End of the Six Month Mission

Utah Here We Come!!

We have come to the end of our six-month mission. It has been an incredibly spiritual experience. What an unparalleled opportunity for the two of us. We have been so blessed, have grown spiritually, and grown closer to one another.
As many of you have heard, we’ve been asked to extend our mission for another year. How thrilled we are! Of course, we know that we will experience the winter where the cold will drill into our bones when we step out of the temple into the blast of wind off the Mississippi. Tom has already purchased a long winter overcoat. I’m buying some clothing so I can use layers to help ward off the cold.

The weather has been lovely lately. The leaves are falling—lots of reds, yellows and greens. The temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s, but are dropping into the 50s tomorrow, through the rest of the week. Low temperatures will be in the 30s. Following are some pictures taken this morning to give you an idea of what it’s like here.


A few weeks ago we went to see the site called Zelph’s Mound near the Illinois River, close to Springfield. It is a gravesite found by Zions Camp when they were traveling to Missouri from Kirtland. Joseph Smith identified the skeleton they unearthed as a white Lamanite who was righteous. His name was Zelph. He still had the arrowhead between his ribs, which undoubtedly caused his death.


Last Friday on our preparation day, we went to Moline, Illinois, and went on a Mississippi River Cruise. We rode

on a paddle boat for about 3 hours down the river. We were served lunch and a couple of snacks. From the top deck we enjoyed the beauty of the river and its surroundings. It is amazing the amount of shipping that occurs on the river. Huge barges move tons of grain and such things up and down the river for a fraction of the cost that would be incurred by shipping them by land in trucks and trains.

Tom’s book will be in the stores this week. We are so excited to see it “in person!” Tom will be doing book signings when we get to Utah. It is so amazing to think that this is happening!!

Today we went to Kalona, Iowa, where we took a tour of Amish country. We loved seeing the
Amish children playing in their school yard. The girls can throw a ball and bat as good as a boy! (which is amazing to me—Marilyn—because I am such a girl!) The children play all summer and into the Fall in bare feet!! They must have tough feet!! All children wear something on their heads; the girls wear dresses. We stopped and talked to the teacher to see if we can visit their school class one day. She said that we would be welcome any time. One thing we learned was that the children do not learn to speak English until they go to school. German is the language native to the parents. The tractors and other farm equipment in the fields have iron wheels (no rubber tires) and some of the equipment is pulled by big draft horses—definite horse power!

Tomorrow is the Halloween celebration for the Nauvoo community. Everyone participates in a parade and displays, as well as handing out treats along the main street. It is called “Boo-tiful Nauvoo”.

On Sunday morning we will hold sacrament meeting at the stake center, then have a testimony meeting in the temple Assembly Room. In the afternoon we’ll have dinner groups in our apartments—the extending missionaries are treating all those going home. At 5:30 we have a temple devotional in the Assembly Room. Tom and I are singing in the choir. I hope we will be able to sing, since it will be so emotional. It will be hard to say good-bye to those we have grown close to and respect and love. Serving in the temple 5 days a week, 7 hours a day, participating in social events, p-day activities and church with these great people has been a Zion experience! We are humbled to be associated with them. It’s like living in the city of Enoch. We echo a statement made by one of the temple missionaries, “It isn’t what you do, it’s what you become!” We are glad for the change. We leave for home on Monday, while the temple is closed, to attend Jana’s wedding and get clothes for winter. We look forward to enjoying a brief visit with family and friends. We’ll be back in Nauvoo after Thanksgiving.