Missionary Service Project

Last week all the Temple missionaries did a service project for the Community of Christ church (formerly the Reorganized LDS) We re-stained the entire fence surrounding the old Joseph Smith homestead. It is a lot of fence, but since there were so many of us, we completed it in about 2 hours. They were very grateful for our service. Afterwards we had a supper there on the lawn between the Red Brick Store and the Homestead. It was a fun evening. It was interesting to see everyone in "grubbies" since we are usually either dressed up as missionaries are in our "whites" in the Temple.

Elder and Sister Bench. aka Farmer Jones

Sister Stapley and Sister Virgin

Part of the "group"

The Blackburns and the Demordaunts

Sisters Blackburn, Jaussi, Romrell, Evans, and Coons

The Jaussi's

Sister's Ostler, Brady, and Ross

President and Sister Peterson.

The Old Martyrdom Trail

On a P-Day this month we also drove on the Old Martyrdom trail with the Benches. This is the trail that the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum took that morning on the way to Carthage. It was out through the farm land and was a very beautiful drive. It was rather overcast as you can see, but that made it even more impressive...thinking about how they must have felt that day. I do believe Joseph KNEW he was not going to ever return to his beautiful Nauvoo!

I would love to live in this farm house...isn't it beautiful and the grounds were so well taken care of!

Isn't this an interesting barn...round no less!

Stopping to see the Horses

On our way to Carthage we saw all these horses in the yard and stopped to take a picture. Just then the owner drove up and asked us if we wanted to come in. He and the horses were very friendly, as you can see...but the horses looked like they were starving. You can see their ribs! I wanted to take them all back with me to the cabin...but Rick said NO! :)

This is a mom and her baby...but look at the ribs!

This one was talking to Brother Bench

Sister Bench was not too sure about them...I think she was a little afraid!

The Court House in Carthage

While in Carthage we visited the Court House which was built in 1906-07. It was so beautiful inside, I thought I would post a couple of pictures of it. We were told it had all the modern conveniences of 1908 including more than 700 light bulbs & "all the principle rooms had toilet rooms", this at a time when few homes in the area had electricity or running water ! It cost $117, 828.00 to build.

Above the staircase leading to the 3rd floor is this beautiful stained glass window depicting "Justice". This one window is today valved at several times the cost of the original building!

The floor was these little tiny tiles of mosaic marble throughout the whole building even in the bathrooms. It was beautiful

Rick, pretending to be the judge in the main court room.

Another picture of the window, "Justice".

How long since you have seen one of these? A phone booth like Superman used!

Old Thrashers Festival

A couple of weeks ago, we went with the DeMordaunts to Mt. Pleasant to The Old Thrashers Festival, and what a Festival it was! This is one of the biggest Festivals around this area...it covered several acres and was on for 5 days! People came from all aroundand stay there in their RV's ...they even let the schools out for those days!! It was truly amazing. They had all kinds of machinery and engines of every kind, but they also had lots of big tents set up with crafts and all kinds of displays. They also had an old fashioned village with a real old steam engine train you could ride, and a real "shoot out". Lots of food booths, of course and rides ect. We were there for about 5 hours, but only saw a fraction of it. Quite interesting....we really felt we were in the mid-west!!! :)

An old Corn husking machine

At the Old Time Saloon

Not sure this was "missionary approved", but we wanted to see this play they put on in the Saloon. It was pretty cute, actually. This is one of the characters.

The Honky Tonk singer!

Brother DeMordaunt at the "Bar"....it was just apple cider...but he didn't know I was taking the picture. I think I could "blackmail" him with this...don't you think?

The end of the play....the villain was shot outside the Saloon! All is well that ends well, right?

The Train "hold up"

on the train...they gave us play money for the bandits to steal!

The bandits getting ready to board the train

He looks pretty real, doesn't he?

After the ride!...we survived the "hold-up" :)

A morning walk in Nauvoo

The weather the last few weeks has been glorious! Everyone says we are "in for" a cold winter, so enjoy it now and we are!!

Can you see the little squirrel running up the tree? They are all over and so cute! They seem to be storing a lot of nuts...HARD WINTER AHEAD!