Week 40--May 24-30, 2020

As Garnalee walked the cemetery on Monday morning she was reminded of the many men and women who given their lives for our country. The cemetery was arrayed  with flags to honor those who have fallen.

The flag was at half-mast over the weekend in honor of those who have lost their lives due to the COVID-19 virus. As of Wednesday, 100,000 people in the United States have died from the virus.

Memorial in the cemetery for the soldiers who fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy.

Flags on the graves in the military section of the cemetery.

Graves designating unknown soldiers.














We have had a lot of rain this week. On Thursday we received four inches. The drain on the roof at Liberty Jail was plugged with leaves and eight inches of water had accumulated on the roof. The water was going through the vents and flooding the interior of the Jail. Fortunately some of the sisters had gone to the Jail to use the computers and discovered the water inside.


Elder Josephson on the roof.

Elder Brown on the roof. Looks like he's either praying or preparing for a dive.









Noteworthy is that here in the mission field we have regular mission president and Church history devotionals.  On Sunday we were taught by Brother and Sister Asher.  Brother Asher has had a diverse life.  He was an outstanding football player in high school and then went on to college on a football scholarship.  Unfortunately, he was injured early in his first season and his dream of being an NFL player ended.  After college he became a friar in the Catholic Church.  However, while a friar he had two questions that his superiors couldn't answer.  One was, of all the people in the world, why was John the Baptist the one who got to baptize the Savior, and two, why doesn't God have prophets on the earth today?  When he found the Church, all of his questions were answered.  Powerful testimony.
Then, on Tuesday, we had a devotional for all of the missionaries in the Missouri Independence Mission with Andy Reid, head coach of the KC Chiefs (who were also the 2020 Superbowl champions).  Coach Reid's current annual salary is 9 million dollars.  He's a very busy man.  And yet, he gave us an hour of inspiration.  He talked about the importance of work ethic, leadership, training, and commitment. He is LDS and all of his players know it.  He said the three most important things in his life are Family, Faith, and Football (in that order).  During the Q & A after his presentation, one elder asked how he and his team handle losing a game?  His answer was, "Some coaches rant and rave, and scream and holler at the players, but I try to point out the positives and what we can learn."  That happens regularly, not only in the mission field, when an investigator says he/she doesn't want to learn any more, or in everyday life when we have challenges or mishaps.  I loved his answer! There may be a lot of NFL coaches that continually inspire his players with signs around the locker room, and their personal example, but I don't know them and certainly admire coach Reid.

Week 39--May 17-23, 2020

On Sunday we took our afternoon walk to the cemetery to get another picture of the Tulip Tree. It is in full bloom but the blossom can't be seen from a distance. It is beautiful.

Garnalee is looking at headstones for the Flournoy family. Jones Flournoy is the man from whom the land for the Temple Lot was purchased in 1831. His headstone was not among them.

Our job is to water the flower beds and planters at the Visitors' Center three days a week.

The flowers are really growing and filling in the planter boxes. 

Garnalee loves the pink and yellow contrast.

The begonias love the shade on the front of the Visitors' Center.








Tom's most recent job was to repair broken bed frames that will be needed to accommodate the influx of new missionaries that will occur over the next couple of weeks.  The sockets that hold the casters in place were lost and broken from 10 frames.  Ace hardware sells new sockets, so it wasn't a very expensive job to replace the broken ones.  That done Tom was asked to repair some of the dressers that had broken drawer handles. Again, Ace hardware was able to supply all the needed parts and three dressers are now ready for service.

After lunch on Monday, we drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman for a devotional from one of the senior missionaries who serves there.  The discussion was to be about the area, but somehow wires got crossed, because we, the Larsens, and the Browns arrived on time (in separate cars for social distancing), but no fireside.  We're still not sure what happened.  It was rainy, so we just enjoyed the drive.

Garnalee gave a tour this week to the rest of us which was a good dry run to talk about how we would handle groups that come once we're able to open.  The Browns, our newest senior couple, hadn't seen a tour of the VC yet, so it was a good learning experience for them.  We are deciding that only groups of six people at a time with only three groups allowed in the building at one time, will greatly limit what we're used to seeing, especially when a bus load of 50-60 tourists arrives.

Sister Garner (a mission secretary also in charge of housing) called Tom from California.  Her mother died unexpectedly and she's there for the funeral.  Seven washers and dryers need to be evaluated for repair-ability or discard.  We'll look into what can be done next week.

Saturday we ventured out and took the Pioneer Trails covered wagon ride. We were given a wonderful history of Independence by our driver. 

The covered wagon is pulled by mules. These two are named Bess and Margaret. They are eight years old which is young for a mule who live for 30-40 years. Harry S. had the day off.

Mules were used to pull many of the covered wagons that departed from Independence on the trails heading west.  The wagons would line up on what today is Liberty Street heading out of town. It is estimated that 500,000 emigrants traveled west which took 5 1/2 months to reach Oregon or California.  Because mules were so valuable for the trip, and Missouri provided over 100,000 animals for the migration, the mule is the state animal of Missouri.. 

One of the signs on the side of building in Independence that we passed on our wagon ride showing that you can't always believe what you read in the newspaper. Our driver quipped that this was possibly the first example of "Fake News."

At a local bar a man was shot. The family came to the bar to get the person responsible. Bill Hickok showed up and a lady yelled out the window, "You get 'em, Wild Bill!" The family left, and the name stuck.

To help fill our days, we both spend time indexing as well as reading our scriptures and doing the Come Follow Me lesson every day.

With the beautiful weather already here, we're hopeful that the visitors' centers can open soon. 

Week 38--May 10-16, 2020

Sunday is Mother's Day. The sister missionaries downstairs surprised Garnalee by bringing pancakes loaded with chocolate chips and coconut for breakfast. We ate them with the breakfast. Tom fixed us bacon, eggs, and hash browns. The missionaries across the hall brought Rice Krispy Treats for an afternoon snack.

On Sunday we walked over to the cemetery to check on the Tulip Tree. There were a lot more blossoms. 

 Some of the blossoms had been blown off by the wind. Tom held one of the blossoms for a close up.

Another close up of the blossom. Hope you can see the little bug in there.

 Monday we put the last of the flowers in the beds at the Independence Visitors' Center. President Cannon starts the process of planting the plants dropped by Mark.

Mark goes to Elder Josephson to get more plants to drop. Sister Larsen is busy digging holes. However, Elder Brown is surveyed the area to see if any plants have been missed.

 Many hands make the work go quickly.

Sister Brown, Elder Larsen, Elder Harringtin, Sister Larsen, and Elder Brown all work diligently.

The job is done. Elder Josephson gives a once over for any plants that were missed.

Pictured: Sister Harrington, Elder larsen, Elder Harrington, Elder Brown, Elder Josephson, President Cannon, Sister Brown, and  Sister Larsen.









Each day more tulips blossoms are visible.

Tuesday's picture.

Wednesday's picture. 


















Friday's picture.

One thing that has been interesting is that the blossoms aren't visible from a distance like the blossoms on most trees.

The other side of the tree on Friday.













Tom and Garnalee have formed the Plant Watering Union as we have been asked to be responsible for the watering of the newly planted flowers at the Independence Visitors' Center until the new FM missionaries arrive. We will check each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and water as needed. 

On Wednesday, May 13, we watered the flowers.  It took an hour and a half.  Much longer than we thought it would.  After lunch Tom went to the mission office.  He repaired a vacuum that was traded because it "didn't have any suction."  It took about a minute to see that the filter was covered with so much hair and dirt (about 1/2 in thick) that air couldn't pass through.  Easy fix.  Now it works fine.

Thursday, May 14, we drove to Jamesport, Missouri and finally decided on the Amish made dining room table and chairs we first saw several months ago.  It'll be delivered and set up in September when we're back home.

Friday, May 15, Tom started the morning by teaching a Spanish lesson to Sister Winder from across the hall.  She has served in Peru for six months, but was temporarily reassigned to our mission until the Covid-19 virus has run its course and she can return.  In the meantime, she has been encouraged to keep up her language study.  What better opportunity than to receive help from a former Spanish teacher who is eager to serve?  After lunch we both went to the mission office.  Tom repaired broken caster wheels from eight bed frames while Garnalee called landlords about repairs that needed to be done in the apartments we were renting from them.

We study scriptures and do Come Follow Me every day and some days we don't even leave the apartment.  We, along with all the other missionaries, will be glad when we can get back to doing what we were doing before the quarantine. 

Week 37--May 3-9, 2020

President Love announced in the devotional Sunday morning that 140 reassigned missionaries will be arriving in the next few weeks. That will be doubling the number of missionaries serving in the Missouri Independence Mission,

The first of the tulip blossoms on the Tulip Tree in the cemetery.

This week we changed unions and became the Flower Planting Workers' Union, These are the flowers that need to be planted at Independence Visitors' Center, Far West, Richmond Pioneer Cemetery, and Liberty Jail.  Tuesday our job was to dig up the tulips at the Visitors' Center and plant flowers in the planter boxes.

 As we looked at the sea of plants in front of us the thought came, "How do you eat an elephant?" Our thought now is, "How do you plant a sea of plants?" The answer is, "One plant at a time."

 The tulips have to be dug before these flowers can be planted. Sister Cannon is ready to dig.

Tom is planting in one of the 68 planters around the Independence Visitors' Center that need to be done.

President Cannon carries the flat of flowers and Mark Dinning drops the plant where it needs to be planted.

Tom planting.

 Elder Brown.

Sister Brown.

 Sister Cannon

Let's see where should I drop this one? (These are called Dusty Millers)

 Garnalee planting.

One of the 68 planter boxes is done. We expect this will be an ocean of color when these young plants get bigger.  We'll take new pictures in a couple of weeks.

 Checking the planters on the east side of the center.

Wait! I'm locked in. Oh, there is a crash bar. I didn't know.

Wednesday morning we were at Far West. Elder Larsen, Tom, and President Cannon are busy getting the plants in the ground.

Sister Larsen.

Mark is dropping as Elder Brown carries the flat of flowers.

Sister Brown.

One of the two flower beds at Far West is completed.

 The afternoon found us the Richmond Pioneer Cemetery where the Three Witnesses Monument is located. Also Oliver Cowdery is buried here.

We planted all coleuses here.

Sister Cannon is dropping plants.

 That one can go right there.

Garnalee planting.

 Tom planting.

One of the beds is done.

 How many elders does it take to get the sprinkler turned on.

Punxsutawney Phil stuck his head out. Yep! It's planting season!

After completing the planting at Richmond we drove to the grave site of Hiram Page who was one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. His grave is on the side of a dirt road. He died in a wagon accident. The ground where he is buried was part of his daughter's farm. We think the grave was originally in a field but over time the boundaries changed  and now the grave is on side of the road. It is the only grave located here.

We all gathered for a picture at the grave site.

Elder Larsen, Sister Larsen, Sister Brown, Elder Brown, Elder Harrington, Sister Harrington, and Sister Cannon. President Cannon took the picture.

Thursday morning we were at Liberty Jail. Elder Harrington and  elder Larsen planting.

Sister Brown

 Sister Larsen

Front: Mark Dinning and President Cannon.
Middle: Sister Brown and Elder Larsen.
Back: Sister Cannon, Elder Brown, and Elder Harrington.

The front flower bed is completed.

One of the side flower beds with new hostas plants and New Guinea Impatiens. We were all sore after three days of planting flowers. We are glad we get the weekend to recover before we finish the job on Monday.

On our Zoom conference call on Thursday (May 7th) afternoon, Gary Boatright, the managing director of  the Church History Department, came in his Star Wars Storm Trooper costume. It was a carryover from three days earlier when he was able to say, "May the 4th, be with you!"