Here in Nauvoo the temperature has dropped twenty degrees.

Everyone is breaking out their sweaters and Fall clothes.

Don't you love our "Performance Costumes"? They make us look very authentic.  We look like blimps but everyone is in the same boat, so it's OK.

 

The tourists are sporadic.  One day there is a bunch and another day people sit at the sites and grow roots. Luckily a bus of senior citizens from somewhere and made everyone's day.  You need to make plans now to come out here next summer then you can save money for the trip and we can get rooms reserved ahead. The accommodations here are expensive but the fun is all free. 

 

Best regards to everyone.  Love you all.

Sister Boyle

Mom / Grandma

What! It is September already!!!!!

It is a beautiful day in Nauvoo! We got a soaking rain day before yesterday so things are still beautiful, green, and humid.  The corn is as high as an elephant's eye and then some, about 10ft. tall. Each week more people are leaving. We will be down about 60 missionaries by the end of October.  Next week they will combine the 3 casts of Rendevous into 2, at which point the casts that are left will have to start putting the play on every other night rather than twice a week.  It is fun performing but I hope we still have someone to put it on for.  The number of visitors has dropped off significantly since pageant ended.

This weekend has been the Grape Festival here.  They raise lots of grapes and make wine out of them here.  For the festival they had a 5K run/walk which several of the missionaries participated in.  A number of those that entered won an award for their age group, some medals and some trophies. There has also been a carnival and a parade, an Archery shoot, and car show.

I have a new assignment.  They have asked me to be an assistant in the mission post office.  Every time I turn around there is something new to learn. We pick up the out going mail from the offices, take it to the real post office, pick up the mail, take it back and put it into the mail slots in the mission mail room after which we deliver the mail to the Visitors Center, the Facilities Management, and the Lands and Records office, (where you can go to look up info. about your ancestors on the computers if ya wanted to know.)

 I will be doing mail 3 days a week for about 3 hours and then going to the Family Living Center for the rest of the shift. At Family Living Center we tell how to make candles, bread, and get fibers ready for spinning. At the other end of the building the men tell about making barrels, rope, and pottery.  In the rope making the families actually get to help make a rope and take it home.

Also they have scheduled me at Tickets and Tours.  Tickets and Tours is where you come to get maps and information about Nauvoo, tickets for wagon rides, plays, etc. So if you want to come out for a trip I can possibly be the one who reserves things for you. I can give you info. on housing too.

On Aug. 23, Brook had her little baby boy. He is still trying to gain some weight at the hospital so he can come home. Sure is a cute little fellow; black hair, 5' 11", 18 in. long, with a little turned up nose like Elena's.  Brook is sure getting tired of hanging out at the hospital waiting for him to come home.

Well school is starting every where.  Makes me wonder what everyone is doing this Labor Day weekend. Would you believe the Grape Festival ended today, Sunday.  Seems so weird for them not to carry it through Labor Day.   Have a lot of fun at the fair.

That's all folks.

Angela Thornton was here in Nauvoo about three weeks ago. She was an aid in my room with the kindergarten kids back when and we've been friends since.  Her folks said they were here because she wanted to come. Angela suffers from allergies which cause her to have seisures. Hence she is not allowed to drive and has to be very careful what she does.  She basically has to eat gluten free and I am not sure what else, but she seems to get along pretty good. We got to ride the carriage together one morning when I had a late work shift.

The hat, dress, and collar are what I wear when I am in the nightly play of "RENDEVOUS IN OLD NAUVOO". All the women in the cast wear similar clothing which also includes long pantaloons with ruffles on the bottom for the stage. The men wear white pioneer shirts with ribbon bow ties, vests, black pants and shoes.

Today we have been in Nauvoo 4 months. The time surely has flown by.  The YPMs have gone home.  The Pageant is over for another year and the crowds have dropped off dramatically.  Today I was serving at the Brigham Young home.  We had all of about eight tours, (groups that came to go through the house). That in comparison to two weeks ago when we were having fifty and up tours a day.  Then the tours would be in numbers of 4 to 20. They gave out over 4000 cookies at the bakery in one week a month ago.  Now the tours are mostly couples with an occasional family of more.  We did have one school group of younger children this week they were from a YMCA. There was also one family reunion that had about 25 in their group.

Oh, and it is great to tell people about the early members here in the 1840's.  Brigham Young was a hard sell when it came to conversion to the gospel. He read a Book of Mormon with difficulty because he had only had 11 days of formal schooling.  But when he heard the missionaries he was sold.  He then promptly traveled the 200 miles to meet the Prophet Joseph.  He said when he met Joseph that he was everything a prophet should be and he never wavered after that unlike many others who joined early on.

By the way the Book of Mormon Brigham read was one left by Samuel Smith with Brigham's sister and also read first by his brother, Phineas.  Samuel Smith, the first missionary ever to go, was the Joseph Smith's brother.  He had gone on a mission back to the Eastern states and returned home feeling like he had totally failed as a missionary. Brigham Young and Heber  C. Kimball were fast friends and were baptized like almost the same day.  You never know what will come of the work you do in spreading the gospel.

In September we will go back to shorter hours in the sites. Possibly we will have to make 3 play casts into  2 in Oct. because about then we lose over fifty people going home from their missions.

Next week several of the young sister missionaries leave to go home, their missions complete.  A bit later like in October or so the remaining YSMs will leave and go "out bound" for the winter. They will be in a more typical missionary situation on their "out bound". When Spring comes they will come back to be with us for the tourist season.

Well, it is getting late. I better go to bed.  Tomorrow is prep. day and my birthday.  What should I do to celebrate?? I don't know. Tell ya later what we did.

G'Nite  Love You All.

Hello from Nauvoo,

Today is Sunday.  The pageants ended last Saturday.  This week the place sorta feels like the wind is going out of it, like when you let the air out of a balloon.  There were thousands of people here just last week and now they are not coming.  Only family reunions and youth groups and by twos and fours.  In a way it is a relief and in another way it is kind of like the day after Christmas.

Tuesday early morning the Young performing missionaries fly out of St. Louis to destinations all over the country having finished their four month mission here.  We will sorely miss them.  They have become like extra grandkids to us.  They are amazing.  They are practicing or performing like 12 hours a day. They dance and sing and act. Or in the case of the band they play all day for different things in different places. Most of the YPMs play more than one instrument and sing and/or dance. Elder Davis for example plays violin, piano, trumpet, clarinet, sings, dances, etc, etc.  On the other hand some of them come not knowing how to sing or maybe they don't  dance that well and they learn here so fast because the Lord is helping them and they are working so hard.

Our tour hours at the sites will become shorter soon.  We are however losing missionaries as they go home so there won't be as many of us here to do the work.  We will have to double up on some things.  Soon there will only be enough for 2 casts to perform Rendevous, our nightly play put on by senior missionaries. We will be in it more often for that reason.  This summer there have been 3 casts putting on Rendevous each 2 nights a week. The play is every night but Sunday.

Received letters from Lisa's kids yesterday in the box with my prescriptions and a bag of yummie black licorice from Idaho Drug. You are welcome to send letters and packages any time.  Address

Sister Tamara Boyle
P.O. Box 215
Nauvoo, Illinois 62354

Love you,
Sis. B. (Grandma Tamara)

Sunday July 20 -The Pageants have been going since the 8th. The weather has been beautiful.  It did rain one night on the Nauvoo Pageant. They are well done and wonderful to watch. The British pageant is such a treat with all the British and Scottish accents, the folk dancing and reminders of our heritage. 

So here is a typical week in Nauvoo for a single sister site missionary.

Sun. 8 am
 Sacrament meeting at the chapel. Super talks by senior missionaries and Young Performing Missionaries. Dismiss. Hurry to Visitors Center for Sunday School and Relief Society. Lessons taught by missionaries.

Come home from church. Eat dinner and get dressed in site clothes i.e. pioneer dress, slip and apron and name tag, always the name tag. Today is a white apron.  Some times it is a colored apron. I get to serve at the Lucy Mack Smith house 12:15 pm to 5. You remember Luck Mack Smith is Joseph Smiths mother. She lost all but one of her eight son's before she died.
My companion Sis. Layne on the other hand has the day off. This is the first Sun. we haven't served together.
   Sister Olsen (S.Sis. Miss. age 82) wants to have folks over for supper. Sister Layne will take pot luck at 5 pm.  I will come in pioneer dress as soon as I get off.

7 pm Sociable (Fireside) put on by BYU Synthesis Band and Contemporary dancers.
 Awesome. Very spiritual.

Come home. Check the e-mail. Go to bed.

Mon. 7:30 am  Get up. Catch some breakfast. Have a prayer with companion. We don't    always say morning prayers together. Depends on who's going where when.
Today I have late shift 11:45 am to 6 pm. so I go out to work in the yard. Mow the edges the big mowers didn't get the day before and add some dirt to the sand the flowers have been trying to grow in. Notice the zucchini I planted is growing a baby, (squash that is). As I finally get this ready to post we have harvested two good sized zuccinnis and the cucumbers are about 2 inches long.

Also growing in our 1 1/2 ft. by 10 ft. garden along the garage are, carrots, cucumbers, green onions, cosmos, & zinnias (2).

Come in, shower get ready, go to serve at Family Living Center. There I will talk about making candles and the light of Christ, making fabric and yarn and having patience while making a fine finished project, and making bread in a brick oven, which bread is like the words of Christ which words are also the bread of life. I also get to sew on rug rags which will be used on the looms to make rugs for the floors in the restored houses.

Tonight at 6:15 pm we need to be over to the outdoor stage just East of the Visitor's Center where we will perform in the variety show known as "Sunset by the Mississippi". We put this show on with the young performing missionaries while they are here.  When they leave we will cease to put on Sunset.

Tues. is preparation day.  This month we don't have a performance in the evening so we can go farther for a road trip. So far we have gone to Springfield to the Lincoln Museum, to the Mark Twain home town of Hannibal, Mo., to Kalona, an Amish/Mendonite town which is all about quilts, and this week we are going to the Duncan Indian Mounds, East of here.

Wed. is 8 am training meeting. Part of the meeting is a wonderful talk about unity and harmony and how it is the way things should be in nature, in our lives, in our bodies, in our mission.

After training I am to serve at Lucy Mack Smith C shift (8:45 to 12 ) and then come back at 3 pm and work until 6pm.  Sister Layne is at the Brigham Young House shift A, which is 8:45 to 3 pm. We generally take some lunch with us.

Be at the Cultural Hall by 6:30 In performance dress, to warm up and be ready for Rendezvous performance. We will do two shows  back to back: one at 7:00 pm and another again at 8:15 pm. Some nights I have a speaking part and some I do not.

Thurs. Go to the Post Office on the B shift, 11:45 am to 6:00 pm.  Here we tell about how the mail worked in the 1840's here in Nauvoo. Letters with no envelopes, no return addresses, no stamps, and which have been cross written.

Perform Sunset again at 6:15.

Fri.  Go to Heber C Kimball's house on the A shift (8:45am to 3:00pm). Here we tell about he and his great grandson, Dr. Leroy Kimball who was actually the one who got the whole "Restore Nauvoo" ball rolling.
Heber C. was a great missionary and could likely have converted your English relatives.

Sat.  Spend the day at the Nauvoo Visitors Center, greeting guests. The shift today is from 7:15am to 1:00pm  We will spend the time telling what's available to do in Nauvoo, showing them around the Visitors Center, and helping them get plans made for what to see while they are in Nauvoo. There are a couple movies to see, and the play, The Promise is put on by the YPM's at the VC, but they must make a plan of when they want to see the other plays and go on the Carriage and Wagon Rides.  Those require tickets which must be reserved at the tickets and tours desk.
 
Rendezvous again tonight.

And then it is Sunday again. Whew the week has flown by

It is raining in Nauvoo today. It has been raining all day.  It is a good thing for all the plants and the corn, but the visitors are having a hard time not getting wet.  When you come to Nauvoo be sure to bring umbrellas for your crew because although the temperatures are usually comfortable there will be lots of wetness to dodge. The historical sites open at 9 am everyday even Sunday. We go to church and then are off to host at the sites.  I guess I may have told you that before.

At the beginning of the month our schedules rotated. Each of the three senior missionary performing casts, rotate days of the week on which they perform Rendezvous, and Sunset.  Last month our preparation day and one of our (meaning my companion and I) performance days were on the same day. This month the evening of our preparation day is free. Since this is the case we are going to travel to some of the other places of interest in the area.

Tuesday last we drove down to Springfield, Il. where Abraham Lincoln was raised. There we saw the great interpretive museum, where we spent several hours.  We could have stayed a while longer but the place closes down at 5 pm. We went out a few blocks away to the "neighborhood" where Lincolns home is, walking around the houses because they too were closed.  During the day time the houses have tours much like we have here in Nauvoo.

Oh, the temple bell is ringing. For several weeks I thought the bell I heard was on one of the several churches that dot the streets in this tiny town.  Then someone finally told me that the bell is in the tower of the temple.  It rings on the hour.

Well, on with my story. After leaving Lincoln's "neighborhood" we went to find the Lincoln Memorial at the cemetery.  We arrived just in time for checking out the men and women dressed in 1860's dress,  and to watch as a troop of Union Soldiers retired the flag for the evening. They came complete with black powder rifles, bugler and drummer boy. Very moving!!  Before the ceremony two of those dressed in costumes were out behind the monument giving a narration about the assassination and funeral of Pres. Lincoln. The day was very much worth the 2 1/2 hr. drive.

Our trip home late Tues. night was kind of scarey for we drove into a terrible thunder storm.

This next week when Tues. rolls around we will take off down to Hannibal to see what we can learn about Mark Twain.  Not quite so far but almost.

This week I have been assigned to the Pendelton Log School, The Seventys Hall, (which was the first MTC), the Bakery, the Post Office, (where you can learn about crosswriting your letters to save paper), the John Taylor Home, and the Heber C. Kimball home (today).

I walked to the HCKH today a distance of  about 3/4 mi. It was a lovely walk in my pioneer dress with my crocheting on my back; not too hot, no wind, and cloudy. The wagon pulled by "Nip and Tuck" passed me on the first round about town. At 3 pm when I was due to walk home it was pouring buckets and guess who had not grabbed her umbrella. Luckily my dear companion was thinking of me. She called saying she had asked Sister Hatch, who was also off shift and headed home, to pick me up.

The great grandson of Heber C. Kimball, Dr.J. Golden Kimball, came to Nauvoo in 1959, wanting to buy his great grandfather's house to restore it and use it as a summer home.  So many people came to the door wanting a tour as they were working on  it that he approached the church with the idea that maybe there was enough interest in the history of the place and what went on here that it would merit a restoration.  The Nauvoo Restoration Inc.was formed and the work began leading to the wonderful interesting and inspiring place it is now.

We feel that the restoration is an answer to Wilford Woodruff's prayer when upon selling his beautiful new brick home for only $675. and joining the exodus west he penned these words: I was in Nauvoo on 26th of May 1846, for the last time, and left the city of the saints feeling that most likely I was taking a final farewell to Nauvoo for this life.  I looked upon the Temple and City as they receded from view and asked the Lord to remember the sacrifices of his Saints."  People are now remembering.