NFM Flag Ceremony

We learned early on that when missionaries leave the Facilities Management team here in the Nauvoo Mission that they are given a flag with the NFM logo on it.  All of our shirts have this logo and I guess the flag is a reminder of all we have accomplished while here. The photos are of the FM missionaries that have left us since we got here.  No particular order.

Ernie and Shirlayne Corder

I took over her position as the secretary and he is a brick mason.

Incredible people who served us as our zone leaders.

Ron and Sharon Hayhurst.  

He is a heavy equipment operator.  She works sites rather than FM.

Matt & Caren Nelson

She worked grounds and he was the handyman.

They were also our district leaders.

Kay and Larry Christensen

She worked grounds and he was an electrician fixing appliances.

Julie and Bernie Warner

She was the mail lady/sewing sister/runner and he was in construction.

Elder Baker left us unexpectedly when he had some major back issues.  I didn't know him at all so I never took a picture.  His wife was in sites rather than FM.

Each time one of these people leave, we give them a "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel" cheer.  The other man in the photos in Jordan.  He is the FM manager, so for all practical purposes, he is the boss.  

Grounds Crew

This is a picture of the ladies I worked with for two months prior to getting my new assignment.  

Caren Nelson, Linda Bailie, Mary Grigsby, Kay Christensen, Mary Barrow & Myself

Sister Barrow and I out watering one morning prior to the morning meeting.

The Grounds Crew: including a lot of senior missionaries, full and part-time employees and the summer interns.

These ladies were working together when Sister Bailie and I arrived.  Even though we didn't know any of them, they took us in and loved us.  We spent 6 hours every weekday together working side by side.  How I came to love each of them.  When Sister Christensen went home and then Sister Nelson a week later, we felt the loss.  It wasn't a loss of not having two more sets of hands working, it was a loss of friends.  Sister Grigsby leaves on September 19th and with me in the office, it leaves just Sisters Bailie and Barrow.  But, there are three more couples coming in October, one in November and one in December so potentially they could have a big crew again.  Sister Barrow stopped by my desk last week and expressed how glad she was that I was now working where I should be.  What a sweet thing to say.

I have learned so much from these women and from the job on the grounds.  My first two weeks here I thought I would die in the weeds.  I would find myself counting the minutes until break or the day was over.  We spent so much time weeding in the heat.  I looked forward to the opportunity to go out and pick up sticks and limbs that had fallen.  It is called a "stick run."  I looked forward to these times as I wasn't weeding.  Then we had a big "blow down" in early July and we spent two weeks straight picking up limbs and sticks and raking up leaves and twigs.  When we were finally able to get back to our weeding, I was grateful.  What?  Me grateful to weed?  There is a great sense of accomplishment in weeding.  I found it relaxing and I enjoyed it.  I didn't enjoy the heat but then the bugs never once bothered me.  That was miraculous.  I came home every day sweaty and disgusting but I always felt I had done something good. 

Burlington Bees

I'm not a huge baseball fan.  In fact, I think the game is kind of boring to watch.  There are exceptions but I don't often find a game that gets me on the edge of my seat.  Burlington has an A farm team for the Angels.  Last night was their Dollar night.  It cost us each $2 to get in since we're not yet seniors.  Hot dogs, popcorn and soda were all a dollar.  We decided to go.  The Mensels picked us up and off we went.  There were several missionary couples there when we arrived and more and more just kept showing up.  I was shocked at the number of temple missionaries that came.

After sitting for 10 minutes or so, the FM employees and missionaries began to show up.  It was fun to see them interacting with one another away from the office and see their personalities really open up.  The above photo was the best we could do as far as FM. 
Between innings there were games being played by individuals whose names were drawn.  Since we bought a program, we had the stubs in which to fill out people's names to participate.  When it came to the Sumo game, Ben and Barant from our office were chosen.  They each wore one of those inflatable bubbles and had to try to knock one another down.  It was fun to watch them.

A guy came and was throwing T-shirts into the crowd and look who got one.  Pat and Barant posed for this picture.  Barant isn't this short, he's standing on a lower tier of the bleachers.  Jordan's son kept going out and finding foul balls so he had a bunch.  It was a really fun night.  We didn't stay until the end since the game was at a 0-0 tie after the 7th inning.  The Bees ended up winning in the bottom of the 10th 1-0.  I wish their dollar night would have been last week when the Timber Rattlers were in town.  They played the Beloit Snappers instead.  Neither team was very impressive.

A Day in Hannibal

Since we arrived, we were sent to Hannibal as our "outbound" assignment.  Since we go to church there, we decided that we needed to see some of the sites there.  On Saturday there was an event called "Wizard of Oz Days."  We've never been to one of these types of events so we didn't know what to expect.  It was an everything Oz event.  I thought this witch lamp was awesome.

There were people there selling everything you can imagine that is Oz.  The best thing I saw was four Mr. Potato Head toys that were the Lion, Scarecrow, Tin man and Dorothy.  It was $50.  I supposed that wasn't really all that expensive since there were four of them.  Still, that was more money than I was willing to spend.  As we walked through the exhibits, my husband just kept laughing.  He continued to laugh when we left.  He couldn't believe the craziness of all these people.

The major characters were all there.  We didn't see the Lion but there were a lot of Dorothys and Wicked Witches.  We saw one Scarecrow and that was a little boy about 3.  There was going to be a wicked witch cackling contest that we didn't stay for.

This "little lady" was married to one of the original "Munchkins."  She's 98 years old!  She was selling photos of her husband for $5 each.  I can only imagine what a Star Trek convention is like.

When we were finished there, we went to the Mark Twain historical sites.  There were interesting but if you want quality historical sites, try visiting Nauvoo or any other of the sites the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owns.

In the Mark Twain museum I sat in this stagecoach and watched a video.  It was kind of fun going through the museum.

This tall piece of furniture is some kind of organ thing.  I wish I could have opened it and taken a peek.

A very large ship's wheel that one would find on a steamboat.

Back at the sites, the best thing was some of the quotes by Mark Twain.  I liked this one.  It always seems that things were bigger in my imagination than they are in real life.

Becky Thatcher was based on a real person in Sam Clemens life.  This home wasn't really set up like a home but more like a museum.

No matter how boring you think your life is, when you look back you will find drama, comedy and tragedy. I don't think I have a very interesting life, but when I look at some specific things I find there are some very interesting experiences.

Sam Clemens' first day of school is quite interesting if you take time to read it.
We had a really fun day together.  There was a thought about inviting others to come but I'm glad we went alone.  We got some shopping done and I bought a few new items for my wardrobe now that I have a responsibility where I dress up more.  More adventures to come.

Peace

Living in this place has been an incredible experience.  I've always had a very peaceful feeling upon entering the city of Nauvoo.  Living here is yet another thing.  As we've ridden our bicycles around the town and driven around, we've noticed that the modern part of the city is really quite dumpy for the most part.  Driving down Mulholland, coming into town has always given me this giddy feeling...especially when I get past the bank and see the temple.

Then there was this day a week or two ago when I looked off to the west and noticed the beautiful sunset.  This specific picture reminds me of home.  As I look over our back yard, I see trees and fields very much like this.  However, it doesn't make me homesick.  Such a peaceful feeling.

My ultimate peaceful feelings come as I gaze upon and enter the Lord's holy house.  We have the privilege of attending weekly which is something we've never been able to do before due to distance from the temple.  Instead of 3+ hours to get there, it now takes us 3 minutes.  What a blessing!

Lastly, serving a mission has pulled me out of the day to day cares. There are still things I have to deal with but there's so much that I don't.  There are stresses and contentions back home that I can absolutely ignore.  I count myself lucky to be doing what I'm doing in the place where we are.  

Lasts and a First

Wednesday was quite a day for lasts and it rolled right into Thursday.  First of all we had to say good-bye to our young performing missionaries.  Although I never spent any quantity of time with any of them to get to know them, I was so appreciative of their time and talents.  Summer here in Nauvoo is full of shows and concerts and these 55 young people are what make all of that happen.  They will be missed but some of them and a whole new group will be back next May.

They sang a few songs to us at the end of mission training before heading out to the airport.  Then, we sang "God be With You".  It was tender as I watched them.  What great people!

Then in the evening we had our Red Cast dinner.  We grew to know and love so many people that we would never have gotten to know without being part of Sunset By the Mississippi.  Elder and Sister Julander were our cast managers.  Elder Julander wrote and cowboy poem and shared it with us.  I look forward to being in this production again next year and making new friends.

On Tuesday, Jordan asked to talk to me during break.  He asked me to take the assignment of being the new FM secretary.  I look forward to that opportunity but I will miss being with the grounds sisters each day.  I have come to love these ladies so very much.  Working together truly brings people closer.

After Sisters Christensen and Nelson left, we fit in the van quite comfortably.  We continued our work the same as always but somehow when it came to the watering detail each morning, Sisters Bailie and Barrow always went together and Sister Grigsby and I went together.  We are so much alike in many ways.  She is 15 years older than I am but that doesn't matter.  She's my best girlfriend here and I have such a tender spot in my heart for her.  The upside and downside of this office job is that Sister Grigsby will be leaving for home in a month.  The downside is that she will be leaving for home in a month.

The most difficult part about taking this new position is that I won't be able to work so closely with "my ladies" anymore. I will miss learning from them and getting to know more about them and their lives and families.  I will miss giggling with them.  I will just plain miss the camaraderie.  I will no longer have to be up at 5am, but then I won't be done at noon anymore either.

The positive part of this new position is that I won't be working out in the elements any longer.  I'll be sitting in my temperature controlled office.  There are sisters who work upstairs in conservation that I adore so I will be able to have lunch with them.  My hours are now 8:30-3:30.  More than the six hours required by the senior missionaries. I get to wear "real clothes" now rather than just the blue shirts. 

I started on Thursday after I finished watering so I've been able to have some training with Sister Corder.  She leaves next Friday so I only have a few days with her.  I'm doing my best to soak up everything I can.  I won't have the daily interactions with the other missionaries anymore, but I will have daily interactions with the full time employees which is also fun.

I've gained such a joy of gardening and an appreciation for the hard work in the blistering sun and heat.  I believe I will be a better gardener when I go back home.  I never thought I would say this, but I believe I will miss weeding.

I Make a Difference

I've found out while on this mission that everyone makes a difference.  Be it positive or negative, our actions make a difference in how people see things or how they see you.

Take this bunch of weeds.  This plant/flower bed needs someone, anyone to take some time to remove these weeds.  My friends who are part of the "grounds sisters" group and I took 2+ days to remove the weeds that were in the beds in front of the Family Living Center.

I didn't work in this area very long and already there is a difference.  There is now a well defined line of where the lawn begins and the flower beds end.  That is kind of like our lives.  We need well defined lines of where goodness ends and evil begins.  Think of the weeds as if they are all the things in our lives that are not good.  If we are not vigilant, the weeds of life will invade and choke out the goodness.

In the end I had many baskets full of weeds like this one.  The other sisters did as well.  Sometimes we need other people in our lives to point out the things we need to "weed out" in our lives.  We each have bad habits that we need to change.  If we could have a visual like my weedy flower beds and baskets of weeds, we might find it easier to rid ourselves of the unwanted things in our lives.

As people walk through the areas where we are weeding, they make comments about how lovely the flower beds look and what good work we are doing.  I found out that I make a difference!

Dumping Pots

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning we had a really good thunderstorm which left us with about an inch of rain.  It was sorely needed.  Thus, we didn't have to go out and water the pots and flowerbeds that morning.  

Our boss is Richard.  He asked us to go out with him and exchange some of the pots that were a bit overgrown with some of those he planted for use during the pageant.  Now that the pageant is over and most everyone is gone, it was easy.  We picked out our favorites and placed them where we had picked up the overgrown ones.

Then we went back to the concrete platform where the other pots were.  We needed to bring them to the trailer and dump them.  It seems like such a waste to discard such beautiful flowers.

We had help from the few interns that are still here as well as Dakota, who is an employee.  I think we dumped about 40 pots.

Once we had them all dumped in the trailer, we took them to the compost pile.  They were all very beautiful and different.  They served their purpose.