Nauvoo

 Aaron and I had the chance to go to Nauvoo with our stake. It was a great experience. Aaron had never been before. I think I've been three times. Once when I was 14 or 15 before we moved away from South Dakota. Our stake went for youth conference. Then we had a Sandberg reunion there...I think. And I think there was a tornado while we were there. My cousin's windshield was broken by a fallen tree branch. And I remember huddling in the basement of the place where we were staying. Oddly, I can't remember actually going to see any of the sites on this trip. And we also went through and saw the Nauvoo Pageant after my parents, Andrew, and I were in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. 

Aaron and I were going to be company leads/Ma and Pa. The idea of it is slightly terrifying to me. I always think that youth leaders have to be a certain way, and I'm not that way, and so I think I'm automatically the most boring leader ever. But I'm working hard on learning that God can use anybody. And some kids need a boring leader!

Our group was amazing! They were all kind to each other. They never complained about anything ever. We were blown away by their willingness at every step of the way. They were smart and talented and cool. We were grateful to get to know them. On the very first day, as soon as we got there, we ate breakfast and headed to the temple. Aaron and I had the great idea to walk. The kids went along with it, but we later found out they didn't want to. But they did it anyway, and one girl said later that she was glad we had done that.

Rememer HyVee?! This was the store in Vermillion, SD that we would drive past on our way to church and mutual. A midwest brand, for sure.

We also went to Carthage Jail on the first day. These beautiful trees had grown since the last time I was here. We really started with some awesome things, doing the temple and Carthage all on the first day.

We toured Nauvoo in our groups. So it was fun to get to know each other and to only have to manage the wants of a small group. And then there were lots of other things we did all together. We had three sibling pairs in our group. And one of them said their Dad told them to do the Trail of Hope, so we did that first thing.

And we saw lots of other fun things. This was one of my favorites because it was in a cool place and there were interactive activities: rope-making, barrel-making, candle-making, bread-making, etc.

There were performances every two seconds on every corner. They keep those performing missionaries busy. 

We saw two pageants while we were there. The Nauvoo Pageant (which I saw on our way through after the Hill Cumorah Pageant) and the British Pageant. Okay, people, the British Pageant is the best pageant in the church. I haven't seen all the pageants in the church. But this one was SO MUCH better than the other four or five I have seen. It was excellent. Great script. Excellent staging. Acting was stellar. I was impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we saw it before the Nauvoo Pageant, so it was hard not to compare and have the NP come up short. 

There were LOTS of Texans in Nauvoo--our stake and a stake from Katy, TX. They would ask which state everyone was from, and when they called out Texas there was, shall we say, an enthusiastic response. Texans love being Texans. 

There was a sketchy (but good!) soda shop that we went to because the ice cream shop was closed. It was down this alley. It felt a little irresponsible to be taking teenagers through a back alley so they could get some "drinks," but that's how it goes on Day 4 of youth conference.

Just through this alley, there was a group of bagpipers practicing. Because that's how it goes in Nauvoo. You might just run into people playing the bagpipes. We actually ran into the leaders of the bagpipe group later at the blacksmith shop, and it turned out they were from Bountiful!

John Taylor's home. He ran the print shop. His house was pretty fancy. Turns out he was kind of embarrassed to live in such a nice place when lots of other people were living in primitive cabins.

The youth in our group seemed really interested in seeing all of the tradesmen workshops and things. Those places weren't my first choice, so it was good to experience something new. And one girl shared a really nice spiritual experience she had at the wheelwright. So that was cool! You can tie anything back to the gospel. We also saw the tinsmith, the bootmaker, the bakery, the blacksmith, the print shop, the gunsmith. The brickyard was closed! So no free brick that says Nauvoo. One girl in another group DID get one at a gift shop...and she put it in her bag with her phone...and it cracked her screen. FYI, the blacksmith no longer gives everyone a ring made from a nail. Sad day.

Guess who we ran into in Nauvoo! Aaron's parents! We got to spend an hour or two with them at the country fair. We took them out for a spin, pioneer-style. They were visiting Julie's brother and sister-in-law. So it was fun to see them for a bit as well.

Adam-ondi-Ahman was a quick stop, but very cool. All along the trip, the stake leaders were telling our youth how impressed the Nauvoo tour guides were with our group--how respectful the kids were. I was impressed with our own group, but I didn't have a sense of the group as a whole until we got to Adam-ondi-Ahman. The leaders had asked everyone to be quiet, not to talk unless they needed and then to only whisper, like being in the temple. And when we got off the bus, the kids were not just quiet but silent. There was a really reverent, peaceful feeling there. And they stayed reverent for the whole hour long talk we heard there. It was a cool experience.

We also went quickly through Liberty Jail. The bus drivers were coming up on the limit of how much they were allowed to drive. So we had to hurry through some things. It was kind of lame of the company to not have worked all of that out. But oh well! We also had a tire blow out on our bus on the first day, before we even got to our first stop. That was only the first of many bus issues. It was an adventure. So glad I wasn't in charge. 

These pictures are in a really random order. But this was where they held Sunset by the Mississippi. It was really fun. Those missionaries had so much energy and were just sweating to death with smiles on their faces.

Let's talk a little about "sleeping" on a bus. It was miserable. Probably even a little more miserable than I thought it would be. And we did it on the way there and on the way back. There was no way to get comfortable. Even when I had a whole two seats to myself, you couldn't really lay down. One creative Pa buckled himself in to the seats so he wouldn't roll onto the floor. Then he stretched his feet across the aisle. One time his foot ended up on my head, for which he apologized profusely. On the way back, he got some actual sleep when made an extended bed out of the seat and a stack of plastic water bottles. And he had a sheet over his head. His creativity and determination were inspiring and entertaining.

It was fun to get to know the other leaders in the stake. We especially got to know the leaders on our bus. They were all awesome people. Rikers, Fieldings, Harlows, Sister Hebdon.

Due to the bus schedule, we had to have our group testimony meeting on the bus. That went okay, but I was kind of sad about it. Fortunately, we had been able to have a good chat with our group earlier in the day when we were waiting at a church. But one bus did a whole-bus testimony meeting where they used the bus sound system. The leaders there felt like maybe the bus driver needed to hear those testimonies. 

I was impressed with the stake leaders in charge of Nauvoo. They had a lot of faith. When plans fell through, they always expressed confidence that God would help things work out and that even setbacks happened for a reason. 

Also, I want to remember that the food was AMAZING. And there was way too much of it. But it tasted so good. My friend Jenalyn helped with that, and she said it was as much work to make it so as you'd expect it to be. 

I was glad Aaron and I had the chance to go together. I've gained a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith and prophets in general, and a greater appreciation of the early saints since I was last in Nauvoo. A lot of that is because of reading the history Saints that the church has put out. I really, really appreciated those books. And it is also because of President Nelson. I love him. And it is also because of praying and studying a lot.