Monday, August 15, 2011
Farewell Nauvoo
Yesterday was our last day of shows. It was of course a emotional day, but it was so wonderful. The shows were as great as ever. Singing from the balcony for the last time is when most people lost the tears. The band came in to listen down below. They were tears of pure JOY! It was wonderful to look around and simply love everyone around you. Our group has become so unified. Elder Camp said last year he was ready to go home. But this year he says he doesn't want to leave.
After our last show of High Hopes, all the Elders were assigned to go get hair cuts before our last "Sunset on the Mississippi." Sis. Murset ran out of time and ended up cutting my hair during Sunset, back stage. I have an "in" with Sis. Murset you could say, and I convinced her to not go as short as everyone elses! This was our goodbye present to President Ludwig.
The last acting we did here was the Trail of Hope Saturday night, and it was so amazing. We had a full moon that lite the path. With the full moon, full hearts, and many full eyes I was the last Vignette along the trail. There is an amazing spirit that testifies of the truthfulness of what we share down on that trail. It was a perfect ending.
Today we had church, and a YPM testimony meeting, followed by a pot luck lunch. Then we struck the set, and took everything down to pack into storage until next years group comes to open it all up again. We've been cleaning and packing and will finish everything up tomorrow before we fly home on Tuesday.
Every night after our house prayer, the Elders stay in the living room for "put-ups." This is where one Elder highlights another Elder for the day. Earlier this week Elder Black chose me, and in his put-up he said that he has never met anyone else who thinks they are as funny, and laughs at their own jokes as much as Elder Rose! haha.
So many wonderful things happen here everyday. I love it here. It feels like home.
See y'all soon!
Love, Elder Rose
Monday, August 8, 2011
Visit from the family
As I type this, my family is on the plane, flying back to Utah. It was so good to have Mom, Dad, and the girls out here to see Nauvoo! But at the same time it was somewhat of an eye opener for me on how much I've changed this summer. I gave them a tour of the Blacksmith shop, and made them their very own horseshoe! They of course came to all of the shows. And they were even personally invited by Susan Easton Black to come hear her speak! So they came in this morning and heard Sister Black address the YPM's. It was a great talk on the life of Ezra Taft Benson, which also highlighted two subjects she felt were appropriate for her audience: Romance and Education. So watch out ladies! We're coming back....JK
This week we had a miracle here in Nauvoo. Last Sunday, the member of the Quorum of Seventy over Nauvoo Productions, Mark Lisvardi, gave us permission to get the scripts to some of the Nauvoo Pageant core cast vignettes, and perform them. It was a big deal to the Pageant people, this is the first time anyone has been able to do them other than the core cast, so it took a little work to get the script from them. Monday night we received our assigned parts; two casts of 12 people. We had to memorize basically a monologue by Thursday when we started performing them, and some of us that were double cast had to memorize two! We did two showings a day, one in the morning and one at night for Thurs-Saturday. People would come to the trail head of Parley St. (the street the saints left from when they crossed the Mississippi west) and as they walk several blocks down to the river, they would pause to hear 10 presentations of journal entries of the people who lived here. It was so neat to represent a Nauvoo native, and quote their exact words. We had several amazing experiences on the trail. My first part is the quote from Edwin Alfred Pettit, a 14 year old boy who dressed as a girl to cross the first part of the trek because his guardian was opposed to him leaving. My second part is the last narration on the trail, in which I bear testimony to the truthfulness of this gospel. When we do the trail at night, it is an even more amazing experience. As a "company" of people walk down the trail together they are guided by a "captain" YPM, who holds a lantern to light the way. (because it gets really dark after 8:30) Last night I was the last narrator. I sat on my stool near the river all by myself, lit by a small, rather pathetic candle, and the bright moonlight. It was great to have that time to ponder back on my summer, as it is soon coming to a close, but also to feel the testimony of the saints from the experience that surrounded me. That is also why I mentioned earlier that I have changed so much this summer, with my family in town it became more apparent how I'm different now, but better. Nauvoo is close to my heart and will never leave me. Like Sister Black said this morning, "Nauvoo will never leave you, it's like frosting it just sticks!" But I don't ever want it to leave me either. I'm sad to only have one more week here, but like the Saints who left here long ago, I have faith for the future, but like them, I'm just not sure what the future holds.
Other than the Vignettes, we had everything else go normal. People are starting to say goodbye, which breaks our hearts. But the memories we have here are far greater than the pain we will feel in separating. The Nauvoo bubble is the best bubble to ever live in. The Gospel is true, especially here in Nauvoo:)
Love Elder Rose
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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