St Louis

I took a whirlwind work trip to St Louis last week! I was on the ground less than 24 hours and packed it full of everything I could.

I am working on a radio documentary about the Saints in St Louis. It's going to air on KSL Newsradio in between General Conference sessions this April 7 at noon. I'd already done a couple interviews and lots of research out here, but needed to get out there for more.

When I landed, I took an Uber (for the first time) to the home of the Oscarsons, in Clayton/West County area of St Louis. Their families were a big part of the growth of the Church, leading to the 2nd creation of the St Louis Stake in 1953 (did you know there was a St Louis Stake in the 1840s?)

What wonderful stories they shared with me, and what wonderful testimonies. After that, they dropped me off at the St Louis Temple, which isn't far from their house. I remember vividly the building of this Temple when I was in high school. My family volunteered at the open house.

I had someone take this picture of me when I came out that evening.

At my hotel downtown, I FaceTimed the kids before they went to bed. Here's a screenshot of everyone trying to see me at once.

I was super hungry, and a couple blocks away was Sugar Fire BBQ, recommended by the second Uber driver. If a place is crowded at 8pm on a Thursday, it is a good sign.

Early the next morning, I walked uptown to go visit KMOX. I reached out to them before, told them how much I loved their station, and that I was visiting from KSL in Salt Lake. And they put me on the air! I talked about why I was in town and the project I was working on, and things like that. This was a teenage dream come true. 

I LOVED listening to this radio station in high school. I kept pinching myself. I hung out with them for an hour or so, then I had to hustle back down to the waterfront to make it to the Arch Museum at 8am.

I met two historians there an hour before it opened to the public, and got a personal tour of the new exhibits. The old museum was small and had a couple plaques about the westward expansion. The new space is wide open and inviting and tells the specific story of St Louis' role in the growth of the United States -- and the story of our Church is spread throughout! It is not just relegated to one corner.

For example these large screens below played video that the Church was instrumental in helping film, showing a re-enactment of what pioneers would look like.

That is a Nauvoo-era copy of the Book of Mormon on display. Every week they turn the page.

Here I am with Bob Moore and Tom Farmer. Bob works for the government as a historian, Tom is a local historian for the Church, and they are great friends now.  

After that, I was lucky that my dear friend Andrea was working downtown that day at the courthouse, and we met nearby  -- and I found myself laughing and smiling like the olden days of high school together!

She's lucky she lives and works so close to such a cool place.

Then I was Ubering back to the airport, and landed in Salt Lake City just in time to go down to our school for Arts Night. It was a fast two days!

Now I have a lot of work to do ahead of me, to take these hours of interviews and research and narrow it down to the documentary. I keep dreaming about editing it at night. Wish me luck!