Saturday, September 30, 2017 – General Conference, Video Call from Ernie in Australia

Sis. Johnson and I enjoyed watching the Saturday sessions of General Conference on our electronic devices. In spite of the slow internet to our house, we were able to enjoy the Elders and Sister, their messages and their Spirit. As Usual today’s talks and messages were wonderful and very timely.

 

Many years ago I started the practice of taking detailed notes of all of the speakers during each session. I find that writing down brief snips of their messages, thoughts, quotes and their stories helps me recall them later. The thing I do that helps me internalize their messages is to figure out what their core subject is, based on everything they’ve said. Then, in a few days when the printed text of the talk is published on LDS.org I enjoy comparing what I thought the theme of each talk was and compare it with how the speaker himself title his talk. Sometimes the theme and title is easy to figure out and I get it right word for word. Other times I’m a mile off but at least with my note taking I learn a lot and their messages are easier for me to recall from memory. 

 

This evening, like every Saturday evening, Sis. Johnson and I get to video chat on Skype with our son and his two boys who live in Australia. We’ve had this Saturday evening tradition ever since he moved to Australia over three years ago. Skyping our son on Saturday evening works out very well because it is already Sunday morning in Australia. The timing works out very well for all of us. We love the miracle of modern telecommunications.

Friday, September 29, 2017 – Blowing the VC, Pulling Annuals out of the Lyon Drug & Herb Garden, Brigham Young’s Home, Land & Records Office, Rendezvous, Shirley & Mel Chappell

We did our usual Friday leaf blowing at the Visitor’s Center, the Women’s Garden and all the way down Main Street from the Cultural Hall to the Post Office. Then we went to the “Pioneer Memorial” at the Exodus Point by the river and cleaned and blew those sidewalks too. 

Next, we were at it again, this time we went with Richard to the Lyon Drug and Herb Gardens to pull all of the Annual flowers and herbs from two of the flowerbeds. We made a point of only pulling the annuals, all of the perennials we stay and ingratiate the gardens for years to come.

The great thing about working at the Lyon drug this morning was the smell. We must have pulled dozens of varieties of different herbs and spices, the scent was heavenly. The aroma reminded me of when I was a little boy walking into my grandmother’s kitchen when she was baking. All of those herbs and spices smelled wonderful.

After we finished two of the very large flowerbeds at the Lyon Drug we were off to weed and clean some of our regular spots. We did the historic home of Brigham Young as well as the “Land & Records” office. We haven’t been back to these two locations in four weeks yet there weren’t many weeds. We seem to be keeping on top of the weed problem.

At tonight’s “Rendezvous” show we had another one of those “Nauvoo Tender Mercies.” After the show we were greeting the guests as they came out of the Cultural hall and we discovered a cousin from Idaho! Shirley Chappell (daughter of Art & Lenore Quist, Arco Idaho) and her husband, Mel, are in Nauvoo with friends for a few days. We had a very nice visit. It is wonderful how these unexpected surprises pop up.

Thursday, September 28, 2017 – Elder Skog, Pull Women’s Garden, New Grove Tree Poisoning

We were at it again today. This time we were in the Women’s Garden and we completely removed five of the large flowerbeds. Mind you, these are the same flowerbeds that on Monday, I lovingly cared for, weeded and manicured; now they are all gone. 

The five large flowerbeds we pulled this morning is only about half of all of the flowerbeds in the women’s garden. We will probably get to the rest next week. The plan is to start planting 24,000 Tulip, Jonquils, Hyacinth and Narcissus bulbs next month so we have a lot of work to do to prepare all of the flowerbeds. Cold weather is coming and the bulbs will love it. By April these flowerbeds will be alive with color.

Mid-morning and after lunch we continued our project in the “New Grove” west of the Temple. Richard  finished whacking down the last of the big patches of tall weeds with the hedge trimmer. The rest of us were all cutting down and poisoning volunteer trees or what I like to call “Rogue Trees.” Killing trees in the New Grove will take much more time. We will probably continue to work on the project for the next week or so, as time permits.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 – Mission Training Meeting, YSSM’s Assignments Outbound, More Flowerbeds Pulled and Weeding, Sis. Johnson Stung two more times!

This morning’s Mission Training Meeting was excellent. Two of the YSSM’s (Young Single Sister Missionaries) taught us all about the use of the mission’s “Teaching Center” computers and program. We were taught how to log on, understand the instructions, recognize all of the icons and know their functions.

The Teaching Center is a wonderful missionary tool and it is something only missionaries are able to use. In fact there are only a few missions were it is available and Navuoo is one of them. On LDS Chat rooms from around the world people interested in learning about the church log on and they are connected with missionaries in the Teaching Centers.  They can have their Gospel questions answered or have a free Bible or Book of Mormon hand delivered to them. If they like, follow-up contacts can be made by phone, text messages or email as well as through the chat room. 

All of the Senior Missionaries in the Nauvoo Mission are encouraged to use the Teaching Center in the Visitor’s Center or they can us the same system on their own PC’s at home. One of our Seniors said he often gets up in the middle of the night unable to sleep so he logs on to the Church’s Teaching Center System and fields questions from around the world where it isn’t in the middle of the night.  It was pointed out that those on the Teaching Center are told to “go by the Spirit and you will know what to say; you are missionaries of the Lord!” D&C 100:6 “For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.”

The YSSM’s serve 18 month mission but only serve here in Nauvoo for two of the busy summer season. For their first six months they are here in Nauvoo, then the next six months they go “Outbound” to regular proselyting missions somewhere else in the US. Then for the last six months of their mission they return here to Nauvoo and finish their missions during the busy summer. Those YSSM’s that are going “Outbound” received their new assignment  and in today’s Mission Training meeting  it was a thrilling moment as each companionship of sisters announced to us were their “outbound” missions would be. They are going all over, to: Arkansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Michigan and Georgia. They leave October 18^th. Good luck and God’s speed Sisters. You will be a tremendous asset to the new missions you are going to! You are great missionaries.

We got a lot of work done even though our workday was a little short because of Mission Training Meeting this morning. We pulled more flowerbeds and we weeded and cleaned more historic sites.

 Sis. Johnson is asking “Why me?” today while we pulled the flowerbeds at one of the historic homes she was stung twice on the leg. The two sting points were close together and the big swollen red spot on her leg was about as big around as a tennis ball! OUCH!!! She doesn’t know what stung her but she went home and put some Benadryl cream on the sting and took a liquid antihistamine to prevent an allergic reaction.  By the end of the day she was much better. The redness and swelling were all gone.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 – Planters Removed from Main St & VC, Flowerbeds Pulled Too, Smith Family Cemetery, Wm Weeks Flowerbed

We worked hard and got a lot done on a very warm day. First we pulled out all of the large terracotta pots down Main Street and at the Visitor’s Center. Even though the days are warm now, the first frost will do them all in anyway so they have to come out. The planters and flowerbeds we removed today have another strike against them; they all have to be hand watered with the two Water Trucks. The seasonal staff is dwindling and it isn’t practical to continue watering so many planters every day. 

Thankfully all of those pots, planters and flowerbeds won’t go to waste. Of course all of the terracotta pots are recycled and saved for next year. All of the plants and soil are sent to the compost pile where it decomposes and will be used again. Recycling is a very good thing.

Next we started pulling flowerbeds on Old Main Street. First we pulled the flowerbed beside the Scovil Bakery.  

We aren’t the only ones that are preparing for the first frost. Rick MacGregor, the head groundskeeper at the Community of Christ asked for our assistance to pull the four flowerbeds at the “Smith Family Cemetery.” 

 FM and the Community of Christ work closely together to help make sure all of Old Nauvoo looks beautiful for all of the guests. We planted the cemetery’s four flowerbeds last spring for the Community of Christ but FM does get paid for its labor and materials. The “Smith Family Cemetery” is funded by a charitable foundation which raises money and pays for all maintenance of the cemetery.

After lunch we continued pulling flowerbeds. We had enough time left to pull the parking area flowerbed by the Jonathan Browning Home and Gun Shop. Then we finished our day pulling the large flowerbed at the corner of Partridge & Young. This final flowerbed was a particular favorite of mine because the guests that drive to the Visitor’s Center drive right past it and it was kind of a huge, colorful “Welcome To Nauvoo” sign.