March 2019: April 2016

04 April 2016

Cold, cold, cold! April has begun cold and we are waiting for warmer weather. So, we stay inside at night after work and read. I am reading the New Testament (finished the Old Testament last month), Johnathan Neville’s book The Lost City of Zarahemla and the 1840 Nauvoo edition of the Book of Mormon.

We have been to Burlington with the Moons and the Lymans to dinner and the movies. We ate at Applebees and say the movie “Eddie the Eagle”. Then the next week we ate at The Muddy River next to the Mississippi in Burlington with the Shaws and finally back to Applebees with the O’Brians and another movie “A Miracle from Heaven”.

We have enjoyed General Conference last week end in our apartment and this week end we went to church here in Nauvoo since the Peoria Stake is having stake conference this week end.

One more week before the 2 week spring cleaning at the temple, we have planned a trip to Missouri (Adam-ondi-Ahman) then on to Springfield, Illinois.

Dr. Dunn (local chiropractor and historian) gave a great presentation on “Joseph Smith’s physical image”. He greatly adds to the persona of the prophet and what image depiction have been made of the prophet.

The Temple Spring Break is here! For the first week, we scheduled a trip to historical sights in Missouri with Dr. Dunn. The two day bus ride took us to Adam-ondi-ahmen, Liberty, Independence, Far West and KC temple. We also visited the Community of Christ church in Independence as well as many other interesting sites.

We gained an amazing insight to the importance of each location including the prophecies and movement of the saints as they were expelled from Missouri.

Then of Thursday of the first week after returning late Wednesday night, we packed up for a three day trip to Springfield, Il to visit the historical sites of Abraham Lincoln. Again, it was amazing how much we learned about the life of Lincoln by visiting the Lincoln Museum, Old Capital, his home, tomb, and New Salem where he worked and self studied to become a layer.

After two full days of touring we traveled to Valley City, Il to a remote area known as Zelph mound (where Joseph Smith identified a white lamanite buried within a large mound).

The week has been packed with new information found in this area. I am pleased to say we have a wealth of knowledge by touring this week.

This next week we are preparing for the arrival of the 32 new temple missionary couples. The Cluffs and the Streulings will be our couples to host. We will get them housed and fed and then trained to the assignment of the temple. Once this is done then we can certainly use their assistance for the up-coming high volume of patrons we anticipate for the summer months.

A very large storm came through last night with heavy rain and lightning. Some areas near here had considerable sized hail and tornado touchdowns. We were sheltered in our car in the underground parking lot at the temple.

The new temple missionaries are arriving today and will be her for six months. The Cluffs and the Struelings are our couples we are assigned to assist in helping move in to their apartments. This week we will help Pres. McArthur in the training at the Nauvoo Temple.

The first of May starts the summer season for the temple. Dawn and I will be endowment coordinators on 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays and baptistery coordinators on Thursdays.

The new Temple Missionaries are here!