Will’s Thoughts on Nauvoo

As soon as we arrived in Nauvoo, Myra and I got dressed accordingly and went to do baptisms at the temple. While we were being baptized, the power went out in the temple, so we did them in the dark. After changing and being confirmed, the temple workers took us to see the 5-story spiral staircase, which was incredibly majestic. On Wednesday, we went on a wagon tour to start off our day and to get a feel for the area. After the wagon tour, we went to the family living center. We learned about different trades and jobs that the pioneers did, including baking, coopering (barrel making), sewing, brick making and rope making. We also had the opportunity to make a rope ourselves. After the family living center, we learned about different games and activities that the saints did in Nauvoo for fun. These included stick ball, stilts, stick pull, and “bear racing”. After this, we received a tour of Carthage Jail, the final place that Joseph Smith lived. Our tour guides told us about the Jailor, his family, as well as John Taylor and Williard Richards. After the tour, we ate Mexican food for dinner, and then went to the fair where the pageant was. Before the pageant, Myra and I went to dance with the pioneer children in the play, which was a lot of fun. The pageant itself was incredible, and I hadn’t learned previously about the preaching of the gospel in England. On Thursday, we started the day off with a carriage ride around the area. Our guide was very informed and had a strong testimony to go with it, so it was a great tour. After the carriage ride, we went to Joseph and Emma Smith’s home, saw their graves, and received a tour from some young sister missionaries. I wonder what would’ve become of Emma if Lucy Mack Smith’s health had been good enough to go to Salt Lake City. During this time, we ran into the Blauers, a family from Pullman that we knew. After the Smith home, we went to the birthplace of the Relief Society and received a tour there. The idea of a society within the church led by women was started by Sarah Granger Kimball, who wanted to sew shirts for the men working on the temple, as we learned on Friday. Following this, we dropped Zina and dad off at the Pioneer pastimes while we learned about the gunsmiths, tinsmiths, and blacksmiths. We then picked up Zina and Dad, ate dinner at a place called Annie’s Custard, and made it back for the fair. Unfortunately, we were rained out of the pageant that night, so we had to wait until Saturday to see the American version. On Friday, we started off with another carriage ride, this time pulled by a yoke of oxen. Following the ride, we went to the home of Hiram and Sarah Granger Kimball. As I said earlier, Sarah was the one who came up with the idea of having a society of women within the church. She then got all of her friends together to help her sew the shirts and asked Eliza R. Snow to draft a constitution for them. Soon after, Joseph Smith organized them as the Female Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After the Kimball home, we went to the Nauvoo visitor’s center, where Myra and I got 2948 points out of 3000 on a geography-based temple finding game, averaging more than 98 points per temple. (We had to tap on the map of the world where we thought the temple was.) The next tour that we went on was called the temple tour. I don’t remember most of the tour (because it had almost nothing to do with the temple) except for William Weeks’s home. Mr. Weeks was a young designer/architect that was tasked with designing the temple by Joseph Smith. It was difficult, especially with Joseph’s vision of the temple from God, but he pulled through. I have no recollection of the rest of the tour🤷. That was all the tours that we did that day, but on Saturday, we did NO TOURS AT ALL. That is because we did all of the live performances. First, we went to the Sisters of Zion performance, done entirely by sister missionaries. The actors played valiant early saints such as Phoebe Woodruff, Eliza R. Snow, and Sarah Granger Kimball. They sang and talked about the beginning of the relief society, their life stories, and how they brought others as well as themselves closer to Jesus Christ. After Sisters of Zion, we went to a play called The Spirit of God, entirely made up of Elders playing people like Samuel Smith, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Phineas Young, and Parley P. Pratt, They acted out the spreading of the Book of Mormon and talked about how the book had drawn them closer to their God. After the play finished, I had a very good discussion with one of the elders about the Book of Mormon and the concept of a testimony. His mission president said that the gospel is like a pie, and you don’t eat the whole pie in one night. Of course you’re going to eat the rest over time, but you need time to digest and apply what you’ve learned at a steady rate. The last performance of the day was one by both the sisters and the Elders, about Joseph Smith. It seems to me that the people who hated Joseph Smith had never met him. From what I’ve heard, he seems like a very agreeable and kind man. He would have to be in order to be the first leader of the restored church of Jesus Christ. After “Remembering Joseph” as it was called, we went home, ate dinner, and headed to the fairgrounds to dance and see the pageant one final time. The dancing was great, as usual. My favorite dance that we did was called the round dance. It consists of a big circle, boys on the outside and girls on the inside. You then walk eight counts forward, turn to face your partner, go four counts back, stomp 3 times, clap 3 times, dosado, and then swing the person on your left for eight counts. The American pageant was very good, although it is a shame that they had to leave. The saints of Nauvoo showed great resilience and compassion toward one another. One phrase that I heard a lot was “covenant community” which refers to their efforts to lift each other up. On Sunday, we woke up early to make it to 8:00 Sunday School. In Sunday School, we talked more about being a covenant community and about how we can show Christlike charity to all those around us. For the first time in a long time, I passed the sacrament in the sacrament meeting. It was the first time in a long time that they had all young men passing the sacrament. After church, we went home, said farewell to dad and Zina as they went to the later ward, ate lunch, and relaxed until they got home. We then went to the visitor’s center again to watch a Christ centered concert featuring once again… *drumroll sound effect* THE SERVICE MISSIONARIES!!!! It was a very good concert. After the concert, we went back home, and then went to walk down Parley Street to read the plaques with quotes of the pioneers. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is my 2nd-to-last blog post. I hope you enjoyed it! Next: Fond Du Lac, WI. Overall Rating: 9.3/10