Sunday, June 23, 2019

Summer , Maybe ??

We have had a very normal week.....except for the weather.  It has rained every other day...and by rain, I mean poured!  Many of the crops have not (and probably won't) been planted because the weather has been extremely wet and cold for this area.  The crops that were put in early are coming along except the low spots that are drowned out.  I am wondering if this weather is because the Lord wants the four houses that are being restored to be ready for the worst kind of weather and to be able to withstand it.  I will show you the houses:

This is the Orson Hyde home.  As you can see, they have had to lift it off of the foundation and redo the foundation and basement.  They have removed additions to the back of the house to make it as it was originally.  This house is the only wooden structure out of the rest of the revovations and had alot of dry rot requiring new timbers, etc.

This is the William Gheen home and is in fairly good condition considering it was built in the 1840s. 

|This is the Hunter home lot.  It only has the basement & foundation so the rest will be rebuilt.  As you can see, it is just west (down the hill) from the Temple.

Finally, the William Weeks home.  He was the architect for the Temple.  All of these homes are within a block of the Temple and all of these men worked on the Temple.  The entire east addition was removed one brick at a time and each brick has been cleaned and parceled (in the last picture) so that they can be reused in the reconstuction of some of the other homes. 

This has been a fascinating process to watch.  Both the Quincy newspaper and Nauvoo News have featured these in articles this past week, if you are interested in learning more.  One couple (Willmore's) have been called to be the historical missionaries who record and supervise the entire project.  These homes are planned to be open by next summer and are part of the master plan for Historic Nauvoo.  What I find interesting is to see how well these pioneer people were able to build without the benefit of the modern equipment and technology that make it so easy for us today.  As I watched the workmen take down the east side of the William Weeks home brick by brick and clean and stack each one, I thought:  That is exactly how it was put together....with alot of labor & care. I have immense respect for those who took the time and effort to make something that would last for future generations, even though it became apparent that they would not be able to stay for very long here.

On Thursday, the YPMs put on their "Sunday" concert entitled "THE LOVE of OUR SAVIOR" outside on the Sunset stage after the performance of Sunset by the Mississippi.  They are so willing to share their talents and go from dawn to dusk.  Our Blue cast got a break from Sunset on Wednesday because it was raining/ pouring out. But the YPMs took advantage of that and put on an additional performance of "The Promise" (in the Visitor's Center theater)  for the busloads of youth that were wondering what to do with their evening!  In the following picture, you will see them in their Sunday attire....after just performing in Sunset in their pioneer attire.  They quickly changed and did this concert.

On Friday, we got a fun surprise.  We received a phone call from Carol & Thom Evanson informing us that they were in the Visitor's Center.  We quickly changed out of our work attire and met up with them and had a fun little visit.  They are in Springfield with Renae (their oldest daughter) and her family as their youngest daughter (Ella) was being baptized and oldest son (Ethan) was receiving the priesthood. We would have loved to spend more time with them but oh well...they needed to be with their family...haha!   Here is a picture outside of the Blacksmith shop.  Jolayne & Rus Lenzen (Kevin's parents ) were also with them.

 Another fun surprise, was meeting up with Cindy (Prince) Gunderson last night after our performance of Sunset.  She came backstage and found us.  She lived in Raymond during her elementary school years (daughter of Kirk & Sue Prince) and went to school with Shelley.  I would not have recognized her but she recognized us and we had a fun, quick visit.


As I have said before, we welcome and enjoy each and every one who take the time and effort to come and enjoy Nauvoo.  It is a unique place with so much to see and do and feel.  Come and see for yourself !  We love you ....have a great week.