Illinois

This morning we were in Springfield at the Abraham Lincoln Historical Museum. That was a VERY well designed museum. I have kind of been thinking that exhibit design would be a cool job. There were some movies that were so interactive and life-like that I spent a large majority of the time trying to determine in one of them if there was a live actor as part of it or not. It was interesting to see how Abraham Lincoln was so hated in his campaign, and through his presidency (which still makes me wonder how he won if he was despised so deeply) but yet once he died he instantly became a legend! I stood in a room which was a recreation of his viewing and I couldn't help but feel a sacredness there, just as strong or stronger than in some of the religious sites. I wish I possessed a portion of the dedication he had!

We again boarded the bus--this time for Carthage. I guess memory does weird things to me, but it wasn't quite how I remembered. We got to have a little bit of a testimony meeting/devotional up in the room. This was a great place to be...but I was soooooo excited for our next stop! Ryan, Amanda and I set things up for our group to get to go to the Nauvoo Temple tonight! I was soooo excited! The temple is so beautiful. It is different than any other temple I have been in--that's for sure. The simplicity but elegance is stunning. The work and craftsmanship is incredible, but there isn't the hand stenciling or some of the other things I have seen in temples. The materials were beautiful, and the spiral staircase was really cool. I had a really cool experience in the temple--this work is really important.