Home by the River

People who live by rivers dream they are immortal. 

--Audre Lorde (courtesy of Thelma)

After 2 weeks of training, we are at home in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Coming from wintry mountains to a river and spring weather is almost like going to a foreign country. 




We have photos of our missionary kids at this world map at the Missionary Training Center pointing to their destinations.  Here's one of us.


We are in a very beautiful spot and we like our home.  It is about 100 feet from the river.  We watch barges go by often.  They carry as much cargo as 780 semi-trucks or 3 miles of railroad cars. 

Our home.  We have daffodils and tulips.  Lots of windows to see the river.  (And a big tree to block it)

This is a photo of a barge going by--taken from our porch.  Notice the goose.

This was taken from our porch of Mark in his suit which he wears much of the time now.

Mark in our living room.



This was taken from the road in front of our home.

We  see and hear lots of geese. 
We finished our training on Tuesday and began working in the historic sites on Wednesday.  So far we have worked in Carthage at the jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum were martyred.

This is the group that came with us.  All of the men are teamsters.  There were 34 of us in the group.  Our mission president and his wife, the Gillilands, are front and center, standing--both in dark  jackets.  Taken in front of the Carthage jail.

 I have worked in John Taylor's home and Mark has driven the team.  He loves the horses.  They have 17 of them and they all have their own harnesses.  They are going to buy 3 more horses so they will be working with 20 horses.

We arrived here on Saturday the 17th which is the day that Relief Society was organized here in Nauvoo at the Red Brick store--170 years ago on March 17, 1842.  I was able to attend a nice reenactment of that occasion on Saturday night.

This was taken from our porch at Sunset after the Relief Society Enactment.  Pioneer dresses are so flattering.

We have been busy singing --practicing for the "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" show that we will all be participating in very soon.  It runs all year, every night but Sunday.  "Sunset by the Mississippi" is another show we will participate in from May through August. 

Thank you, Thelma and Adam for designing this blog for us.