Wednesday, May 18, 2016 – Training meeting, Sharpen Mower, Clean Pioneer Memorial

Every Wednesday morning at 7:00am we drive in to Nauvoo to attend our mission-wide training meeting. This morning was special because we were introduced to the final ten senior couples that arrived in Nauvoo last Friday. With the addition of these 10 couples the mission has its complete complement of seniors it will have throughout the summer months. This brings the total number of senior couples and single sister companionships to 82. Plus, the 22 YSSM’s (Young Single Sister missionaries) which brings the grand total to 186 missionaries in the mission.

As is our custom, we all stood and sang “Welcome to Nauvoo” to them. This is a beloved song we sing at the beginning of our performance of “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” each night.  Just try to picture in your mind, Elder & Sis. Johnson on the stage singing and dancing to this fast paced, upbeat song. It concludes with this sixth verse which has been modified and speaks directly to the new arriving missionaries:

6.  Well, welcome to Nauvoo

We’re mighty glad to work and serve with you.

We’ve polished up our mission work,

Our scripts we’ve studied, too.

We’re ready to show off with pride

The best of Old Nauvoo.

The sites! The shows! The songs!

Proclaim the Gospel is True!

Welcome to Nauvoo

Welcome to Nauvoo

While in Nauvoo this morning we had other business too. We loaded the mower on a trailer and brought it in for sharpening. It is to be sharpened once a month whether it needs it or not. Well, of course it needs sharpening; I run it long and hard. I mow with it all day four days of the week.

While we were at the maintenance buildings of F.M. we came across YPM’s (Young Performing Missionaries) all over the place and in all of the various rooms. These were all the musicians practicing their music for their part in this summer’s production of “Sunset by the Mississippi.” Performances start on May 28^th so they have less than two weeks of practice left.

 

This evening, for the first time, we got to rehearse on the big stage with the YPM’s. They are fast, enthusiastic and talented. They are a lot of fun to watch as they perform. They are good.

After we left F.M. Sis. Johnson and I went to the “Pioneer Memorial” and the “Exodus to Greatness” monument to do service work. We brought our brooms and wash cloths and cleaned the inside, outside, sidewalks and statues.

 

“The Pioneer Memorial” is a special and sacred place. It is at the end of the road called the “Trail of Hope”. The trail of hope is the road the pioneers drove their covered wagons down to the banks of the frozen Mississippi in the winter of 1846. It was the last place they could turn around and see their beautiful Nauvoo, their beloved homes and their sacred temple before their trek west.

 

Inside the “Pioneer Memorial” are listed every Latter-day Saint who died along the Mormon Trail as they made their trek west to find refuge in the Rocky Mountains.  There are over 2000 names listed in the memorial. It is very humbling to stand there, to read the names and feel the spirit whisper; these brave pioneers had “Faith in every footstep.”