In Training

We have just finished a fun and enjoyable week getting trained for our new assignment, here in Nauvoo.  After spending a day or two settling into our apartment, we were set apart by the temple president, President Spencer Condie.  We have spent time getting to know a few of the other missionaries that we will be serving with, both those that were here through the winter as well as those that just arrived along with us.  We’ve been on tours of the temple as well as the community.  We’ve been on sessions at the temple where we were taught how to be ordinance workers “a la mode’ of the Nauvoo temple.  We have attended inspirational seminars in the assembly room at the temple – opened for us, only by permission from the First Presidency, for this week only.  Today we were allowed to climb to the very top of the temple’s bell tower for the spectacular view seen from its top.  Now, at our leisure, we can visit the historical sites outside the temple and in neighboring vicinities.  Then on Monday, we go to work.

The “flat” which is below the temple – is where we all live, in apartments, built to resemble homes in the 1840’s on the outside, but modern in their functionality on the inside.  Most of each block is green with new spring grass.  The trees are just starting to form leaf buds (so we can still see the temple from our window through the bare branches) but the Magnolia trees are all in bloom.  There are about 20 or so historical sites that have been restored - scattered from place to place.   We live across the street from the ‘Pendleton House and Log School’ and a block down from the ‘Brickyard’ in one direction and the ‘Print Shop’ in the other.  We’ve seen a lot of squirrels and birds everywhere.  In the mornings, I can hear the geese that are nesting down along the river’s bank – along with the pelicans, turtles and frogs.  We’ve been told that there are also lots of deer, raccoons, etc. around the flat, but we haven’t seen any of those yet.  I guess there are still lots of things about to look forward to.

We don’t have internet or phone yet.  When we want to use the internet, or our phones, we need to drive to one of various places where we can borrow someone else’s Wi-Fi.  We are having a hard time arranging for the local internet company to come and install the services needed.  They always seem to want to come when we are busy at the temple.  So we keep having to re-schedule.