Baptism Bonanza & Celebrations

There is an area inside the Visitors' Center where there are little life scenes.  The lights have had some issues, so we were instructed by an engineer from Salt Lake to use a disguised door in the wall and go behind the window to re-set the lights.  This is something we haven't done before so I decided to get a photo of me sitting in the set.
Later that same day, we moved this patio furniture from the old mission home, cleaned it up and placed it on the deck of the Visitor Center Directors' home.

Across the street from the director's home is the RLDS auditorium.  It looks cool in the background.

This week we had the elders for dinner on the same night, we took dinner to the sisters at the VC.  It was a busy night.  Our elders were on exchanges, so we had Elders Hunt and Aprecio.  Elder Aprecio is currently an assistant to the mission president.

Saturday, we went to the Independence Farmers Market for the first time.  We got some corn, eggplant, and watermelon.  It was delish!!!

Later that afternoon, we attended a wonderful baptism.  Gloria, her grandchildren, Benjamin, Bailey and Bria were baptized.  Also our friend Michael Greene was baptized.  It was a packed room and a very happy day for many people.

These are some of the sisters who taught Gloria Rhodes and her family.

Out friend Michael Greene is in the back row in the middle in the black shirt.

Sunday we got this group of members to pose for a photo in front of the chapel--Steve, Michael Greene, Brother Jeffries, Brother Colvill and Ward Mission Leader Brother Cook.

Monday morning our rounds took us to Far West.  We were relieved to see that our beautiful hibiscus plants survived the recent thunderstorm.  However, the grass in front of the restrooms isn't doing well at all.  It is so sad.  The local drought is responsible for severe water restrictions.  We have sprinklers but we aren't allowed to use them.

Here Steve and Mark work on sprinkler  repairs at the Richmond Cemetery.  You can see the 3 Witnesses Monument in the background.

Tuesday was the 24th of July so church employees had the day off.  We did also.  I made this patriotic quilt decoration for my friend, Wendy Divine.  She lives in Overland Park now and we were driving down there to Visit the beautiful Arbroetum.  We dropped off the quilt at her home, but unfortunately she wasn't home so we only connected via text.

We were happy we visited the arboretum early in the day as it is going to be another hot day!

We loved the gardens with beautiful flowers and plants.  This red area is framed by coleus.

There is a train park is within the park.  There are three model electric trains running all the time.  Kids would love this display.

On this day we especially enjoyed the shady trails and the sculpture area.  We really liked the cyclist from China below.

We really enjoyed our arboretum visit.  Below Steve works on another broken sprinkler line at Richmond Cemetery.

We had to put the lift up on the stage at the Clayview to remove some outdated stage lights.  It took three men to get the lift up on the stage.
Later Wednesday afternoon, we had a little gathering in honor of Nathan, our interim boss who will be heading back to the St. Louis office soon.  He is pictured at he head of the table talking with Cheri.  The banana splits were extra delicious with my famous hot fudge sauce.

Thursday, we had to trouble shoot a high water usage issue at the Chillicothe chapel which is now closed.  We found a leaky toilet valve and sprinklers that were set incorrectly.

We took a back roads route from Chillicothe to Gallatin.  It was a beautiful area to drive through, with interesting farms, some owned by Amish families.

This cabin was built in 1836 by Jesse Harris who was the first white man to buy government land in this vicinity.  It now stands in the Jamesport City Park.

This is the sign for Jamesport.  The whole area is so dry.

We needed the lift again to repair lights in the Gallatin gymnasium.  It always amazes us how the light covers can be knocked down by baskeballs.

Wednesday, I got my hair cut again, shorter than ever.  Most people seem to like the color which is almost totally natural now.

Steve put the final connections together to allow us to water the flowers from our collection pond.  We had previously watered them from Cameron city water, but current water restrictions prohibit that.  We are praying for enough rain to keep our flowers.  We don't want to have to remove them.

On the 27th, we had our Riverview Branch Elders Hunt and Rowley for dinner.  For dessert, they got leftover hot fudge sundaes made with the re-heated leftover hot fudge sauce.  They loved the hot fudge sauce.

On Saturday, we had another wonderful baptism-Jolynette Agee. She is a very sweet, pretty quiet  lady.  

Our friend, Diane Johnson, had her birthday on the 27th.  We were able to get together with the Briggs and celebrate for dinner on Sunday night.  We had a delightful evening together.

Monday, July 30, was our 48th anniversary!  This photo was taken after our morning prayer meeting.

We got drive the brand new truck that day.  Nice!  And our friend, Vickie, made delicious blueberry muffins too.

We were then sent to the St. Joseph's chapel to trouble shoot a leak near the sewer manhole.

We met a sewing drain cleaning company.  When the manhole cover was removed, the 11 ft deep hole was completely full.  Steve worked with the contractors throughout the day as they pumped out the hole and tried to find the break or blockage.  After spending an entire day in the smelly, foul environment, they were still not able to find the exact problem.  The next step is to have the line excavated so bids will be procured for that.

We were able to get home just in time to quickly clean up and head to President Love's home for our senior FHE.  Our friends brought an Anniversary cake so we celebrated again with a big party group.  Fun!