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!

Object Lessons

A very busy week!  We have worked on the sites, I was in the Tin Shop, Sarah Granger and Brigham Young homes and the log school.  Harold was in the Family Learning Center, Browning Gunshop and twice with the Oxen!

As you can tell he enjoyed working with them.  Not sure if he is good with them because he is so methodical and logical, or because he is just as stubborn as they are...  Elder Spradlin told how two of the oxen did not want to listen to one of the drivers and ended up in the woods off of the trail.  If you don't listen to the right voice and obey the commandments it is easy to get off the correct trail and those that follow will also be led astray.
We were able to perform in Sunset twice, and will start with the Rendezvous production this coming week.  In the sites there is much to learn, and we are meeting amazing people.  I even got to teach a young girl how to play the spoons this week.  So much happens in these very full days that there is not enough time to write it all.
Our flower beds when we got here were in need of some loving attention, we have now been able to get all of their weeds pulled and yesterday during our prep day we were able to buy and plant flowers.  It looks much more loved.  One thing I have noticed this week is that almost everything can become an object lesson,   Those weeds were easy to pull when they were tiny and the soil soft.  there was one bigger guy though whose roots went deep.  Getting them all pulled, then planting flowers made a great difference.  Now to work and keep the flowers alive!
So -  when sin in all it's many forms pops into our lives, it is easier to repent and get rid of if we grab it fast before it sinks roots deep.  If it does though we have tools we can use, like fasting, bishops, prayer.  We apply the power of the atonement to clear the ground.  That isn't enough though, for it to be a place of beauty we  have to plant, or incorporate Christlike attributes into our lives.  Takes work, and is an ongoing process, but definitely worth the effort!
  Fun days!