April 10-Easter Program, Sister Visits, Spring is Here

Us at the Prairie Fire Burning

 Dear Family and Friends,

           Two weeks have flown by since I last wrote, and so many things have happened here on our mission in Nauvoo. On March 29, we had the Easter program, “Because He Lives.” It was a great success, despite of so much illness throughout Nauvoo community and the missionaries. There was a really bad influenza, and cold going around. But we were able to pull it off, and even had about 400 people in attendance. We weren’t in charge, but were on the committee. We helped with publicity, inviting the churches to participate, and Elder Schultz wrote all the narration, and introductions. We were so pleased with the response and performances from other churches. We had 3 Methodist churches, a Catholic, and Presbyterian churches all participate. There was such a great unity and coming together, and a wonderful variety of music; string quartet, a male vocal duet, and family of 11 sang together, a rousing Methodist choir with clapping, a fiddle and guitar duet, and 2 other choirs. All songs were about the Savior, and His atonement.

             The next day, Monday, we had the annual Prairie Grass Fire and Hot dog Event. The whole city turns out, and the fire department, with the mission, lights an acre square of tall prairie grass to see how fast it burns. It burned in about 3 minutes. 

            This was to show how the pioneers had to deal with these fires on their journey west. It was great fun to have a big picnic with the city and missionaries. 

            The weather has turned into Spring and has warmed up to about 65-70 degrees. Everything is turning green, and early flowers like daffodils and tulips are blossoming.

Look what was over us as we went into church today. A beautiful rainbow!

           The first weekend in April, there was a Nauvoo Women’s Retreat out at Camp Nauvoo- owned by the Community of Christ Church. There is a nice large lodge, where  many guest speakers came, and told interesting stories about the saints who lived here. There were also some modern saints who shared some of the humanitarian projects they are working on throughout the world. It was a wonderful event.

            One special highlight this past week was having my sister Lynnae, and her husband, Carl come to visit us. They have been called to serve in the Quetzaltenango Guatemala temple, for 23 months. They wanted to come and visit us before they leave in May. We had so much fun together. I'm doing a whole separate post with her posts to show all that we did.  We went on wagon rides, visited the Nauvoo Temple (and got to climb clear up to the bell tower), and while we served in our assignments, they visited many historical sites. We also had a fun drive out to the Amish communities in Betensport and Cantril, Iowa. It was a beautiful day for a drive, but unfortunately the Amish stores were closed for “Good Friday”, however we had fun anyway. We also watched the LDS General Conference together. We were so sad to see them leave us, knowing we won’t see each other for two years.

Here we are having dinner with Carl and his brother, Phil and wife, Susan. Lynnae is taking the picture

            We were excited to welcome many new couples to the mission, including Phil and Susan Knapp (Carl’s brother). And a funny coincidence: they were assigned to the home right next door to us. We have already had a barbecue with them, and are looking forward to getting to know them better.

            I would love to tell you how much we enjoy living right on the Mississippi River. I never realized what an awesome river this is to our country! It is over 2,000 miles long and is so wide, at some points over a mile, that you can’t see to the other side. When we stand on the hill by the Temple, we can see a whole wide panorama of the river as it curves around the bend here in Nauvoo. It is full of so much life; over 200 varieties of fish, and thousands of birds feed off the river, including pelicans, eagles, ducks, and geese. In the winter it literally turns solid white with snow and ice. Barges can’t pass through from November to March. But in the Spring, we see ducks and geese with their babies walking along the river’s edge. And groups of small turtles line up on long logs to warm in the sun. All day long and into the night we hear train whistles blowing from the railroad moving along the edge of the river banks. It is very peaceful and tranquil to live along this river.

            This past week we had the privilege of going to the home of a couple who live here in Nauvoo right on the river; Brother and Sister Tukuafu. They are an older couple who left Hawaii after raising 14 children, to come and spend their golden years here in Nauvoo, and serve in the temple. They have built a cool round house that looks like a cross between a log cabin, and The Hobbit’s house. Sister Tukuafu makes beautiful musical instruments in her own wood shop, like dulcimers, harps, and lyres. She plays a beautiful harp. They sang together for us while they both played. I was in awe of their willingness to share their talents, and open their home to us. They are so welcoming and gracious. It was really a treat to experience that. By the way, Tomasi Tukuafu is from Tonga, and a cousin to Mikeli Wolfgramm through his mother, Salote.

We had a great past two weeks doing missionary work. Elder Schultz taught 3 nonmember Japanese visitors, and shared his testimony in Japanese after giving them a tour of the visitors center. I had the great experience of teaching a French couple from Quebec, nonmembers who knew nothing about the Mormons, and were so interested. There was a little language barrier, but the spirit was strong when I bore my testimony. And there were hundreds more, mostly members here on their Spring breaks, bringing their children to experience Nauvoo, and strengthen their testimonies.

We love Nauvoo, we love the Lord and His restored church is true! May you all have a testimony of this truth, and live righteously. This is what brings true happiness. I want to end with a quote by Richard G. Scott:

“When you trust in the Lord, when you are willing to let your heart and mind be centered in His will, when you ask to be led by the Spirit to DO His will, you are assured of the greatest happiness along the way, and the most fulfilling attainment from this mortal experience.”

 Love Elder and Sister Schultz

March 26, 2015- City Presentations, RS Reenactment & New Assignments

Dear Family and Friends,

            How are you all? Time just seems to fly by so quickly! And every week is packed with so many activities here in Nauvoo. After my last letter, on March 18, we had the presentation at Burlington for their Mayor, and 50 Chamber of Commerce members. It went well, except for when we showed the 3 minutes video of Nauvoo, there was no sound- so the silence was embarrassing. We were using their computer, and they said it was working fine when they tested it. But other than that, it was very successful. We have followed up by scheduling a VIP tour for several of them to come to Nauvoo in May to have a wagon ride and short tour of the historic sites. We are hoping this will unify our “region,” and that they will want to refer many visitors to Nauvoo.

            Later that afternoon, I was able to attend the Relief Society Organization Reenactment in the Red Brick Store. All of us 40 sister missionaries wore our pioneer dresses, and rode in wagons down to the store.  We took pictures together as a group, and then went upstairs. Several missionaries took the parts of Joseph Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards. And then there were also many sisters depicting Emma Smith, Sarah Kimball, Lucy Mack Smith, Bathsheba Smith and others. What an amazing experience this was! I can’t even put it into words, to do it justice. To be there in the actual place the Relief Society was organized meant so much to me and all of us.   We sang the same hymns they sang, and the same words were spoken, taken from the notes of Willard Richards. Then I felt very honored to be asked to give the closing prayer as one of the only relatives of Emma Smith. (My great, great aunt)

            Last week, the director of “Rendezvous,” Sister Jones, handed us the script to learn a new vignette. Right now the 3 casts have been dwindling as missionaries go home. We are the only Peter and Abigail, until new missionaries can learn the part. But now she wants us to learn “Thomas and Elizabeth” who sing a song together at the end. We are working on memorizing and blocking it too. We are still very nervous, but have faith we can do it.

            Elder Schultz was also asked to be the new Audio Visual missionary for the mission! This is in addition to his other regular duties, and extra projects, i.e. updating the new website and directing the Visitor Center. He basically is in charge of setting up all the microphones, computers with power points, and lighting in the theaters for every training, sociable (fireside), Sunday meetings, etc. I guess he knows a lot about sound and lighting from his years of show experience! He also recently finished writing the whole script and introductions for the Easter program/concert that will be held this Sunday at the stake center. We have over 6 churches participating in this Interfaith Program, with 3 choirs, a string quartet, a family of 9 singing together, male and female soloists, and other various numbers. It should be a wonderful evening of music and spoken word; different from our Miracle of Christmas, but just as good.

            We were so excited and happy to welcome 12 new couples to our mission this past week. They are from all over Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. About 18 more couples come next month! We have been so short staffed, that many of the sites are shared by one set of missionaries. 

            We continue to have wonderful missionary experiences in the Visitor's Center. A Young Men's quorum from Arkansas- about 12 of them, plus leaders came to ride bikes down the Carthage trail, for a scout patch, and then tour Nauvoo.  Their leader said that he was helping to prepare future missionaries, and wanted them to “feel” the spirit here. Elder Schultz gave them a tour and was able to share his testimony as he told about these valiant saints who lived here, but had faith to follow a prophet to leave and go west.

 We also had 17 German exchange students come in today. All of them nonmembers, and had not even heard of Mormons. We gave them a wagon ride, they watched our 20-minute movie, and we handed them a bag with brochures and pamphlets. Also this week we have had numerous families on Spring Break from Idaho and Utah. It is so fun to help them plan their visit here, to make it memorable for their children.

We are surely very busy! We perform twice a week now, and we practice for the upcoming Sunset by the Mississippi show twice a week. We are also in the Mission Talent Show next week, performing our song and jokes from last summer. But I am also singing in a duet with another sister in my cast. So we spend extra time practicing for that and learning our new parts in the musical. Whew! But we love it here, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

We have also gotten to know many of the people who live here in Nauvoo as permanent citizens. We work with Kim Ourth, head of tourism, and a descendant of the Baxter winery people. She is a young mother, expecting her second baby, and such a hard worker. She is a strong and valiant Catholic woman, and we love her. We also have grown close to LuAnn, who has been the owner of the Nauvoo Pharmacy for 35 years, and a nonmember. Also I love Marian, a Lutheran here who is our postmistress in the little Nauvoo Post Office. Craig Dunn, the chiropractor, and his wife conduct tours down the Carthage Trail, and are great people. Lachland McKay, head of the Community of Christ sites and descendant of Joseph Smith has also become our good friend. We bond over being Smiths together, and he always pull me aside to tell me the latest “information” he has discovered about our ancestors. We love many members, too, who helped us and performed in the "Miracle of Christmas" show. The Miller, Saunders, Evans and Seaman families are awesome.  I taught all of their young children in the program, and we loved seeing them at Stake Conference last week. And many more that I can’t mention, but we understand now why it is so hard to leave here when our mission is done, because you grow to love the local people so much!

I better close now, because it is getting late. We surely love it when you write us back, even if it is only a few lines. We feel so distant and out of touch with everyone, so it really means a lot to us. If any of you are planning a trip here this summer, please let us know in advance so we can help reserve tickets for shows, and plan your itinerary. That is what we do best! We love you all, and we love serving this mission for the Lord, and sharing his restored gospel to all we meet!

Love Elder and Sister Schultz

March 16- Spring is here!

Dear Family and Friends,

         So much has happened in the past 3 weeks, that I hardly know where to begin. First of all, it got up to 75 today! Hooray! We are feeling Spring in the air. We haven’t worn coats for a week now, and the tulip bulbs I planted last fall are starting to come up! I love seeing the change of seasons here. Growing up in California, I never was able to see them. Seeing the bare trees and bushes come alive and turn bright green, and then blossom is just amazing. And when they turned bright autumn colors in October, that was beautiful too!

         We have gone from 10-20 guests per day, to over 200 a day during March because of Spring Breaks all over the U.S. Families are coming in to see Nauvoo, mostly from Texas and parts of the south. This week we are welcoming people from the north near Chicago, Michigan and Minnesota. We love to greet these people and share our excitement and spirit of Nauvoo. I had a great experience today with a young man named Joe. He is from Champaign, Illinois and had never been here before. He has been searching for a religion, and found Mormons, and has been having the missionary lessons. He has set a baptism date for May. But he wanted to come to Nauvoo to strengthen his budding testimony. We really connected at the First Vision statue, where he shared that he had just read 3^rd Nephi, where Christ comes to America. He got choked up when trying to express how much it touched him. We shared an emotional moment, and I bore my testimony to him, that I knew this gospel was true, and that Joseph had seen the Father and Jesus Christ in the sacred grove. And that I knew the true church had been restored on this earth. He thanked me, and I congratulated him on being baptized.

         After the Exodus last month, we have been very busy on public affairs committee, setting up VIP meetings for us and our director, Sister Watkins and the President. We had one on March 10 with Fort Madison Mayor, and chamber people- about 10 persons. The meeting was a great success, and we told them we wanted to work together as partners. And we invited them to come over for wagon rides and site tours with their organizations. Tomorrow morning we meet with all the City leaders and board members of the Burlington Partnership. The mayor and about 50 people will be there to hear our presentation for Nauvoo. They are giving us about 15 min. which is unheard of they tell us. Usually they don’t allow outsiders of Burlington, but I guess they really perked up when I told them we have over 200,000 visitors a year to Nauvoo, and 60,000 in July alone because of the pageants. Then they were calling us to set up this meeting. So we are nervous but also excited!

         We have been enjoying lectures and training by President Brinley. He is such a scholar on religious subjects, and we are so blessed to have him here. If you remember, he was a professor at BYU for over thirty years. He taught one lesson on the revelations that were given to Joseph Smith here in Nauvoo. Then another lesson which was really interesting was on “Fifty doctrines that are unique to our church different from other churches.”  Just to share a couple; 1. The Trinity- that we believe the Godhead to be three distinct persons, not one. 2. We pray to the Father, and not Jesus. 3. The Plan of Salvation; a Pre-mortal life, mortality, and a spirit world after death with 3 degrees. 4.The nature of angels, 5.sacrament prayers, 6. temple ordinances and covenants, etc. Aren’t we blessed to have a wonderful church with a living prophet who receives revelation for us today?

Picture from Hal and Gina Halladay: "We love this missionary couple! We had a little Brea reunion as Mike Coyle 

happened to be in Nauvoo at the same moment."

         Also since the Exodus, the spirit of Elijah has been working on us to find more of Harry’s ancestors to have their temple work done. Sister Brinley is a genealogy specialist, and has been training me on Family Search and I am getting excited. I downloaded about 20 of his names ready for temple work. I will send some to you all, when I get them printed at the temple. So you will all need to go to the temple and help get the work done!

         Tomorrow afternoon is our Relief Society Organization Re-enactment up in the Red Brick Store, where it actually took place. We are wearing pioneer dresses and being driven down my wagons there, and we will share it with the Community of Christ sisters too. I am so excited to be part of this. I have been asked to give the closing prayer, as a relative of Emma Smith, the original first president of the Relief Society.

         We were called this week to be District Leaders of some of the new couples that are coming in March and April. We will help welcome and train them, and “shepherd” them for the next several months. We will have 2 new couples and 2 young sister missionaries. This will be a special experience. We grew very close to our “district leaders,” the Murrays, who went home last December. We still stay in touch.

         I better close because it is getting late. We sure love you all, and miss home so much. But we also love being here in Nauvoo, and have met and worked with such wonderful people. What blessings we have received! Too many to mention, and we are so grateful for them all.

Love from Nauvoo!  Elder and Sister Schultz

February 27-missionary work, descendant of pioneers, valentine's day

February 27, 2015

Hi Everyone!

      It snowed here the last 2 days and more is coming tomorrow night and Sunday. It is so beautiful! But very very cold.  The lows have been below zero most of this week, and the highs only in the teens. I forgot to tell you last week when I said we were trying to get used to all the layers we put on when we leave the house. The last things we put on our boots are “ice cleats”, which I had never heard of before coming to Nauvoo.  Not even when we lived in Utah and Idaho for 11 years. They are rubber things you put on that have spikes in them so you don’t slip, because here with the humidity, the snow turns to sheets of ice on the sidewalks and streets. They really do help give you traction!

      Some pretty neat things happened this week. We are getting ready for the Relief Society organization re-enactment on March 17, and will take place in the Red Brick Store upstairs. They passed around a paper for all of us to sign if we were relatives of any of the 22 sisters who were in attendance at that first meeting. And Sister Harper and I were the only ones that signed up, under Emma Smith (Mary Fielding our actual great, great, grandmother was not there, but Emma is our aunt). I felt a special feeling and honored to be here as her descendant. Then Elder Harper, her husband handed me 2 nails- old square hand made kind, and said “I saved these just for you- they are putting on a new roof on Carthage Jail and these are 2 nails from the original jail, when Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. Again I was overwhelmed with emotion! What a great privilege to serve on a mission where my ancestors on both my mother’s and father’s sides lived here.

      We had some amazing experiences and met some great people in the Visitors' Center these past 2 weeks. Two women came in from a small town near St. Louis, Mo, and represented a women’s Baptist church group. Thirty are coming to Nauvoo in April for a girls retreat and came to make housing reservations. We helped them plan their days and got them tickets for everything. They were surprised that nothing costs money, and everything is free. They do this annually, and usually have to budget a lot of money for it.

      The next week, 10 young girls came in from Truman College near Kansas City, Mo. to learn about the Mormons. They are in a sorority there. They toured the historic sites, saw the film, “Remembering Nauvoo,” and had so many questions. We gave them a short tour of the VC which tells of the restoration of the church, etc.  I gave them all bags with pamphlets and Books of Mormon, and asked them to read them, and follow the counsel at the end when Moroni asks the reader to pray if it is true. There was a really great spirit there as I was able to bear my testimony of the truth of this book. We have nonmember groups like this come into Nauvoo all the time.

 On Monday, as we were closing, an older gentleman came in to the VC as we were closing, but we allowed him to enter. He is a Jewish doctor from Israel here working in the Ft. Madison Hospital Pediatrics department, and wanted to learn more about our church. Elder Schultz gave him a tour, showed a film, and said he would get him a Hebrew Book of Mormon, which by the way, is out of print, since no proselyting is allowed in Israel. If anyone knows how we can get one, please tell us! His name is Meir Rottenburg (yes, his ancestors are from Germany) such an interesting person. His wife was arriving Saturday, and he wants to bring her to Nauvoo to see all the historic sites.

I've also been a bit emotional today.  We had a sweet 21-year-old Down Syndrome girl come in with her mom to serve a special mission here! She is #8 in family of 10 from St Louis and all her older brothers and sisters served missions and she wanted to also! She arrived to the VC with her mom and we greeted and welcomed her. She was so excited! And hugged everyone! Even Dad and President Gibbons! She kept saying, "I'm so nervous!" But when Sister Brown, the mission secretary, pinned her mission tag on that said Sister Bailey, I got really emotional! She was so happy to be an official missionary! She understood what she is doing! She will only be here a week but will help on the VC and Family Living Center. I realized we should all try to be as innocent and sweet as her! What a blessing that President Gibbons said yes that she could come.  This sister will bless so many lives by serving here.

Sister Sarah Bailey

Elder Schultz has been very busy working many long hours every day on developing the new website for the Historic Nauvoo. Go on to see how outdated it is: “historicnauvoo.net” so that you will appreciate how good it will be. They are trying to post it by next week. They have added so many wonderful features like using Google maps to get here, videos with music, daily calendar updates, and links to many other websites like Mormon.org, and ones to help find accommodations. He made a big change, with the president’s approval, of changing the name from “Tickets and Tours” to “Guest Services.” It will be so exciting to help our guests plan their trips to Nauvoo!

      We are also keeping busy during this winter, and slower visitors time, by doing many humanitarian projects. I am making loom hats like the youth made in the ward in YM/YW, and putting together newborn baby kits, with blanket, hat, burp cloth, and sleepers. Then we have made hundreds of other items such as quilts, adult bibs, warm pajama bottoms, mittens, boo boo bears for children in the hospitals, and pillow cases. We also have put together over 200 hygiene kits too. The stake Relief Society President picks them up and distributes them throughout the stake area to homeless, battered women, and hospitals. All of them have tags that say “lovingly made by the sisters and brothers in the Illinois Nauvoo mission.”

      For Valentine's Dinner, Harry took me on a date to this neat Victorian house.  He got me a corsage and everything! 

      The last thing I want to share with you was something fun I have never experienced before. Instead of wagons, they brought out the sleigh that holds 10 persons, and I got to ride on it. Have any of you actually done this before? I was thrilled! You sail along like you are skiing- so smoothly, not bumpy like on the rode with wheels. We sang Jingle Bells loudly, because it really is “oh what fun it is to ride in a one- horse open sleigh!” The wind was cold blowing in our faces, and was so wonderful!

      I want to close by bearing my testimony again; especially to our grandchildren. Please read this letter to them. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth, with the priesthood that is the power to act in the Lord’s authority. I know without a doubt that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and instrument in translating the Book of Mormon, and organizing the church as it was in ancient times. I also know that I am descended from wonderful amazing people who paved the way by joining the church and never wavering in their faith. They followed the prophet, even if they had to leave their homes here in Nauvoo, and settle out west. Oh how thankful I am that they did this. I love all of you so much, and want you to know that true happiness is found in this gospel- in keeping His commandments, and loving one another.

      I look forward to this summer in seeing many of you! Please come, it is an amazing experience! We will help you plan your trip with tickets, hotels, etc.

Love Elder and Sister Schultz

In Nauvoo, Illinois