July 31, 2016

The sky is darkening at present, indicating (perhaps) rainfall.  This would surely be welcome as the last week has been both hot and dry.  The lawns and crops are in need of a drink.  The roads get awfully dusty which necessitates sprinkling them down early in the morning.  Some help us with this task but each morning it is our turn it is enjoyed.  The stars are out, as are the wild game.  It is peaceful and beautiful.  Near the completion of the task the sun rises from the eastern horizon with vibrant colors.

Morning Sunrise from our Front Porch

Ongoing tasks have progressed this week.  The repairs to the large drainage area are complete and the track-hoe has been repositioned near another damaged culvert further north on the property.  That repair will not be nearly as extensive.  From there it will be taken to as many ponds as time will allow for repair work on the dams and outlets.  If the purchase of a parcel of property is completed in time, upon which a dilapidated house stands, the heavy equipment will again prove useful in demolishing some structures.  We have not been given permission to burn them and may be instructed (as in the past) to merely bury them.

Mowing and trimming consume many man hours each week, as does the indexing process the sisters are engaged in.  Both are enjoyable and important parts of the mission of those assigned here.  Some would possibly consider them routine but somehow each day (full) of these duties seems new and we do not become weary in the “well doing”.

Many tourists visit the site during the summer months, particularly during the Nauvoo pageant.  Busloads and caravans of cars visit the overlook areas.  We are pleased to be able to expand the view of family members and friends during their visits.  David and Linda Jensen (friends and fellow ward members) arrived this week.

David and Linda Jensen at Preachers Rock

 We were glad to see them and share with them the spirit here.  Other local sites were visited such as the Amish community and nearby Church History sites.  The ladies enjoy shopping at the quilt shops in Hamilton.  We have customarily taken the men to the J.C. Penney museum.  During this visit we noticed a copy of the Eulogy of this well know business man.  A portion of the prayerful entry included this complementary notice.

     “Our gratitude to Thee, O Lord, that he was never victimized by success     

       or fame to grow arrogant or selfish.  Rather did he ever become more

       humble with a disarming wonderment about him that these great

       things could have happened to him.”

What a wonderful complement.  We also enjoyed visiting the Far West Temple Site and the Three Witnesses Monument and grave sites of prominent early Church leaders in Richmond, Missouri.  David helped mow lawns during their stay and Linda did some indexing.  They also attended two of our evening scripture study sessions.

Each month a missionary couple arranges a family home evening activity.  Most are held on Monday nights but this week arrangements were made to visit the Johnson Family Farm northeast of Bethany.  The family belongs to the Albany Branch.  Six of our couples attend church services there and have become acquainted with the family.  They have lived on the farm for about sixteen years and have developed a business growing and distributing herbs over a rather large market area.  They kindly took time from their work-day to show us their range of greenhouses and explain the process.  Their largest customer is a chain of grocery stores.  Deliveries are made twice each week of freshly cut herbs.  The family works very hard to grow, harvest, and pack the product. 

Before leaving, a green smoothie was made for each to enjoy.  We watched them be prepared. 

Oh my..... Dandelions?  Purslane?  Red Clover Blossoms?

 Many of the herbs they grow, combined with frozen bananas and strawberries (with hulls) as well as dandelion greens, purslane, red clover, spinach, etc., etc. became ingredients in the recipe.  Some of us wondered about trialing the concoction.  They were described as being very nutritious.  And they were surprisingly quite tasty.

During our Sunday meetings today our Bishop both spoke in sacrament meeting and taught a “fifth Sunday" lesson.  He shared the parable of the sower of different types of soil.  In concluding the lesson, he mentioned the need to remove weeds and nourish the seeds.  And he used both words as acronyms.  Contemplating the word "Weed" reminded us of many worldly experiences every day.  "Seed" invited us to live in a way that we could have more spiritual experiences every day.  Both aspects, of course, are important parts of this mortal period of our existence.

We hope all are well, and that this will be a wonderful week for all of us.