Our first week with the temple open

We just got back from Church.  During this last week, the Young Performing Missionaries (YPM) arrived here in Nauvoo for the summer.  They bring a better balance to our Church block that previously averaged around 75 in age.  Previously, it mostly consisted of temple missionaries, site missionaries and facilities missionaries (ground keepers).  Note there are no infants, children or mutual-age kids at all.  Now we have about 100 young missionaries to counter-balance all us old people.  As today was testimony meeting, most of the testimonies were given by the YPM.  Many of them mentioned that this was not their first mission but that they had been called a second time - just after having returned from a proselyting mission somewhere else first.  They all seem so excited and strong as they commence this new adventure here in Nauvoo.  The temple missionaries met together for Sunday school and combined priesthood/relief society. During the last hour we continued having our own testimony meeting.  I suppose that is the reason that none of us had tried to compete with the youth during the first hour.  Perhaps the site missionaries that also met with us during the first hour also held their own testimony meeting later on as well.  We only meet with them for sacrament meeting.  As the summer months approach, we will also be joined with the tourists.  That should be interesting since the attendance at sacrament meeting is already around 600.

Yesterday we completed our first week with the temple open. Assignments are coordinated well - helping Mom and me to be together in most of what we did.  Most of our assignments this last week kept us as patrons.  That gave us an additional week to observe and learn the Nauvoo way of doing things.  Mom did get the opportunity to be officiating in initiatory when twin sisters came through for their own endowments.  Saturday was by far the busiest day here last week.  Hopefully it will be an indication of what things will be like as the summer progresses and more people will want to go on sessions here.

Our spring here has been a real roller-coaster.  We'll have a couple of days that look like summer is here: hot and humid, then a 3-day storm will come in, dropping the temperature by 30 or 40 degrees.  We get all sorts of puddles to walk through.  The amount of rainfall here is a lot more than anything either of us have been used to, either in California or in Utah.   The umbrella may become a pretty common accessory for us around here.

Each fast Sunday, we are grouped together with different couples to break the fast.  This week, we have been invited over to the Taylor's residence. We will be meeting with them in another hour or so.  They are not temple missionaries, but have a special call to coordinate the pageant here - scheduling housing and other accommodations for actors, performers, special guests, etc. as well as for the many that come to set up the stage, props, music, etc.  It should be interesting to meet with them.