Nauvoo: the Return Trip

As promised. On Thursday we left Nauvoo at 6:00 a.m. WAY TOO EARLY! We drove to Adam-ondi-ahman and got there about 10:00. We then had a little devotional it was good, but after that they let us loose for over an hour until lunch was ready. I didn't want to walk around, so I ended up helping with lunch. After that we went to Far West and had another little devotional. Then we drove to Liberty. There we toured the visitor's center, and walked around for a little while before getting back on the bus for more driving. We then headed to our hotel in Independence, where we had dinner, before getting back on the bus to head to a church building for our Testimony meeting. Oh my goodness. Testimony meeting ended up being almost three hours. I'm not saying that it was bad or anything, the testimonies were actually really nice, but after about an hour most of us got really antsy. It didn't help that we were all exhausted because we had gotten up at 5 that morning, and had been on a bus all day and so we really didn't want to be sitting that long. It was a really good meeting, just about an hour and a half too long. After the meeting I ended up going straight to bed because I was so exhausted. When we got up on Friday morning, we checked out of our hotel and went to the Independence visitor's center. After we had all gone in and they were about to start they came in and told us that we were going to the Community of Christ's temple, which is across the street, before we took the tour of the visitor's center. That building is really cool architecturally, but not so cool spiritually. We walked in and the first thing I thought of was a shopping mall. It didn't feel right. We then went into what they call their sanctuary which has an amazing organ, and the ceiling is a cool spiral, but I felt so terrible the whole time I was in there, so I left as soon as the tour was over.
Like I said cool architecturally, but not so cool spiritually. I was really glad that we were headed back to the visitor's center, because I felt so awful, like the spirit had been sucked out of me and there was this heavy weight on my chest. I have never felt like that before, and I never want to feel that way again. That experience totally reaffirmed my testimony so much. I love the gospel so much and I am so grateful to have it in my life. After we went through the Independence visitor's center we left for Colorado. We stayed the night in Aurora, Co, and on Saturday we headed home, arriving in Price at 5:00. It was such an amazing trip, and I hope to be able to go on a similar trip again soon.

Graduation and Nauvoo

On May 1st 2010 I graduated from the final class at CEU. It was a bittersweet day. It was really exciting to be graduating yet I was sad because I knew that it may be a long time before I see some of those people again. I don't think that it had really sunk in that day that I was actually graduating and leaving Sessions and Price, otherwise I think there would have been a lot more crying on my part. There are a lot of people I am going to miss being around all the time. People who have changed my life. Mostly I was just really excited that I was done and didn't have to worry about school anymore, and I was really excited to be leaving for Nauvoo.

Nauvoo!! It was amazing!! We left Price just after 4:00 on Saturday the 1st and drove to Rawlins, Wyoming where we stayed the night. The bus ride was so long. We only took one break, we stopped at a Flying J, and were there for an hour, because everyone decided to buy something. Then on Sunday, we drove to Martin's Cove for Sacrament meeting. That was probably the best fast and testimony meeting I have ever been to. After Sacrament meeting they fed us lunch and then we walked to the Cove. We had a short devotional in Dan Jones Cove, then we went into Martin's Cove. The spirit that was there was so wonderful. After we left Martin's Cove we drove to Kearney, NE. Oh my goodness! Nebraska smells so bad. We stayed the night in Kearney, then on Monday morning we drove to Winter Quarters. The temple there is so pretty. It's a rather small temple, but it is beautiful, and the cemetery has an amazing spirit that is there. The sisters in the visitor's center were great. That night we drove to Nauvoo. The rooming arrangements were crazy! We had eight girls in one room with one bathroom. Mornings were kind of hectic when we all got up at the same time. So there were four girls from Sessions, Amanda, Mae, Kristen, and Me, three other girls that knew each other well, whom I didn't really know at all, and one girl that I kind of knew who she was, but not really, and I don't think that the three girls really liked the rest of us very much. It was fine though, because there wasn't much talking when we wanted to go to bed. The only real thing that I found irritating about the arrangement was that someone had the habit of leaving the light on in the bathroom and the door closed, so it would always seem like there was someone in there when there really wasn't. But enough of that. Nauvoo was so great. On Tuesday morning I went down to Old Nauvoo with Trevor Stoddart and Trevor Rowley. We went to the Visitor's center and caught a carriage ride. We had one extra person on the carriage ride, so it was a little squishy, but it was a great experience. I loved the stories of the people who sacrificed so much to have the gospel. Then we went back to the hotel to help with lunch. After lunch we went to the Temple and did baptisms for the dead. The temple is so beautiful. It was probably the best experience doing baptisms I have ever had. And the font is enormous, just saying. After we got back from baptisms it was about dinner time, so we hung out at the hotel until dinner. Then after dinner we went to Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo, the play put on by the missionaries, it was so so funny. It was such a great show. So much fun to watch, even though the acting isn't amazing, and the actor's aren't perfect it was so much fun, and I could tell that the actor's were enjoying themselves. On Wednesday Amanda and I went to Old Nauvoo in the morning. The first place we went was...the bathroom :p. My favorite place was the Family Living Center. We learned how to make rope, and we made one, we learned about wool and the fabrics they used, they also told us about candlemaking, did you know that they put the candles in a "candle safe" to keep the mice and bugs from eating them, weaving, pottery, and coopering(barrel making). We also went to the brickyard, the blacksmith, the boot shop, the print shop, pioneer pastimes, and the cultural hall. Then we had to get back to the hotel for lunch and we were headed to Carthage. Carthage jail is an amazing place. There is a spirit there that is unlike any other. It was amazing, and strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel so much. After we got back Amanda, Whitney, and I went back down to Old Nauvoo and walked down Parley Street down the Trail of Hope. It was truly spiritual. Then we were walking back because it was starting to get dark, and we got a little bit lost. But I was kind of glad we did, because I saw my first fireflies. They are cool. They're not what I expected though. I was expecting glowing bugs that light up there surroundings like Ray from Princess and the Frog, but they are kind of like embers floating out of the fire, minus the fire. It was such an amazing experience to be able to go to Nauvoo, but I really wished that we had had one more day. There was so much more that I wanted to see, but just didn't have the time. That was Nauvoo. For the next post I will write about the return trip.