Valetines

On Saturday Feb. 14, the single sisters in the mission had a valentines dance for all the couples.

They must have spent many hours baking cookies and making decorations and we all had to have our pictures taken. It was a very fun night

Week 2

Monday John Worked at the blacksmith shop. He's really an old hand at that all ready. I was in the Sarah Granger Kimball home. She was the one that started the forerunner of the Relief society. It was a very peaceful home Sister Evans, the site leader s, and I sat and crocheted and visited and enjoyed the view. (the temple, horses cows and geese landing in the field. Sister Evans looks and acts like she should be Lois Reeder's (Russ) sister. It seemed that she was an old friend the first time I met her.

On Tuesday we had more orientation and then went to Carthage, We had been there several times before, but having studied the presentation and delivering it a couple of times at the MTC, It really had a lot of meaning. I am so grateful for the courage and faith of the Prophet Joseph Smith and His brother. They were such an example of family loyalty and love. It was a really special way to end our orientation

Sites

Wednesday and Thursday I served at the Lucy Mack Smith home. What a faithful and stalwart lady. I t was such a treat to be there from 11:00 - 5:00 for 2 days. The stairs are very steep and narrow so I went down backwards ( no beeping) but I could imagine Lucy and her daughter & fmaily living there. They were only able to stay a few months before fear of the mobs drove them to Knoxville, then Ramus, then Lucy finally returned to Nauvoo and lived with Emma, who cared for her lovingly until her death. Friday I was in the sewing room which was very fun and relaxing??? John Had a ball working with the teams all week.



Wednesday morning we had a reenactment of the exodus. It was not nearly as cold as it was in 1946 and we were dressed warmly and were only out for about an hour, but I tried to imagine what it was like for them. Words fail me. I only know I love and admire them so much for their faithfulness and courage.

Siste Hughes gave the lesson on Sunday. It was excellant. Different but just as good as her Husbands

Orientation

Monday was orientation. There is so much to learn here. We were very busy meeting with the mission presidency and learning about various sites.

Tuesday we had a little free time and are I think we are really unpacked and somewhat organized. ( I keep deciding things would go better some place else.) In the afternoon we met at the temple with the mission Presidency. We were given a welcome and a few stories by the temple President. Then we did a session. Went home and ate then went to the Mission Presidents home for a visit. Sister Ludwig told about their courtship. It was quite a story. She was raised in an active home and had visited the temple in Mesa and made a promise to the Lord that she would marry in the temple. She graduated from BYU and then was introduced to Pres. Ludwig. He was not a member of the church, but the attraction blossemed and she did not know if it was a good thing or not. After falling in love, she told him of her promise. He was going to school in the east. She flew out and spent some time with him. When he drove her to the airport, he said "Well, I am flying home with you." That was great because she wondered if she would see him anymore. Just before they landed, He said "Tonight your dad is going to baptize me. Wow that was a surpraise. They waited a year (which she said was very hard) and were married in the Mesa temple. She kept her promise and he has been very active all their married life. They are really a delightful couple.

Computer woes.

Well our computer is working, but will not recognize our camera memory card. I have been trying to get it to work, but with no success. I guess I will do some catching up and do pictures later.

Saturday Jan 31st was a crazy day. We thought we had the day to finish moving in and do some shopping, but we find that you never have as much time as you thought you would. We had to visit the sewing room and have all our clothes checked and passed off and measurements taken for stage clothes and to finish the sewing I had not been able to get done. For the most part, it all worked okay.

Sunday Feb 1st . Our first day at church here. Typical schedule for a Sunday in the winter. Sacrament meeting at 8:00 a.m. Then combined R. S. Priesthood and some Sunday school. Our teacher for this meeting was Elder Dean Hughes. Yes the Author, and he was wonderful. I had already met his wife and wondered why she looked so familiar. Someone told me she had been in the General R. S. Presidency. Oh so she won't know me, but she certainly seemed like an old friend to me. Choir practice is right after and then we have "Rendezvous" practice from 12:00 till 2:00 . at 7:00 p.m. there is a devotional for the Exodus. I guess in a week or two we will add working at a site to that, and in the summer, it really gets crazy.

Nauvoo at last

We left home about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Logan canyon was snowpacked in many places, but we made it through safely and continued on to Rawlins. We were stopped in Sinclair because the freeway was closed to Laramie for about 3 hrs. Finally we made in to Sidney and spent the night. Had good weather on Friday and got to Omaha mid afternoon. Had Dinner with our good friends, George and Maria Bryan. And visited with Bishop Van Dyke, wife, Raylyn and daughter, Katie. It was so good to see these dear people. Then onto Nauvoo by about 1:30 Friday. We checked in at the mission office and then were given a tour and shown where we would be living and given keys. Then we spent quite some time unloading the car and trying to get the apartment ready. We were so hungry so we went out to eat and when we came back we found that none of our keys worked. We were locked out. After about an hour of frustration, our district leader came with master keys and we made it in. We did a little more unpackin and fell into bed exhausted. But, hey, we are IN NAUVOO.