Week 26--February 16-22, 2020

We are half through our mission. The time has gone by very quickly. From previous missions we know that the last six months of our mission will go quickly also. 

Another picture of Mike with us. He was excited to be confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He also was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He has the date of March 3 for his first trip to the Kansas Missouri Temple. He is so excited and happy.

Sitting around Liberty Jail waiting for 7 PM to arrive so we can go home and in walked two men. One of them said, "Well, hello Brother Harrington." It was Nic Transtrum and Bryan Boyce from Blackfoot. They were on their way to Atlanta,Georgia, to pick up two new food trailers for Nic's BBQ business. It was great to see them.  At our last Sacrament Meeting in Blackfoot, I promised to give everyone who came to the visitors' centers a free tour.  True to that promise, we took these visitors through rather than to have the Sisters do it.  I suspect Nic and Brian would have preferred the Sisters.

Week 25--February 9-15, 2020

On Monday we visited the Midwest Genealogy Center located in Independence. It is a huge library with many resources for finding ancestors.

Just inside the entrance was a display case with some fun things. One was this collection of Pez dispensers. 

 Another fun display was memory boxes. The boxes contained items from a person that would bring back memories of a loved one. One of the boxes had pistachio shells in it with a note that said, "Don't throw these out. I have a craft idea. Ellen." It would be fun to know what the craft idea was. 

Another display had stamps that had been collected by President  Harry S. Truman. We didn't learn he was a stamp collector when we toured the Truman Home.
While at the library we visited with two LDS senior missionaries who do digitizing of old documents, maps, and school yearbooks. If someone wants his/her high school yearbook digitized, the Petersons will do it.  They then put a copy on your flash drive and send the original on to Orem, Utah, where they can use OCR to index the names in the yearbook for digital search later. Really cool technology.

Monday evening was Senior Family Home Evening, and we had to say good-bye to Elder and Sister Hochstettler. The life of every missionary in the Missouri Independence Mission has been touched by them. She was the mission nurse, and he was in charge of housing. We are so grateful for their service. We learned that she returned to school at the age of 47 to become a nurse with the hope of serving a mission as a nurse. When they submitted their papers two departments wanted them--medical and military. He served in the military, and they could have served at a military base working with members. Sister Hochstettler used her education as planned and was the mission nurse.

Sister Flindt's birthday is this month, and we celebrated it at our weekly FMTM. She received a Book of Mormon that  was marked with life questions that can be answered through the Book of Mormon. A couple of the questions were: Does my life have a purpose? (see pg. 59); Did I exist before I was born?' (see pg. 241); and Where do I go when I die? (see pg. 207). She is to find someone to give the book to. She is from Sammamish, Washington and is a wonderful missionary.

 Since it was Valentine's Day at our weekly FMTM all of the sisters wore red or pink. Of course, a picture was in order.

Pictured: Front: Sister Henderson
Middle: Sister Pomeroy, Sister Forbush, Sister Alldredge. Sister Flindt, and Sister Romero.
Back: Sister Pulley, Sister Smith, Sister Mills, Sister Matthews, Sister Morgenegg, and Sister Leakehe.

The sisters enjoyed a treat of cake or brownies with strawberries and whipped cream.

The highlight of the week was the baptism of Mike White on Saturday. He was a golden contact. We first met Mike in a missionary team-up when Mike received his first lesson.  We have been giving him a ride to Church the last couple of weeks. Mike's wife passed away 12 years ago and he was excited to learn they can be sealed for time and all eternity.

Pictured: Elder Harrington, Sister Harrington, Mike White, Elder Burnham, and Elder Tate.




A brother from the Restoration LDS Church came to the VC to see what we have to show his boy scouts.  His church broke away from BSA a year before we did, but because he loves scouting he is heading up a program to start their own.  He believes camping, outdoor cooking, knot tying, etc. etc. added greatly to his youth and wants similar opportunities for his own boys. One of their "merit badges" will be on Church History.  He wanted to see what we could offer.  He was excited by our displays and tour and will be back with 30-50 scouts and leaders.  There is a great spirit of cooperation among the many churches here in Independence and it is a great thing to see.

To try to stay healthy, we walked at the mall almost every week day last week.  We walk 45 minutes and that equates to about 2 1/2 miles.  It was 3 degrees F on Thursday, so we're really glad we have access to the mall.  About 100 other walkers do the same.

Week 24--February 2-8, 2020

We have only been in Missouri for five months but we are now dyed in the wool Chiefs fans. The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.
Tom couldn't believe that we could watch the game on his cell phone. We had given up on the Chiefs winning with 7 minutes left in the game with a score of 10-20. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs pulled it out in the 4th quarter. The last time the Chiefs won a Super Bowl was 50 years ago in 1970.
We also attended a Super Bowl Organ Recital performed by Dr. Jan Kraybill in the Community of Christ Auditorium. The organ and the acoustics are amazing.

On January 27 all of the senior couples gathered at President and Sister Love's for Family Home Evening. The field is RED already to harvest.  We all joined in the Super Bowl spirit by dressing ion red for the Chiefs. We welcomed the Marchants and the Youngs. Our hearts were heavy as we said good-bye to Sister Keeler, the Hochstettlers, Greenhalghs, Daniels, Hammonds, and President and Sister Priday (counselor in the mission presidency who are headed to Brazil Brasilia Mission as mission president). as a side note President Priday's twin brother is also going to a mission in Brazil as mission president. Tom and Garnalee are not in the picture as they had to leave early to lock up at the Visitors' Center.

We said good-bye to Sister Jones who we served with at Liberty Jail. She is very out-going and has a powerful testimony.  We wish her well and will miss her at HLJ.

 Just a few pictures from transfers that happened on Thursday. You can almost feel the  excitement of the missionaries as they greet fellow missionaries.
Pictured: Sister Hair, Sister Price, and Sister Forbush.

We don't work with the Elders, except the two in our Ward, but we like to see their smiling faces on transfer day.

The Spider Man shirt under the white shirt. He does look a little like Peter Parker.

Going home sisters that we love.

Pictured: Sister Moritz, Sister Nackos, Sister Jones, and Sister Matalolo.

With transfers comes new sisters at the Visitors' Center.

Pictured: Front: Sister Mills, Sister Smith, Sister Romero, Sister Pulley, Sister Henderson, Sister Forbush, and Sister Morgenegg.
Back: Sister Alldredge, Sister Flindt, Sister Pomeroy, Sister Matthews, and Sister Leakehe.

After taking pictures at transfers we went to the National Frontier Trails Museum. Because we were wearing our name badges (as we always do), admission was free.

Independence was the jumping off place for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, The Santa Fe Trail, The Oregon Trail, The California Trail, and The Mormon Pioneer Trail. The map shows the various trails with covered wagons lined up on each trail.

Other jumping off towns in Missouri were Westport, Weston, St. Joseph, and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Wagon used by the pioneers.

 It was fun to read the comparison between a covered wagon and a Ford Explorer. Seating for the wagon was 1-2 with others walking and for the Explorer up to 7. The engine for the wagon was 6 oxen or mules and for Explorer 3.5 liter V-6. Fuel delivery for the wagon was a bucket and for the Explorer it is electronic fuel injection. The transmission for the wagon was Ox-1 speed (slow) or Mule-2 speed (stop or go), and for Explorer 6-speed automatic. The fuel tank for the wagon was 2 buckets of oats or hay and for the Explorer 18.6 gallons. Heating/AC for the wagon was always air-conditioned and for the Explorer it is dual climate control.

The price for the wagon was $60-$90 without oxen ($2000-$3000 today) and price of the Explorer is $32,365 and up.

Fun facts we just had to share!

Statue of Jim Bridger in front of the museum.

We had a good week in Independence.  On Saturday, February 15, we'll attend the baptism for Mike White.  The Elders found him just knocking doors.  They asked us to team up with them for the first lesson.  We picked him up for Church these last two weeks.  He's excited about his upcoming baptism.  Today in Sacrament meeting half a dozen people greeted him, calling him by name, and shook his hand.  His baptism was announced to the Ward and everyone was invited to attend.  It will will be fun to witness. Photos will follow.

Week 23--January 26-February 1, 2020

New ballasts and fluorescent lights are being put in at the Visitors' Center.

 We had the opportunity to go see Cirque Du Soleil on
Thursday with the Larsens.

The show was on ice. This is the robot dog that was part of the ice skaters costume.They came out before the show who to greet the spectators.

When we went to the mall to walk this week we saw a gaggle of geese in the parking lot. Typical of geese, they weren't afraid of the people as they walked by.

The sisters had the opportunity to teach Timothy the gospel. He was baptized on Saturday.

Pictured: Sister Holdeman, Sister Smith, Timothy Richards, Elder Hyland, and Elder Richins.