July Fun Begins

The four of us.  Sister Aaron, Sister Harwood, Nan and me.  These are all the people that were asked to come to Nauvoo by the Hunters.  I didn't know the Harwoods or the Aarons before we came but I love them both and we have had lots of oportunities to work together.  We had a special breakfast at the Aarons.  It was wonderful to see Nan and Richard.

Here we are at "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo."  This is Nan, me, Dave and Sister Pixler.  She is in charge of the sewing room now and has become a good friend. 

This one is for Kathleen.  Here we are in Nauvoo.  In the front is Ben, Julia, Hannah Hayden and Clarissa Peterson.  In the back is Ann Hayden, Will Peterson, Nan, me and Steve Hayden.  Ann is Nan's daughter and she and Steve are very good friends of mine.  All the kids were students of mine at Almaden Country School.  

Dave and my friends Faye and Amy waiting excitedly for the Nauvoo Pageant to begin. 

Here they are at the end of the pageant.  The skies opened up and rained buckets on us.  We were drenched!  The pageant went on in the pouring rain and no one in the audience got up and left.  It was really a night to remember.

We are loving our mission - if you can't tell.

My very good friend - Sharon Watkins.  I know that we will be forever friends - besides that - she is from California.

July is Here

Dear Friends and Family,

Can you believe that the summer is half over?  The mission here has been gearing up for July when all the people come to see the pageants.  There are people all over the place.  Dave and I worked in the Browning Gun Shop on Sunday with another couple and I can't even tell you how many people we had in that four and a half hour period.  Fortunately, the two men were good at it because their two wives had never served there before.  You only work with your spouse on Sunday.  Other days you work with another sister and the gun shop is usually a man's site.

We love it here!  We love the people and we love the missionaries.  We work hard.  This is not a Disneyland mission!  When you open a site in the morning you clean, dust, vacuum, and sweep.  You are on your feet for six hours.  You hurry home and change your clothes and then you either go to "Rendezvous" or "Sunset."  We have two evenings off a week.  We use any spare time to learn "Preach My Gospel," study the scriptures, write to family, study your site book for the next day, listen to conference talks, go to the temple, etc.   We have lots of memorizing of songs and lines in the plays.  It is not a mission for the faint in heart.

Until you have walked on these streets, you cannot really understand what the pioneers gave up when they were forced out of here.  We drove over to Montrose, on the other side of the river last Wednesday, and looked back on the beautiful city.  I can only imagine their heartache as they looked back, seeing Nauvoo for the last time.  The wagons lined up and came down Parley to cross the river.  It used to be called the Trail of Tears but President Hinckley, who was president of our church until 5 years ago,  changed the name to the Trail of Hope.  Our mission president, President Gibbons, told us that the pioneers were not here to build cities, they were here to build faith.  I love telling their beautiful stories in the homes.  But, I mostly tell the visitors that no matter how many homes or artifacts you see, if they were here what they would want you to know most is that they loved the Lord, they loved the Prophet Joseph Smith, they loved Brigham Young and that they would do whatever was asked of them because they had such great faith.  Wilford Woodruff asked that we not forget the sacrifice and it is by coming and visiting here, that we don't forget. 

We are doing our vignette in "Rendezvous" once a week, two performances in a row.  Since some of the bridges are out across Iowa because of flooding, many visitors have had to make detours to make it across the rivers.  There were two busloads coming from Canada on Saturday night.  They had 60 tickets to "Rendezvous."  The busses screached up and some people ran off but we were already half way through the second performance.  It was decided to to a third performance just for them.   We made history.  No one has ever done three performances in a row!  There were 101 of them.  They were very appreciative.

The pageants have started.  We saw the Nauvoo one on Tuesday and it was wonderful.  We are seeing the British Pageant on Friday.  I hear that one is even better than the first.  I can't wait.  Trevor is coming to see that one.  I am sure that he will love it as he went to the MTC in Preston, England. 

We are looking forward to friends and family coming over the next few weeks.  Nan and Richard Hunter and some of their children and grandchildren are coming next week, Faye Avarell and her sister are coming on Saturday the 19th, Kim Verespey and her kids are coming at the same time as Kendra, Trevor and Michelle are coming at the end of the month and then my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and some of their family are coming the first part of August. 

I put some pictures on my blog yesterday.  You are welcome to look at it.  It is called Curtis Review of Old Nauvoo @ blogspot.  I will put this letter on there, too.

We love you all and appreciate you thoughts and prayers in our behalf.  

Love,  Sherry  

This Week in Nauvoo - July 8

Driving home from the Visitor's Center the other afternoon.  We just never get tired of the view across the Mississippi.

You can see how high the Mississippi is.  This is at the end of the Trail of Hope.  These trees are usually not in the water.  Many of the bridges are out because of flooding. 

This is in Montrose.  It is the place where the Latter-Day Saints had to escape to across the river as the mobs forced them out by burning their homes and threatening to kill them.  It was a miracle that the river flooded as there are rapids right there.  It was in the middle of February.  They were only able to go 35 miles that month because of the terrible mud and the freezing weather.

This is the last that they saw of their beautiful city of Nauvoo and the temple that they had worked so hard to build.

This is in the Sarah Granger Kimball home.  This Bible was given to Sarah by her husband Hyrum as a wedding gift.

Beautiful flower garden the Sarah Granger Kimball home where the Relief Society began.  It is one of my favorite places to serve.  This is Sister White.  She has been here for 15 months and has taught me a lot.