Off to Independence!

Today, being Sunday, we weren't quite sure how to spend our vacation. We didn't want to sit in the hotel room all day but we wanted to honor the sabbath in an appropriate way as well. The weather also predicted rain so spending time outdoors would be out of the question as well. After some quick research we found that the LDS Church history sites in Independence and Liberty Missouri were only 3 hours away. So we got up and got ready for church and made the drive to Independence. We made it just in time and enjoyed the sacrament service there. We think we might have attended a Polynesian ward but were later told that there is a heavy Polynesian influence in the area which surprised us both.

After church, we hopped next door to the Independence, MO Visitor's Center. We were not prepared at all for the experience we had there. Sister Burton was our tour guide for the afternoon and we are so thankful for her and for willingness to follow the Spirit as she guided us along. It was just the two of us with her so the tour was tailored to us. We loved seeing the history of the area and hearing the stories of the early church. The religious turmoil that continues in the area is amazing to me.

While touring the historic displays, Sister Burton stopped and told us that if we had time she would love to show us one more exhibit upstairs. So we went along and she took us to an exhibit called "God's Plan For His Family". This exhibit walked you through "life" as it began with a couple having a baby and then walked us through life's different blessings and obstacles. Suzanne and I were both very emotional as different things hit home with us in our lives, with our difficulty having children, our loss of my sweet sister Shannon, our loss of Suzanne's mother and just daily life on this earth. At the end we just wept quietly together as we felt the Spirit surround us. We could not begin to speak and share how we were feeling but we all knew. Suzanne and I were so thankful we chose to come there this day and so very thankful for Sister Burton and her attentiveness to the Spirit and to our own spiritual needs that day.

Reluctantly we left and drove up to Liberty, MO where we had another inspiring tour of the Liberty Jail visitor's center. Again, it was great to be in such a sacred place on the sabbath day.

The drive "home" to Branson was beautiful and peaceful. The Missouri countryside was beautiful and green and lush. As we enjoyed the drive, we started to notice signs like this one:

I looked at Suzanne and asked her if we were in Amish country. She had no idea so we began to keep our eyes open for any signs of the Amish. Pretty soon, off to on the right hand side of the highway, there was a buggy rolling along at quite a good clip with a bearded gentleman and his wife riding down the highway. I admire and respect these people so much but am very much in awe of their lifestyle in today's world. After getting back we found that Missouri has quite a large and growing population of Amish. Who knew?

It was a great day and we enjoyed every minute.