June 8, 2015-VIP Tour, more visitors, our show

Dear Family and Friends,

            How are you all? We have been so busy, I didn’t realize it has been almost 3 weeks since I last wrote. On May 23, Memorial Day weekend, all of the shows opened, so we are in full swing of our summer schedule again! 

            Here are some pictures of the beautiful pictures from Carthage.

            The Visitor's Center is now open at 7:30 a.m. and stays open until 9:00 pm. Our sites also open an hour earlier at 9:00 am, and close an hour later at 6:00 pm. We are spending long hours in our various assignments, and we are so happy to be busy in the Lord’s service. 

Elder Schultz teaching Church of Christ visitors yesterday. They had lots of questions about temple, why called elder and who has highest authority? He answered questions for a half hour!

            I am now an official wagon narrator through the Old Nauvoo Historic sites. I go on the wagon rides once a week and narrate for the whole day. Each wagon takes about one hour, and carries 25 persons. We have a script to follow, so it is not difficult to give. The weather is still very cool and pleasant. We are also performing twice a week in the "Sunset" show on the outdoor stage. On one day, Harry and I sing our duet and he tells his jokes as part of the “specialty numbers." Then on other night, I sing a duet with Sister Swindler called "Walkin in the Sunshine." It is great fun to perform on stage again, and entertain people. It has been about 44 years since we performed with the Young Ambassadors. Everyone comments after the shows that their favorite number is Elder Schultz’s routine. And I agree! He has a natural talent for humor and telling the jokes.

            Our VIP Tour with the mayor and city officials from Burlington turned out to be a great success! But I woke up that morning and had the stomach flu, so Elder Schultz had to make it happen, with other members of our committee. It started with a continental breakfast out in the Women’s Garden, then they watched our film in the Visitor's Center and took a wagon ride down into the historic sites. We gave them fudge from the Fudge Factory as a parting gift. They all seemed to enjoy it so much. 

I have been thinking recently about the great missionaries that we serve with here, and I wanted to share some of them with you. We have about 300 missionaries here now, including the temple missionaries, young single sisters, and 40 Young Performing Missionaries. We could not keep this mission running without the help of all of these people, especially our FM (Facilities Management) people. The FM team are also a really different breed of people that we don’t usually relate to, but we are so thankful they are here. We have electricians, plumbers, computer tech people, vehicle mechanics, horticulturists, and gardeners, caretakers of artifacts and antiques, housing people who prepare all of the houses for us to live in, and so much more! And the majority are volunteer unpaid missionaries. We also have over 20 men who are Teamsters and take care of the 20 horses and 4 oxen that we have for the wagon and carriage rides. And we have a full-time veterinarian here and our own full time doctor. 

But specifically I want to mention those people that silently do their responsibilities without much recognition. Elder and Sister Cluff’s job is to water all the pots and plants all over Nauvoo with a big water truck and giant hose. They also make sure there are no weeds coming up through the streets and parking lots. Elder Knapp loves to ride on his John Deere lawnmower and mows all the acres of lawns all around the sites. Elder Nickell goes around to all of the offices and makes sure the computers and phone systems are working in order. Sister Stroud and Elder Toomer sit in a small office cubicle every day, and spend their whole mission making new weekly schedules so that we get a variety of places to serve. The Guest Services sisters take all phone calls and reservations for tickets, especially scheduling all of the large groups who will be coming this summer. We have over 40 of them, totaling about 5,300 persons, in addition to all of the other visitors.

We feel so honored and privileged to serve with these faithful missionaries, and others too numerous to mention.We have learned so much from them, and have grown to love them all, as if we have known them for many years. It is hard to believe we have been on our mission now for 15 months! Our MTC group have even received their release papers for September 10, which will be 18 months. However we will be staying until December 21.

We all showed up to serve in the Visitor's Center wearing the same colors! It happens a lot without planning it! 

This is me Sisters Johnson, Robison and Larson

The Young Ambassadors and director Randy Boothe, our good friend, are here performing for 2 weeks. It has been great to reminisce about those days at BYU, and seeing their wonderful show. He has put a live band back into the show, similar to Harry’s band in the 1970’s, instead of recorded music. He told Harry that he always loved his live bands. Next week we have the Ballroom Dance Company coming to perform for 2 weeks too. Harry introduces the show each night.

My cousin Diana Fife Rice

I also had a Whiting cousin visit last week; Diana Fife Rice with her husband, and daughter’s family. It was a surprise to see them. Then today we had Libbi Pettit Jeppesen’s in-laws from Rexburg, whose grand daughter is getting married in the Nauvoo Temple tomorrow. She was a singer in Showtime Company. I better close now, since it is so late. We love this mission and representing the Lord’s true church.

Love Elder and Sister Schultz