“I’ve never seen an old person kick that high!”

Quote compliments of a 17-yr old boy after watching the performance of Ren-de-vous in Old Nauvoo. It’s an amazing performance done entirely by the senior missionaries. This entire group of high schoolers from Indiana (not LDS, just on a school trip) was loving it. Two of the boys shot out of their seats at the end to give a standing ovation. The kids were WAY cool and wanted to stay in Nauvoo but their itinerary had them heading down to Hannibal (like Mark Twain even compares to senior missionaries pretending to be horses pulling a wagon…). They were very sweet and sincere. When school groups come we obviously can’t share about the Church with them but there’s a definite Spirit in Nauvoo that you just can’t hide and I know they felt it.

AEROBICS…SENIOR MISSIONARY STYLE…
Yes, so we wake up and 6:30 in the morning and then work out for 30 min, according to mission guidelines. Quite enjoyable…usually run to the river and back. The seniors, however, are a little more hard-core. They have an aerobics class every morning from 6:10 to 7. The time was a little earlier but we were intrigued so we had to go. And my, I’m happy we did! The first big part of is was actually line dancing to slow, old-school country music. We did the “Southern Stroll” and other such moves. Amazing! We were definitely not as coordinated as they were (they were experts) and so they’d help us out in between songs—“when you do the grapevine, start with your leg stepping behind…” and other such helpful tips. Then we did abs and weights. They don’t mess around. No wonder they’re in such good shape for all the plays and musicals they do. It was so much fun to work out with them. Unfortunately the next day we were back to our river run but I imagine we’ll be back because so far on my mission nothing’s made me more sore. I was loving it!

KEEPING BUSY
It’s still pretty quiet here (except on the weekends) so we’re helping out with NRI (the restoration part of Nauvoo). It really just means we move boxes or pull weeds or paint…whatever they want us to do…but it’s refreshing cause it keeps us busy the whole day.

“EXCEPT HE DOTH SUBMIT HIMSELF AS A CHILD
”This was just a precious little moment…we were in the Visitor’s Center and there’s a large status of the Savior (same one that’s in Salt Lake for those who’ve seen it). I was talking with one of the senior missionaries. The place was dead except one family who was walking around with another missionary. This fam had like a million little boys and the youngest one (about 5 yrs) broke off from the pack. He runs, unnoticed, over to the statue. The missionary I was talking to gets really excited and hushed and tells me to turn around. We looked over (everyone else was doing their own thing) and he climbs up to the bottom of the statue and just wraps both his little arms as wide as he can around the Savior’s legs and just stares up at His face. It was the coolest thing. He stayed there for just a minute and then, as 5-yr old boys are prone to do, climbed down and wandered off. It was such a tender little moment. We got to tell the parents about it later and they of course got a little teary just like we had. :)

This is very short, but I’m sure you’re all fine with that! :)
- Sis Cartwright