Fireflies Lit the Way Home

We saw the Pageant Tuesday night. It was amazing! It told the story of the gathering of those that were fleeing persecution. They just wanted to live in peace and worship as they pleased. It told of the few wonderful years they had In Nauvoo and how they worked together to build the Temple. It also told of them being driven out of the beautiful city they built from a swamp, not knowing where they would go next. But it mostly told of their faith. They knew wherever they were that if their faith continued God would guide and protect them.

When asked what their favorite part of Nauvoo was, all three boys said it was the Pageant.

We were able to spend the whole day yesterday in Nauvoo. It was great. We went to a little show first thing. Then we went back to the Temple. This time with the boys. It wes so rewarding to watch my boys performing such wonderful service! We went to lunch and walked around in some of the shops in town. Then we went down into the historic district and looked in the rest of the homes and shops we hadn't been to. We told the boys to be listening closely. Later we asked them which trade (job) they would do if they lived back then. Austin would have worked in the print shop, Kyle would have worked with Brigham Young building furniture and Josh would have worked as a blacksmith. Jim would have worked with Browning in his rifle shop! (That's a shocker!).

We had dinner and went to one last show. We walked into the big field where there were games and dancing before that night's show but since we had already had the opportunity to see it we decided to get back to the house and start packing for our early start. It was dusk as we walked to our car across the big grass field and as we looked across there were fireflies as far as we could see! It looked like someone had spread out thousands of twinkle lights! We drove down the old river road toward the house and those fireflies were also on either side of the road hovering over the grasses. It was beautiful.

We woke early this morning so we could pack up and get onto our next destination. But before that we went into Nauvoo one last time. We walked down Parley Street toward the river listening to some of the actors tell stories out of writings and journals of those that over 150 ago made that same walk. We paused at the river contemplating how we may have felt if we were asked to do the same.

As we drive west across the Mississippi River I feel I was able to get a tiny glimpse of what those pioneers may have felt. Grateful for the time we were able to spend in Nauvoo, a bit sad to be leaving, looking forward to our next destination and thankful to be experiencing it all with my family.
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