On the Run

There are 'up' times and there are 'down' times. There are times when we aren't very busy; and there are times that we don't know how we can manage - needing to be in several places all at the same time. Such is the life of a temple missionary. This last week, we were excited, thrilled and nervous – all at the same time to start our new calling as shift coordinators. Over all, the day went well but we were tired beyond belief when the day was over – knowing that we need to start preparing anew for next Wednesday when we go at it all over again.

Thursday, we went on a four hour tour that took us to Carthage, Warsaw and then back to Nauvoo during which we learned many of the particulars concerning the events surrounding the martyrdom of Joseph and his brother. We drove the road (as close as currently possible) that the martyrs would have traversed when they rode to Carthage so many years ago. In Warsaw, we saw the building which housed the Expositor that was used in efforts to defame Mormonism and its leaders back in the 1840's. In Carthage we saw the creek bed where the mob probably blackened their faces before assaulting the jail, the jail, etc. Along the way, the likely mindset of people involved on both sides of the conflict was unfolded by our guide.

On Saturday, now back at the temple, we were given a different challenge. A couple, along with their four children, came to the temple to be sealed together for eternity. But before that could happen, the parents and the oldest son, en-route to the mission field, needed to be endowed. No big deal? Well, it shouldn't have been, except for the fact that they were from the Congo and spoke French. The skill set of our arsenal of ordinance workers here at Nauvoo is rather thin – so when various skills are sought, they ask us to stretch our abilities, call on the Lord for help and then barrel forward with the assurance that the job will be done to the Lord's satisfaction. I was told that Becky did a beautiful job as she helped perform the initiatory ordinances for the mother – all in French. I, too, was called on to help in the men's initiatories as well as to help at the veil. In all, it was actually fun, but we were concerned that they would not understand us even though we tried our best to bring these ordinances to them in their native language. After the endowment was completed, Pres. Condie, our temple president (and an emeritus member of the Seventy) performed the sealing ordinances – again using the best French he could pull out of the bag.

Today, I was part of a men's ensemble group that sang in Sacrament Meeting.

Although the pageant here is over for the year, the missionaries are still busy following up on the referrals obtained while it was in progress. I was told, just today, that the success rate so far is 72%. I don't know just what that means – perhaps it simply means that 72% of the addresses given actually exist, or that 72% were really interested in hearing more about the Church, or that 72% are actually taking steps to become members of the Church. But at any rate, it is a far higher percentage than that obtained in previous years – which I am told lies around 17%. I tell you all this, because today I was asked to assist the proselyting missionaries follow up on the remaining Hispanic referrals in the area. The Spanish speaking missionaries that were here during the summer have now been reassigned to other areas. I am excited to get involved in that effort – even while serving a temple mission. It just means that I will be that much more 'on the run' than I already am.

Settling in

This last week has been one of just getting down and getting the work done.  The fun and games that live here in Nauvoo during the summer are gone.  The performing missionaries are now gone.  The crowds are pretty much gone.  Except for the pull of a new film introduced this last week in the temple, the session sizes there are decreasing and temple missionaries are frequently found going on sessions as patrons for lack of anything else to do.  With school having started in most places around the country, the temple baptistery is now often idle for hours on end.  Such a difference from what it was just a week or two ago. 

Starting in September, our afternoon shift will start and end an hour later than it has during the summer.  The earlier schedule through the summer allowed us to empty the temple each nigh before the pageant began so that we could turn the lights off and not have the temple detract from the outdoor production.  Now that the pageant is over, we can extend our hours a little more to allow the working class time to come in after work - at least for the last session which will be starting at 6 pm.

The new film that we show in the temple is a little longer, and has caused some minor changes in the schedule for ordinance workers.  We don't have as long between the end of one session and the beginning of another.  That means that workers don't have as long to complete the "veil" before needing to be at their next post.  When a session is late, it can really cause havoc, but on the whole we have been able to just quicken our pace and all has worked out - so far.

As new shift coordinators, we have been trying our hand at devising a new line assignment sheet for the shift, as must be done anew each week, as needs change.  Some have suggested that the effort is much like playing Sudoku, where we plop in assignments such that all have something to do, that all assignments are covered and there are not too many assigned in any one area.  That, and trying to make everyone's line interesting and within the bounds of their individual capabilities.  I am told that this task usually occupies most coordinators in the range of about ten hours each week.  And then, just when you think everything is in place, someone calls in, saying they are not going to be there, and a new effort is then required to fill in the areas that that person would have done.  While some shifts have more assignments to fill that workers to do them, our shift has more workers than we have assignments.  I find myself scheduling many to be endowment patrons just to give them something to do.

Change is in the air

School starts soon; the crowds are gone.   Nauvoo is returning to what it was when we first got here.  Kind of…  When we got here back in April, the tree branches were bare; no leaves and no flowers or fruit.  We have watched as spring sprang into being.  We watched leaf buds open and block our view beyond.  We watched the wild animals as they scurried about everywhere.  We watched the river current as it carried its muddy water downstream.  Today, the leaves are still on the trees, the wildlife is still out there and the river continues to flow down its designated course.  But the leaves aren’t all deep green any more.  A few are starting to turn pale, while others have gone yellow or red.  Not many, mind you, but a few are starting to let us wonder what the autumn is going to look like when it arrives in all its glory here in Nauvoo.  This last week we saw deer about on two different days.  The geese are starting to come back after their summer vacation to the north.  Perhaps they were hiding deep while the people populated the streets so heavily last month.  And the river?  Well, its shoals are lined for hundreds of feet out … with lily pads – all in full bloom.  It is indeed breathtaking to look out over the banks and wonder how Huck Finn could get his raft beyond the array of flowers and pads to get to the flow beyond.

Monday, we went across the river (by car) to Montrose to clean a Church historical site showing to where the Saints crossed when in exodus from Nauvoo.  We were close to where the miracle of the quail occurred in 1846.  We were also close to where the prophet’s red hanky was used to heal so many that were suffering from malaria and the like in the early days of the Saint’s reprieve in 1839.  Such a marvelous view of the temple!  It now stands as a monument of the dedication and hard labor that the Saints exerted to build that font of blessings and strength.  Of course, the temple we see today is not the same building that they built in the 1840’s, but it looks just like it and sits in the very same location. It also provides the same function that the original temple bequeathed years ago.  There on the Iowa side of the river, we saw what the saints would have seen as they turned about to see their beloved temple for the last time before turning their wagons westward to cross to some place somewhere out west where religious freedom could be assured.  Our sympathy for the early Saints increased as we stood where they stood looking beyond the Mississippi River to the house of God where He had endowed his flock with the power, knowledge and understanding that they would need before embarking on their trek westward.  But unlike them, when our work there was done, we could return to Nauvoo, unmolested by the persecutions that drove them out years ago.

Our callings as assistant baptistery coordinators on Tuesday afternoons will be short lived.  We have already been asked to train our replacements.  At the same time, we are being trained for our new callings as shift coordinators on the Wednesday afternoon shift.  That calling may also be short lived since in November, the temple will fall into its winter schedule, cutting back half of its shifts.  We don’t know yet if we will be requested to continue on when the two Wednesday shifts are combined.

As many of you may know, the Church is now providing a new film in the temple.  Because we only start sessions here once every hour, and we progress from room to room, the longer film (by 12 minutes) does not affect the schedule of sessions per se.  But what it does do, is require that our ordinance workers be available to work at the veil later in the hour.  That may cause grief if they can’t get to their next assignments on time - especially if sessions do not start on time.  We will see what happens when we start showing the new film for the first time this coming Tuesday.  What a challenge ... especially for us as we become new shift coordinators at the same time!

'Til we meet again

The pageant is now over. Last night we completed the last performance for the year. And today starts the exodus anew from Nauvoo. The cast members are leaving. Next week the Young Performing Missionaries will be on their way home as well. We will miss their exhuberence and their energy. The crowds here will also diminish now that the pageant is over. That's all right – they may be drifting away now – but they will be back next year, if not them, then others that will appreciate the summer's activities here just as much.

We were told that currently the senior missionaries that are serving here in Nauvoo make up about 20 percent of all senior missionaries throughout the world. But we were also told that that percentage will soon be cut in half. Soon we will only be 10 percent – not because half of us will soon be going home, but rather because the number of senior missionaries throughout the world is about to double. That, for us, is exciting.

The number of senior couple missionaries here in Nauvoo will decrease in the fall, but it will be back up again next spring. Like the birds that migrate, we flock in and out with the seasons. Only each year the group that returns are not the same ones that left the previous year. And like the birds, not all of us leave for the winter. A few will be left around to tend the sites and keep the temple warm and cozy. The temple mssionaries, of which we are a part, have now been divided into three groups: 1) those that were here last winter (and will be released this coming fall), 2) those that came this last spring and will also be going home in the fall (six month missions), and 3) those that will be extending to stay here through the coming winter – not to go home until the fall of 2014. We have been asked to be in that third group and we are indeed excited to be able to stay here and enjoy the spirit here in Nauvoo as long as we can. We will be here when the snow falls and the cold humid winds start to blow. We will be able to stand on the steps of the temple to sing carols during the Christmas season. We will be able to walk down Parley street in the middle of February in commemoration of the saints that did the same back in 1846. We will be here to welcome the new missionaries that come in April and enjoy the summer activities again next year that we were so thrilled to have been a part of this year. And it also means that we get to officiate in the Lord's temple here in Nauvoo, for that much longer.

Last night I again contributed to the pageant performance by being the voice of the prophet Joseph to the hispanic community that came to watch the extravaganza. As I did so, I contemplated the messages that were given, especially those spoken by Joseph Smith. Throughout the performance, Joseph provides his testimony of the many events in his life and of the doctrines that were revealed to him. To, think, I was bearing his testimony! And as I did so, I could feel the Spirit of God bear witness to me that the words that I was speaking are indeed the truth. “I know it. … and I cannot deny it.” I also rejoiced with him as he healed the sick, or joined in with the youth for fun and games, or organized the Relief Society, or passed the keys of the kingdom on to others. It was fun to watch the temple be constructed – right on the stage and then to see and feel the excitement of the saints as they were finally able to enter that building and there receive the blessings that would enable them to endure the hadrships that would soon follow, and to rejoice with the Scottish convert that exclaims that “the temple is the highlands of heaven”. How close these sentiments come to the feelings that reside in my own heart! The doctrines of the Church are from God. Christ stands at the head of this Church. The work that we are performing in the temple is essential in bringing eternal life to those who enter and then continue to keep the covenants they make there.