We went on our way, rejoicing!

Nauvoo Day 11

The weather is cooler today and less humid, though my hair still curls twice what it normally does at home.  Kaitlin is up early to mentor again. The blue cast has now learned the entire pageant. 
At lunch time, Kaitlin goes to the temple with other youth in the pageant. She takes the six temple cards we had prepared as a family as part of our Nauvoo preparation.  Chuck and I go to a lecture on the leadership patterns developed and used at the pageants.  Bro. Warner, our director, was the man originally in charge of creating the pageant.  In his presentation he holds up the new youth curriculum booklet and says that most of what is in the new curriculum are concepts developed and learned in the creation and implementation of the pageant.  I fill several pages of notes as I learn to lead and teach as Christ leads and teaches.  Even though I’m a life-long member the concepts blow my mind and I walk away feeling like I have much pondering and spiritual work ahead to implement these qualities into my character.

Throwing Jared into the well at the Homestead.

That afternoon we take the kids down to some of the sites owned by the Community of Christ, including Joseph Smith’s home and Hotel Nauvoo.  We don’t have enough time for the whole tour so we just walk around the outside of the buildings and along the Mississippi.  We are amazed at how huge the blueprint of Hotel Nauvoo is and are once again inspired by Joseph’s vision for this place, and not just that, but that there were armies of covenant keeping people who were willing to work hard for that vision.

We rush back to the condo now and get in our costumes because we have an appointment for family pictures.  Each cast has a cast historian that volunteers to take pictures of our experiences here.

At our pre-show devotional we hear several inspiring stories about God’s hand in our work. Miracles are happening here every day.  I’ve had miracles happen in my life, but never have been in a place where they are so frequent, almost expected.

Water stations at the fair were our favorite place.

The country fair is in full swing when we get there.   The evening is cooler and there are several buses full of youth - hundreds and hundreds of youth.  I have a good chat with some youth leaders from Mississippi. One leader has an accent so thick I hardly understand her.  The dance floor is full, and Kaitlin dances there all evening.

After the pageant Ruth and I go out to make contacts with the people. We are approached by a man from Lehi who is anxious for us to meet his family. We are introduced and have a good chat. As the conversation goes on I feel prompted to give my testimony and have a powerful experience.  Walking back to the car we are once again energized by our missionary experiences.

Nauvoo Day 12

Singing at the talent show.

Friday morning finds us out in the field picking up trash for our district service assignment.  We are doing it with the Barnes, which makes it fun.  Then we are off to the cast talent show.  We got a half hour to practice out talent the day before so we are more than prepared and have a good time singing “The Pirates That Don’t Do Anything” for our new friends (even Chuck joins in, singing and  playing the tambourine – really, no lie).  We took an ox cart ride and then off to a cast picnic where we visit, play and enjoy all you can eat hotdogs.

Hanging out with Joseph and Emma

The core cast performs little vignettes around Nauvoo a couple of times a day and we make it to our first one about Joseph and Emma. It is so amazing to watch the actors dramatize real letters from these historical people in the place they actually lived and walked.  A particular highlight that Kaitlin loved was when Joseph expressed that he would happily walk to Nauvoo barefooted, bareheaded, and half-naked to see Emma. We go back down to Parley Street, all the way down to the Mississippi’s edge and skip rocks and explore, and then visit the boot shop demonstration where we learn to be more thankful for our modern shoes.  The grove is only a couple blocks away, so we go and watch another vignette, this one of Joseph Smith giving one of his most famous addresses about the eternal nature of families.  I am amazed at Alex, the young man who plays Joseph, that he has memorized this 20 minute sermon word for word and delivers it so eloquently it as if he were actually Joseph and we were not listening to a dramatization but hearing true doctrine taught to us for the first time.

Jared loves to play the hoop game.

At the fair that night I meet two couples from Japan at the country fair and Chuck meets a lady who was investigating the church from Iowa. After the show Kaitlin gets a referral all on her own from a young man she was visiting with, and I get one from a family I meet as well. 

Nauvoo Day 13

Saturday comes and we cannot believe it is our last day in Nauvoo.  The week has flown by in a blur and none of us want it to end. Well, none of us except for Jared. Even though we had been out late the night before, Chuck and I get up early to go to the temple.  The temple is beautiful and there is an amazing spirit here.  My mind reflects over and over on the Nauvoo saints who built and then were forced to leave this temple.  In the pageant, my 3rd great aunt Eliza says that when the saints left the temple behind that they “felt to rejoice,” and I always questioned that.  But there in the temple I thought how very grateful and excited they must have felt to get those blessings. Afterward the temple workers let us look around a little before we go; we see the baptistry and a gorgeous stain glass window there and also some cool artifacts.

At the temple.

We pick up the kids and head out to our cast testimony meeting. It goes for two hours and there is laughing and tears. We have all grown to love each other and this place. It’s amazing because we’ve all been on the same journey, but it’s also been individualized for each of us by the Spirit. 

After lunch we go to our last vignette, this one is held in one of the old pioneer buildings and it’s really good; Not only does it feature my 3rd great grandfather, and it’s in this hall that’s very bright and therefore it sounds fantastic, but our friend Malia is in it.  Later, the core cast puts on a performance of an outreach show they do in the area called Our Story Goes On.  They perform it in the school gym, which is less than ideal, but still it is amazing!  This is the first time we get a view of how fantastically talented these people really are.  Free of the confines of representing religious historical figures, they are in their native waters of performing, and performing they did, as good as any theater I’ve ever seen. The story is touching, and we are all in tears, performers and audience alike.

We gather for our last pre-show devotional and our last district meeting with the people we have grown to love the most while we have been here. They feel like family. We share together what we have learned; there is so much to say and so little time.

Some final words from the director.

There are fewer people at the fair tonight, it’s Saturday and there are no youth groups. While I am walking around, trying to find someone to talk to, I see the actress who plays Emma Smith, alone the grove, in the distance, apart from the cacophony of activity.  She is there, in yellow pioneer dress, with black ringlets framing her face, trying to comfort her fussy baby.  I stand there a long time, watching her bounce and rock, and I think of Emma, and how this is how it must have been for her, always surrounded by people, always being watched and wanted but so often alone, with her responsibilities for her children and the weight of her husband’s calling.  It amazed me how I’m sure Melinda, the actress who plays Emma, had no idea anyone was noticing her there, but in her quiet, stolen moment of motherhood, she taught me.

What the stage looks like from back stage.

Our final performance goes by quickly, like a blur, yet I try to absorb every moment, every sound, every sight, every feeling. Soon we are raising the temple the last time, and while I am sad, I also feel to rejoice that we are here, that we are experiencing this.  Missionary work is slow for us after the show, the crowd is smaller, so after awhile we sit and enjoy just being there. We gather on the stage one last time and make a record a short segment for the British Pageant, which is opening for the first time in August, and then we all kneel on that hard wooden stage for a cast prayer.  We linger after to hug and say our goodbyes. The girls especially are heartbroken at leaving all their new friends, but I feel mostly satisfied at having had this amazing experience.

Checking in costumes.

We get back to our condo by 11:30. We have had very little time to clean and pack, so I leave Chuck to start that while Ruth and I go to the school to turn in our costumes.  An army of volunteers are there to check all of our pieces (over 40 individual piece for just our family) and then we push little converted  baby strollers full of our costumes past bins and tables – hats here, vests here, bloomers here. Dresses are turned in to this table that had 8 ladies with seam rippers taking out the hems.   By 1:00am I finally to sleep, but the costumers will work all night washing and ripping hems to have the costumes ready by Monday morning for Yellow Cast.  Even though we will pack up and leave in the morning, the work goes on in Nauvoo.