Sites-

We took time to go uptown and get a picture in front of the temple on Monday and then went out to breakfast for my birthday.  What a great blessing to be here in Nauvoo!  The time flies fast and is so full this time of year it is hard to stop and catch up.  Each day we work in a different site, although this week I repeated some of the sites from the first week.  I love the messages I am learning and teaching in the homes.  I will try and spotlight a different site each week.  In the Tinsmith shop this week one of my thoughts as I showed how to bend the tin is the fact that we can be made into something beautiful and useful by the pressures around us, or we can just be bent out of shape.  It is up to us which way that goes!  

 I was in the Sarah Granger Kimball home also one day this week and she was one very spunky modern woman for her time!  She worked a lot for women's rights, but seemed to see the bigger picture in lots of things.  The Relief Society got it's start in her home because she and the lady who was her seamstress wanted to do something to help the workers on the temple.  That beginning conversation and then acting on it has led to the largest women's organization in the world.  The focus for them that continues today is Charity.  Serving and improving the lives of others.  The people here suffered and sacrificed so much, but the greatest points came when they reached out to help another.  The same is a lesson for us today in our world.  When we lift ourselves to serve others, we are on the right path.
   On top of working in the sites this week we have had some amazing training meetings, been to the temple,  drove out and seen a historic site, performed in Sunset and Rendezvous and watched the International Folk Dance troupe.  Did manage a little sleep also...
   Two last bits of excitement for me that have me thrilled, I made friends with some of our younger missionaries playing with the Brass band.  One of them plays the clarinet and said I should learn the Clarinet Polka they do and perform it with them during Sunset.  She brought me a copy of it and I have been working on it every day,  not sure if I will get it good enough to perform, but it sure is fun practicing.  The other amazing thing in the music area is that I met a sister here who makes musical instruments and while on our Prep day today I went out to her home and she gave me my first lesson on the Appalachian Dulcimer and has loaned me one so I can learn how to play it!  I carry my spoons in my apron pocket and play them with various people on the sites, so that keep me entertained also.  Now off to help sing in Rendezvous!