Sunday, June 26, 2011

Isaac Snyder, my (Pam) ancestor, is buried here. He died in 1844, at age 56, from "lung fever". His grave is unmarked.

Hi Folks,
It is easy to see the time whiz by here. We don't often have free time let alone time to take photos. But that is okay. It is lots of fun to learn so much about Nauvoo. Today we served in the Land and Records Office of Nauvoo. We had about 15 people come in looking for their ancestors that might have lived here in the Old Nauvoo period (1839-1846). It is amazing when one considers the short period of time the Latter-Day Saints lived in Nauvoo. In just 7 years the city was built up to a population of 12,000, rivaling Chicago. Many businesses were thriving and people built beautiful red brick homes from the bricks that were made locally from the clay found here. I had ancestors that lived here, one a blacksmith, one a wainwright (wagon maker) and another a farmer. I love learning more about them. It makes the period come alive to me. Elder Karn has a new assignment to help manage the handcart treks and he is kept very busy most mornings. The trail the handcarts take is pretty muddy and through a cow pasture where he has seen a bull. I think I will forego that experience.

We continue to do our best whether dancing or singing or telling about Old Nauvoo and those that sacrificed so much due to persecution. Most of the "Saints" left Nauvoo in the dead of winter, 1846, when they crossed the frozen Mississippi in their wagons. Times only became harder because of the weather and their meager supplies.

Have a good week. Elder and Sister Karn

Folks, For all of you who did not have time to look at the blog last week don't feel bad - you didn't miss a thing. We were so busy this past week that we didn't add much other than a couple of photos to the blog! So this weeks post is a bunch of different things all added together. The second picture is of the Pretty Pam aboard the Mark Twain River Boat. We went down to Hannibal, MO last week to check out Huck Finn but he wasn't home. It is a neat little town and we had a nice time. We also went on the river boat for a cruise (a short one hour one) up (a few hundred yards up stream) and then down the Mississippi a ways and then back to Hannibal. We did see the island that gave Mark the idea for Huck's hide out.

The first picture is of our front living room. (We have two and that is the first one you come into when you enter our house.) We have two sofas in the other living room and it is a little bigger.

The next picture is of a tug and some barges on the Mississippi. A single tug boat will push up to fifteen barges and they are about 150 feet long! They will fasten them together five wide and up to three in line and push from the back. It sure looks like "the tail waging the dog!" I can't remember how many tons they said they could carry but it was a huge number of tractor trailers worth!

The next two pictures are of the area that we call "Pioneer Pastimes". Families and school groups come to this area and learn what the games pioneer children played and just have fun. There are clothes there for people to dress up in and look like pioneers. We worked there one day and we only had a few problems - one of them was a little girl who did not want to give up her pioneer clothes at the end of the day. She was having fun and did not want any part of calling it the end of the day!

I (Bruce) am now the assistent on the handcart group. It doesn't mean much other than that I tell folks what not to do and where not to go with the hand carts. Then I give them a handcart and send them out to pull it around and have fun. Most everyone enjoys it and gains a lot of respect for the folks that pulled carts that were loaded and travelled 1,200 to 1,500 miles!

Both shows that we are in are going now. We are not big time players but have lots of fun doing our parts.

The only other news from here is that we have had some very hot and humid days and some big storms roll through. Pam had to take a couple of days off this week because the cold settled into her chest and was not good! She is a little better now and back on the job!

Love to all and stop in when you are in the neighborhood!

Elder & Sister Karn

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Some fellow missionaries here in Nauvoo, and friends we worked at the Ogden Temple with, took these photos at our last performance of

"Sunset on the Mississippi". Interestingly, Elder Karn is carrying the Marine flag during the patriotic tribute. The Army flag was already spoken for. It is all good. The temperature and humidity during this show was up there. If you look closely you can see the steam. Love to all!

Karns