Nauvoo 2015

Shortly after school was out we had our Youth Conference in Nauvoo.  Pat and I took Tom and drove in our own vehicle so we could get everything ready for the youth to arrive.  We cleaned the lodge and unpacked food with the help of the Jaquiths.  We had some very humid, hot weather which was unusual for us during the second week of June.

On Wednesday night we saw the Young Ambassadors after we watched the Sunset show.  It was cut short due to a lightning storm.  They do two shows.  We saw the Tuesday night show and it was far superior to what our kids saw.

Thursday morning brought the handcart trek.  I think most of the youth had a great time.  We had a young woman in our group who just wanted to race through the trek.  She left such a bad taste in my mouth.  She's normally such a fun, happy, upbeat person, but not on this day.  I was ready to hog tie her and leave her for some other group to rescue.  We did our typical vignette about having the baby die.  That touched many hearts in each of the groups.  The kids then had the rest of the afternoon to go see whatever sites they wanted.  We met at the visitor's center at 4 to watch The Promise performed by the young performing missionaries.  That was so much fun!  It's the first time I have sat through that show and had the audience respond with cheers and "aww".  Many of the youth went back to see the Young Ambassadors in the evening.  They agreed that the show was eons better.

Friday was our spiritual day.  Half of the group went to the temple in the morning while the other half went to Carthage.  After meeting up for lunch, we switched places.  In the end, we all met back at the campground lodge for testimony meeting.  A very good meeting.  Hearts were touched because of this place.  Exactly what we hoped for.  A dance with the Rockford stake in the evening.  The Wagners took the five 13-year-olds down the Trail of Hope.  There were several vignettes performed there.  It was awesome.  The Spirit was strong.

Saturday was simply pack up and go home.  A wonderful time was had by all I'm sure.  Except maybe Ivan.  He was part of the cooking crew and wasn't any too happy about it.  He missed his bed.

Part 2
Two days following Pete's passing, we had planned to go to Nauvoo to see the Bradys in the pageants.  Lolly said it was alright to take Tom and go so we did.  Again it was extremely hot and humid.  It also rained quite a bit.  It was great to see the Bradys.  Even more fun to see them on stage.

We were able to go to the temple a couple of times which I always love.  The Nauvoo temple is a special place for me.  All temples are for the same ordinances, but this one just feels different. Perhaps it is because over the years we put our labor into helping to clean it.  I've had some wonderful experiences doing that.  Anyway, it was good to get away and get recharged and ready for Pete's funeral.