Saturday 2 August 2008

P-Day again and we went to Burlington to pick up my boots. After shopping, we went to the Blacksmith Shop, so Carolin could go on a tour. We serve there, together, tomorrow. Rendezvous tonight and the men really messed it up. Near the end of the show, all the men sing “Willingly”, a song about leaving Nauvoo, willingly, because we have to. As we sing the last verse, the house lights come up, and we march down the isles, to finish the song. Some how, we skipped two of the verses, all of us, and finished the song on the stage. We never did walk down the isle. When the song ended, everybody just stood there and somebody said “that was good, now what”, so we just walked out. All the cast was laughing, but the audience didn’t know what was going on. Another fine performance by the Nauvoo Seniors.




Sunday 3 August 2008

Testimony meeting and most of the testimonies were those leaving in the next two weeks. When Carolin and I were in the MTC, we were told by many people; leaving our Mission would be harder then leaving home to go on our Mission, and those were the sentiments of most of those speaking.
After the meeting, we changed and went to the Blacksmith Shop. Another couple, Elder and Sister Duke, served with us. They both had been at that Site a number of times before and told us, the Sisters just sit in the waiting room, while the Elders conduct the tours. I asked Carolin to be with me, so she could mention the items I might forget. She does such a great job of including the children, it helped me, because she would suggest things like having one of the little boys turn the wagon wheel, to oil the spokes, after it was made. The parents wanted pictures and the little boy seemed proud to be helping. She would also mention some things I hadn’t told the people in the tour, so I was able to do a better job. It was an enjoyable morning. I liked giving tours in the Blacksmith Shop because I have been there so many times, I know all the information. We have a wooden horse foot and oxen foot to demonstrate shoeing. I told the kids, we had cut the a foot off a horse and cow, so to be looking for a three footed horse and cow, as they walked around the fields. Most of the kids just thought I was being dumb, but one little boy looked very concerned, so I had to assure him I was kidding. Being Sunday, they don’t want us to light a fire in the forge and make horseshoes. I would have liked to do that, but it was still all right.
We had Zone Conference at 7:00 tonight. The Young Performing Missionaries sang, President and Sister Ludwig, spoke. It was a good meeting.


Monday 4 August 2008

Back to work. We changed a light bulb on the picture of Christ, in the Visitor Center, put some PVC underground, for a service change, and fixed the feed to a sump pump. Not bad for 6 hours. It was hot today. 94 degrees and 90% humidity. The heat index was 107 and they put the horses away at noon. The horses can’t work when the index is above 103, but it is all right for us old folks to be out in it, we don’t get hurt, we know where the cool places are.


Tuesday 5 August 2008

Today, Carolin and I saw David Price, a young man who was our Elders Quorum President in the singles ward, when we first served there. He was only there for a short time before he got married. Now he has a two year old daughter.


Wednesday 6 August 2008

Changed a few lights in the Visitor Center, and talked with Elder Swallow for a couple of hours. We had a lot of world problems to solve. Elder Pace called from Carthage, saying his power was out. We started for his place and got to Hamilton, when he called and said a guy across the street had dug up the line and would have it fixed in an hour, so we came back to Nauvoo, just in time to quit for the day. Another hard day at NRI.
Tonight at Rendezvous, we talked with Peggy Webb. She is the daughter of Dave and Gayle Garrick. I never imagined, we would see so many people here, we knew.


Friday 8 August 2008

After work, I went to an area where the Kimball boat landing had been, in 1844. The landing belonged to Hiram Kimball, husband of Sarah Granger Kimball, who had a store West of their house. The landing appears to have been West and North of the house, where the ground slopes down to the water. The books indicate the river bank, all along the Nauvoo side, dropped sharply down to the river, so the landings were located where the ground sloped naturally, as it does at the end of Parley Street. The landing at the end of Main Street, by the Nauvoo House, was probably the steepest climb of the four landing in Nauvoo. Journals tell of the climb up from the dock to the Prophets home.


Saturday 9 August 2008

We went to the largest Flea Market in Missouri today. Got up early and left by 8:00. The drive was an hour and a half; through hollers, over hills, around and around bends, until I didn’t know which direction I was going. We wondered how anybody could find the largest Flea Market on all these country roads. We made it. Two dollars to park, another two dollars to rent a 4-wheeler, if you wanted one. That was the first indication of how big the largest Flea Market really was. The second, was a sign indicating the parking areas; North area, central parking, and overflow parking. We decided to decline the 4-wheeler and started walking. Carolin had an umbrella, because of the sun, so she made out alright that way, but after two hours, and much looking at tools, farm implements, and picture frames, which had been left laying around for way too long, we called it quits. Two hours didn’t get us to very many of the vendors who were there, so I guess it could really be the largest Flea Marker in Missouri.


Sunday 10 August 2008

Normal sacrament meeting. I was assigned to help prepare the sacrament and clean up after the meeting. Carolin and I served in the Brick Yard, with the McKissicks, in the afternoon. It was a nice experience but we only had 4 tours. Sundays are slow.

This evening was a fireside given by the great, great grandson of Parley Pratt, Paul Debry. He talked about the five Pratt brothers. He gave a lot of information on the Pratt family.





Monday 11 August 2008

The Young Performing Missionaries will be leaving soon and tonight was their talent show. We are exposed to professional performers, in the movies and television, and come to expect that level of ability, in all the show we see. Quite often, the shows of amatures are a disappointment, but tonight we saw talent as good as any, available anywhere. It is hard to imagine, this much talent in one small group of young people, but they did have to audition, and they came from all over the country. One girl came from Anchorage, Alaska, one from Texas, and all in between.


Tuesday 12 August 2008

I was told this morning, Elder McKissick will be going back to the Sites. Next week I will be the Lone Ranger. We finished the outlets in the Webb house, put batteries in two apartments smoke detectors, fixed the walk lights in front of our apartment, drove a ground rod for another house, and prepared the area around a water tank for the service to the pumps.

Tonight we have Sunset. One more show on Friday and we will be through with Sunset until next summer. The Sites have changed to winter hours, but NRI will still start at 7:00 and quit at 2:00, until the weather gets cold and the days are shorter.