Happy 4th of July
• We sat outside on porch swings at a little frozen custard shop in Jamesport, Missouri, a 1953 Old Order Amish Settlement, and enjoyed listening to two ladies playing Mountain Appalachian Dulcimers.
• We went to Adam-ondi-Ahman – a sacred historic site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s very green, pretty and peaceful.
• An elder from the Church Missionary Department spoke to us. He told about being on a cruise with his wife when they announced over the loud speaker on ship that there was a man overboard. He rushed to the edge of the ship and saw the man and the rescue team pulling him in. The man had been 3 days in an inner tube in the ocean. Referring to that experience, he said “Who will man the life boats?” We are all members of a crew working on behalf of the Savior. He said to imagine ourselves wearing lifesaving gear of orange rubberlike suits when we look in the mirror. It will have an impact on what we say and do.
• We’ve enjoyed watching professional performers come to Nauvoo such as the Hughes Brothers, the Young Ambassadors, Vocal Point and The Nauvoo Brass Band.
• We had lunch at an old mill called the Bonaparte Retreat Restaurant. It sits on the Des Moines River. You wouldn’t know it was a nice restaurant from the outside but it was very nice inside. Our waitress was 87 years old. There is a historical marker by the restaurant that says, “March 5, 1846 – Brigham Young and {the} Mormons crossed {the} Des Moines River on {their} way to {the} West.”
• We watched the Steamboat Days Parade in Burlington, Iowa. Little girls would have liked the pink, blue and yellow horses hooves. A man watching the parade shouted "Go back to Nauvoo!" as we walked past him. We are easily spotted with our missionary name tags. It didn’t take but a minute for Elder Jaster to strike up a friendship with him. He used to be a Mormon at one time.
• It’s so fun working with the Young Sister Missionaries. On Father’s Day they said they have raised their vision of all the qualities they want in their future husbands after being here and seeing the good examples the Elders are setting.
• Several people spotted tornados last month close to Nauvoo. We’ve had some foreboding skies, hot temperatures and high humidity.
• The Nauvoo Pageant will start this month. “The City of Joseph” had gone on for 39 years but President Hinckley had an idea to start a new one in 2004. . The new pageant was to tell the doctrine of the church and its early history. There is also a Frontier Country Fair with 25 different activities. There were 7,000 missionary referrals last year from the pageant.
• President Ludwig announced that he and his wife have been asked to extend another year here until January of 2012. They are the best!
• The Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum was 166 years ago on June 27, 1844. We went to Carthage, Illinois where the martyrdom took place. The program started at 5:17 pm. I’m assuming that’s the time of the martyrdom. On Sunday, the young performing missionaries sang, Praise to the Man. It was extraordinarily beautiful and powerful. There were only 10 men and 10 women but it sounded like there were 500 angels singing with them.
• Elder Jaster has been in the Women’s Garden the last several weeks replacing brick on the walkway.
• We had another 6:45 am Farewell Breakfast for departing missionaries on the outdoor stage. It’s always a sad event but was a glorious gathering of all the missionaries. The sun was just coming up and the weather was perfect. The band played “God Bless America.” They had three long tables set up on stage full of food. It was like an Easter Sunrise Service that I remember as a child at Memory Grove in Salt Lake.
• For me (Elder Jaster) it seemed like a taste of heaven. Here we were on a perfect morning with all of our friends and all of the good food we could eat. What more could you ever expect in Heaven? Then all too soon it was over and I had to go to work cutting out broken bricks in the women’s garden and helping Elder Wilcox replace them. I never pictured retirement as getting up at 0530Hrs and working all day then putting on 2 shows at night getting off at 2130Hrs. But where else could you work with so many good people and have a 25mph speed limit? The pageant starts this week. They have priority over everything else. I don’t know if Sister J mentioned it or not (I don’t read her blogs) but I’m the Official Pig Squealer for the entire Z cast during Grandma’s feather bed.
• We sat outside on porch swings at a little frozen custard shop in Jamesport, Missouri, a 1953 Old Order Amish Settlement, and enjoyed listening to two ladies playing Mountain Appalachian Dulcimers.
• We went to Adam-ondi-Ahman – a sacred historic site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s very green, pretty and peaceful.
• An elder from the Church Missionary Department spoke to us. He told about being on a cruise with his wife when they announced over the loud speaker on ship that there was a man overboard. He rushed to the edge of the ship and saw the man and the rescue team pulling him in. The man had been 3 days in an inner tube in the ocean. Referring to that experience, he said “Who will man the life boats?” We are all members of a crew working on behalf of the Savior. He said to imagine ourselves wearing lifesaving gear of orange rubberlike suits when we look in the mirror. It will have an impact on what we say and do.
• We’ve enjoyed watching professional performers come to Nauvoo such as the Hughes Brothers, the Young Ambassadors, Vocal Point and The Nauvoo Brass Band.
• We had lunch at an old mill called the Bonaparte Retreat Restaurant. It sits on the Des Moines River. You wouldn’t know it was a nice restaurant from the outside but it was very nice inside. Our waitress was 87 years old. There is a historical marker by the restaurant that says, “March 5, 1846 – Brigham Young and {the} Mormons crossed {the} Des Moines River on {their} way to {the} West.”
• We watched the Steamboat Days Parade in Burlington, Iowa. Little girls would have liked the pink, blue and yellow horses hooves. A man watching the parade shouted "Go back to Nauvoo!" as we walked past him. We are easily spotted with our missionary name tags. It didn’t take but a minute for Elder Jaster to strike up a friendship with him. He used to be a Mormon at one time.
• It’s so fun working with the Young Sister Missionaries. On Father’s Day they said they have raised their vision of all the qualities they want in their future husbands after being here and seeing the good examples the Elders are setting.
• Several people spotted tornados last month close to Nauvoo. We’ve had some foreboding skies, hot temperatures and high humidity.
• The Nauvoo Pageant will start this month. “The City of Joseph” had gone on for 39 years but President Hinckley had an idea to start a new one in 2004. . The new pageant was to tell the doctrine of the church and its early history. There is also a Frontier Country Fair with 25 different activities. There were 7,000 missionary referrals last year from the pageant.
• President Ludwig announced that he and his wife have been asked to extend another year here until January of 2012. They are the best!
• The Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum was 166 years ago on June 27, 1844. We went to Carthage, Illinois where the martyrdom took place. The program started at 5:17 pm. I’m assuming that’s the time of the martyrdom. On Sunday, the young performing missionaries sang, Praise to the Man. It was extraordinarily beautiful and powerful. There were only 10 men and 10 women but it sounded like there were 500 angels singing with them.
• Elder Jaster has been in the Women’s Garden the last several weeks replacing brick on the walkway.
• We had another 6:45 am Farewell Breakfast for departing missionaries on the outdoor stage. It’s always a sad event but was a glorious gathering of all the missionaries. The sun was just coming up and the weather was perfect. The band played “God Bless America.” They had three long tables set up on stage full of food. It was like an Easter Sunrise Service that I remember as a child at Memory Grove in Salt Lake.
• For me (Elder Jaster) it seemed like a taste of heaven. Here we were on a perfect morning with all of our friends and all of the good food we could eat. What more could you ever expect in Heaven? Then all too soon it was over and I had to go to work cutting out broken bricks in the women’s garden and helping Elder Wilcox replace them. I never pictured retirement as getting up at 0530Hrs and working all day then putting on 2 shows at night getting off at 2130Hrs. But where else could you work with so many good people and have a 25mph speed limit? The pageant starts this week. They have priority over everything else. I don’t know if Sister J mentioned it or not (I don’t read her blogs) but I’m the Official Pig Squealer for the entire Z cast during Grandma’s feather bed.
