Sunday, October 25, 2009

Our trip back East!




Last Thursday, Brig, Camden (Brother-in-law), Atley (sister), and myself flew out to Ohio to meet my parents who had been there since Monday. We landed in Cleveland and drove for about four hours to get to Palmyra where the rest of the fam was. We did Palmyra on Friday so here are some pictures!


This one was at the Hill Cumorah Monument. Talk about a steep and beautiful hill!
This is the Grandin printing press where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. The sister there took us through the process and I couldn't believe how much effort was put into a single copy let alone 5,000!
This is the sacred grove. The spirit there was so wonderful and we didn't want to leave! I loved it so much and my testimony of Joseph Smith grew so much. I know he was a prophet called of God.

And this one is the bedroom where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph 4 times in one night. It was really interesting because the missionaries said that in all the paintings we see of that event it looks as if Joseph is the only one in the room, but actually there were about 6 or 7 people sleeping there with 3 or 4 to a bed! But no one else woke up on that night :)


After Friday in Palmyra, we woke up on Sat. and went to Kirtland! I loved Kirtland so much; the spirit there was so wonderful. I didn't want to ever leave!

This is my whole family (minus my two oldest brothers. I'm sure they were with us though :) ). It is the Johnson Farm where Emma and Joseph lived. By carriage or sled, it is about a day's journey to Kirtland so they were pretty far away. If you remember the tar-and-feathering story this is where it all happened. The mob said they were sure Joe Smith wouldn't be up preaching the next day (they did it on a Sat. night) but he crawled home, had his wife pick tar, feathers, and skin off of his body and preached on Sunday morning (some of the mob were even in the congregation). Joseph Smith is such a wonderful example of faith and courage to me. I learned to love him so much on this trip!


This is the School of the Prophets. Pres. Hinckley said this place, along with any other place that the Father and Son have appeared are the most sacred places on earth! It was so neat!


This is the Newel K Whitney store where Joseph and Emma stayed for a while. These people were so incredible and gave up everything for the kingdom. they inspired me so much!

4 comments:

Our Ohana said...

I am SO SO jealous you guys go to do this! Love the pictures! I can't wait to get back there someday!

Jenna Baker said...

I LOVE Kirtland. But I have never been to the Sacred Grove. I am going to take a Nation-wide church history trip in 2 years, starting in california and going all the way around the US. But I am so jealous.

I will have to talk to you more about this! Goodness, it must have been amazing! :) And that picture with your family was so precious, I loved it. I wish I knew them, I am sure they are incredible if they are half of who you are. I love you Em.

Jen said...

What an awesome trip! I love all the pics you took. I agree, it's amazing how strong the spirit is in these sacred places.

Mike and Katie said...

Isn't the Johnson Farm amazing! I loved the tour there. We went to church at the ward house just down the hill from the farm and them went through the tour. The spirit in all of the church history places is so so strong. I'm glad you guys had a good time!