The Nauvoo Pageant--A Testimony of the Gospel

This depicts the rising of the Nauvoo Temple. The sisters are standing firm and true as they assist the Priesthood in the building of the temple. What I didn't get a picture of is the brethren to side, pulling the ropes that bring those panels to the top. But it's all about Relief Society and Priesthood working together to build the kingdom of God.

Joseph Smith explains to the Fordham children the events of the first vision. When he finishes, George says, "Then I won't doubt it either". I love that testimony. I love the way the Pageant explains the basic principles of the gospel in such a clear way that people cannot misunderstand.

Becky Laird, a fictional character, created from the real stories of many of the early converts to the Church, meeting the prophet, Joseph Smith. "It's you. Though I'd never seen ya, I'd known ya, you're the prophet." He husband, Robert, stands behind. He goes through the process of having "a little light" come in to him as he comes to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tia was one of "my kids" for four years. I happened to be sitting right down in front and was able to get a picture of her. But the scene is welcoming the arriving Saints to Nauvoo.

And what do all the prophets teach? "Of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!" Joseph explains the basic premise that Jesus Christ is who we worship--the He is our Savior and our Redeemer.

Mrs. Elijah Fordham and her children. They played a great role in the building of the temple and Elijah's miraculous healing in Montrose is protrayed as a part of the Nauvoo Miracles.

Hello, I said hello. Parley P. Pratt begins the Nauvoo Pageant experience. He keeps the story line going as he relates the lives and history of the early Nauvoo Saints.

Nauvoo Pageant and the Trail of Hope

Eliza R. Snow sings "Though Deepening Trials", a song written by her. Christie Turnbow protrays Eliza and has one of the most beautiful, clear voices I have ever heard.

Charli, from Great Britain, portrays Leonora Taylor. She is so genuine in her work, she is a great asset to the pageant.

Sarah Leavitt and her daughter detail the death of their husband/father in Bentonsporte, just across the river. Susan, the young girl, has been one of "my kids" for four years. This year, she sliced her achilles tendon on a chair rack and has been taken out of the pageant other than this vingnette. She sang with such clarity, "Come let us Anew". It was very moving.

Telling the story of Bathsheba and George Smith. They gave what was to be packed and the emotions of leaving their homes behind them.

Women of Nauvoo

Emma Smith from the Nauvoo Pageant. This is the only picture I have of Chauntee playing Emma. She is doing a fabulous job!!!

Sisters were not only given the charge to care for the poor and the needy, but to instruct one another. These sisters are listening to Emma give instructions.

When sisters fell ill, the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo were there to care for the needs of their sisters. This is one of the stories of such an incident. I think this is the only picture I took of Eliza, so she's the one to the far right with the book in her hand.

Sisters gathered together to help one another in the work of the kingdom. Facing the camera are Margaret Cook, the seamstress, who worked with Sarah Granger Kimball to sew the shirts for the brethren of the temple and Jane Manning, who donated a red hen that wouldn't stay with the donations, so they gave Jane the charge of raising the hen and providing for the needs of the poor.

King Follett Discourse

This is Jeff Dickamore who protrays Joseph Smith in the Nauvoo Pageant. Jeff does such a remarkable job of being Joseph that some people forget he isn't the prophet. During the "cutting" from this funeral sermon that lasted over 2 hours and was preached to a very large crowd, Joseph Smith taught some of the most essential doctrines of salvation. One such doctrine was that mothers would have their children after this life. Knowing how many women had lost their young ones in Nauvoo, that had to be particularly comforting to them. Notice the ring on his finger. Jeff isn't married, so he has to borrow one to give the part of the sermon wherein he talks about life without beginning or end.

This is Joseph Goodmunson. He was with me as a young boy in the children's support group and now he's a 14 year old and has learned how to be a piper. He is a very gifted musician. Each show begins with a performance from the bagpipers. They do such an excellent job of setting the stage for the vignettes.

Family Living Center

Rope making is one of our most popular demonstrations because people get to take the rope they make with them. They take bailing twine and make three widths of it into a rope. Sometimes missionaries buy their own bailing twine and make six or eight widths. It's amazing. We could actually survive with the skills and tools we have here in Nauvoo.

The loom is one of the most amazing things. It takes about two full days to load the loom. But it takes many "man hours" to prepare the cloth that goes in to the loom. It is amazing to watch these strips of cloth go in and a rug come out. I have a rug made in this very loom.

The candle making demonstration is one of my favorites. We don't actually dip the candles but about two weeks out of the year to make samples to give our guests. The rest of the time, we just tell about it. Notice how the candles become more and more solid with each dipping. Thirty dips give you about thirty hours of burning time. But it doesn't unless the wick is straight. The amazing thing was that they had to keep the candles away from mice. They would put them in a wooden box and bury them, to keep them safe from the critters. It's easy to see why Abraham Lincoln would have read by firelight, candles took a lot of hard work to make.

This is the baking demonstration. To the very far right is the bustle oven, so named because it sticks out of the back of the home like a lady's bustle. They would light the fire in it and then make the bread dough. They would test the oven by sticking their arm in it. You can see the fire place. We actually make ash bread, but only the missionaries get to try it. The bread we give to visitors is made in the bustle oven. The crane keeps women from catching their skirts on fire, and that's quite an accomplishment as that was one of the greatest causes of death next to child birth in early pioneer women.

This is the spinning and weaving demonstration. The only problem is there are only three missionaries authorized to use the spinning wheel, so when people come in, most of us just have to tell them about it. The gizmo on the table is a weasle. The song Pop Goes the Weasle actually came from this machine. When you get 50 feet of yarn on it, it pops so you know you have enough to sell. The frame to the right of the table demonstrates different ways the wool was dyed. One of those ways with cochineal, which is a bug. The "redcoats" against we fought for independence used that method of dying their clothing.

This is the entrance to the family living center. I actually took this picture a few weeks ago. Now the sidewalk is lined with full bushes of flowers. I don't know if you get the idea of how large the building is, but it's about the size of a full size basketball court.

Abraham Lincoln in Quincy Illinois

I don't know how well you can read it, but on the bottom part of the sign, it reads, "Douglas courted the Mormons". The fact that there were 12,000 citizens in Nauvoo earlier made them "a force to be reckoned with". According to the sign, Stephen A. Douglas was instrumental in getting property rights for the Great Basin for the early Saints. One side note, Mr. Douglas died in 1861, so even if he had been elected, he wouldn't have lived long enough to see the War Between the States come to an end. It's certainly something to ponder when you think of American History. What if Abraham Lincoln had not been elected the 16th President of the United States?

Monument that stands on the spot where one of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates took place in Adams County, Illinois. Stephen A. Douglas was a judge in Adam's County and knew the town well. Surrounding the monument are statements made by each of the presidential candidates in response to questions about the slavery issue. One, in particular, was interesting to me, concerning the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision. Justice Douglas responded that the courts had that right to make the decision and he supported the courts. Soon-to-be President Lincoln responded that it was morally wrong and he hoped it would soon be overturned.

This is the picture of the Old Adam's County Courthhouse. It was on this site that one of the seven Lincoln/Douglas Debates took place. The courthouse stands no more, but there is a monument to the event in its place, but I thought it was interesting to see what it looked like.

Commemoration of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

This is probably an odd picture of Carthage Jail. Most people take a shot of the window from which the prophet fell. This side of the jail is the debtor's prison, and the kitchen where they would have taken their meals while in the jail. The little window that is hardly noticeable is where the jail cell was in which John Taylor was placed and saved his life. Of course, you cannot see it, but in the afternoon, there is a reflection in this window from the visitor's center that makes it look like Hyrum is standing looking out the window.

This is one view of the crowd that attended the memorial service. There are people all around the other side of the jail, and people behind where I was sitting. In his remarks, President Petersen said, "I feel the Joseph and Hyrum would be pleased to know that we are remembering them this day."

Although this face will not mean anything to anyone but my family, the man standing in the center of the picture is Elder Lamar Taylor. He sang at my dad's funeral, but has been a friend of my brother's for years.

President Petersen from the Nauvoo Temple was the main speaker. Sorry that I had a backside view, but that's where I ended up sitting. The costumed people in front are the Young Performing Missionaries, so sang at the event. President Petersen challenged, "May we all be true to the testimony of Joseph and Hyrum".

The Nauvoo Pageant Returns

This is the entire Nauvoo Pageant Core Cast for 2010. Not only are they remarkable actors, but they are shining examples of true followers of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong as they presented this first performance of the year of Our Story Goes On. As I sat on the "upper deck" at President Renouf's home, I smiled until my face hurt, knowing how much I love these people. There are a few new ones, but for the most part, I knew them, not just their names, but I know them, who they are and how they act and react in the face of adversity. I was so humbled to call them friends--even somewhat family--my pageant family. And I grasped for a few moments what heaven must feel like.

The lady with the microphone in front is Alex McKenzie. She is one of the directors of the pageant, but has played Leonora Taylor. She is from Jersey (not to be confused with New Jersey) in Great Britain. Behind her is Darrin, who is also from England. The lady in red is Chrisite, who will be playing Eliza R. Snow, so appropriate as she was recently called to serve as the Relief Society President in her ward. The other lady is Emily, who has some of the cutest kids you'd ever want to meet, and the man sitting on the grass is Jeff. He portrays Joseph Smith.

It looks like they are reading books, which is what it is supposed to look like. Our Story Goes On portrays the stories that each of our lives entail and how they mingle with the those of our family and friends.

Herbert Hoover Museum and Presidential Library

This is the Quaker church he would have attended as a boy. This side is the women's side and the other side is the men's side. If a baby was crying, the mother would take the child to the cry room which was outside of this area. The place is very simple. He said that it took him a long time to realize that everything he did wouldn't displease God and that you could be happy. He felt like the meetings were really long, and had a cute saying, but I can't remember it.

He and his wife were part of the effort to get people to make sacrifices to make their resources last, beginning a gardening project and no meat Mondays and other efforts to save money for the war effort. They were truly amazing people.

During World War I, he was called upon to help feed the hungry people of Belgium. Their country was blocked off from receiving food, so he called upon the people of "Main Street America" to help with the volunteer effort. Sacks of flour were sent so the children would not go hungry. The people of Belgium were forever grateful for his efforts. He was given a statue of Isis, who according to the Egyptians was the godess of life. He was called upon more than once to make sure people received food. When the Mississippi River flooded, he fed the hungry along those boundries. He went again after World War II, feeding not only people in Euorpe, but in Russia, and even folks in "the Eastern block". It seems that only America was not grateful as he was blamed for the Great Depression. It was he, who tried to warn President Coolidge about the impending doom that would come from the "devil-make hair" spending that was going on in America at the time. Sound familiar?

The first thing I thought when I saw this was my dad who threatened us not to have granite put over his grave because he wanted to be able to get out on the morning of the resurrection. The second thing I thought was how simple these graves are in comparison to Abraham Lincoln's or even Dwight Eisenhower's that has a church built over it. His Quaker beginnings held over, even though he was a man of means. When you look at the lifespan of this man, it's amazing how many presidents to whom he was an advisor or a member of a cabinet. There are pictures in the museum of him with Coolidge, Truman, Eisenhower, Wilson (whose biography he wrote), Nixon, although Nixon was president, but vice president at the time, Kennedy, Johnson, and there is even a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize by Gerald Ford, who was a representative at the time.

The local school house. Bert would have attended school here at his earliest beginnings. We couldn't figure out what the white thing in the corner was, but the rest of it looked very much like the Old Wilson School that I attended when I was little, only this was a one room school house instead of several different rooms. Notice the slates on the desks. The globe at the front was configured as they knew the geography of the world in in the late 1800's.

The resident Blacksmith at the Herbert Hoover National Park. It is a working blacksmith shop. They sell horse shoes, dinner bells, and other items. He was most interesting in his presentation.

This is a rebuild of the blacksmith shop owned by his father. Herbert or Bertie, as he was called by his family, was only six years old when his father died. His mother, a Quaker minister of sorts, would travel and speak, although their meetings were silent until someone was moved upon by the Holy Spirit to speak, and took in sewing and did other projects so she could save the money she received at the sale of their property for her children's education. It wasn't long afterwards that she died, so he was shipped off to Oregon at 10 to live with an uncle and aunt.

This is inside the home. Although the furniture is not original, it gives a feeling of what it would have looked like when he was born. He was from very humble beginnings, but later became so well to do that he declined his salary as president. The only other president to do so, was John F. Kennedy.

This is the home in which Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States was born. It has two rooms and a summer kitchen in the back. His family moved shortly thereafter into a home that has since been torn down. This home is in West Branch, Iowa.

Julia Murdock Smith's grave in Nauvoo

We were on our way to get ice cream in Hamilton at the Dairy Queen(looking at me in the picture you can tell I really need it), when we stopped at the cemetery on the way out of town. Sister McCann, the one in the middle had found Julia's grave, and so went to see it.

I had wondered why she wasn't buried in the Smith family cemetery with all the others, and this gave the history of her life in a nutshell. What an amazing lady she was!!!

My friend,who makes me laugh--Sister McCann. She said that she claims the finder's fee. You can barely read the engravings on the grave, so the granite history was placed below it for people like me who can't read braille.

Sunset on the Mississippi

This is Sister Camp, and the lady at the piano is Sister Robertson. Elder and Sister Camp have the assignment from Salt Lake to oversee all the Nauvoo shows except the pageant. They came out this winter and did some major overhaul to Rendevous, and they've cut this show from an hour and a half to one hour, which is really nice. They also have moved the stage so the audience doesn't have to sit directly facing the sun. They are amazing people.

This is our director from the missionaries, Sister Meyers. She is so much fun, as is her husband. She also helped bake 59,613 cookies for the bakery this summer.

Preparing hats for the children's parade prior to the show is one of our assignments. Last winter, while we were SOOO SLOW, I folded over 1000 hats for this summer. The kids decorate them, then they wear them in a parade onto the stage beating sticks and tamborines and waving the flag. Every time I see tamborines, I think of President Hinckley telling David Warner about the Nauvoo Pageant, "Lose the tamborines." But I don't think he'd mind for the children's parade.

The Nauvoo Brass Band. These young adults are incredible. They start playing around 9:30 in the morning, they ride on a horse drawn carriage for most of the day, playing their instruments, they come play for Sunset on the Mississippi and in July, they will play before the pageant.

This is about 15 minutes prior to the show. It's 80 degrees, but 100 percent humidity. In our baskets, each of us carries a jug for the jug and bottle band, water to keep from dehydrating and a copy of the order of the acts. Now that would be very helpful if the narrator got the acts in the right order instead of using an old script. I personally carry mosquito repellant, a fan, Kleenex, throat discs, an umbrella, a copy of the script, my keys, a cloth to wipe away persperation, and an extra bottle of water.

This is me narrating Suset on the Mississippi. That any missionary remembers, I am the first female narrator of the show since its inception. Behind me is the Nauvoo Brass band and the man looking like, "What are you doing?" (which is a common look I get from many people around here) is Elder Blackington, their director.