Nikki's in Nauvoo!

Dear family,Hello from the beautiful Nauvoo! I've come up with A LOT to tell you already!I'm in a trio again- Sister Barry and I are still together and with our trainer, Sister Meyer. Sister Meyer is AMAZING!!!! I'm so excited to have her around and have her as a trainer. She is definitely Heaven sent. We get along really well and... well, we just fit! She is really caring and enthusiastic, and she is really on top of things.We live in an old house- half of it's original and then it has been added onto. It's a beautiful house! It's decently big, which is good, because there are 14 young sister missionaries living there. Everyone seems really sweet. When we arrived yesterday, everyone that was home ran out to meet us. There was a sign on the front door welcoming us by name, and we found fresh flowers and chocolate cupcakes and some of Nauvoo's famous fudge in our bedroom. (Let me say here that sleep was fantastic last night- it helped that I was purely exhausted, and it also helped that the bed is quite comfortable.) There are also 6 sisters in Carthage- we saw a couple at our house yesterday (their prep day).Transfers here are every month, so I think they'll go pretty fast (especially compared to my 10 weeks in the MTC). It'll be sad to lose my companions, but oh well! I get the opportunity to serve with lots of wonderful sisters. (P.S. That also means my prep day will change every month.) I feel really comfortable with the sisters here already. I'm also excited to meet all our senior couples and senior sisters. (I haven't seen Grandpa Westwood's brother and sister-in-law yet, but I did she Ashley formerly-Brimley's grandma this morning.)The plane ride was decent. It went fast, which I was grateful for. The drive was fast too, which I was also grateful for. We had a decent 6 or more hours of travel. (P.S. It was SO sad to say goodbye to Elder Hill.) The plane was smaller (2 seats on each side of the isle) so it was pretty crammed, and I got a little bit sick. For a while there things were really quiet and everyone was in their own world, so I tried to name the 50 states-- I missed Wisconson, New Hampshire, and Indiana. After that Sister Barry and I started talking to the people across the isle. Really nice people from Montana. They've been exposed to the church before and have a Book of Mormon, but I gave them a pass along card-- I had one with the Nauvoo Temple on it so I was able to say, "This is where we're going!" We then met our President's wife at baggage claim and then followed her out to the van and met our President. They are really great people, and fun to be around. President Ludwig is a convert and his story is very sweet. Then we drove here! I've officially been in Missouri during May (well, at least a couple hours of driving)-- Savannah will be so pleased! The midwest is VERY green right now. VERY GREEN. We passed the town Mark Twain is from-- I forgot what it's called. We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois (on a bridge of course) and then after a while we ended up on a road that follows the river. A few things about the river: it is very muddy and brown; it is still pretty despite the muck; it's HUGE; there are barges on it that push crops up and down the river-- it looks like a train but on water-- we saw a few on our drive, which was exciting; apparently we'll see pelicans, and we'll also see turtles because they come up from the river and sun bathe on logs; it kind of makes me want to be Tom Sawyer.Nauvoo is amazing. I love it here. It's beautiful. So far the climate is in my favor. I like the humidity, and last night we had a fantastic rain storm (which I have been informed was a trickle). There was a lightening storm as we were going to bed, and that was pretty neat. The rain here smells good, so I loved it (my favorite smell in the whole world!). I still haven't seen a lot of historic Nauvoo, but we'll be doing that later tonight. (I'm excited. I'll get to meet our two... oxen!! Apparently they are neat animals, and we can hug them. I'll get a picture and send it home.) We saw the main part of Nauvoo proper that we'll deal with- like little shops and stuff. It's cute. There are 8 different churches in Nauvoo, and apparently the local leaders meet up every month or so and discuss what's going on so that they can support each other. I thought that was neat. It's a cute small town, so I feel pretty at home I guess. The Temple is Beautiful, inside and out. It's very magestic. It's at the top of a hill, and when we look down we can see the river and bits of Old Nauvoo. I love it. We went to the temple this morning, and it's beautiful inside too. There's a beautiful spiral staircase, and all the marble and wood work are amazing. The Celestial room is amazing. It was nice to go to the temple too- the Spirit was amazing. I haven't even been here in Nauvoo for 24 hours, and I've already done a lot of signing! We have a Deaf visitor-- actually that guy from Payson that you met at the park. So, within the first couple of hours I was interpreting-- for Susan Easten Black! She's been giving speeches here for three days, and we went to listen to her last night-- the final lecture. Two things about her: 1) she knows a lot and she loves the history, and 2) she talks VERY fast. This morning he and his family came to the temple at the same time as us, so I FINALLY got to see the ASL interpretation. Then I had an amazing experience. He asked me to interpret sealings for him as they were sealing some of their family. Okay- that was hard. I had to ask the sealer to slow down a few times. But it was amazing! I felt the Spirit so strong. And I feel SO lucky! I mean, seriously, I got the opportunity to interpret sealings my first real day here, and the opportunity to interpret last night too. This has been a tender mercy of the Lord for me-- He knows the desire of my heart to work with the Deaf on my mission and how concerned I was that I would not get much of that. I am so grateful that I was using ASL my first couple days.Well, a little bit about today. Today we'll go shopping, do laundry, finish unpacking, pick up my PIONEER dress, and then study and get an overview of Old Nauvoo. It's going to be an exciting day!Well, I've got to wrap up and write to President, but I want to let you know that I am happy. God definitely knows what He's doing. He sent me here! (So many things I love already!) I love you all very much! Have a great week and take care.Love,Sister Westwood