Sights and sounds

 So, what do these pictures have to do with our being on a mission at the Nauvoo temple? This is just another sample of the views we have when we are outside the temple. It is just lovely here and  reminds us of where we grew up in upstate New York. These oxen pull the oxcart here in historic Nauvoo. I guess I never realized that the oxen used by the pioneers were basically cattle- usually male. When they were desperate, they even yoked up female cows to pull a wagon.

 Two mornings a week, Monday (our P-day) and Thursday (when we work afternoon/evening shift) we get to go for a walk. Sometimes we walk along the Mississippi and sometimes we walk around the areas like this where the barns and equipment for historic Nauvoo are kept. I use the adjective "historic" because above the flats by the river, up on the bluff to the east of the temple is the modern town of Nauvoo, population just over 1,000. It's a small Midwestern  town with a quiet, intimate lifestyle disrupted in the summers by hordes of Mormon tourists who come here to experience something of what the early Church  pioneers might have felt. In addition to visiting the various old-time shops and buildings, they usually want to enter the temple for at least one session of some kind. Teenagers (youth) come in large groups and nearly always do proxy baptisms for their ancestors. Last July there were 2500 baptisms performed in the font in the basement of the temple. We already have several sessions spoken for this summer. In the temple it's very quiet and peaceful. Outside it's quiet and peaceful compared to many of the places we have lived- disturbed mostly by the singing of birds, the hourly chimes of the temple bell, the clip-clop of a horse-drawn wagon, and once in awhile a lawnmower.

Stairs, stairs and more stairs!

     To give you an idea what our day is like, most days we wake up about 5:45, get dressed, make our bed, pack a light lunch (which Russ usually gets to eat but at least half the time I don't because I'm too busy), say a prayer, have breakfast and head downstairs out of our building. We walk about 1/2 mile uphill to the temple where we go up lots of stairs to enter. I wanted to post pictures of all the stairs but haven't yet figured out how to do that. I hope to include (if I have succeeded if figuring out how) a link to a video showing Nauvoo, including the temple. (Russ is singing in it- front row) Once we get inside, Russ heads downstairs into the basement to the engineers room to find out his duties for the day. I always take the stairs up to the 4th floor to dress in my temple white dress. (Everybody in the temple wears white- including the engineers, custodians, and laundry people.) There is an elevator but I don't ever use it. Russ uses it occasionally because he often has to go up and down repeatedly. On average I probably go up or down a flight of stairs about every 10 or 15 minutes. By that, I don't mean I'm going up and down all day. It's just that I often need to cover multiple flights of stairs to get where I need to go. This temple was built as a reproduction of a temple that was originally built 150 years ago, way before elevators. There is a lovely spiral staircase which is one of four staircases along with 2 elevators for getting up and down.
     This is quite a change for Russ and me. For the past 5 years we have lived in Sun City, AZ, a retirement community, where there simply are no stairs. Old people don't like stairs and often can't manage them. So even though we have been diligent about walking every day, we have not climbed stairs much in the last 5 years. I'm hoping that by the end of our 18 months here, I won't be huffing and puffing quite as bad by the time I get up to the dressing room in the mornings.
     So, the link to the video of the Nauvoo temple is
https://youtu.be/gevmBONEulg

If this doesn't work to get you there, check Facebook where my cousin and I have both shared the link.

Livin' along the Muddy Mississippi

As I left the house where we're living and started walking toward the river, I turned around and took a picture. You can't see our house except for the roof over the top of the wagon. I thought this was a picturesque view to include. These wagons travel their circuit near our house multiple times a day, filled with people wanting an overview of historic Nauvoo. These days the wagons aren't always really full like they will be in a month or so.

 When I finished the 10-15 minute walk to the water, I wanted to get a picture of what it looks like. Having grown up in the Fingerlakes area of New York State as well as some time in the Adirondacks, I am accustomed to fairly large bodies of water. Every time I get a glimpse of this body of water, I have to remind myself that it's a RIVER- it goes on and on north and south. This first picture is a view to the north.

 This next picture is a view to the south. You can see the other shore in both pictures but you can't see how it goes on endlessly beyond the bend. I keep remembering motor boats and water skiing, but won't see that on this body of water. We have seen barges, though. They're pretty impressive. One day we saw a tug pushing 15 loaded barges, all hooked together!

The Mississippi River has been used for transportation for eons. It isn't quite the highway it once was but it still flows on and on and is used for commercial transportation. Some day I hope we can take a river cruise on it. We won't travel the whole length of course but it will give me a longer view of it.

Definitely NOT suffering as we serve!

There are positives and negatives to just about everything in life. Although while we are on our mission we are not able to spend time whenever we want with family members, we can't usually anyway because they are all over the world- mostly far from us and each other. We are delighted with the anticipation of visits from all of our kids and grandkids at the beginning of July here in Nauvoo. Although we don't have a home we actually own or even rent long-term, we do have a lovely place to live for the next year and a half. This first picture is (in case you hadn't figured it out) our bedroom, with the bathroom off to the right. The king-size bed is wonderfully comfortable. There are 3 windows looking out the front of the house to the left of the bed.

Standing at the foot of the bed, this is the view of the rest of our spacious bedroom, including our Clavinova that survived the tragic trailer rollover! We have plenty of dresser and closet space.

Walking toward the back of the house, we can see the kitchen/dining room/living room area. Here you can see Russ playing his new guitar- the replacement for the one that DIDN'T survive the trailer rollover. To the left, off-camera is the stove and more cupboard space. To the right, off-camera is a storage closet, the laundry and utility area (we have our own furnace, AC, and water heater as well as stackable washer and dryer), and the door to our apartment that goes out to a landing leading down stairs and out the front of the house. (It's just outside the front door that I planted the flowers I posted a picture of, that are still surviving. I guess the moth balls have succeeded in keeping bunnies and deer away.) As you can see, we have all the space we need, and then some, and at a very reasonable cost to us. The land and the houses built for missionary dwellings were donated by a church member who had the wherewithal to purchase and donate for the benefit of others. Our cost is mostly to cover utilities.
     In addition to working in the temple 5 days a week, all the missionaries have been assigned to visit church units within the area of the temple. Russ and I have been assigned, along with one other couple, to a local ward about 2 hours north of us in Illinois. The area we are going to was just reorganized with new lines drawn to make the church units.( Since LDS members perform all the "work" in running our churches, we divide units when they get large to enable as many as possible to have the chance to serve as well as keeping the unit more intimate.) Russ and I have been asked to teach a class of 6-8 year olds. This past Sunday there were 2 boys and 3 girls, all very attentive but friendly and willing to participate. We talked about faith and obedience. One of the girls in the class has been blind since birth but she's very bright, independent, and capable. The other kids, although they aren't necessarily really familiar with her since the unit was recently reorganized, are more than willing to help her when needed but they are pretty good about not smothering her. They allow her to try to do what she can and wants to do. One of the other teachers is in  wheelchair but still willing to serve as a teacher of a class of 3 and 4 year olds. We expect by the end of our 18 months here, we will have grown pretty attached to these members, just as we have everywhere we have lived.
     My younger daughter recently commented about hard work being therapeutic and I totally agreed. My older daughter recently talked about how she loves being part of a family that is willing to work and noted that it is a heritage we enjoy in our family. I learned hard work and willing service from my parents who learned it from Dad's parents, and on.... I am grateful that my children have grown up willing to serve others and aren't afraid of the effort required. It's very satisfying to belong to a good family.

More thoughts on conversion

     Satan can't have a body because he couldn't handle it. He showed his true nature eons ago. He wanted our Father's power. He refused obedience because he wanted things HIS way. When we come to earth as helpless infants, we don't make much use of the freedom to choose that Father granted us because we can't do much beyond eat, sleep, and make a lot of noise. As we grow and figure out more about our bodies, we tend to be very self-centered in wanting pleasure and avoiding discomfort, no matter what the cost to others. We can be taught to look outside ourselves and develop compassion, even empathy but the choice is still ours to be self-centered or not. Conversion to the concept of God's plan requires thought and sincere effort looooooong after the choice to follow His plan. God wants to share with us everything but He is wise in not giving us more than what we can handle. He wants us to be like He is and that means powerful but also loving, wise but patient, omnipresent but considerate. As we make "good" choices, we slowly begin to be changed from a self-centered child to a wiser, developing follower of truth and wisdom. We can choose what we want to believe as truth but it doesn't affect the existence of truth. There are people on the earth who adamantly claim the earth is flat or that people have never been on the moon or all kinds of beliefs about what makes things work. They can choose to believe whatever they want but the earth is NOT flat and is not on the back of a turtle. Truth is not like a compound manufactured in the laboratory of the human mind. Truth exists in and of itself. It is more like an element that must be diligently sought out and discovered. God exists and knows more than we can even begin to imagine. He wants to share that knowledge with us but He does not want to put incredible power in the hands of the unwise. If we cannot open our hearts and minds to the needs of others, we could easily harm them. If we cannot comprehend sacrifice for the betterment of others, we could impede their potential to advance. If we cannot embrace patience in waiting for the best timing, our impatience could destroy a  better plan. If we cannot stand firmly for righteous principles, we cannot be trusted.
     Each time we give the last piece of cake to someone else, we learn self-sacrifice. Each time we patiently wait for someone else to have their turn, we gain greater self-denial or control. Obedience to God's laws isn't about Him controlling us. It's about us learning how to control ourselves. Obedience to God doesn't give Him more power. He doesn't need more power! Obedience gives us greater power because if we can learn to control our own passions, we can learn to control anything. Also, as I mentioned a few posts ago, our whole environment- people and elements- will ultimately recognize and obey whatever power is greatest. That power is of God and we will naturally command that kind of obedience and respect when we strive to be like God.
      The bottom line is that conversion is a process. It's not just deciding to believe that Jesus is your Savior. It's a gradual change of heart and mind from being self-centered and obeying our mortal passions to having charity which is the pure love of Christ. No one else can atone for the world as Jesus Christ did but we must have the divine nature which would enable us to be willing to sacrifice ANYTHING for the good of others. Every time we deny our anger, lust, greed, resentment, covetousness, or any other mortal passion or earthly treasure, we become more Christlike, more Godlike. It will take longer than the few years we live as mortals but the decision to head down that career path takes place in our mortal probation. Don't expect to be a crowd-pleaser. Too many mortals would prefer their neighbors to be weaker than they are so they can avoid feeling guilty. On the other hand, it's important for us to avoid becoming pious or self-righteous. This life is NOT a competition, it's a test to see if we will choose God's way- or not.
     The benefits of such a career path are phenomenal. We get to spend eternity with really nice people and continue learning truth without having to figure it all out for ourselves. Nobody has to be "in charge" of us because we will have learned how to be in charge of ourselves. We can spend eternity giving and receiving love. Now that's really nice.

Love may not be cookies but it might be mothballs

The weather is lovely here in Nauvoo. I love being where things grow and the air is moist. As an early mother's day gift to myself, I bought some flowers and planted them in front of our tri-plex. They're tiny now but I hope they will soon fill the bed. A neighbor seeing me working in the dirt warned that I might want to put some moth balls around the flowers because she had recently planted some flowers and by the next morning rabbits and/or deer had eaten half. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but Nauvoo is a pretty small town. There just isn't anywhere here to buy moth balls. Concerned that my work all go for naught, Russ got in the car and drove, and drove, and drove until he found a place to buy moth balls. I didn't ask him to do it. It was his idea and he did it out of love for me. That's pretty nice, don't you think? So my flower bed won't smell very good but it should be colorful and pleasing to the eye.

I wish you could be here

     For the benefit of anyone who is interested, I thought I would give some information about the people here. About a third of the couples serving as temple missionaries here in Nauvoo are "first generation" converts to the LDS church. Well over half are here from states other than Utah. Much of the work done on the Nauvoo temple was by volunteers- including some of the artisans. Much of the land for and the little houses where missionaries like Russ and me stay was donated. Last year in July alone there were 25,000 baptisms performed in the Nauvoo temple, all for people who have lived before us who have the option on the other side of the veil to accept the ordinance or not. Nearly all of the work done in temples throughout the world is for relatives of current members. Very little, if any, of the names are generated from just public records of some kind. Russ and I are among the younger ones here serving as temple missionaries and everyone has some trial in their life from health issues to financial struggles to problems among their children and grandchildren yet they serve willingly and cheerfully. There have been several missionary couples who have later returned to live in the area simply because they like the lifestyle and people, most of whom are not LDS.
     During training this week as well as the training we received in Salt Lake City last week, the main emphasis has always been on being kind, loving, helpful and in all ways Christlike to all who come to the temple as well as to all we meet wherever we go. There is much less concern about policing any kind of temple or church rules. We have been counseled repeatedly to be simple in our attire, not showy. This doesn't mean austere- we just need to not draw attention to ourselves or appear either sloppy and dirty or too extravagant. We are actually advised to minimize socializing inside the temple, with visitors (patrons) or other workers. The reason is to allow reverence, peaceful reflection, worship of the Lord, and the opportunity to learn from the still, small voice (Holy Spirit).
     As we all went up the stairs in the temple, it occurred to me that we were a beautiful army, all dressed in white. We were all slightly different yet  much alike in our appearance and certainly in our goals or desires. Rather than training to destroy people or places we are trained to build up and keep clean. Rather than showing power, we are striving for serenity and confidence as we encourage the same in others. Rather than competing or beating down an enemy, we are inviting all who want to join us in establishing peace. It may sound altruistic, but it's true. Not every Latter Day Saint is at their best all the time. We don't claim to be an organization of Christlike individuals. There are members at all levels of development in their spiritual education and self-control. We claim to have programs and information to enable all who want to follow the Savior to be able to do that. We don't have all knowledge. We would have to be God for that. In fact, we should and do strive to be humble and meek, as Jesus was. We aren't yet ready to be citizens in the Kingdom of God but we are all striving to be ready, at least in our hearts. Yet there are faults and quirks and individual issues. I am certain that everyone here would freely admit to being humanly imperfect. We are all making a good effort. That's all the Lord expects.