Nauvoo is gorgeous in the Fall

The days are busy and sometimes long but the weeks are sure flying by. I am shocked that I haven't added to this blog since the beginning of August!! Some exciting things have happened since then. Allison, Jim and their 5 wonderful children came to visit us Friday Oct. 9. They were here for 4 days and because of the way our schedule worked out we were actually able to spend quite a bit of time with them. It was so great to get to hug those kids! And we finally got to meet Madelinn! She's so perfect. What a nice baby she is. While they were here they had her blessing in the Seventies Hall. It was a wonderful meeting and a great memory for us. Another highlight for the kids was the wildlife. Ron was able to show them a few animals and then chase a few.

Since I last wrote I've baked over 25,000 gingerbread cookies. They are in Ziplocs containing 100 each in the mission freezers. I get to have 2 baking days a week and Sister Saville helps me one day and Sister Meline is there on the other day. I love these ladies and we have a good time in the kitchen. When Allison's family was here I got some help baking from the grandkids! Lots of fun!!

Pioneer Pastimes is now closed for the season. I'm really glad we got to serve there, it was a lot of fun. Now we just need to box everything up and put it away for winter. We've also been released at the site leaders for Nauvoo on the Road. We loved doing it but realized that when we were released we weren't sad, it was time for someone else to get to be in charge.
About 6 weeks ago Ron was called as the mission photographer! This means taking about a million pictures of people, nature, animals etc etc and then putting together a 1/2 hour slide show for Zone Conference each month. He did a great job getting pictures for the first one which was shown Oct. 11. However, putting it into a slide show was a real ordeal! If it wasn't for Holly and Allison we would not have had a slide show! Holly had to get into our computer using gotomypc.com and figure out what I had done and then fix it! We have been lucky in every way possible to have her in our family. Then, Allison spent several hours of her visit here working on it also. Then she and Holly were both working on it! Next month's should be easier. Allison came to see the slide show at Zone Conference and see the reaction of the missionaries. It went well and everyone said nice things. We're now working on the one for November.

Something else amazing happened while Alli and Jim were here. The morning before they came we had a mandatory combined prep meeting. We have prep meeting every morning but we aren't required to go if it's our P day (our day off). We are assigned to one of 3 groups that normally meet in 3 different locations. Well, Oct. 8 we were all together and President Ludwig came in and said, "I got a phone call yesterday and President Monson will be here tomorrow" There was a huge gasp from the audience!! Then he announced that the Z cast would be performing "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" for the prophet! There are 3 casts, and we perform every 3rd night. We're in Z cast and the President wanted our cast to do it. It should have been Y cast but they performed for the Mission President's conference a month or so ago. In Rendezvous there are several vignettes and there are 2 couples assigned to each one. We take turns. Ron and I do the "Pickle Barrel" scene as Peter and Abigail. We got to perform it for Pres. Monson and his daughter and granddaughter. It was quite a day. That afternoon we all closed our sites at 3:30 (instead of 5:00) and met at the Visitor's Center and Pres. Monson spoke to us for about 40 minutes. Unfortunately even though Allison's family was there they weren't allowed in - only missionaries "No Exceptions!" But, after the 7:00 show for the prophet and invited guests those waiting for the 8:15 show (including Alli's family) saw him exit the building and wave to us and tell us all that we did a great job and deserved an academy award! Then he called Elder Bill Dove, who has Down's Syndrome and is serving here with his parents, over and congratulated him on a job well done and gave him a hug. It was great. The only sad part was that we were all told to leave our cameras and cell phones home and even though Pres. Monson appeared to be waiting a few minutes in case anyone wanted to take a picture we had all been obedient and were unprepared. Dang!!
The beautiful flowers of summer are mostly gone but the leaves are turning and it's a whole new kind of gorgeous! This is really a beautiful place. There are so many kinds of plants and trees, and wildlife.....and bugs. Yesterday when we returned from our sites our door looked like something from a horror movie. Seriously! There were corn beetles EVERYWHERE!!! They look just like ladybugs except they're a little more orange and we've been told they bite. We couldn't even get into our house without about a hundred swarming in. There were hundreds more between the panes of the windows. They aren't as bad today. One thing that is strange is that they weren't even on the doors and windows of our neighbors who live in the other side of this duplex. Their doors and trims are painted red and ours are white. The same thing happened in the summer with the Mayflies. Our doors and windows were COVERED and theirs weren't. If you ever decide to live here, don't paint your house white!!
I'd better go vacuum up all the bug carcases in the living room. Hopefully I'll add to this sooner than I did this time.