Special Visitors and More...

On May 8, 2018 President Russell M. Nelson, his wife, Wendy and Elder M. Russell Ballard, President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, made a surprise visit to the Liberty Jail historic site.
We were told about it the next day.  We also found out that they had a special, session in the Kansas City Temple on May 7th in honor of the first session held 6 years earlier.  They continued on to visit Nauvoo, Far West, Hauns Mill, Adam Ondi-Ahman, and the Community of Christ temple while they were in the area.  We were so happy that just prior to their visit, we had worked hard on each of these sites to tidy them, plant flowers, etc.  They commented on the beautiful flowers and well-kept facilities so that made us feel like our efforts matter.  It has been a thrill to have them in our mission and we have felt a special spirit all week.
The pictures below show our first serious efforts at Hauns Mill for the summer.  We cleaned up a huge trailer full of branches and mowed the grass.  The area really looked quite nice when we finished.

Mark trained the Chamberlains to mow that first day.  The Briggs and Prices worked hard to pick up branches and large sticks so that the mower could be driven beneath the trees.

Our continued efforts to finish the work at the Clayview chapel included forming an assembly line to put together rolling chairs for the family history center.

Kristen and Vickie take a brief rest in the old chairs we just replaced.  Some days we move a lot of furniture.  The same day we moved furniture into the Clayview chapel, we also moved furniture into the Jackson chapel.

One day Briggs and Price installed various dispensers and mirrors in the Clayview building while Chamberlains did rounds.

Cheri, the administrative assistant, and Mark, our direct boss in the newly refurbished office.  Below Mark and his boss Kevin discuss projects.

Sister Briggs arranged for three missionary couples to take a 90-minute guided tour bus around Kansas City.  It was very interesting and gave us a different perspective around the city. Our branch covers some pretty rough areas so that is what we are used to seeing.  On this tour, we saw the city's beautiful sites. 

Here we are at the City Market.  They sold produce, spices, flowers and specialty foods.  There are many parks, fountains, museums and events in this city.

Below we pose with our tour guide,  He was very knowledgable and humorous.  When we started out, it was pouring rain but fortunately the weather improved.  We are just slightly ahead of tourist season.

Famous World War I Museum.

Steve on the tour bus.

There were three couples, the Briggs, Prices and Forsyths, who recently arrived in our mission.

Later we rode the free trolley and I took this photo of Steve.  It got very crowded as the day progressed.

Here we are in the old Union Station Train Depot.  It is a beautiful restored building with several venues inside.  They were setting up a big formal event in one of the huge rooms.

At the end of our tour, we had lunch at a Fritz where you order your hamburgers on a phone and they delivered them via an overhead electric trains which drops a basket of food onto a little elevator that lowers the food to your table.

On our way back home, we drove through the area closer to our chapel.  This huge pile of garbage was on a street only a few blocks away from Riverview Chapel.

That evening Steve and I drove out to my cousin, Mette's house to take her a long-arm quilting project.  She has a special machine and does this for others for a fee.  Here we admire her some of her quilt projects.  She does piecing, appliqué, embroidery and long arm work.  Her quilts were spectacularly intricate and beautiful.   Since I am a kindergarten quilter, I try not to let other's accomplishments discourage me.  I certainly admire the fantastic quilting I often see from others around me.  Their quilts are true works of art.  Mine are simply homemade gifts from my heart.

I enjoyed Mother's Day because I got to talk with each of my kids and most of my grandkids.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  They are the "best."

Monday afternoon just after we finished our work, we got a call from our college friends, Clark and Nadine Kay.  They were in Independence on their way to Nauvoo.  We caught up with them at a fast food restaurant and chatted for about 45 minutes.  That was a fun surprise.  Nadine and I bonded when we were neighbors and pregnant with our first kids together.  

That evening we had a senior's family home evening potluck dinner and learned a lot more about the self-reliance initiative from a local missionary couple.

The next morning, we got our first opportunity to be the mowers at Hauns Mill.

We both mowed all morning and stopped after about 4 hours during a brief but hard pouring rain.  We ate our lunch while we waited out the storm in our truck and then finished with our mowing.  It was sunny when we finished.

The next morning, we had to figure out how to move that huge 800+ lb accordion door so that carpet could be installed in that room.  Steve, Dave and Craig finally put all of their ideas together and translated it into success.

We rarely stop and sit down for lunch but just usually eat on the go in our trucks.  This day, we ate while we waited for our boss, Mark to arrive.  We had even purchased a box of fritters because we expected Mark and Kevin to meet us there and Kevin loves the fritters.  They were called into the office for special meetings so they got their fritters later.

Mark's new truck arrived this week and it took us an afternoon to move all of his equipment over to the new vehicle and clean the old truck for delivery to Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

We also did a few others chores around the shop and worked to create space for another big delivery.

 Steve and I assisted in delivering the old truck to Adam-ondi-ahman, along with some supplies.  We also helped to load up a loader on the trailer for some work we needed to do.

Here is Vickie in front of one of the many ponds at Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  It is a beautiful place.

Here we are caring for flowers at the Visitor's Center.  Below are two sister missionaries who work at the Visitor's Center and serve in our branch-Sisters Karate and Franco.  We love these dynamic gals.

Thursday evening, our friends, Dick and Kathi Anderson arrived just in time for dinner with our elders, Rowley and Thompson.

Early the next morning, we went to the shop for prayer meeting and to load up our truck to do rounds for the day.  The Briggs allowed us to do rounds that day so Andersons could go with us and assist us in our labors.  It was the first time, I had actually seen the Hedrickites having their morning prayer circle across from the Community of Christ Auditorium.  Six or seven people are circled just to the left of the big windows.

Dick and Kathy helped us weed and trim flowers at Far West, and Richmond Cemetery.

We checked out Hauns Mill but there wasn't anything to do on this particular day.

We stopped in Hamilton for lunch at Hank and Tanks BBQ.  Here we are visiting with the owner.  His son tends the smoker all night to prepare for the next day.  I guess that is why they are only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

We also made a brief detour to Breckenridge so they could see the Hauns Mill stone and monument.  They too were shocked at the dumpiness of the little town.  We have never seen it looking better with its green, spring coat on.

At Richmond, we not only took care of the cemetery and weeded but we also drove around a bit and saw the site of the old log jail where Joseph Smith rebuked the guards and the sites where David Whitmer's home and livery stable were located.

That evening, we went to the Independence Visitor's Center and saw the new movies and the displays.  While we were there a group was gathered in front of the Christus Statue while a young lady opened and shared her mission call with friends and family members.  Exciting!

Saturday morning, we located the Eight Witnesses monument just a few miles west of Liberty.

Then we walked around the Shoal Creek  Living History village.

We tried our hand at a timed photo in front of the spring house while Steve explained how the one they had when he was a child worked.  It is fascinating

Our last stop was the Subtropolis underground commercial center.  It is literally and underground maize of commercial and storage facilities that occupy a huge limestone mine.  I was surprised Steve could drive around in there but he managed.  Our visit was short, however, which was fine with all of us.

Next stop was lunch at Independence Little BBQ Joint where we tried burnt ends, coleslaw and beans which is a very popular menu option in the Kansas City area.  It was mighty tasty.

Saturday evening and Sunday, May 20, we had our stake conference.  Our stake president, President Cato, is a very dynamic man and we love how he inspires us all to step up and improve.  After the Sunday meeting, our friend, Nick Yeatrakas, was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood.  We finally got to meet Elder Lauritzen, Tanner's friend who stood in the priesthood circle.  He was one of the missionaries who taught Amber, Nick's new wife.  We helped with Nick and Amber's wedding in December.  They are moving to Nevada in about 10 days.  We are really going to miss this young couple.

Here are pictures taken in the office of our boss, Kevin Smith with Steve and our immediate boss, Mark.  There are some big changes coming in the next year to the FM group employees.  Most likely Kevin would lose his job.  Being proactive with his young family of five children, he has found another job and will be moving the end of the month to Spokane, Washington.

Kevin loves brightly colored socks, fritters, licorice, dogs, kids and missionaries.

Here Cheri and Mark talk about work projects in the refurbished office.

Below are recent photos of the beautiful flowers at Far West and Liberty Jail where we water and tenderly care for them.  Our historic sites are getting a lot more visitors now that summer is approaching.

Steve sits in a chair near the Quilt City door as I make a purchase.

These beautiful peonies bloomed about 10 days ago.  We loved them.  We were sad that the blossoms only last 3 or 4 days.  Darn.

Steve and Mark mowed for an entire morning on the lot where Lilliburn Bogg's home used to stand.  The grass was about waist high on me.  We aren't sure when or how the church acquired this property.

A conestoga tourist wagon drove by and I quickly tried to capture it along with Steve and Mark mowing.  If you look carefully, you can see the wagon.

I picked up a lot of sticks, branches and garbage mostly around the edges of the lot.  It was a hot day and I quickly complied by breaking out into a Missouri sweat.

That afternoon Steve and Dave worked diligently to repair broken sprinkler pipe at the Visitor's Center.  There are 27 zones in this system.  Finding the leak was a huge endeavor.

Pictured below are Dave Briggs, Craig Chamberlain, Michael Ellison, who has served a local missionary with the FM group for 10 years, and Steve.

Sister Love, had the young missionaries write thank you cards to the FM workers.  Vickie made this cool board to display them.  Our administrative assistant can then change and rotate the cards whenever she desires.

The guys have to change the blades on this mower about every 12 hours of use.  It is really kind of a pain but I'm sure it will get easier.

Another day, we were working on the sprinklers and I was pulling weeds, etc.  I felt like I was being cooked for dinner.  I don't know if I will ever adapt to 98 degrees with 80 percent humidity.

I borrowed Steve's mowing hat because my hat is heavy.  It works well in the rain though.

Our boss had us take a quick lunch break in the shop and put a big fan blowing directly on us.  It helped us cool down a bit.

At Far West, there is a dog who trots down the street from a farm to visit us.  We have nicknamed him the Far West mascot.  His breathing is very loud and heavy.  He's hysterical!

We see a lot of mini-vans parked at our various historic sites.  It looks like a mini-van convention.

There was a big group of touring students on Wed. last week.  We take a lot of photos for visitors.

Here is a sidewalk sale at Hamilton.  It was one of our quickest trips.  I quickly determined that I didn't need a single thing that day.

Wednesday night, May 23rd, we helped Diane and Jeff Johnson, AZ move a few things to their new apartment in Liberty.  They will be the new seasoned head couple at Liberty Jail visitor's center.  They will continue to work at the Independence center sometimes too.  After we moved their stuff, we went to Mod's Pizza for dinner.  They make your personal pizzas to your specifications.  It was really good and Jeff was treating.  It was our first time to eat pizza since moving to Missouri.

Our boss, Kevin, shows off some other bright socks.

On Thursday, we had our last staff meeting and had a dutch oven lunch/farewell party for Kevin.  Mark is a seasoned dutch oven cook and Steve learned a lot by assisting him with his duties.

Here are the helpers watching and learning.  Everyone brought things to share and we had a tasty lunch.

Below you can see Natalie, Kevin's wife, Benson, Kevin and Josh.  Josh will assumed Kevin's responsibilities which doubles his work load. Fortunately Mark is extremely capable and will carry on without much supervision.

Kevin, Josh and Cheri

We sang a song telling about Kevin's exploits as our FM leader and I presented him with a Missouri Memory Book which I had made on-line with lots of pictures.  We think he was really touched by the book.  He said it will be a real treasure to help him remember this past year in Missouri.  We also gave him a bag with a variety of his favorite licorice candies.

Here's my new hat.  It is a special hat designed to screen the harmful sun rays.  It is lightweight, breathable and can be rolled up for packing or storage.  It is definitely a "special" hat.

That night we hosted elders for dinner.  Elder Thompson was on splits with the Spanish Elders so Elder Gibson came with Elder Rowley.

Friday morning we were the first couple to arrive at the shop shortly before 7 a.m.

We immediately noticed that a garage door was open and a trailer was pulled in front of it.  Both of those were very unusual.  It didn't take long to realize that our compound of fenced off buildings had been burglarized and vandalized.  The damage was mind boggling with 5 garage doors and 3 gates being severely damaged or destroyed.  There were some missing tools but the damage was worse than the theft.

We waited around for quite awhile unable to touch anything until the police arrived.  We just took photos documenting things.

Kevin arrived before the policeman but eventually they were able to discuss the situation.  The vehicle used had to be in pretty bad shape ramming into everything.  We found a license plate in the street near the last gate.  It was traced and the stolen car was found in an Independence park totally torched and burned.  Someone lost a big, nice SUV.

The burglary took place during a gigantic thunderstorm/rainstorm.  We have a drainage are next to our office and it became and instant lake.  That was amazing to us!

We left while the police was talking with Kevin to do our rounds.  In our current heat situation, the flowers needed to be checked, weeded and perhaps watered.  We didn't have to water at Liberty as it got sufficient rain.  However, Far West and Hauns Mill were totally dry and hadn't received any rain.

When we got back to the office, the men all worked together to straighten the gates with a truck and padlock them.  Then they worked really hard to straighten the garage doors enough to bolt them to the wall.  We needed to secure the rest of our equipment for the long weekend.

When we finally left at 7 p.m., we were all exhausted.  Steve was the last to leave and lock the only undamaged gate.

We got home just in time to stream Brinley's high school graduation on the computer.  That was really fun to "attend" even though we were far away.  We are so proud of her many accomplishments and especially of the fine young lady she is.  We love you, Brinley!

On Saturday morning, I was able to visit Aunt Inge Lisa.  She was in a remarkably happy mood and smiled a lot.  It was so nice to see her smiling.

We did errands later on and I shopped for some warm weather clothing.  I was not prepared for the extreme heat and humidity.  I look flushed all the time.

Sunday we had a"Linger Longer" after church to say farewell to two families who are moving from our branch and the area.  The LaPlant family, two members, John and Emily, are pictured below.  I couldn't catch Greg and Ruthie.  They have literally been the glue that has held this branch together for the past 16 years.  Greg was the former branch president until he started his job in St. Louis this winter.  He has been commuting home on weekends.  Sister Rogers, a sharp single gal who has served faithfully with the YW is moving to DC.  These stalwarts will surely be missed.

That evening, we were invited by Elder and Sister Larsen from our branch to join them and the elders for an evening breakfast.  She cooked a literal breakfast feast including sausage, eggs, hash browns, french toast and fruit.  It was very delicious and an enjoyable evening.

Elder Rowley loved the French toast piled high with cool whip, strawberries, and homemade cinnamon syrup.  Yum!