America Samoa Mission

Eldon, Iowa - This is what happens when you spend too much time around corn Women's Garden - Nauvoo Dear Family and Friends, The last couple of days have been long ones on the road, crossing Iowa and South Dakota.  We were grateful for the fields of sunflowers and sorghum that broke up the monotony of corn and soybean.  We also enjoyed some of the billboards along the way. "Eat meat, wear fur and carry a gun."  "Mexican Food ahead - so good that even Donald Trump would like it!" Our last day in Nauvoo was spent visiting historical sites and in the evening attending a musical production put on by the Senior Missionaries.  Our first stop after we headed home was at Eldon, Iowa at the American Gothic house.  There is a visitor center there complete with dress-ups if you wanted a picture. In Sioux Falls we stopped and toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center which was very well done.  Who knew that they were accompanied by a dog about th...

You don't have to tell me twice! Howdy to Family, Friends and ???    Well, we have been on the road a week with Patty and Brent on Historical trail - Wyoming 350 Horsepower pulling our "Covered Wagon" equipped with running water, full bath, microwave, ac/heating and comfy beds. Still at the end of every day we are travel weary and can't wait to sleep.  We have a whole new appreciation for our pioneer ancestors who walked the 1,600+ miles from Iowa City to SLC Utah!  Almost every day I have cried at the graves of some of these brave men, women and children.  I have marveled that my Grandmother Kendrick's great grandmother was able to keep going with six children in the first handcart company, after burying her husband on the Iowa plain.  That was after leaving almost everything in her life Kanesville Tabernacle (Replica) behind in Birmingham, England (Including some older children) and traveling first by ship and then train to w...

Happy "65th Birthday to Shauna"  Dear Family and Friends, This blog is mostly for our family and for my own personal journal, but if you are so inclined feel free to read. The first week of our adventure was spent in St. George, Utah.  My sister, Caryn Clark from San Marcos,Texas and our first cousin, Debbie Hoyt from Orderville, Utah spent the week at my sister, Shauna Stephenson's home at our annual Sister Reunion.  This tradition was started after our youngest sister Wendy was killed in an accident in 1984, and we all were together for the funeral - the first time in several years.  We decided then that once a Shauna, Caryn, Debbie and I at DocUtah year from that time forward, when possible, we would get together.  It's always a good time! 2 1/2 puzzles completed! We planned our reunion this year to be at the same time as DocUtah, a documentary film festival at Dixie University.  The films, for the most part, were inspiring, interesting...

Dear Family, Friends and Students, We are on the road again - this time to retrace both Brent and mine pioneer ancestors trek across the United States in 1856 in the first handcart company.  Edmund Ellsworth was the captain of the company and my grandmother's grand parents, James and Marie Bowers, were in the same company. Both had traveled from England on the ship "Enoch Train" and were headed to join the Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City.  Blogging is the easiest way for me to record this adventure not only for others, but also for my own record.  Feel free to come along.