Sarah Granger Cast Photo

Sarah Granger cast August 2013

We took a picture of our cast the latter part of August before we started losing members because of mission releases. This cast is one of three and the group with which we have been performing "Rendezvous" and "Sunset by the Mississippi" shows since our arriving in Nauvoo. Our cast is made up on senior couples and sisters from Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Florida and Canada. It will be hard having missionaries start leaving but it has been good to have had the experience.

I have been given the assignment to learn the part of the Editor for our cast. It has been a real challenge but with the Lord's help, I will be filling that lead role shortly.

MTC Group Get Together

We had our second pot luck dinner with our MTC (Missionary Training Center) group this week. These are the senior missionaries who entered the MTC together and who were also assigned to the Illinois Nauvoo Mission. The first pot luck dinner was held in May. We arranged for both events to be held in the Facilities Management lunch room.



There are 64 of us in this group, 30 couples and four single sisters. This is a very large group to all come at one time and we have stayed very close. Fred and I (Ann) have been the ones to organize the dinners and set them up. We set up this second one because we have five couples leaving for home soon who were called on six month missions. We have a special spirit among this group so we are sad to have them leave.









Fred served as Emcee both times. Both times he used a lot of humorous one liners to tell about himself, family, dieting and aging. With his dry sense of humor they were nearly dying of laughter. They had no idea he was so funny. So when we said we were having the second dinner, everyone was asking if he was going to tell more "jokes." Well he did and they loved it. They just can't seem to get enough. It is always fun to laugh. He now has a reputation that the whole mission talks about. Even the mission president's wife wants a chance to hear some of his stories.

Some of the sisters with Ann after the dinner

Visit to Montrose, Iowa

View of Nauvoo from Montrose with lily pads in the river

This afternoon Ann and I drove to Fort Madison, Iowa and followed the river road down to Keokuk, Iowa and back to Nauvoo. We wanted to see the view of Nauvoo from Montrose, Iowa which is located between Fort Madison and Keokuk. Montrose is where the Saints went when they crossed over the frozen Mississippi River in February of 1846.

Kiosk at Montrose, Iowa

It was in May of that same year when Wilford Woodruff made the following entry in his journal:

"I was in Nauvoo on the 26th of May, 1846, for the last time, and left the city of the Saints feeling that most likely I was taking a final farewell of Nauvoo for this life. I looked upon the temple and City as they recede from view and asked the Lord to remember the sacrifices of his Saints."

Brigham Young Home Site Leader Calling

Ann with Brigham Young Home behind

Today, I (Ann) was called to be the site leader for the Brigham Young home. I have been serving as an assistant site leader there. This has been one of my favorite sites. 

Ann as asst site leader to Sister Famuliner of West Point, Utah

There is a site leader and assistant for each site in Nauvoo. It is our responsibility to take care of and watch over the assigned site. We are responsible for ordering cleaning supplies, making work orders for items to be repaired, and dusting around artifacts which no one else is supposed to handle. When dusting around the artifacts, we have to wear gloves if we handle them. As site leader or assistant, we are usually assigned to that site twice a week and also keep track of and report monthly the number of guests that visit the site.

Each morning, the missionaries assigned to each site are responsible to perform cleaning  tasks such as: vacuuming, dusting any bare floors and furniture, sweeping walks around the site, and any other general cleaning to keep the site nice and clean.

Sisters Redd & Garner with Ann

The Brigham Young home is very special to me because it has a room called the "council room" that Brigham added following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith Jr. In this room, he would have meetings with the apostles to discuss and make important decisions related to the completing of the temple and preparations for the exodus of Nauvoo.


I was scheduled to be in the Print Shop today with another sister missionary and a young sister missionary. All the young sister missionaries will be leaving in October to

Ann in Kalona, Iowa

proselyting missions throughout the United States for six months. They will return next April when it gets busy here again. The young sisters are a great blessing here with their enthusiasm and testimonies. Their assignments here include the Visitor Center, the Nauvoo Pageant area during July, the call center in the Visitor Center following up on referrals and the various sites including Carthage.

To prepare for their up coming proselyting assignments, the young sisters are scheduled to teach lessons to senior missionary couples who volunteer to act as investigators. We will be having four lessons presented to us over the next four weeks.

Nauvoo Pageant

The Nauvoo Pageant was great and inspiring. This was our first time to ever see it. We had the opportunity to attend several times. The pageant stage is only about one block away from where we live. The pageant always runs from the first Tuesday in July through the first Saturday in August. You can really feel the spirit of those great saints who lived here. The pageant brings them to life.

Each evening during the month of the pageant, the country fair activities begin at seven o'clock. These included story telling, puppet shows, dancing, bag pipers, pioneer games, handcart and races to name just a few.

Joseph giving the King Follett Discourse

Emma in the Garden

The core actors of the pageant also performed various vignettes around Nauvoo. They included part of the King Follett discourse performed in the Grove, "Women of Nauvoo" performed in the Women's Garden, "Go Ye Into All the World" performed in the Seventies Hall and "Letters of Joseph and Emma." Ann and I managed to see all of them except for Letters of Joseph and Emma. Our favorite was one in the Seventies Hall. It was done by the actors who portrayed Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball and Parley P. Pratt telling about missions sharing their testimonies.

Go Ye into all the World at the Seventies Hall

We even had the annual protesters with their signs and shouting. They had to stay on the roads so they mostly stood on the road where people were crossing the road to the country fair area. The pageant people handled the shouting pretty well. They placed the bag pipers right by the protesters so that when the protesters started shouting at everyone, the pipers would play and the protesters stopped shouting because they were drowned out by the pipers.

Joseph Smith Jr in Pageant

Saints and the newly completed temple

Joseph and all in white at end

Protesters with Church Security in background

The pageant is really focused on missionary efforts in getting missionary referrals from both member and non members alike.`This year the missionaries received just over 3,000 and they are still trickling into the pageant office. They are still busy following up making phone calls arranging for missionary visits. The attendance this year was just over 30,000. Although the attendance was higher last year, the response to the follow up call are yielding 72% yes I would like to know more compared to 17% last year. People are being drawn to Nauvoo in greater and greater numbers and they don't know why. The spirit of the Lord is working on people. The harvest is really moving forward.

Visitors from Home

Larry & Kay Pryor with us at the Family Living Center

We had some more visitors from home this last week. On Wednesday, August 7th, I got a call from Ann who was serving in the Family Living Center. I was working in the Cabinet Shop. She told me that Larry and Kay Pryor and their grandson were there and wanted to see the two of us before they had to drive back to Layton, Utah. I drove up to the Family Living Center where we got to visit briefly and get a picture. They were interested in seeing the facilities where I work so we drove down to Faciities Management and showed them the shop there. It was good to see them.

Mindy & Emily with us in the Women's Garden

Also that same day our daughter Emily returned with her husband's cousin Mindy Zaugg. Mindy had a reunion here and wanted Emily to help her drive. When Mindy's car broke down, Emily called to tell us that they wouldn't be coming. Emily called a few days later to say they were coming. She and Jeremy had talked and Jeremy wanted Emily to be able to spend more time here so she would get to see more of Nauvoo. 

Emily was able to visit most of the sites, the old Nauvoo cemetery, the Carthage jail, attend the temple with us as well as participate in some other mission functions with us. 

Both Emily and Mindy stayed here in our apartment. As with our other family members, it was nice to have Emily here for a few days.

Amy Family and Emily Visit

Amy's family and Emily with Ann in our apartment

This past week has been very busy with several family members visiting and more to come. The first to arrive was our daughter, Amy and her family along with our daughter Emily. They arrived on the Monday, 29th of July. Amy's husband finished a second masters degree in Boston this Spring and has been assigned sea duty on an aircraft carrier. Amy was left to pack up and move the rest of the family which includes six children (one of which is a baby) and a dog across the country to Seattle, Washington which is the home base for the carrier to which her husband is assigned. Amy planned to drive the family from Boston to Seattle.

Amy's family, Emily & us in our Rendezvous costumes

Our daughter Emily was able to fly out to Boston to help Amy with the driving as far as Omaha where another daughter, Lori, would meet up with them and help drive the rest of the way to Seattle while Emily would fly home to Utah from Omaha.

Any way, we were pleased that Amy was able stop here, even if it was for a short visit. They all, including the dog, stayed here in our apartment. It was a little crowded but fun. They all got to visit some of the sites, see the Nauvoo Pageant and see Ann and me perform in our "Rendezvous" and "Sunset by the Mississippi" shows. Amy and Emily were able to attend the temple and Livy and Caleb were able to do some baptisms for the dead in the temple. They left the morning of July 31st.

Darrin and Family at Carthage

On Friday, August 2nd, Darrin and all his family except for their daughter Sadee arrived. They had arranged to stay in a rental home here in town. Their trip has included Palmyra, New York: Bronson, Missouri and here. Darrin and Melanie were able to attend the temple and the family got to see some of the sites including a trip to the Carthage Visitor's Center as well as the pageant and see our performance of "Sunset by the Mississippi." It was fun to have them here. They left this morning.