Happy Happy Week! July 30th 2017

On Monday, our Nauvoo Productions director, Elder Schultz drove up to us on the bandwagon before our first run. He announced that this week was officially "Happy Week" and that we were going to be happy and joyful the entire week! What could have made me happier than to have my family come and visit? I'm lucky that on my mission my family can follow me to all of my activities and performances and that I could attend a musical and the Nauvoo Pageant with them! Elder Rodeback, the 1st chair french horn, took it upon himself to promote Happy Week by buying a huge bag of clothespins and writing "Happy happy Week" on each of them. You can only imagine that we were covered in clothespins the entire week! I found that the cummerbund is the worst target because we have bows!

I mentioned to one of my fellow missionaries whose family visited last week that Nauvoo is always a joy to share with the visitors, but sharing what you love with your family makes it so much more wonderful. This week I also found two girls from St George on their senior trip at the familysearch center during a few hours I had some time off. I invited them to some of our concerts and they came to each one! We said goodbye at trail of hope and it was the most amazing thing to see these girls my own age whose testimonies had grown because they came here! I love moments like that! A lot of times, people come and go during our outdoor concerts in the women's garden and at the Carthage Jail, and for a while it bothered me, but the other day, a father and his two sons were standing by the statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in front of the jail and they weren't going to stay and listen for a few minutes. But then, we started to play "Praise to the Man" and the man stopped his boys and they listened. When I went to Carthage Jail for the first time, I wish I had that song playing as I walked in! 

I don't have any time to say much else, but I love you all and am excited to see you in a few weeks! Here are a ton of pictures!

 

 

30 More Days! July 16th 2017

This week the British and Nauvoo Pageant opened! A real tender mercy for me was to see a family from my ward in St George who were in the cast this week! I even got to lead them down the trail of hope last Sunday! 

This week was crazy busy and there are so many people on the streets of Nauvoo! Something that I have struggled with all week is to make sure that I don't forget that I am here as a missionary and that no matter how long someone stays to listen to one of our songs, it could effect them! I don't think I will truly know what I did here this summer for the visitors for a long time! A lot of times, the visitors don't know that the band are missionaries or are even aware of our concerts, but I love the quote from an old baseball movie my dad showed me called Field of Dreams Something on the lines of "People will come. We keep playing and they will come." And it is so true! At Carthage this week, we usually have a dozen people who sit and stay the whole time to listen to us for our concert. As we were setting up, I was carrying a big load of chairs for the audience. Just as I was walking past a group, they stopped me and had some of the young men carry the chairs for me. The whole tour bus full of kids started helping us take chairs from this shed in the parking lot to the jail. They brought three times as many chairs as usal and I sat there wondering who were going to fill all those chairs! But sure enough, we prayed as a band behind the visitors center and came back around to see the audience was fillled with youth and families! Two more tour buses of youth groups came while we were playing and more and more cars pulled up to the parking lot! We played for probably over two hundred kids  in that single concert! I talked with a group of the girls afterwards, and they told me this was the most spiritual part of their time on their trip! If I don't get to influence another person for the last 30 days of this mission, I still feel like I have accomplished something! I don't have much time left but I love you all and hope you are able to bring light and joy to someone this week!

Hard isn't bad! Hard is just Hard!!! July 9th 2017

This week was such a long week! The days blur together here and I am trying to accept that in  a few short weeks my family will be visiting Nauvoo! I have already seen so many familiar faces from my old stake in Rockford, Illinois! Not only do I get to see them and invite them to come to shows and concerts that they have never seen before, but I get to share my testimony with strangers every day! 

One of my favorite events that the band puts on is our Hymnfest Concert in the Women's garden. Before every song, one of the missionaries introduces the hymn with a short message and testimony. Sometimes, I feel really good about my messages and sometimes I'm really disappointed in myself. During yesterday's concert, I finally recognized the promise given to missionaries in D&C 100:5-6

5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;

6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

I knew I was being guided on what to say for the audience who were present, and my testimony was strengthened just by giving it. I really love being in a missionary ward here in  Nauvoo, and our main theme today was "Hard isn't bad. Hard is just hard." Every day we have trials and struggle with temptations, but it's meant to be that way. I would rather it be hard than easy, because then I wouldn't enjoy this experience so much! 

Some highlights from this week: 4th of July was SUPER amazing and fun! We got a box of pinwheels from one of the sisters moms, and we decorated our wagon with it and passed them out to all of the children! Also, the food we got was classic american food!!! (see picture!) We also decorated the Bistro and Sister Clement gave us sisters all the power in deciding what to do with the decorations! We also got to see the pageant core cast perform a musical called "Our Story Goes On" last sunday night and it probably made me cry for the last half hour of the show. It used a whole bunch of broadway musicals to describe the storyof life. Also, when we went to Community Band rehearsal in the old abandoned school house, there was a huge big bat flying around in the hallway! Elder Miller chased after it!!! It was hilarious! Anyways, have a wonderful week and enjoy your trials! Sorry for the long email this week!

Commemoration Day! July 2nd 2017

This week was full of adjusting to some weird schedules!!! It was overcast all week and a few of our wagon rides and concerts were rained out a few times, so we had to figure out what to do with our free time! I have started a scripture journal where I write down all of my thoughts and questions as I go along and I find that is the best use of my time. The leaders tell us that we will want to look back on this mission and not regret wasted time that we spent napping away. I hope that when I come out of this mission, I will have spent every moment I could by becoming better and stronger in my testimony!

One of the highlights of my week was June 27th, which is the day Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred at Carthage Jail in 1844. We had our morning wagon ride but got dropped off at the Community of Christ's land, where the Smith family grave is located and we played prelude and also during the service for their church. It was interesting to see different churches testimonies of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma and the spirit was there. But later in the day, we traveled to Carthage and played prelude for our mission's commemoration of the martyrdom. We sat right behind the statue of Joseph and Hyrum and the service was truly honoring Joseph Smith and his mission on earth to restore every lost key to the world. It strengthened my testimony of the prophet and I was so grateful to be in the band honoring and bringing the spirit to the people in attendance. The spirit was so strong!

We also had our second Community Band Concert just last night for 4th of July and we had the most beautiful backdrop to play in front of! The temple was glowing and turning pink with all of the colors of the beautiful sunset! We were exhausted from playing our Sunset show, but I know the Lord helped us play through that concert as well as we could! Whenever somebody asks us how we do it all day, we shrug our shoulders and point to the sky. There is no way we could do this on our own, and I know that there is no way I will ever be able to get though life on my own either. Following the concert we were allowed to stay and watch the fireworks that a town across the river was setting off for the community! It was super cool to see a firework show reflected off the Mississippi River! I LOVE you all! Enjoy your week and make every moment count!!!

Here are some pics from this week!!!​

Sister Casto and I had companion study on the 27th in front of the statues!

We got new name tags! You can tell I'm super excited!

The Sunset pics are ones my companion took of me​! There was an intense rainstorm that hit that night as well!​​

Halfway through! June 25th 2017

This week flew by! I stayed home on P-morning while the sisters went to Keokuk because one of my roomates was feeling unwell! The next morning though, I went to Kekuk to see the dentist and had a goo trip! I miss part of the wagon ride that morning but still was on there long enough that I smelled like horses when I got off. (I love the horses though! They are huge and big and burly!) Pageant staff are coming more and more every week! THe stage are now rehearsing after Sunset By the Mississippi but thankfully, our schedule has not really changed! I love interacting with people and I especially love that I get to see so many familiar faces in Nauvoo! This week, I was surprised to see the Bairds from Belvidere when they pulled up to one of our outdoor concerts! 

Yesterday marked the halfway point in Nauvoo! I can hardly believe the time is going by so fast! Every moment is one I  need to take advantage of and so one of the questions I've been earnestly seeking is what I can do to be a better missionary, a better companion to Sister Casto and what I can do to leave Nauvoo having accomplished everything I need to. My answer came from my mission president, who came and spoke to us early Friday morning. He said "casualness proceeds disobedience" and it was a chastening reminder that I am becoming familiar and too casual with the other young missionaries. He said one of our curses as YPMs is that we are recognized as performers and people tell us how talented we are and focus on that, not the message we are supposed to bring. It would be so much easier for President Hall to not set us apart as missionaries! But I feel so blessed to be here and be set apart from the world and what it has to offer! I was thinking about it in my own life; becoming casual in the Gospel -in Scripture study, attending church, praying, and in our callings-that is when we start to slip up, can't feel the Spirit and we start to lose our foundation and even testimony. Thinking about having the Spirit with me constantly, with what I say, how I interact-everything! It's exhausting sometimes, but the blessings from the Gospel are just overwhelming and I love it so much. ​​I hope that you all have  a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Fluegel

Here are some pictures! I fed the horses some extra gingerbread cookies from the scovil bakery! I love Doc and Dan! also I walked all the way down to Fulmer street and took pictures​​ where I had highlighted on the map where my ancestors owned land and walked down(from the land and records office!)! It was an amazing feeling to be there!​​

 

 

Happy Father's Day! June 18th 2017

I'm so excited to email home today! Today is a very special day and Daddy, you should be expecting a video of us today that we took after church! Fathers are some of the most amazing people in this entire universe, because they are fashioned and designed after our Heavenly Father. Our earthly fathers' role on earth are to turn our hearts to our heavenly father and I am eternally grateful for my dad who has done that my whole life. I hope my future children will be taught by someone similar to my dad. 

This week was just absolutely amazing! I suffered from a cold all week and still am sniffling, but thankfully, Sister Miller gave me these gigantic vitamins that helped me get over it faster than I usually do! The band sisters in the Cambre house learned a large lesson on pride and humility, on communication and love. I know drama is bound to happen when 12 girls are squished into this little house, but it was amazing to see the love and concern we have for each other. In any other situation and with any other group of women, this living situation wouldn't have worked. But I love every single sister in in Cambre! We are all "pricked" by the Lord at times in our lives, and the Mormon Messasge by President Henry B Eyring came to my mind. In it he said, "Thank you Lord, for loving me enough to hurt me," because the Lord may send us places or suggestions or give us a trial we may not want, but in the end we have become someone new. I love that the Lord could do all this missionary work on his own! But he gives us the opportunity to serve missions and continuously be cut down and show us our weaknesses, so that we can grow so much more than we ever thought possible! I don't know if I'm making any sense now but I'm getting kicked off the computer! Love you all and thank you for your love and support! I hope you all enjoy these pictures!
 "Dwayne The Rock" was given to me for being an example of faith and diligence! I passed him on to someone else the next day!

Christ Says "In Me Ye Shall Have Peace" June 11th 2017

There is opposition in all things! And the young performing missionaries of Nauvoo have definitely learned that this week! We have experienced a range of sicknesses that seem to never stop spreading! We had physical pains like tendonitis, a brass player getting stabbed in the lip by a high hat, and even a mini heart attack for one of the missionaries performing this week! It's been super hard for everyone to get through these long seven days and we are finding out that there certainly are a lot of trials in this mission.

However, I think this has been a week that I will always remember on this mission. It was one of my favorite weeks so far. We attended the temple for the first time since arriving in Nauvoo, and the peace I felt there gave me so much strength to get through the week! Shortly after last weeks email, I performed in Nauvoo's first ever Sunday concert and the former general relief society presidency attended! My favorite part about the concert is its message and how it promises of God's love for every one of his children. Sunday is always my favorite day of the week because not only do I get to attend church and email home, we have a wonderful concert followed by the Trail of Hope down Parley Street. the title of my email comes from one of the passages the stage missionaries say as I lead a group of 20 to 30 people down the trail. It comes from one of Eliza R Snow's songs promising the saints who are going through so many tribulations on their trek west that through Christ, his love and Atonement, everyone can have peace! 

I love you all and thank you again for the support you have given me! Please pray for our mission to overcome the challenges we are facing every day! I know it will help those who are struggling! Sorry there are no pictures this week. I don't have an accessible camera this week!

-Sister Fluegel