After more than 18 hours of driving, we made it to Nauvoo. I'm going to go day by day below, but I thought it might be nice to just start with a summary and some general thoughts here.
Our Airbnb was nice and met our needs. It did not have a ton of gathering spaces, however, that ended up not being that big of a deal. I thought we would spend most evenings at the house playing games, but instead we had something to do in Old Nauvoo basically every night and it was so fun. Our kids did amazing and were so great the entire trip, especially in Nauvoo. It was a mix of seeing historic sites and watching the many performance missionary vignettes and shows (more on that later). The kids enjoyed the performances more than the houses but were patient while sitting and listening and being very respectful.
I came on the trip excited about spending time with Shantel and the kids and my siblings. The last time I was in Nauvoo was in 1996 or 1997 when I was 12-13 years old. I feel like that visit really helped me develop my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration. On this trip, I feel like I already have that testimony and belief and was not necessarily looking or seeking for that. What I feel that I was blessed with throughout this visit was gratitude for those who sacrificed so much in the early days of the church to follow the prophet and have faith in Jesus Christ. This goes for both my ancestors who lived in Nauvoo and for all those who lived, worked, sacrificed, and eventually had to abandon Nauvoo. They faced incredible challenges as they built homes and community again and again and then had to leave it all behind and start over multiple times. Yet - they did it because they had testimonies and they did it despite it being hard. Many lost lives or suffered severely because they were faithful. As I heard the stories and watched the performances, I was filled with a deep sense of gratitude for their sacrifice and a renewed determination to more diligently follow the prophet and do the Savior's will.
On various nights we took turns looking up our ancestors who lived in Nauvoo and then sharing their story with the rest of the family. On my turn I shared about William James Johnstun (1824-1912 KWN1-57Y). At a young age he made great sacrifice including volunteering with the Mormon battalion. His story was filled with numerous inspiring stories. Each day we visited many places and heard so many inspiring stories.
Without question, the thing I enjoyed most during my visit were all the performances by the performing missionaries, plus the Brishish, Nauvoo and Our Story Goes on pageants. The missionaries were so incredibly talented (singing, dancing, acting and playing musical instruments). The way they told the stories of the saints through song and dance really brought it to life and brought the spirit. When we first arrived I wondered why they had the performers to be missionaries instead of just getting the same group of people, but not making them missionaries. However, as we were there you could feel that as set apart missionaries they were able to truly testify of the Savior and the church and restoration. My favorite shows were "Sunset on the Mississippi", the "Youth of Zion", and the "William Pitt and the Nauvoo Brass Band Re-enactment". On Sunday I really loved the Joy Savior Concert.
I honestly loved them all. We went to every performance available and attended many twice (or 3-4 times for Sunset on the Mississippi.). The other really great part is that the missionaries were so good to come up after the show and talk to us and our kids and get to know us. Our kids especially loved it and would look for their favorite missionaries (more on that later).
We had such a great time and I could feel the spirit throughout the week. One other note, it was really nice because our house was really close to historic Nauvoo. We drove over there each day but there were multiple times that people would walk over or walk back after because it was so close.
Monday
Places Visited: Visitor Center, Cultural Hall, Pastimes Pavillion (pioneer games)
Shows: Sunset on the Mississippi
Our first stop was to the visitor center where we watched a movie and looked at the exhibits, plus got maps and information to help us for the next week. Lucy and Caleb posted in front of these pictures and it was so cute - they wanted to line up exactly with the people behind.
We visited the cultural hall and then spent a while playing games at pioneer Pastimes (the kids loved this).
Shantel and Lydia learned a new pioneer strategy game.
Caleb got pretty good at hitting the wheel and getting it to roll.
We finished the night by going to Sunset on the Mississippi. Everyone else decided to stay home that night because Jacob was not feeling great and they decided to come to the show a different night - but I'm so glad we went. We had so much fun and loved the singing and dancing and the music. We thought it was incredible, and it was not until the next few days as we saw that the missionaries had been performing all day before this show that we fully appreciated how great the performance was.
Tuesday
Places Visited: Wagon Tour, Browning Gun Shop, Scovil Bakery, Webb Blacksmith Shop, Brigham and Mary Young Home, Seventies Hall, Family Living Center
Shows: Praise His Name in the Dance, Youth of Zion, Remembering Joseph, Sunset on the Mississippi, Trail of Hope
We had a great first full day in Nauvoo, the temple was beautiful to see. Throughout the trip it was fun to see our kids play and interact with the Rencher kids.
We started the day with a Wagon tour that goes all through historic Nauvoo. We visited the Gun shop, Blacksmith Shop and the Brigham Young Home. Every day we would head back to the house for an hour or so and do lunch. After lunch we went to the Family Living Center where we got to see a how things were done as a pioneer. We did barrel making, rope making and loaded a wagon.
After dinner, we finished the night by going to Sunset on the Mississippi and the Trail of Hope performance. Shantel stayed home this night because Caleb and Lucy were tired and the weather was a little stormy. The Trail of Hope actually got moved inside, but it was still cool.
Wednesday
Places Visited: Nauvoo Temple (Sealings with all the adults), Taylor Home Print Shop and Post Office, Stoddard Tin Shop, Riser Boot and Shoe Shop, Calvin and Sally Pendleton Home (and School), Carriage Ride
Shows: Go Ye Into All the World, Remembering Joseph (Shantel, Caleb and Lucy 2nd time), Sunset on the Mississippi
Wednesday morning we went to the Temple with my Dad, Wendy, Sam, Daniel, Nathan, Amy and Kevin and do a sealing session. It was really wonderful to be there together and then to be able to go to the Celestial room. Note from Shantel: As we were in the sealing room together, I felt Sue there with us. It was such a tender experience for me to feel her there, but I didn't say anything about it. When we were in the celestial room, Wendy leaned over and said "I felt Mom in there with us" and I was so glad that the others could sense her, too. Sue always has had such a special spirit and I could feel the love and comfort emanating from her. We missed her on this trip but we are grateful for the reminder of eternal families.
Lydia found a couple of bunnies in the yard after lunch.
Aubrey made some drawings and the kids loved coloring them in. They spent a long time working on these. It is always so sweet to watch how good the Rencher cousins are to our kids.
Thursday
Places Visited: Nauvoo Temple (Baptisms for the group including Shantel & Lydia, except I went to the store with Austin, Caleb and Lucy), Lucy Mack Smith Home, Smith Family Homestead, Mansion House, Red Brick Store, Hiram and Sarah Granger Kimball Home
Shows: Nauvoo Singers, Elders Songs and Stories, Carthage Jail 180th Anniversary Commemoration
After the Nauvoo Singers performance, we were able to get a picture with the sister performing missionaries. Lydia and Lucy had dressed up in pioneer dresses that day and it was so neat to see them with the sister performing missionaries. We were really grateful for the missionaries, especially Sister Shaw, Sister West, Sister Harmon, Sister Franz, Sister Unsworth, and Sister Hailstone.
We spent the rest of the morning at the Smith Family Homestead and related sites (Red Brick Store). One of the cool things about this was that these had been owned by the Community of Christ until just March of this year when they sold those sites (and the Kirtland Temple) to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was really cool that those tours were now given by missionaries and were owned by the church.
This is us at the Elder's Songs and Stories - I even got to go up and play the role of Porter Rockwell.
That evening it was the 180th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. We were able to go to Carthage and they had an event with speakers and some musical numbers as a commemoration. One other fun thing is that this same week there were so many people from our ward in Nauvoo, too. Adele Parker, Amy Taufer and Erin Rossel (and her family) were all there and we were able to connect a couple of times. Adele is there for the summer as she is in charge of the pageants (our connection to be able to watch the dress rehearsals of the pageants), Amy was there to help a friend cater an EFY group, and Erin was visiting her parents who are serving a mission in Nauvoo. It was fun to see them all there. We also saw Brenna Millward who is starting as a performing missionary next week.
Friday
Places Visited: Carthage Jail, Heber and Vilate Kimball Home, Pioneer Pastimes
Shows: Elders Songs and Stories, Women of Nauvoo, William Pitt and the Nauvoo Brass Band Re-enactment, British Pageant
Yesterday we got a picture of Lydia and Lucy with all the Sisters and today we were able to get one with the Elders and the boys. We were especially grateful for Elder Shaw, Elder Poyfair and Elder Call. Elder Shaw was particularly nice and the boys thought he was the coolest guy ever and kept showing him new magic tricks every time they saw him.
During the Brass Band Re-enactment, the kids got to march around the theater and then go up on stage and wave American flags. They had so so so much fun and you could not believe how big the smiles on their faces were.
We went back to the Pioneer Pastimes and had so much fun playing the games, especially with the stick pull.
When we looked at the dates we had booked for Nauvoo we realized that the Nauvoo and British pageants wouldn't start until after we went home we were so disappointed that we would miss those. However, Adele Parker who lives in our ward is in charge of those so Shantel and I asked if there was any dress rehearsal or anything we could go to. She was so nice to get us set up to go to the dress rehearsal. While it did not have some of the supporting cast singers, it still had all the main cast and was so awesome. We were able to just go right as it was starting and it was basically just us and a few others less than 30-40 watching. The show was amazing and it was kind of fun to see the rehearsal and see when they stopped things and see the inner workings. The British pageant was on Friday night and I loved it so much. It was such an inspiring and incredible story.
Saturday
Places Visited: Webb Blacksmith Shop (went back so my Dad could go), Family Living Center, Nauvoo Temple (Just Shantel and I for endowment), Calvin and Sally Pendleton Home and School (2nd time since Ryan, Luke, Caleb and Lucy did not see it), Oxen Experience
Shows: Hymns of Zion, Go Ye Into All the World, Youth of Zion, Sunset on the Mississippi, Nauvoo Pageant
The kids playing with a frog by the School house.
We had done the blacksmith shop earlier in the week, but my Dad wanted to go and Lydia was hoping for her own little horseshoe, so we went back with him.
We also went back to the family Living Center and did the candle making, weaving, and bakery experiences.
That evening, we took one last chance to see Sunset on the Mississippi again.
We finished the night by going to the Nauvoo pageant dress rehearsal. We loved the British Pageant so much and it was our favorite. But the Nauvoo pageant was amazing. It was extra fun because it was the dress rehearsal so we got to experience the goodness of it -but also every once in a while they would get on over the speakers and stop the performance to give direction. It was fun to see the "behind-the-scenes" stuff. We loved it so much.
Sunday
Places Visited: Church, Temple City (William and Caroline Weeks Home, Edward and Ann Hunter Home, William and Esther Gheen Home, Temple Stones Pavilion, West Grove), Trail of Hope, Stone Arch Bridge, Pioneer Saints Cemetery
Shows: Joy of the Savior, Our Story Goes On
There was this neat section that demonstrated the process of taking the big blocks of stone from the earth and turning them into building material for the temple. We loved this area. The picture is of the kids trying to lift a temple block.
This picture is Lydia pointing to the name Amity Johnstun, one of our ancestors who died while making the journey from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.
We saw so many incredible things and such a wonderful experience. I thought I would also mention some of the kids specifically favorite things.
Lydia:
Favorite Show - Sunset on the Mississippi or the Youth of Zion.
Favorite House/Activity- The Calvin and Sally Pendleton Home and Schoolhouse
Austin:
Favorite Show - Sunset on the Mississippi
Favorite House/Activity- Candle Making at the Family Living Center or the Shoemaker shop
Caleb:
Favorite Show - Remembering Joseph
Favorite House/Activity- The Blacksmith Shop
Lucy:
Favorite Show - William Pitt and the Nauvoo Brass Band Re-enactment or Hymns of Zion
Favorite House/Activity- Pioneer Pastimes
