Omaha Nebraska Temple and Visitors Center, Winter Quarters

Traveling to Kansas City to visit Ryan and Hannah, and their new baby Madeline, I made a detour trip to Florence, Nebraska. Florence is a Suburb to Omaha. I crossed over the Missouri River on the Mormon Bridge, and found the visitors center, Temple, and Graveyard.



Statue to the memory of those who died at "Winter Qtrs", Florence, Nebraska.



Winter Quarters was once a refuge for thousands of Latter-day Saint pioneers en route to the Salt Lake Valley. Between June 1846 and October 1848 alone, some 2,000 Church members died at Winter Quarters due to heavy storms, inadequate provisions and shelter, scurvy, malaria, and the Saints’ weakened condition after being driven from Nauvoo or crossing the seas from Europe. Winter Quarters became a place that tested the faith of thousands who struggled through sickness and wilderness to reach their eventual destination in the Salt Lake Valley.





These are gravestones of recent deaths (within 100 years) of members of the LDS church in the Omaha area. Today their are only a dozen or so gravestones visable. All but one gravestone, of Amy Porter from the early settlers of Winter Qtrs, were gone by the time the church began the restoration of the cemetary. The Gravestone of Amy Porter is now preserved and found in the Visitors center across the street from the graveyard.
The cemetary was mapped out using Amy Porter Gravestone as a reference point for all of the other graves.





Omaha Nebraska Temple - Fall of 2011, as seen through the barren trees.







Visitor Center Missionaries.




Temple as viewed from the Visitors Center.




Sis. Atkin from the Morningside Stake, St.George Utah, with Sydne Davies

Goodwill of Good neighbors.

View of Lake Oahe, which is a bloated Missouri River area due to a Dam that was built downstream. This is the view from the Standing Rock Tower facing north.

Today Roger and I were chauffered to Bismarck, North Dakota by our sweet neighbor Johna. She is a Psychologist with a PHD working on the Indian Reservation. She is also the animal rescuer on the Island. She has three dogs and a couple of cats she has rescued and rehabilitated. It was very generous of her to spend the day with us in Bismarck.

Our trip to Bismarck was fun. It only takes 50 minutes to get there traveling on a two lane highway through farm land. The highway travels within a 100 yards of the Missouri River most of the way to Bismarck. It is green here, like it is red in St.George. Everywhere you look it is green grass. I have never seen so many fat cows in my life. They have so much land for grazing that is so lush with grass. I can't help but ask Denice Hughes what he is thinking of .....raising cattle on the Arizona Strip. His cattle would think that they had "died and had gone to heaven" if they saw this land and all the grass feed!

We checked out all the great shopping spots, and even found a fruit stand to buy pickling cucumbers. (I have even put up seven bottles already of pickling cucumbers. I don't know what I was thinking because I have no place to put them now that they are bottled.)

There is a LDS Temple in Bismarck that is only open on Thursday and Friday evenings, and all day Saturday. The Bismarck Stake takes in most of the State of Bismarck. In a couple of weeks is Stake Conference. More people will travel from long distances to attend, than live right in the Bismarck area itself. They are reorganizing their stake presidency.

Interesting side note: The Stake Presidency is having a change in a couple of weeks. The Stake President has been out of work for a few months and just moved his family to Shawnee, Kansas for work. (Just in case any of you think Stake Presidents are exempt from trials and challenges....proof that everyone has opportunities to increase their faith!) Our son Ryan, lives in Shawnee Kansas with his Wife Hannah. We will not be in town for the changes in the Stake Presidency. We will head to Chicago for Lauren and Joe's open house.