Nauvoo

I have been home for 4 days now so I guess I should post about Nauvoo! I wanted to change the background of my blog since the 4th of July is long gone, but I can't get it to work for some reason. So, it might just have to be white for awhile. If any of you are seeing a background or have any tips please tell me. I have been using thecutestblogontheblock.com. The directions are really simple and I have followed them to a tee, but alas, I still have a white blog background.


















Now, onto the fun of Nauvoo.
It was AMAZING!! What an amazing place, with an amazing history, amazing Spirit and an amazing pageant. I could probably talk about it for days and days and days. Every night I hook the camera up to the TV and I tell Dan about all the restored homes/shops that we saw and everything about Nauvoo.
The Nauvoo Temple

I will start with the temple. Wow, what an amazing temple! I arrived in Nauvoo at 10 pm and when I rounded the corner of Mullholland Steet and saw the temple I was blown away. It is so beautiful and I couldn't wait to go inside! I went on a session with my parents and when we were getting ready to leave we had to wait a minute to walk downstairs so a lady showed us a table that had been inside the original Nauvoo temple and that was now restored and in the marriage waiting room. You could feel the spirit of those pioneers who sacrificed so much to build the Nauvoo temple. We got to walk up and down the spiral staircases and look out the red, white and blue star windows. It was incredible.



































The Nauvoo Pageant












It was so incredible to be a small part of this pageant. I don't know how all these people do it. Their is a core cast of about 20 people that audition and play the roles of Joseph, Emma, Hyrum, Parley P. Pratt, other apostles and significant women in church history. They actually get paid, but I am sure it is very little. The rest of the cast is all families who volunteer and pay their way to Nauvoo for two weeks. The first week they rehearse during the morning and afternoon and then do pre-show activities at night and then the second week they are in the show. My sister's family was in the first cast so they didn't have to do the pre-show stuff, but they still did A LOT of rehearsing in the horrid hot humidity of Nauvoo. I was very lucky and I spent a lot of time in the beautiful air conditioning with Dawson. I honestly don't know how they did it, wait, yes I do. They were blessed with the health and strength to carry on. I can tell you that Heavenly Father was blessing each person that was involved with this pageant. We literally saw miracles performed! It was amazing.

It was so cool to see Marci, Dan, Kelsey, Jenna and even Dawson perform. Dawson had a little part and he was so good. He actually LOVED going on stage. I watched the pageant 2 nights and so Dawson got to go on stage a lot more than the other nights, and he loved it. He liked the bright lights, singing and dancing. It was adorable. He was actually very famous. EVERYONE knew Dawson and everyone loved him to pieces. Whenever we arrived there would literally be a little
fan club of people flocking to Dawson. He was so cute in his little pioneer costume! The girls also
had little parts and there were several times where they got to be right up at the front of the stage and they did such a good job.













This is a really cool scene that brought tears to my eyes. The saints are mourning the death of a friends, King Follett and then out of nowhere these angels appear and you literally hear gasps in the audience because it is so powerful. My sister is the angel on right with her arm around the girl. What a powerful moment to tell the audience that we believe families can be together forever.


















This is Dawsie's scene. He is the son of some Irish immigrants. His mother wants to be baptized and his father is questioning the church and his conversion doesn't come so easily. Dawson actually dies as they cross the ocean to come to America. I taped that scene on my camera because I cry every time I watch it. I will try to upload it some time.



















This is Jenna at the pre-show as the sun is setting in the background.


















Dawsie and Mommy















This is Kelsey during the finale and you can see Dan, my brother-in-law, just behind her to the left.


Well, this is already really long and has taken me like 45 minutes. So, I am just going to put my favorite picture from Nauvoo at the end of this. I will probably post some more in the upcoming week. Let me just tell you that this was a wonderful experience. It was not easy and it was really not easy for those people who were actually in the pageant, but it was worth it! The Spirit we felt was worth it. Our pioneer ancestors went through unbelievable trials. They finally built their beautiful Nauvoo and finished the temple and then they had to leave and endure the horrendous trials on the plains. At the end of the trail of hope there is a list of 2,000 names of those who died on the trek west. I don't know how they dealt with the death and sickness. I am so grateful for their sacrifices and I am so grateful for the blessings we have today. I am so grateful for air conditioning, grocery stores, jobs, cars, the internet and that we don't have to wear 50 layers of clothing! I missed my hubby a lot, and I wish he could have been there with me, but I had a great time and I will share more with you later.