Sunday, December 11, 2016 – Elder Spradlin’s Priesthood Lesson, Scovil Bakery, Pres & Sis. Hall
This morning in addition to all of the great talks we heard and all of the great lessons we were taught, Elder Spradlin taught the Priesthood lesson this morning. He taught “No Less Serviceable” from “The Life of Howard W. Hunter.” He brought into sharp focus the myriads of people how perform selfless acts of kindness and service without expecting or receiving accolades or even recognition from the masses. The personal and sweet stories he told were insightful and profound. He gave a very good lesson.

Today Sis. Johnson and I were assigned to give tours at the “Scovil Bakery” in Old Nauvoo. We’ve visited the Scovil Bakery before but this is the first time we’ve actually been tour guides.

 

Our first tour was a family from Utah and Colorado. They came to Nauvoo to attend a family wedding yesterday in the Nauvoo Temple. Sis. Johnson actually recognized them because we saw the wedding party on the steps of the temple preparing to pose for pictures when we arrived to do an endowment session. They enjoyed the tour of the Scovil Bakery and then were off to other sites, hoping to visit as many as possible this afternoon before they drive home tomorrow morning.

The Scovil bakery has an interesting past. Fifty years ago when the restoration of Old Nauvoo began the descendents of Luscious Scovil knew their ancestors had a bakery in Nauvoo but no one knew exactly where it was located. City and county records listed its existence but not where. But then, during the renovation of the Cultural Hall workman found a wadded up piece of old news paper used to fill a void in the wall. This single sheet of new print had an advertisement for the Scovil bakery and mentioned the location.  The advertisement said the new bakery was located next door to the cultural hall on the south side.

 

Now that the restoration crew had an idea where to look, they excavated the next door lot and found the original foundation. In the rubble they discovered a treasure trove of historic artifacts and antique items that would be used in a bakery including the ovens, cookware, utensils and pottery. When the Scovil Bakery was re-constructed great care was taken to rebuild everything in its original location.