Being able to visit the Church history sites was my favorite part of the trip. It was really cool to see the locations and think about all of the sacrifices that Joseph Smith and all of the early church members made in order to live the gospel. It was also neat to see and think about in detail the manner in which God chose to restore the gospel on the earth. I felt the Spirit many times as we visited these sites and I loved being able to share that with our children. The Church and the gospel are such big parts of our family's life so it was really neat to see some of the history behind it.
Our first stop was Independence Missouri. The early saints were told that this area would be Zion or the New Jerusalem. However, as they tried to settle here, they experienced extreme hostility and were eventually forced out of the state by mob and orders of the governor at the time. There wasn't too much to see in Independence, just a visitor center and some of the sites that belong to the Community of Christ (formerly known as The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
The temple for the Community of Christ.
The land that was dedicated by Joseph Smith for building a temple in Independence.
Just north of Independence is the Liberty Jail. This is where Joseph Smith and others were imprisoned for five months on made up charges. They had a replica of the jail inside a museum. Although it was not the actual jail that stood there when Joseph Smith was in prison, it is on the same location and built with some of the remnants from the original. Seeing this site helped me think more about Joseph Smith's experience and what he must of thought about while spending so long in jail for doing the work that God had asked him to do. He wasn't harming anyone and doing a lot of good for the people, yet he was still seen by many as a threat that had to be locked away and eventually killed.
After Independence we drove up to Far West Missouri to see another spot that had been dedicated for a temple. In this spot, the cornerstones had been laid and are still there in the exact location. This is also the location where several of the apostles were sent on missions to Europe.
And then just north of that is Adam-ondi-Ahman, the place where the second coming is supposed to begin with Adam returning to visit his posterity. There are no church buildings built here, just open fields and forests. Some have trails for walking around and others have crops growing. It was really beautiful and peaceful here.
It is said that while at Adam-ondi-Ahman Joseph came across some stones that he said were remnants of a Nephite altar. We thought the stones below could have fit that description.
After that we made our way to Nauvoo. This is where the Saints settled after leaving Ohio and some of the other areas they had been living. At the time, they were able to build Nauvoo into a relatively large city. At that time, it was about the same size as Chicago was. The Church and the Community of Christ have restored many of the buildings of the city. And now, the Church has tons of activities and tours that they do there of the different buildings. This is where the saints were living at the time Joseph Smith was murdered and the starting point for the move west to Utah.
We started off with an ox ride.
And then we got to play different pioneer games. Our children really loved these activities.
That evening we also got to take a tour of some of the buildings that were part of the city, including a bakery and Browning's home and gun shop.
We also had time to go see the graves of Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and his wife Emma. His parents' graves were also in the same cemetery.
We finished the night watching a play depicting some of the pioneer life in Nauvoo. It was really good. All of the actors and actresses were young missionaries who audition to serve in Nauvoo as performing missionaries. I couldn't believe how talented they were.
We started the next day with another play that was more child-focused.
We also got to do a horse ride through the town and see where the saints lined up to cross the Missouri river to start heading west, and Joseph and Emma's Red Brick store and Mansion house that played important parts in Church history.
We finished our time in Nauvoo by visiting the temple. The original temple that was built here was destroyed by fire and a tornado. But the Church rebuilt it and dedicated it in 2002.
Outside of Nauvoo we also got to visit the Carthage Jail. I think we all felt the Spirit very strongly there. This is the place where Joseph and Hyrum were imprisoned again and martyred at the hand of a mob. It was sad, but also very touching to think about the sacrifices that they made for the restoration of the gospel and to complete the work God had for them to do on this earth.
Driving from Nauvoo to Palmyra, we also got to stop at Chicago, Kirtland, and Niagara Falls. I will talk about Chicago and Niagara Falls in another post, but Kirtland played an important role in the history of the Church. This is where many church members settled after fleeing persecution in New York. They built the first temple of this dispensation here. We couldn't go inside it due to COVID-19 restrictions, but it was neat to see from the outside. It is now owned by the Community of Christ and they didn't have any of their sites open yet.
We did get to see and tour the sites owned by our church in Kirtland. The Newel K. Whitney store was probably the place where I felt the Spirit the second strongest (after Carthage jail) while on our trip. In an upstairs room above the store, Joseph Smith started the School of the Prophets. Its main focus was to help prepare members for missions and other church service callings. In this small room (which is the exact one that was present at the time, not a replica or rebuild) Jesus Christ appeared. It was inspiring to think that we were standing in the exact location where Christ once stood.
They also had a few other shops and buildings that we got to tour. Again, it was touching to think about all of the sacrifices that the early saints made for the Church and in order to follow God's commands.
Our final stop in our Church history tour was Palmyra. This included the Grandin printing press, the Sacred Grove, the hill Cumorah, and the Whitmer farm. Since we previously lived just an hour from here, Rebecca, Julia, Ethan, Christian, and I had been to many of these sites several times in the past. I don't think Julia, Ethan, and Christian really remember those experiences though.
The Grandin printing press was the location where the Book of Mormon was first printed.
The Smith family farm is right next to the Sacred Grove, where Joseph Smith prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is where he first learned of his mission to restore the gospel to the earth.
In the upstairs bedroom, Joseph also saw Moroni appear to him and tell him about the golden plates that he would translate into the Book of Mormon.
A view of the Palmyra temple from the Smith family farm.
On the farm the Smith family first lived in a small log cabin type house. Later, they moved into this larger nicer house that the oldest son had built before he died. There are many stories of locations where Joseph had to hide the plates while he was translating them and the mobs were trying to find them. One was under the stones at the foot of this fireplace.
Another place they were hidden was in the rafters of this shop.
We then walked through the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith had the First Vision. We tried to be pretty reverent in there and focus on Joseph's experience, but the kids got pretty excited when they saw this frog.
We also walked to the top of the hill Cumorah. They used to have a huge Church pageant here that would portray some of the stories from the Book of Mormon. But the Church has decided to discontinue with that pageant and so they were in the process of tearing up all of the buildings and structures associated with that and returning the hill to a more natural looking appearance.
Our very last Church history stop was the Whitmer farm. This is the site where the Church was officially organized. Although they know the site of the farm where that happened, they are not sure exactly where the Whitmer home was located. So this was just a replica building of what it would have looked like.
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