January 21-No more pioneer clothes, technology and Meet the Mormons

Dear Friends and Family,

         How are all of you doing? I can’t believe it has been 3 weeks since I last wrote. They tell us that this is supposed to be the slow time here in Nauvoo, but we have never been so busy! We basically are planning for the rest of the year. We still have our regular district and zone training meetings, but we also have meetings with the president and the public affairs committee to plan future events i.e. VIP tours of city leaders around the area, such as mayors, chamber presidents, other churches, etc. Plus, we are helping plan an Easter concert too. Not on the scale of the Christmas one, but we have been contacting churches in the surrounding cities like Fort Madison, Burlington, Quincy, Keokuk, Carthage, Hamilton and Warsaw to come and participate with their choirs. So far, many have said maybe, but no confirmations. Since Easter is on general conference weekend, this will be held the week before on March 29. All these events are to bring more people into Nauvoo, so that we can share the gospel and testimonies with them.

         Another big push right now is getting people to come and watch the movie we just got into the visitor center, “Meet the Mormons”. It is exclusively being shown in all the visitor centers. Then it will go out on Netflix and possibly You Tube. We have been booking whole wards and branches around this area to come and watch it, especially their youth groups. We are encouraging them to bring their friends. If any of you have not seen this amazing film, you MUST!! Please go to your closest visitors' center. Take your friends, they will love it! It is not preachy or religious; it just focuses on 6 different people from parts of the world who are LDS, and how they live their lives. So professional and well done! I am always so proud to recommend it to people we meet in other neighboring cities.

         We have been rehearsing for some new musical numbers to be introduced to the Sunset by Mississippi directors, The Camps, who are coming out next week. Sister Brown, and I are singing them, with Elders Broadhead and Schultz accompanying us. One is called Alabama Jubilee, - a ragtime rhythm upbeat song for the women to sing. And for the men: All I Gotta Do Is Act Naturally , a Beatles song done in Buck Owens style. Wish us luck that they will want to do these ones instead of the old ones we did last year.

Here is a picture of my close friend Sister Clement and me. She made me this beautiful shawl to wear with pioneer dresses but I wear it with regular clothes too. She is in charge of our Humanitarian projects and so talented. She has made over 25 of these shawls for sisters here if they get her the yarn! In her spare time!  We have become like sisters! So much in common. Similar health problems and love the same things.

Also we are practicing for the Exodus Re-enactment celebration Feb. 6 & 7- We are singing songs, and Elder Schultz and I are reading some parts taken from the journals of the saints who had to leave here in 1846. Then we make the trek from the cultural hall down Main Street, to the end of Parley Street where they crossed the river. Elder Schultz will march in the Nauvoo Legion group, carrying a fake rifle, and I am proudly carrying the flag of England, where my Smith and Startup ancestors came from. They tell us that great numbers of descendants come from all over to march with us, and honor these people who left in February- the dead of winter! We are excited to be part of this event and wish you could all be here with us.

 There is such an amazing spirit of missionary work throughout the church and world! The Lord truly is “Hastening the Work” to prepare us for His second coming. We are being trained how to use the social media, post gospel subjects, follow up, share the gospel with all of our friends and families- all those we come in contact with. We will be held accountable for not approaching them. All of us! This may be their only contact with an LDS person. Please have courage and open your mouth, and invite people to come to an activity, or see a movie, or go on Mormon.org and view profiles- and make sure you have posted a profile, so you can ask them to see yours! We also see hastening through genealogy work. Every day there are new additions to Family Search.com- we are being trained weekly on how to submit names for temples. And remember, they need YOU  to go do the work in the temple. Make it a HUGE priority. Okay? You will receive so many blessings.We have been promised by prophets, that angels will literally watch over us and our children, if we go to the temple- we need this especially in these last perilous days, when Satan’s forces are all over!

I better close now. We are serving in the Visitors' Center today- six days a week now! We don’t get to wear pioneer clothes and go into the historic sites anymore. We are directors of this important starting point for all of our visitors. We are helping plan several youth conference groups itineraries- over 5,000 youth came last year from all over the United States; 150,000  approximately visitors here last year; 60,000 in July alone during the 2 pageants. We feel a great responsibility to help them all have a wonderful, spiritual, meaningful experience here.

We love serving the Lord here in Nauvoo, and look forward to each new day, and being able to touch people’s lives. Thank you for the letters and notes you have written to us. We love you all so much!

Love from Elder and Sister Schultz

January 10-MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT & Letter from Mission Presidency

From Harry:

Hi Kids.

       I know Mom usually writes, but today it's me. We miss all of you so much and look forward to seeing all of you either next summer or after our mission.  

       I've attached a letter from our Mission Presidency applauding the Christmas concert Mom and I put together last month.  Apparently, it was a whopping success from the view of everyone here.  Because of that, the Mission President talked to us about extending our mission in order to do another Christmas Concert on December 19 & 20th this year.  We said yes and he just received the okay from Salt Lake to extend our mission.

       Our new release date is December 22, 2015 (instead of September 10) of this year and we plan to be home late Christmas Eve back to Brea.  We feel we are doing a great work here in helping the Church to grow and make friends in this area.

       Thank you all for your support. Remember to live the gospel.  It's the way to protect yourself from some problems and the way to be strong to face the other problems.

We love you all so much. 

Mom an Dad

Click on the picture to make it bigger...

January 4, 2015- Being a caterer again

     This is a recent service we gave for a lady in our stake.  She is a caterer in Carthage. Her husband and kids are out of town. This was a wedding of 400! Nonmembers. We offered to help her. Felt like old times!

January 1, 2015-New Responsibilities and New Year's Celebration

Dearest Family and Friends,

            Happy New Year! I haven’t even wished you all Merry Christmas too! We hope that you all had a wonderful holiday with your families. We had some amazing events this month. Wow, December sure went by quickly! After the Christmas Walk and Messiah on Dec. 5 & 6 we went to work full time on the "Miracle of Christmas." We had only 2 weeks to get it ready and it turned out to be a great success! I posted about it before so go back and read our previous posts.

            We are now serving as the site leaders of the Visitor Center, because the Pincocks finished their mission and went home last week. We are in charge of scheduling the building for special events, making sure all the shifts are covered, showing films, giving tours of the Center, greeting the guests and helping them plan their days in Nauvoo.  We are also on the Public Affairs Committee, and are planning many future events throughout the year.

            We had a fun New Year's Eve celebration in the mission. Elder Broadhead, head of the teamsters planned it all. We had a barn dance down at the Facilities Management warehouse. Everyone brought finger foods, and treats- There was a talent show, and lots of group dancing, like Chicken Dance, Virginia Reel, Country line dancing, Hokey Pokey, Bunny Hop, and everyone had a great time. I sang with the band, and Elder Schultz played his bass. We had a piano, and guitar too. Of course we celebrated the countdown of the new year at 9:00 pm (which was current in New York) Ha! We are all too old to make it to midnight.

These are the only two pictures I could find.  Once Harry retrieves my other pictures off my old phone, I'll post them here.

These were our teamsters who sang that night. So funny! I will ask my friend Sister Watkins to send me a couple and I'll post.

We surely love you all, and look forward to seeing you next fall! Or sooner if you come, (hint)

Love Elder and Sister Schultz

December 30-Harry's Report on The Miracle of Christmas Show

Hi family!

I'm forwarding an email Dad sent to Randy Johnson and an email from our mission pres. I thought you would like to read dad's words. Hi family!

Love Mom

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Harry Schultz <heshela@gmail.com>

Date: December 22, 2014 at 10:43:25 PM CST

To: Randy Johnson <rjohnson@bhleste.com>

Subject: The Miracle of Christmas

Well Randy, you made Nancy and I look really good by letting us do your show.

 It was a smashing success. (of course there are always a few glitches).  About 600 the first night and about 850 on Sunday.  Lots of community support from non-members, about 1/3 were non-members.  

Saturday Night we had  a VIP reception with ministers and Civic leaders from surrounding communities. 

 Narrators, Matt and Rebecca Bean from Macomb

The Choir was about 65 strong.  Children's Chorus about 3, a 15 member Bell Choir and a 17 piece orchestra.  I had a man and wife as narrators, Matt and Rebecca Bean from Macomb.  They are professional voice-over artists and Christmas Carolers. They were amazing and brought the script alive. 

The FM guys built light trees, hung (12) 750 watt lights from the West Theater of the Visitor's Center and also hooked up all the sound (5 speakers, 24 input mixer board, 10 cordless mikes, and special hanging choir mikes)  There are two quality cameras already installed in the Stake Center Chapel, with a switcher and toggle unit to change camera angles and zoom.  They also have all the projectors and cables.  So I'm spoiled.

BUT, it was your help giving me the music and videos that made the concert. 

Right before the concert started. Choir and orchestra in place.

I started with the Bell Choir doing, "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day, with the Carolers joining with "Carol of the Bells"/  Then "Joyful and Triumphant."  It was a great opener with the audience singing and getting into the Christmas spirit. 

Next The Live Nativity of "Slumber Song" and "Silent Night" with Joseph, Mary and their 2 1/2 month old baby entering doing a tableau on one side of the stand.

Next the children all came in with  "Star of Bethlehem" and "What Child is This." (Shepherds came in during this) on to "Friendly Beasts" then "Do You Hears What I Hear" (Most people who talked to me afterwards commented on how the children were such a delight).

Then "We Three Kings" with 3 great singers. One was the Narrator, who is the director of vocal music at Western Illinois University. I had Wise Men come in  and enter the Nativity Tableau.  One was a black guy from Nigeria who is in one of the wards.

Next, "What Shall We Give." and "The First Nowell" and"God Bless Everyone" with Bell Choir, Children" and Choir. And "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  The lineup worked good and it was very spiritual.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for it all.

I did hit my head on an air duct  in the Stake attic turning on the permanent projector at the dress rehearsal.. (Six Stitches). And Bonked my head standing up from under a cabinet. (No stitches, just blood on Sunday Night).  

The Click track cable failed just before the Sunday Night concert, so I made an announcement, pulled the cable from under 50 people and restrung it and it ended fine. (I ran the sound), 

Did I say that I got two spotlights and children's Chorus risers from the local high school.  The woman who sang "Slumber Song" is a show director who just recently became a hero to the school district by producing and directing a play.  She made $2,600 for the district.  (Doors were opened.)  

I got 3 octaves of bells loaned to us from a church in Keokuk after much prayer and effort.  (Doors opened)  

The Patriarch of the Community of Christ Church in Nauvoo  was in the choir and even gave the opening prayer Sunday night. One Presbyterian choir member got her minister father from Hamilton to attend and also her Carthage minister.  (Doors opened)  

I gave 1 radio interview, one newspaper interview, and appeared on a local Quincy TV news show.  

Here's what the Mission President emailed to Nancy and I.

Elder and Sister Schultz,

  You should be feeling a great deal of joy and satisfaction this morning as you reflect on the accomplishment of the week.  Congratulations on two outstanding and spiritual performances.  You did it!  It came together in a wonderful way.  Many, many hearts of members and nonmembers were touched and the stake members were unified and brought together at Christmas time in an important way.  Well done.  I commend you both and all those who assisted you.   

  Larry Gibbons

So Thank you Randy. for helping the missionary work here in Nauvoo.  I love you guys to bits.

Harry

December 24, 2014- Christmas Service for the Steimles

Each year our family gives gifts to each other in the form of services for other people. We try to choose something that would be important to those families.  For 2014, this was our service.

On Saturday, Oct 11, 2014, this year we volunteered to help with "The Great River Run." This is a half marathon from Keokuk up the river to Nauvoo. People come from all over the US to participate. There are also bikers and walkers too. About 200 came this year. It is sponsored by the cities and Chambers in the area.

They asked around the mission if you wanted to help, you should contact the person in charge. So we did. We thought we would just help at the finish line, but at  around 10 p.m. the night before, the head person, Jennifer Smith, called and asked if we would take the halfway point at Mount Moriah turnoff and hand out waters and Gatorade to the runners. We were asked to go on their website and get instructions on how to hand things out, as well as some of the rules and policies.

The next morning we were up and dressed warmly by 7:45 a.m. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed helping the runners and cheering them on. We were there until about noon.  Knowing how much running is important to the Steimle, we did this service!

December 22, 2014-Nancy's Report on show & Harrison for Christmas

Hey everyone. I wanted to tell you how well our shows went this past weekend! I will split the pictures between my description and Dad's that will be dated December 30.

Yesterday, after church we served in the Visitors' Center then ran home to eat at 2:00 and had to be at the church again by 3:30 to reset the show. We had to take most if it down for the other wards yesterday. My son, Harrison, flew out here to spend Christmas with us and help us and he was so great! He was like the stage manager and got everyone on and off with cues especially the Nativity people. He also was a shepherd. 

Well.... My friend Sally was right! Heavenly Father blessed us with the performances. Saturday was really like the dress rehearsal with a few minor glitches with sound and the choir dragging behind the orchestra and music tape. But the audience couldn't tell. And the choir monitors weren't working well so they couldn't hear the music. But all in all, it was amazing!! 

The temple recorder, Brother Rick Marshall is a conductor and conducted the whole thing! Harry sat in the back and ran the sound board and video feed.  The only problem we had was last night, right in the beginning, Rick's ear piece wasn't working so he couldn't hear the music through the monitors so everyone waited 10 minutes while they traced the problem and fixed it. I was sweating bullets and praying so hard. But they finally did and the whole evening was perfect!!!  

The tech part it was mind boggling! Our F M guys (Facilities Management) built 2 light trees and we got 2 spot lights from the high school. 2 theatre students from the college in Quincy came and ran the lights. Then there were videos that went with the songs along with live video feed of the show. When the videos of Christ (taken from the church videos) were shown on the screen in the chapel and in the back for the cultural hall. 

Me with half of our 35-person children's choir

Where the Live Nativity went

We decorated the chapel with large wreaths, garland, red velvet bows, and 2 dozen poinsettias everywhere. They approved twinkle lights too! We also removed 3 rows of pews to fit all the orchestra. We also had to coordinate a 65-voice choir (mostly stake people and some senior missionaries), 16-bell choir, 35 person children's choir that I directed, and a 16-piece orchestra! 

The worst thing that happened was Friday night Harry hit his head on a speaker and had to get 6 stitches!!! Then last night he went into the storage closet to check electrical stuff and hit his head again in a different place and was bleeding right before the show. Harrison helped clean it up, and he had to get more stitches this morning!!! 

On Saturday night before the show we held a VIP reception (Harry's idea) for city and churches dignitaries, i.e., ministers, mayors, chambers of commerce, etc.  The mission had it catered and 50 people came!! We reserved seats for them too! We are just so amazed at the outpouring of love and support!!!

I am so grateful to all who helped to make it happen.  The first night we had about 600 people, and the second over 700 persons came!! People came from all over and many many nonmembers. We were overwhelmed with the support!! We got standing ovations!! 

One of the biggest treats this time of year was that my son, Harrison was able to come visit and spend Christmas with us.  He was a huge help with the program! He was like the stage manager, making sure people came on stage with their cues such as the live Nativity (he was even one of the shepherds) and was an errand runner. 

Us Christmas morning.  Still waking us up early!

We also went touring together on our prep day. We had fun with him at the historical sites and going out for dinner, and viewing the Christmas lights in Keokuk. Harry gave Harrison his pioneer hat (he has 2) and we thought he looked Amish with his beard and long curly hair.

We were sad when we had to say goodbye to Harrison. It's always hard to see them leave.  Until next time Harrison!