Nauvoo

Over spring break this year, we finally made it to Nauvoo.  I knew I was going to love it and I was right.  I have been wanting to visit Nauvoo for years and I so desperately wanted to make it out while we were living in Lincoln.  We had a great time and T was pretty impressive on his first road trip.

Starting our trip at the visitor's center.  This is one of the original sun stones from the Nauvoo temple.

On the Wagon Ride from the visitor's center... we didn't let a little rain stop us!  T fell asleep to the rythmic clopping of the horses.

Weeks before this trip, my mom discovered we had ancestors who had come through Nauvoo.  We checked out the Land and Records office to find what land they owned and then went to see.  They had received endowments and been sealed in the Nauvoo temple too!

Grandparents are great babysitters.  They watched T for us so we could do a session.  It was great and our first time back to the temple since T was born.

The second day we visited Carthage.  Above is the bedroom where Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and Willard Richards were staying when the mob attacked.  The window on the left was the one Joseph fell through.  

The front of the jail.

The side of the jail.  The second story window shown was the one Joseph fell through.

It was incredibly special to hear the story of Joseph & Hyrum's martyrdom in the place it actually happened. I am so thankful for their sacrifice.

"Rendezvous" performance by the senior missionaries.  

It was adorable and actually one of my favorite parts of our trip.

T watching the singers.

On our third day we went on a tour of the Smith properties, given by the Community of Christ church.  Our guide was very knowledgable and I loved  hearing about all the buildings.

At the Red Brick Store

The rest of the day we spent visiting other homes and sites to learn about the people and life of Nauvoo.

Our hotel - right on the property owned by our ancestors!

Our last activity - walking the Trail of Hope.  This was the trail the pioneers walked on their way out of Nauvoo.  It takes you from the city center down to the Mississippi where the saints would have crossed to begin their exodus west.  You can see the temple up on the bluff as you walk the trail.  I can't imagine working so hard to build a city and temple and then leave it all behind to be destroyed.  

At the end of the trail is the Pioneer Memorial, showing the saints who died while moving west.  Mary Ann Hales was my great-great-great-great grandmother.  She was the grandmother of my grandmother's grandmother.
(Lara - Anne - Lois Ann - Rulon - Harrriet - Charles - Mary Ann)

On the banks of the Mississippi.
(T was obsessed with G on this trip.  He pretty much only wants his dad to hold him - much to my parents' distress.)

On this trip I was impressed with a new understanding of how the Lord brings together who he needs to move his work forward.  When the saints were building Nauvoo, there were members with all different backgrounds and skills.  Someone knew how to drain a swamp (what!?), make brick, make shoes, farm, take care of horses and other animals, sing, produce plays and newspapers, carve stone, work with wood, bake, sew, build, bank, and on and on and on.  With everyone working together, the early saints were able to build a thriving city and a beautiful temple.  Just as it was then, it is now.  Today we all bring different experiences and strengths to the Church, to our individual wards and to each other.  No matter who we are, we all have different ways of sacrificing to bring forth His work and our sacrifices now are just as important as those of the early Church members.