Wednesday, Mar. 8, 2017 – Mission Training Meeting & New Missionaries, Sis. Judd, Elder & Sis. Pettit, Clean Women’s Garden, Pull Weeds, Bro. & Sis. Shurts Sociable.

This morning’s Mission Training meeting was dedicated to the new missionaries that arrived last Friday. There are nine new couples and they are eager and willing to serve. Two of the couples have been assigned to the same “Rendezvous” cast Sis. Johnson & I are in, Elder & Sis. Lloyd and Elder & Sis. Judd.

It turns out that we used to know Sis. Judd many years ago (her name was Mortenson then) when our sons attended the “Sunshine Preschool” in Mesa, AZ. She was the assistant teacher to Sis. Grosscost who had the preschool in her home. All six of our sons attended Sis. Grosscost’s preschool and were taught by Sis. Judd. And, for all of those years the “Sunshine Preschool” would come and take tours at our flower shop in Mesa. I remember very well taking the children out into my flower gardens and letting them pick flowers to take home to their mothers. Talking to Sis. Judd brought back wonderful memories to Sis. Johnson & I.

Another couple that arrived with this group is Elder & Sis. Pettit. While walking into the meeting Elder Pettit noticed Sis. Johnson’s name tag and exclaimed, “You’re Sis. Johnson, we follow your mission blog every week. We’ve been following you ever since we got our call to Nauvoo over three months ago.” I was delighted to meet Elder & Sis. Pettit, I’m so glad they were able to find my blog and learn a little about the mission before they arrived.

If you would like to see my Blog, you can find it here:

http://davidpamnauvoomission.blogspot.com/

Sis. Johnson and I worked all day cleaning, blowing and weeding the flowerbeds at the “Women’s Garden” and the Visitor’s Center. We’ve experienced a lot of high winds lately and there were a lot of Fall leaves everywhere.  Today’s wind was only about 10mph out of the west and the wind really helped us blow the sidewalks. We pushed the leave out to the grass where they could be vacuumed up by the lawn mowers. 

 

We spent a lot of time pulling weeds out the tulip beds in the Women’s garden. Some of the flowerbeds didn’t have a single weed while some tulip beds were full of weeds. Richard said the weeds don’t usually get this big this early but this year Nauvoo’s winter has been very mild. The weeds love the warmer temperatures, but the tulips would have preferred another month of freezing temperatures.

Pres. Hall gave us an update on Sis. Crandall. She is in the University of Iowa Medical Center being treated for the cancer they discovered last week. Unfortunately her system cannot handle chemo therapy so it had to be discontinued. At this point her future is in the hands of her family. (See: Mar. 9, 2017)

Tonight Sis. Johnson and I went to a sociable (Fireside) put on by Sis. Simmons, she is the activities director for our “Rendezvous” cast. The guest speaker was Sis. Peggy Shurts and the subject was “Steam Boats on the Mississippi, a Woman’s Perspective.” I must say I enjoyed the sociable a lot. It was very informative and I learned a lot about the Mississippi river, its river boats and their connection to Nauvoo.

Bro. & Sis. Shurts have lived here in Nauvoo for almost two decades. They are very knowledgeable about everything to do with Nauvoo and the church. They are professional researchers. Sis. Simmons got to know them because they volunteer at the “Land and Records” office four days a week. Sis. Shurts made this presentation two years ago as part of the program called: “Untold Nauvoo Stories.” Very good program this evening.