21 April 2013 –
Summary: Last Sunday we were set apart by our Stake President to be missionaries. We then left the next day to head to Nauvoo. A major storm caused several delays along the way, but with the Lord’s help we were able to make it there by Friday afternoon as requested. We were able to visit with April, MaeLyn and Kristy along the way. We are now settled in our new apartment and look forward to being set apart as temple ordinance workers this afternoon. We are currently without phone or internet. I am posting this while sitting outside the public library in Nauvoo - using their Wi-Fi to gain access to the internet.
Blow by blow: Last Sunday we were set apart as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pres. Richard Wilson came to our home to do the honors. Present at the time were several family members and invited guests, including the Kerby’s, the Bett’s, the Bryson’s, Daniel & Jennifer, and the Lairds. Jessica Kerby also invited her friend, Sam. The ‘setting-apart’s were followed by a lot of noise and enthusiasm as cousins played together, etc. all while dinner was being prepared. Eventually, after dinner, each family departed, saying their good-bye’s to us – as they would not be seeing us again for the next several months.
We didn’t have a farewell. We didn’t go to the MTC. We were to report directly to the Nauvoo Temple. We did bare our testimonies that Sunday (which was our fast and testimony meeting for the month, since the previous week was General Conference).
On Monday, we finished piling what we were planning on taking with us into the car and left pretty much on schedule. We stopped to drop a few things off on our way out, and worked our way to Karma’s home where we had lunch with her and her daughter, Debbie. A storm had hit the Wasatch Front the night before, leaving a little snow on the ground, but nothing to really deter us in our travels.
We reached Green River, Wyoming and with April’s help via cell phone, we arrived at to her house, where we spent the night. Being a Monday night, we joined in with them in their Family Home Evening activities with their two young boys. The storm was growing worse, and we prayed as to what to do. Should we try to move through quickly before the storm, or hope that it could pass over us and allow us to follow in its wake – hopefully the next day? Neither alternative set well in my craw, but we decided to stick to our original itinerary and continue on the next morning.
Tuesday, we headed out amid lots of snow and wind. At least the roads were open. We hoped to get to MaeLyn’s home that night – all the way to Thornton, Colorado. We passed Rock Springs and headed on to Rawlins. But that was the end of our road – the highways were closed due to the storm, so we abandoned our hope of staying on schedule and, although we had only travelled two hours that day, we sought a motel before there were “no vacancy” signs posted all over town. We really had no choice in being able to stick to our planned agenda.
While there, the “service engine soon” light lit up on our dashboard. Since we didn’t have anywhere else to go or things to do, we tried to find out what was wrong and get it fixed. Of the six repair shops posted in the guide at the motel, all of them explained over the phone that they were unable to read the computer codes in our car and thus were unable to help us. Again we said a prayer and then followed the inspiration that came. I felt to call our mechanic back home and ask him for advice. It was suggested that we find an auto parts store and have them read the codes for us. We did. It was determined that one of our cylinders was misfiring. We then went to one of the six mechanics bearing with us the codes that had been read. The response was that they still couldn’t work on our car since they were so far in arrears that we were in a line two to three weeks long. If we chose to stay in town that long, he would then consider us. But he did recommend another site, not on our list. We went there and they took us right in and fixed the problem while we waited. Now we were ready for the roads to open – so back to the motel where we watched the “weather channel” and kept track of road closures.
(On Wednesday) the road was opened that night at about 1 am. We waited – I didn’t want to travel at that hour. We got an early breakfast and tried to leave – only to find that, in the cold, our battery would not start. Again, a quick prayer was said, and immediately the answer was provided. Others, staying at the motel, came out to leave as well. One was willing to help us, and the other was able to move his car so that the first could get up next to ours so that the jumper cabled could reach. Again we were on our way. As we progressed, first to Laramie and then to Cheyenne, we noticed many cars and semis that had slid off the road and were stranded. Many of them were pretty banged up as if a collision had put them there. We learned later that we had caught the tail end of a small window as the road behind us was again closed off and had we waited any longer, we would not have gotten through at all that day.
The road from Cheyenne to Fort Collins was also closed. Checking the map, we discovered another road, not an interstate, but a highway, none the less, heading in the same direction not too far to the east of the road we would have travelled. It wasn’t closed, so we took the “detour” and were again on our way. We made it to MaeLyn’s house only one day behind schedule. We had scheduled an extra day at Kristy’s home, which we had already used and now had no hope of enjoying. But Nauvoo was still obtainable at the time we were asked to arrive.
Thursday, we drove to Kristy’s house in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Wanting to avoid the toll road from Topeka to Kansas City, we got semi-lost in Topeka, but eventually got on the alternate route and we arrived only an hour later than we had expected.
Friday, we drove to Nauvoo. Again we did not have clear sailing. The last few miles of route in Missouri leading into Keokuk, Iowa were flooded and we were required to alter our route once again and we entered Nauvoo by way of Fort Madison. But we made it – and we knew that the Lord had been with us the whole way, answering our prayers at every turn. As it turned out, we were only one of several missionary couples all facing the similar problems and all surmounting them in the same miraculous ways. What a blessing it has been to pray and then sit back and watch the Lord as He works his magic quietly and majestically.
Friday evening and Saturday were spent settling into our assigned apartment. Everything was pretty much as desired and needed except for the fact that no phone or internet were available. Hopefully that too will be provided to us as time goes by. Right now, it is scheduled to be installed around the 1st of May.
Today is Sunday once again. This morning we went to Church along with the other 500 or so missionaries that are currently here in Nauvoo. No children. No Youth. After Sacrament Meeting, the site missionaries left to finish their services in the visitor’s center, while the temple missionaries stayed in the stake center. We are now left to enjoy the Sabbath as we choose except for an appointment we will have with the Temple President this afternoon where we will be set apart a second time, this time to be ordinance workers in the temple.
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