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| I love this red bush in front of our house during Fall. |
Dear
Family and Friends,
I am sad to say this will be our
last letter here in the mission field. We will be leaving on November 6, 2015 to come
home. We will have been here for twenty months, and have had a wonderful
mission. We received news last week that Elder Schultz (Harry) has prostate cancer
that has spread into his left pelvic bone, and we need to go home to start
treatments. As a result, we won’t be able to put on the Miracle of Christmas
concert again. But we are handing it over to very capable missionaries here who
have had much experience in music, pageants, productions, so we know it will be
a success.
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| Last dinner with our missionary group before going home last August |
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| Our last performance of Sunset on the Mississippi |
As we end our mission, a flood of feelings and memories keep coming to us. We feel so blessed and honored to have been called here to serve. What an awesome experience to represent those early saints who actually lived here in Nauvoo. I would like to share some of the wagon narration I give each week to visitors here, both members and nonmembers of our church:
“We hope you’ve caught the spirit of
Nauvoo as you’ve traveled with us today. It takes all kinds of people to make a
community. In Old Nauvoo thousands came from many walks of life to form a
community of believers in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will be able
to hear more about the lives of those courageous men and women who built this
city from a swampland in only six and half years, as you go through these homes
and shops. They gave their all to build this beautiful city and the beautiful
temple on the hill.”
And another wonderful quote by
President Gordon B. Hinckley about Nauvoo’s temple that I share:
“Today facing west, on the high
bluff overlooking the city of Nauvoo, across the Mississippi and over the
plains of Iowa, there stands Joseph’s temple, a magnificent house of God. Here
in the Salt Lake Valley, facing east to that beautiful temple in Nauvoo stands
Brigham’s temple, the Salt Lake Temple. They look towards one another as
bookends, between which there are volumes that speak of the suffering, the
sorrow, the sacrifice, even the deaths of thousands who made the long journey
from the Mississippi River to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.”
These are examples of the kinds of
people and stories that we have represented for the past 20 months. What a
privilege! And most of all, I honor my own great great grandparents on both my
mother’s and father’s sides who lived here. The Smiths, Whitings, Coxes,
Berrys, Fieldings, and Harrises all left here and followed a prophet, Brigham
Young, across the United States to Utah because of their strong faith. Oh how hard
that must have been to walk away from their homes, businesses, farms, gardens,
orchards, and load a wagon and head to an unknown place in the Rocky Mountains.
Being here and seeing and living it has made this place come alive for me.
We feel that we have gained so much
more than we could have ever given on this mission. The other missionaries we
have served with are valiant people, who have spent their lives in service to
the Lord. We have grown to love them so much! They will be lifelong friends, almost
like family. Our families have been blessed while being out here. Three
grand babies have been born while here and three grandchildren baptized. Our
business has carried on successfully, thanks to our sons, Ben, Ryan and
Harrison.
We have met hundreds of wonderful people
from all over the United States and the world, while serving in the Visitor
Center. We hope we have planted seeds of the gospel, and helped strengthen
church members too. We have gotten acquainted with the amazing local citizens
who live here in Nauvoo like Mayor McCarty, Fathers Sydlick and Tony from St
Peter and Paul Catholic church, our pharmacist Luann Haas, Marian in the post
office, Barton Golding, president of Chamber of Commerce, Kim Orth, young mom
of 2 girls and head of Nauvoo Tourism, Robert Saint, owner of a hair salon,
Durrell Nelson, in the temple presidency and owns the Fudge Shop, Laurie
Peterson, director of the Nauvoo orchestra, Rick Marshall, the temple recorder
and conductor of our Christmas concert- and so many more! We will miss them
all! We have also been blessed by going out in the communities of Burlington
and Fort Madison as members of the public affairs committee. We met many Christian people with strong
values who we have learned so much from, and made great friends.  |
| Missionary friends at last breakfast before we all leave this month |
We have been able to attend the
beautiful Nauvoo temple many times. What a blessing to be in that sacred House
of the Lord, a replica of the original one that was destroyed. We will miss it
so much. Our testimonies have been strengthened by our weekly and monthly trainings
from our presidency and zone leaders. We also have been spiritually fed by
church leaders who have come here to teach us i.e. Elder Tom Perry, Elder
Jeffrey Holland, and many members from the Seventies quorums, and the Durrants.
We
have also felt the power of prayer and priesthood blessings on our mission.
Elder Schultz and I have been
performing a vignette called Thomas and Elizabeth in the Rendezvous nightly
show. It is about a husband and wife who are preparing to leave and go west.
But she doesn’t want to go, and he has to convince her, which he finally does.
We sing a duet together at the end with very tender words which I would like to
share in closing, and it expresses our true feelings about leaving Nauvoo:
“And so Nauvoo, I say farewell to
you, with numb and aching heart, one last adieu
As through our tears we look to
homes beyond, will ever we be fond of one as you?
One cardinal song, one sunset glow,
one Nauvoo dawn, one silhouette of woods on snow…
On templed hill, faint echoes ring….
Where prophets walked and talked with God,
Their memories linger…
And so we go and hide our aching
hearts, No one will see our tears when we depart
This home we leave will shelter
memories clear, of all that we hold dear….In Old
Nauvoo…. Farewell Nauvoo, Farewell Nauvoo.”
Thank
you everyone who has written to us, encouraged us, sent us gifts, packages of
treats and supported us on this mission. This place has truly made us better
people than before, and we are grateful we had the opportunity to serve here in
this blessed place.
We
love you all, and look forward to seeing you soon.
Love
Elder Harry and Sister Nancy Schultz
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