"Shall The Youth of Zion Falter?" NO!!! June 21, 2017

   A large THANK YOU is in order as I begin our blog this morning to the Fathers in our family and around the world.  Without the Fathers, there would be no "Youth of Zion", or any youth for that matter!  In" The Family Proclamation, A Proclamation to the World", issued by the First Presidency and Council of The Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on September 23, 1995. it states the following: "By divine design, Fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families."  Our family is held together firmly by faithful Fathers who throughout the generations have steadfastly upheld these inspired principles.  This Nauvoo Missionary Fathers' Day, the Father and Patriarch of our family, Elder Peterson, delighted in talking to each of our 6 children and several grandchildren, for that is the only gift he ever really wants! How grateful we are for all the Fathers, both past and present, who continually bless our lives!

                                              Elder Peterson, the Father of our family
                                       Wearing his Fathers Day Tie from Rich's family

                             Wife, Dad, and Grandpa Fathers Day Card Collection, 2017

   On May 30, 2017, our "Summer Nauvoo Temple Missionary Family" gathered together on the front steps of the Temple for a group picture.  It was a sunny and bright day after several weeks of rain. Considering the size of our "Family", this is a pretty good resemblance of who we are.  We count our blessings everyday that we are serving here with all of these valiant missionaries and friends.  One of our favorite parts of cards, letters and calls from home is hearing our family tell us how grateful they are for our missionary service here and how it blesses their families, too.  Looking at this picture of our Temple Missionary force and realizing that their families are probably telling them the same thing is very humbling!  Since we cannot tell you about each missionary individually, we share the picture with you today.  And, each of these missionaries is also someones child, once again enforcing  the truth of the statement, "Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?  NO!"  

                                           Nauvoo Temple Missionaries, Summer 2017

                          (We are on the top back row in front of the right pillar of the Temple)
 
      Welcome back to Nauvoo where "The Youth of Zion" are bringing revived energy and enthusiasm our way each new day.  Bus loads of youth continue to arrive from all around to tour Nauvoo and participate in Baptisms.  We were in the midst of a Stake Youth Conference from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, including 168 youth, ages 14-18, and 50 leaders at the Visitors Center.  Each group of 10 youth was called a "Family" and had a married couple assigned to be their Ma and Pa much like Trek is organized. It was interesting to be an observer instead of a chaperone!  

                                Youth Conference from the  Bartlesville Oklahoma Stake
 
   When these large groups come to the Baptistry, they bring into the Temple about 12 boys and 12 girls an hour, spanning an entire day from 8 AM to 9 PM.  Temple workers are set up in well trained Baptistry Teams and each couple has their assignments.  The outside groups also bring Priesthood and Sisters to help.  It is a beehive of activity down there and the spirit is strong!  It is exciting to see and hear what the youth say about their special experiences inside the Historic Nauvoo Temple. 

 
   Since we live on Parley Street where the Trail of Hope is located, we constantly see bus loads of both youth and adult tour groups driving by.  We are enjoying the increased numbers of people here, especially the youth!  They are the missing element for us in our mission here in Nauvoo.

   The Young Performing Missionaries (YPMS) have helped fill that gap for us in many ways. They are busy putting on various performances night and day.  However, when they have free time, we see them attending the temple with smiles and energy.  We were serving in the Initiatory area of the Temple this past week with some of them which was a sweet experience.  That same afternoon in the Visitors Center, we attended one of their plays, The Promise, and delighted in watching and listening to their powerful testimonies as they shared their talents with us.  We enjoy talking with the YPMS after their shows.   The Promise tells about life in Nauvoo and the challenges the early Saints faced. It is a powerful production put on at 2;30 PM and 4:30 PM throughout the week.  

Here are a few pictures from The Promise:

       Each night at 6:30 PM, the YPMS perform at the outside theater doing a presentation entitled, "Sunset by the Mississippi".  It is done in conjunction with the Senior Site Missionaries.  We feel blessed to be their appreciative audience! That is our best role. Their show is filled with music, singing, dancing and lots of fun!  We have gone twice so far and will be there many more times before Summer ends.,  The best way to explain their show is to share more pictures so you can catch the vision of their talents.  Each night people come to attend the free performances and to enjoy the positive energy which unfolds there.

The Sister Missionaries living  at 865 Parley Street

Sister Peterson, Apt 2-Sister Cordova, Apt 1-Sister Vinton, Apt 3

  

    On Sunday afternoons at 3;30, the YPMS do a spiritual concert in the Visitors Center Theater.  We attended this on Fathers' Day and enjoyed a spiritual feast.  Their program featured the Brass Band and the Singers and their sound together was heavenly.  Their rendition of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" rivaled the Tabernacle Choir in power and spirit alike.  What a blessing it is to be partakers of their Gift of Music with which they have each been blessed.  They sweetly and steadfastly proclaim the answer to the question, "Shall The Youth of Zion Falter?"  with a resounding "NO!" with every hymn they performed that day.  Here are pictures to share from the concert.  They looked simply amazing without their pioneer attire.

  

  We will change gears now and highlight some of the other things which have been happening over the past couple weeks.  First of all, a shout out to 3 of our granddaughters for their graduations! Audrey Heiner, our granddaughter in Nibley, Utah, graduated from High School on May 30th  and received her mission call that same afternoon to the Brazil Porto Allegra North Mission.  It was a very memorable day for her!  Meanwhile in Corvallis, Oregon, our granddaughter, Erika Richardson, graduated from High School on June 12th.  She will be attending Oregon State in the Fall.  Also in Corvallis, Oregon, on June 17th, our granddaughter, Rachel Richardson graduated from Oregon State University. She has accepted a position as a full-time nanny in the Washington, DC area for the next year and will begin in July.  We are so happy for these young women and they, too, are living proof that the "The Youth of Zion" will not falter!   We missed not being with them for their special days, but we are grateful for technology which allowed us to be part of their celebrations through FaceTime on our electronic devices.  

   We had a surprise visit from Von and Julia Hansen and their daughter, Natalia.  They are the in-laws of our daughter, Jennifer Hansen. Her husband, Scott Hansen, is from the Boise area. Together we share 4 wonderful grandchildren.  Von and Julia are also friends of Elder and Sister Hurst from the Boise area  who serve in the Temple here with us.  So, all of us went to dinner together at the Nauvoo Hotel Buffet.  It was a good chance to get to visit and enjoy a good meal, too.  It is fun to be serving a mission in an area that people want to to come and visit.  We are the ones who receive  side benefits from their vacations

                                       Elder and Sister Hurst- Elder and Sister Peterson

                                                    Natalia, Julia, and Von Hansen

  

   Our P-Day group went to Quincy, Illinois and took a tour of the sites their.  We have been there twice before and we have talked about that in previous blogs, so this time we will only share a picture of our group who visited Quincy today.  We had a very good time and we always enjoy reflecting upon the goodness of the people of Quincy to the Saints in their time of desperation. The Mississippi River is our backdrop and the monument the Church made to honor the citizens of Quincy is in the middle of our picture below.

   

   We had an interesting Family Home Evening Activity for our Temple Missionary Family last week, a Missionary Talent Show.  Everything from beautiful music to slightly insane comedy acts were on our program. There were also displays for those who wished to share visual talents.  Each Family Home Evening group provided one part of the program. We sat according to our FHE groups and had a potluck per group.  It was like a little dinner theater night and lots of fun, too.  I shared the story of Frank and Barbara Surace's conversion for our group's part of the program.  At the end of the night, everyone who participated was given an "Oscar", an Oscar Myer Wiener that is!  You will see it in the pictures below.  

                                                              Sister Beck's Quilts

                          (LtoR) Sister Green-Sister Cordova-Sister Beer-Sister Despain

                                     "The Heavenly Brothers"- The Marshall Brothers

                                                                    The Oscars

                                                                    Silly Showtime!

                                               The" 80" and sill amazing FHE Group

                                                 Sister Peterson's Display Talents

     It is always fun to share the scenery from Illinois and Iowa that we witness each day.  The crops are growing rapidly and the corn fields seem to double their growth each week. Everything is green and gorgeous.  The trees are so amazing, too.  Even the oxen are enjoying the fields of tall grasses for grazing. The Mississippi River is beginning to be covered with lily pads that hold the promise for gorgeous flowers over the next month.  All these things testify of our Creator and His goodness in supplying this beautiful place for us to serve our mission.   We will share some of these beautiful surroundings with you as Summer arrives in Nauvoo.

                                                 Gorgeous trees and shrubs in Old Nauvoo

                                                  Freshly planted corn field in Nauvoo

                                                Nauvoo cornfield after a month's growth

                                             Cornfields and Hay bails in Iowa

                                                          Soybean farms in Iowa

                                        Grazing Oxen in Old Nauvoo and The Mississippi

                 Notice the train along the shoreline across the Mississippi and the Lily Pad starts

                                                          Iowa sky  June 18th, 2017

                                              Taken from our kitchen window, June 18th

    

   How grateful we are for the many sweet blessings surrounding us, whether we are serving in the Temple or looking out the window where we live.  Take time to smell the roses or gaze at a beautiful tree wherever you may be.  We testify that because of the LOVE our Heavenly Father has for each one of His children, "The Youth of Zion" will not falter.  He wants all of us back with Him one day. We are grateful for the blessing of helping with the sacred work that will bring this to pass as we serve here each day in His Holy House.  

We send our love to each one of you and give thanks for all your love and support.

Elder and Sister Peterson in Nauvoo

                                           

CELEBRATE! June 6, 2017

     Today is a real day to CELEBRATE, for today is our 48th wedding anniversary!  We must be very old!  We were married for "Time and All Eternity" on June 6th, 1969, in the Los Angeles California Temple, by President Benjamin Bowering.  When we reflect back on all that has happened since that special day, it seems like we only dreamt it!  Now we have grandchildren who are older than we were when we got married!  We will never forget that we celebrated our 48th anniversary while serving a full-time mission in the Nauvoo Temple which has been a life-time goal of ours from our beginning together. We are grateful for the blessings of the Temple and for a loving Heavenly Father who knows what we need and when we need it.  We look forward to the rest of eternity and the wonderful surprises it is sure to bring our way!  

                                                    Los Angeles Temple    6-6-69

   Each new day in Nauvoo right now gives you reason to CELEBRATE!  The temperatures are perfect and the daily thunderstorms have ceased, so blue skies and sunshine prevail!  The days have lengthened and with all this, our spirits are lifted.  We have seen flocks of geese with their goslings and those baby geese aren't so small anymore!  Occasionally we have even spotted deer wandering around the flats once more. The trees are so amazing!  They are huge and there are hundreds of them in every shade of green, including some which have gorgeous flowers adorning them. The birds begin singing before dawn and continue on until darkness falls. I think they want to CELEBRATE the season, too!   Missionaries are no longer the only people we see visiting the sites of Historic Nauvoo, for family vacationers and bus loads of youth groups are arriving so there is added energy in the air!   Having more patrons come to the Temple makes our service each day much more fulfilling.  The Bapistry is busiest of all now that school is out for the Summer.  This past week,  several busloads of youth arrived from Olathe, Kansas. Seeing the youth come to the Temple is truly a reason to CELEBRATE!

    

Here are a few pictures from beautiful Nauvoo during the GREEN season!

 
   On the mornings when we work on the PM shift, we have time for an early morning walk.  Afterward,  I have gone for a bike ride a few mornings down to The Mississippi River. How we love that Big River!  We CELEBRATE its majesty each time we see it!  One morning while I was down at the river last week, one of the huge barges which travels up and down the river carrying loads of corn and other items, passed right by Parley Street. They are 5 barges long and 3 barges wide.  They are powered by a large tug boat that pushes them along quite swiftly. Each of these barge systems carries the equivalent of 800 semi-truck loads of cargo.  They are fascinating.  The only time they are not quite as enjoyable to see is when they cause the bridge that connects Illinois to Iowa at Fort Madison to swing open and stop the traffic and trains for anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes while the barges go through the bridge.  Here is a picture of the barge I saw on my bike ride last week.

                                                    Good Morning  to The Mississippi!

                                                               Northern bound Barge

                                                         The Tug with the Power to Push

      We began to CELEBRATE my birthday on my birthday eve, May 27th.  After our long Saturday AM shift that day, we went to a restaurant we have found that we like and enjoyed their Early Bird Special, a 6 OZ Sirloin Steak dinner.  I chose the sweet potato fries and grilled vegetables for my 2 sides and my faithful companion chose the Wisconsin Cheese soup and green beans.  It was a meal to CELEBRATE compared to what we eat when we get back to our apartment tired and hungry on our normal days.  The Hawkeye Restaurant is conveniently located in Keokuk, Iowa between Dollar Tree and Walmart.  We have done our part over the past 7&1/2 months to keep these 3 places in business!

 
    Since it was Memorial; Day weekend, the annual Road to Carthage Marathon race took place on the morning of May 27th, also.  This is a race that basically follows the course Joseph and Hyrum Smith rode on horseback as they were taken to Carthage Jail where they both were martyred.  When we approached the Temple to serve our shift that morning at 5:45  the street in front of the Temple was lined with tents and racers ready to begin their race.

   I am sure you are not surprised that we didn't enter the race, We did, however, continue to CELEBRATE by attending the amazing GENTRI concert held in the Legacy Theater in Carthage, Illinois on Saturday night.  All the proceeds from this whole event went to the local Food Pantries. The GENTRI Concert was attended by mostly Missionaries and Nauvoo residents.  We have seen this group perform since their beginnings 3 years ago. They began singing together at Hale Center Theater back in Utah during their production of "Les Mis".  When that run ended, Zerelda Elliott, wife of Casey Elliott,  who is in the group, encouraged them to keep singing and keep "Les Mis" going. With her encouragement, they formed GENTRI and the beat goes on!  They first were introduced at BYU Women's Conference and "Time Out For Women" and I was there, too. The concert here was intimate and filled with the spirit.  Their pianist and composer, Stephen Nelson, was incredible.  The 4 of them helped us CELEBRATE with feeling and power and showmanship of true gentlemen.  Here are a few pictures from that very fun and memorable evening.

                                                                Stephen Nelson

                                                                   Casey Elliott

                           Bradley Quin Lever- Casey Elliott-Brad Robbins- Stephen Nelson 

                                                          Zerelda Elliott- Sister and Elder Peterson

   At the end of their concert, GENTRI invited all of us to join them in the foyer where they had someone taking pictures of all of us with them.  I invited Casey Ellliot's wife, Zerelda , to be in our picture with us.  Elder Peterson and I have a special connection with the Elliots, for during the week they were in the Nauvoo Temple helping us on one of our sessions we conducted.  All in all, this was a great way to CELEBRATE my birthday with a magical  touch of Utah  don't you think?!

    Sunday, May 28th, we really did CELEBRATE my missionary birthday.    I was blessed to be able to talk to all 6 of our children and several grandchildren.  Mail, emails and text messages were heartwarming, bringing  birthday wishes from all our family and many special friends.

  

                                                     Flowers from our 3 daughters

                                                        Tulips from Rich's Family

   We attended our normal Church meetings in the Mt. Pleasant Branch.  This little Branch has the nicest Sunday Bulletin each week with many interesting things on it.  One item featured on each Sunday's Bulletin is entitled, "Today In Church History".  That week's said, " May 28th, 1843: Joseph and Emma Smith are sealed for 'Time and all Eternity'. Joseph and Emma are the first couple sealed under priesthood authority in this dispensation. President Joseph Smith also extends a call for the first missionaries to go to the Sandwich Islands. Today the Sandwich Islands are known as Hawaii." No wonder May 28th is such a special day!  

   After Sacrament Meeting, the 2 brothers who bless the Sacrament every Sunday, surprised me with a darling bouquet of flowers!  It was very much unexpected and very touching!  I have reached out to them with weekly treats never expecting such a sweet gesture from them in return.  

                                       Codey Jacobs- Sister Peterson- Corey Jacobs

      The Sanchez family in the Branch had invited all of the missionaries serving there to come to their house for lunch that day. They also invited all the other Spanish speaking families to attend.  It was a sunny day and we sat in their backyard and had a potluck feast with homemade tortillas and items from their various countries including Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. They are all so gracious and humble.  It was interesting to get to know them all this way and learn more about their families. None of this was for my birthday and only the missionaries even knew about that. However, I will always remember what I had to eat for lunch on my birthday in 2017!

                                            Jose is 9.  He doesn't understand English.
                                                 I taught him to call me Grandma

                                               Elder Peterson and Brother Sanchez.

We were at his parents' home.  He went to Portland, Oregon on his mission and speaks English.  We enjoyed hearing about how his family came from El Salvador.  His girlfriend is making the tortillas in the prior picture. They grew up together in El Salvador.

                                          Some of the group who were at the luncheon.

                                       Sister Sanchez (El Salvador) and Sister Rojas(Mexico)
This was at Sister Sanchez's home.  She is a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.  She only speaks Spanish.  Sister Rojas' husband is a counselor in the Branch Presidency.  He is from Peru. Sister Rojas speaks both Spanish and English and she translates in the meetings into which ever language isn't being spoken.

  This is the De La Cruz Family. They are here from Guatemala on a Work Visa. Only the father speaks and understands English.  Their children are so darling!  They have to go back to Guatemala in July.  We will really miss them!

   Like birthdays tend to do, we continued to CELEBRATE on to the next day, Memorial Day, when we had a fun birthday lunch with the 4 missionary couples who weathered the Winter months together here on Parley Street. We went to El Camino Real in Hamilton and had a delicious feast.  I made Strawberry Pie for our dessert and it was quite tasty. Usually we get a Marie Calender's Strawberry Pie at home for my birthday treat, but they don't deliver here in Nauvoo for some reason!

                        Rod & Dottie Cole- Us- Rick & Claudia Vinton- Tom & Bev Cordova

   To CELEBRATE Memorial Day, after lunch we drove through the Keokuk Iowa National Cemetery. The setting was beautiful with all the flags and flowers decorating the hundreds of graves. We are grateful for all those who have given their lives to help make our country free. Won't resurrection morning be interesting here!  What a blessing it is to know without a doubt that death is not the end, but only the doorway to the next grand and glorious portion of our eternal existence through The Atonement of Jesus Christ and The Great Plan of Happiness of our Merciful Heavenly Father!

                                             Keokuk National Cemetery, Memorial Day

   As we close our blog today, we CELEBRATE the Historic Nauvoo Temple and those who sacrificed so much so we can have the blessings of the Temple in our family.  The Temple is magnificent and we love the spirit we experience each day as we enter to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

   

    CELEBRATE  each new day and when you do, 

we hope you can feel the LOVE we send to you!

    Elder and Sister Peterson in Nauvoo