Nauvoo Recap- My thoughts on this beautiful City

As one can tell from the prior posts, our trip to Nauvoo was great. When you are in the actual space of an event, history seems more relevant and close by. And there is a lot of history in Nauvoo. All of it dutifully recorded in personal journals and public history books.

When you visit Nauvoo, be prepared to learn about the way the city lived, interacted, developed. And be prepared for personal stories. Every house, no matter what profession or role it was displaying, had stories about the townspeople that lived there and what happened to them after they left Nauvoo.

The center of Nauvoo, and the center of our trip, was the Temple. Built originally during the 1840's, dedicated in May of 1846, and destroyed by man and natural elements, after the Saints left Nauvoo. Rebuilt and dedicated in 2002.

The families of Nauvoo were all centered on the Temple. The men had weekly or daily shifts to help work on the Temple, or women were making items in their homes that contributed to the Temple. How they must have rejoiced when it was finished, to partake of the covenants and ordinances therein, that they'd worked hard for years to accomplish.

That feeling was echoed in our reason for coming to the Temple, to see John's sister Holly get married. I can say, on her behalf, that she full appreciates the covenants and ordinances of Eternal Marriage- because she's worked hard for years to accomplish that goal. It's not easy to be a single woman in today's world, to persevere, keep hope, keep dating, keep working, and keep your chin up when dating doesn't turn into marriage. But Holly did it with faith rather than doubt. She never gave up on the idea that somewhere there was a man that was as righteous and smart and funny and loving as she was. And there was. He just lived in San Francisco at the time.

The sealing rooms in the Temple are on the top floor. And in that room, listening to the Sealer talk about eternal marriage, and looking at the happy couple dressed in white, it does seem very close to Heaven. Holly and Braden walked in single, and came out a new entity. Joined together, for eternity, no longer seperate, but a new marriage and a new life and a new family was formed in that moment.

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The other central theme of Nauvoo was that the Saints were only temporary residents of this city. As persecution mounted, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. As the Saints tried to live in peace, and eventually could not, they moved all the belongings and food they could fit into a wagon, and left their city behind.

We walked along the Trail of Tears, read all the quotes, and thought about how heavy their footsteps must have been to leave a city behind, and their Temple.

Click to see larger image and to see the quote more clearly.

I know God had a plan for these Saints and I know the journey was not easy. I also know the end from the beginning, that some Saints made it to Winter Quarters and Utah with their lives. Others did not make the whole journey and lay in peace along the trail to Utah. I know what lies ahead of them. But they did not.

Did they know the magnitude of the journey ahead? Did they just want to rest away from persecution and hatred? Did they think it would be easier than what they'd endured so far? Or did they fear the worst and think that no place would ever be like Nauvoo again? Did they have pure faith in Brigham Young, nothing doubting, this trip he was asking them to take?

I rejoice in these Saints. They had courage and conviction and faith to go beyond their comfortable homes and follow a Prophet even farther into the wilderness, away from the world they knew.

I've never been asked to walk across the United States. But I have been asked to keep my home pure from the world. To teach my children to love each other and not hate. To love a dozen Young Women not of my family and help teach them how to be strong women of Faith. I've been asked to grow a child inside me and give of my body for it's growth. I've been asked to cleave unto my husband and none else, to be a supportive wife, to build a home that invites the Spirit to dwell. Sometimes these tasks feel quite daunting, and I don't know the end from the beginning.

But I do know there is a prophet on the earth, President Thomas S. Monson, that will give wise counsel this coming weekend. I do know that I have the Lord on my side, and I've welded myself to him and my husband through eternal covenants. And for this I rejoice, even though I don't know what my journey through this life entails.

Nauvoo was wonderful. You should visit. Contemplate the many blessings you enjoy, what you could have endured, and what joy there is in a life full of Service, and a life centered on Temple covenants.

Nauvoo

Some more pictures from our trip....

A statue of Joseph Smith, from the Visitor's center

The Monument to Women, located behind the Visitor's center. Statue titles include: Women of Knowledge, Compassionate Woman, Woman of Talent, In her Mother's footsteps, Eternal Marriage. This was one of my favorite exhibits, I loved all the different roles and talents showcased.

We went to the Visitor's center upon arrival in Nauvoo, so my kids were ready to run around and play. Natalie felt the need to put the shattered brick pieces back in place. Sophia ran around saying "What is this statue all about?" for each one. Then I somehow persuaded them to sit on a bench with John and act like they like getting their picture taken.

The next morning we visited the town of Nauvoo with all it's professions and shops.

First up: The Blacksmith Shop. The girls like watching him heat up the metal and bend it. I thought it was amazing how they made the wheels and strengthened them with metal. Sophia liked spinning the wheel as pioneer children did, it was to coat the wheel with turpentine to waterproof it.

We visited the gunsmith shop and bakery, here are some pictures from those homes.

From top, there's a picture showing the bed ropes and how to "sleep tight," some china, a fireplace with dried herbs hanging, the sink cabinet, a 6 cup ladle and sugar auger, baking tools, and the cellar doorway that was underneath the floor.

Next we visited the Family Living Center.

We learned how wool was carded, spun, dyed and all about linseed and other ways of making cloth.

Then we learned about baking. The top pictures are repeats with baking tools, the middle picture shows the bustle oven (wood square in the center) along with huge bread boards. The bottom left picture is a proofing box for rising bread, and the bottom left is the pie cupboard. All the doors are punched tin, small enough holes for steam from the baked goods to escape, but not large enough for flies to get in.

We also learned candle making (from animal fat- ewww), and how it took days to purify the fat, then days to dip the strings and make new ones. Then the finished candles had to be protected so animals didn't try to eat them, and buried in the ground so they didn't melt in the hot summer.

Then came the weaving. This was the girl's favorite part. The senior missionary working the loom let them pull the string back and forth to make the rows.

Last but not least we made rope. They girls got to spin the huge wheel to make it twist into small ropes, then pull the board down the middle to make a stronger, thicker, rope.

Some random pics from a humungous tree stump.

Here are some pictures from the Trail of Tears (the exodus from Nauvoo across the river to Iowa, then onto Winter Quarters in Feb of 1846). The pathway to the River, then a statue of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the Mississippi River, and a replica of the boats they would have used to cross.

Some of the landmarks from Nauvoo- Lucy Mack Smith Home, Red Brick Store, Blacksmith shop, a home with a Bustle oven showing (it sticks out the back of the house like a woman's dress bustle), along with above ground Root Cellar, the Temple and the Mansion House where Joseph Smith lived, and a replica of the log cabin where "The Last Leaf" lived as a girl. The Last Leaf is Mary Field Garner, who lived in Nauvoo as a child, made the trek west to Utah, and was the last remaining person on the earth to have known Joseph Smith, when she died in 1943 at 107 years of age.



Last but not least, some random pictures.

On top, the Rendezvous musical show put on every night by the Senior Missionaries.

Sophia drawing on Slate boards at the school house, the girls in Bonnets, and a sign "City uv Josef" from the schoolhouse, which taught all the different immigrants English by teaching them to spell phonetically. Which makes sense...until you consider all the accents. Might not have been the most effective!