Tours, tears, buried treasure and goodbyes

The building below backs up to a long scale.  Cows are herded  onto the scale, where they are weighed and the number of cows is divided into the weight.  This determines whether or not they are ready to go to the feed lots.  This particular scale-house wasn't in the best of shape and became Wes's current project. Inside is the old scale, where you move the weight from left to right. 

First, he'd need to locate the sheets of metal, correct screws, and an exterior door to block the wind for the job.  So we went into Ponca City and did some shopping on our preparation day. Wes also picked up a jacket to block the wind.

They removed the siding first, and secured all the old wood.

A few days later, the project is coming together nicely.  Now for a new roof, which he will do on Monday.

Mystery Object

What is that you ask?  This is a chewed up brake from one of the trucks that we repaired.  The trucks the missionaries drive have between 250,000 and 300,000 miles on them.  One of them is affectionately called "Harley", because it doesn't have a muffler and sounds like a motorcycle.  But repairing the muffler isn't in the budget yet (brakes were a safety issue)

Friday night with the Perishes

I believe I mentioned the new couple from Burley Idaho (in the corner stirring the caramel).  They invited us over for caramel apples, which we dipped in caramel and rolled in various toppings.  Missions are not good for the waist-line--but they sure taste good!

On the way home I saw two LIVE possums!  A gift from God.  I wanted to see one alive, but up until now, they were all road kill.

Finishing the Obituary Project

Remember the obituary project I told you about?  

The library in Pawhuska asked several of us to take obituaries from the 1980’s and try to preserve them. The yellowed, brown colored fading obituaries hung in an old hanging file and numbered in the thousands.

We’d drive for an hour into town and use scissors to straighten the edges, then tape them onto paper and copy the pages on the library printer. It was an arduous task, and only a few of us were interested in

The monotonous task. 

 When we completed this task, we eliminated any duplicate copies and tried to organize the obituaries by creating indexes for future visitors to the library to find. At last we were finished, and ready to hand them over to the library, in newly organized binders.  Before we could even do that, however, one of the other librarians came forward with armfuls of other ancient obituaries from a neighboring county and overwhelmed us with a new task.  

I was going home, however, the other sisters agreed to soldier on in their new responsibility. 

A year later, I have uploaded over 1600 new names into the family search database; OVER 90% of the names were my own relatives..  

Before I left for home, the head library offered to take us to lunch.  We happily accepted and ate at a restaurant called 125, on the Main Street. Trust me when I tell you--they have amazing food at reasonable prices!!  We enjoyed the food and conversation... and a laugh.  "What are calf fries?"  I'll let you figure that one out- but they are similar to Rocky Mountain Oysters!

Below from left:  Sister Barbara Johnson, Sister Roelene Taylor, Yvonne Rose (librarian) and myself.  Together, we blessed the food and chatted.  When I mentioned that I wanted to take the free tour of the Immaculate Conception Church, Yvonne told us of one of the stained glass windows there and of Christ and his tenderness with the children.  Tears wet her face and we felt of her love for Jesus Christ.  I had the opportunity to tell her about how the Polynesians in Hawaii described the visit of Christ to their people and then added, "The Book of Mormon is an account of his visits to the Native American people."  She said she had no idea.  I went on to explain that we believe in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon and that they compliment each other and teach the same principles.

The Tour

We asked Yvonne if she'd like to go with us on the tour of the church and she readily accepted.  She had been thee before, but she was happy to go again.  I had heard that the depictions of the Osage Indians were there, and that they had to receive approval from the Pope to put stained glass windows depicting real people into the windows, and that they were beautiful.  But I had no idea just how amazing they were.
  

Below is a photo from the balcony above.

 

The tour guide explained that the cornerstone was laid in 1910, but the church was founded in a different location around 1887.  She said the land there was given to them by the Cherokee.  One of the Osage leaders visited the area, and said, "It seems plain, but I sense something more is there and they moved to Oklahoma.  The "more" turned out to be oil and their chief was wise when he said that any land sold  by his people would be sold without mineral rights.  The oil made the Osage people extremely wealthy.  The stained glass windows contain the names of the Osage Families who donated the glass.

The Osage families wanted the best stain glass windows in the world, so they commissioned them from Royal Bavarian Arts Institute in Munich, German.  Just before they were ready to ship, World War I broke out, so the artists boxed up the panes of windows and buried them in sandbars around the rivers in Southern Germany to protect them, hoping and praying that they would survive the war.  Our tour guide said, "Thanks be to God they did!"  Once the war was over, in 1918 they dug the windows up and told us which ones they had completed.  Until the alters and windows arrived, they had mass in buildings without windows for nine years.  They all arrived and were finally installed in 1925.  The glass contains intricate details and even the muscles of the men, facial expressions and hair are exquisite.  The middle picture is Christ after his resurrection.  You can enlarge the photo and see the marks in is feet and hands.

The artists in Germany melted gold leaf into the colors, and many of them look like they are actually silk or velvet.  The breast plate on the first one represents the twelve tribes of Israel.

Beautiful stain glass of the nativity.  Note the stars in the sky, and the lamb.  This is incredible, with the various animals, parrot, flowers,  and muscles,.  Can you find the snake?

The window below is the most famous in the church.  It depicts the evangelization of the Osage Tribe with 4 chiefs of the tribe and their families.  You can tell a chief from the circular otter skin hat.  The women are all in their traditional shawls.  The Osage did not want generic Indians in their window, or a German to guess about what their people looked like, so they received permission from the Pope for living members of their tribe to sit as models for the window.  Usually only the Holy Family or canonized Saints are depicted in Catholic sacred art, but because it was illustrating the evangelization of their people, it was a good enough reason for an exception.  

Above is the picture that the librarian described to us through her tears.

I was so grateful that we took the time to see the beautiful stained glass windows and also grateful for the Osage families who donated something so incredibly beautiful for others to enjoy.

My Favorite Things

This week I went into Cedar Vale and interviewed the man who put the memorial together which we painted.  I submitted an article about him to the local newspaper.  On the way home I looked at the newly planted fields and thought that it looked a lot like Spring!

I also stopped to say goodbye to the people who own the little 12 seater chapel... and my favorite smiling dog, Dexter.  The reflection of the chapel in the water, took my breath away.

This dog always makes me feel happy inside.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all greet others with such excitement and love?

We will miss the other missionaries especially!  As we approach our departure date, they have treated us  to home-cooked meals, but the real treat was all they taught us.  I feel sure that God's hand brought us together, and I will truly miss that close association.  

This week I have really struggled with sciatica pain. Tylenol and Ibuprofen held it at bay, but it was always there gnawing at me. Yesterday morning I heard a knock at the door and Sister Taylor popped in.  She offered to massage the side that was hurting and asked if I felt comfortable with her doing that.  I wept at the kindness and accepted gratefully.  

She began to work using her gifted hands, slowly working out the knots.  I was so grateful for the kindness (and relief) and I can't tell you what a relief it was to me to be out of that pain!  

I am so appreciative of the wonderful, unique gifts and blessings we've received from our fellow missionaries and those who held down the fort at home, remembered us in their prayers, and sent notes of encouragement.  There aren't enough words to express our gratitude.  You made this all possible.