Live from Kansas City International Airport

This morning I’m at the airport in Kansas City, Missouri (pronounced “Miz-UR-ah” by the locals). I’ve been in training this week for a new system that we’re implementing at work, and I’ve been accompanied this week by Ernie Lovato, our IT guy. It’s a very cool system that allows you to integrate document management with your business applications (like accounting, HR, and so forth). We’re looking forward to getting that up and running over the course of the next few months.

Kansas City has been a nice town to visit. It’s a sizable metropolis on the border of Kansas and Missouri built on the banks of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. We stayed on the Kansas side of the city, but we ventured out into other parts this week.

Last Sunday, we took a trip out to Independence and Liberty, both suburbs of Kansas City. Independence and Liberty are significant sites to members of our faith.

Now, let’s jump into the Wayback Machine for just a moment: After persecutions in Ohio became too severe, the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints moved to Jackson County, Missouri. At that time, Independence was on the western frontier of the United States, and the Saints perceived the area as safer from persecution. They started buying land, which drove up land prices, and so many moved in that they started controlling the vote in Jackson County. The locals were quite displeased with both of those facts, and this displeasure resulted in further persecution of the Saints, including the jailing of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., in the Liberty Jail.

So, Ernie and I decided that we’d go out and see some of the sites in the area. We tried to find the visitor’s center in Independence, but we got lost, so we headed up to Liberty, where we found some tourist signs that directed us the the “Historic Liberty Jail.” We got there and were able to take a tour of the jail where the Prophet was held for a little more than four months. As we looked at the dungeon, I came to appreciate the nearly 800 square feet of space we enjoyed in our old condo a lot more. The space they were held in was about 120 square feet, and was home to four grown men; the ceiling was only six feet tall, so a couple of them could never fully stand up. The missionary sister who gave the tour bore a very powerful testimony of the restoration of the gospel, and the spirit we felt was very strong.

After our tour, the missionaries gave us directions to the other significant historical sites in and around Jackson County, so Ernie and I headed south to Independence where we found the Visitors’ Center. We toured the Center, which is laid out similarly to the Visitors’ Centers in Salt Lake City. We got to hear a presentation on families, which was a really good presentation. They showed a film about families, and in the film they talked about missing their Grandma and Grandpa, and I cried a little because I miss mine. It was a nice presentation. I’m glad I went.

We walked around a bit and saw the temple and large meeting centers that belong to the Community of Christ (formerly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Reorganized), and the temple site held by the Church of Christ (also another break-off sect from the Church). According to the Sister Missionary we met with, there are 25 different sects in the Jackson County area that are broken off from the Church. She kind of smiled as she told us about her missionary experience, and not having to have people pray about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith, because they already have a testimony of both. The big missionary task in that area is helping people understand that President Monson is the prophet. That idea is so foreign to me.

After our excursion, we returned to our hotel, and relaxed. We stayed in a Residence Inn in Olathe, Kansas (pronounced “Oh-LAY-thuh”, and not “Oh-LAH-thay” as I had guessed). It was a very well-kempt hotel, and we enjoyed our stay there. There was a Bass Pro Shops store accros the street (very similar to Cabela’s), and we visited it one evening. There was an Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue place down the street, and we visited it on two occasions. The barbecue was absolutely fabulous. Wow.

Well, they just started boarding for our trip, so I better get this posted. Have a good weekend, and maybe we’ll talk more about this trip on another occasion.