Crump Crew in Nauvoo: And the colors continue...

This will probably be the last week that is full of pictures of the gorgeous fall leaves around here. Winter is trying to make an entrance and most of the leaves are gone. On Thursday night we had a small snowstorm blow in that left about three inches of snow, which created a beautiful contrast to the brightly colored leaves.

As usual, Scott spent his time this week between the Blacksmith, Brickyard and Browning Gun. He loves the variety and working with different elders. In the Brickyard when it's slow and there aren't many tours, he spends his day making bricks. These are the same bricks that we hand out to guests when they come to visit Nauvoo. The men are working on stockpiling them for the summer. He does the same thing when he serves in the Blacksmith shop, making horseshoes and prairie diamond rings for future guests. For him, those are busy days when he serves at the Brickyard and Blacksmith shop.

I've probably explained this before but...in the mission we have historic site missionaries, teamster missionaries and their wives and facilities management missionaries that do all of the maintenance of Nauvoo (think plumbers, electricians, brickmasons, gardeners, painters etc.) The FM - facilities management - missionaries serve on Sundays in outbound wards and branches in the Illinois Nauvoo Stake. They serve in any capacity they are asked to like teaching primary, last minute sacrament meeting speakers, gospel essentials teachers etc. On Wednesday night for our Mission Training meeting, President Lusvardi asked some of the FM couples to share their experiences. It was so heart-warming to me. They spoke of the cute Primary kids they have the opportunity to teach, the interactions they have had with those who are slowly making their way back to church, watching new converts share their testimonies and of lifting the burdens of so many. What a blessing it is for the stake, as well as all of those FM missionaries, to share in experiences like that.

Probably the highlight of our week was on Sunday when we had the opportunity to serve for the day in Carthage. There is a reverence and peace on the grounds of the Carthage Jail. It was a relatively quiet afternoon. We only gave two tours that day, but it made my testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God more firm and grounded. With each tour we watch a video clip of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's conference address about Joseph and Hyrum and the power of the Book of Mormon. I just feel such a strong confirmation of how true his words really are every time I watch it. Then at the end of the tour we are in the room where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred and it's such a blessing to bear testimony there that Joseph really was who he said he was.

Scott and I often talk about the gift that it is for us to be serving here. We recognize that and try to not take any moment for granted. The people we serve with are sincere, dedicated and full of love. Our mission president inspires us to improve. We want help our guests feel how the time that they spend in Nauvoo can change them. It really is the "most lovely place", as Joseph Smith says.