Heber C Kimball home and being a guide in Spanish!

The joy and consternation is that so much goes on here that sometimes my head spins. We went and practiced for the finale of the British Pageant last night after doing Sunset.  Stopped in the Visitor's center for a minute and one of the Sisters said, "oh, there you are, we were trying to find you"  another young sister hung up the phone, turned around and told me they needed someone to help a family in Spanish for today.  Was excited to spend half the day showing them Nauvoo.  One of the homes they wanted to see was the Heber C. Kimball home where I was earlier this week.  I didn't show them, nor mention the door to the cool balcony!!!

The Heber C Kimball home has a beautiful parlor, most of the homes have a spinning wheel in them.

Linsey Woolsey blankets are special to that time period as the material is no longer made.  It is a combination of linen, made from flax seed, that is a 3 year process and the material won't accept dye so it it is always beige.  It is woven then with wool that they would dye, thus this one is blue and beige.
One of the joys of being a missionary here is the opportunity to study and learn about the people who lived here, also getting to open doors...  like the one we found to the second floor balcony!

The story of dedication and sacrifice of these early saints is pretty remarkable.  They were willing to do whatever it took to follow their beliefs.  The Kimball family had been from Kirtland to Missouri, lost everything in Missouri.  Made it to Nauvoo where they first lived in a lean to before they were able to build a home.  The brick home they were finally able to build they only lived in for four months and five days before they had to leave to make the trek west.  The question then I pose myself is am I willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to follow the Lord.  Sure trying to make sure the answer will always be a resounding YES!

When we are in the homes waiting for tour groups we are able to study, visit, write letters....  My problem at first was that I was getting bored, so I started a project.  Last week when I was in the Family Living Center I was helping cut strips for the looms.  To do those strips they sew them with a bias, which means that for each strip they were cutting off and throwing away triangles on the ends.  I started to collect them to hand sew a baby quilt.  I went back a few days later to take a zip lock bag and ask them to collect more triangles, only to find out that the sister I had been with had labeled two large plastic boxes where they were putting all of the scraps for me.  A lot more than I will need for sure!  We are going to use them to make quilts this fall and winter for humanitarian services.  Those will be done though by machine!

Arrival!

So much to see and do!  We arrived in Nauvoo on Friday, got our housing.  We are staying in the Thomas Hyde home which is fantastic!  It is a very narrow, 2 story home with a basement.  Front room and kitchen on the main floor, bedroom and Bathroom upstairs and laundry and storage in the basement it is at the end of the road so we are surrounded by a beautiful huge yard and field.
First morning here we met the Mission President and took care of paperwork.  Went by the sewing room and I was fitted for my dresses.  The sisters there made us feel so welcomed and loved!  My dresses will be ready Monday afternoon, since there were only two of us coming in.  We explain now that we are the group of two since a lot of others come in with much larger groups.  We are the last couple to arrive for this year.  We then got moved in, did shopping and restocking and Crashed from exhaustion!  Saturday morning our daughter Tina, her husband and our son Robert with his son all arrived bringing the rest of our things.  We were able to spend the day with them in Nauvoo.  The wonder of being here is still overwhelming.  
The ward here is all of the Historic Site missionaries, so it is huge,  hearing them all sing in Sacrament was awesome.  At  the combined Relief Society and Priesthood meetings we ran into people we knew, so that was wonderful.  Leaving out we saw a young couple with 2 year old twins.  They were in for the weekend to see Nauvoo and since we had plenty of food left from we invited them over to lunch, that made us feel even more at home!
A bit of unpacking still to be done and our orientation is tomorrow.  We start working in the Historic Sites on Tuesday, definitely a lot to learn.
Thoughts for our week:
 Do what you are supposed to do and the Lord will increase your Faith to do more.
 Be willing at all timesto sacrifice who we are for who we can become.