Thursday, June 08, 2017 – Elder Kyle Johnson & Elder Hawkins, Chives at Lyon Drug, Vinson Knight Home, Dan & Mindy’s tours, “Sunset by the Mississippi”

For the second day in a row, Elder Kyle Johnson and Elder Cantwell had different work assignment than we did.  Part of the time they have been helping Elder Hall moving lumber. Both yesterday and today they helped Elder Hawkins work on the renovation of the home for Director of FM. They’ve spent a lot of time pulling the old wall paper off in the whole house. Elder Kyle Johnson says, “. . . and that’s a huge house.” They’ve also spent a lot of time cleaning it out and Elder Johnson says, “We cleaned out a lot of raccoon poop and wasp nests.” One thing’s for sure, Elder Hawkins says they are a team, good workers and they are getting a lot done.

Sis. Johnson and I were back at the Lyon Drug again pulling volunteer Chive plants from the herb garden paths. They are everywhere and in some places they completely fill the walkways. Since they are growing in the gravel walks and the ground is very hard, we have to use pitchforks to loosen the ground to get them out. It is tedious and laborious work and we did it all morning. 

 Our final project of the day was at the historic home of Vinson Knight. We cleaned and worked up the flowerbed in the front of the house so we could plant it full of flowers. The front yard also needed work. We planted grass seed and covered it in mulch to get a new lawn to grow in front of the house.  On both sides of the house there were volunteer trees growing next to the foundation. These trees can’t be allowed to get very large or they will dislodge the footings of the building. I used a bottle of tree poison to make sure they will all die after I cut them down.

Today Dan, Mindy and their kids had a full day. They walked the “Trail of Hope” and got to put their hands in the mighty Mississippi River. They toured the Pendleton home and Log School, the Lucy Mack Smith home as well as the Brigham Young home.  They took the Oxen Ride then went to the Blacksmith shop and received a “Prairie Diamond” for each member of the family. The Prairie Diamond is always a highlight of everyone’s trip to the Blacksmith shop but little Carter, two and a half years old, was enthralled by the hammers being used. He kept pointing and exclaiming, “Hammer, hammer.” Carter loves

 

We ended our day performing in “Sunset by the Mississippi” with our “Emma Hale” cast. Of course our son and his family were there as well as our grandson Elder Kyle Johnson. The Emma Hale cast put on another “Standing Ovation” show. We love performing with our fellow missionaries and sharing our testimonies through song and dance. It was another great show.