Nauvoo

Once Sarah's teaching conference finished, we drove up to Nauvoo to enjoy a few days there.  We got there on Thursday night and were able to see the Nauvoo Pageant right after we arrived.  The pageant was great, sharing the stories of early saints as Nauvoo was built, culminating in the building of the Nauvoo Temple.

 

That night we settled in at the Motel Nauvoo (although the next night we had to move to a different room, due to previous reservations).

  

We tried to see as much as we could while we were there, knowing that we only had two days due to our tight schedule.  Friday morning we went to the Nauvoo Temple and then on to the historic sites.  We began at the Family Living Center, learning about how the early saints lived their every day lives - how they made bread, candles, barrels, pottery, rugs and ropes.

As we were learning about pottery from one of the senior missionaries serving there, I looked to the side and noticed a face I thought I recognized - Sister Oaks, wife of Elder Dallin H. Oaks.  And what do you know, Elder Oaks happened to be sitting right beside her, as they learned about rope-making with some of their grandsons.  Recognizing that they were with family, we didn't want to bother them, but rope-making was the only station we hadn't visited, so we sat down behind them after the pottery demonstration finished.  

Elder Oaks said to Sister Oaks that he would like to go to Heber C. Kimball's home but neither of them had a map.  He then turned to me and asked if we had a map.  I offered our map and he mentioned they were looking to go to Heber C. Kimball's home.  I found it on the map and helped him identify the way there.  Nothing quite like helping an Apostle when he's looking for direction. 

From the Family Living Center, we made our way to different historical buildings including the Drug Store, Wilford Woodruff's home and then Heber C. Kimball's home.  I took Sarah's picture with one of the senior sister missionaries who was really excited about giving a tour to Elder Oaks a few minutes before (the Oaks family was there for a family reunion/vacation).

 

 I enjoyed this plaque about Porter Rockwell, particularly the description that he was self appointed.

 

 Other activities that we enjoyed including going to the brickyard and the blacksmith shop, followed by the shoe shop, gunsmith and the tin shop.  I loved hearing the different stories shared by the missionaries at all the different sites.

  

 

 We also enjoyed a few performances, including a reenactment of the King Follett discourse, and the senior missionary musicals.

  

We also enjoyed hearing about the missionary efforts of different members of the Quorum of the Twelve in England at the Seventies Hall.  We finished the evening by enjoying the sunset on the Mississippi River. 

  

 

 Saturday morning we took a wagon ride through the northern parts of Nauvoo, with a lively tour guide that made us laugh as he shared different pioneer stories and told us to snuggle under the blankets they provided since we had a newlywed glow.

  

 We then headed over to the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) tour of the Joseph Smith homestead, the Mansion house and the Red Brick Store, where temple ordinance were first introduced.

 

 The Joseph Smith Homestead

 

The Mansion House

 

  

Our tour guide mentioned that there was a lady named Lois who was washing wool that we could go talk to if we wanted.  She is a member of the Community of Christ and has been spinning hair into yarn for years during the summers there in Nauvoo.  She is a school teacher and has her students bring her all different kinds of hair to try out.  The day we were there she was doing a bunch of alpaca hair.  She was an incredibly nice lady that shared quite a bit with us about the daily life of the early saints and we're glad that we stopped to visit with her.

 

We then visited the graves of Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum and his wife, Emma.

 

 

The last part of our trip before heading back to St. Louis was to visit the old pioneer cemetery.  During our whole drive, we had been listening to church history lectures from Susan Easton Black and she mentioned in class that when President Hinckley came to Nauvoo the two places he always went were the temple site and the pioneer cemetery because they were the most sacred places there in Nauvoo.  Two of the graves that stood out to us were that of Edward Partridge, the first bishop in the church, and the grave of a small child that noted how many days the child had lived before passing.  It was a great experience to visit this sacred place.

  

I've saved pictures of the temple for last.  I wanted to take pictures of the temple at all different times of day to be able to get different views and lighting.  I love the Nauvoo Temple and have felt a connection to it ever since the night I went with my mom to take pictures of it while we were there in 2002.  She took me back there before my mission and I loved being able to go back again.