Church History

Another Nauvoo Pageant season has come and gone, and participants and visitors to this small community on the Mississippi River have returned home. During the summer of 2014, the city of Nauvoo welcomed the British Pageant “Truth Will Prevail” as well as the annual Nauvoo Pageant “A Tribute to Joseph Smith” in commemoration of the Nauvoo Pageant’s 10^th anniversary.

Almost 60,000 people attended these two musical productions this year compared to 35,000 last year. Each production reinforced the other as it told the story of the early Saints in Nauvoo and the British Isles. Through song, dance, and personal stories from journals and other historical documents, performers testified of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Saints who built Nauvoo and the temple in the 1840s, and converts who joined the LDS Church in the British Isles.

Nauvoo Pageant, Jill Franklin

Both pageants presented stories of individuals and families who faced life’s challenges with faith in Jesus Christ. Cast members, volunteers, and audiences who watched the productions felt the Spirit testify of the truths of the gospel and the sacrifices of the early Saints.

British Pageant, Jill Franklin

Each evening at 7:00 before each pageant began, visitors gathered at the Frontier Country Fair near the pageant stage for hands-on experiences with1840s-style games and activities led by family cast members in period costumes. Participants joined in stickball, stilts, tug-o-war, sack races, log sawing, parlor games, quilting, and dancing.

Country Fair tug-o-war, Jill Franklin

For three years Mike and Ginny Bright from Pocatello, Idaho, came to Nauvoo as pageant volunteers, and then Mike was called as director of volunteer security for the 2014 pageant season. When they arrived this summer, they brought two new items for the Frontier Country Fairsock puppets and handkerchief dolls. Little did the children who received these toys realize that the puppets and dolls were gifts of love donated to Nauvoo. What was the story behind these donations?

Gifts of love, Mike Bright

After being immersed in pageant activities and service for six weeks each summer, Mike and Ginny carried their love of Nauvoo home with them to share with others. “Serving in Nauvoo is one of the spiritual highlights of our lives,” Mike said.

They knew that other volunteers and cast members felt as they did, for they heard comments such as these: “Each day we’re guided by the Lord” during intense practices and schedules “but we receive strength to go on.” “The Spirit makes a lasting impression, and that’s what we take from the pageant.” “Our hearts were changed.” “The Spirit of God like a fire is burning every night on that stage.” “They are saying someone else’s words, but that’s the way we feel.” “No one can come to Nauvoo without being transformed in some way.” “It’s in the air. It makes you want to come back.”

“You want to come back.” Jill Franklin

At home in Idaho, Mike serves as LDS branch president at the women’s correctional facility in Pocatello. He and Ginny have opportunities to visit with the women and teach them about Nauvoo as they meet with them almost every day of the week for Family Home Evening, Institute classes, Relief Society, Bible study, and Sunday meetings.

“One of our goals is to teach the women the Light of Christ,” Mike said. “The ladies love their scriptures, and they request copies of the Bible and Book of Mormon. Even non-members have the Book of Mormon. They get close to Heavenly Father. They tell us that when we’re around you, we get a feeling.'”

This comment reminded Mike of what Joseph Smith told Robert Laird in the Nauvoo Pageant when Robert said, “It tastes good,” and Joseph said that what is good comes from Christ.

By sharing their Nauvoo and pageant experiences with the women, “the ladies love Nauvoo and the things we do. They love Brother Joseph,” Mike said. After they learned about those who gave their all to build the city and temple and then watched “17 Miracles” and “Ephraim’s Rescue,” the women asked if they could perform some act of service for Nauvoo’s 2014 pageant season.

Nauvoo Pageant, Jill Franklin

As a result of their desire to serve, “the ladies made over 300 sock puppets in prison for the Frontier Country Fair,” Ginny said. “They worked on the puppets for about six months during their free time. They kept asking us for more items to decorate the puppets.” One non-member lady was an artist, and she drew faces on paper and transferred them to the sock puppets to make them come alive for children.

Ladies with their puppets, Mike Bright

Besides designing puppets, “a few ladies, members and non-members, cut hundreds of 12″x12″ pieces of fabric for handkerchief dolls. They also cut hundreds of 6″ pieces of lace for the children to make the dolls,” Ginny said.

Child with handkerchief doll, Jill Franklin

“Making the puppets was very exciting for the ladies. They felt that none of them would ever get to see Nauvoo, and this was a way for them to be of service and part of the work in Nauvoo. The ladies loved every minute they spent working on this project.”

Ginny added, “This service brought smiles to the ladies’ faces, made their hearts happy, and in turn it created smiles and happy hearts to the many children who received a sock puppet or made a handkerchief doll.

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Mike Bright

In one scene of the British Pageant, George and Ann Cannon and their young children Angus and Annie carried on a poignant conversation. Angus said, “There’s a robin, Mother,” and his mother responded, “And some sparrows.”

“I can’t see them,” Annie said. Her mother told her to look closer. The children responded, “They are so small. Who takes care of them?”

“Remember your Bible? Not a sparrow falls but God knows it,” their mother said.

Annie then asked, “What does that mean?” and her father explained, “It means God is watching over them.”

God watches over all His children, and He loves them. He knows and loves His daughters whose desire to serve brought smiles and happy hearts to those who received their sock puppets and handkerchief dolls as gifts of love this year in Nauvoo.

“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren [and sisters], ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:40).

Mike Bright

Rosemary Palmer is Nauvoo, Illinois, correspondent for Meridian Magazine.