Temple Work and Branch Assignment

This photo is of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as they were leaving Nauvoo for Carthage.  These statues are directly west of the Nauvoo temple.  Joseph Smith truly loved Nauvoo.  Nauvoo at the time of Joseph and Hyrum was also called the City of Joseph.  We are staying in a house very close to where Joseph Smith lived when he was here and there are many buildings that have been restored to what they were like then.

This has been a wonderful week for us in the temple.  This was the last week the temple was open before it closes for two weeks for semi-annual maintenance.


This past week we served 5 days (Tuesday - Saturday), a mixture of morning and afternoon shifts.  We were able to serve in most of the areas of the temple.

We love the people we are serving with, who are the temple missionaries, temple district ordinance workers, and those (patrons) who come to do temple work.  We said our goodbyes this week to four couples and two senior sister missionaries (most of them are shown in this picture).  They sang a farewell song to the tune of "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" but the lyrics were cleverly written by one of them, to reflect their service here.  One of these departing missionaries said that on the three senior missions he and his wife have served, that he remembers the people he worked with more than the location or the work they were doing.  I can see why he said that.  We have truly grown to love and appreciate these wonderful people we have gotten to know.

At this farewell dinner at the Arrival Center across from the temple, our temple recorder (Brother Marshall) sang several Frank Sinatra songs.   He goes to Senior Living Care Centers and sings for them.   I am sure they really appreciate him for doing this.


In less than two weeks we will be welcoming 64 new temple missionaries.  They will be serving here for the next six months.  The temple will be much busier in the summer so we need more help to cover the six days (Monday - Saturday, including holidays) when the temple will be open.  The temple will be open on Mondays until 1 pm, but the rest of each week it will be open from 8 am - 8 pm.

Today we went to our assigned Branch which is located in Kewanee, Illinois, about two hours from Nauvoo.  They have a beautiful building.  This is a small branch, with 30-40 people who come to Church regularly.  It used to be a much larger branch until many moved away (due to economic conditions) to find work elsewhere.  We will be attending with one other temple missionary couple two out of every three weeks.  The other week we will be attending the Nauvoo 3rd ward.  We look forward to getting to getting to know the people in this branch.  We didn't take any pictures today but will do so next week and share them on this blog.

We know the work that is done in the Temples is the work of the Lord.  What a blessing it is to be able to participate in this great work.  We love each of you and pray for you daily.