Time to bring you all up to date.  I said we have moved to Nauvoo.  We we made Zone Leaders and that will be the final callings we will have before we leave our precious mission to come home.  We were blessed to move to one of the nicest places in the mission.  It is a twin home, and beautiful.  It was a "Parade of Homes" model.  The people who own it are the Pierce's.  They are in Ogden helping to oversee the building of the New Ogden Temple.  Next to us (other side of the twin home) is Susan Easton Blacks place.  She lives in Utah but comes our many times a year.  She is a noted Church Historian and on the BYU faculty.

We are getting back into the "swing of things" working in the sites.  I still love the Blacksmiths and Browning Gun.  Sister McBride likes many of the sites, but I think she really likes the Brigham Young Home and the Print shop.  I like the Print shop too.

As Zone leaders, we visit the sites we are in charge of every Sunday.  We conduct Zone meetings, and training meetings and farewell breakfasts.  We have 4 or 5 of the Districts assigned to us, and we give our District Leaders monthly assignments.  We are to make sure Site Leaders are doing their job and helping out with that.  Seems like we are always trying to find people to say prayers, lead music or play the piano for some of our meetings.  Needless to say, we still keep very busy, and the time is racing by.

We love you all, and wish you could all come out and visit us before we leave.  Bye for now.

SOME SUMMERY SCENES

Hot and sticky, after our "Sunset on the Mississippi" performance!

In front of temple and the Joseph and Hyrum monument...best place on earth to watch the sunset!

The beautiful water lilies all along the Mississippi during the summer

Our Carthage "daughters" after our little farewell breakfast...they moved back to Nauvoo just four days before we did.

Farewell dinner (for the Morgans) at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  The Youngs leave at the end of Sept., the McKnights in Oct., then us in Dec.  We're so glad that they all live nearby in Utah!

OUR SEASON AT CARTHAGE...WITHOUT A BLOG UPDATE...

Well, we have not been very good bloggers this summer have we?  We left off saying we were gearing up for a busy summer, and that it was.  We were kept very busy at Carthage, had lot's of tour bus's come through, as well as all the individual families here for the Pageant and the Young Performing Missionaries.  Those we worked with are now dear friends, i.e. the Morgans, the Poulsens, and the Murdochs.  We also worked with 6 Young Sister Missionaries who were so fun to be with.  Miracles happened every day, it seemed.  Something would happen to one of us to miss our turn, and so when we had a chance to take a tour, it seemed like the visitors were "tailor made" for us.  Sister McBride and I still thank our Heavenly Father for that experience we had in Carthage.  Yes, "had", because we have moved back to Nauvoo in mid August.  More on that later.

The Martyrdom room is a very special place.  Catholics, Baptists, Evangelicals, Methodists, etc all said they felt something in that room.  They just need to believe that it is the spirit.  Many would say they felt warm and at peace.  We would tell them what it really is, and they would go away thinking.  Maybe seeds were firmly planted.  One experience I had was with two non member men who came (separately) on a tour with a member family.  The second man is a truck driver from Iowa and his wife is a member.  He didn't look at first that he was too happy to be there.  His wife had asked him to stop there.  The first man who joined said he wasn't too spiritual, but interested in history.  He seemed the most interested though of the two.  At the end of the tour, I gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to the first along with a guest card.  He received it warmly and went on his way.  The big guy driving truck, came up to me when the rest had walked away. and asked, "Can I have what you just gave that man?"   It was said humbly and sheepishly, and kind of surprised me.  I got him a Book and a Card.  He said they had "Books of Mormon" at his house, but he wanted his own.  I teased him and said he needed to keep this one hidden so his wife wouldn't get her hopes up.  He smiled and said he would read it in his truck.   Sigh!  I love this mission!!!









meme.

Prairie Grass annual fire demonstration

 It was a chilly day earlier this spring, before our "Rendezvous..." show.  The fire dept. was there to control things...some of the elders got to light the fire on the four corners of the acre lot.  It took about 1 1/2 min. for the whole thing to burn and go out!  Crazy...and very hot...we had to move away from it as things heated up.  The demo is to show how much of the prairie in America was covered with this kind of grass, and how lightning strikes would start dangerous fires that most living creatures couldn't escape...in less than a week the whole lot was green with new growth.

A few pix of our Carthage home

Our nice little kitchen !

bedroom , then part of livingroom below!

On the Road Again...and Again.....and Again.....

Sister McBride and I were called to serve in Carthage on March 1st.  We moved there on the 14th.  We have been there for 2 months!! Holy Cow...how did that happen.  Carthage in a special place.  It is a little less hectic, compared to Nauvoo because we are in the same site every day.  We do love it dearly here, but there are some challenges.  One of the biggest is the driving...and driving.  We still have to go to Rendezvous shows twice a week, and Sunset By The Mississippi practices twice a week.  We come in once a week in the morning for Mission Training Meetings, and we come in for Church on Sunday mornings, and back out to Nauvoo again for a Sunday night Sociable or Zone Meeting.  We have put a lot of mileage on the car.  Even though its only 23 miles to and from.....it adds up pretty fast.  I guess the best part is that we are driving through beautiful farmland instead of through a noisy city.

Carthage, like I said is very special.  There is a very strong feeling of peace here, and the Spirit is always here so strongly, especially in the "Martyrdom Room".  It seems like we have a special spiritual experience every day here. March was pretty slow, even though it was quite a warm month (in the 80's), but April picked up with everyone's spring breaks the first two or three weeks of the month.  The weather has been cooler than March and some spectacular thunder and lightning storms that light the whole horizon.

Sister McBride has been busy taking pictures of spring blossoms.  We love the Magnolias and Dogwood and other blooms.  They are mostly gone now, but thankfully preserved by my bloom lovin' wife. The grounds at Carthage were full of tulips along the walkways.  It's just a wonderful time of year.  Now were are gearing up for the busy season which will start the last few weeks in May and go until the end of August.  We will see how we hold up through the onslaught of guests coming in for the summer season and the Pageant.   BYE for now!!