Just Another Day in Nauvoo...
This post is entitled Just Another Day in Nauvoo. Actually, we want to tell you about some of the incredible productions we've enjoyed. We talked about it together today and realized we've already taken for granted the opportunities we have here.
Here's what we've experienced so far.
We enjoyed the hour long show entitled, The Promise. The Young Performing Missionaries (YPMs) use song and dance to testify of the conversion and experiences of the early saints in Nauvoo. It's held in one of the theaters in the Visitors Center. Exciting, professionally done and a touching performance.
We watched Just Plain Anna Amanda which is geared towards children but applicable to everyone. Again, more song and dance and humor and a wonderful message about being happy with who you are.
We attended a Nauvoo Brass Band hymn concert focused on the Prophet Joseph. Great music and testimonies of him.
The other morning the FM missionaries received a private showing early in the morning of one of the summer vignettes performed by the core cast of the pageant. The core cast are professional performers hired for the pageant. Most of the pageant performers are volunteers who come to Nauvoo for two weeks - one week to rehearse and one to perform. The performance we enjoyed was held in the Seventies Hall and featured actors portraying Brigham Young, Parley Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Orson Hyde. The told of their missionary experiences in England. They were beautifully in character and the miraculous stories of the thousands of baptisms were inspiring. There were actresses who portrayed their wives and shared their unwavering support of their husbands as they left for years at a time to serve the Lord. It was poignant for the senior couples in attendance since we are doing the same thing - albeit in much easier circumstances.
We also attended a hour long performance by the pageant cast entitled Our Story Goes On which focused on the story of a family as they journey through life and death. Another poignant and moving story in song and dance.
After our Sunset by the Mississippi show one night we walked the Trail of Hope. This is a walk down Parley Street towards the Mississippi River as the sun has set. This is the same road that the early saints walked in the middle of winter as they were driven out of Nauvoo. There are numerous vignettes performed by the YPMs which feature the actual words of pioneers who made the trek across this country as they left Nauvoo in 1844. The evening we made the walk there were fireflies in the fields behind the actors and the beautiful Nauvoo Temple lighted on the hillside above. Pretty spectacular.
We have watched and performed numerous times in the Sunset by the Mississippi (SBTM) show as well. It's exciting to see the different groups - youth groups, senior tours, etc. - who visit Nauvoo and attend the show. There are three casts to SBTM - the blue, red and yellow casts. We're yellow. Each cast does two performances a week. Elder Childers is the announcer for our cast and gets to welcome guests and announce the pre-show. He also gets to recite a cowboy poem each performance. He's on stage alone during that and it's fun to have the audience laugh when they're supposed to laugh!
We've visited the Lucy Mack Smith home, the Browning Gun Shop, the Post Office, the Print Shop, the Heber C. Kimball home, the Riser Boot Shop, the Sarah Granger Kimball home, the John Taylor home and have many more to visit as we make time. We also visited the Carthage Jail. Elder Childers also gets to visit many missionary apartments as he performs his handyman assignment and fixes stuff! Sister Childers has worked on the Sarah Granger Kimball home, the Heber C. Kimball home, the Brigham Young home and the John Taylor home. She spent two and a half weeks at Sarah Granger Kimball painting doors and windows and walls and ceiling. At Heber C. Kimball the painting sisters scrapped and painted the back porch - probably twelve layers of old paint was removed! All in nice warm and humid weather. Similar work was done at the other locations.
We've also traveled around the area visiting various villages as we explore and grocery shop. There is no grocery store in Nauvoo so we shop in various towns as we explore. The nearest Costco is a two-hour drive - we've been there once so far. We even joined Sam's Club which is only an hour away.
Fresh fruit and veggies are starting to be available - the corn has been pretty tasty!
We hope this gives you a flavor of our day to day experiences as we live and work in Nauvoo.
Here's what we've experienced so far.
We enjoyed the hour long show entitled, The Promise. The Young Performing Missionaries (YPMs) use song and dance to testify of the conversion and experiences of the early saints in Nauvoo. It's held in one of the theaters in the Visitors Center. Exciting, professionally done and a touching performance.
We watched Just Plain Anna Amanda which is geared towards children but applicable to everyone. Again, more song and dance and humor and a wonderful message about being happy with who you are.
We attended a Nauvoo Brass Band hymn concert focused on the Prophet Joseph. Great music and testimonies of him.
The other morning the FM missionaries received a private showing early in the morning of one of the summer vignettes performed by the core cast of the pageant. The core cast are professional performers hired for the pageant. Most of the pageant performers are volunteers who come to Nauvoo for two weeks - one week to rehearse and one to perform. The performance we enjoyed was held in the Seventies Hall and featured actors portraying Brigham Young, Parley Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Orson Hyde. The told of their missionary experiences in England. They were beautifully in character and the miraculous stories of the thousands of baptisms were inspiring. There were actresses who portrayed their wives and shared their unwavering support of their husbands as they left for years at a time to serve the Lord. It was poignant for the senior couples in attendance since we are doing the same thing - albeit in much easier circumstances.
We also attended a hour long performance by the pageant cast entitled Our Story Goes On which focused on the story of a family as they journey through life and death. Another poignant and moving story in song and dance.
After our Sunset by the Mississippi show one night we walked the Trail of Hope. This is a walk down Parley Street towards the Mississippi River as the sun has set. This is the same road that the early saints walked in the middle of winter as they were driven out of Nauvoo. There are numerous vignettes performed by the YPMs which feature the actual words of pioneers who made the trek across this country as they left Nauvoo in 1844. The evening we made the walk there were fireflies in the fields behind the actors and the beautiful Nauvoo Temple lighted on the hillside above. Pretty spectacular.
We have watched and performed numerous times in the Sunset by the Mississippi (SBTM) show as well. It's exciting to see the different groups - youth groups, senior tours, etc. - who visit Nauvoo and attend the show. There are three casts to SBTM - the blue, red and yellow casts. We're yellow. Each cast does two performances a week. Elder Childers is the announcer for our cast and gets to welcome guests and announce the pre-show. He also gets to recite a cowboy poem each performance. He's on stage alone during that and it's fun to have the audience laugh when they're supposed to laugh!
We've visited the Lucy Mack Smith home, the Browning Gun Shop, the Post Office, the Print Shop, the Heber C. Kimball home, the Riser Boot Shop, the Sarah Granger Kimball home, the John Taylor home and have many more to visit as we make time. We also visited the Carthage Jail. Elder Childers also gets to visit many missionary apartments as he performs his handyman assignment and fixes stuff! Sister Childers has worked on the Sarah Granger Kimball home, the Heber C. Kimball home, the Brigham Young home and the John Taylor home. She spent two and a half weeks at Sarah Granger Kimball painting doors and windows and walls and ceiling. At Heber C. Kimball the painting sisters scrapped and painted the back porch - probably twelve layers of old paint was removed! All in nice warm and humid weather. Similar work was done at the other locations.
We've also traveled around the area visiting various villages as we explore and grocery shop. There is no grocery store in Nauvoo so we shop in various towns as we explore. The nearest Costco is a two-hour drive - we've been there once so far. We even joined Sam's Club which is only an hour away.
Fresh fruit and veggies are starting to be available - the corn has been pretty tasty!
We hope this gives you a flavor of our day to day experiences as we live and work in Nauvoo.
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