Going Home

Thursday, Nov. 11,
It took us several hours to finish packing and cleaning. I think Greg had unrealistic expectations about how quickly things should get done! But we got the last food given away, the last DI stuff dropped off, the floor mopped, and the garbage out. Whew!
We drove by the temple one last time as we pulled out about 10:30. We gazed at the Mississippi, and Greg could hardly drive for the tears at first. We drove four hours to Jamesport, Missouri, and acted like tourists for a couple of hours, then had an early supper.
We drove by Adam-ondi-Ahman, and nearby found the Marydale Inn where we had reserved a night's stay. It is in the middle of farmland, and a beautiful place.
The common room was large and elegant, and our room was spacious. I could have stayed here for a week. We visited in the evening with Mary Jo and Dale, the owners, and helped put together his jig-saw puzzle.
The breakfast was outstanding the next morning.
We started out in rain the first couple of hours, but then the weather wasn't bad. We stayed Friday night in Sydney, Nebraska.
Saturday, Nov. 13,
We left the hotel early after a quick breakfast, and it was cold, in the low 20's. There were some stretches of black ice that had everyone creeping along. As we stopped at a gas station in Rawlins, we pulled up right beside the Dicksons, who were also traveling home. It was fun to see them.
We arrived at Ryan and Kallie's house just after 4:00, and it was so good to see them. We spent Sunday with them, and then came to our home on Monday. We were greeted by Laura, Adrienne, Caleb, Braden, Rhya, and Oliver, who had warmed the house, cleaned, and brought dinner. What a nice homecoming!

Final Days

Saturday, Nov. 6,
I conducted prep meeting for the last time. We were released today as Seventies Hall site leaders, and Morgans were announced as the new leaders. They will do a good job. We served at the Visitors' Center from 11:30 til 5:00 and it seemed really long with just a few people in and out. We serve in the same place tomorrow, only an hour longer!
In the evening we went to our last Rendezvous performance. It was our 35th "Peter and Abigail", and one of our best performances. Since it was Muellers last night also, we met upstairs afterward, and we each said our good-byes to the cast. No one is indispensable, and we will miss them more than they will miss us. Greg had a harder time getting through the speaking and singing than I did. Lots of hugs, and a few tears.
Greg is a cleaning maniac. He spends any spare time cleaning, whatever is on the list.
Sunday, Nov. 7,
Another full Sunday! As we walked into church early so Greg could prepare the Sacrament, we sat down and soon Pres. Ludwig shook our hands and said, "If you could stay one more week, we would love to have you speak in Sacrament Meeting." We just smiled, and I said, "None of the six-month people spoke, so we certainly don't need to." He said, "But you extended and we fully intended for you to speak, it just got away from us!" That was a close one.
Greg and I both bore our testimonies in the meeting. After serving in the Visitors' Center, we returned for Zone Conference, where Greg lead music, and I played the piano. Pres. Ludwig gave a good talk on gratitude.
Monday, Nov. 8,
The days are flying by,and Greg is so happy to be scheduled as a teamster for Monday and Wednesday.

Storeys came for dinner to help us eat up our food, and I gave him a haircut. I had made enchiladas, and a pie, and later Morgans came by for a haircut. We fed them also, and talked about 70'sHall stuff. They gave us two CD's of the Tabernacle Choir (he sang in it). That was nice.
Tues. Nov. 9,
Another long day at the Visitors' Center,and then we had a farewell dinner at the mission home. After a lovely meal, we all sat around and each one was asked to share a memory of Nauvoo. It was a very sweet meeting.
Nov. 10, Wednesday,
Our last service day. They all bid us farewell at prep meeting, and my last assignment was at Lyon Drug with Sister Myers. It was a beautiful last day, the weather was great, and we had several people come by. Dorrell came by to work in the garden, and had me call Sister Schiess to come get the cotton. She came right over, and with Sister Kirkman will spin the cotton and use it.

We worked all evening to get packed and ready to go, but took a bread to go watch Rendezvous one last time. I cheered and clapped, and then there were more good-byes. Sister Steadman told me that she hasn't seen anyone get more out of the Nauvoo experience than me. That I jumped in with both feet and did everything I could with an enthusiastic spirit. I certainly hope that is true of both Greg and I, because we have so enjoyed the whole experience.

Our Farewell Breakfast

Friday, Oct. 29,
I had a short three-hour shift at the John Taylor home before we went to the temple. The six departing couples were invited to go with the mission presidency together through a session. After the session we followed tradition and were escorted up into the tower of the temple. We rode an elevator to the fifth floor and then started walking up circular stairways. At each level we looked out windows until we were inside the very top dome upon which angel Moroni stands. What a view and unique experience! We counted 98 steps from the fifth floor. Sunday, Oct. 31,
I made a pot of minestrone soup for our district meeting/party. We all go home in a couple of weeks, so we just had dinner for fun. Muellers brought "severed toes" and jello, and Funks brought a Boston cream cake. We had a good visit.
Monday, Nov. 1,
We had a slow day at Tickets and Tours, but Greg had a good time being a teamster. The horses are his buddies,
and he got to drive the wagon a couple of times. It is so much fun!
We visited our neighbors, the temple missionaries, Mursets as they will be leaving tomorrow.
Wednesday, Nov. 3,
I am thinking about Kallie who hurt her ankle and cannot walk. So sorry!
We had a combined prep meeting this morning and Pres. Ludwig explained how the newly-developed winter schedule will work. All sites will be open from 11-5, but if a visitor wants to see something from 9-11, he will be assigned a tour guide (rover) to take him wherever he wants to go. He also said that last winter there were about 150 missionaries, but this winter only about 100, because there is such a lack of them worldwide. The new schedule starts Monday.

Thursday, Nov. 4, Prepration Day, the last one before we leave.
We have been cleaning and sorting in our spare time, and I almost just want to get in the car and leave now, but there are a lot of last things to do.
We made arrangement to meet the Iron and Lace people from Bentonsport here at the Family Living Center. She wanted to learn to make the shawl, and Betty also brought Artisan bread dough to bake in the bustle oven. We had a good time, and spent a couple of hours here with them.
Friday, Nov. 4,
It was our Farewell Breakfast. The seven leaving couples sat at the head tables,
with lovely fall decorations, and lots of good food. After eating, we sang our Ashby/Snow Cast song, which S. Mueller and I made up. It went over well, and we got some laughs. That is the whole point, because at the end we all sing "Farewell, Nauvoo" to each other, and there are tears all around.

Faces of Halloween

Here are some of the pumpkins that were carved.

The streets were lined with them.

The sunset was beautiful over the Mississippi.

A Nauvoo Halloween

October 27, Wednesday, Happy Birthday, Jamie!
We won the paper cut-out competition between the preparation groups, so we were treated with cinnamon rolls this morning.
They were making giant Halloween witches at the kindergarten, and there was glue all over the place! Mrs. Haas has more patience than anyone I have ever seen.
An honors group from BYU came to Rendezvous, and they loved it so much, they wanted a picture with all the cast.

Thursday, October 28, Preparation Day
I spent a great morning being domestic, while Greg was at the barn. I took an inventory of our remaining food and made a list of meals to eat in the next two weeks. I made spaghetti and brownies and took them to Morgans house in the evening for dinner. She made salad and rolls, supplied ice cream, and ate well. Afterward we all went to help carve pumpkins for an hour. There are hundreds to be done, and each design is drawn on first, and we just do the carving.
Elder Morgan on the left, then Greg, and Sister Waddoups on the right. Sister Morgan is off scooping out the insides!


After I asked, Elder Morgan told us stories about his years in the Tabernacle Choir, how he was accepted, the tours, and finally about being the personnel director for nine years. Wow.
NRI supplies at least 300 carved pumpkins for the town.

Saturday evening:
There is a little parade to start, and then the whole town has a party, with food, games, costumes, and candy.
The missionaries donate lots of candy and fill 1000 zip-lock bags to hand out to everyone. They also make popcorn in this huge kettle, and hand it out also.

Greg and I gave away bags of candy for two hours.

Teamster Greg

Greg has been working at the barn during his spare time the last few weeks. He wants to be a teamster, and has been doing all the menial jobs, and learning the ropes, or shall we say the "lines". He has ridden with the other guys as they drive, he has learned the narration to the wagon,
and he even got to drive the horses when they were taken out for exercise. There are 16 huge horses to take care of. It is a lot of work, but he is getting there. And now he is on the teamster schedule one day next week! Very happy.

Changing of the Seasons

Oct. 21, Thursday, Preparation Day
We started the day by walking over to Mueller's home to help them move the stove and fridge and clean under them, then they walked back with us to help do the same at our home. We both leave in a few weeks, so it was a good plan. Then we both showed up for the first carriage ride of the day, a perfect, crisp autumn morning!We did lunch out and bought a few groceries. We don't need much from now on. Greg spent some time in the antique shop, but he looks and looks and never buys. I stayed in the car most of the time, because I would find something I want and it would just be one more thing to take home and take care of.
I finished reading the Book of Mormon tonight. It took 5 1/2 weeks to read it through. I thought if it only took Joseph Smith about six weeks to translate it, why does it take us a year to read it? I know we can study it forever and keep learning. It is an amazing book, and very true.

Friday, Oct. 22,
We served at Carthage for the third time. It is still a "wow" experience. Afterward, I finally got to eat at the Mexican restaurant, and it was pretty good for around here.
We had two shows of Rendezvous, and a little girl came up to me and told me she loves my curls.

Saturday, Oct. 23,
Yea for E. Guymon! He granted my request and scheduled me at the Heber C. Kimball home since it was the last site I need to serve in to have done them all. New Sister Barlow was with me, and we had fun.

Sunday, Oct. 24,
President and Sister Peterson of the temple spoke in Sacrament meeting as they are going home from their three year mission next week. There was an open house for them in the evening, with thousands of cookies served. All the temple missionaries leave on Nov. 1 while the temple is closed for two weeks.
Greg and I served together in Heber C. Kimball's home, and somehow I gave all three tours of the day. It is a lovely home. Things are getting pretty quiet around here some days.
Monday, Oct. 25,
I like Tickets and Tours for another reason, I realized today. There is good music playing all the time and on quiet days you can hear it well. I miss the music. I did a few errands after work. I got a check from the man I sent the camera to last week, so I cashed that, mailed our absentee ballots, and delivered twelve crocheted hats to the humanitarian collection box at Lyon Drug. Here are some of the hats:
We are having lovely fall weather, and the leaves are changing. So many colors..........
And I found this perfect Halloween tree, don't you think? You can almost see the witch and bats flying through it.
The temple is beautiful in all seasons.

Lyon Drug Gardens

Wednesday, Oct 20,
Sister Jaster and I were at Lyon Drug, and it was a beautiful morning. This is the view from the sitting room, through the back door.
The head of the Nauvoo gardens, Dorell, was in the garden, digging starts to put in the greenhouse, and since we were not busy, we asked him to teach us something. He has a reputation of knowing absolutely everything there is to know about plants. He showed us fennel, which looks like dill, but smells like licorice.
And Salvia Elegans, which smells a little like pineapple. The leaves can be chopped and mixed with cream cheese for a spread on crackers.
And this one was incredible. It is a native prarie plant called a chocolate daisy, and the flower really smells like chocolate! It doesn't taste like it though.
And then my favorite. Cotton plants. I don't think I have ever seen cotton growing, and I didn't realize that this was cotton. He picked us one of the cotton bolls. What a miracle plant, amazing to think that we can make clothes from this.

A Mouse About the House

This is the display of cookies prepared by the sisters for the Ludwig daughter's wedding reception, held at the mission home. The ones I made are back there somewhere. Friday, Oct 15, Nathan's birthday!
Greg went to the barn in the morning in his spare time, while I kept busy at home. By the time I got to Tickets and Tours at 11:30, all the ride tickets were gone, and we ended up giving out all the tickets to both shows of Rendezvous. The weather is so good, everyone thinks it is summer.
It was a busy day, and then our cast did the two shows.

Sunday, Oct. 17,
Greg went to a 7:00 a.m. practice because they sang in Sacrament meeting "Brightly Beams". It sounded really good. Elders: Guymon, Taylor, Anderson, Reber.
We have combined meeting now after Sacrament meeting, kind of Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood all in one.
Greg and I served at the Bakery, and he had never done that before, but since it is a busy place, he got good at giving the tours.
Our Sociable in the evening was a DVD, "The Lifetime Work of an Amateur Artist: Boyd K. Packer" and it was interesting. I had seen some of his work, but this was comprehensive.

Tuesday, Oct. 19,
Sister Hall and I were cleaning at the Seventies Hall, when I went upstairs in the bathroom to get the windex and paper towels. This is what I found!
Yes, it was alive. We called NRI, but while we were waiting there was another mouse running around downstairs. By the time they came, both were out of sight. But the nice man brought us two boxes of DCon.
One of my tours was for nine people, five of whom were teen-age boys. While they were in the library, they spotted the mouse and were trying to catch it for us. No luck. Good thing we only had three hours here, and then we left and went to Sarah Granger Kimball's for the next three hours. No mice in sight there.