We Learn to March......

                  ......Into Sunset on the Mississippi
    

     A new chapter of Nauvoo life began this week as we held our 1st practices for the summer variety show "Sunset on the Mississippi".  This is a different production than Rendezvous and focus' more on the entertainment side rather than telling the story of Nauvoo on stage.  First order of business is to "train the new recruits".  Sunset has a "pre-show" with a lot of fun activities....a Kids Parade where the children our entertained by making hats and that is followed by a parade around the stage while playing instruments.  Once that is completed there is a tribute to our military veterans.  Here's where the marching part comes in.  All the missionaries stand in formation and march in place while they sing the anthem of all the branches of the service.  Since walking a chewing gum at the same time is a difficult task for some....marching, singing, and saluting?  The veterans are asked to stand as there anthem is played and they are saluted....since I was in the Army I get to hold a flag in the front rather than sing and march.  Go figure....the one's who have marching experience don't march.  Since we didn't have to learn to march our group went and practiced one of the songs....over and over again until we got tired and started swapping stories.

A Week of Misadventures.....

                         ...Ends in Progress

     Turns out we still had one more window to replace...this time in the basement.  Elder Sims volunteered, dove right in, only to find that the rock foundation would have to be chipped away about 1/2" x 18" deep to fit the new window.  Cheerfully and without hesitation he pounded away until the window was fit and installed.  His bruised and battered finger will heal.....
    Elder Hacking and myself took a trip into the world of self leveling floors.  The original floor in the house had such a significant bow in it we determined we would have to fix it before we were able to put tile on it.  Shoring it up from the bottom did little, if anything, to correct the problem.  We probably could have forced the issue as we are such big strong guys anyway...but then again we probably would have caused inadvertent mass destruction to the house considering the structure and all.  It just didn't seem that difficult....the instructions were straight forward.......mix to a thin mixture and pour.....gravity takes care of the rest and levels it.  We mixed it up....poured it out.....and then heard the screams from the FM employee downstairs who was directly underneath one of the many holes in the floor that allowed it to leak through.  Two days later with the holes either plugged by the previous pour or our efforts we poured again......it worked!!!  Maybe tile next week.
     Next on the list was hanging doors and trimming them.  Sounds easy enough.....if they are framed right, ordered right, or even ordered at all.  Since our fearless leaders had ordered the doors based on their original plan...what could possibly be a problem.....different wall thickness' and framing allowances.....that's for sure!!  We ended up cutting jambs, enlarging jambs, re-hinging, re-hanging, and even cutting down the width to make things fit.  Thanks heaven's for Elder Hacking....he is masterful at it.
     The painters continued to paint and repaint.
     All our work this week was done without Elder Van Horn who spent the week in quarantine after being diagnosed with Type A Influenza.  There have been several cases this spring including Sister Lee Master, with whom Sister Gibson works. 

    How Many Elders Does it Take.........

                   ......to Replace a Piece of Paper????

   

      For some reason most of the Elders have a great love for Browning Gun.  So when it was reported that a small picture of the self-loading mechanism for the repeating rifle that John Browning had designed had fallen the glass security case display case would be opened up to replace it....word spread fast.  It is a tricky operation that requires a very heavy piece of security glass be removed to do the repair.  What started out as 2-3 Elders soon grew.  Sister Gibson came home laughing and laughing about the event. 

     The Flu Bug Bites........

                        .....Reinforcements Arrive!!

     Along with the Type A Flu that has stricken several of the Elders and Sisters and put them in quarantine for a week there has been a rash of coughs, colds, and even allergy's that have arisen to plague the mission.  While Sister Hutchinson, our site scheduler, might disagree the most affected has been Rendezvous.  It is a nightmare for our directors to try and figure out.....at the last minute....who can do what and fill in where.  Most of the new missionaries that arrived this month are prepared to step in and help....some even have major parts yet to be learned....and then, or course, most of them have yet to get their show apparel finished.  Sister Moench was feeling pretty good by the end of the week as she had miraculously held it together for her first three shows.....Saturday morning arrived...with her visit from the bug...she was down and out.  Our show went on with Elder Moench doing what he could to act official....it really worked out well....for the most part.

     Our new missionaries are doing well and we have 5 new teamsters and 6 single sisters.  We will get four of the sisters in our cast since we only have had Sister Alderton in the past.  They will be a welcome addition.