Nauvoo
Week 36 (15 – 21 August 2016)
This
was another exciting week that has flown by!
Monday evening we had a Temple Missionary Family Home Evening at the
Stake Center. The Seaman’s family
presented a fun evening of entertainment.
There are 9 children in the family and they are all really musically
talented. They performed several numbers
and each of them had a special talent in singing or playing multiple
instruments. This, of course, was
followed by refreshments…they say the Nauvoo mission is about a “30 pound”
mission-most add about this much weight while serving here.
On
Tuesday, we had the privilege of providing breakfast to the “Young Performing
Missionaries,” they have been here for the past 10-12 weeks performing each and
every day, usually from about 8:00am until late in the evening. The heat/humidity has been really high and by
nighttime performances they are usually wringing wet with perspiration.
We don’t know how they have continued on each
day…they are amazing with many beautiful talents. Later that day we served in the Temple as
Baptistry Coordinators.
Wednesday
we have a missionary training session which was presented by Elder Fred
Streuling (born in Germany during World War II.
He told of his childhood and the ugliness of war (bombs continually
exploding, hiding in bunkers during air raids, riding bikes around
looking/scavenging for food or other useful items, etc). He told of his conversion to the Church and
the great welfare program they provided to the war-torn towns in Germany and
the surrounding areas. He told of a 500
kilometer bike ride that he and his family took to find their father who had
been sent to a small island north of Germany following his many years serving on
the Russian front of the war. It was
very touching and we pray that we will never have to endure such calamity.
On
Thursday, we served in the morning at the Temple, later that day we went to
Burlington, IA for dinner and a movie.
Friday, we again served in the Temple during the morning hours and then
Tom played golf in the afternoon.
Saturday
we served in the afternoon/evening at the Temple and had rich experiences with
the people that we served.
On
Sunday, we traveled to Mount Pleasant for church and the final practice for the
Primary program to be held next Sunday.
Still there were a few children that were not there that have
speaking/singing parts…we’ll see how it goes next week with them not having
practiced at all? We then visited an
inactive sister that President Sanchez had asked us to visit; we did meet her
but she did not let us in. Later that
day we had invited Elder Bob and Sister Helen Lasher (Idaho) to dinner.
They are site missionaries and we have had a
really nice friendship with them. At
first, we just ran into them where ever we went and soon, through conversation
we developed a fun relationship. They
were originally called to serve in the Philippines, but were later changed to
Nauvoo and have spent about 18 months here.
They are leaving to return home next Monday, we will miss them.
We
are grateful for your love and support while we are here in Nauvoo. We love this opportunity and have grown so
much from the spirit and learning more about the history of the saints in this
area. We know they sacrificed much to
become established here and then to leave it all through persecution and to
head west, leaving the United States of America to a land where they could
worship as they wished.
We are proud to
be their posterity and pray that each of you will remember the time you spent
here in Nauvoo. We love each or you and
know that you are being blessed for your faithfulness to the Lord,
Love,
Mom
& Dad/Nana & Papa/Elder & Sister Shaw