Grateful!

This week was so wonderful - except for the cold! It 

made it back into the 20's, was very windy and I didn't like it at all!

Monday after work, I was able to help distribute bikes to the YSMs. I love anytime that I get to spend with them, even if it is just a few minutes. They were like kids on Christmas morning, they were so excited to get their bikes for the summer! These YSMs brighten up my day anytime I see them and they have made Facebook so much brighter! Their testimonies fill my page and I love it!

Sister Koop and I were cleaning up the Browning Gun gardens in the backyard and as I came to the front of the house, I saw a small family peeking in the windows of the Tin Shop and then come across the street and were looking in the windows of Browning Gun. I told them that I really wish we could be open so that they could go inside. They said they wished it also. Visiting with them, they had driven down from the Chicago area to see Nauvoo. As we visited more with them, we found that the mom was from Denmark and has only been in the states for about 4 years. An interesting thing that she told us is that they have prams for their babies and that the babies nap in them, outside, everyday. She said that during the winter they put lambs wool under them, warm blankets on top and warm mittens on their hands. She said if they go to a Cafe, then the baby stays in the pram outside the Cafe window. I found it very interesting. 

This weekend was wonderful! I hope you all had a great Easter and enjoyed General Conference. Saturday morning, the couples from the condos and a few others, joined together for breakfast. We each brought our favorite Conference breakfast and shared with each other. We also said goodbye to the Steele's, another couple heading home.

Earlier this week, while Sister Koop and  I were working, she wondered if anyone was providing lunch for the YSMs on Easter Sunday. She sent a text to Sister Rizley asking if anyone was doing it and what she could do to help. Long story short, Sister Koop and I, along with the help of many of the Senior Sisters, provided lunch for the YSMs between Conference Sessions. What a great bunch of YSMs we have here in Nauvoo! I love the joy and happiness that radiate from them. You can't help but be happy when they are around! I also felt like I was paying it forward for all of the Senior Sisters that helped my children while they were on their missions. It's a great feeling!

Most important of all - I have a new granddaughter! She is beautiful and perfect! I told my daughter that I really want to hold and cuddle the baby and she reminded me that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven. I know that is true! I love my family and miss them a lot but I wouldn't trade this mission for anything!

One more thing, this week our Aunt Brigitte died. We will miss her but I know that she is having a great reunion with her husband, parents and others that have gone on before. She had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. She was an example of His love as she loved unconditionally. I remember being at her home and my daughter, who was a toddler, grabbed a breakable statue and took off with it. By the time I caught up to her, she had dropped and broke it. Aunt Brigitte was right there to let me know it was OK. She taught me a great lesson that day - she told me that my daughter was the most important, that the statue wouldn't go with her when she died but that family will. I've always remembered that.

I know that my Redeemer Lives! I am forever grateful for His sacrifice for me. I'm grateful that through Him, I can repent daily and work hard to become a better daughter of God. I'm grateful that through Him, I can be with my family after this life is over. Life does not end with death! I'm grateful!

Love to all of you!

--

Sister Burns

Elder Doug and Sister Jill Burns

975 Young Street

Nauvoo, IL 62354

burnsinnauvoo.blogspot.com

Lots of bikes! 

A sweet missionary here, Cooper, made these Easter cards and Elder Burns 

and I delivered them to the rest home in Carthage. 

They were greatly appreciated! Thanks Cooper! You are amazing!

Elder Burns at work in the welding shop. He is making boxes to go on 

the trailers to hold their chains and tie downs. 

I need to take a picture of the finished product!

A beautiful sunset over the Mississippi

Pics from our Saturday pre-Conference breakfast

The full-moon going down as we headed into work.

I love, love, love my family "zoom" calls!

We had another Women's Garden clean-up day. We had a lot 

of Elders that decided they wanted to join in the fun! It was

a great way to spend a few hours!

The YSMs at Easter Dinner! These ladies bring so much joy to Nauvoo!

 

There is Beauty All Around

 

We planted flowers!!! It's so fun seeing the beauty that flowers bring to an area! We started small,

with the sign at FM, then moved to the Site President's home. We also added flowers to the

Women's Garden and did some more clean-up there. They are trimming the hedges and also

removing lots of trees so we picked up trailer loads of branches.  I have a love/hate relationship

with the trees they are removing. They drop lots of "gumballs" or what I call "goat heads on steroids".

There are thousands of these balls and they go all over the place. The nice thing is, even with the

removal of these trees, there is still a lot of beauty around! 

I'm so excited for this summer! Sister Koop and I will be taking care of the Browning House vegetable gardens and the Lyon Drug herb gardens. I'll be learning how to plant, harvest and dry herbs. This was a goal of mine while I am serving in Nauvoo! We spent a better part of the day Monday working at the Browning House and the Family Living Center, trimming plants, weeding, etc. It looked so nice when we left.  We are planning on tilling the ground and planting this week or next, depending on weather, etc.

We decided to take a huge leap of faith and Elder Burns and I are being trained in doing tours of the Historic Sites. We will start off small with two sites - Browning Gun and the Webb Brothers Blacksmith. I'll let you know when we start doing the tours. We have some learning to do before then! While we were being trained at Browning Gun, we heard water running. Turns out the pipe that the sump pump goes through had broken at the top so the water was coming right back down. An interesting thing is that there is a well in the basement. The plumbers were called and all was fixed by the time we left. 

Tuesday night we had some excitement - a downpour and thunderstorm followed by our first tornado warning as missionaries! The warning came over our phones. We checked the internet and Nauvoo was not in the main warning area and the storm was heading away from us. We chose to stay home and felt peace. We've been in Nauvoo before during pageant when the sirens went off. I still remember the clouds looked like large marshmallows that had been roasted over a campfire. There were none of those clouds. Anyway, the warning expired and things went back to normal. As we were talking about it at work, one of the workers said that she thinks Heavenly Father puts a bubble around Nauvoo and keeps it safe from the tornados. Another stated that a tornado helped take down the first temple and that he doesn't think a second one will be allowed to do the same.

Funny quote from my 5-year-old grandson, Clark. "If you get caught in a tornado, you'll get dizzy!"

I think he's right! 😂

Movie night! Friday night we, the senior missionaries, were able to get together and watch Legacy at Pageant Headquarters. A movie on the big screen and popcorn! It was fun. We had movie night once shortly after we arrived here in October, then Covid restrictions prevented gathering until now. The YSM also had movie night but at a different time from us. 

Today is our Fast Sunday. We are fasting and praying for our beautiful Nauvoo Historic Sites and Carthage Jail to be open to the public so that others may come and feel of the spirit that is here and learn of Nauvoo life in the 1830-40's. I invite you to join your prayers with ours.

Easter is special because it is always a reminder that Christ not only suffered and died for my sins but that He rose again and that He lives! Because He lives, I can live again also. I am so thankful to know that life continues after this life, That when I die, it isn't the end. I'll be with my parents and grandparents again. I have so many questions that I want to ask my relatives who lived in the early days of the church. I look forward to the day (but not too soon!) that I can be with them all again! 

This Easter is also extra special because it is the General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I invite you to join with me in listening to our Prophet and other General Authorities. I love this time of year! 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/events/april-2021-general-conference?lang=eng

I love all of you! Thank you for your love and prayers on our behalf!  

Sister Burns 

Elder Doug and Sister Jill Burns

My working buddy and friend, 

Sister Koop! Below, I'm planting 

and freezing! Can you see all the

layers on me! Haha

One of the many tubs of "gumballs" that

we picked up. They are all over Nauvoo!

The backyard of Browning Gun. This will be planted 

into a large vegetable garden! I'm excited to be a part

of the work!

Some of the YSM's getting their wagon ride. Their reward 

for passing their "white glove" apartment cleaning. These

Young Sisters are such an example to me and spiritual

way beyond what I am! I love them and being able to 

associate with them, even if it is just a wave as they pass by!

Sweet Celebrations!

 March 21, 2021

This was a very wet, raining and cold week. We did a few more transplants this week but spent several days at home because we were caught up in the greenhouse and couldn't do much outside because of the rain and cold. This coming week is supposed to be much better weather-wise so we are hoping to get outside and start planting flowers! The tulips and daffodils are coming up and it's going to be so pretty!

This week, we were able to meet together as Sisters and participate in different projects for the Relief Society Birthday celebration. They usually do a big reenactment of the formation of Relief Society but that was another casualty of Covid and didn't happen this year. Some sisters worked on quilt blocks for a quilt they are making for Phebe Woodruff (I'm guessing it will go in the Wilford Woodruff home) and other sisters worked on knit and crocheted squares for another service project. We enjoyed the sisterhood and visiting! Sis. Rizley called us the "Senior Sisters Sewing Society"! I love it! It's the first time we have all met in person like this for a long time.

Friday, the Senior Sisters met again, this time outside - the sun had finally made an appearance and it was beautiful out - to gather leaves and clean up around the Women's Garden. We were "Emma"saries that day and gave Emma a helping hand in her garden. It was great to be out and mingling with the sisters again. I love getting to know them and serve with them. I drove the van and trailer - a miracle, right? I'm getting better at backing the trailer up - it only takes me about 5 minutes instead of ten to back it up to the dumping area! Haha! I'm not that great but I'm getting better! I'll be a pro by the time I leave! We gathered two trailer loads of leaves and it saved us garden peeps a lot of time. Many hands do make light work! I'm hoping to work with the YSMs soon on continuing the clean-up around the garden. 

Saturday the gardening group - the Elia's, Koop's and us, met in Carthage and went to dinner together at an Italian Restaurant called Alfano's. They had a good gluten-free pizza so I was happy! After dinner, we went to the Elia's Carthage home for ice cream and visiting, then walked over to the Visitor Center to check it out. They've been repainting it and it's looking great. Still some work to be done on it, but it's coming along nicely. 

Nauvoo is still closed to in-person tours but you can still see us online at 

https://www.nauvoohistoricsites.org/live/   I've seen more people in Nauvoo the last little bit then I have since we came here.  We visited with a family that was here over their spring break and even though they couldn't go into the homes, they said they felt the spirit just walking the streets. They were going to go home and watch some tours. 

One of the YSM  gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and she ended talking about miracles. She said, "I see a miracle when my companion sits in the garage while I run each morning (they have a treadmill in the garage), I see a miracle when..."  she went on to name several things. What miracles do you see in your life? Miracles don't always have to be large things. Marjorie Hinckley said, "It is a quiet multitude of little miracles that make life sweet." 

I love serving in Nauvoo! I love the prophet Joseph Smith and his desire to follow Christ and to restore His church to the Earth. I love the sisters who lived in Nauvoo in the 1930-40's and for their desire to serve one another, that led to the organization of the Relief Society. I love their faith and endurance! They are great examples to me and I hope I can live worthy of their sacrifices.

I love you! I'm grateful for my friends and family who love and support us on our mission here in Beautiful Nauvoo!

The sisters of the "Senior Sisters Sewing Society". 

We quickly removed our masks for the picture. 

Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, with the jail in the background.

Carthage Jail. Joseph Smith fell out of the top window after he was 

martyred and landed on the ground by the well. To see a tour of 

Carthage Jail, visit the website in my email at book a tour. 

It will be the best 40 minutes of your day.

A cute Easter card we received from one of the Missionary couples serving with us.

These women of faith cleaning the Women's Garden, 

that features many women of Faith. The statue of 

Joseph and Emma behind us. This was just some 

of the women who came and helped. Many others 

arrived after the picture was taken.

This is my view of the temple as I'm backing the trailer up to unload it. It's a view I love!

We gathered a lot of leaves! Two trailers full!

Did someone say "Spring Ahead?"

March 14, 2021

 

So, did anyone else not know that today we were to spring ahead? We were so  excited because it was our week to attend church in person! We showed up 15 minutes early so we could visit for a few minutes before church started, only to walk in on the Sacrament being passed and church almost over. Oops! Yep, I did not know that the time changed. Now I do! 

It was announced this week that the Nauvoo and British Pageants will not be held in Nauvoo this summer. While this breaks my heart and makes me sad, I also know that the spirit of Nauvoo is strong and it is still a great place to visit. We are diligently praying that the historic sites will be able to open soon. What that opening will look like is still being figured out. We talked with a family yesterday that was visiting Nauvoo over their spring break. Even though they can't go into the sites, they said they enjoyed walking the streets, feeling the spirit that is here and loved seeing the temple. They said they will now go home and watch the Zoom tours of the historic sites  that they were able to walk around. 

In the greenhouse this week, we continued transplanting plugs into larger pots. We also had 1600 more plugs come in this week. I found out that we grow from seed around 20,000 plants and purchase 20,000 of the small plugs. That is a lot of plants to be planted around Nauvoo and Carthage! I'm loving being a part of the garden/grounds crew!  We also put up the outside shades and moved a lot of plants from the greenhouse to outside.

We had a large windstorm this week so we spent a day going around picking up all the downed tree branches. It's so fun being outside! I love working with the ground crew! Elder & Sister Elia, Sister Koop, and the full-time employees - John, Lilly, Richard, Adam, & Louie. 

Elder Burns spent a lot of his week spreading gravel on the road that the wagon rides go on.

We welcomed 5, yep 5!, new couples to the mission! This is the largest group that has arrived since Covid hit. It's fun to welcome them!

Another great thing happened this week! We had our first, in person, Relief Society Meeting! We followed all the "covid precautions". We gathered in a large circle and each shared the story of a woman of faith that we love and admire. There were so many great stories. I shared about my 4th great-grandma, Prudence Fenner. Her first husband died, leaving her with two children. She then married my grandpa and had three more children. They lived in Missouri at the time that the Saints were persecuted and driven out. Their home was burned by the mobs. From what I've read, Grandpa decided that he'd had enough and they separated at that time. Grandma Prudence followed the Saints to Nauvoo, then on to Salt Lake, caring for her five children as they went. She settled in Utah and lived a long life, dying at age 95. When I think I'm going through a hard time, I know that I can make it through because I know my ancestors are rooting for me and if they made it through their hard times, I can make it through mine! I love the examples of so many women of faith. I could have picked so many to honor - my mom, grandma, aunts, cousins, sisters, friends and so many others. I am so thankful for those who have and are setting great examples for me to follow. I am truly blessed! Also, we had pie (in containers to take home to eat so masks didn't have to be removed) and Sister Law made a gluten-free one so I could also have a piece! That was so sweet of her and the pie was delicious!

I love serving here in Nauvoo and I know that Heavenly Father loves me and blesses me daily!

Much love to all!

Putting up the shade. Within a few hours of

putting it up, most of the tables were full of plants.

The plants we moved outside.

A little visitor to the green house. Can you tell 

we'd been potting plants all day by the dirt on 

the thumb and thumbnail?

We had the pots filled with soil and ready to go.

Some of the plugs we transplanted this week.

More transplants

I love the greenhouse!

Little purple pansies dress in yellow gold!

The VC before we chopped down the grasses and after.

These little plants are overcoming great  

obstacles to grow but they are pushing right through! 

Spring is springing!

A quote I saw this week that I really liked!

Bonus letter from Elder Burns

 I told Elder Burns that he needed to write a letter about what he did during the week so here you go!

Okay so what have I done this last week..

 Friday, I took the dump truck and loaded it with a lot of the scrap metal. Then I took it down to Hamilton where the scrap yard is. I then went over to the rock quarry and picked up a load of washed sand. They are going to be doing the sidewalks at some of the sites with rock and they use this sand to smooth it down before they lay the brick down. 

Thursday I was getting ready to start doing the scrap metal and a new job came in for me to do. I had made a handrail for the stairs over in the plumber shop. And they now wanted a handrail on the other side. so I spent that day making that handrail painting it and then Friday morning I installed it. 

Wednesday I took the telehandler, which is basically a forklift that the boom extends. I picked up the bin that collects all the saw dust from the carpentry shop. It has to be dumped occasionally. and we have a spot in the back where we dump the sawdust. However, this time the sawdust was needed down in the oxen barn, so I took the bin all the way down to where the oxen are. I had to open up the gate and go into their corral area with the telehandler. It was tight maneuvering to get the bin where I needed to dump it. The sawdust is dumped in the barn area where the feed trough is located. 

Tuesday was spent in a meeting with a bunch of other missionaries and full-time employees. This meeting was a training for those of us that would be using the skid steer. First there was classroom time where we were taught all about it and all the safety procedures that need to go through the daily check out for anyone that will be using it. This is a safety mandate that we should do this training at least once a year even if we already know how to run the skid steer. I am about the only one besides Kendall (who was the teacher and is my direct supervisor in the auto mechanic shop) who has had experience on all the heavy equipment. And even though I have been allowed to drive everything here I still needed to go through this training. This training is good because you learn things that you didn't know, like where exactly are all the zerk fittings that need to be greased and that we are required to grease the machine every day that we take it out. It takes a little bit more time to check out than it did my school buses when I was driving school buses in Washington County.

Monday I finished up my honey do list for the auto shop. Jill had taken on one corner of the auto shop to clean it. It was a mess and she needed my help. I built a rack to hang on the wall to hold all the shovels and brooms and squeegees and other items of that type. I also made a rack to hold all the receiver hitches that we have. The FM workers come and get, from this corner, items as they need them.  I also took an existing rack that was on wheels. It is about 3ft by 3ft in and about 7 ft tall. It is on wheels which makes it easier to maneuver. Who ever had built this originally had built it around a 55 gallon drum that had become a catch-all for everything. and you never really knew what was in the bottom of that drum, nor could you get to it. I ended up cutting one of the legs off the cage or rack so that I could get the 55-gallon drum out. I then welded the leg back in and then started making shelves all the way up and down down to hold the other items, some of which were in the drum and others that were there just laying around. Jill was able to get from our warehouse, bins to put things like clevis and pins for the receiver hitches. Come-alongs hang from the top shelf. Chains also hang from the top shelf and then I made it so that the bottom shelf would hold the excess chain. The chains and tie downs are used on trailers for hauling equipment to our different sites. This cage and on those shelves now makes the corner look a lot better. I think Jill will show some pictures of that area, what it looked like before and what it looks like now. 

I have moved that 55 gallon drum over to the area where we keep the golf carts and all the ice melt. We have  a truck bed-mounted spreader that spreads ice-melt out onto the parking lots and we have pallets of ice melt in there. The ice-melt comes in these great big bags that hold a ton of ice-melt. I had a bit left over the last time I filled up the spreader hopper. The drum was a perfect place to store this excessive-melt. So far, this month has been fairly warm.  I doubt that we'll need the ice melt anymore this year. The locals here say we typically get more snow and ice, but today we went out for a walk with just a light jacket and it was really nice.

Well, that is what the past week looked like for me. It is also nice to have a Sunday like today where we can have worship services. Even though some of us are at the pageant building in person for a Sacrament service, while others like myself and my wife are at home  watching  via Zoom. Half of the senior missionaries attend in the practice section section of the pageant building while the other half are at home watching it on Zoom. We also have the cafeteria section of the pageant buildings that the Young Sister Missionaries are able to attend in person every week. Sister Burns and myself are in the Joseph Smith Zone and next week our Zone will be in the pageant building attending live while the Hyrum Smith zone will be at home watching over Zoom. I am thankful that I am here in Nauvoo helping to build the sites up to hopefully someday be able to have visitors once again. Things are actually starting to look up as far as having visitors this summer. Little strides ahead. It's almost a positive that the young performing missionaries will be here. The pageant is kind of still unknown whether it will happen this summer so keep it in your prayers. 

Have faith that we will be able to open and we will be able to see you all here in Nauvoo.

Love you all,

Elder Burns

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

 

This has been a wonderful week! I spent a good share of it outside and I needed that! There is something about being out in nature that just fills my soul and rejuvenates my spirit. One morning, as we arrived at work, I heard the birds singing and the sky was so blue that I couldn't help but sing:

"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

Heav'nly Father created for me". 

I hope you all sang that as you read the words! 

As I spent time this week gathering sticks and branches (I lost track of how many trailer loads we gathered!) off of the Historic sites here in Nauvoo, not only did I love being out in this beautiful nature, but I loved the thought that I was cleaning the land that my ancestors worked so hard to make livable. This ground was "mucky stuff" when the Saints arrived in Nauvoo. They had to dig ditches to let the water run off. Some of those ditches are still visible today. It amazes me still that I am serving here where my ancestors lived and walked. 

Having spent most of the winter indoors working in the shop, my body was shocked by the exercise it was getting, gathering and carrying sticks and branches and it let me know the next day - ouch - sore muscles! It felt so good though! I also bought a mini-trampoline and I'm loving working out on it. 

One of the special experiences that I had this week was walking down Parley Street and clearing the ground as I walked. For those who haven't been to Nauvoo, the Trail of Hope is down Parley Street. This is a Memorial to the pioneers as they were leaving the city. They lined Parley Street, waiting for their turn to cross the Mississippi. As you walk down the street, there are plaques with quotes of those who lived here.  I'll go down again and take pictures. My hands were full of sticks as I was walking it.  My heart was humbled as I thought again of the sacrifices they made so that I can have the gospel in my life today. It's always a spiritual experience walking the Trail of Hope.

At Christmas, we were given a picture that says, "We are Guardians of Sacred Grounds" then has a quote by Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, Jr that says, "It's a blessing having you there preserving sacred space." It is truly a blessing for us to serve here in these sacred spaces.

This week I also attended, via Zoom, Relief Society in Ivins and here in Nauvoo. We also had a great "Zoom" call with all of our children and most of the Grandkids. I LOVE technology that allows us to do that.

I also, with Elder Burns help, finished cleaning and organizing the last corner in the Auto Mechanic shop! I'll be serving mostly in the gardens/grounds department now but will still serve in the shop as needed.

We were also invited a couple of times to go on walks this week. It was wonderful to get better acquainted with Elder and Sister Law, as we walked around the lake here in Nauvoo and then we walked with Elder and Sister Chestnut down on the flats. I love the missionaries here and I love that Covid restrictions are loosening up a little bit so we can do things like this again! 

This past month, the missionaries here gathered items for the rest home in Carthage. Elder Burns and I delivered those items this week. They were very appreciative of our service. I love being able to serve on the Community Outreach Committee. 

The amazing and wonderful Sister Dixon is helping me with the cookbook. I was at a loss as to how to format it since all I have here is my little tablet. I tried several different ways and nothing was working. She has a great program and experience using it, so she's adding in all of the recipes and it looks wonderful so far! I'm excited for it and I'm so, so grateful for her help! 

This week has been so full of great things and I'm so grateful to serve here. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that he was called to restore His gospel to the earth. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are aware of each one of us, that they know our names and our desires and needs. I know that, as I strive to be my best (some days are better than others!) I am blessed. There are still struggles and hard times, but I am comforted and know that with His help and the guidance of the Holy Ghost, I can make it through them and be better because of it. 

Thank you for your love and prayers! We love you! ️ 

--

Sister Burns

Elder Doug and Sister Jill Burns

975 Young Street

Nauvoo, IL 62354

burnsinnauvoo.blogspot.com 

We spent most of the week picking up sticks that 

were downed during the winter, most of them during 

the ice storm we had earlier this year.

Pictures taken during our walk with the Laws. 

This is the lake in the Nauvoo State Park. 

It's in the shade so still had ice on it. 

A beautiful flower in the greenhouse.

The "Sunset by the Mississippi" stage. 

We are praying diligently that Nauvoo 

is able to open and that this stage is 

used a lot this summer!

Our burn pile. I think this was on Tuesday, 

maybe Wednesday. We cleaned a lot of area!

The before and after. This was a combined

 effort with Elder Burns and me. 

He helped a lot on this one.

Just a beautiful view!

A friend posted this on Facebook and it made me happy. I need to change it to 

2021 and it'll fit my life just perfectly! I love working in the greenhouse!