There and Back Again: Week 12

Elder Cullen's nick name for me is "My Little Percheron" because even though I am short, I am very strong. Here we are posed with two very BIG Percherons. Two of the 15 or so that they have here in Nauvoo for their wagon tours. It was a balmy sunshiny day of fourty degrees so we decided to adventure on a tour after work. There are so many interesting things to learn in Nauvoo.

This weekend We ventured into Keokuk (named for Chief Keokuk) for Bald Eagle Appreciation Days. It started with actually viewing the eagles on the banks of the Mississippi while they fished and then perched and digested. They were beautiful. The State Parks rangers were there with binoculars and site scopes for all! Then we went to the First Christian Church where the Bald Eagle Appreciation Day Celebration was held. There was SO much going on, Native American lectures, dances and singings, booths with very cool artifacts and items to sell. Live Raptor Programs presented by the World Bird Sanctuary of St. Louis. Travis Hays, “the Snakeman” with exhibits & interaction of reptiles, Phoencian Ship replica with native items showing how some tribes came to this land by ship! (Look up The Heartland Project) there was SO much going on and so many community members there. After having a really wonderful conversation and lunch with some of the First Christian Church ladies in the kitchen I went out to listen to the Native American Singer talk about the history of the Natives in that area. So imagine a giant lecture hall full of people selling things, talking, petting snakes and tarantulas, making crafts and eating...and then there's the low stage on one wall with several chairs in front of it and this man is talking to us about his people's history. I listened with facination and then as he spoke I started to feel very uncomfortable. Not with what he was saying, but with the fact that what he was saying was so tender that everyone in the room should have been sitting quietly and listening with attention. He spoke of his people being moved out of their villages, and their drums and eagle feathers taken from them, they were not allowed to practice their religion, their children were taken from them and "reprogramed" in public schools. He talked about how in the 50s they were allowed to be who they were but by then no one knew who they were and they had to work hard to bring back their culture and recreate it. Here was a native man who willingly and lovingly was sharing his culture with the people who's government had decimated his culture and most of the people in the room had no idea he was even talking. The chairs were filled, but it was only a fraction of the crowd. After members of his tribe danced he invited us to come up and join them. I DID! It was fun and it was beautiful. Then they ended with an ALL TRIBES dance which included everyone in the room. I helped clear the chairs away and then could not resist going to the craft tables and telling people to "Pause" what they were doing and come join the dance. I went to the animal petting place and encouraged them to come join the dance. I walked to the place where people were eating and invited them to come join the dance!!!

Some came, many were too embarassed to dance. Others just looked the other way, it was just too uncomfortable to engage with the smiling lady and reject her invitation LOL so better to not give her a chance. I did not get discouraged. I kept inviting. The lead dancer seemed excited that so many people were coming. "Keep Going" he mouthed to the singer/drummer as he lead all the people in the great circle. Then I gave up and joined the dance myself, not wanting to miss out.

Later as Elder Cullen and I continued our day we found ourselves in Montrose looking across the Mississippi at the Nauvoo Temple. This was where the Saints camped after being driven out of Nauvoo and eventually out of the United States. They looked back at their temple and their beautiful city they had sacrificed so much to build.

Then pressed forward with hope and faith in Christ and took their culture with them to the Great Salt Lake Valley (although they didn't know where they were going to go at the time). As a missionary I sometimes feel like that Native American man. I am also sharing our story and the beauty of our religion with the country who had driven us out. And our message is the same. Everyone is welcome. Come join the dance, come dance, it will bring you joy come dance!