Sunday, Mar. 31, 2019

It's the last day of March....yahoo!!  April means that spring really is here !!  Talking about that...it seems that overnight, the grass has decided to be green and the flowers are beginning to show.  It helps that we had 3 days of rain this week !  Here's proof:

Daffodills outside of the Visitors Center

The tulips outside of the Visitors Center have poked through the ground. I'll try to show you how they develop.  They were spectacular last April / May

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday evening, Mar. 25, Nauvoo Facilities Management sponsered a "Prairie Grass Burn"  All summer, they leave about a 2 acre plot of ground in the middle of the historic section and let the grass grow.  It actually got to be about 8 feet tall.  At the end of winter, they burn it to demonstrate a prairie grass fire.  Then, they let it grow again all summer and repeat the event next spring.   They barbeque hotdogs and feed everyone for free with hotdogs / chips / bottled water & kettle corn.  I was amazed at how many people showed up from all over the countryside.  We helped and figured that around 450 people were fed !   The burn is actually pretty controlled with firemen on each corner and along each edge of the section who start the fire on a signal.  The fire then burns into the center of the section. It was fun to watch but actually kind of made me homesick (a "wee" bit... because that is what we try to do with the ditches around our place each spring)  Here are some pictures:

Here is the start:

You can see two edges going

Here it starts to meet the other side

AND here is the dark, black earth at the end. You can liken the black scorched earth to the effects that sin has on your life but when we repent and apply the Savior's atonement to our life, the green grass and regrow happens and soon you will never know that there was scorched earth.  Boyd K. Packer has said that when we apply the Savior's atonement to our lives, it fixes the effects of sin and that is that.....no scars !   Just a gem of thought.

On Wednesday, we said goodbye to another missionary couple:  Elder Dean & Sis. Donna Dare from Arizona.  We have really grown to love these two humble servants of our Heavenly Father.  Elder Dare has a grouchy / gruff exterior but he really would give you the shirt off of his back if you needed it.  Sis. Dare is very quiet and unassuming. But a harder worker you may never meet.....with never a complaint ! Hope that we see these two some time down the road of life!!

We had a farewell dinner with them and a group of other missionaries at the Howards. Back row: L-R  E /S Christensen, E / S Schmidt , E/S Grigsby , E/S Barrow, Jim    Front row: L-R  E/S Dare, Sis. Howard, me

As I mentioned at the beginning, we have had 3 days of rain...lots of rain.  The river has overflowed it's banks.  I wanted to show you.  If you head west down Parley Street, you end up at the river.  That is where the display of the ferry with the wagon on it is and where the Pioneer Memorial is.  I took these pictures last night. 

Lots of debris and logs floating down the river

Elder Paxman standing at water's edge

I took these standing in one spot and starting from my left moving to my right.  As you can see, by the last picture, the water is up to the ferry with the wagon and if it gets much higher the whole thing might just float away!!  Well.....that's about it for this week.  We both worked hard on getting the apartments ready for the young single sisters who are returning from their outbound winter assignments .  They arrive tomorrow.  The second wave of them arrive later in the month....these young single sisters are brand new from the MTC.  We will have a total of 73 of them in a month.  We will also be receiving several more senior missionary couples by the end of the month.  Getting "beefed up" for the busy summer ahead !  Would really love to see any and all of our family and friends.  It would be a memorable trip....I promise !!  Love to you all !!