May 17-Beautiful Nauvoo, Rugmaking, Burlington, and Mother's Day

May 17, 2014

Dear Family & Friends,

            I am writing this on a very beautiful Spring morning! Yesterday it was a 48 degree cold and rainy, but today it will be about 70. I know you Californians are “suffering” with hot weather, and fires! I have been thinking about you this past week. I would like to share some favorite things we are discovering while living out here in the Midwest. We love the slow paced life! I never thought I would being from such a populated area in southern California, but we do! We take morning walks, and there are literally NO cars or traffic. We are up on the bluff, so we can hear the whistle of the train across the Mississippi River. And the sunrises and sunsets are unbelievable! Ones I have never seen before! There are so many trees and birds! Over a thousand varieties of birds chirping all day. Everything is bright green like they fertilized the grass and plants! And they don’t have to water at all, with the high water level and humidity. So far, we haven’t noticed the humid air, but it will get worse in a month. We absolutely love our pioneer home. The mission facilities dept. has made it very cozy. We have lace curtains, new carpet, and remodeled kitchen and bathroom, but they kept charm of the old window frames, original wood doors, and the 12 inch mop boards.

These are the Crocketts, temple missionaries.  Neat people. We have so much in common.  Denny Crockett is Elder Crockett's first cousin, who was Dad's keyboard player in Young Ambassadors. Sister Crockett grew up with Keri Krout’s mom.  Keri was Dad’s secretary in Showtime Company.  

We had another great week. We served mostly in the visitors center, and then in The Family Living Center. We had many busloads of children from local elementary schools on field trips. The teachers like to show them what life was like 170 years ago. Last Sunday, we were alone in the Center, and a large family came in; parents, grandmother, 3 children, aunts, and cousins. They were from a town in Iowa, and their junior high daughter had been here the week before with her school. She was so excited to show them Nauvoo, so they made a family trip here to see it all. They had no previous knowledge of our church or beliefs. We were able to show them the Joseph Smith film and a 20 minute, one called “Remembering Nauvoo”; only shown here in this Visitors Center. It is really well-made, like all of the church films. They were very open minded and wanted to learn more. This is just one example of many incidents that happen here, because students bring their families back again.

             On Thursday, we served in the Family Living Center again. It is always fun to wear our pioneer clothes and show what life was like back in the 1840’s. Harry learned to weave and demonstrate making rugs on a loom, while I demonstrated making candles, and cooking in a brick bustle oven.  Many large families came in that day, and it was really fun teaching them.

On our preparation day, we had the privilege of representing the mission at a breakfast in Fort Madison, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The mission president asked us to go, and it was a great experience. We sat at the table with the CEO and employees of the hospital there. And we met several other city and chamber people. They were so down-to-earth and friendly. Fort Madison is across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo. They honored the #1 Business of the Year, and Employee of the Year. There were about 100 people in attendance. We felt right at home since it was catered by the hotel food services.

 We are in the thick of rehearsing for the “Sunset on The Mississippi Show” on the outdoor stage. It opens on May 24. Harry and I are one of the specialty acts, when we sing “In The Summertime”, accompanied by a banjo and guitar player, with Harry on the bass. He tells all his funny jokes, and it’s kind of fun! They only picked 4 specialty acts in our cast, so we feel honored. I think the director wanted a little more humor. We are also practicing our vignette part in The Rendezvous Show as Peter and Abigail. It is about 10 minutes of dialogue, and we are very nervous to remember our parts. We have never had any practice with drama on a stage with speaking parts, so we are definitely out of our comfort zones.

            Another highlight this week was going to Burlington, Iowa after the breakfast. We discovered by accident the old town part over by the Mississippi River. It had a wharf with a boat marina, and wonderful old Victorian mansions and gothic churches, built around the late 1800’s. We drove up and down the hilly streets with our mouths open in awe! I wish you could all experience what we saw. It was amazing!

Pink for Mother's Day

           Mother's Day was wonderful!  I was sent beautiful flowers, chocolates, a book, jewelry, a blouse, book, cd, and other stuff! I'm so thankful I have daughters who made it so special, especially since I am so far away. I am so blessed and love all of my girls so much!  And another highlight was being able to talk to all of my kids and grandkids!  We miss them all so much.  But we feel so honored to be serving here. We love the Lord and are having great opportunities to share His gospel. We also love all of you at home, and pray for you. Please write to us. We miss you a lot.

Love Elder and Sister Schultz (mom and dad)