Day 12--First real day in Nauvoo!

Day 12--Tuesday? June 28

All of today I thought it was Monday...oops. We started the day off at a local cafe for breakfast because we did not have time last night to pick up groceries. After this we went to my favorite place on Earth.......WALMART! You don't realize how much you love that place until you have to go days without being able to just go buy things you forgot to buy. I think I was able to pretty much get everything that I will need for the next little bit which relieved a lot of stress. :) We had to hurry and go from Walmart (which is in Iowa) back to Nauvoo for our 1:50 pm wagon ride! It brought back memories of when I came with my family. I vaguely remember the ride but it was the places we passed that was familiar. As a kid I thought everything was fairly close together. Historic Nauvoo is a bit of a ghost town in some areas because things are so spread out (and when I came as a kid my dad drove us everywhere in our van and I guess I did not pay attention to how far things really were). we also went down the trail of hope and I got to see 3 plaques with quotes from Hosea Stout....I did not get to read them completely because we were moving, so I plan on going back soon to actually read them :) When we got back we had a lot of free time so most of us girls got today's and tomorrows study guides done. Everyone went to the night shows that go on here but I had a headache and decided to stay at our home. (I'll have the opportunity to see these shows everyday for the next 5 weeks so i'll see them eventually) It was super cool having the place to myself. I did not have to worry about sharing the bathroom with any of the girls and had a chance to have a nice shower :) I also just chilled on the wrap-aroundish porch outside and studied some more. It was super legit.

(We did not have classes today because poor Brother Manscill had to go to an eye doctor because his eyes have somesort of infection. I heard he got an antibiotic so I hope he can start feeling better soon :)

My BFF

This is where I'll be living for the next 5 weeks!

I'm not sure if people will be able to see this but this was a poorly shot video from outside to my room!

Day 11--Driving forever....St. Louis and finally NAUVOO!

Day 11--Monday, June 27

Today was a driving day...ugh. We made it to St. Louis and got to see their arch thingy (Utah doesn't have to make arches, we have ones formed by nature ;) and we said goodbye to our nice tour bus and picked up 3 minivans and 1 sedan. It took them like 2 hours to pick them up because this one employee was being stupid so after like an hour and a half they asked to see the manager and got it done super quick. I drove with the Manscill's in the sedan and after we had left we realized that the car was half empty. Worst customer service ever.... (so we got to Nauvoo a lot later than we were planning)

We made it to Nauvoo at like 8 pm (we ate dinner at Ogo's diner in Iowa which is like half an hour away at like 6:30ish). It took us a while to decide where everyone should sleep but once we did it was nice to have a space to leave my suitcases and not have to pack up again the next morning. It was super insanely hot when we first got here but by the next morning it was fine (because we had every possible fan on, on high)

We are staying in a historic building that was owned by Daniel H Wells. I think it was a hotel...

(Isn't the Mississippi river super pretty??)

Day 10-- Hiram Ohio/John Johnson Farm

Day 10--Sunday, June 26
We went to sacrament in a really nice little ward (and I cant remember where....I believe it was right by the John Johnson farm so it must have been in Hiram...)

Afterwards we went to the John Johnson farm and toured the place. Joseph lived here for a while so he could focus translating the bible.

Afterwards, we drove to Indianapolis, Indiana as a midway point towards Nauvoo!

Okay, it was the Hiram Ward

This is right behind the church building. Super pretty

John Johnson farm

The floor was painted that way to show that they were wealthy...can you imagine a floor like that today?

Charity, there was teal painted on just about everything :)

Joseph would preach from the porch

Yay for dinner :)

Soooooo the window next to me was leaking...like a lot and the people at the restaurant would not do anything about it so I used my napkin (which did absolutely nothing) It rained really hard while we ate and thankfully it stopped by the time we went back outside :)

Day 9--Kirtland! and the Kirtland TEMPLE!

Day 9--Saturday, June 25

I am writing this a few days after the fact so I will do my best to remember what happened. We went to the Kirtland flats where the Newel K. Whitney store is. The upper floor of the store is where the Prophet lived with Emma and lots of revelations were received there. Also the School of the prophets was started in the store as well IN THE TINIEST ROOM EVER. I do not know how in the world they were able to fit 21 MEN in that room. Something that I learned is that every time the men would come to the school of the prophets, they were given an oral recommend interview. If they did not pass, they were not allowed to enter that day and participate in the classes. We had a really nice boxed lunch and then drove to the part of Kirtland that the Community of Christ church owns. They own the Kirtland temple so we had to pay $5 each for a tour of the place. It honestly felt wrong to tour a temple but it was still cool.

Original floor!

This is the room where 21 men would meet to be taught in the School of the Prophets...crazy