Week 11 Highlights

We are so blessed to be able to live here in Nauvoo, it is quite an unusual situation. We know all of our neighbors well, and as we go out on the street, we see others that we know well. Everyone is involved in the same work and has the same feelings and beliefs we do. This is a very unique set of circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Last Sunday we had an “assigned group” Sunday dinner. This happens every month, and every month the groups change. It’s a great way to get to know everyone on a more personal level. This time we were at Bro. & Sis. Reid’s home with the Call’s and the Kelsey’s. (Bro. Kelsey was in the temple presidency at the Salt Lake Temple, and is quite a remarkable man) Usually, the host family provides the main course and everyone else brings something to go along with it. We had a delicious Taco Salad dinner with Mom’s “Cool Cake” for dessert. Yum! (We got to take the Cool Cake leftovers home and have been snacking on it for the last week)

The Temple President has been interviewing all of the Temple Missionaries and Sunday after dinner, it was our turn. We met with him in the Temple for a 15-minute chat. With about 60 couples, this has been taking up a lot of his Sundays lately. We had a very nice talk with him. He was mostly interested in how we were doing – were we getting enough sleep, were we staying healthy, were we enjoying our mission – all the things a Temple Mission President would be interested in.

After our interview, we went to the Visitor’s Center Theater for a program put on by the young full-time Sisters who work there. It was mostly singing with short readings between. It was excellent. They are a whole bunch of very talented young women. There are so many who wanted to attend, they did the program twice, once at 6:00 and then again at 7:15. One thing about Nauvoo . . . things here are almost always on time both for the start and for the end, and rarely do any of the programs last more than an hour. Nice.

Tuesday, after our shift, we had to pick up a few things, so we went to the Big City of Burlington. We actually found a Target (Mom’s happy), a Staples (Dad’s happy) a Kohl’s and a Pennys.

Because our anniversary was this past week, our neighbors invited us out to dinner. Our anniversary was actually on our P-Day (Thursday), so we went out Wednesday afternoon after our morning shift, to Fort Madison to a restaurant named “Kumar’s”. We were introduced to the chef at Kumar’s in April when he provided the food for two of our dinners during our training. We remembered how good it was, so we decided to go to his restaurant. It was even better than we remembered. At our training dinner, he gave everyone a little card that was good for one free order of his famous “fried strawberries”. It actually sounded like something from the Orange County Fair, but we had them for dessert and they were wonderful – served with whipped cream . . . . and I’m sure they must have been very nutritious, too.

Another activity that happens each month is the Temple Mission potluck Picnic. (You’ve seen photos from the last two months – See week 6 and week 9 highlights) and all the festivities that go with that. Well, following last month’s entertainment (An accordion sing-along) they have asked for me and a couple of other elder Elders to play for another sing-along. After Wednesday’s pre-anniversary dinner with our neighbors, I met at Elder Ostler’s home with him and Elder Durrant to see if we would be able to play for July’s sing-along. Elder Ostler had played a little back in the 60’s with a folk group (he plays a little banjo-uke) and Elder Durrant has played (guitar) with his singing to his little grandchildren. It was interesting and fun. We’ve identified about eight songs that we should be able to lead and all went home to practice for a week. We’re meeting again this coming week to see how things have progressed. Since last week’s practice, they have both told me that their fingers are sore. We’ll see how it turns out.

Thursday, our P-day was also our anniversary. We had a very leisurely morning and then took the beautiful one-hour drive to Quincy. (Just to remind you, Quincy is the place we found the nice home we are going to purchase - see week 7 highlights) We spent WAY too much time at the Quincy Mall, and then drove to a restaurant we have heard a lot about – the Pier. As it turns out, the Pier, being so very close to the Mississippi River, was still digging out from the flooding problems of the past few weeks, and was scheduled to open the next day. I talked with the owner for quite a while about the situation and she showed me how the fairly new building had been designed with the restaurant on the second floor and only storage on the bottom floor with drains and sump pumps to accommodate flooding. As it turns out, the flooding was a bit more than the design called for, but they were still in pretty good shape, without much damage or loss. She sent us to her friend’s (Roberto) Italian restaurant called Tiramisu. It’s in a very old building (See photo) and may be the only thing in the entire four-story building. We were there about 20 minutes before they opened, so we took a walk around the nearby park and looked at all of the buildings. They are all at least 100 years old and most of them have only one shop on the ground floor with the rest of the 4 and 5 story buildings vacant. The building that housed the Tiramisu Restaurant didn’t look all that great, and I don’t think we would have gone into it if it hadn’t been so highly recommended to us. Inside, it was a very nice, old Italian restaurant with VERY good food – and lots of it. We had the leftovers the next day and they were even better.

After we got home, it was such a nice evening we decided to walk to “Sunset on the Mississippi”. (See week 6 and week 9 highlights) Again, it was a great performance, and as usual, a few surprises. Each evening, toward the last of the program, the Nauvoo Band plays a medley of all of the armed forces songs (Army, Navy, Marines, Cost Guard, and Air Force). Then, as each song plays, those who have served in that branch of the U.S. armed forces is escorted up to the stage by one of the young performing missionaries. Usually there are about 20 or so standing up on the stage by the end of the medley. This time, as the last one (Air Force) was being played, and men were being escorted up the steps, I said to Mom, “That guy looks just like President Uchtdorf”. He turned around and it WAS President Uchtdorf. What a surprise! He was there on vacation with his wife and his two grandsons from Germany who have both recently been called to the Taiwan Mission. It turns out that while he was in the German Air Force, he was sent on special assignment to train with the US Air Force and was made an official member of the US Air Force. It was nice to see him there enjoying Nauvoo.

I have to tell you about the 2^nd part of this. First, a little background. Every day, the wagon ride goes past our house about every hour. Whenever we are home and I hear the wagon clip-clopping down the street, I go to our upstairs window, open it and wave down to the people in the wagons. Most of the time they see me, and wave back. Well, on Friday morning as we were getting ready for our shift, I heard the clip-clop and went to the window and waved. Who waved back? You guessed it. It was President Uchtdorf, his wife and their two grandsons along with the Nauvoo Mission President. They were the only ones on the wagon. Neat, eh? (Somehow, they got a private wagon)

Friday was, of course, the FOURTH OF JULY. Since it was on a Friday, we had our usual Friday afternoon -evening shift. Then after our shift, we came home for dinner and decided to drive down to the end of Parley Street to see if there were any fireworks across the river. We waited for a while and after a nice sunset, sure enough, there WERE fireworks actually from several places across the river. As you may see from the photo (About the best of the lot), they weren’t exactly what we were expecting. But then again, we were thankful for the show.

Well, that’s about it for this week. We are really enjoying it here in Nauvoo and are continually learning more about the faith and courage of the early saints and the amazing things they went through and accomplished under those adverse circumstances. We really appreciate the ease that we enjoy as we live here in this city they built.

All is well.

We love you all,
Mom & Dad / Granny & Grandpa