080915

Well, it's been a week since the Nauvoo and the British pageant completed their run for 2015.  What a spectacular run it was, too!  We got to see them and enjoyed them both very much.  As summer slowly comes to an end, although there are still some long, hot days left, the end of the activity here in Nauvoo seems to be winding down.  We did a session at the temple earlier this week and it had few people.  Last week it was almost completely filled.  Yep, things are winding down a bit.  But, the laundry is sure appreciative of that fact!

The stage lights are gone, the chairs and props are put away.  The pageant is in storage for another year.  The temple stands at a distance overlooking the vacant stage.  All is waiting for next year when it all springs to life again.

  Tonight we had a small get together at the Allred's apartment celebrating the birthday of Sister Bender.  She is a really nice sister missionary that we go to the Burlington Ward with on Sundays.

Brother and Sister Bender.

Arlene, Bro/Sis Collyer, the Benders, Sis/Bro Salden, Sis Allred, and Sis Larson.  Had a great meal of goodies to pass around.  Nice people to talk to and listen to.  

We start the fall schedule this week.  We work from 2 until 10 PM Tuesday through Friday nights and from 1 until 9 PM on Saturday night.  We rarely get off on time.  Once in a while we get off early but that means we get out on time.  We will be working this schedule until the winter shutdown November 9th.  Not sure what will happen after that for the winter schedule, though.  We will know more when we get closer to November.  Talking to some of the missionaries that have been here for a while, the winter months are pretty boring and not a lot goes on.  I suppose we'll find out in a few months, won't we?

We have several missionaries that will be leaving over the next couple of months.  We went out to dinner last night with the Wilson's.  They will be finishing up their mission the middle of September so they are starting to pack and get ready to leave for home.  Sad to see them leave but they have served well while they were here for the last year or so.  More missionaries will be coming over the next few months as they trickle in a few at a time.  More will be leaving from now until January.  We have a constant change now and then.

We have been approved to move to another apartment.  This will be a single unit on the ground floor.  Won't be until October unless another one becomes available sooner.  We're next in line.  Arlene needs to get away from the steps she climbs all the time.  Not doing her knees any good.  Looking forward to that.  Seems like the stairs get longer/harder to climb every day.  

Had 1 to 2 inches of rain last night.  Need to send that to Kalifornia somehow....

Waiting on Henry James Seger (Michael/Nicole's new little boy to make his entrance into the world).  Come on Henry!  Just do it!  Nicole wants it to be over!

Matt/Donae in a new (for them) home.  Congrats kids.  Way to go.

080315

Catching up a bit...

Last week was a full moon.  We were driving past the temple on our way back to our apartment and took a couple of shots:

Now if I can only get a telephoto lens for Christmas or my birthday or....

Last Saturday night we went to Wal-Mart in Keokuk.  We needed some last minute items for Break the Fast for Sunday afternoon.  As we approached the store, a fellow approached me and started talking to me, obviously I was dressed in my missionary attire so it was pretty obvious what I represented.  Arlene was with me.  After a minute he asked me for a favor, and that was a blessing of comfort.  He explained he was having a hard time at home, his wife was ill, he had no job and he needed a blessing to help him get through his situation.  I recognized him as an ordinance worker from the Nauvoo temple that I had seen a couple of times but he didn't really recognize me.  We went to his truck and I gave him a blessing while Arlene kind of watched for people around us.  He was pretty distraught and the tears flowed easily for him.  He was a bit better but I advised him to seek help from his Elder's Quorum and Bishop.  Gotta admit, that was an interesting way to give a blessing and under interesting circumstances but he needed that so badly at the moment.  It is good to be of service.  One must be available at any given moment to provide service.  You just never know when it is going to be needed...even in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

At our Break the Fast with our group yesterday we had a one other couple at the Roundy's, the Abbott's.  It's always interesting to listen to the couple's that are here on missions.  They have such varied and interesting backgrounds and have served in such positions of prominence and great experience.  Most of them have served in stake presidencies or temple presidencies.  There seem to be few of us clerk types.

Left to right, Sister Roundy, Arlene, Brother Roundy, Sister and Brother Abbott.  This is  the Roundy's apartment in the living room.

 Last night was the last night of the Young Performing Missionaries (YPM).  They will be leaving Tuesday morning to go back to wherever they came from.  Some will be going on missions, others back to school, still others to go on with their lives.  They gave a great testimony of Jesus Christ through song.  It was very well done.  It's great to be here in Nauvoo.

Last Saturday was the last night of the pageant.  It's been a great run for them.  They did such a great job.  The 2,000 chairs are gone, the props are starting to come down, the stage is starting to be disassembled.  In a few days, it will all be back to pre-pageant set up and shut down for the winter.  Then it will sit there till next summer for Pageant 2016.  The cycle starts once again.  It was a wild ride these last few weeks and we're at the end of it all.  Things should settle down quite a bit now with less of a hectic schedule and a lot less people hitting the temple every day.  The pressure will be declining every day, especially after school starts back up in a week or so.

I just found out that the Stake YM Presidency in the El dorado Stake has been replaced.  the one I served with.  Best wishes to Patrick Smith, Ken Wallace, and Jason Seymour on your new endeavors, whatever the Lord has in store for you.  Good luck to Art Hunter and his counselors, the new president.  Art replaced me as the secretary.  He will do well.  Quite an undertaking.  Good luck El Dorado.

And good luck to President Bitnoff.  Stay off those mountain bikes for a while.  I hear they are a bit problematic for your ribs.  Get well soon!

bTW,  Elder Kevin Seger has been out for almost 9 months.  Can you believe that?  Time flies...

072015

Coming home from Quincy, it was raining there but clearing on our way home to Nauvoo.  The humidity has been up around a suffocating 80% almost all of the time so when I go out for my morning jog, I'm pretty drenched by the time I get back to the ti-plex....and pooped also.  However, heading back this afternoon, it had cleared out a bit and we got some nice, cool weather, well, relatively speaking, and some pretty skies to look at:

This was taken in the town of Ursa.  Note the corn fields that are heading towards harvest in the not too distant future, the soybeans, the vastness of the acres and acres of land under cultivation.  It's hard to imagine how vast of an area is planted out here.  Their towns are sprawling, to say the least.  If you remember the Superman movies, it all really looks like that, everywhere you go.  Hard to believe that if you come from Kalifornia.  

...and, yes, it's green out here.  That comes from water falling from the skies.  You all from Kalifornia remember what that stuff is called, don't you?  It's called "rain".  They have gotten all of your rain out here, more than anyone can ever remember in forever.  Oh, and they don't seem to irrigate the crops.  Wonder why...thank the Lord for air conditioning....

071915

Another exciting week has flown by and here is another update.  Last Tuesday was a special "Missionary Fireside" at the stake center here in Nauvoo.  Since it was Tuesday night, we thought it was a bit odd but, Arlene and I work on Tuesday nights so we knew we would not be able to attend.  When we got to the temple that night, we were told we needed to be there.  So, we made the arrangements to go.  Since we had to be in our seats 20 minutes before 7 PM, that meant we had to leave at about 6 PM to get dressed in our "civies" and get over to the stake center (it's a block and a half away).  Both the temple and the site missionaries were attending so we knew the soft seats up front were going to be at a premium.  We got over there as soon as we could.

We got just about the last of the soft seats available.  There was a roomer flying about that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was in town but that seemed a bit out of the question, but promptly at around 7 PM, sure enough, he walked into the stake center.  We had filled the stake center so it was pretty crowded.

He was there just doing the grandpa thing with his grandkids on a church history tour of the US and Nauvoo was one of his stops.  It was quite a treat to sit at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord and hear him speak.  He encouraged and thanked us for our roles at Nauvoo, for bringing history to life and for helping out/serving as we do.  He also mentioned that he was in the temple the day before when the chillers had quit working due to the electrical/rain storms/bad power and the temple got pretty warm and wet inside (humidity).  We did't even know he was there.  Fortunately, I was off that day so they can't blame that one on me.  What a day to have a chiller failure.  It was a great fireside and special to us.  A once in a lifetime event.

Since it was 8 PM when he finished up, we realized it was early enough for us to go watch the Nauvoo Pageant so we headed down to park and walk in.  The seating was not as good as Monday night but it was good enough.  The Nauvoo Pageant is different from the British Pageant as it is about the Saints here in Nauvoo and their struggles.  It's pretty spectacular in it's own right.  I have a little video of it also.

Just for Mark Johnson, we happened to be sitting right next to the pathway for the flag ceremony as they marched into the arena at the very start of the Pageant.  Couldn't resist taking this for him.  However, due to the limit on the amount of video I can upload for the blog, this is shortened so it doesn't show them going up on stage.

I shot this sideways so the top appears to be missing sometimes.  It's not.  This is one of the final scenes of the pageant.  In the last scene the real temple is illuminated but that video, unfortunately, didn't make the cut.  I'll try to get it before it closes in August.  It takes a lot of people to put this thing on.  It's such a pleasure to be here.

We taught lesson number 6 today at the Burlington Ward Family Relations Class.  Only 2 more classes left.  I guess the Bishopric is thinking about what they are going to do next.  Temple Prep?  Family History?  Who knows for sure....

Oh, and it's been between 90 and 95 here all week with humidity levels up around 90% +.  Highlight of the week was Thursday as I was up in the attic of the Arrival Center in the afternoon working on the A/C because it was not working very well.  I found the air filters completely clogged with dirt so I pulled them out.  However, because they are located in the attic, difficult to get to, and a pain in the pattootee to work on, it takes forever to deal with.  I pulled the filters out (two separate units up there) and talked to the President.  Then just put everything back together so the A/C would sort of work.  The President said he would make some calls.  I figured he'd have them fix it Monday.  I get a call from the Arrival Center telling me the President has two filters on the way there in about half an hour for me.  Ugh...I hafta go back up there?  So, when they arrived, I went back up there and put them in as best I could.  Needless to say, I was a hot, sweaty mess that night.  Hope I don't do that too often.  I'm just too old for that....must of been hotter than Hades up there.  Or, at least, close to it...

...and, apparently, I have a replacement Grandpa in the Camino Ward while I'm gone.  Way to go, Brother Gardner!  She likes gum!

071315

Hey all, I guess no one looks at our blog anymore.  Guess we're forgotten now.  Oh, well, that is to be expected.  We're really busy here.  We work 40 plus hours a week from noon till 8 PM or longer each day during the pageant schedule.  Since most nights there are longer times in the baptistry, we end up getting out of the temple at about 8:30 or later.  It just takes us a long time to finish up things each night.

Each day I have about an hour of looking at each floor, all five of them, to check the status of the lights and change out burned out light bulbs (there are between 2,500 and 3,000 of them, haven't counted yet), to check the condition of things and to make sure everything is in tip top shape for the patrons.  I have responsibilities everywhere throughout the building so there are always many things to look at.  Everyone there knows me by sight, if not personally, so I get stopped at almost every floor asking about the condition of various things., telling me about things that need to be looked at, and asking about other issues that may need to be looked at.  One of my favorite is it's "too cold/hot in here".  The building is kept at about 70 degrees across the board but the humidity is the thing that varies a bit.  You'd be surprised at what happens when the outside humidity varies by 20%, how many questions I get about how hot/cold it seems to the ordinance workers.  Waiting an hour or so usually remedies the issue.

I have logs to take on operating equipment.  There are three huge air handlers plus associated equipment like chillers, boilers, humidification boilers, glycol system heaters for winter, fire pumps, two water treatment systems, and many other miscellaneous associated systems that need to be tended to and watched over.  Needless to say, the six sets of logs take 30 to 60 minutes to take two times a day, morning and evening.  Plus there are always projects going on.  I am currently working on an issue with the hot water glycol valve that was leaking by.  I've pulled it apart and have checked it out plus reinstalled it, stroked it so that it closes correctly, and will do some testing this week.  We have some parts on hand if I need them.  I have an outstanding project on one of the washers to replace the display board but we won't be doing that till after the pageant and the hectic season slows down and we have accumulated all of the parts.  That's a major hassle and major change out.  The laundry really does't want their washer down during this time.  Other issues crop up constantly.  It's a big building and needs care on a regular basis.  That's why I am there.  To do my little bit to help.

Arlene works in the office all night and does the paperwork needed there.  She needs to stay each night till everyone is done so we're late each night.  There's a lot of coordinating that needs to happen each day and it's almost overwhelming.  There's lots of stuff that needs to happen each day and she does a champion job of getting all it done.

We got to watch the pageant rehearsal last night.  It was the first time they could actually use the stage due to the rotten, wet weather we've been having recently.  The weather was gorgeous last night.  Since it's an outside theatre, the weather needs to be nice to pull it off.  However, unless it is pouring down rain, they still put the pageant on.  Drizzle is OK.

Since it was a run through, they were kind of ad-libbing this section so the bagpipers left but they had a flag presentation and all the associated ceremony.  

This was the closing number of the British Pageant.  It really is a very well done production and worth going to see.  I completely enjoyed it.  There are a lot of people involved in this pageant.

070615

Sometimes, Elders in the mission field just need to be silly on their P-Days, I guess.  Elder Seger in the Chicago Illinois Mission is no exception...

It's nice when we get to exchange emails with him on Mondays and a picture now and then.  Sometimes it's a live exchange of emails.  Once in a while a goofy picture comes through.  Nice to know he still has a sense of humor!  We miss our ginger...

070515

Happy 4th of July to everyone!  Hope you had a good weekend.  We worked all of the 4th in the temple until 8 something at night.  We then went just outside the temple on the front lawn.   As we were waiting for the fireworks to start and the sun to go down, we saw the sun looking like this.  For the last few days it's been really yucky weather here.  There is smoke in the air like back in Kalifornia
that has been pretty bad.  It looks and sometimes smells nasty.  Reminds me of the fires at home.  Of course, the temps have been in the low 80s so can;t complain a whole lot.  I guess that's better than the 100s.

So, after the fireworks that were across the Mississippi, which is a pretty wide river, and look pretty small, we were about to head off when the Nauvoo pageant were doing some practicing and decided to light up the temple.  We got this shot:

This is really lit up compared to normal.  The pageant has a set of lights just across the street that they have set up and they use at the end of the pageant to light up the temple for their finale.  The pageant starts Tuesday.  They are having a dress rehearsal tomorrow sometime and we're hoping we can get there and see it.  Otherwise, we work every night during the pageant so we will have difficulty getting there.  We work noon to 8 PM every night Tuesday through Saturday, the nights they put on the pageant.

Tonight was "break the fast" and we were the host family at our house/apartment.  I decided to do a lasagna and we had the two other couples bring a salad and a dessert.  Worked out well.  I didn't hear any complaints about my lasagna and they wanted some to take back for later so I guess it was a hit.  We also took some over to one of Arlene's clerical supervisor's for her to eat tomorrow night.  Her daughter is going to be operated on and she will be otherwise occupied tomorrow with worry.  

At any rate, new 40 hour work week schedule for the next 5 weeks and we'll be back into the fall schedule.  We will be doing line/ordinance work starting this coming Friday so that I don't forget what I've learned so far.  

Best wishes to all of you.  Hope to hear from you some day.