About our mission in the Nauvoo temple

Description of the temple

The Nauvoo temple was the first temple to perform all the saving ordinances.   The Kirkland temple was built to have a place to receive the keys necessary for the plan of salvation to be fulfilled.  The design for these two temples are very different because their purpose was so different.  The original Nauvoo temple did perform baptisms for the dead but only performed about 5,000 endowments and sealings during the brief time it was open before the saints were driven West.

On the outside, the current temple is almost exactly as the original one.  The biggest difference is the Angel Moroni which was horizontal on a weather vane on the original temple.  He now is vertical like other modern-day temples.

On the inside, the baptistery is on the first level.  The font is the same size as the original font and is the largest of any temple.  In the original temple the weight of the font was so great that the oxen bearing the font, sank several inches.  This temple matches the original oxen so one cannot see the hoofs of the oxen.  The baptistery has its own entrance on the North side of the temple.  People coming for baptisms start at the arrival center North of the temple and then are escorted across the street to the baptistery entrance.

The assemble room is patterned after the Kirkland temple with pulpits on both ends.  This room is not used very often as it requires permission from the First Presidency to hold a meeting in this room.  We held three training meetings there.  The spirit is very strong in the temple and even more powerful in this room.  There is a nice picture of Jerusalem on one of the walls in the assembly room. The first day of training the temple recorder, Brother Marshal, who has a very nice voice, sang “Jerusalem”.   Everyone was moved to tears by the spirit as he sang this song.

The dressing room's lockers are all made of cherry colored dark wood to match the other wood in the temple.  It is very lovely.

There are four sealings rooms used for sealing deceased people.  There are two more sealings rooms that are large that are used for live sealings.  
People start the endowment in the chapel and progress through ordinance rooms to the celestial room. 

The temple has a beautiful circular staircase that goes from the bottom floor all the way up to the fifth floor.  There are also three regular staircases and two elevators.  As workers, most of the time we take the stairs when we are working there.

Temple schedule

The Nauvoo temple has a winter schedule from mid-September to Memorial Day and a summer schedule from Memorial Day to mid-September.  During the winter schedule the temple has four sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00.  On Wednesdays and Fridays there are four sessions at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00. On Saturdays there are 9 sessions on the hour starting at 9:00 with the last session starting at 5:00.

For the summer schedule, there are four sessions on Monday morning at 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00.  From Tuesday through Saturday there are 11 sessions starting at 8:00 with the last session at 6:00.  The baptistery normally starts at 7:00 but for larger groups can start earlier if scheduled.

Our schedule

For the rest of May, we work Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday first shift.  This means we arrive at the temple by 2:00 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays and finish about 8:15 PM.  We receive our schedule for the day when we arrive unless we are assigned to the arrival center.  In that case we will get an e-mail before we go to the temple.  Monday is our P-day.  In our off time during May, we can do service in or around the temple or volunteer for community service such as reading to children at the school or helping at the library. 

On Sundays we have been assigned to the Nauvoo 1^st Ward.  We will work in the Primary.  In the summer there are a lot of visitors and the primary triples in size.  With this assignment, we will be able to attend church with our family members when the come to visit us this summer.

We can be assigned to any area in the temple.  Our assignment will normally be rotated on the hour unless we are assigned for an endowment session which lasts two hours. On June 1 the temple shifts to the summer schedule.  We will then have either a morning schedule from 7:00 to about 1:30 or an afternoon schedule from 1:00 to 8:00 Tuesdays through Saturdays.  Some people will be assigned to Monday mornings and have their P-day on a different day.

Also, during May we are taking a class covering the Family Search training.   We have attended the first class and expect to learn a lot about getting names for our own ancestors.

Temple missionaries

The temple district covers parts of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri but only has five stakes in this large area.  Many of the district (local) temple workers drive for over two hours just to get to the temple.  It is not possible for these limited number of people to support the temple even during the slow winter months, let alone during the very busy summer period.  Since the temple opened there have been temple missionaries called to supplement the district workers.  Currently, there are 60 couple missionaries serving here.  There are 25 couples that are on 12 or 18-month missions.  They have come at various times during the year and will go home when the temple closes in September and return when the temple reopens and serve until their time is finished.  There are 10 couples that came in mid-March.  They will serve for six months until mid-September when the temple closes for repairs.  There are 25 couples that came when we came at the end of April that will serve for just under five months until the temple closes in September.  Temple missionaries can serve every day in the temple while district missionaries normally serve one day each week.  Summer missionaries are called from a number of temples while longer term missionaries apply directly to the mission department.  There are many opportunities for one to serve in the historic Nauvoo temple.

Training

Temple missionaries do not go to the MTC but are trained when they arrive here.  Even though temple missionaries are well seasoned in temple service, each temple because size, design and schedule have some differences in how they operate even though the ordinances are all the same.  Nauvoo runs two very different schedules in the winter and summer.  Most of the training has been to learn the “Nauvoo way” of doing things.  The temple presidency’s goal is to be the kindest temple in the church in the way we treat patrons that come to the temple.  We have also had a lot of training on the procedures on dealing with the unique design of the Nauvoo temple. 

The leadership and fellow workers

As in all temples, there are some marvelous people serving here.  The temple president and matron are President and Sister Irion from Salt Lake.  The first counselor and assistant are President and Sister Smith.  They moved to Nauvoo shortly after the temple opened but were living in Boise when they were called to serve in the presidency.  The second counselor and assistant are President and Sister Mackay.  They are long time residents from this area.  There are many events outside of the temple to get to know the other temple missionaries.  On Saturday there was dinner for all the temple missionaries along with district missionaries that live close to the temple.  On Sunday night there were dinners of three or four couples each.  This Sunday we are hosting a break the fast group for three other couples.  We are also in a family home evening group as well.  There are three other couples that have apartments in our building that we have gotten to know well.  These missionaries are from all over the country.  By the time we finish our mission we will have a great number of new very good friends.  Good friends are hard to come by and this is an added blessing from our mission.