"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Illinois Nauvoo Mission." That beautiful letter from a prophet of God, arrived in our mail September of 2015. Our lives would be forever changed. We started by selling our home in Happy Valley. We liquidated, or gave away most of our possessions, in preparation for reporting to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on March 7, 2016. |
| Our home for four months was at q-103 in the Altamont Summitt Village. The apartment was the size of a cracker box, but the view of Mt. St. Helens and the sprawling city below was spectacular. Sewing machine. Check. Iron and fabric. Check. (Most important items first!) Shoes and clothes. Check. Linens and pans. Check. There were a few tense moments wondering if we had room for everything, or if I needed to fly (and meet Tom there!) "We need to buy a luggage rack for the top of the car!" Tom argued. "No. Make it fit." was my response, and we did. |
"Just stand there and point at the place you are going to serve." This map was so large that I needed a stool to stand on in order to get these short legs up to Nauvoo. We were excited to finally be at the MTC. It had been such a long time coming - and such a dream of mine for years - that the first steps inside the center were emotional....very emotional for me |
The Monday that we entered the MTC, there were about 175 other senior couples checking in from all over the USA. Fifteen of those couples were headed to Nauvoo!. We had large group training the first day, then were split into smaller groups. Attendance at the MTC varies, and was never broadcast, but we would estimate the campus had about 2,500 missionaries in training. The young man in the middle (above) was the instructor of our small group. He is a single returned missionary, teaching part-time while he attends BYU as a student. | Have you ever seen two young Mormon missionaries on bicycles riding in your neighborhood? This bronze monument memorializes missionaries riding bikes around the world. Now days, many missionaries have cars in the USA. In other countries, though, most missionaries still ride bikes. . |
Tuesday afternoon, March 15th, we finished our training, and within one hour we had packed up our luggage and left this tag on our apartment door. We were certainly anxious to get going. One thing we did NOT miss was the cafeteria food! At meal time it seemed as though there were 3,000 people lined up, trying to get some food, which was prepared for the energetic youth - not the slow metabolism of the aged!
We didn't fly to our mission, however! We drove. Well, Tom did most of the driving, but for 2 1/2 days we were cramped in our vehicle moving down I-80. . Finally the Mississippi River came into view. The point of land on the left of this picture is Nauvoo, Illinois. We were crossing a very old bridge at Fort Madison. |
The Nauvoo Temple stands on a hill, facing West, overlooking old Nauvoo and the Mississippi River. We could see the temple as soon as we got to Ft. Madison. The sunlight reflected off the white stone. It is a sight to behold. | Our group was welcomed with love and warm greetings. They even sang to us. "Welcome to Nauvoo. We'd like to shake a hand with you and your neighbor. Tell us your name and where you're from, okay? Well, Welcome to Nauvoo..." They prepared breakfast for us and then we all went on a wagon tour of the city. |
Thanks for being patient with me in getting a posting together. If I could give you a copy of our schedule you might understand. There were auditions two nights ago for the talent show. I played my accordion, and hope that I'll be given an opportunity to play some of the time. Tom and I also auditioned for the live performances in the evening. Don't laugh too hard! EVERYONE is in the program, no matter your talents, or lack thereof with singing and dancing. Don't expect to see us in leading parts!!
Love and greetings to you all. We pray for you and your families that you might know the joy of this earth, and the love of our Savior.
Harleen (Sister Gross)
xoxox