Missouri Independence Mission Oct. 2022-April 2024

I was looking at the calendar last week and realized that our mission is one third done and it seems we just started. If this were a six month mission we would be done. I'm just starting to feel somewhat comfortable with my assignment. Pig out Our big event this weeks was a trip to Branson, MO to see the play "Ester". I wasn't expecting much and mostly wanted to get out Dodge for a while. We had to get the mission president's permission to go as it is out of our mission. It is a three and a half hour drive south of Independence. We left Friday afternoon and took Elder and Sister Moses with us while three sisters from the office, plus Sister Welbern, left an hour after us in another car.  The office was closed an hour early. They stayed in a timeshare while we rented a motel room. The motel was right on The Strip, as they call it. It is a night and day difference from The Strip in Las Vegas. We got down there about 7:00 p.m. and got settled into our rooms and then

The Jepperson's and us My big excitement for the week was a visit from Jon and Nancy Jepperson from St. George. They served with us in the San Francisco/Oakland mission. We had some fun times and lots of good memories to share from our battle with the shredder (we won!) to finding stolen passports, trailers and trucks. Elder Jepperson was the vehicle coordinator and Sister Jepperson helped in the office. They have a couple of sons living in Olathe, Kansas and were out for a visit. I'm so happy they took the time to make the 40 minute drive to visit with us and buy us lunch. Mom and I keep saying the best part of serving a senior mission is the other senior missionaries.  The Martinez's     We had pretty much a full house in sacrament meeting today with Elder Joseph Martinez giving a talk. Sister Martinez is the lady that cleans the office three days a week so Sister Ethington and Sister Kearns from the office also attended. Sister Ethington rode with us. A couple of members

By the building next to our apartment The weather has been up and down. For a couple of days we ran the air conditioner and another couple of days it was cold but we didn't turn on the heat. From the looks of the forecast this will continue to be the case. I even wore a short sleeve white shirt a few days. Friday the power went out and we had two hours of not much to do. I went out and supervised the firemen and electricians. The live wire started a little grass fire among the dead grass along side the road. Some lady was out walking her dog and I told her she needed to be aware of the down wire but she didn't pay me any attention. All the while the dog was acting like he wanted me dead. As she started to approach the wire the electrician drove up honking his horn telling her to stay back. She did. Naughty me wished the dog would have touched the wire. While out there I took a picture of a tree mom likes. It sits in the lot just east of the office and is where the old LDS chape

  A pretty sight About the biggest news of the week is the change in weather. It seems just last week that we were bundling up each morning for the cold and now it is springtime weather. As mom mentioned, everything is blooming and making things beautiful. On one of our walks I took a picture of the trees that are blooming in the Community of Christ's temple parking lot. Sis. Lee and a couple of missionaries It was nice to see someone from back "home" this week. Jenny's mom was here with 16+ year olds from her stake as they were visiting church sites. I think the Visitor Center was the first stop with there their three bus loads. Glad it was them and not me. Their trip out was a 24 hour bus ride. Mom said I didn't recognize Melissa Bowles but not so. I was looking at my phone and didn't see her. I probably would have walked right by her but when I did look I recognized her. Her dad, Jim, was the first person that greeted me when I walked into Mt. Pleasant Elem

Not much out of the ordinary went on this week. Monday evening was senior family home evening. Each time there is a potluck dinner and some kind of presentation. This week a Brother Rudd, whose sister is serving a mission here, was asked by her to present about a dig he is involved with in Israel. He and his wife flew out from Utah just to speak to us. He is very involved in the archeological dig of a cave that includes the name Lehi in it. From a small cave it has turned into to a massive undertaking covering something like 2 square miles. They have dug down and found layers of civilizations. The dig is down to about the time of Christ and they hope to get down to the era of Lehi soon. It was all pretty interesting. Spring is springing Life is tough We enjoyed all the sessions of conference. Saturday evening was my favorite - maybe because it was just over an hour. 😁 But there were some really good talks that session. Mom and I made ourselves comfortable in our recliners in the livin