'Close by here'
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(Read Gerry Avant's blog as she accompanies the Choir on their 2009 tour.)
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS
On Sunday morning the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square traveled to Nauvoo, Ill., a city developed by early Latter-day Saints that served as Church headquarters from the spring of 1839 until the exodus west began in 1846. The Latter-day Saints who had lived in Nauvoo became the pioneers who arrived in what is now Utah in July of 1847.
Mac Christensen, president of the choir, said that it's important for choir members to visit some sites of interest while on tour, especially Church history sites.
While in Nauvoo, choir and orchestra members and guests attended sacrament meeting in the Nauvoo Illinois Stake center at noon and then spent a few hours visiting some of the city's historic sites. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Debbie Christensen, are traveling with the choir.
In his remarks in sacrament meeting, Elder Christensen reminded the group that it was 165 years ago this month that the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.
"It was close by here, and at this time of year," he said.
He spoke of the saints' hurried efforts to finish the temple and then the rush to receive endowments for themselves and in behalf of the dead as they were "getting ready for the long walk across the plains."
After a box lunch, choir and orchestra members and guests were free to visit some of the properties in Nauvoo. Several on the tour have ancestors who lived in Nauvoo.
Bruce and Vivienne Sullivan walked the Trail of Hope, down Parley Street to the point where the early saints crossed the Mississippi River. They paused to read markers along the trail.
Brother Sullivan retired last April from the choir, having served in it 17 years; Sister Sullivan has been a choir member for five years.
"Two of the posts on the Trail of Hope are about our relatives," Brother Sullivan said. "Sarah Jane Leavitt is an ancestor on my mother's side, and Zina D. H. Young is Viviene's great-great-grandmother."
The choir and orchestra departed in the evening for Des Moines, Iowa, where they performed a concert Monday night.
