A Missouri December to Remember!

Here we pose with the Briggs in the carriage house which was decorated for the Christmas season.   They now host receptions and parties in this carriage house.  Many paintings by Mr. Bingham hang on the walls.

 December 1st was a very nice day here in Independence.  We finished our rounds early and decided to take the opportunity to visit a historic sight just up the street from our shop.  The Bingham-Waggoner Estate was plotted in 1827 on the super highway west called the Santa Fe Trail.  The Estate played an important part in the region's history.  One of the colorful owners of the property was an artist and politician named George Caleb Bingham who painted a famous civil war painting named Order No. 11.  In 1879, The Waggoner family, well-known millers of flour purchase the Estate.  The flour mill was across the street.  The home was purchased by a private group and in cooperation with the city maintains it as a tribute to the thousands of souls who passed by it on their way west to build a nation.  There are many remarkable furnishings, etc. that are original to the home and the families who lived there.

Friday evening, we attended the beautiful Kansas City Temple with our branch and stayed afterward to help with the cleaning.  I packed some disposable gloves for each of us in case we were assigned to clean bathrooms.  I was fortunate enough to vacuum dressing rooms.  Steve forgot his gloves and of course, he was assigned to clean the men's bathroom.  He did it but I know he didn't care for it, especially without his gloves. 

Saturday, after we finished our laundry and housework, we decided to drive into Kansas City and visit the Hallmark Visitors Center.  At the corporate headquarters they have a very nice museum and a shopping mall.  We really enjoyed the museum and browsing through the mall.  It was all very interesting to see.  They even have a theatre that hosts live productions in the middle of the mall and an ice rink outside.

We did not realize what a huge, international company Hallmark is.  We just know that we like their schmultzy, more wholesome movies.

They have a display of Christmas trees made by the staff each year for the founder. The company was founded in 1920 by entrepreneur, J.C. Hall, and is still led by members of the founding family as a private company today.  Obviously he was very beloved by his employees as these trees are amazing.  One of his goals was to foster creativity and these are a huge demonstration of that. 

On Sunday, we hosted the Briggs for dinner after church.  A couple of their daughters made a surprise visit over the weekend to give them the exciting news that they will be grandparents again in July.  I thought that Vickie might be feeling sad after they dropped them off at the airport so we had dinner together and watched the First Presidency Devotional.

Monday it was back to work fixing things.

Tuesday, we ended up in Leavenworth, Kansas, the town where the Mormon Battalion were trained and dispatched from.  It is also the home of a military base since 1820 and a famous federal prison named Leavenworth.  We found a little local eatery called the Pullman Place and decided to give it a try.  The restaurant was decorated in train motif which typified the area as a railroad hub.

 We each tried one of the daily specials from corned beef and cabbage to my tomato soup which was one of the best bowls of soup I have ever eaten.  We were too full for dessert but were told that their pies were fantastic.  It's on our list for another day.

Every morning we meet at the shop to receive a phone call from our boss giving us instructions for the day.  Then we have a prayer together before leaving for our work day.

Wednesday night, the Stake President of the Independence Stake, Pres. Cato, hosted a dinner for his high councilmen, their wives, and all the senior and young missionaries serving in his stake.  The senior couples all brought potluck dishes to complement the variety of meats.  With so many sweets at every turn, I brought a big fruit tray.  It was one of the first empty dishes.

 The next day one of our chores was to change the burned out light bulbs on the Mission President's home.  It was a 3-man job so we exchanged all of them for long lasting LED bulbs.

 Friday, Steve and I did repairs and paint touch up on the old mission home to help prepare it for sale.  We helped to clean it out, stage it and get it ready to sell.  This was a familiar task for us.

 One day while running errands we happened upon this blow up nativity set.  I normally dislike blow up decorations, but I thought this was really cute.  I took a photo since Steve wasn't in the purchasing mood.

On Friday night, we braved the very chilly weather to go to Overland Park, Kansas for a Luminary Walk at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.  They put out thousands of candles along the walkways and had musical groups, areas of lights, hot cider and wagon rides.  It was a fundraiser for the upcoming year.  We really enjoyed the walk and the experience.  It is held for three weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas and reminded us a little of Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.  We think that we will go back in the spring to visit again.

 Saturday, we did our laundry, shopping, etc. and I baked goods to give to friends, branch members, neighbors, and other missionaries.  That evening, we met with about 8 other senior couples at a oriental buffet called MaMa Garden and then planned to attend the program at the Visitors' Center being presented by the sister missionaries.  We wanted to support them.  When we pulled into the parking lot, we caught this other hardworking missionary couple, the Lovells asleep in their car.  They had spent the past several days, deep cleaning the old mission home and moving stuff to the missionary warehouse, we call the cave.  They have taken charge of the cave and organized all the stuff to be used in the missionary apartments.  It's quite the place.  Elder Lovell is the consulting doctor for 9 missions but they are headquartered in ours.  They float around helping wherever they are needed until there is a medical emergency.

Sunday we hosted the missionaries, a single sister who is new to the branch and a young couple from Utah who are here while the husband attends medical school.  The wife is struggling through a rough pregnancy.  She says she can eat better at night and we were very happy that she could eat this time.

Monday night, the 11th, we gathered with the senior missionaries for a FHE potluck dinner and elephant gift exchange.  We truly laughed a lot and had a lot of fun trading crazy gifts, many of them from the cave.  The mission president and his wife were able to attend and we got a kick out of them modeling their "new" sunglasses.  They mistakenly wore the glasses intended for the other one which made it extra funny.  I think that we were all just in a funny mood by the end of the evening.

We have been assigned to gather information on all the dumpster and trash collection sites in the mission.  The Lovells helped us drive around and take pictures and fill out the spread sheet.  I was asked to call each company and get copies of the contracts for trash collection since the trash vendor files were very incomplete.  This turned out to be a pretty big job and took quite a bit of time.  The secretary was very appreciative of our efforts to help with this.  I feel like a real dumpster "diva"- a real trash expert. 

On Friday, we finally had the opportunity to stop at the infamous Oink & Moo BBQ restaurant in Richmond.  We are in Richmond several times each week but it is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11-7 and we had trouble organizing our work to fit into these hours.  

 Burnt ends, are a famous local BBQ dish.  Here you see it with coleslaw, potatoes and gravy and a homemade roll.  It was pretty good.  Steve especially liked the coleslaw.  I had a bowl of soup that was really good and had quite a few tastes of Steve's meal also.  We would rate this place worthy of a return visit.  Next time we will try the brisket sandwich which definitely looked big enough to share.

That evening there was a wonderful Christmas program at the Visitors Center organized and directed by the Beebe's.  It was a very high quality presentation with excellent musicians and readers.

December is especially busy with activities and several senior couples organized a visit to another local Mansion called the Vaile Mansion.  It was over the top decorated for Christmas and was really something to see and enjoy.  Every room was decorated by different volunteers.  It was extravagant and gorgeous, etc.  

 This little working carousel was beautiful.  This family had all the latest furniture and luxuries.  It was a gorgeous place.

 This item below was a sewing machine which would have been used by a staff member in behalf of the family.

This was the most updated organ of the time.  It was beautifully crafted.

Before we joined the group at the Vaile Mansion, Steve went over to the church to help the Branch President with a woodworking project to help fathers make wood toys for their kids.  Only one man showed up to take advantage of the opportunity so Steve set up the tables for the branch Christmas party that evening.  As soon as he finished the young men showed up to play basketball.  What's new?

We had a very nice branch party.  Many people came.  The party didn't start on time, but they came and brought an interesting variety of food to go along with the meat and rolls provided.

Below is a picture of the entire primary singing a song.  There are more children in my primary class at home than in the entire branch primary here.  It was a nice program and a pleasant evening and we enjoyed getting better acquainted with the branch members.

Sunday after church, Steve was hit hard with a cold that had been creeping up on him.  It really knocked him down and he ended up staying home on Monday to battle the illness.  I went into the office for a couple of hours to make phone calls for the dumpster project.  

One day is all that Steve would allow himself off, however.  Tuesday, we met up with the group for a Christmas lunch at the Pullman Place in Leavenworth and then over to the chapel for safety training.  Steve did an excellent job on the tool safety section.  He is a true expert that is for sure and is without a doubt the most safety conscious person in our group of workers.

Wednesday we were back to our usual rounds.

Steve is examining the new mower we just got for spring.  It's sweet.

 Thursday, we had to drive to Atchison, Kansas to straighten out a key situation and check out the dumpster.  The Briggs were sent elsewhere so they missed out on seeing this railroad, riverboat town with a very interesting history.

 Mormon Grove just about 4 miles outside Atchison was a starting point for many Mormons who got off of the boats coming up from the Mississippi and then Missouri Rivers and then heading west.  It was especially popular during 1855 and 1856.  The Mormons had a great influence on the community and established a trading partnership which brought goods on the railroad to Utah and then to the west coast for over a decade.

We also drove around a little and found the birthplace of Amelia Earhart just a few blocks from the current LDS meeting house.  Since no one was there that day except the docent, we took a few minutes to walk through the home/museum.

 It was located on a street overlooking the Missouri River and was surrounded by beautiful Victorian homes from the mid-1800's.  They have been maintained and updated and are still being occupied today.

 Not only was Amelia a famous female pilot, she was a popular public motivational speaker and a clothing designer.  It seems she had many talents and was a pioneer in many ways.

 We loved the beautiful rounded stained glass windows in the dining room.

There were many signs of a thriving manufacturing community.  Steve believes the building on the edge of the river was a boundary.

 On our way to other chapels to continue our dumpster survey, we passed this Hearth Bakery which had been surrounded by cars when we passed it earlier.  The baker bakes all his goods in a wood-fired oven seen below.

 The bakery is only open certain mornings of the week--I believe Wednesday through Saturday and is apparently very popular especially at Christmas time.  He only had a few scones left so we purchased a couple.

 The back of the restaurant/bakery opened up into a vintage car restoration shop owned and run by the baker's father.  It was such an interesting place.

The next day it took all four of us to deliver a roll of carpet to Gallatin, Missouri.  Our travels took us through a little, population 204, town of Altamont.  We really laughed a lot at this Disfunktion Junktion second hand store. 

 Right down the road was this red-neck Christmas tree made out of tires spray painted green with red lights on them complete with a dog who came out to greet us when we stopped for a photo.

 At the other end of town, was a metal silhouette business with hundreds of silhouettes.  They were really quite cool.  I loved the nativity scenes.

When we arrived a Gallatin chapel, Steve came up with an ingenious method to move the heavy roll of carpet without too much strain on our old backs.  We all loved him for thinking of this plan.  It worked out fabulously well and gave us a little time to drive around the small historic town where so much grief and trauma was experienced by our Mormon ancestors.

 It was recommended by some other missionaries that we stop and try this Mi Mexico Restaurant there so we did.  The portions were generous and the price was very reasonable.

This was Steve's  lunch for about $5.99.  Whenever we are in this general area, we seem to run into missionaries from Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  This town was probably about 10 miles from there and so when they have any free time, it is a place they can come for groceries, supplies, etc.  There was a nice couple in the restaurant so we visited for a few minutes.

We ended up driving directly through Hamilton which is the headquarters of Missouri Star Quilting Company.  There are more than a dozen quilt shops, each specializing in their own type of quilt fabric and design.  The one we stopped at was housed in the old original JC Penney store.  James Cash Penney Sr. grew up on a farm near Hamilton, Missouri.

 This is definitely a place to visit if one is interested in quilting.  They even have a place for the husbands to hang out called the Man Cave.  Our visit was short but Steve and Dave enjoyed sitting in the lounge chairs and resting.

 Saturday evening we hosted two other Reuben-loving couples for our traditional Christmas Eve Rueben sandwiches.  We did it before Christmas Eve so that everyone could be home to FaceTime or Skype with family members in Christmas Eve.

We had a very nice program at church for our Christmas Eve service.  We really love our little branch.  They are so eclectic, humble and supportive of each other.  The spirit is abundant.

Snow came right on Christmas Eve so that we would have a white Christmas the next morning.  Since our kids opted to call at other times, we accepted an invitation to another senior couple's home for a prime rib dinner.  It was delicious.  I took a spinach salad to make the dinner more healthy.  After dinner, we went to the Visitors Center to support the missionaries once again in presenting a program.  This one included some talented elders and seniors also.

We were up bright an early Christmas morning for two reasons.  One, we are used to getting up early.  Two, I made four breakfast rings to share with all the missionaries at a Christmas breakfast.

Steve opened our gifts.  We loved the book Kathy & Brent gave us with photos of our Mackay visit last summer and the InstaPot given us by the kids.  We expect to use it a lot while we are serving here in Missouri.  Here I am in my snugly new pajamas that help keep me warm at night.

 The sister missionaries acted out the nativity for us and we all sang Christmas carols.

 We laughed at all the senior missionaries taking photos of the sisters in their costumes.

 Then they took pictures of all of us in our costumes too.  Ha! Ha!

Steve not taking a Christmas afternoon nap.

Tuesday afternoon, we drove down to the Kansas City Plaza area.  It is supposed to be decorated with lights on all the buildings.  We needed to find Steve some pants at Eddie Bauer and use a coupon we had so we timed it so watch the lights come on.  Afterwards we drove around the Ward Parkway area where the old mansions from the booming 1900's era are located.  They are beautiful and many of them were decorated.  My neighbor said that they always make a trip to see them during the Christmas season.

One day as we were delivering Ice Melt to chapels in the northern hinterlands, we came across this huge Catholic Abbey in a small rural town almost in the middle of nowhere.  Surprise!

The town is called Conception and so the is Abbey.

The next day on our rounds, we passed this familiar abandoned Catawba store on the way to Hauns Mill.  It is typical of this part of Missouri--very poor and run down.  The gas pump by the porch is intriguing too.

This is our famous double-wide landmark.  There aren't any tire tracks around it so perhaps it has been abandoned.  Two trailers are connect by a metal hallway--hence the double-wide.

Saturday morning we went to the temple one last time this year.  We each did initiatories so that the names we have will be ready for endowments during 2018. 

We declined an invitation to get together with other senior couples for New Years Eve and/or day.  We preferred to work on our blog, taxes, etc. and have a quiet time together at home.  Staying home allowed Steve some extra rest to get over his cold.  It was a good choice.

I haven't posted many details about our day-to-day work as some of them are quite repetitive but we normally work anywhere from 7-9 hours each day.  We have changed hundreds of light bulbs for sure.  We do these other activities in the evenings or on our preparation day or in the afternoons if we finish up early.

My personal desire for the next year is to keep ourselves healthy so we can perform our assignments and be helpful in bringing someone in addition to ourselves closer to Christ our Savior.