We have been here for nearly 5 days now and are slowly getting settled. We have cleaned, repaired or replaced nearly everything we need to for now. Russ will decide what to do about his guitar later. We found out how unique our position is when we were in training in SLC. (There are only 67 out of the 140+ temples in the world that have temple missionaries. All the rest are manned by local members.) Now that we are here, we are discovering even more uniqueness about our position. Since most of the activity in the temple occurs in the summer, when people come here during vacation, most of the temple missionaries here are called for only 6 months. The only ones here for longer are the engineers, of which Russ is one of only 3. He has hit the ground running since arriving here! We arrived Sunday night, spent Monday trying to get at least some of our stuff put away, running the washing machine all day, and returned the U-Haul trailer, then Tuesday morning at 6:30 he was on his way up to the temple where he has spent all day every day since then. He has been replacing safety tread on the steps to the baptismal font, tightened bolts on seats and chairs, replaced light bulbs, worked on major "plant" machinery, and I don't know what else. In the meantime, I have been taking a daily walk trying to orient myself to our new neighborhood, continuing to clean and organize, and spent time on the phone working out insurance claims from our little accident. Today I plan to walk up to the family history center to see if there is any hope for finding information about my great-great-great grandfather's family who came from Ireland during the potato famine.
Yesterday I had a pleasant day with the other 2 engineers' wives driving to a nearby town, across the Mississippi, to do some shopping. My main goal was to take my broken sewing machine to see if it could be fixed. I haven't gotten word yet as to a prognosis. From what I have learned so far, Russ has the least formal education of all the engineers but is definitely not without a great deal of hands-on training and knowledge which enables him to be a great asset. Since the temple is closed for 2 weeks for cleaning and maintenance, Russ and the other engineers are working full-time. The wives of the engineers are not yet working in the temple because there are no patrons to assist since it's closed. Most of the other temple missionaries have taken the opportunity to go away for visiting people (family mostly) or sightseeing. We will have some local orientation temple training next week and all be involved in that after the 35 or so new temple missionary couples arrive sometime today.
It feels like a dream to me. I suppose once I have been here longer and have a more regular schedule, it will seems more real. The other missionaries have been warm and helpful, but that's what I would expect knowing these are people who have made covenants with God respecting their behavior and character. I have found local people in stores and such to be very friendly and pleasant. I don't know whether that is just their nature or they are reacting to my missionary name tag. I hope it's a combination of both. I like to think there are good people out there who strive to be kind to others just because. I also like to think that people around here have had dealings enough with Nauvoo missionaries and have found them to be nothing but pleasant. I plan to do my part to be a "light unto the world". I am trying to be Christlike; trying to show a better way than many in the world would show. That's not because I am showing off in any way. I just want everybody to live by the Golden Rule because the whole world would be a much better place if everybody treated everybody the way they would like to be treated themselves. Jesus is a good example to follow.
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