More May 2013 Photos

I was able to baptize Skye Nicole McNack after Michelle and I and the Sister Missionaries worked with her family to become active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  

Michelle and I were able to team-up with Sister Rogers and Sister Lettig to teach Rashida Maghinay.  Rashida is holding her 7-month old daughter, Zira, in this photo.  Rashida's mother is from Columbia and her father is from Pakistan, so she has a unique ethnic background.  Rashida was baptized on May 25, 2013.

 Michelle at the Kaufmann Memorial Gardens in Kansas City, MO.

 Mel at the Kaufmann Gardens.

Another photo from Kaufmann Gardens, which is located just south of the Nelson-Atkin Art Museum, near the Country Club Plaza district of downtown KC, MO.

Some of the interesting flowers in the Kaufmann Gardens.

Out to lunch on Preparation-day with Sister Diederich, Sister Wilson, Sister Lettig, and Sister Rogers.

One of Michelle's favorite homes in Liberty, MO, which we drive by each time we serve at the Historic Liberty Jail.

Out to lunch at an Indian Restaurant with Sister Halverstadt from Ohio and Sister Singh from Fiji.

 Sister Call, Sister Moon, Sister Ogletree, and Sister Zito sporting their dark glasses from Chick'fil'a.

We loved having Mike & Audra, Jordan, Tanner, Josh, and Kyle (left to right in this photo) visit us from May 21-24, 2013!

 

The Coleman boys playing around in the play room of the Independence Visitor's Center.

More playing around by Tanner!

 The Coleman Family at the Historic Liberty Jail.

Elder and Sister Pyne with the Coleman Family at Liberty Jail.



Fritz's Railroad Cafe delivers your meals by mini-trains on tracks that run above the tables.  With Tanner's love of trains, this meal out was a highlight for him.

 

Grandpa Pyne with the Coleman boys in Jamesport, MO, an Amish town close to Adam-ondi-Ahman in northwestern Missouri.

 Sister Pyne and Audra in Jamesport.

The Coleman Family near "preacher's rock" in Adam-ondi-Ahman, where Joseph Smith preached to the early Saints during the late 1830's in northern Missouri.

 The Coleman boys standing by a tree sculpture on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkin Art Museum.

Kyle on the left, Jordan on the right, by one of the many sculptures in the Country Club Plaza district.

Mike and Audra enjoying each other after a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory in the Country Club Plaza.



The senior couples who serve at the Independence Visitor's Center and Historic Liberty Jail, after a nice meal together at the home of Elder and Sister Brenchley.

Sister Pugsley and Elder Pugsley making farewell remarks at a missionary meeting the final week of their mission.  We will miss the Pugsley's!  They welcomed, oriented, trained, and mentored us when we first arrived in the Missouri Independence Mission.  They also gave us two pages of things to do in the Kansas City area during our free time, which we have enjoyed exploring.

The sister missionaries who serve at the Historic Liberty Jail, including (left to right) Sisters Erikson, Spivey, Sibbet, Thurston, Forbush, Lewis, Castellano, and Smartt.

All the sister missionaries who serve in the Independence Visitor's Center and Historic Liberty Jail at a 7:30 am "Departure Breakfast" on May 29, 2013.  This transfer determined who stayed in the Missouri Independence Mission and who was transferred to the newly created Kansas Wichita Mission.

Sister Lettig and Sister Rogers currently serve in the Independence 1st Ward, so they are the sisters we most frequently team-up with to teach investigators within our ward boundaries.

Sister Zito from Draper, Utah.

May 2013 Photos

Sister Rogers standing under the Rogers Street sign in Independence.  We took this photo on the way home from a teaching appointment with Sister Rogers and Sister Lettig, who are the sister missionaries currently serving in the Independence 1st Ward with us.

Malcolm ("Milk") Weston is a recent convert to the Church, who we have become acquainted with through his frequent visits to the Independence Visitor's Center over the past few months.  He is an incredible young man who has overcome gang activity, drug use, gun shot wounds, and homelessness to change his life and pursue a happier course for his future.  He still has a long way to go, but he is on the right path.

Michelle worked with Governor Norm Bangerter when he was governor for the State of Utah in the early 1980's.  Norm and his new wife, Judy, visited the Historic Liberty Jail when we were on shift.  We later saw both of them at Adam-Ondi-Ahman when we were visiting there with two senior couples and a group of sister missionaries. 

Eating at the Cheesecake Factory in the Country Club Plaza district of Kansas City, MO, with (from left to right) Sister Pyne, Sister Call from southern California, Sister Morris from Utah, Sister Zito from Utah, and Sister Ogletree from Texas, and Elder Pyne.  This photo was taken after a medical appointment for Sister Call.  She had been diagnosed with a brain aneurism and had been referred to a specialist at St. Luke's Medical Center.  She had requested a priesthood blessing from me a few days prior, and received very good news when she met with the doctor.  The aneurism requires no intervention at this time, so she will be able to complete her mission, which is her greatest desire.

Sister Call and Sister Zito wearing matching outfits they had purchased the day before while shopping in the Country Club Plaza district (just prior to our dinner at the Cheesecake Factory).

Overlooking a large valley at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, located approximately 90 miles north of Independence, MO in northwestern Missouri.  The Church owns close to 4,000 acres of beautiful rolling hills, tree-lined streams, wooded areas, and fertile plains, just south of Jameson, a tiny town in northwestern Missouri.  These acres comprise Adam-Ondi-Ahman, where grand events associated with the Second Coming of Christ will occur.

This is a photo of a small trailer, located behind the line of trees, where First Presidency members and other general authorities for the Church stay when they visit Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  These modest accommodations manifest the humility of the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The sister missionaries singing the hymn "Adam-Ondi-Ahman" on "Preacher's Hill" where Joseph Smith would preach to the early Latter-day Saints when they lived at the settlement of Spring Hill, within what is now designated as Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

The acoustics in this valley below "Preacher's Hill" were amazing.  You could hear very clearly a quiet voice at a distance of 50-75 yards.

 Sister and Elder Pyne standing behind "Preacher's Rock" in the same vicinity.

 Sister Pyne and Elder Pyne standing on "Tower Hill" in Adam-Ondi-Ahman.



The property in the distance is the highest elevation in Adam-Ondi-Ahman, where if a temple was built you would have a 360 degree panoramic view of the countryside around you.  The early Latter-day Saints contemplated building a temple in Adam-Ondi-Ahman before they were expelled from the State of Missouri in 1839.

Michelle reading a plaque in the area depicting the temple lot dedicated in Far West, MO in the mid-1830's.  The four corners of the temple lot are preserved in this small park.

The memorial for the temple lot in Far West, MO, where approximately 5,000 saints were driven from their homes in early 1839, as a result of the Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn Boggs, governor of the State of Missouri at the time.