Sunday, October 9, 2011

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011

Combine harvest of corn.


Rotten tree stump - shoe is for comparison.



Young Sister Missionaries all of whom are leaving this week



Fellow sister perfomers in our "Rendezvous" cast, unfortunately we didn't get the men side.


Well folks, this will be our final note from Nauvoo! The house is cluttered with boxes ready to be put in the truck and go for the long ride. And most of the drawers and cupboard shelves are empty. The six months here have raced by and it has been a sweet experience to tell the story of Old Nauvoo, the people who lived here, their faith, and their courage. Many, many times we have had the priviledge to testify of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We have made many friends and tried to do our very best and on top of that it has been fun!


The summer was extremely dry here but most of the crops came through in good shape. The trucks and combines are busy just about every day bringing the crops in from the field and what a crop it is! (The combine in the picture was eating up eight rows of corn and the corn was just a flowing as the lady driving it was unloading the bin while she finished that part of the field.) There is almost a nonstop flow of soybeans and corn coming in from the field. This part of the country certainly does supply a great deal of food and feed.


Most of the time this area is pretty wet and the hardwood trees don't make good lumber because they rot out inside. Many trees look good from a distance but when you get up close you can see that they have rotten limbs and bad spots in their trunks. The tree in the picture was just one of the many we have seen that are bad. When we saw how much that tree was rotten on the inside we were amazed! (I took my shoe off and set next to the tree so I could show what size tree it was.) It was a big tree without much holding it up.
In case anyone is wondering about our travel plans home this is what we have planned. We finish loading and pull out of Nauvoo on Tuesday the 11th. We will head east and arrive in upstate New York on Friday the 14th. That evening we will have dinner with Bruce's siblings and the next day meet Keith and Christina at the Palmyra Temple. After that we will be heading west and expect to see the lights of home on the 20th. We don't want to set any cross-country records going home. We just want to enjoy the fall and the trip. This summer we have worked hard and a slower pace will be good for us.
Our love to all!


Pam & Bruce