A Time of Celebration

December 26, 2021

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and that your new year will be one filled with joy and happiness!

Christmas in the mission this year was a blast! What initially started as a quiet weekend became anything but quiet! It all started on Christmas Eve when we were cooking dinner. We had turned the stove down to low but the stove didn't get the message. Before we knew it, the house was very quickly filling with smoke and the smoke detector was blaring. Oops!  Now, we live in a complex with 4 condos attached to each other and when one smoke detector goes off, they all go off. Merry Christmas Eve neighbors! Haha! After assuring everyone that everything was ok, opening all the windows and fanning the detector with a blanket to get it to stop blaring, all settled down and we were able to eat our miraculously not-burned dinner!  Another bonus - at the end of each month we have to check our smoke detectors and report it so that's done and it's not even the last day of the month! 

                                                                                                      

When the mission calendar came out for December Christmas weekend was pretty quiet. There was a movie on Friday night and nothing was scheduled for Christmas day. By Christmas, we had added a mission breakfast that was provided by E/S Webster, a Christmas sing-along, and a potluck Christmas dinner. Here are the details:

One night, Sister Webster was talking with Elder Webster about how she was going to miss cooking breakfast for all of their children and grandchildren on Christmas morning, so they decided they would cook it for the entire mission. They had pancakes, ham, fruit and gluten-free muffins (hooray for GF food that I can eat!) along with juices and milk. It was a fun gathering. Before we left for breakfast, we watched our daughter, Rochelle and her family's Christmas morning celebrations through Marco Polo. Love Marco Polo and love my family! 

That afternoon, we gathered at the VC and would watch a "light the world" video, then we'd sing a Christmas hymn that went along with it. Anyone who knows us, knows we love to sing so that was a fun part of the day. It was also a beautiful reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

The Christmas Sing-along. The words were shown on the big screen and short movies were shown between songs. Directing the music was Sister Coffman and playing the piano is my cousin, Sister Char Bowman. We discovered that we are cousins while serving here together!

Following the sing-along, we had a potluck dinner at the Family Living Center. There was so much food and so much joy in that room. I love gathering with the other missionaries! We were blessed to have President and Sister Rizley sit by us. We talked again about how my 4th great-grandpa, Joel Hills Johnson, brought President Rizley's family into the church in Carthage. That's another blessing of my ancestors that has affected my life in a positive way. Being able to serve with Pres. and Sister Rizley has been a large blessing!

President and Sister Rizley trimming the turkey!

Gathering for our Christmas potluck dinner.

All in all, Christmas was a blessed day!

There was also a lot that happened this week besides Christmas, although that, of course, was the highlight!

We worked in the Family Living Center doing inventory and all I'll say about that is I'm sooooo glad that it's done! While we were there, I received a phone call from some good friends of ours telling us that they received their mission call. I asked where they were going and their call is to --drumroll -- Nauvoo!!!! We are so excited to have Blaine and Diane join us here in April! I'm going to put a plug in here - we need senior missionaries!!! If there is any way that you can, please put your mission papers in! The Lord needs your service! I can't guarantee that you'll get Nauvoo but we have an urgent need for missionaries here and in many areas of the church.

Sunday night we had our final devotional with President and Sister Rizley  and then our "Hurrah for Israel" shout and singing of "God Be With You" for our departing missionaries - E/S Elia, Brown, Porter, Law and Munoa. We were able to say a final goodbye Monday morning to the Browns and Elias. They are so missed! It's a good thing they live close by us in Utah so we'll be able to see them. The Elia's live about 20 minutes away and Brown's are about 1 1/2 hours away. The others aren't as close but I'm sure we'll see them also.

Tuesday I was able to serve in the Lucy Mack Smith home! It was my first time serving there as a site guide and I loved it! We gave four tours! There is a special spirit in that home. I served with Sister Deb Mills and it was great getting to know her better!

Thursday evening we had a District dinner. It was a great evening together. After dinner we shared stories of Joseph Smith that have strengthened our testimonies of him or things that we did not know about him before we came here. I'd go into more details but this letter is long enough. 

Friday morning we worked for a few hours and then had a potluck FM brunch. There was great food and great company! 

Sunday, Pres. & Sister Rizley gave their farewell talks in Sacrament Meeting.  

I cried when Pres. Rizley mentioned they only have 1 1/2 weeks left. It's flying by! 

If you read to the end - bless you! ;-)  Can you see why I'm so tired? Tired but I wouldn't change being here! This mission has blessed us in many ways. We are grateful to be able to serve our Savior, whose birth we celebrate.

Happy New Year to all of you! We love you!

The tale of the three trees - when we came on our mission, we brought the small tree in the top part of the picture. It belonged to my parents - they bought it on their mission and I inherited it from them. We like to say that the tree is on it's second mission. The bottom tree was here at the condo when we arrived so we set it up and had it all decorated last year when we received a box of handmade nutcracker ornaments that our children and grandchildren had made plus we received a lot of ornaments from our fellow missionaries and needed a place to hang them so we headed to Dollar General and bought us another tree. Luckily it was on sale. We call it our Nauvoo Tree and it holds all the ornaments, etc., that we have received/bought since being here. Most of the gifts under the tree came from our home wards Young Women. 

The gifts from the Young Women

A thought that I really liked.

Another beautiful sunset over the Mississippi.

Sister Olsen was a YPM in the Brass Band this summer. She returned to Nauvoo to open her mission call in the Seventies Hall. We were invited to be there. She's going to Reno, Nevada!

 

 Our mission did a personal essentials drive for the Food Pantry. We delivered two truckloads of items to them. They were overwhelmed and so thankful! It's great being able to serve the community!

                                  

Merry Christmas!

December 19, 2021

Things are so good here in Nauvoo! 

Monday started off with all of the Sisters in the mission joining together for breakfast in the Family Living Center. It was so fun to join with them to celebrate our sisterhood and our dear Sister Rizley. President and Sister Rizley leave in about three weeks. I will miss them so much. Sister Rizley has become an eternal  friend and I will miss her! Monday, E/S Flanders departed from here. Tomorrow we say goodbye to five more couples. I've said it before but these ones will be hard to see go. They have been our neighbors since we arrived here and we have worked closely with them. 

The amazing sisters that I serve with!

Tuesday I worked at Lands and Records again. I'm helping index the Tithing Records of those who lived in Nauvoo during the years the saints lived here. It's been interesting! Tithing is much simpler now. I'll have to take a picture of a page and share with you next week. My main takeaway is that they paid Tithing with whatever they could. They knew the importance of paying it and many sacrificed to do so. 

This week we also cleaned the plaques on Trail of Hope. As I walked the Trail, reading the plaques as I cleaned them, I was reminded again of the sacrifices and faith the pioneers had. One of them is my 4th great uncle, Benjamin Franklin Johnson. 

Wednesday the sisters in Conservation had a Birthday party for Sister Brown. We went to the Red Front for lunch. Tomorrow we lose three sisters from Conservation.  Actually, Wednesday was their last day serving. They are missed. I bought Sister Brown a small plaque that said

"Laundry 

Fluff and Fold 

Open 24 hours" 

She loved it! We spend a lot of time doing laundry in Conservation. It'll be a fun reminder of her time there. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of it.

It's a mission tradition to go to Fat Jimmy's when a couple leaves the mission. With 5 couples leaving we had a good share of the mission there. After dinner, we drove to Rand Park in Keokuk. It's all decked out in Christmas lights and displays. We drove through it several times and still didn't see them all. I wish my grandkids were closer so we could take them there. They would love it! I'm missing them! 

We helped with the Twelve days of Christmas for President and Sister Rizley. We framed a copy of the Nauvoo temple that Doug drew and gave to them. I'm so thankful for his talents!

Friday was all about the Christmas party. We -Conservation - helped decorate the tables. Elder and Sister D. Mills (we have two Mills couples) were in charge and they did a great job. The dinner was marvelous, as was the entertainment. The mission choir performed so we were able to sing in it again. We love that we get to do that this year! There were a few other musical numbers and then we all sang Christmas Carols. That was fun! Oh, and the luminaries that we couldn't use at the Christmas walk were used at the party and they looked great!

Saturday morning Elder Law shared stories from his life and it inspired us to write our stories down. 

Christmas in the mission is wonderful  and I'm thankful to be here for a second Christmas. Our mailbox has been full of little gifts from the missionaries. We filled little glass vials with Nauvoo dirt so they can always have a piece of Nauvoo with them. We made these last year for the YSMs and they were treasured by them. 

Our dear friends and family, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. As you celebrate this joyous time

 of year we invite you to remember the reason for this season, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We love Him and are so grateful to serve Him here in Nauvoo. We love you!  

The garden sisters with Trisha and Jessie, our FM admin. 

Of course, our beautiful Sister Rizley in the back center.

The Conservation Sisters - back row

Trisha, Sisters Brown, Wood, Rizley, Peterson, Heward 

Front - Levesque, Virgin, Law, me, Darton

Pics from the Sisters breakfast

All of the sisters that have/currently work in FM.

The VC Nativity, from the 2nd floor.

This made me laugh, especially 

since Doug plays the banjolele.

Maybe we'll get some snow and can actually have 

a real sleigh ride. One can hope - for the sleigh ride!

Taking inventory at Lyon Drug. We have to account for each 

item there.  It's a huge job but someone's got to do it! Haha 

Elders Neve, Stockle, Alston, Barney and King.

With Elder and Sister Elia. Oh how we are going to miss them! 

Another picture of the screen Doug made.

The temple has been closed for some remodeling.

The curtains were removed so we could see inside.

It was so pretty seeing the lights.

One scene from the lights at Rand Park.

Monday night the Aloha Strummers (banjo group) were invited to

the home of a lady named Irene. It's a very unique home, filled with an

assortment of instruments, most of them that she made. You can

see a lot of them in this picture. We had an enjoyable evening

together as the group performed for her and then she for us.

Blankets above and hot chocolate kits below 

that the missionaries contributed to Bright Angels -

a group here in Nauvoo that helps provide 

Christmas to children.

It was a crazy weather day!

 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I thought last week was busy! I love this time of year and all of the activity that goes along with it but it sure makes me tired! 

As you know, Monday through Friday we work in FM from 7:00 - 1:00. I  am learning to once again bloom where I'm planted and am really loving serving in Conservation. The Sisters that I work with are wonderful and I am making many eternal friendships. There are so many different personalities but we work together to help build this Covenant Community - our little Zion here in Nauvoo. 

This week was busy preparing for the Christmas Walk that was held Friday night. Monday morning, I was put in charge of lighting the path on Main Street between the Cultural Hall and the Tin Shop and from the Family Living Center to the Cultural Hall. With help from the Conservation sisters, we decided that luminaries would be a nice way to accomplish that so we headed that direction. Sacks and tea lights were ordered and we were set. Throughout the week, we had choir rehearsals, Elder Burns had rehearsals for the songs and groups he was a part of - he sang "The Innkeeper" from Forgotten Carols and was in the ukulele/banjolele group,  "The Aloha Ukulele Strummers"  unofficially named that by Sister Neve. 

The day of the Christmas Walk it rained and rained and we were under a tornado watch. I was not able to put out the luminaries because of the rain but we'll use them for our Mission Christmas Party. It was planned during the evening that the wagons would transport the visitors around. The lead teamster said that it was too cold to take the horses out. However, we witnessed a miracle and within the hour, the temperature went up 7 degrees and the horses were able to do their service. Also, the storm moved to the south and we were able to have the Christmas walk. 

I was saddened and heartbroken the next morning to hear of the tornadoes that had touched down and caused so much damage and loss of life. We pray for those affected by those and feel blessed that we were missed.

During the Christmas Walk, the VC was a happening place. We had the high school Jazz Band and Choir perform, along with the Mission Choir and the area Young Adults performing the Nativity. It was a humbling experience to sing of the Nativity but it was also a blast! It's been so long since I've been in a choir and I loved it!!!! There was also storytelling in several locations, music in the Cultural Hall and refreshments in the Family Living Center. It is wonderful to be open and able to do that this year!

Wednesday, we had the farewell luncheon for the FM missionaries who will be heading home on the 20th. I'm in denial that they are leaving - I don't want them to leave!  E/S Brown, Elia, Law, Porter (all FM) and Munoa (Site) will be leaving. E/S Flanders leave tomorrow morning.

I also had a great wake-up Marco Polo this week from Sister Sheppard all the way from Germany! It was great to see and hear her! I love that girl! I miss our YSMs!

Thursday I did my first and second "Women of Faith" vignette over Zoom. The first one was for a large group (around 66 devices) from Brazil. There was a translator who worked with us on the Brazil end. The 2nd one was in English and was much easier. It's amazing to me that technology allows for me, here in Nauvoo, to share the stories of the faithful women of Nauvoo and the story of Relief Society to those all over the world. I, by far, did not give a perfect performance but I pray the spirit was felt and those that watched were touched by these amazing Women of Faith that were portrayed that evening. I figure that I have nowhere to go but up and  I look forward to the next time that I get to participate in this. I was blessed to work with Sister Rizley the first time and Sister Brown the second, as they portrayed Emma Smith from the home of Sarah Granger Kimball. I told the story of the beginnings of Relief Society.

During the week, I walked into the Conference Room and there was Adele Parker, here for Pageant business. It was wonderful to see and hug her! It's always a nice surprise when I see friends and family from home!

FM had a morning devotional this week to meet our new area director. I can't remember the official title but he's Jordan's boss (Jordan in the FM boss). David has been reassigned and the new director is Kai. They both spoke to us and it was wonderful seeing and meeting them. 

Saturday we went to dinner with E/S Koop and E/S Darton and then went to the Messiah performance in Carthage. It was wonderful to listen to it and a little strange not performing in it. I have to admit though, that I was singing several of the songs under my mask and very quietly - how can I not? I love the Messiah!

Elder Burns sang a beautiful solo in Sacrament Meeting this morning, He sang, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and did a great job. I love listening to him sing and he loves to share his talent. 

After church, we had a Zone Meeting where we shared our favorite Christmas songs and why they are our favorite. Then we sang them, except for us and Doug sang it - "The Innkeeper".  He sings that every year and has since the Forgotten Carols came out years ago. It's become a tradition in our family. One of the lines in the song goes:

He lets us choose, 

Each hour of each day,

If we'll let Him in to stay

Let Him In

I invite all of us to choose to let Him in each hour of each day. I know that my life is blessed and better when I do. I love my Savior! I'm striving to become more like Him. I still have a long way to go but I'm working on it!

If you read to the end, you are amazing! This was a long letter but oh, what wonderful memories of a wonderful week gone by!

I found this cool looking doorknob this week.

I bet my YPM friends know where it is.

                               A few more fun nutcrackers that are located in some of the sites.

This is a sample of the quilt blocks we were making last week.

We put a back on each one, signed them and gave them to the

FM Employees as a gift from the Conservation sisters.

               E/S Brown giving their FM Farewell speech.  Lots of food at the farewell lunch.

In front of the 25 foot tall tree in the VC.

The screen at the Family Living Center that Elder Burns

made for the fireplace. It looks pretty good!

                  Standing in the front window of Sarah Granger Kimball home. If you look really close

                   you can see the temple in the distance. Then it's me and Sister Rizley! I love this lady!