On Thursday my sisters, mom, and I flew into Indianapolis Indiana to visit my brother and his sweet family. While flying we got to watch the movie that Trent said he would not see with me. "My sister's Keeper" We also flew through a lightning storm and kept seeing the coolest flashes of light as we hit turbulence. Call me crazy but I love turbulence (as long as we don't crash into anything) I find it fun! Mom on the other hand didn't think so! We got in late Thursday and rented a key less car (pretty cool) On Friday we woke up early and headed to the Lincoln museum in Springfield. It was a very neat museum with wax figures, narrations, and holograms of Abraham Lincoln. I was really impressed and wished we could have stayed longer in Springfield where there was so much to see. On Friday night we drove next to the Mississippi River (Which seemed to be as wide as our lakes in utah!) We drove into Nauvoo and checked into our log cabin. I kept scaring my mom and sister Erin saying the lady who used to live here named Mary (from Wyoming) was haunting the place. We went to the temple (Which is 98% as it was except for the angel Moroni and the 2002 symbol.) Nobody was at the temple so the temple president took us on a tour. The next day we woke up early and went to Carthage Jail. I never thought I would ever be able to see it, but always wished I could. What a humbling spiritual experience it was there. I had no idea about the Jail keeper and his family, and how they tried to keep them safe. It was very interesting, and once again got a tour all to ourselves. We were able to stay in the room Joseph smith died in and we sat and just felt the spirit. THe missionary said to go to all the sites in Nauvoo and I was very curious of the community of Christ Church (Re-organized church) as I am always interested in other religions. The Community of Christ was very interesting tour. They own all of the Joseph Smith properties and graveyard. The lady was very informative and interesting to learn about Joseph Smith's and Emma's descendants. We went to the Red Brick Store also owned by them. The lady was very nice, knew her history and was a wonderful place to be. However something was missing. We went up to the LDS sites, and the instant I walked into the home of John Taylor I felt the spirit back with me. I am a critique when people say it's a "different feel, spirit" in the other homes the COC owns compared to the LDS owns. I said it was bogus. But that day to me was a testimony of the spirit that was there, was missing and kind of a gloomy sad feeling in JS's properties. I enjoyed them both, but felt at home at the other. Maybe that's something I shouldn't share, but this is my journal and I always want to remember the feelings I had in Nauvoo. We took pictures at the temple, the shops, the homes and it amazes me that 12,000 people once lived there. They all had to leave their homes, families, friends due to the mobs. I can't even imagine. What a wonderful experience to have been at Martin's Cove last month and then to come here to Nauvoo. It felt like a lovely town here and what a beautiful place to live, however there were many hardships and sadness here. I have never been to a place where Joseph Smith had been until now. As I looked at the statue of Joseph and Hyrm smith I wondered how they felt knowing this was probably the end and the saints had many trials ahead of them. TIme really does go fast. We walked down parley's street to see the stories of the pioneer's as they left. Many of them had to leave everything they had, their beautiful homes and such. That night we went to a show put on by the couple missionaries. It was a fun thing to see. What a fun mission it would be. They even get to live in the old pioneer homes. We went on a ox cart and MAN was it bumpy. I am not sure how women had babies in those things. That night we went to dinner at HOTEL NAUVOO and bought some souvenirs for our kids. Today we woke up took pictures and looked around once more. We crossed the Mississippi river and came back to Indiana. I am so grateful for this experience and feel that one day I personally will be back for some reason. I love how the temple had these beautiful lanterns on the outside, reminded me of pioneer times and how beautiful it would be to take bridal pictures there. While at the Lincoln Memorial we saw Bruce Lindsay and his family from channel 5.