033015

We went to Carthage Jail today.  This is where the Prophet Joseph Smith was incarcerated for the last time.  We had a thought provoking visit.

Arlene found a home in the prisoner's temporary storage cell.

The door the mob shot through to get to the Prophet.  Note the hole in the door.

The window the Prophet fell out of after he was shot by the mob.

The view out of the window down to the well below.

Carthage Jail.  Gives you a sense of what happened here historically.  The Prophet Joseph's last few moments.  A lot to think about while walking around the property.

Later this afternoon we got to watch a demonstration of a prairie grass burning.  It was pretty spectacular.  Here is what the field looked like before the burn.  The video I took is way too big (about 1 GB) to upload so I'll just need to add a few pictures.  You can imagine the process.

Fire Department heading off to start the burn.

A few minutes later, the whole field is gone and just smoldering stubble is left.

Just a few minutes after that and the field has almost completely stopped smoking.

The community fire department handed out hot dogs, chips, and caramel corn for everyone that showed up.  It's an annual event that everyone looks forward to.  The burn video I took was 6 minutes and 19 seconds long but I watched the field for about 3 minutes after the fire went out so the fire only took about 3 minutes or so.  You can imagine what it would be like for thousands of acres to go up in flames and how fast it would race across the prairie.  It was a pretty impressive demonstration.

032915

Rocky, this is for you...

Welcome to Nauvoo the Beautiful...note temple in the background between the sign and the fire hydrant.

Looking up the street

This is a view down the street or South. The house to the left is the Lands and Records office which lists all the members that lived here in the 1840's before the town was abandoned.  We found a Seger relative, we think, there.

This is just to the right of our triplex and the houses behind it.

This is the view from our front door.  Note the "Whack a moles" in the ground.  The state highway 96 is in the distance.  Not a lot of traffic on it this time of year.  Take it to the right and you end up in Keokuk and farther it goes into Quincy. 

We went to the community Easter celebration at the stake center last night.  They have some really talented people in this area.

032715

Quick, while the Internet is up, post something!  Murph, wondering if this thing will ever get fixed so we have a consistent Internet connection...  We were able to FaceTime our kids tonight and only had our cable connection drop out one time during the "experience".   Technology is wonderful...when it works right!

Our apartment is the one on top, on the left, upstairs.

Here is our apartment complex building.  As temple workers, we really don't need a whole lot.  We've been working most of the week and just kind of settling into the schedule for the week.  I spent most of my time getting used to where things are in the Engineers area in the basement and trying to find my way around the building.  Arlene was actually functioning as an Ordinance Worker all week and spent a little time in the clothing area.  A couple of days ago I volunteered to help out on Saturdays on the morning shift so we worked the morning shift from 7 AM till 1 PM.  I got to actually work as an Ordinance Worker for a change and not an Engineer.  But, Engineering duties still found me and I ended up doing a couple of things.   It's surprising how little the rest of the temple workers really know about what goes on to keep that building afloat.

We visited a couple of the buildings during the week.  John Taylor's home, the post office (of course, we had to visit that building), and the print shop.

Yep, that's a commode or what used to pass as a toilet on those cold nights since they didn't have indoor plumbing! 

The printing press.  We have it so easy today with computers!

Yep, that closet is about 8" deep.  Apparently, had something to do with taxing for an additional room if it was deeper.

And, of course, the Post Office with Mom in front of it!

The Nauvoo Fire Department has a controlled burn scheduled for Monday so we're excited to go watch that.  We got to watch the Nauvoo Orchestra perform tonight and they were actually pretty good!  Lots of things to do here.  Tomorrow night we're going to the Temple President's house for dinner and conference is next week.  So much to do and see.

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Crossed this bridge heading towards Nauvoo on the 21st.  $2 to cross/25 MPH.

Time for an update, I suppose.  Today was our first day of "work" at the temple.  We showed up at 8:30 AM and met with President McArthur, the temple president, to be set apart an Asst Engineer (me) and a temple missionary (Arlene).  From there, we went our separate ways.  I went off to do engineering things and Arlene got to do ordinance work.

I was issued my radio, my lockers, a tie, my schedule till the shutdown in mid-April, also for the rest of the year, my earpiece to keep things quiet in the temple from the near constant squawk of the walkie-talkies, and people asking me, "Oh, you must be the new engineer, are you lost?"

I mostly was given a couple of tours of the temple areas as other engineers came and went.  And believe me, there are lots of areas to look at.  Highlight of the day was to get up into the tower on the top and see the bell that is rung hourly during the day.  There are stairs going up into the very top of the temple and, since I am an engineer, I will be doing that as soon as it warms up a bit.  It was pretty chilly today and I have a set of keys to get up there on my own.   I'll need to do that pretty soon as once summer comes, we'll be too much involved to do much of anything else.

After all the tours, 2,000 pounds of of salt (in 40# bags) for water treatment came in so I got to unload that from the back of a pick-up into an elevator and stack it in the basement...in whites....nice way to start out, huh?  Then I got to help work on a switch that failed for their internet phone system for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors.  I was supposed to go home at 2 but that was interesting so stuck around to see that finished.  'Course, I had to find where I left my stuff earlier in the day and that was probably the real reason.  The temple is so big and I haven't been able to find my way around yet....

Tomorrow is another day and we'll start at 8:30 to get in and get my early morning rounds completed before the patrons start coming in.  One item is to start up the organ in the chapel 1st thing in the morning.  The chapel is really nice and a good place to think prior to a session.

More to follow...if we can ever get this Internet thing fixed and consistently running right.

The view of the temple from our apartment, in the center.

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Made it to Nauvoo a little after noon today.  However, found out that Verizon only gives me 1X and barely 1 bar, maybe 2 sporadically so I can't do much on the blog.  We stopped in Keokuk, IA to get set up but they are not open on Saturday so we will need to wait until Monday.  Basically, we are without much of any Internet till we can get this sorted out and get a cable modem installed.  Sorry, little to no updates till this is fixed.  Hopefully, we'l be back on line Monday if they have the equipment for us.  The temple people here say it's all self install and they usually just pick it up from the Keokuk office once they get a plan all set up.  Keep your fingers crossed.

We got up early and headed out about 7:30 AM.  Got to Nauvoo about 10:30 this morning.  We met with Sister MacArthur, the Temple President's wife.  She took us over to the temple and we met with President MacArthur.  Very nice people.  She then took us over to our apartment and let us have our choice of a downstairs or upstairs apartment.  The upstairs seems to be the best so we took that one.  Very nicely furnished.  We cleaned out the RAV4 and started putting stuff away, made the bed then decided to run over to Keokuk and see if we could get into the cable people's office to start the set up.  No luck so we went over to WalMart to get some groceries so we could have something int he apartment to eat and clean (not necessarily in that order).  Spent a bit as we had nothing in the apartment.  The gal that checked us out at Walmart just looked a bit too chipper for a WalMart employee and I had a sneaking suspicion.  Sure enough, she attends here in Nauvoo and teaches Primary here.  You can just spot a "Mormon" from a mile away.  She was very pleasant and that just gives them away.  'Course, we had our missionary tags on so we were just too obvious.  We'll be seeing her.

We got back, had something to eat, since we had only something for breakfast and it had been a long time since then, and hurried off to the temple to catch a session.  We really wanted to go through one session beforehand.  we start Tuesday morning and I'd kinda like to be a little familiar with the temple before we start then.  It really is a beautiful temple.  It is entirely different from any of the other temple too!  'Course, I can't say a lot here, but you do things differently as the rooms are spread out across floors.  However, the people are exceptionally friendly, even before they found out I was on a mission there. And it is just as beautiful as anything you can possibly imagine.  I'll share some pictures when we get back online.  One thing I had not realized is how far the Mississippi is across.  It is one large river.  Even though a dam was built some years ago (1912?), it is still a very large river.

After that we cruised the big town of Nauvoo, came home, did some more unpacking and now are going to bed...so, I will start the blog up again when I can.  See ya!

032015

Second day on the road from Sidney Nebraska to West Des Moines Iowa.  Started out pretty flat but the last hundred miles is pretty hilly (rollers).  Lots of ups and downs and some pretty good ones at that.  The gas mileage dropped a bit.  We actually hit 30 MPG at one point but once we got to the rollers it dropped back to around the upper 28.somethings.  Weather was 34 this morning but has been perfect all day long.  No complaints.  It could be so much worse.

Sidney NE Hampton Inn.  Nice place to stop.

We drove around 400 miles then took a break around 2 PM to stop at the Winter Quarters Temple site in Omaha Nebraska.  We missed the temple session but we weren't really dressed for it so we visited the cemetery grounds.  Didn't have time to stay for that anyway.

Several bronze plaques describing what happened at Winter Quarters 

Back side of the temple looking across the cemetery at Winter Quarters

The temple at Winter Quarters is beautiful even during this time of the year.

The front door of the temple is a work of art!

As we drove East, the flat land gave way to the high rollers in Nebraska/Iowa.  The picture below was a pretty steep drop as we drove along and was very representative of the land on the East end of Nebraska and into Iowa.  Wasn't as flat as we had expected.

Rollers in Eastern Nebraska/Iowa

So, after our stop at Winters Quarters Visitor's Center/Temple, we beat feet for West Des Moines and some rest from the relentless driving.  Lots more traffic now.  Cars and trucks.

Tomorrow we only have about 180 miles to go to get to Nauvoo and our driving is done.  Hopefully, it'll be over by noon.  Maybe a temple session tomorrow if we can snag a couple of hours or so but it all depends on what President MacArthur has in mind for us.  Nonetheless, more to follow and the real start of our mission is only hours away... this driving stuff needs to end here pretty soon!  Please?

031915

First day on the road to Nauvoo, Illinois and our final destination.  Got up early, had breakfast with the Johnson's, who are headed to Johannesberg, South Africa later today.

The Johnson's ready to leave for their mission this morning.

We then checked out and left Salt Lake at 8 AM.

Ready to leave SLC!  Our home in for several days.

Headed East on highway 80.  Not a lot to report, though, just a lot of miles (about 540 to be exact) ending up in the Hampton Inn at Sidney, Nebraska at about 4:30 PM.  We met up with the Batty's from our mission training group and had dinner.

One interesting item was in the upper plateau of Wyoming we just missed a snow storm but managed to get the tail end of it.  The Batty's weren't so lucky as they went through a couple hours earlier.

80 MPH, snow flurries at 8, 000 feet!  Cool!

Went to a local eatery for dinner and back to the room for some rest.  Tomorrow we hit the road again for another day.  Tomorrow is West Des Moines, Iowa for a destination, hopefully.

The middle of nowhere in Wyoming, note the road!

031815

Last day of missionary training has concluded.  Not so much training as a lot of spiritual guidance, friendship and tears now and then.  Best training I've ever had, seriously.  We had the last of our training this morning with discussions then went on to do sealings till lunch time.  At lunch we were able to share lunch with Elder Teh.  He is originally from the Philippines.  He is currently serving as one of the Seventy and is a delightful person to talk/listen to.  He spoke to us after lunch for a few minutes about our mission and wished us much luck.

We then went on the much anticipated "walk about" of the temple as they don't call them tours any more.  We got to see the basement mechanical rooms (yeah, I was right at home down there), the baptismal font, confirmation area, then started moving up the temple to the 5th/6th floor to the Solemn Assembly Room.  As pictured, it is as big as the temple itself and not used as much as it used to be.  It's just no longer as large as its needed.  Having been recently renovated for special occasions, it was beautiful from every angle.  We also got to be in the Talmage Room where Jesus the Christ was written by James E. Talmage.  It was quite an honor to move around the temple and see such beautiful workmanship and attention to detail that just begs to be touched and admired.  We moved back into the main hall for the final comments by our hosts and their final testimony to us.  It was pretty hard to end it all.  Even the brother asked to give the close prayer had to say, when asked to close our final meeting together with prayer, "I'll try", as he choked out his heartfelt words.  I am afraid I would not have been able to get out anything and it was way beyond my capacity.

Most of us headed down to change clothes, exchanged fond farewells, bid each other a wonderful mission, took a couple pictures, and off we headed on our separate ways.  A good portion of us will be staying the night and heading out tomorrow on the road must most will be flying to distant lands and missions in far away places.  It was a great 3 days of getting to know some special people.  It wasn't so much the training as much as it was the opportunity to share mutual feelings about the gospel and the temple.  Nowhere else could this have been done exactly like this.  This was a special, once in a lifetime opportunity.  I was glad to be there and share it with them and Arlene.  How could I not be?

We eventually headed over to Marilyn's to pick up the last of our stuff and have a bite to eat then back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready to launch from the hotel.  Tomorrow we head out for Sidney, Nebraska.  The first leg of our journey to Nauvoo, Illinois.  More to follow!

The Batty's (Palmyra Temple)

The Vangelov's (Germany Frankfort temple)

Great missionary friends we met and spent some time with for 3 days.  Nicest people in the world!

031715

Today was another day of training.  Unfortunately, the morning started off with our friends, Sister Vangelov took a spill walking to the temple this morning and did some damage to her upper arm.  She will be wearing a sling the first 6 weeks of her mission in Germany.  We didn't see them today after that.   We started off having a nice session with the temple 1st counselor and his wife as they talked about their experiences in the temple.  Sister Johnson talked about ow we need to help where we can.  "See the need, fill the cup"...about how we need to be kinder than we are and to help where we can.  She also told the story about how she was sitting with three children that were to be sealed to their parents while they were waiting for their time to be sealed.  When the time finally arrived, they were taking the children down to the sealing room and the baby was being wheeled along in a stroller.  As they roller the baby along, they passed large pictures of the Savior on the walls.  When they passed the first one, the baby's eyes followed the Savior.  When they passed the second one, the baby pointed to the Savior.  When they got to the third picture, the baby held up both hands to the Savior as if he was beckoning for Him to come get him.  The children who have recently left the savior know Him and love Him.  Kind of make you want to be with Him.

President Johnson spoke about our need to pick a subject to study a dive into it deeply.  He has been studying the 4 parts of the endowment and how it relates to us and has been amazed at how pertinent it is to us and how much information there is for us to know.  He told us we would be protected and our families would be protected as we are away serving the Lord.

We also went on a live endowment session and got a special tour of some of the special sealing rooms of the temple that few people see.  We also were treated to some historical info about the temple that most people don't know about, some of the renovations that have been done over the years and some of the beautiful and ornate work done on the temple that most also people never see.  Sorry, no pictures allowed in those areas...

We also were able to listen to the church Family Search department talk about what is happening currently and answer questions we have on the subject.  Interesting info.  Then off to nap time then dinner with Elder/Sister Batty over at the Lion House.  Back to the hotel and some much needed rest.

BTW, you might want to try (Rootsmapper):

https://rootsmapper.com/?root=KWZX-CPK&gens=10&selected=0,0&expand=

(note:  this may be the link to my particular site but you can get to your site eventually)

It is a site that maps where your genealogy ancestors have come from as far back as you have entered into FamilySearch.com.  It is pretty spectacular.  This is what mine looks like 10 generations back.  Thanks Sister Batty for letting us know about this site.  Pretty clever.  You need a FamilySearch.com account thru lds.org and have some of your genealogy entered.

Tomorrow is the last day of training.  Then off to pack the car and Thursday we start to head East for the final legs to Nauvoo.

031615

It's official...we're missionaries!

Our first day of training was today.  We had the whole Salt Lake Temple to ourselves.  Got to go underground from the Joseph Smith building underneath to the temple.  Could have easily gotten lost without a guide.  Spent the day in the chapel.  We went over most of the videos we've discussed in our morning session when we work in the Sacramento temple on Saturday mornings but we got to see then all in a row rather than one each week.  In addition, we get to discuss them in depth with others that have a lot of experience.

There are 17 couples and single sisters there for training.  One couple is going to Nauvoo as temple workers.  Two couples are going to Palmyra.  I think I'm the only temple engineer.  Several couples are going to the Philippines, one to Germany, one sister to England, several to South America, one couple is going to Korea.  All going to temples.  Quite a group.  250 grand children being left behind.

We had a discussion on safety in the mission field that seemed to pertain to overseas as most are doing that.  Not so much for us but more for the others.

Rode the light rail a couple of times today.  It's how we get to the temple and back to the hotel each day till we leave.  Not bad transportation.

Looking up light rail tracks towards the temple block, City Center

A look inside SLC light rail

We ended up at the Garden Room on top of the Joseph Smith building for dinner after we saw "Meet the Mormons" for Family Home Evening (or Family Homeless Evening?).  Incidentally, it's a pretty good movie and it will be released March 31st to the general public.  Look for it going on sale.  Nice view, huh?

View of SL Temple from Garden Room

So, that's about it for today.  Tomorrow we get to do ordinances in the temple and more training.  More fun!

031515

Sabbath in Salt Lake.  Decided to attend Music and the Spoken Word in the Tabernacle.  Found the light rail only runs hourly so had to drive up as we lated too late.  Got over in time and got settled in.  It is truly an experience and nothing like watching it on TV.

MoTab Choir just before they start show 

Just before they come out on the set

Great stuff!

Then we went to breakfast at the hotel for a small fortune but it was pretty good.  There's no frig in the hotel room.  Sorta hafta do that.  

Then on to Marilyn's ward for Sunday services.  What a special Sacrament service!  They had a Brother Ofa and Sister Leslie Nau that just moved into the ward speak.  She served a mission and so did he.  They are from California (Salinas area).  Sis Nau is from the ward area and grew up in the ward.  So it was kind of a home coming for her.  I saw Sister Nau on the stand and noticed she had some severely malformed hands, missing several fingers and thumbs.  In fact, only five total digits all together and forearms that are half the normal length, if that.  She was to speak first but got up and walked to the piano and sat down with her husband on the bench and commenced to play beautifully (no, it was her playing!).  While she was playing she sang beautifully also and then he chimed in and sang also, again beautifully!  What a treat.  Tears began to well up till they both finished.  She spoke on her dependence on the Lord, her family, how they met and how much she loved the Lord.  It was very touching, moving and the spirit was certainly there.  After her talk she sang again with accompaniment and then her husband spoke for the few minutes he had left.  But his testimony was almost as good.  It was about how his father was dependent on the spirit to guide him to help his family.  He broke up a little bit and it did the same to me, as usual.  All in all, it was a great Sacrament meeting and I loved it.  What a great couple.  Helped me so much today.  We were able to talk to Sis Nau a little, thank her for her talk and wish her and hubby well.

Now to relax a little and prepare for tomorrow.  Got to write Elder Kevin and do some other stuff.

031415

Happy Pi Day everyone?  A little geek humor for the day...  So, another day as we prepare, we left our gracious hostess, Marilyn Boekweg, and settled into our "spacious" abode at Hotel Little America in downtown Salt Lake City pending Monday's start to training.  We had to make a couple of stops for last minute items, my suits at Mr. Mac and checked in.  And, of course, as per the "Seger way of doing things", the hotel had us down for checking in tomorrow, not today and leaving on Wednesday morning not Thursday morning.  After some discussion with Elder Hicken and the hotel, it was changed to accommodate the change in our pre-approved schedule (Saturday through Thursday AM checkout).  I think we are OK now...only time will tell.  Monday may be a big surprise but, hopefully, not.

We found where we are to meet Monday and strolled around the grounds a bit.  Took some pictures of the temple and had dinner at the Nauvoo Cafe (appropriate, huh?).  Here are a couple of shots:

South side Salt Lake Temple

From the reflecting pool

We were told we couldn't meet with the wards that meet in the Joseph Smith building on Sunday so are making arrangements for Sabbath services elsewhere.  It's OK though, we're only there one Sunday so it's not like it's our assigned ward.  Bunch of "old" people in those wards.  We won't be back anyway.  All in all, it's nice in Utah, warm and pleasant.  Took our coats off and enjoyed the pleasant weather.  We did reminisce about being married there in 1973.  It's getting to a point we can't even figure out how long ago that was...41 years?  42 years?  No, this is 2015 so in November it will be 42 years, right?  Something like that...I think...at least in 2023 it will be 50 years...I think... more to come...

031315_2

Family get together in the evening with lots of Arlene's family and some of ours.  We also had Darren, Sheena, Ean, Clara, and Ike but they got out before I could get a picture.  We'll be heading out to check into the hotel later today and get ready for tomorrow's activities and Monday's big day (start training).  Lots of things we want to do tomorrow, though.  Good to see all the family yesterday.

Nathan, Bryan, Kaity, and Jenny Jacobs

Merilynn and Dave Boekweg

Emily (Boekweg) Barney and Marilyn (Aren't they cute?)

Jon/Emmett and Angélique Seger

031315

Jordan River Temple

Today we went to the Jordan River Temple with Marilyn Boekweg and enjoyed the spirit there.  Compared to the Sacramento Temple, it is huge!  I kept asking where to go as I was lost most of the time.  It is beautiful.  The session was full in the morning (10 AM) and we enjoyed the opportunity to be with our favorite Boekweg Sister-In-Law.  We will be checking into our motel room on Saturday after picking up the suits I purchased from Mr. Mac for the mission.  I think we have about all we need to get off on the right foot...well, I hope so anyway.  We're running out of money.  

We start training Monday morning at 8:15 AM in the Salt Lake Temple.  I will try to keep up on this so you can follow what is happening in our missionary lives.  We do have a family get together tonight with the Salt Lake family (Jonathan [Emmett]/Angélique and all the Boeweg's) that can make it. 

Yes, I am trying to figure out this blog thing so be patient with me.  It's not something I do on a regular basis nor something I am familiar with.  Who the heck cares about what we do?