Summer Staycation: Nauvoo, In Words

The next stop on our summer staycation was a quick trip to Nauvoo, Illinois.

Before I virtually scrapbook the trip, I should talk to you for a minute about how I feel about Nauvoo.

I hate to admit it, but for years, the word Nauvoo left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. I always knew I wanted to go there. I love church historical sites, and I knew there were sacred moments waiting for me there.

But, I became somewhat disenchanted with Nauvoo on my mission. Lots of families would trek out from the West each summer, and hit all the historical sites along the way, in reverse order, thereby ending where it began. Palmyra. By the time they got to us they had been completely razzle dazzled by Nauvoo.

I would hear how awesome the missionaries were there, and how they got bricks, and candles, and covered wagon rides, and nails, and on and on and on. And then I would sometimes get interrupted during the most important moments in my tours.

Like this...

"I saw a pillar of light...."

"Um, excuse me Sister King, we've heard the First Vision, would you mind telling us what that arm on the fireplace is for?"

" Well actually, I don't know Sir, but I was about to talk about God appearing. I'm sorry that's boring to you."

" Well Sister King, I know what that arm is for. In Nauvoo, they told us that they swing that arm out away from the fire so that the ladies would not catch on fire while cooking."

"Oh, that's interesting, thank you for sharing...Now back to my boring tour."

All the time people would tell me they had already heard my stories and sing the praises of Old Nauvoo, where you get a free cookie and some bread and on and on and on. Now, I love a good cookie every bit as much as the next guy, but did these families really drive their kids all the way across the country hoping they would take home memories of nothing more than a free cookie? Or did they want to stand where God and angels had stood? Palmyra, my friends, is ground zero.

We were not even taught or trained on ANY non-spiritual, historical information. Sure we had the artifacts in the old homes to keep them true to period, but I never knew what any of them were for, until visitors from Nauvoo would come and tell me. So many super meaty things happened in Palmyra. The most important events in this dispensation of time. That is what we talked about.

If I'd stood up in front of my tour group and given a lecture on candle making and then been told they didn't care, I would have been hurt. But when I stood up and bore my very soul about the things that mean the most to me in all the world and was told they didn't care...that bit right to the core. Some days I would end my day near tears because no one "got it" that day. People who lived their lives devoted to this church but walked away telling me I was not serving a real mission, and that I was just there because I was pretty. Thanks, but no. My mission was real. The most real experience I'd ever had at that point in my life.

In fairness, I had lots of tours that were phenomenal. People who totally drank it in, and felt what was there to be felt. I saw and felt many lives being touched there on those tours. As a missionary, you get rejected so often by those who are not of your faith and it is discouraging enough. When you get rejected by those who are members of your faith, it is devastating.

I became a snob about living in the "cradle of the Restoration", and although I still wanted to see Nauvoo, I knew that my mission was better. That may sound like the voice of a spoiled brat, and perhaps I was, but I blamed Nauvoo for all the people who didn't care what I had been sent to share.

Last summer, Seth went with the youth to Nauvoo and came home to report that I would LOVE it there. My uncle is the Nauvoo Pageant President and I had always said we would go before he was released, which is after this summer. We decided to go after Alyssa's baptism so that my mom could be there too, and see her big brother. As it turns out, my Uncle Jack had multiple families in town visiting so we barely had a chance to say hi, but I am still glad we could go and support all the work that him and my Aunt Barbara have done in the past 7 years.

So, what did I think of Nauvoo?

I'll be honest. I think it is awesome. I liked my free cookie, my bread, my nail ring, my candle. I loved my wagon ride. I loved the whole dang thing. I knew I would. I am a sucker for a tour and a freebie. They have done a remarkable job in Nauvoo. The whole thing is very interactive and hands on. You really get a feel for what it must've been like to live there as the church was growing and thriving in it's infancy. Super cool, and even sprinkled with glimpses of spirituality. I get why people like it. I really do. I just don't get why they didn't like us?

For me though, the tour that really spoke to me was the tour at Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred. I hung on every word the young sister missionary was saying. There were so many details I didn't know, but it wasn't the details really. It was the feeling. We were walking on the floors where a prophet of God had taken his last steps, before he laid down his life for the cause. I thought it might be eerie, but it wasn't. It was reverent. Even the kids were different at Carthage. Chloe sat without a single wiggle for the whole hour.

Of course two minutes before the tour ended, right after we heard the words, "Joseph was mortally wounded", Alyssa looked at me and said she didn't feel well all of a sudden. I told her she was fine but then noticed her lips were green. My mom was by the door and ran out with her so that she could vomit. Now that Sister will probably remember us as the rude people who interrupted the Spirit on her tour. Oh bother.

What a tour though! And what I now find strange, is that of all the people who came and sung the praises of Nauvoo while I was in Palmyra/Fayette, no one ever talked about Carthage. Ever. And maybe it is because some of them didn't "get it", but maybe some of them did get it and just couldn't possibly put it into words. It is certainly easier to tell someone what you saw, than what you felt. I walked away hoping, that even if people didn't leave my tours with a wealth of new knowledge to pass on to the next tour guide they met, that they did walk away with a feeling in their heart that would stick? Hopefully. Sometimes?

After a long day drinking in and reassessing everything I thought I knew about Nauvoo, we settled in for the Nauvoo Pageant. I actually wanted to go during the Fall. I thought it would be too busy during pageant, and truthfully, I just don't like pageants very much. Even in Palmyra, I would rather go and see the sites, than the pageant.

As the pageant started, so did the rain. It never stopped. The poor cast was up there singing and dancing in a downpour and my kids sat, captivated by the entire thing. Not a single word of complaint was uttered by anyone as we sat and partook of this event. I think they should rename the Nauvoo Pageant, because it is not a pageant at all. Hill Cumorah Pageant is theatrical and spectacular, and has lots of oooh,ahhh moments, but the whole thing is on a pre-recorded track. Not in Nauvoo. Nauvoo is more a play than a pageant, and I love plays. Out of our whole trip to Nauvoo, the pageant was the one thing that my kids proclaimed to be AWESOME!

The characters felt real, and the setting felt intimate. Everything we had toured all day came to life. I could feel how it must have been to live in Nauvoo. I loved that the characters were talking to the audience directly and saying, "When you're here, we're here". I felt more connected to the pioneers and their sacrifice than I ever have before. They built up a beautiful home. The church was thriving. They lost Joseph and yet they continued the work. They finished the temple. And when they were called to go West, where they could worship freely, they gave everything. Literally, everything. They left the place they loved, for a cause they loved more. The same cause Joseph had willingly given his life for. The people who lived in Nauvoo kept the church alive, because of their faith. And so when the narrator, Parley P. Pratt (who brought Seth's family into the church) said, "when you're here, we're here", I felt it. I was connected to those men and women. From living in Palmyra, I grew very close to Joseph Smith, but Nauvoo made life in the early days of the church come alive for me.

So the question you may be asking, and which Seth asked me is this....Which is better? Palmyra, or Nauvoo?

My first and dearest love is and will always be Palmyra/Fayette. I love the sites in New York best, but I admit that I like the Nauvoo pageant better than the Hill Cumorah pageant. The two places are so different . You really can't compare. I served with a missionary in New York who had previously served a 6 month mission as a performer in Nauvoo and I once asked her which she liked better. She told me the same thing. You can't compare the two.

They really are two different worlds that take you inside one story.

I feel blessed to have been to both, and I could see me and Seth serving in Nauvoo as Senior missionaries someday, and loving every minute. But I sure wouldn't decline the chance to serve in New York again, either.

Be back shortly with LOTS of pictures from Nauvoo.