Spring Flowers Arrive

The spring blooms on the redbud trees outside of our shop were gorgeous.  There are a lot of these trees here in Missouri as some grow naturally along the side of the roads.  We are just sorry that the blossoms didn't last very long.

Here Steve and Elder Briggs load the trucks with supplies and tools in preparation for a day's work.

Steve is preparing pots for the planting next week.

On Friday night, we were invited out to eat by our friends the Johnsons. Here Steve is with the Briggs in front of the Mexican restaurant.  Johnsons were already getting in the car when I thought about a photo and declined to include their famous faces.

Saturday morning just a week after my surgery, I knew that I needed to take it easy but it was a cool but sunny day and I wanted a short outing.  We decided to check out Shoal Creek Living History Museum, a county park not too far from the Kansas City Temple.  It was a beautiful "walk in the park" and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Some of the structures were built in other areas of Missouri and moved to this location.  Others are replicas.  Below Steve stand near the gristmill and the jail.

I am standing near 4 cabins connected by "dog runs".  The family adds another cabin as needed.  One is used for sleeping, another for cooking and eating, another for weaving and sewing, etc.

Here is the spring house where they stored food to keep it cool.

Note the redbud trees in the background with their pretty pink blossoms.

Steve used to drive a dump rake pulled by horses very similar to this piece of equipment when he was growing up.

This house below was built in the 1830's and moved to this location.  That was around the time the Mormon settlers first began coming to Missouri.

This house below was the doctor's home.  It was relocated here.

After a short, pleasant walk around this living history museum, we drove to nearby Liberty to check out the cooper's shop our friends had told us about.  

It was fascinating to think that this man has been able to make a living making barrels and buckets for the past 30 years.  People contact him from all over the world.  He makes a lot of stuff for movies. The Briggs discovered the shop when the barrel from the display at Liberty Jail needed repair.  How fortunate for us that a real cooper lives nearby.  Here is Steve talking with Doug, the cooper.

Saturday night we had another baptism.  Antonio Williams, age 14, decided to follow in his family footsteps.  His mother said that he was the last of her children to be baptized.

I invited my friend, Sister Givens, at attend the baptism.  I was delighted when she came.  She even bore her testimony.  I'm confident she will return to full activity.  Sister Larsen, another senior missionary is on the right.

After the baptism we drove straight to the stake center to attend part of the two day Book of Mormon Symposium that is held annually for any and all believers in the Book of Mormon.  There are quite a few congregations not affiliated with our church that believe in the Book of Mormon.  The presentations are quite scholarly and pretty much point to the fact that it would have been impossible for a young man of limited education to write or assemble without divine guidance.

We ended up leaving at the break since I was getting very tired and couldn't sit up any longer.  Of course, we missed the best speaker because they saved the best for last, BYU professor Keith Wilson.

Sunday at church, I was able to catch this photo of Steve and Brother Jeffreys.  His "fancy" clothing is always a sight to behold.  We love brother Jeffreys.
That evening we had two young couples to dinner--the Cooks and the Yeatrakas families.  It had been scheduled prior to the surgery and we didn't want to postpone it again.  Steve and Amber both helped out.

Monday morning, we went on rounds, feeling like that would be the easiest thing for me to tackle.  It was a lot of driving but not lifting.  Steve stands in front of the tulips just before the Sister missionaries picked them and the Chamberlains dug up the bulbs.

Steve helps the Chamberlains to dig up part of the bulbs before we left for Far West, Hauns Mill and Richmond.

We love the beautiful blooming trees at the Liberty Jail historic site.

Before we left on rounds, Steve helped to load items on the trailer for the Briggs to deliver to a chapel.

When we arrived at Far West, one of the chores that needed to be handled was for Steve to re-install the water cooler for the warmer seasons.  It is removed for the winter.  He has never done this before and there was no one there to assist so he figured it out as usual.  He's so smart.

When we returned from our rounds, we traveled to the nursery with the Briggs, Pelisses and Mark to pick up the last trailer load of flowers.  We will be planting 4,960 flowers in the next few days.

All of those flowers were unloaded in our shop to await their journey to our various locations.

This photo includes Harry and Roberta Peless, former missionaries, Vickie and Dave Briggs, and Mark Dinning, our boss.  We actually placed a big fan blowing on the flowers for the weekend so that they didn't mold.  That was interesting to us.

Monday night we had one of the best evenings of our mission when Kimberly Jo Smith, Joseph Smith's great great granddaughter and her son came to our senior FHE group and told her conversion story.  It was a thrill to hear about her journey to truth and to visit with her afterward.  She is remarkable and her experiences have been difficult and challenging.

Tuesday morning we were totally ready to start planting but it was raining and we hoped and prayed that it wouldn't continue raining too long.  If the ground is too muddy, you have to wait until it dries up or the plants don't thrive.  It did quit before it got to muddy, so we loaded up and went straight to Liberty Jail.  We planted the jail beds and the permanent pots on the rear deck of the Visitor's Center that day.

Wednesday, we drove to Far West and planted the the temple site.

This dog from a farm down the rode could not be chased away.  We finally had to tie him up to keep him from destroying our beds as we planted.

After we finished at Far West, we drove to Richmond Cemetery to plant there.  That worked perfectly for our schedule, as I had an appointment with my surgeon for a follow-up check up that afternoon at 2:30.  The doctor told me my recovery was kind of miraculous.  I don't know what he thought of the Book of Mormon thank you I gave him, but he and his staff were thrilled with the  homemade cookies.  We took the same gifts to the ER doctor and his staff and to the OR nurse who cared for me the day of the surgery.  I hope and pray that those books will end up in someone's hands who is looking for truth.  The staff people all seemed very happy with their plates of homemade cookies.

It seems like we take a lot of flowers out of the shop every day to plant but still there are so many there.

That evening, we met the Briggs and Pelesses at the Courthouse Exchange for dinner.  We were all tired but it was a nice relaxing evening.  At least until the tornado warning started.  We actually had tornado sirens go off three different times after we got home that evening.  They occurred mostly between 9-11 p.m.  I was ready for bed by 9 but the excitement of watching the news and the path of the potential tornadoes woke me right up.  We ended up without too much damage but some areas got a lot of rain and wind.

Harry and Roberta hung a few items on the walls of the newly painted office for Cheri.  She was happy about that.

Thursday, we planted the remainder of the deck boxes at the Visitor's Center. Because the beds were too wet, we were unable to plant the front beds.  Those will have to wait until Monday now. 

Friday, Steve and I had rounds again.  The day was perfectly beautiful and we enjoyed every minute of our only real day of spring.

When we came to the fork in the road, our choice made all the difference and we ended up in Far West.

For a minute or two, there was no wind.  That was such a surprise, I had Steve take this picture.  The flag behind me wasn't waving as usual.  The wind literally started blowing directly after this photo.  The wind is always there at Far West to cool you off.

From there we went to Gallatin so Steve could repair a vacuum.  It is amazing to me how he can almost always figure out how something works and how to repair it.  This time he used duct tape and a small washer to fix the problem.

We finished up our rounds in Richmond and then went to the town center and browsed around their Mushroom Festival.  It was a three day street fair and included a small carnival of rides.

We were disappointed that we didn't find any sauteed mushrooms.  There were two vendors that sold raw morel mushrooms which must be gathered  out in nature.  I guess it is a big thing in these parts and I would have loved to eaten some but all we found were BBQ and treat stands for food.

We paused here at the booth sponsored by the local missionaries.

Saturday morning, May 5th, was the 8th annual Kansas City Temple Run.  It is a charity event to raise money for a local soup kitchen.  Our mission president's wife asked all the missionaries to sign and up participate.  It was held next to the Kansas City Temple.

The weather was perfect and Steve and I felt we could handle the 2K walk just fine.  Below Steve is standing by our dear President Love.  His wife is in the background near the pond.

We were able to pose with our branch elders--Thompson and Rowley.

Our branch sisters, Franco and Karate, are on the far right.

Here is the entire group of missionaries.  Steve is standing next to the Chamberlains.

Here are our elders after their 5K run.

Here we are at the finish line.  I love it that we hardly broke a sweat.  

That afternoon, we ran some errands.  One of those included searching for some comfortable shoes for Steve.  While one clerk was working with Steve, another lady came out front and started asking me about my shirt from the Temple Run.  She claimed to be a member of the RLDS church but broke off from the Community of Christ  back when they started ordaining women to the priesthood and a few other very protestant things.  She is a woman of great faith and she opened up to me about a lot of personal spiritual experiences.  I know her name and where she works, so I plan to follow up with her again soon.  As open as she was with me about very personal things, I feel like our meeting was more than coincidence.  I am praying for her--Jackie Long.

Sunday, Brother Jeffreys and I looked matchy, matchy.  It was kind of funny.

After a very busy week, we retreated home to rest after church.  We were truly tired!

 Monday morning, our boss needed us to help change a lot of lights and ballasts at the Visitor Center before we began planting flowers.  That ended up taking several hours so we got a late start on our planting.  At least the ground wasn't too wet, but it got up into the high 80's so we got dusty, dirty and hot.

Here Steve and Sister Briggs pause between flower drops.  This bed isn't quite half way planted.  

I loved finally getting the opportunity to plant.  Steve was concerned about the bending but I got along fine.  We were very tired on Monday night.  In fact I fell asleep in the bathtub about 7:30 and slept until the water got cold.  Now that is tired!