June 2014 Pat's Nauvoo Trip

So here is the rare post with Pat narrating!  I was called to be the secretary in the Young Men's Presidency and each year our priests get free train tickets because they clean the train station in Provo once a month.  I helped do this several times and was asked if I wanted to come on this year's Priest quorum train trip to Nauvoo! This was a chance I didn't want to pass up, so off we went! 

 Here is some of the boys (Kenny, Sam, Wesley, and Michael) on the interminable train ride (30 hours there and 33 on the way back not to mention the time spent waiting for the train to show up to even get on)

We made it out and on our first night there we went to an all you can eat buffet for dinner. This is the whole group. On the left starting in the back is Jeff Woerner, Matt Nelson, Nate Melton, Steve Hannant, Connor Goodnight, Alex Woener, Kenny White, and Sam Fjersted.  The other side is Bishop Roger Tuckett, Me, Steve Blanthorn, Jacen Blanthorn, Wesley Cope (the last two you can't see their faces) and Michael Lowe. 

This is the house we rented which was just down the street, a five minute walk from the temple.

We went and did baptisms in the temple which was an incredible experience. Here is a cool view.

Here is me out front.

Here is the whole group out front.

We went with some of the missionaries and did a service project digging post 

holes for trail markers for the handcart trail in the forested area around the temple.

This is the thorniest tree ever. The thorns on this were so massive. 

They said the pioneers had some frustration with this crazy local tree.

We went to Carthage where Joseph Smith was killed. 

This is Kenny White through the hole in the door made by a bullet of the assassins.

This is the window that the prophet fell through after being shot.

This is the outside, the top window is the same window front the above picture.

Then we did a handcart trek.  

You can see Nate Melton in the back, we took a shortcut and finished long before everyone else!

Breanne's Aunt Bonnie was serving her mission here and so I 

stopped at the home she was serving at and visited with her.

These are the headstones of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma.

Here is a group picture at night on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Here are some of the boys on the banks.

And me.

 

Here is one during the day.

This picture was from Jeff Woerner's phone. 

One night we rode down to the temple and got some cool looking pictures.

Here is one, Sunday after church down on the bank of the river. 

This is where the pioneers crossed when they left Nauvoo.

Here is me under the first bridge built in Nauvoo.

Another picture of the temple. 

There you have it!