A little over a week ago my father-in-law Dale and I took a road trip to Southwest Missouri. Our first destination was the fantastical land of Precious Moments in Carthage, MO. I don't think it's a stretch to say that it was a bit of a pilgrimage for both of us.
We felt it very important to document the whole trip on the way down and get the full scoop on Precious Moments and its creator Sam Butcher (a.k.a. God).
Unfortunately, we happen to be there on a Wednesday rather than the preferred Sunday, so there were no Precious Moments costumed figures walking around. I really wanted a keepsake photo of me hugging Timmy the head dead baby angel figurine.
Also, we unfortunately missed Duke, the dwarf guitarist, who is a Precious Moments regular.
There is all kinds of mystery around Sam Butcher. I guess he owns islands in the Philippines since he's so rich from this brilliant scam. Precious Moments is the most collected item in the world. We've heard all kinds of things about Sam's fascination with dwarves and Filipinos. He is always surrounded by an entourage of Filipinos aged 14 to 25 and all of his assets are left in the name of his "assistant" rather than his son. All of this would be perfectly fine if it didn't stand in such contrast to his fundamentalist "Christian" cult following and empire.
At this point in our self-guided tour Dale was stricken with the inability to walk and miraculously there happened to be a wheel-chair depot. So I pushed Dale around the rest of the time. We took a series of stereo photographs throughout which I will post later.
This is Sam Butcher's magnificent Chapel. In a video, which you can view in the Gallery and Theater, Sam compares himself with Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. You really must see this place for yourself. In my opinion his sentiment is right on. He is a Renaissance Master!
We heard a rumor that there used to be an Elvis impersonating dwarf that would dress as an angel and fly from the ceiling of the chapel on a harness. That must have been something heavenly to see!
We asked a Japanese tourist to take our photo in front of the back wall of the chapel. This part of the chapel was documented chronologically as it was added to throughout the years.
This amazing image was found in the Gallery. The place was mostly full of greeting cards and statuettes that Sam created. There was a smaller wing dedicated to fan art which this image belonged to. Notice the hundreds of floating babies!
All of the old ladies we encountered that worked in the land of Precious Moments mentioned what a great artist Sam Butcher is. "He is such a gifted artist, isn't he?" one remarked. We couldn't help but agree.
This was part of the tour we had to pay admission to. We didn't take advantage of the Wedding Island tour, which was also an additional charge.
The fountain was the crown jewel of the tour. This was housed in a giant barn so that they could do the light and video show during the daytime.
It was truly amazing. There was a water show, light show, video show, and narration. We missed the first 5 days of creation, but the 6th and 7th were all good.
Then there was the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Amazing! Worth the $7 admission. I felt like I was transported back in time. I was right there with Jesus being crucified!
After the show ended and the clapping subsided we were invited to come closer and take flash-photo's of the fountain. Dale was suddenly and miraculously healed and was able to walk again after the fountain show.
We are truly blessed to have such a gem in our fine state of Missouri. I will forever remember that experience. I highly recommend visiting for yourself, but remember to get blazed first.
