Sacred Beginnings

This was a long day in the Palymra area so there are a lot of pictures (and I only posted a few of the ones I had taken). Our favorite was the Smith farm and Sacred Grove. You could just feel a peace in the Sacred Grove and we were also privileged to hear the singing of "I Believe in Christ" and "Joseph Smith's 1st Prayer" by a traveling choir as we entered and exited the grove.

This is the 1st log home the Smith family had when they moved to Manchester, which is a stone's throw away from Palymra and the present day temple site.


There are 2 bedrooms upstairs in the log home. The first one you enter was the boy's room and were the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith.


The kitchen were many gospel discussions were held. This would be the fireplace mantle that Joseph leaned upon when he felt faint and his parents asked him what was wrong.


The back of the Smith Log Home.


This is the view of the Palymra Temple from in between the two Smith homes.


This is the distance from the 1st Smith Log Home (on the right) to the new Smith Frame House (on the left behind the tree) just down the road.


Frame Home Sign


The front of the Frame Home


The granite sink that Lucy Mack Smith was privileged to have. It was one of the first...it does not have running water, but you could pour water down it that would go outside.


The kitchen area were the Smith Family would listen to stories Joseph would tell from the Book of Mormon.


The fireplace hearth in which Joseph put the plates under when the mobs came looking.


These are huge hollowed out logs that the Smith family used for food storage back in the day. The Amish, I'm told, still use this technique.


This is the Cooper's shop. A Cooper is someone who would put the metal ring around the wood barrels, among other things. This shop is significant because it is another place that Joseph hid the plates when the mobs came looking. He was smart enough to put them overhead and the mob ripped up the floorboards.


This stream separates the Smith Family Farm and the Sacred Grove area. On a side note the Smith family had a pretty big farm, which was covered in trees when they moved there, but they cleared the land. They farmed hay and other things and also had an orchard.


There were many birds, especially these yellow ones, along our trip. There were also lot of butterflies, dragonflies, and mosquitoes around the Smith Farm and Sacred Grove.


Sacred Grove Sign


Sacred Grove and path


Looking upward in the Sacred Grove were Joseph "saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun."


Hill Cumorah Memorial (the Memorial and landscaping were by Willard Bean, who was a missionary in the early 1900's, if you want to read more I highly recommend the book, "A Lion and a Lamb" by Willard Bean).


Peter Whitmer Log Home in Fayette New York


Inside the Whitmer Home were the church was organized and held its first meeting. This is also the location were Joseph finished translating the Book of Mormon (the 1st half).


The Erie Canal, which transported many Saints.

More to come!

Palymra Temple and Pageant

So I have been meaning to post pictures from my trip for over a week now, but had some problems with the cd's. Now I am set and thought I would share church history with you in the order that we saw each place. It was the best vacation I have been on yet because my testimony was strengthened, I grew to love and admire the early saints, and I found myself sad to leave each town just as the pioneers.

To start off we went to the Palmyra temple and went through a session. Afterwards we took pictures outside and ran into Donnie Osmond (who we later saw again at the restaurant we ate at).


This is the front entrance of the Palymra Temple, which is not on the parking lot side like I am used to with all the other temples I have been to.


This side of the temple has a clear stained glass (so it's not really stained) window with a story behind it (the middle set of windows). This side of the temple faces the Sacred Grove so President Hinckley thought this window should be clear so you could look through it to the grove. From the inside it is in the lobby.


This is the view from the window to the Sacred Grove.


After the temple we grabbed some dinner and headed to the Palymra Pageant. I have been to every pageant produced by the church with the exception of the Mesa Easter Pageant and this one was by far my favorite. You could feel the spirit so strongly, probably because it was the story of the Book of Mormon.

The view of the pageant grounds and Hill Cumorah in the background (see the Angel Moroni peeking out).


The beginning of the pageant when the entire cast is on stage.


They had really cool special effects, water and fire. This is the ship Nephi built, in a storm when his brothers were wicked and had bound him.


Towards the end of the Pageant Christ comes to visit the Nephites in the America's.

Loved the Temple and Pageant and would tell anyone that these are "must see" places to see in your lifetime. More to come!

Taxiing

Recently I flew to New York. I have been lucky enough to never have problems with any flight I have been on in the past, with the plane or with my luggage. This trip was different. Leaving Utah we taxied. Leaving JFK we sat on the runway even longer, approximately 2 hours. Don't get me wrong it was a learning experience, especially if I am writing about it now.



The wait was not the airlines fault, but rather the weather. So as I sat there I thought to myself, "Instead of complaining like those around me, what can I learn from this?" Learn I did.

When we are caught in the storms of life sometimes we just have to endure. The key to that enduring is enjoying it and being positive. I have learned a lot about enduring well as I have toured the church history sites (more to come about that!). In my case I was able to catch up on some studying and also talked to those around me about the Palmyra Pageant where I was headed. Joy in the journey!

Restoration of the Gospel

I am headed to the church sites soon and I will post pictures afterwards. In thinking about my trip I have been thinking about the church being restored. There are so many things that we learned just from the 1st vision alone. To name a few:

1-Revelation is not dead, we can receive answers in modern times
2-There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism
3-The Godhead is three seperate and distict persons
4-Heavenly Father knows us by name
5-We are created in the image of God
6-Prayer is a process that takes time, we always receive answers, but in the Lord's timing

There are many more, but I just think it is so amazing that a modern day prophet was called and was an instrument in the Lord's hands to bring the fulness of the truth to our day!

Life's Journey

The other day I was listening to a BYU devotional on the radio that I really liked. It was given by Susan Sessions Rue, who is on the staff at BYU. Her background is in Travel and Tourism.

What I liked was she shared a story about her going into the wilderness with a bunch of girlfriends on a canoeing trip. She likened this to our journey through life. She shared many scriptures in relation to Nephi's family and the Liahona. She brought up the point that when Nephi's family had faith and followed the commandments the Liahona worked. We likewise have direction in our lives if we are doing what we are supposed to.

I also liked these points:
1-We need to Prepare for our "journey"
2-You need to know where you are in the journey
3-Afterwards we need to make meaning of the journey

In the end if we do not heed the direction of the Lord we will be lost.

Happy Liberty Day!

Happy 4th, Independence, or Liberty Day! I purposely titled this post Liberty because I have been thinking about this weekend in a different way then I usually do. My thoughts were led to Liberty Jail and essentially the ironic name of the jail. Joseph Smith endured some very hard things while in the jail, but really he was liberated or made free in time. He paved the way for our church to worship freely in this country.


In that same aspect, only bigger, Christ liberated us from so many things, namely our sins. As one person put it today in church, "we are free to choose, but choosing the right really brings freedom." When we sin or fall short we are held captive by our choices and addictions. Only Christ could liberate us and truly give us independence.