FHE at the unique Tukuafu's home

Greetings from Nauvoo!  It continues to be a beautiful place.  It continues to rain a fair amount but the temperatures are not as warm as they normally are at this time of year.  It is very green here.

We continue to serve 5 days a week in the temple as ordinance workers.  Each day we have different assignments in the temple except for Wednesday when we serve in the Baptistry for the entire shift.  The temple is open Monday - Saturday.  On Monday it closes at 1 pm but on Tuesday - Saturday it is open until almost 8 pm.  We love serving in the temple.  We are also able to perform many of our own family ordinances.  In fact, we are able to do some of our own ancestor's ordinances almost every day we are in the temple.

In our Kewanee Branch assignment we are currently teaching the temple preparation class to 3 wonderful women, two are young sisters (early 20's) and are accompanied by their lovely grandmother, the other is a woman a little younger than us (i.e., in the prime of her life!).  They are all very receptive to learning about preparing to go to the temple for the first time.  Today we taught them about symbols and their importance in the Savior's teachings, the Gospel in general and in the temple.  We love teaching them and look forward to when they will be ready to go to the temple.

Last Monday night we were invited by another FHE group to go to the Tukuafu's house which is about 12 minutes north of Nauvoo.  They are a delightful couple who moved to Nauvoo and built their home about 10 years ago.  Both of them play musical instruments and sing.  They have 14 children.  Sister Tukuafu showed us many of the instruments she either made (which was most of them) or bought, and then played them.  They were mostly string instruments.  She and her husband are very talented.  Below are two photos from our visit with them.  It was a wonderful evening.

The Tukuafu's home, built from a log cabin about 150 years old.  A very unique and beautiful home.

Brother and Sister Tukuafu.  They are a charming couple!


Here is a link to a short video I took of Sister Owens playing the Psaltery instrument:
https://youtu.be/VgQTxS-YI_g

This past Tuesday afternoon (on our Preparation Day (P-Day)) we went to the Visitor's Center and saw one of the plays that the Young Performing Missionaries (YPMs) perform in.  It is called "The Promise".  it is about life in Nauvoo during the early and mid 1840's.  It was a fun play.  After the play we had our picture taken in the Visitors' Center by a statue of Joesph Smith and the First Vision.