Jim & Jolene Paxman in Nauvoo

Canada Day Happy Canada Day !!!  We will be thinking of all of our family and friends and the celebrations that go on!   We love you and love Canada.  Everywhere we go and people ask where we are from, we proudly tell them and their reaction is always positive.  We are grateful for the freedoms and beauties around us at home and we appreciating the beauties here in Nauvoo and know that we will miss them when the time comes to leave here. We have had a really busy week and so it has flown by.  Just a couple of highlights: #1  We had the opportunity to serve in the Visitors Center on Tuesday evening.  I love meeting people and talking to different families.  All of a sudden, I heard an accent that I had not heard for a long while.  It sounded like Noel Smith from Raymond.  I approached a gentleman who was talking with Elder Paxman and asked him if he was from New Zealand.  Sure enough!......his wife approached us a couple ...

June 24, 2018 Adjustments This past week has been fairly normal with a couple of exceptions.  #1.  On Monday, we went to emergency in the Fort Madison Community Hospital for Elder Paxman.  It was NOT an emergency but that is the only way that we can see a doctor and have our insurance pay for it.  He had a little bit of the flu the Wed. before but it then developed into a real cold/cough which we could have handled except that the cough became very "chesty" and sounded funny.  Therefore, into the hospital we go with a fair bit of apprehension because we really didn't know what to expect.  We were very lucky.   We only sat in the waiting room for about 5 min. and they took us back into an actual room, then the doctor came in and he was LDS and totally understood our situation.  Were we ever grateful !! and felt like we are being watched over.  He listened to Elder Paxman's chest and ordered chest x-rays and blood work .  They sh...

Add-on to June 3, 2018 This is a picture of another kind of animal that happens to be around here.  I have sent this to my kids but thought that others would be interested in this.  Background story:  across the road from where we live is the Nauvoo State Park and we would often go walking in the evening.  One evening in late May we walked farther in the park and found a lake that people were fishing at but we just continued on up to the temple and watched the sunset then headed back home.  The next morning, a missionary (Elder & Sis. Christensen) asked us if we had seen this.  They were walking along on the other side of the lake and suddenly, she said "STOP!"  He looked up and saw this at about eye level. It is actually TWO cottonmouth water mocassins !  GROSS!!!  Needless to say, we have not been back there!!  He took the picture of them to have a warden verify that is what they were and he texted one to me.  Apparent...

Sunday, June 17, 2018 HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! We would like to wish our sons and son-in-laws (who we count as sons) a great Father's Day. We are proud of the fathers and husbands that you have become.  Every parent hopes/wishes that their children become better than themselves !! You are all so patient and helpful to your families !!  We are also grateful for the example that has been set by our parents.  Their bedrock faith and patience with us helped us to understand the meaning of love and understand the kind of love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of His children.  He doesn't become discouraged or give up on us when we stumble--just patiently and loving waits for us .  Neither does He force us to come to Him...we must do that on our own free will !!   And now, in honor of Elder Paxman (he doesn't know that I am posting this)  I am going to show you a couple of pictures of the men's number in the program that have a good shot of...

Sunday, June 10, 2018 We have had a pretty normal week.  Elder Paxman was given a young service missionary as a companion to work with two weeks ago.  He has his problems and was on the verge of being sent home so they asked Elder Paxman to "work with him" to see if he would respond.  They have had their ups & downs but basically they are doing ok.  He is learning the meaning of good honest work and sticking to something until it is done and done correctly.  You know, the old "Southern Alberta" work ethic !!  Sister Paxman worked most of the week on the Brigham Young home and on Friday moved to the Heber C. Kimball home.  We performed on Wed. & Sat. evenings....both were hot & humid.  I think that the humidity is the hardest thing to get used to....hopefully it will come because they are saying that it really hasn't gotten hot yet...I disagree.  We are grateful every day for air conditioning in out apartment. This is a pictu...

Sunset by the Mississippi So.... it is a requirement that we and every other senior missionary (except the temple missionaries) have to perform in the production called "Sunset by the Mississippi"  This runs every night except Sunday from May 25 through Aug 10.  I really enjoy it  but Elder Paxman can really think of other things that he would rather be doing...hahaha.  Lots of the other elders are the same way so there is absolutely no exceptions....we ALL are on stage despite all kinds of excuses or laments. We do  four numbers all together and the men actually do a number all by themselves called "Stout-hearted Men" that brings the house down !!   It is about these guys getting up and performing on the stage....and it is pretty funny.  All the other numbers are done by the Young Performing Missionaries (YPMs) who are absolutely amazing and fun to watch.  If you would like to watch the program...go to YouTube and search for "Sunset by the M...

Sunday June 3, 2018 These pictures show some of the animals around here.  The first picture is a snapping turtle trying to cross the road just down from our house.  They are actually quite common around here.  We have even swerved to avoid hitting one on the freeway on our way to church in Quincy.  The second is of a moth that these boys were running around with at the picnic for Memorial Day in the town square.  They thought that would have me screaming but I took their picture instead!  Now if it would have been a snake, I would have been running in total panic....LOL !!  They didn't know that or they probably would have gone and found one !!   Mischievous little guys...I kind of like those kind of boys!!  I wonder why?? I am going to share some of our day-to-day activities.  We have prayer meeting each morning at 7:00 a.m. with all of the other FM missionaries and with the employees for NRI (Nauvoo Restoration Inc.)...