Mission Wrap-up

I'm not sure I can adequately express my feelings as we have completed our mission.  Here's my best try.

The people we met.  There have been so many that we got to know and love.  We started with the Bailies in the MTC and then the Nelsons as our district leaders.  Those I worked with on grounds were so special to me.  Elder Nelson was Pat's mentor and the love they had for one another was grand.  Such great friends waiting to happen.  We would never have met so many fantastic people had we not served a mission.  While I worked in the office, I was able to make friendships with the full-time employees.  I enjoyed that immensely.  But, working in the paint shop was my favorite job with some fantastic people.

Having the chance to have an outbound assignment in Hannibal was a treat.  We met more people that we would never have known had we not had that opportunity.  Even better was riding each week with Allan and Mary Howard.  Not only did we get to work with them in the carpentry and paint shops, but we were able to worship with them as well.  Then there were the chances to participate in Nauvoo on the Road with them.  Very special times.

Wearing the name of the Savior on my chest every single day for 21 months was wonderful.  It was difficult to take it off as it felt like it was protection.  I have a greater appreciation for Him and know what it means to stand as a witness.  I need to always remember that I owe everything I have to Him!

During our final five months of our service we were able to give tours which meant we finally did some searching in the site guide.  I found out what a covenant community Nauvoo was.  In those months I also found out that I was living in a Zion community within the Nauvoo Historic Sites Mission.  We were all of one heart, one mind and dwelt in righteousness and regardless of our monetary means, there were no spiritually poor among us.  That was the feeling I wanted to take home with me but knew that I couldn't.  We live in the world with school and jobs and responsibilities that are of the world but necessary.  I will miss that feeling most of all.  We truly did serve with the best people in the loveliest place under the heavens.  I will always cherish those memories and feelings.
 

Welcome Home

On March 3, 2021, we finished packing our things and making sure all of our things were out of our apartment and headed home.  A lot of mixed feelings go with leaving a mission.  I know our time was over but there were still so many projects I wanted to see finished.  Someone else will get to do those.

As I drove around the corner from Grunewald to Herman street I saw our entire family waiting outside in our driveway.  Those feelings were immense!  As much as I felt I was leaving my home in Nauvoo, I felt such a joy at seeing my own right here in Lyndhurst!

There were a lot of chalk drawings on the driveway.  Everything from Welcome Home to Finish Line.

Someone even drew Moroni!

Someone wrote, "Thanks for showing your face."  There was a Hallelujah as well.

Thanks for stopping by.  haha

Lots of posters adorned the front of the house complete with balloons!

I guess these last two signs say it best.  We missed our family and we are glad to be back home with them. 

I needed a photo with all nine of our grandchildren.

How could we not feel the love with all these beautiful faces around us?  Not only those pictured but their parents as well.

Sherry’s Birthday

We gathered together with Rick and Sherry MacGregor at the Carlson's to celebrate Sherry's 69th birthday.  Eloise made a delicious meal and we played a few games. 

Rick presented me with a gift.  It was the cap from the Smith Family Cemetery fence that we put our names under.  A tree branch had fallen and broke this specific cap.  He saw some words under the glue so he cleaned it up and saw exactly whose names were there. 

At some point during the summer, we spent days and weeks on painting that fence.  Sister Odum suggested we put our names under one of the caps.  I picked up a marker and wrote the names.  I guess God didn't want our names there.  There are over 100 caps and on that fence and only this one was damaged.  

 

How Many?

I wondered how many places I painted over the past 16 months. Let’s find out. 

Richard’s new office

The ox wagon

Engel house- two complete apartments 

Carter - two complete apartments 

John Taylor apartment - complete as well as bulkhead doors

Seventies Hall - exterior doors and windows

Cottage #1 in Carthage - entire house

Cambry - Exterior and one interior wall

Sarah Granger Kimball bulkhead doors

Family Living Center - fixed bathroom walls

Condo #35 - filled and painted holes - #45 filled holes

Hamma - exterior wall to basement apartment

Big 10 - 201-205 and 105 - complete.  

101-104 - accent walls

Teamster house by barn - back railing

Carthage Visitors' center - interior

Smith Family Cemetery fence

William Mendelhall - Front screen door and all lower windows

Temple Housing x6

Samuel Williams - all lower windows and frames

Beasley- bathroom touch up

Hauptman - kitchen and bathroom repairs

Scovil Bakery - rain diverter

Nauvoo Visitors' Center - upstairs walls & filling holes in west theatre

Teamster house - upstairs closet

Heber C. Kimball - sanded roller marks and repainted kitchen and hallway.

Caulked, puttied and painted entire porch

Newberry Up - entry way and door

Clark Store Apartment #1 - spackled and painted

Hyde Barn - scraped and painted entire rotten building

Maxwell House - exterior

Village Inn #9 - Interior lower and upper window sills on south side

Kelly House - painted over pink doors and frames

Hyde home - interior and exterior

Villiage Inn #7 & 8 - interiors

Village Inn #6 - kitchen and livingroom

Jacob Weiler - ceiling in kitchen/living area

Gheen home - upstairs, stairwells & basement bathroom

Hunter Home - Faux graining of doors, door frames, windows and window sills

Weeks home - faux graining of doors, windows; entire basement and stairwell

Coolidge - exterior door

Brigham Young outhouse door

Simeon Dunn - bulkhead doors

Browning Gun - all interior scraping and repainting

Stoddard Tinsmith - all exterior lower windows

Pageant Stage - little places no one will ever see

John Taylor - exterior side windows

Riser boot - exterior hand rails scraped and painted

Interior of exterior doors

Vinson Knight - front screen door; back door and frame

Chauncey Webb - screen door

Browning Bathrooms - fixed spots on walls with spackle and paing

Cutler Home - lower interior

Winslow-Farr - exterior doors, fireplace, interior fixes

FM office building - entire building upstairs and down.

Plus Lucy Mack Smith!

 That makes 74 that I remember.