Love God Unconditionally

 Carthage Jail gardens

May 30, 2022

We rejoiced last night (Sunday) when we were able to remove our masks after five days of wearing them. We are officially covid free and it's so nice to be "normal" again! Doug had the worst headaches he's had when he started with covid last week, but after a Priesthood blessing and lots of prayers, they are very minimal in pain. He said that he's had to stop and think -"Do I still have a headache?" because they are so low on the pain scale. That's wonderful news for him and has been long in coming! We are grateful and thankful and we pray that they will continue low until they completely go away!

It was nice to be able to get back to work! We spent a day at Carthage, where we mulched the flower beds that we had planted earlier. It always looks so nice when we are done. We headed to Dairy Queen after we were finished for our traditional lunch and ice cream. I love serving in the gardens - and not just because we get DQ!

Friday morning we had our monthly farewell/welcome breakfast. We were able to go but we had to sit at a table with another couple that were wearing masks due to covid also. We called it the "Covid Corner". Haha! They have the couples that are leaving come forward and they sing this Farewell Nauvoo song to them and it's so sad. I said that I want them to sing "Happy Trails to you" when we leave. We said farewell to E/S Alston and Wessman.

We had two special trainings this week with Curtis Ashton and Aaron West from the church history department. It was all geared to the Site Missionaries but they were enjoyable and I learned a lot. Sunday we served at the Family Living Center (FLC) with 11 couples. It was kind of overkill on the amount of couples there but I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy my last few months here. I gave demonstrations on carding - getting wool ready to spin - and breadmaking. It was a fun day. We also spent an hour sitting outside at the new information desk.

If you haven't listened to the fireside that President Nelson did a few weeks ago for the Young Adults, I encourage you to listen to it! It is wonderful! I will be listening to it again!

I have to share this because I want to remember it! Last night I listened to a man tell about his struggles in his life - his son died about the same time that his brother-in-law died, both unexpectedly, then his wife had a stroke, lost her memory but recovered. His other son was hit by a car but survived. All these things were happening and he was asking God why. He said he realized that they weren't happening to him, but to those that he loves. He then had the thought, "Love God Unconditionally". He said that God loves us unconditionally so why shouldn't we love Him unconditionally. He encouraged us to "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" and to choose God (Daddy in Heaven were his words) He ended his talk with this thought - "Sometimes the greatest miracle of faith is having faith when there is no miracle." -Richie Norton  I love this thought so much!!! I really wish that I had a transcript of it. 

I am so grateful that I do have a Heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally and that I can also love Him unconditionally.  I pray that I will remember that when hard times come and I'm struggling with trials. I'm also thankful that Heavenly Father sent me to the earthly parents that He did. I've been missing them and wishing that I could talk with them. I'm grateful for the revelation that was given here in Nauvoo to Joseph Smith that let us know that families can be together forever! I don't know what I  would do without that knowledge. I know I have a long way to go to be the person that I need to be but I'm grateful for each day that I have to try and be a little bit better.

Carthage Jail gardens

Hurrah for Israel for President and Sister Alston. I will miss his sense of humor and his teasing!

Thoughts from our Sunday School lesson.

Our view from the Information booth. It was a beautiful day out!

Trust in the Lord and have faith!

May 23, 2022

This week didn't end as we planned. Covid showed up at our place, uninvited,  and decided to stay. Both Doug and I have it and so we've been in quarantine since Friday. One more day to go and we're free! Besides a cough and being tired, we are doing good. 

Sunday we had a knock on the door and E/S Darton were standing there, asking if they could get another Elder and give us a blessing. Since they've recently has covid, they felt OK coming. When they came, Sister Darton offered a love-filled, sincere pray before the blessings were given. The spirit was strong.  We are so thankful for the power of the Priesthood and for righteous Priesthood holders. We are also grateful for our mission family. We are eternal friends! 

Before we became sick, I was able to help plant many new flower beds, including Carthage. We also spent several days weeding. It's so fun to see the before and after's. 

I've been reading too much news while I've been quarantined and there's a lot of evil going on in the world. I love these quotes and the peace they bring me:

"As we think about the future, we should be filled with faith and hope.  Always remember that Jesus Christ - the Creator of the universe, the architect of our salvation, and the head of this church - is in control." 

M. Russell Ballard 

"We must never, in any age or circumstance, let fear and the father of fear (Satan himself) divert us from our faith and faithful living. There have always been questions about the future... but that is alright. This is the plan.  It will be okay.  Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need."

Jeffrey R. Holland 

These are quotes that were used in a recent training that we had. 

Today I received a letter from Sister Stay and the subject was: "Roadblocks are God's way of telling us He has better plans." I love that! 

I hope I'll always remember that His timing is always the best! Trust in the Lord and have faith. It's not always easy but it's always worth it! 

Love and blessings to all of you! 

The names at the Exodus Memorial have been refurbished and it looks amazing!

Richard John Blakey is Doug's 3rd great-grandpa. He joined the church in England and

traveled to the US in the Martin Company. He died by Martin's Cove. He had been sick. His wife,  Caroline, put him in the handcart, with their two sons, to sleep and she found him dead the 

next morning. He was buried in a shallow grave with seven others. She continued on to

Salt Lake with the survivors of Martin's Cove.

Ezekiel Johnson is my 5th great-grandpa. He fought against the church after his

family joined and was often found drinking and drunk. He ended up in Nauvoo, 

where he would go to the taverns to drink. He would hear the mobs plans for the 

following day and come back and report them. He 

stopped a mob as they were preparing to enter Nauvoo and attack the Saints. He was

a marked man and left town with some of his family. He came back to town to help

his children who were still here but the mob found him, whipped him and he died 

from his injuries. Wilford Woodruff called him the first non-member martyr of the church.

Happy Birthday, Elder Anderson! We love having these

great friends serving here with us!

Purple iris! They remind me of my mom - she always had

iris in her flower beds. 

After planting the flower beds in the Women's Garden.

I love this thought!

I love the horses and wagons! I never tire of seeing them!

It's great having music on Main Street again! Love the Nauvoo Brass Band!

 

Learning from the past

 May 16, 2022

It's hard to know where to begin this week! The days blur together and I really should keep a daily journal. I think of something and wonder - did that happen this week or last week? Then I have to go back and check. Haha

Covid has reared its ugly head again here in the mission. Several of the Senior missionaries and some of the young missionaries have come down with it. So far, they have all had mild cases. Doug and I continue to be healthy. He still has his constant headaches but manages to make it through each day. 

I have been busy in the gardens pulling bulbs and planting new flowers. This week we worked mostly in the Women's Garden. I swear that some of the tulip bulbs were trying to get to the middle of the earth! Some were over two feet deep in the soil (still trying to figure out how that happened!) and it took a long time to dig them up but we managed to get them out and the garden beds look beautiful with their summer flowers in them. 

It amazes me how tired and sore I am when I get home each day but each morning as I awake, I am pain free and ready to go for another day. A small Nauvoo miracle! The temps reached the low 90's last week, after being in the 40s and 50s the week before. Like I've said before - Nauvoo weather is bipolar! Haha

As we were pulling the bulbs, I thought of how, in the fall, we take these bulbs and plant them in the dark soil, where they sit all winter and then grow and bloom so beautifully in the spring. A few of the bulbs had been planted upside down, yet the stem turned and grew toward the surface and still produced a beautiful tulip. Even though they are in a dark place, they still grow and bloom into something beautiful. Kind of like us - we all have our trials and we see days that are a little harder and darker than others but if we keep working, praying and don't give up, the sun will always shine and life will be more beautiful than before.

I miss my Conservation sisters but I love working in gardens and I'm loving those that I get to work with there. 

Employment Opportunity! If anyone is interested in working for the church here in Nauvoo, the mission is hiring for a Collections Care person. This person will be the lead in Conservation (now called Collections Care) and will care for the historic sites and artifacts, help in a huge inventory project they have going on with the artifacts, help clean missionary housing and also get to hang out with some amazing missionaries! If you or someone you know might be interested, check it out on the church's employment website. 

I was in Women of Faith this week. It had been awhile since I've done one. We had a lot of technical difficulties but I still think the spirit was felt by those watching. Sister Levesque, E/S Mills getting ready.

Last Tuesday was my last time serving at Lucy's home. It has been a great experience sharing her stories. I have learned to love her and look forward to the day that I meet her and can give her a big hug! She is such a wonderful example of strength, courage and faith with a little feistiness thrown in! I have loved the time that I was able to visit with the other sisters that I served with and get to know them better. Maybe I'll be able to serve there once more before we leave but right now, the gardens need me! I served with Sister Thiemann. She and her husband are the Pageant Missionaries.

We took a road trip to Springfield Saturday and visited the Lincoln Museum and the Old Courthouse. It was an amazing day and I learned so much there. We had great company in E/S Levesque. We've decided that we have to get on the ball and start seeing all of the sites that we want to see before we head home.

Sunday we served in the VC again. We served with E/S Anderson, who are great friends from back home. It was great to spend that time with them. We were busy for a few hours but it's still pretty quiet here in Nauvoo. I'm sure that will change soon.

  I read this quote today and I really liked it. "We are tied to our past, we link arms with them through the veil. Benjamin F Johnson said Joseph Smith said if he died he would not be far away but would continue to work with Benjamin through the veil, operating with greater power." It helps that Benjamin is my 4th great-uncle!  

I love the imagery of linking arms with my ancestors and I know there have been times that I've felt that while serving here in Nauvoo.  I know that the veil is thin at times and that we have ancestors who watch us, pray for us and are here for us. There are times that I have felt my parents close by and I know that they are happy to see us serving here. I remember talking to my dad after our first year of being in the  pageant. I told him that I sure wish that we had ancestors that had lived in Nauvoo. He replied that we have many ancestors that lived in Nauvoo and he began to list the names - Hatch, Snyder, Johnson, Asay, Fletcher, Fairchild, and more. I was so excited and it has been wonderful learning about them through the years. I've said it before but I am so grateful for their courage, strength and faith. Even though they went through a lot of persecution for their testimonies of their Savior and His church, they stayed strong in their faith and I will always be thankful for that. Because of them, I am who I am today!

We love collecting nutcrackers. I love buying momentos from places

we've been, usually an ornament to place on the Christmas tree.

I was excited to find both in one at the Lincoln Museum! Meet

President Lincoln, my newest nutcracker ornament!

President Lincoln's home in Springfield. It was already

closed so we weren't able to go through it.

The Old State Capitol. I didn't take pictures inside but it was beautiful!

My handsome hubby, patiently waiting while I explore!

Some pretty Nauvoo flowers

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world!

May 8, 2022

Do you ever feel like time just blurs all together? It's hard for me to believe that we have been on our mission for almost 19 months and that we have less than 3 months left. The mission has flown by but at the same time, it seems like we've been away from home forever! Strange how that works, isn't it!?!?

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was great in that I was able to talk with my children and most of my grandkids. I miss those kids and I'm trying really hard to not get trunky! Haha! It was also great to walk into Sacrament Meeting and see all of the NPM  (Nauvoo Performing Missionaries) there! I loved the hugs that I received from several of them! They add so much to the feeling here in the Mission! I love it!!!

We served in the Visitor Center Sunday from Noon - 6 p.m.  

Friday, our daughter (in-law), Sydney, graduated from Dixie State University. Thanks to Marco Polo, we were able to see her get her diploma. It made me happy that all of our girls, and of course, Austin, were there at the graduation. I love how my family supports each other! It makes my heart happy! Congratulations, Sydney!

The other day we were out wood chipping the paths at Browning Gun and the men had to leave so it was just us Sisters that were filling the wheel barrows and then pushing them to the backyard, dumping them and repeating this over and over again. I was so tired at the end of the day but it was proof that we Sisters can do hard things! One of the Site Sisters came by and she told me later - "We fall into bed at night so tired and we don't work nearly as hard as you do! I don't know how you do it!" It was nice to be validated in the hard work that we do because so often, we feel like our efforts aren't noticed. People notice the beauty that surrounds Nauvoo but not the work that goes into it! Haha! I was guilty of that also. In all the times that I visited Nauvoo, I had no idea what goes on behind the scenes to keep it so beautiful until I began serving here. After the chipping was done, we started pulling weeds. It was a beautiful day as I  listened to the birds singing their songs, looked at the blue sky, the temple in the background and the budding trees, I couldn't help but sing to myself:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face, or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenever I touch a velvet rose or walk by a lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world,

Heavenly Father created for me!

I love that I get to help keep Nauvoo beautiful! Because of rain again this week, I was able to serve a few days in Conservation and once again, I was not able to mow the lawns. Maybe this Friday? We'll see.

I came across this quote this week and I love it! 

"We talk about our trials and troubles here in this life: but suppose that you could see yourselves thousands and millions of years after you have proved  faithful to your religion during the few short years in this time, and have obtained eternal salvation and a crown of glory in the presence of God; then look back upon your lives here, and see the losses, crosses, and disappointments, the sorrows....you would be constrained to exclaim, 'But what of all that? Those things were but for a moment, and we are now here.'" - Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7 (Oct. 6, 1859, p. 275)

That goes along with one of my favorite scriptures: D&C 121:7-8

7 My son (daughter), peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and you. He is there for us  through our hard times. He wants us to return and live with Him eternally. I'm grateful that I can repent daily and draw closer to Him. I'm thankful that He trusted me enough to send me to this wonderful mission! Life is good!!!

The beautiful flowers in the Women's Garden

Flowers from around the VC

I had to document that we actually had a day of blue skies and sunshine!

This is taken from Browning Gun backyard.

Just some more pics of beautiful Nauvoo!

It's hard to see in the picture but the logs, in the Mississippi, are

covered with turtles out sunning themselves.

Doug spends a lot of time in this dump truck. He's been hauling gravel

a lot, as they are fixing roads and parking lots. This day he was

working on the parking area at Sarah Granger Kimball's home.

Good-bye E/S Heward. I miss you already!

I served with Sister Snyder at Lucy's this week.

I love that I can see the temple from so many different sites.

This is taken from inside the Orson Hyde home.

 

Back to the Gardens for me.

May 2, 2022
 It was back to gardens/grounds for me with a small side of Conservation thrown in this week. Monday I was trained on how to use the zero turn lawn mower and then I left early so I could spend a few hours with Kendra and Clark before they left. I was hoping to take Clark to Pioneer Pastimes but it was so cold that we passed on that. We visited the blacksmith and wainwright shop, Browning Gun, Pendleton School and then headed to the VC so he could do the Scavenger hunt and earn his brick. He loves his horseshoe and brick. 

All too soon, it was time for them to leave. I sure loved every second that we were able to have with them this week. It was the best surprise! I sure do love my family!

It did feel good to be back in the garden this week! I spent a few days working at Sarah Grainger Kimball's home, digging trenches around the flower beds, pulling weeds and wood chipping. I was actually surprised that I wasn't sore from all the digging and wheel-barrowing. I guess the months in Conservation kept me in shape! Friday it rained so I wasn't able to mow the lawn. We'll see what next week brings. Forecast says more rain.

This has been the weirdest spring - even the long-term locals are agreeing with that. It's been cold and wet. So, since I couldn't mow, I helped transplant plugs (plants) into pots. After that, I headed to help out in Conservation. It was nice to be back with those Sisters. I miss them! 

Friday we had a mission farewell/welcome breakfast. This was to say goodbye to the missionaries heading home and welcome the new ones that arrived during the month. We have four couples going home this month. ;-(  It sounds like the breakfast will replace the separate parties that each group had when a couple left. It was nice but I'll miss the smaller ones with those that I served closely with. Goodbye E/S McDougal, E/S Mills, E/S Rees, E/S Heward. I worked with Sister Heward in Conservation and I will miss her. We are soul sisters - we are so alike is so many ways.

Sunday, Doug and I served in the Family Living Center. I "learned" how to spin on the spinning wheel and weave. I say I learned, but I really watched and hope that eventually I can get it down enough to help with the tours. We only had one group come in the whole 5 hours that we were there. It's pretty slow right now. Picture to the right is Sisters Hislop, Bowman & Johnson.

This will be sad news for the former missionaries but they have permanently discontinued Nauvoo on the Road. This is where we would, as the name says, take Nauvoo on the road. We had a trailer with a spinning wheel, rope making equipment, some of the Pioneer Pastimes activities and other items from Nauvoo. The missionaries would go to the different fairs and celebrations around the area. It was a fun way to showcase Nauvoo and let others know about us. It was stopped due to Covid and now, it's a permanent closure. Sad day.

On a happy note - the NPMs - Nauvoo Performing Missionaries arrive this week! We are so, so excited!!!!

I had a great thought that I was going to close with but I can't think of it so I'll close by saying that I love serving here in Nauvoo! With all of the ups and downs that I've experienced, I wouldn't change my mission for anything! It's been a great opportunity to serve my Savior, to make eternal friendships, to draw closer to my companion and my ancestors. I love serving here!

Doug being slimed by Jr.  I'm glad he was positioned

by him and not me! Elder Heward is known as

the ox whisperer. He was able to train these ox when

everyone else thought it couldn't happen. 

E/S Heward

I love to see the temple while I serve here. I'm 

sure my blog will have many pictures 

of the temple taken from the same location but

I can't help it! I love seeing the temple!

I served with Sister Jensen at Lucy's this week.

Love, love, love having the YSM here! This is

Sisters Petersen and Price.

"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel"

E/S Rees, Pres. & Sister Dalton, E/S Mills

Doug teaching the ropes at FLC. They teach how to make ropes here.

In the background is a wagon bed that the children can load with

pretend bags of flour, clothing and other items needed for

the long trip west.

Sometimes trees have to come down, either because they are rotted in the

center or to make room for parking. Either way, it's a sad day.

That's our mail room/Mission DI in the background.