On Saturday, October 25, Steve and I hosted a tour of various
church history sites in western Missouri for several single adults from the
stake. It was open to everyone but only
five individuals participated.
We
left at 7:00 am (which is kind of early for a Saturday) from Columbia and our first stop was Lexington,
Missouri. This small town is located on
the Missouri River and it is where a steamboat carrying many Mormon immigrants
exploded leaving many dead and injured.
Citizens of Lexington cared for these poor saints and there is a small
park and monument dedicated to this event in the center of town.
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| Steve, Roberta Mahanna, Lizzy Crippen, Cherie Bechtel, Ted Devere, Woody Casteel |
We then went to nearby Richmond, Missouri to visit two cemeteries. The first one is owned and beautifully maintained by the
Church and it is where Oliver Cowdery is buried.
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| Steve is looking at some of the tombstones that workers rescued from being lost to time and decay |
This cemetery was neglected for so many years that very few grave markers are intact. It looks more like a park than a cemetery.
The second cemetery we visited is owned by the town of Richmond and it is where David
Whitmer is buried.
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| We saw beautiful autumn views everywhere we went that day! |
In the Richmond town
square is a statue of Alexander Doniphan who was a friend to the saints while
they were in Missouri.
Next stop was Far West where we had our picnic
lunch. The fenced-in area behind the picnic table is where the temple cornerstones are located and preserved.
And then we wended our way to
Haun’s Mill. The Church has recently bought this property
and, on the day we visited, there were individuals from BYU at the site looking for the well where the murdered men were buried.
Then it was on to Adam Ondi Ahman. So beautiful there.
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| Here we all are. There was an LDS fellow from California who was in Missouri on business and we pretty much followed each other from site to site. He took this group photo. |
We visited Liberty Jail and briefly went in to the
Independence Visitor’s Center before going to a BBQ restaurant for dinner and
then drive back home. We didn’t pull
into Columbia until about 11:00 pm. It was
a VERY long day and we logged a lot of miles but I think everyone had a great
time – at least from later reports and Facebook accounts. In spring, we plan to take the group to
Nauvoo…..
Other news of that week was that Beckie came in to
town! She spent the first part of her
visit in St. Louis so Steve and I drove there Friday afternoon to see her for a few hours before she went to dinner with friends and we went to the temple. We also got to see Kyle! He and Beckie got to be here together for a few days before he flew back to Hawaii.
Before leaving for St. Louis, Steve was the guest speaker at a Friday Forum that the LDS Institute holds at noon every week. He spoke about the deeper meaning in certain movies. You know that he has his list of movies that he watches in a year - one per month? He did a really good job of sharing some of the deep spiritual insights he has found in some of his favorite films.
And that pretty much gives you the big highlights of that week.
