms are and how white my legs are. Haha! Also, we had one of the 

missionaries take this picture and the other tried hiding behind the pillar. 

This sign greeted me as I opened my front door 

on my birthday! To whomever put it there - thank you!

 

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