Today is the day we check in. Our appointed time is not until 2:00, so we have to find something to do until then. Fort Madison is about nine miles away, so we decided to go check it out. It’s an old town, but we found a couple of things we would like to go back and check out, so we will do that some other day. We then drove back, and around Nauvoo, and then finally it was time to check in. We had to go to the visitor’s center 2nd floor.
When we arrived they were waiting for us, they were all very nice and gave us all our information, told us where we would be living - which is on Kimball Street (but that’s not our mailing address, the address we gave you is our mailing address). It’s upstairs - just what we wanted.
Oh, I forgot. We had to go back and get in line with the cable people to set up our internet, so after that, we moved into our apartment. Which, by the way, is very nice. We are right across the street from the Brick Yard. There was a host couple assigned to every 2 or 3 couples. Our host just happens to be Pres. & Sis. Turek, a member of the Temple Presidency. They had us over to dinner, along with the other couple. A kind of “get-to-know-you” evening. They live just behind us, so we were able to walk over to their house. It was a nice evening. When we got home, we went to bed early because we were tired, and because church starts at 8:00. Ouch! And because the ward is so big because of all the missionaries, if you want to sit in the chapel, you have to get there ½ hour early. Fun.
April 20
Sunday. Well, we didn’t leave to go to church until about 7:40, therefore, we had to sit in the cultural hall. Bummer. They have a nice building, in fact, it’s the Stake Center. After church, we were taking with our neighbors, and decided that we should carpool to church. No sense following each other, so I guess we will start that next week. Later, we took a walk and timed how long it would take us to walk to the Temple from our house. We walked slow and it took almost 20 minutes. So I guess they were right when they told us we could walk. They just failed to tell us how long it would take. But, I guess when it gets real hot you wouldn’t want to walk anyway. We just hung out at our house the rest of the day.
Monday April 21
Today was our day off so we could get enough food in our apartment to last until our next p-day. We drove into Keokuk, Iowa again and got a bunch of stuff we needed. Also, the Cable guy was supposed to come by to hook up our internet connection. He called late in the afternoon to let us know that he wouldn’t be here until Tuesday.
We decided that we would walk the ½ mile to our mail barn to see if we had any mail. We received several DVDs this week – Purple Poncho, Blond Jokes, and Pirates from Grammar Island. Fun. We also received pictures, drawings, crafts and Granny even got some jewelry. We enjoy EVERYTHING we get. It’s fun to go to the mail barn and find things in our mail slot!
Tuesday April 22
The Cable guy finally came, and as you can tell, it finally works. We were to be at the Temple at 12:30 to be set apart as Nauvoo Temple workers. We were not only excited about being set apart, but also being able to go into the temple. In the afternoon, all of the Temple Missionaries had a meeting at the Stake Center, followed by a nice dinner.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
At the temple at 7:30 and home by 7:00 every day for training. The training was mostly where and when we will be assigned. Each morning we met in the assembly room, which requires special permission to use. It was really nice to be there. The temple is very nice with a lot of dark wood and a lot of colors with shades of greens and yellows. It is bigger than we thought it would be. It has five floors and a basement. Each morning we go to the fourth floor to change (the dressing rooms for the patrons are on the second floor) and the endowment and sealing rooms are on the third floor. There are two sealing rooms on the fifth floor for live sealings. The basement is where the baptistery is located along with the laundry room and the worker’s lunchroom. We will be getting a lot of exercise walking up and down the stairs every day. They have elevators, but they are slow, and we’ve decided that we’ll use the stairs. We’ll see how long that lasts.
At the end of the week, they called us to work with those who are coming to the Temple for the first time and also with those who have come to be married or sealed. That position is called “Guide”. We’ll do everything else too, and be a Guide when we are needed. There will be about six other couples also serving as Guides.
At the end of our training on Friday, they let us walk around the Temple on our own and gave us as much time as we wanted to go wherever we wanted. Amazing.
These last three days they treated us to lunch and dinner each day – Very Nice!
Saturday we were trained in the Accommodation Center – a little house across from the Temple. It is a place where people can leave their kids (if they have someone 18 or older to watch them) while they go to the temple. There are also films and information for any tourists who happen to wander in. We’ll be assigned to work there instead of our regular temple shift about once a month or so.
One day in May and one day in September we have an assignment to clean in the Temple. That will be in the evening from 8:00 to 10:00. One day in June and one day in August we will have an assignment to host on the Temple grounds.
Monday (tomorrow) we start our regular shift –
Monday - 12:00 to 6:00
Tuesday and Wednesday - 7:00 to 2:00
Thursday – Day off
Friday and Saturday - 1:00 to 8:00
Here we are again on Sunday, and we got to church about 7:40am so we didn’t make it into the chapel again.
By the way, we had our first visitors yesterday. Bill and Crystal Griffin, along with their two daughters and a friend and BJ and his wife with their little baby dropped by to see us. Their daughter was married in St. Louis Friday. We were getting ready to go to the Accommodation Center so we didn’t get to chat too long. It was fun seeing them. We worked with Bill at the Newport Beach Temple.
Hope you had a great week, too. We love you all.
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