Wednesday, September 28, 2016 – Farewell to YSSM’s in Mission Trg. Meeting, Hauled away more of the pretty flowers, Edward Hunter Excavation

This morning’s weekly Mission training meeting was very good and instructive as usual. What made the meeting even more special was that Pres. Hall asked all eight of the departing YSSM’s (Young Single Sister Missionaries) to be seated up front facing all of us. This week all eight of them are going home, having served their 18 months as full time missionaries.  At the end of the meeting we had a very tender moment. All of us, the Senior missionaries, stood and sang “Farewell Nauvoo” to the YSSM’s. We were all in tears as we sang, especially the YSSM’s. It was a powerful and touching moment.

“Farewell Nauvoo” is a very special and powerful song. It holds special and very deep meaning for all of us in the mission. It is sung at the end of the play we perform in “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo.” It highlights those early pioneers who had to say farewell to their beloved Nauvoo, their homes, their fields and their Temple view. Then cross the Mississippi River and head west into the vast unknown wilderness.

For farewells like this morning we sing it to our fellow missionaries that are departing for home and saying “Farewell Nauvoo.” Here are the lyrics to the final verse:

And so we go and hide our aching hearts

No one will see our tears when we depart

This home we leave will shelter memories clear

Of all that we hold dear in Old Nauvoo

Farewell Nauvoo – Farewell Nauvoo

At work Sis. Johnson was on the watering truck all day. I did the same thing in Nauvoo that we did in Carthage yesterday.  The crew I worked with took down and hauled away the large planters and flower beds along Nauvoo’s old main street, Visitor’s Center and at various homes, including Pres. Hall’s home.

Again, it was a heartbreaking sight to see all of those beautiful flowers going to the compost pile. But it had to be done before the killing frosts of October hit.