Cast Party

 Just in case you think we don't have fun on our mission....Here are some pictures from our cast party we had after a session at the Temple!  We came back to our house to have a crepe party!!  So fun...we also honored a couple from our cast who are leaving the first part of February  The Boyer's
 

                                                        The Boyer's  Leaving in February

Today we are serving together at the Lucy Mack Smith home.  When Joseph Noble left to go west, Brigham Young purchased his home and had it deeded to Lucy Mack Smith.  He wanted to take care of Mother Smith and provided her with a home and a carriage.  Her daughter Lucy and her husband Arthur Millilken lived with Lucy in this home for a few years.  Lucy had arthritis and was unable to go west with the Saints.

Here is Mom sitting on a little bench..she calls it a "time out bench"  (Ha)  This is upstairs where the rest of the family slept!

Because Lucy had arthritis, she couldn't go upstairs, so this is called a lying in room...a small sleeping area right in the kitchen and living area...I can just see her enjoying being in the middle of things, with the cooking and children playing around her..a great idea..She was a tiny lady, Becky could just fit in that tiny bed!

There is a great spirit in this house.  Lucy was an amazing woman...never lost faith in the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, or in the fact that her son was truly a prophet of God who translated the Book of Mormon by the power of the Holy Ghost.  

Looking out the front door of the Lucy Mack Smith home is this house right across the street.  This is where the General Authorities stay when in Nauvoo...Which is pretty often actually.  It is humble, but nice and built in the style of the day.  

This stairway is the most steep in Nauvoo, it's like climbing a ladder..no wonder Lucy never went up there.  Her daughter and her family had rooms upstairs to sleep and a living room area...cute little cozy house.

 We have had a lot of WINTER!!  The above photo was taken out our front door .  Our apartment faces a large two acre grassy field that abuts a forest where about 20 deer and wild turkey , etc. live. They are hungry.  Also we have a bird feeder and down below is a picture that we took out of our living room window , of a husband and wife Red Cardinal that come every day.  They are beautiful.  I wish I could get a better picture of them.

 This picture above is a model that we have in the main Visitor Center showing Nauvoo in 1845-6.  The Temple is seen in the upper left.  At about the upper far right we see the area where Parley St. meets the Mississippi River.  It is hard to see exactly in this picture, but I put it here to give perspective to the picture below.  The west end of Parley St. is where the Saints left from in February 1846 to cross the River to begin the famous Exodus west to the Rocky Mountains.  We will be holding a reenactment of this Exodus in about three weeks, and Sis. Ririe and I will be participating.  At first they crossed their wagons on small ferrys, which was hard to do because of the cold winter weather, there was so much ice in the river that a couple of the ferrys capsized over the several days.  Then it got even colder making it much more difficult for the ferrys.  But it turned out to be a great blessing in disguise because the river actually froze over, (which it hardly ever did)  and became so thick that it  made it possible to actually drive the wagons over.  The slow, tedious process of ferrying had wagons lined up all the way along  Parley St. and backed up clear up into town, waiting their turn. This frozen river allowed all the wagons that were ready to cross to do so immediately, which allowed about 500 to cross.  This winter became one of those unusual ones that was so cold ( the high for a couple of days was minus 2)  This froze the river all the way across.  Some said that even a snow mobile could easily cross it.   The picture below shows me venturing out on the ice. This is the same identical place that the Exodus took place at the west end of Parley St. where the ferry dock was in 1846. ( I wanted to go farther but "Mom wouldn't let me"-- and kept screaming at me to stop.-spoil sport!!)

 This picture below is a close-up that she took at the same time.  See how safe it looks?  I know I cudda gone a lot farther--doggon!

We will give more information about the Exodus reenactment in a few  weeks.