Thursday, September 14, 2017 – Brown Home, Wm Weeks Home, Burrowing Wasps, Emma Hale Cast BBQ, Elder Norman & Porter Rockwell

An amazingly busy day started with Sis. Johnson staying home because she has come down with a cold and she needs to rest. The rest of the Grounds Crew and I were very busy at the “Brown Home” pulling “Seed Trees” as well as spreading wood chips under the front yard trees. After weeks of hard work the Brown Home is really coming together. A beautiful front lawn and manicured grounds have really made the Brown Home look nice instead of an eye sore.

We also did some of our scheduled monthly cleaning at some of the homes and sites we are assigned to care for like the Scovil Bakery, Emma Hale home, Wilford Woodruff home and the Orson Hyde home. Now that we are on a regular schedule, each of these sites can be cleaned up and weeded relatively quickly. 

We ran into some old enemies at the Wilford Woodruff home. Kerri Trost, our volunteer from Macomb, Illinois noticed wasps flying in and out of a burrow. These were the very same kind of wasps that stung Sis. Johnson at the beginning of the month. We kept away from the nest and luckily this time no one was stung. I shot the burrow full of insecticide and slapped a large plug of wet mud over the hole. Burrowing wasps can’t dig through wet mud and the fumes inside the burrow will kill all of the wasp quickly. Now the sidewalk in front of the Wilford Woodruff home will be safe again for our guests.

This evening Elder & Sis. Beecher through a wonderful BBQ at their home for all of us in the Emma Hale Cast. So many missionaries will be leaving soon it was decided that one final Emma Hale Cast dinner was in order. 

After the BBQ Sis. Beecher introduced our featured guest speaker. He is a bestselling author of over 30 books and one of the foremost authorities on Nauvoo as well as the life of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Porter Rockwell!  Our guest speaker was none other than our own cast member, Elder Lee Nelson.

 Wow, what a great evening filled with the stories of the history of the church in Nauvoo. I was completely engrossed in Elder Nelson’s in depth knowledge and the stories of Old Nauvoo. He has done the research and is able to dispel the rumor and innuendo to tell a much more interesting story based on the facts. I wish we had more time. I guess I’ll have to read his books.