The Are Gone....
Tuesday morning marked the departure for our YPM's. What they brought and what they left speaks volumes for their impact on the lives of many who visited here during the summer season. Their breakneck schedule of multiple daily performances in various venues were viewed and appreciated by all. They awed us with their talents and abilities....but it was their strength and testimonies that we will also remember. Never once did I ever here them complain about the heat, weather, or the exhaustion that would show on their faces from time to time. They thrilled us with their cohesive voices and instruments as they would perform their Sunday Concerts or as they played in the venues along the streets and on the wagon. They testified to us on the Trail of Hope of the sacrifices and hardships of the saints as they left Nauvoo. Most shed a tear as the serenaded us at their departure sociable. Sister Gibson will miss Elder's Cook and Chen stopping by regularly for a piece of chocolate and a brief respite on her nearby couch in her office.
Sister Gibson was called down bright an early (6:15am) on Tuesday morning to help the young sisters load their baggage on the bus. They loaded their bags, said their goodbyes, and the bus headed to St. Louis where all the missionaries would catch flights to their home cities. Two of the Elders will be entering the mission home to start serving their full time missions. One will arrive home on Tuesday and head to the MTC on Wednesday. Elder Cook lives in DesMoines, IA opted to pass the three hour bus ride to home and instead ride on the bus to St. Louis (3hour trip) to take the last flight with a missionary on it at 5:00 pm and fly to DesMoines (One hour flight).......just to continue the experience as long as he could.
So they are gone....their memories linger and Nauvoo goes on. The streets are now quieter. Their is no longer a brass band playing up and down the street during the day nor are there the vignettes that so inspired and entertained. The summer season is winding down. With their departure the summer crowds are dwindling and the missionaries are taking deep breaths and relaxing a little more as you can often see them on the benches outside the sites waiting for their next opportunity to present a tour. All in all it's a bittersweet time for all.
Some sixty missionaries are now looking forward to the end of their service. The annual fall exodus of the missionaries has already begun with the early departure of a few and the larger ones begin starting on Labor Day weekend. Between then and November our ranks will deplete substantially and at this point there are few replacements on the horizon. The numbers will return to the time that we arrived. In our innocence we did not understand the numbers that had been here and were now gone. At that time you could even find a spot to stand on the stage for Rendezvous. I think I am looking forward to that.
The YPM departure of Jimmy and Marie also ushered in some changes for Rendezvous. Apparently there were a few who questioned the couple of allusions to Jimmy and Marie in the winter script. The change that affects the editor is where to place him and how he starts the show. The first two revisions brought more chaos and clarification. Starting the show from the Editors seat in the front row and saying "OH My...is it that time already" after the opening number has been performed just didn't seem like the best approach.....but it is for now and the show goes on.
Chicken at Basco......or......
........Prime Rib in Burlington?
It's no secret that our lives are happier when we make good decisions. Sometimes it's "either..or" and we have to make a choice. Take for example Wednesday night. Elder Moench had put together a Sarah Granger trek to Basco to their famous Wednesday night "all you can eat chicken" fest. Well, we had been there...done that....didn't care to do it again. But it was our cast and we felt obligated to go and endure. Out of the blue Van Horn's and Johnson's invited us to go to Uncle Ronnies in Burlington for their famous prime rib. We thought about it for a millisecond before we accepted....after all Ronnies is a much better atmosphere for us....although the Basco atmosphere and wait time was not the best. We chose wisely as the wait in Basco was almost an hour.
Sister Van Horn, who is a seamstress extraordinaire who also owns a great computer operated sewing machine made us and the Johnson's a wonderful plaque to remember our time in Nauvoo. It is very special and appreciated. We laughed as we entered the door to Ronnies as their special was "all you can eat chicken". Turns out prime rib is only served on the weekends but our alternate choices off the menu were great anyway.
As for the Basco group the only thing I overheard was the long wait to get food. No one seemed to rave about "all you can eat chicken". My life was much happier for choosing Ronnies!!!!
It's off to Florida.......
.....Maybe We'll Stop in Louisiana?
The title get's your attention....the reality is a little less exciting. In searching for a Saturday visit someone suggested going to Mark Twain's birthplace in Florida.....It's near Louisiana Are you kidding? That's a little bit out of the three hour zone allowed to us as missionaries.....I'm for adventure but.....
Turns out that Florida is the name of the city in Missouri where he was born and it is a little bit north of a town called Louisiana, MO. And so mission rules aside we made the two hour trip to see the sites and the Mark Twain Lake and Park. The trip turned out to be great and I enjoyed it as much or even more as the Mark Twain exhibits in Hannibal. Samuel Langhorn Clements (Mark Twain) was born in a very small two room cabin in Florida, MO. and lived there for several years before his father re-located the family over to Hannibal. That small house was donated to Missouri back in the fifties and they decided to do something different and special....they built the visitors center around and over it. that's quite a construction project and it is pretty impressive. Also housed in the building are original manuscripts and his furniture from his mansion where he live in the later years of his life...and of course there is the legendary pipe he was never without.
Informational Tidbit: The pen name Mark Twain comes from Sam Clement's days as a riverboat pilot. They would set a seaman on the bow of the boat and it was his job to throw a rope and anchor to verify the depth. "Mark Twain" meant it was two fathoms deep and safe.
Since we went with the Lindeburg's there was the unmentioned but included shopping stop at Sam's Club in Quincy and non-stop conversation the whole way. I did suggest to Elder Lindeburg that we could have some fun with this trip....like let one of our "rumor did fly" elders here him over hear a candid conversation that know one should hear about...you know....the Gibson's went to Florida and Louisiana over the weekend......
That could find me in the Presidents office this week.......looking forward to that!!!
Bathrooms to Barns.......
..... It's Up/Down and On/Off/on at FM
Some sixty missionaries are now looking forward to the end of their service. The annual fall exodus of the missionaries has already begun with the early departure of a few and the larger ones begin starting on Labor Day weekend. Between then and November our ranks will deplete substantially and at this point there are few replacements on the horizon. The numbers will return to the time that we arrived. In our innocence we did not understand the numbers that had been here and were now gone. At that time you could even find a spot to stand on the stage for Rendezvous. I think I am looking forward to that.
The YPM departure of Jimmy and Marie also ushered in some changes for Rendezvous. Apparently there were a few who questioned the couple of allusions to Jimmy and Marie in the winter script. The change that affects the editor is where to place him and how he starts the show. The first two revisions brought more chaos and clarification. Starting the show from the Editors seat in the front row and saying "OH My...is it that time already" after the opening number has been performed just didn't seem like the best approach.....but it is for now and the show goes on.
Chicken at Basco......or......
........Prime Rib in Burlington?
It's no secret that our lives are happier when we make good decisions. Sometimes it's "either..or" and we have to make a choice. Take for example Wednesday night. Elder Moench had put together a Sarah Granger trek to Basco to their famous Wednesday night "all you can eat chicken" fest. Well, we had been there...done that....didn't care to do it again. But it was our cast and we felt obligated to go and endure. Out of the blue Van Horn's and Johnson's invited us to go to Uncle Ronnies in Burlington for their famous prime rib. We thought about it for a millisecond before we accepted....after all Ronnies is a much better atmosphere for us....although the Basco atmosphere and wait time was not the best. We chose wisely as the wait in Basco was almost an hour.
Sister Van Horn, who is a seamstress extraordinaire who also owns a great computer operated sewing machine made us and the Johnson's a wonderful plaque to remember our time in Nauvoo. It is very special and appreciated. We laughed as we entered the door to Ronnies as their special was "all you can eat chicken". Turns out prime rib is only served on the weekends but our alternate choices off the menu were great anyway.
As for the Basco group the only thing I overheard was the long wait to get food. No one seemed to rave about "all you can eat chicken". My life was much happier for choosing Ronnies!!!!
It's off to Florida.......
.....Maybe We'll Stop in Louisiana?
The title get's your attention....the reality is a little less exciting. In searching for a Saturday visit someone suggested going to Mark Twain's birthplace in Florida.....It's near Louisiana Are you kidding? That's a little bit out of the three hour zone allowed to us as missionaries.....I'm for adventure but.....
Turns out that Florida is the name of the city in Missouri where he was born and it is a little bit north of a town called Louisiana, MO. And so mission rules aside we made the two hour trip to see the sites and the Mark Twain Lake and Park. The trip turned out to be great and I enjoyed it as much or even more as the Mark Twain exhibits in Hannibal. Samuel Langhorn Clements (Mark Twain) was born in a very small two room cabin in Florida, MO. and lived there for several years before his father re-located the family over to Hannibal. That small house was donated to Missouri back in the fifties and they decided to do something different and special....they built the visitors center around and over it. that's quite a construction project and it is pretty impressive. Also housed in the building are original manuscripts and his furniture from his mansion where he live in the later years of his life...and of course there is the legendary pipe he was never without.
Informational Tidbit: The pen name Mark Twain comes from Sam Clement's days as a riverboat pilot. They would set a seaman on the bow of the boat and it was his job to throw a rope and anchor to verify the depth. "Mark Twain" meant it was two fathoms deep and safe.
Since we went with the Lindeburg's there was the unmentioned but included shopping stop at Sam's Club in Quincy and non-stop conversation the whole way. I did suggest to Elder Lindeburg that we could have some fun with this trip....like let one of our "rumor did fly" elders here him over hear a candid conversation that know one should hear about...you know....the Gibson's went to Florida and Louisiana over the weekend......
That could find me in the Presidents office this week.......looking forward to that!!!
Bathrooms to Barns.......
..... It's Up/Down and On/Off/on at FM
Starting from where we ended last week....Jordan and the family got back from their trip. Not sure how the chaos was received...maybe he laid a groundwork so it wasn't too bad. Anyway we went right to work and nothing was said. The family left around 11:00 and we didn't see them the rest of the day.
Week's end had me pretty well worn out. We were to a point that the bathroom and basement were pretty much a part time job with us doing work as needed. We moved the vanity top in and Elder Jones, our happy-go-lucky missionary plumber jumped in and set the toilet and sink. Sooner or later the cap for the shower wall will arrive and we can put it in and then the glass for the shower can be set. We also worked on the finishing of the sheetrock in the basement which I took on while Elder Van Horn finished the grouting in the shower.
Monday we got a new project....building an addition to shoe the horses under onto an already existing horse barn. Elder Van Horn met with Marcus and got all the particulars. (I was too busy to join the committee meetings.) So we went up and scoped it out, put a material list together and ordered it, and arranged with the heavy equipment missionaries to meet us and go over the project. They showed up ready to go to work Tuesday morning so..... we let them dig out the excess soil and compact new gravel in so we could pour a cement pad.....and then...the teamsters chimed in exclaiming this is not what they were supposed to get...it wouldn't work.
That night Elder Van Horn got a call from Marcus.....project was now going to be just a slab...forget the rest.....cancel the materials.
Thursday Marcus left town and the teamsters met with Jordan. Don't know what happened in the meeting...I did hear one of the teamsters versions...at any rate.....
Friday we were told to follow a new design engineered by Elder Van Horn that would meet the teamsters needs (for the time being), re-order the materials, and get it built.
Onward.....ever Onward!!!!
Odds......at the End
Monday we got a new project....building an addition to shoe the horses under onto an already existing horse barn. Elder Van Horn met with Marcus and got all the particulars. (I was too busy to join the committee meetings.) So we went up and scoped it out, put a material list together and ordered it, and arranged with the heavy equipment missionaries to meet us and go over the project. They showed up ready to go to work Tuesday morning so..... we let them dig out the excess soil and compact new gravel in so we could pour a cement pad.....and then...the teamsters chimed in exclaiming this is not what they were supposed to get...it wouldn't work.
That night Elder Van Horn got a call from Marcus.....project was now going to be just a slab...forget the rest.....cancel the materials.
Thursday Marcus left town and the teamsters met with Jordan. Don't know what happened in the meeting...I did hear one of the teamsters versions...at any rate.....
Friday we were told to follow a new design engineered by Elder Van Horn that would meet the teamsters needs (for the time being), re-order the materials, and get it built.
Onward.....ever Onward!!!!
Odds......at the End
It is not hard to feel overwhelmed with excitement when I see those young men that I love so much continue on without me and are thriving in the process.....I would expect nothing less from these guys or their current leaders.....they are special.
The long awaited Demolition Derby took place....Levi's thoughts say it all:
"They say we took last place......
We were really the winners as our brotherhood was strengthened."
Truly a "Band of Brothers"
in the Lord!!
The old gate didn't fit all that well and we were concerned that we couldn't make the materials we had work....but with a little luck and a lot of ingenuity we were able to create a gate that looked like it was planned for the space...another Nauvoo Miracle you say?...or just dumb luck?
We are Rock Solid
We have found our way by following the Light of Christ
Life is a cave that can be very dark.
There are lights placed along the way to
help us....to see what is important
We should always hold on to the Iron Rod
regardless of the terrain.
The Lights could go out any time but our
firm grip will guide us to safety
Life is a cave that can be very dark.
There are lights placed along the way to
help us....to see what is important
We should always hold on to the Iron Rod
regardless of the terrain.
The Lights could go out any time but our
firm grip will guide us to safety
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