Wednesday, July 27, 2016 – Mission Trg. Mtg. Dallyn Bayles, Meeting with Scott & Jordon, Cemetery Cleaning, Farewell Lunch for Casey Cluff

Our very busy day started at our weekly mission-wide training meeting. We listened to Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy speak to us about our service as missionaries. His talk was very brief but good. He kept his comments short because the best was yet to come.

Our Mission President, Pres. Hall said there were many Seniors who’s schedule are so busy it precluded any chance for them to see the various vignettes being performed around Nauvoo by the “Core Cast” of the pageants. So, Pres. Hall made a special request of the Core Cast actors to perform two of the vignettes for us as part of our training meeting this morning. 

So, the Core Cast actors put on “Go Ye Unto All the World” and “King Follett Discourse.” (See my posts, Friday, July 22^nd and Saturday July 23^rd)  And, OH MY GOSH, once again the actors did a marvelous job. The spirit was so very strong as actors portray those early Apostles and the Prophet Joseph Smith reenacted the early years of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We really loved it again.

And, if that wasn’t enough . . . at the end, Pres. Hall asked Dallyn Bayles to sing two of the hymns of the restoration to us. First he sang the same hymn the Prophet Joseph asked John Taylor to sing in the Carthage jail only an hour before the martyrdom, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” You’ve not heard anything so sublime yet powerful until you’ve heard Dallyn Bayles sing this beautiful hymn in person. Then he sang “Praise to the Man.” And once again with the feeling and meaning that you can only get from an up close, in person solo by one of the great artists of our day, Bro. Bayles had us all completely enthralled. I kept looking at the clock on the wall and saying to myself, “I hope this never ends!” This morning’s mission-wide training meeting was the best. Wow, what a wonderful experience!

 Next, Sis. Johnson and I were called into the office of Jordan Bodily of FM (Facilities Maintenance) for a special meeting that included our boss, Scott Higley. Bro. Bodily is assistant director (second in command of FM) under the director Casey Cluff.  Both Jordan and Scott praised our work on the grounds at Carthage and then they got to the reason for the meeting. Sis. Johnson and I were asked, starting this Fall, to be the head grounds keepers over all of Nauvoo! Of course we were delighted to say yes and excited about this future responsibility. 

At the Carthage visitor’s center we have been responsible for about 6 acres of landscaping, in Nauvoo we will be the caretakers over more than 500 acres! However there are already mowing crews so I will probably not be mowing everyday like now. And, there are watering crews, so Sis. Johnson will probably not be watering everyday like she does now. But there are over 500 planters and flower beds we will have to care for and maintain. We will learn more about our specific responsibilities later.

For the time being we will stay in Carthage doing what we are doing now probably until October. Once we move to Nauvoo in late October things will be a lot slower for everyone in FM for the colder months.  Sis. Johnson and I will most likely spend the winter splitting our time between working in the greenhouses at FM and being tour guides at the historic sites in Nauvoo. But, all of these plans must be approved by Pres. Hall first. At any rate we are very excited to know what we will be doing for the next 14 months.

For the rest of the morning, about three hours, Sis. Johnson and I worked with Sis. Susan Knapp. She is the current grounds keeper for all of Nauvoo. We will be taking over from her in October. She is a great and hard working lady. She’s been our friend for the past four months because she performs with us in the “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” cast. 

This morning’s cleaning assignment with Sis. Knapp was very special. The Community of Christ Church, (formerly the RLDS church) owns and maintains about a quarter of Nauvoo and associated historic sites, including the original home of Joseph and Emma Smith, the Mansion House, the Red Brick Store and the Smith Family Cemetery. Both churches, our and theirs, work very well together and on occasion they’ve asked us to help out. We were asked by the Community of Christ’s grounds keeper, Minister Rick MacGregor, if we would clean the grounds of the historic Smith Family Cemetery.  Next week there will be a very large Smith Family Reunion there and Minister MacGregor is trying to make everything look nice for the event. Of course our FM department is glad and eager to help whenever the need arises. 

For lunch today we were invited to a special farewell luncheon put on in honor of Bishop Casey Cluff, managing director of FM. Bishop Cluff has accepted a larger and more difficult job with the church. He will be the Church’s Facilities Maintenance General Director for the Eastern United States. In particular his new assignment will be to maintain the physical facilities, grounds and buildings for nineteen temples east of the Mississippi.

 

To make Bishop Cluff’s new job even harder, he has asked to be allowed to continue to be the Bishop of the Nauvoo 1^st ward for the remaining two years of his calling. So, Bish. Cluff will be commuting 750 miles to his new office in Atlanta Georgia so he can remain the Bishop here and fulfill his new calling there.