Nauvoo Mission 7/1/ 2012

Hi Gang, sorry for not writing sooner but things have gotten really hectic lately. The weather has turned hot and humid with avengance. You feel like you are waring a wet blanket all the time. We have started to work at 6 AM for concrete, just to avoid the heat. The heat index is above 100 almost all the time now. For Sunset last night the index was 119, a lot of really wet shirts. The pictures are of Mom at Carthage for the 168th commemoration of the martyrdom of Joseph and his brother Hyrum, same time of day and place, very inspiring to be part of a crowd of 400+ singing "Praise To The Man". One of those journal moments for sure. The Heidbreder Drug Store building at 8th and State in Quincy, was built in 1900 to house the rapidly growing chain. Previously the store was on the east side of the interection. It was started in 1875 as J. H. Heidbreder and Son. Of the orginal six stores, three of the buildings are still standing. It has been fun finding these old buildings and location of the rest. Learning lots of family history. Anna Sumerhays was involved in the serious car accident on Tues. June 26th in Pleasant Grove. She was broadsided by a truck at a intersection, it took over an hour to get her extricated from the car, with jaws of life and all. She is in the Utah Valley Hospital in the critical care unit with 5 broken ribs, (15 fractures), a punctured lung and a lacerated spleen. It is touch and go with the spleen. If anyone is down that way pop in and visit her. We love the spirit here and feel blessed to be part of it all. Take care, we love and miss you all, give all the little ones hugs.

Nauvoo Mission 6/20/2012

Hello everyone from the heartland of america the winter wheat in being harvested and 60% of all the exported wheat and corn flow down the Mississippi from this area. The first picture is me at the brickyard making mini bricks for our guests, same material, same process just smaller. The saints in Nauvoo made about 1 million bricks a year, very labor intensive process. They built 35o brick homes here. Kind of fun learning the process and seeing the results, people love the free little red brick. The next picture is of Mom and I hanging out with Ben and Earl our in resident oxen. Very gently and calm, they respond to 5 voice commands. They are lead not driven. Talk about big and strong, most of the wagons that left Nauvoo in 1846 were ox lead.
They eat anything and the yoke in much less money than bridles needed for horses. We have read about oxen but being next to them is really fun. Pretty much the same around here work, musicals, musicals, musicals, sleep. The weather is really hot and humid now much like we expected and everyone says it gets worse. My shirt is wet all day. Mom gets to work in AC sites all the time. We are enjoying all the people and the excitement that is in the air, very special feeling. We love and miss you all, take care.

Nauvoo Mission 6/12/2012

Hi Gang, This has been a very busy but exciting and rewarding week. Lots of people at the sites and in the streets. It's more like we expected. The crowds at the performances especially at Sunset are large, we had over 800 on Tues. We always do Rendevous twice each night now. The picture is of Sunset, it starts out with a childrens parade. The kids color the paper hats and follow the brass band on a march through the audience waving the flag. You can see the old folks chorus in the back with the straw hats. The stage for pageant is almost finished, we turn it over to the Arts people this week, just some little odds and ends left. Sunday we worked in the visitors center, it was great. I spoke with a non member couple who said they thought is was time to learn something about the Mormons since we were going to have one running for Pres.
They watched a film and went out to the sites. It is so great to have so much available to visitors that explain the Gospel. BYU Ball Room dancers were here also, they put on live performers for the whole week after Sunset and also a fireside Sun. evening. We love working here, it is so peaceful and the spirit is everywhere. The other picture is a scene in Rendevous of George and Agatha. Mom and I are just about ready to do this. Happy birthday to Mitch, Molly and Megan last week. We love you and miss you.

Nauvoo Mission 6/3/2012

This is a picture of the "Sunset Show. It is on an outdoor stage. We are in it two nights a week. Next week the BYU ballroom dancers start giving a show right after this one every night. Dad and I have not performed our part yet in our play. We are still practicing it. The other picture is of the Temple Quarry site. We are very busy. More and more people are coming now. It is more fun when it is busy, not so much sitting and waiting. We went to the temple on our P day and then to the sites that belong to the other church. There is so much going on at once here for the summer guests. We had our zone conference tonight and got some great teaching. This week after Sunset we went down Parley Street where the Trail of hope is and the young missionaries gave stories and songs along the way. We are so proud of Luke for his

graduation and Theo for his baptism this week. We miss you all and love you all!!,Take care!

Mom & Dad

Nauvoo Mission 5/27/2012

Hi Gang, Things are beginning to pick up around here, the sites are getting buser all the time. The weather is getting hotter and more humid each day. Which makes concrete work all the harder. The pageant stage is almost done just two more pours to go. This weeks pictures are from the sites. Elder Larsen is giving a tour in the parlor of the Herber C Kimball home and Mom is crying repentance in the herb garden at the Lyon Drug Store. We are both working hard to learn our new parts for rendevous and should be performing them by next week. Mom has to carry most of the load in the part, but I get all the

laughs. Who would have thought we'd be doing all
this singing and acting on a mission. Learning more and more about old Nauvoo and loving it. The saints who lived here were certainly remarkable people. It's great that their story is finally being told in so many differant ways. We feel special just to be a part of it. There are so many stories that turn up all over the place. It's like those behind the vail are pushing to be heard. This whole political thing is really sparking interest in the church and it is very positive. We love and miss you all, Mom & Dad

Nauvoo Mission 5/22/2012

Hi everyone! Well, Dad finally finished his work at the Clark Store. It was oficially dedicated as the Famiy Search Center. As you can see in the picture they built some beautiful arbors outside the building. There was a good crowd at the opening on Wednesday. The young performers out here for the summer sang and their brass band played. The picture of me is in the dry goods store. It's fun to learn all the tours and all the histories. We had dress rehersal for Sunset this week and it begins the this weekend and runs the whole summer. Dad is now working on the stage for pageant and the push isn't as much pressure as where he was before. The crowds are starting to increase here. We got 23 new missionaries this week. All is well with us. We miss you all and hope you are fine. Please keep in touch. Love, mom and dad

Nauvoo Mision 5/15/2012

Hi Gang, sorry for the late blog things have been busy with the open house tomorrow. We finally got ever thing done, unbelievable. Picture below is of one of the concrete, pours. I'm the one in the middle with a loaded shovel, note this scene because you will see a real change in the finished scene to follow next week. We went to Quincy on our P-day and found the locations of the 5 pharmacies the Heidbreders owned. The first ones were in the old German area of town. It was fun. There is only one original building still standing. The other picture is of the cast outside the Cultural Hall after Rendevous greeting the crowd. Mom is center right with a black shawl (haha). We built two large arbors in record time, all done by 3 old missionaries. Who would have thought. I hope things will settle down now. We love this place, things are really starting to pick up, we practiced with the young performers for Sunset, they are great. Weather is great not hot yet. We miss you all and feel sorry we

are missing all the games and such, but wouldn't

miss this experience for anything. Old Nauvoo

has really gotten into our blood. Happy birthday

to Melissa and Bob this week, we are all getting older. Sunday we had a fireside on the history of the restoration in Nauvoo, this year is the 50 year anniversary of the beginning, with old picture and all. It was interesting to see the change that has taken place and how the church policy has changed. All in all this is quite a place

we feel very blessed just to be here. Take care and keep those cards and letters coming. Mom loved her Mothers day gift, thanks to all. Much

love Mom and Dad,