What?! It's July already?

One of the tender mercies of serving with these amazing Young Performing Missionaries is that we get to hear how they have touched lives through the spirit they share.  One morning, while I was walking through the Visitors' Center, three different people stopped me to tell of an experience they had with our missionaries.  One experience was from a missionary serving in the Visitors' Center.  She said there were two people visiting who were not members of our faith.  They sat down on a bench just as the Young Performing Missionaries walked onto the balcony and began to sing.  Tears streamed down their faces as the spirit descended from above and washed over them.  Another missionary related that our Young Performing Missionaries touched the heart of her, very much less than active, son.  He came to Nauvoo to visit them and was overcome with emotion as he sat in the theater during The Promise, and then again when he participated in the Trail of Hope.  She had a grateful mom heart that day.  The third experience came from a man who said he comes from a neighboring city just to hear our missionaries sing, feel connected with the spirit, and be fortified for the week ahead of him.  

What a blessing it is to be with these missionaries every day and feel the peace that comes through the Holy Ghost and testifies of the Savior.

Those comforting feelings were evident on Sunday evening, Father's Day, June 20th, when the tornado warning sounded and we gathered with visitors in the Seventies Hall.  A lightning storm prevented us from continuing with the presentation of the Trail of Hope, so we moved people into the Seventies Hall to finish.  The warning sirens blared and we quickly moved everyone out of the building and to the safety of basement tornado shelters or the Nauvoo Temple parking garage, which is a designated gathering place during a tornado warning.  Through the entire experience, the missionaries were the conduit of the spirit as they sang to and comforted so many people.  

How is it that we are so blessed to be part of this amazing work??!!

Enjoying the Nauvoo Brass Band as they make their way down Main St.

We enjoyed a great lunch with some of the missionaries that were
here with us in 2018-2019, along with some other friends:
Swanson, Davies, Merkley, Quirl, Flanders, and Richards.

Back at Pioneer Pastimes for a bit.  And we love it! Due to Covid, and Nauvoo being closed
all of last year, there was pretty much no one left here in the mission that knew how to play the
games and run things.  So they asked if we would be willing to train the missionaries on
all of the fun to be had at Pioneer Pastimes.  The missionaries loved it and now
it's a site that is open for all who visit Nauvoo!

President and Sister Lusvardi came for a visit. It was so awesome to see them again
and reminisce about the great experiences we enjoyed when we served here together.

The home of apostle Orson Hyde that was reconstructed in 2019 & 2020
and dedicated at the end of May this year by Elder Quentin L. Cook.

A beautiful Nauvoo summer sky with the temple in view.

Beautiful flowers at the Browning Gun Shop.

One of the casts that performs Go Ye Into All the World
at the Seventies Hall.  It's a great story about the mission calls of
John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt,
and Brigham Young to serve in England.  Pictured are: Chance Anderson,
Nick Peterson, Nate Hart, Nathan Holbrook, Joseph Thompson, Tanner Perkins,
Caleb Mousley, David Chandler, Danna Facer, Hailey Reed, Jenna Urry, and Brante Copling.

Go Ye Into All the World in the Seventies Hall
These elders do an amazing job!
Tanner Perkins as Wilford Woodruff
Sam West as John Taylor
Matt Peterson as Heber C. Kimball
Luke Urry as Parley P. Pratt
Tyler McQuiston as Brigham Young

Be the Hero of Your Own Story
Bethany Fox, Tyler McQuiston, Sam West, Rebecca Meiss & Angela Whiting

One of the casts of Be the Hero of Your Own Story - 
Luke Urry, Hailey Reed, Pyper Foote, Kassidy Magleby, 
Brooke Nielsen, Scott Young, Sara McGriff, Abby Derrick,
Rachel Fonseca, Abigail Storm, Joseph Thompson and
Kyle Atkinson.

Scott was in heaven when he had the chance to teach these
missionaries all about the Blacksmith Shop and the story of 
the Webb brothers.  President Kevin Ballard, Scott,
Michael Ferrier, Joshua Fenwick, Matt Peterson, and 
Nick Peterson.

This is the southeast cornerstone of the reconstructed Nauvoo Temple. 
On April 6, 1841 it was the first cornerstone laid during the original construction.
Judd's ancestor, William Warner Player, was the chief stone setter of the
Nauvoo Temple.  Among other tasks, he set the pilasters, circular windows, and
stars.  On May 24, 1845 he set the corner capstone with Brigham Young and Heber
C. Kimball.  Our grandson, Cal Warner Player, bears the name of that pioneer heritage.

The door greeter after my morning walk.  I love all of the animals that just hang out around our house.  There's this little family of rabbits next to the front porch, a mamma deer and her two babies in the backyard that are sitting in the yard when we return home in the late evening, racoons, cardinals, orioles, blue jays, and red squirrels and black squirrels. Down at the river you can find turtles sunning themselves on a log, and there is a massive bald eagle's nest in a tree at the river's edge.  There used to be two baby eagles with their parents in that nest, but the day of the tornado warning the nest was blown out of the tree and an animal control person came to rescue the baby eagles.