Beautiful City....

Nauvoo

Wow!! We had such a great time here. We stayed at the Hart House, which was right across the street from the temple. All I have to say is …Fantastically magical! My aunt Joanne, uncle Steve, cousin Bella, and good friend Jason joined us in Nauvoo this time. The first night we stayed true to our tradition of sitting on the front porch, catching up with everyone and singing hymns well into the evening. Bedtimes slid. It was a time of refection and testimony.

Thursday we woke to a thunder and lighting storm. It was pretty stormy until late afternoon, but we did enjoy taking advantage of the opportunities to tour the old town area anyway. Being wet and cold just added a special pioneer element! In each place we visited outgoing couple missionaries, who entwined life lessons into each historical presentation they gave, greeted us. You could feel something special as they testified of events and told stories of Old Town Nauvoo. We attended the John Taylor home, the Nauvoo Temple, the Mansion house, the Red Brick store, took an hour long wagon ride pulled by 2 beautiful Belgian horses, visited the Browning Gun shop, the Printing Press, the Family Living Center, the Seventies Hall and museum, we attended a variety show, and we walked the Tribute to Women and the Trail of Hope. We ended the evening again on the porch singing. We even added ice cream cones this time (got to share one with Bishop Crane)! Jacob and Jaelynn were able to join us at about 9pm on the porch. Jake summed up the conference trip with two words, “Trust” and “Zion”. They both loved their experience and were sad to come off of it so early.

Friday was Pioneer Trek day!! Jason really wanted to do this so we gathered what courage we could muster and joined with him on an intended 3 mile journey. Even before we left, a couple in our group abandoned ship. J We pushed and pulled a handcart through a wooded area, up and down hills, and crossed through the river 4 times. The mud was 6 inches deep in some places because of all the rain we got the day before. We got tripped up on tree branches and rocks. All three men worked so hard to get our cart up and down the muddy trail. It was sweaty, backbreaking work. We even improvised a “woman’s pull”. We LOVED it – not enough to continue for all three miles (we headed back after one), but we loved it! It was a great experience for all!! Glad we got to do that again! My admiration for what the pioneers had to endure on their journey west continues to grow. They were incredible people who knew how to do hard things willingly, because they had to!

We hustled our fannies over to Carthage Jail for a tour there. It was awesome. Words cannot describe how powerful it was. When we got back home that afternoon we were able to spend more time working in the temple. It’s even more beautiful inside!! What a great way to finish up our time in Nauvoo. Don’t know if or when we’ll ever get back here. Maybe I’ll get to serve a mission here one day? :)