Wow!!! I made it! September 6, 2013 is eighty-one days from starting on June 17, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I made it to my destination in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri which is next to Kansas City, Missouri. One thousand eighty-three miles of walking to honor the refugees and raise funds to help the orphans and other children in the schools in South Sudan, Africa supported by Southern Sudan Humanitarian. The picture of me (Claron Twitchell) is self-taken entering Jackson County, Missouri on Chouteau Trafficway bridge which crosses the Missouri River, Kansas City, Missouri.
I was happily surprised to get an enthusiastic reception from the missionaries serving at the Visitors Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Independence, Missouri. Back in January of this year, I talked on the phone a couple of times with Sister Pyne at the Visitors Center. She is serving an eighteen-month mission with her husband for the Church with their assignment being the Visitors Center in Independence. She did some checking for me in January and believes that no one else has walked from Salt Lake City to the Visitors Center in recent times.
A close-up of a stone plaque
When I called the Visitors Center today to let them know I was coming, I was happy to have Sister Pyne answer the phone. She said that she would let Elder and Sister Jones, who would be there when I got there in five hours, know that I was coming. When I walked through the front door, I heard, “Welcome Brother Twitchell!” from Sister Jones. The young sister missionaries joined in welcoming me. There were lots of questions, so I got to tell the story of South Sudan and my walk to an attentive audience. Elder and Sister Pyne came back to the Visitors Center to see me and took me out to dinner. I could not have imagined a better cheering section for my crossing the finish line.
The marker in this picture is at the “Temple Lot” in Independence. The stone marking the corner stone of the temple was the exact spot that I had in mind as my “finish line.”
Keep checking back with my blog as I will fill in the past week with more posts, do some posts wrapping up the story of the walk and so on.
Please comment on this post by clicking on the title at the top of the article Finish Line. That will take you to a page just for this article. Scroll down the page and you will see the comment section where you can add your comment. Please comment on any of the other posts as well.
Please Sponsor Claron to help the orphans and other children in South Sudan.
Video crossing Missouri River into Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.
Video at the finish line, the Temple Lot in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
“I Know that My Redeemer Lives.” Video of the sister missionaries singing for me at the Independence, Missouri Visitors Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.