A Week of Miracles...

We often see the Lord's blessings in our work and feel His protective spirit.  So many times, we feel blessed and protected as we work.  Those are miracles we witness often.  We see a glimpse of the miracle of spring as a little green grass peeks through on the temple lot at Far West.

We pass by several dilapidated, abandoned houses in a little town near Far West.  These are sad memories of the past.

We pass this unusual storage shed with huge saw blades hung on the walls and the Phillips 66 sign near Haun's Mill.

Monday evening we had a very nice Irish themed dinner and FHE at our mission president's home.  Here he shares some words of wisdom with us.  I contributed a delicious colcannon potato dish made with kale.  Steve loved it and I tried it at home.  

Tuesday was a light blitz at the huge Gallatin chapel.  With all of us working, we finished the work in just a few hours.  

I was the smallest person, so I did the lights on three of the four ledges.  It felt good to make a significant contribution to the project.  It made Steve a bit nervous but I felt strongly that I should do it and that I would be safe.  The Lord blesses his missionaries.

Mark did this ledge as making the swing from the ladder to the ledge was not something I felt was wise to attempt.  It turned out to be the right decision as a ballast needed changing anyway and that is not something I have the skill to do.

We saw several eagles on our rounds this week.  They are such magnificent and beautiful birds.

Note the green field on the horizon.  It gives us hope for spring.

Our relief society had their birthday celebration on Wednesday.  It was a nice evening with about 20 sisters attending.  We are small but strong in spirit.

Thursday, we all worked at the Clayview chapel.  They are making some changes there to accommodate the addition of a 4th ward in April.  Some areas are growing.

We had to move a "huge" library into a room about 1/4 the size.  The old library will be converted into two classrooms.

We also had to remove the remodeling debris created by turning a clerk's office and storage closet into a new bishop's office.  Sister Briggs and I hauled out all of the garbage while the men planned, worked, sawed, moved and hung cabinets, etc. in the new library space.  We also did a lot of moving and gophering for the men.

We got pretty dirty moving the sheetrock, lumber and insulation.

Moving this extremely heaving folding door from the primary room to the old library was another miracle.  It was only with divine assistance that the door was squeezed through doorways and into the correct place.  There was literally no clearance.

The men took a moment's rest after successfully completing the library repositioning.  It turned out to have a lot of good storage and was amazing that they put it together so well and so quickly--miraculous indeed.

Loved this miracle of nature.  What a beautiful sunrise!

Friday night we attended the beautiful presentation of "I Stand All Amazed" an Easter cantata composed by Sally DeFord at the Platte City Stake Center.  We took the other missionary couple that serves in our branch, the Larsens with us.  We all felt well rewarded for our efforts.  It was a wonderful reminder of our Easter celebration and Christ's birth, life, death, atonement and resurrection.

Saturday morning, we left early for our drive to Adam Ondi Ahman so that we could check out Sweet Al's in Cameron on our way.  Steve has been really careful about his diet so we decided to take a chance at trying a new fritter/donut shop.  This one features other breakfast dishes and is known for their breakfast lasagna.  We were curious to see what that is.

Al's is definitely a local hangout.  This group of old timers hanging out reminding us of Steve's dad, Bill, and his friends hanging out at the bait shop years ago.

The blueberry fritter was big but not as good as Slivinski's in Kearney.  The breakfast lasagna was composed of hash browns, sausage, egg and cheese layered.  We could have had gravy over the top of the whole thing, but opted out of that layer.  The rest of it tasted pretty good, but is not something we feel compelled to try again.

I did like this sign hanging in the shop.  Pray hard...Work hard...Trust God sounds like good advice to me.

We were very excited to meet the other senior missionaries at Adam Ondi Ahman for a tour with Patriarch Bonnett and his wife.  He is one of the two people authorized by the church to give guided tours of this sacred area.  

Here Patriarch and Sister Bonnet show us a map and explain several sites to us.  They took us through several gates and on a dirt road that is not open to the public.  It had been raining a lot for the past 24 hours, so there was an additional road that we had to bypass.

Cattle are raised there.  Some are owned by the church and some are owned by several farmers who rent and work the land.  They plant crops and run cattle on the land.

We stopped at a place called "Preacher's Rock" where it is thought that Joseph Smith, Adam, and possibly other prophets preached to the people of their time.  You can see the large rock directly behind our group part way up the hill. The patriarch sent three young people down the hill into a grove of trees several hundred yards away.  Then he talked to them in his regular tone of voice and gave them instructions.  They were able to hear him and follow his directions perfectly.  I was standing right next to him and he didn't raise his voice at all.  The acoustics were amazing.  I talked to the kids and they said they could hear him perfectly.

If you look closely, you can see the three people in the trees.  The second time he talked, he asked them to go even farther away.

Here we are just below the "Preacher's Rock."

Not too far from the rock is this orange post which marks the location of Lyman Wight's cabin.  Joseph Smith stayed there on his first trip to Adam Ondi Ahman in May 1838, when he led a group there to survey the area and lay out a stake.

Picture of Lyman Wight's cabin taken 100 years later in 1938 with missionaries.  The cabin has since been completely destroyed.

We are standing in front of preacher's rock and seeing the grove of trees where the acoustics were so outstanding in the back ground.

This plaque is on the wall in the gathering room above the shop at Adam Ondi Ahman where we took our lunches to eat after the tour.  Elder Joe J. Christensen is one of the two men assigned by the first presidency to supervise the missionaries in caring for Adam Ondi Ahman.  Either Brother Christensen or Brother Sheldon Child visit the site every month.

Sister Hutchens, the AOA director's wife, visits with Sister Lovell from our mission.

We basked in the incredible spirit of this sacred and important historical site.  As we reflect on the past and future importance of this special place, we are humbled to have spent time where many prophets have walked and will again walk.  

On our way back to Independence, we stopped by a country store in Janesport run by Amish or Mennonite women (we aren't sure which).  They feature lots of spices, homemade jams, cheese, kitchenware, candy, etc.  The spices were really cheap and it was fun to visit and sample the products.

We also checked out a fabric store next door and purchased some fabrics to quilt backings and borders.  The store is closed on Thursdays and Sundays and only accepts cash.  It was small but very interesting.

Note the horse drawn buggies in the background.

That night we tried several of the popcorn varieties for our evening treat.  We tried the purple popcorn and the rainbow popcorn.  They were pretty tasty popped with coconut oil on the stove.  Steve was a little disappointed that the colored corn kernels popped in white and off white colors instead of purple and red.