Crump Crew in Nauvoo: What?? It's December already??!!

I thought things were busy in November and that December would calm down a bit. However, I was dead wrong on that assumption. President Lusvardi wants us to stay busy and happy while we’re serving. So, we have the month of December packed with activities. Each day that I serve in the office I come home thoroughly exhausted. Last week I mentioned that we were preparing to host our annual Christmas Walk in Historic Nauvoo. Our first event was this last Saturday night so we spent the better part of the week preparing. It was a great event and the guests seemed to really enjoy themselves. We had a tree lighting program, a live Nativity, wagon rides, short stories and refreshments. I helped with a lot of the lighting, especially during the Nativity, and then helped a bit with the refreshments in the Family Living Center. Scott’s job was to take pictures throughout the night, which he enjoyed. He loves to document the history of any event :0) We will repeat it all on the 15^th.

We have three sisters who serve in the mission office with me; Sister Robison is the Mission Secretary, Sister Swanson is in charge of reservations and works with the many groups who visit in the summer, and then Sister Williams takes care of all of the scheduling of where the missionaries serve each week. Right now both Sister Swanson and Sister Williams are out of town until the middle of next week. So, as you can see, that leaves just two of us to take care of everything. It’s a little (actually a lot) stressful to me, but with Sister Robison and help from our Heavenly Father, we will be able to do it.

I have learned some important lessons this week. First; with everything being so busy I have been reminded that I have to put first things first, like reading the Book of Mormon. As soon as I open that book in the morning, I feel a sense of peace come over me that I need throughout the day. Second; it has been driven home to me how much I need to rely on my Heavenly Father to take me through each step of the day so I use my time wisely and can be inspired how to solve the problems that I encounter. As an example, for security reasons, we have changed the username and password for our mission blog. That has required me to know how to help each of the senior missionaries change the information on their phones, tablets, computers, etc. I didn’t know how to use most of those devices if they weren’t an Apple product. So, I just said a prayer in my mind and then listened. The right solutions came every time. I have probably relied more on my Heavenly Father this week than I have at any other time since we’ve been here in Nauvoo. It’s a powerful, yet very humbling feeling.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story of this week’s events.

Last Thursday we went with all of the missionaries out to Carthage
and sang around the town square. Thankfully it wasn't a freezing cold night.

The buildings in Historic Nauvoo are decorated for the holidays.
This is the Seventies Hall.

And this is the inside of the Seventies Hall.

Heber C. Kimball is our next door neighbor.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this week's events.
It was taken in the summer during one of our Sunset performances.
Every night I would eat a blue otter pop, and then, as we
entered the stage for the final number, I would walk past the
Nauvoo Brass Band at the back of the stage and stick
out my blue tongue. I did it every single night that
we performed. Just a way to lighten the mood :0)