Days 29-31; Nauvoo, Illinois

Nauvoo was really the pinnacle of our trip. We realy wanted the kids to see this important Church history location and to feel a connection with the early pioneers. Mike and I LOVED it, learned so much, and were sad to leave.


Saturday evening when we arrived, there were 3 shows on the outdoor stage. The 1st being The Nauvoo Brass Band and they played some fun old time and patriotic songs. The 2nd being all the missionaries performing some songs and skits. Something I learned is the Nauvoo Mission only covers Nauvoo and Carthage. There are senior missionaries and sister missionaries who spend a lot of their time giving tours. Then there are the "performance missionaries" who are set apart for a 3-month mission during the summer to put on shows and help perform in the Pageant. They are set apart and have a companion, but they need to try out for this mission. They must sing, dance, act, and playing an instrument is helpful. And I'll tell you what, these performance missionaries are awesome! I took pictures of this 2nd show:
The senior missionaries and performance missionaries:

Something fun was that my bishop from 25 years ago, and his wife, are 2 of the senior missionaries in Nauvoo! Elder Herbold is the villian in this skit and Sister Herbold is holding the "Boo! Hiss!" sign:

I never thought I would hear missionaries fiddling and singing to the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" but when you are a performance missionary, you get to do those kinds of things! :

The 3rd show is one of my all time favorites - BYU's Vocal Point! The are an all men a capella group and they've been traveling all summer. We didn't know they were performing in Nauvoo and were pleasantly surprised:

Unfortunately, we were dying because it was so hot and humid and we didn't bring water bottles to the night performances, so we had to leave 15 minutes into their show.

My brother, Luke, just moved to Chicago because of a new job and so he decided to join us in Nauvoo for the weekend. We were glad he did!

We were told by one of the senior missionaries we would be smart to go to the 8am church because the 10am church is always so full, but since we are on vacation (and still adjusting to the time zone differences) we slept in and ended up at the 10am church. And she was right! It looked like stake conference! Chairs were set up all the way to the back of the gym and even on the stage. After church, we walked up to the temple to take some pictures:

It was so neat to have the temple up on the hill and to be able to see it from anywhere in Nauvoo. The saints had worked so hard to build it in the 1840s and were only able to use it for a short time before they left for Utah and then the temple was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 2002.

Kate, Zach, Brooke, and Luke

Here's the view from the temple (statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith) and you can see the Mississippi River and Iowa on the other side:

In Nauvoo are the headstones for Hyrum, Joseph, and Emma Smith (Joseph's wife):

Some of the homes from the 1840s have survived and some have been rebuilt. My friends, the Herbolds, were the tour guides for Heber C. Kimball's home. They tried to replicate the things that would have been in the home, like this spinning wheel:

David next to some dolls in a child's room:

David was in charge of the camera for a little while and this is his view of the table setting:

Luke and I with the Herbolds in front of the Heber C. Kimball home:

Sunday evening we drove 30 minutes to Carthage, IL where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. To hear the story of their final couple days retold and to be in the very place where they stood is quite powerful. Brooke and Nicholas are pointing to the bullet hole that went through this door and killed Hyrum Smith:

This is the statue of Joseph and Hyrum with Carthage Jail in the background:

Monday morning we took an hour covered wagon ride around Nauvoo. David took a picture of the temple:

The missionary told us about the homes and the people who lived there, about draining the swamp land out of Nauvoo so it would be a livable place, and how each family was given an acre of land when they moved into town for their crops and animals. People were happy and a huge sense of community was felt in the town
Here's the gang with the horse drawn wagon:

That afternoon we saw a show by the performance missionaries called "High Hopes and Riverboats." It was very cute and had my kids laughing:

Of course, it was all about the pioneers in Nauvoo:

The cast's curtain call:

We were really looking forward to The Nauvoo Pageant that night. This stage had the temple in the background. The main characters in the Pageant had been rehearsing for months with speaking parts and songs. It's a play of the pioneers coming to Nauvoo, focusing on building the temple, and then having to leave:

Joseph and Emma in the front, left:

Joseph and Emma in the middle:

The Saints building the temple on stage:

The cast's curtain call with the real temple lit up in the background:

Can you feel the love? We sure could. The Spirit was so strong and we could feel a connection to these early pioneers and the love they had for their prophet Joseph:

We can't wait to go back!