Day 41 - Missouri

This morning went to Adam-ondi-ahman.  It is a beautiful lush uninhabited area of land.  A small population of early Latter-Day Saints lived here before they left Missouri.  To say the least, this is a very special place because of what has occurred there historically and what will occur there in the future.  It was so quiet and peaceful. Right now the church owns all the land and rents part of the land to farmers.  We heard from some other visitors that the farmers are able to rent the land from the church at a decent price with the understanding that at a moments notice they could be asked to leave and have 48 hours to clear the land.  (not sure how factual this is)

We also visited Far West.  Far West is a town where a group of members of the church also lived for a short period.  They were going to build a temple on the holy land in Far West, but weren’t able to before they were forced out.  Joseph Smith sent a group back to Far West, to lay the cornerstones for the temple on July 4, 1838.  To this day, the four cornerstones are all that encompass the land.

(Far West temple site)

(The cornerstones are incased.  This is one of the original four.)

Now a little US history...  Abraham Lincoln is from Springfield and we saw a sign for Springfield along the route, so on our phones we looked up Springfield to find out that it was only two hours away and in the direction of Steph’s place.  Ryan and I have learned a lot about Abraham Lincoln this trip and were looking forward to going to his home.  I put the pedal to the metal to try and get us there before the home closed at five.  We pulled up to the address of the home to find nothing out of the ordinary.  We didn’t see signs or anything.  We re-checked the address and realized we were in the wrong state.  Lincoln is from Springfield Illinois, not Springfield Missouri.  Needless to say, Ryan was not in the best mood and I just couldn’t stop laughing.  That was probably the stupidest thing we’ve done the entire trip.  And to make matters worse, I was to blame for the error because I was the one who saw the Springfield sign and said, Lincoln is from Springfield.  I just didn't put two and two together that we weren't in Illinois.

Our next stop was West Plains to meet up with my good friend Stephanie. I’ve known Stephanie since junior year at BYU.  While in Provo, I got to know her sister Julia and her brother Joe.  I was excited to meet the rest of her family as well as get to know her husband Brett. 

Stephanie grew up in a small town on a lot of land with horses.  I was pleasantly surprised when we pulled into town to find Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Subway, Sonic, etc.   The town has a population over 11,000 people, so it wasn't as small as I expected. 

That night we settled in and ate spaghetti that Steph’s 12 year old brother made.  I don’t remember the last time I ate pasta.  It was a great change of pace.  We stayed up with Stephanie and Brett catching up.