Reflecting in the Sacred Grove

Creek that waters the Smith Farm.  Originates on the Hill Cumorah.

Entrance to Grove

 

Growing Up on a Farm: Joseph's boyhood home

LeGrand and I took this tour years ago and I went on at too great length at that time so this entry will be primarily pictures.  Hopefully it will cause those of us who went to remember the great spirit we felt there.  It was a dream come true the first time we went, but this time was even more fun because we had kids with us.  Thanks dear children for making this a great memory!



The Smith Cabin

An old Bible similar to the one the Smith Family studied.

Sisters

Boy's upstairs bedroom

Kitchen Mantle

Back door leading out to the Grove

Reading the account from the scriptures

More sisters

Trail to the home Alvin built later for the family

View of the Palmyra Temple from the Smith Farm

Smith Orchards

Alvin's home

Hiding place for the sacred plates under the brick

"Alvin's Tree" planted at his death--now the tree is dying

Smith Threshing Barn

This is the tool shed where Joseph hid the Golden Plates at least once from a mob. Question:  Why did the mob continue to search for the plates if they didn't believe they existed?

The prophet reported he hid the plates in the loft of the shed in a sack of  beans.  The mob did not look up.

Kirtland: The Heavens are Opened

I always thought Nauvoo was Joseph's "city."  But really, he lived in Kirtland more than twice as long as he did in Nauvoo.   Just down the hill from the Kirtland Temple, run by the Community of Christ, the LDS Church has a wonderful visitor's center and restoration of the historic town.

Here we were joined with two manly men from BYU/Hawaii.  We followed each other through the rest of our touring.  They were lots of fun and I thought they made us look better so they joined us in many of our pictures. 

The Newel K. Whitney Store was significant because Joseph and Emma lived in the upper story for a time.  Joseph actually turned the upper room of the store into the School of the Prophets, the Church's first MTC!

The store on the lower level

The green nametag things we were wearing were actually the tickets into the Kirtland Temple courtesy of the Church of Christ.  We just continued to wear them without much thought the rest of the day.  Doesn't it make us seem official? Lori makes it look GOOD.

Okay. I didn't touch, but I wanted to.  Those checkers are slices of yellow corn and colored corn.  Cool!

Awesome meeting in the room known as the School of Prophets.  Tiny.  Red. Awesome.

Many many revelations received here.

It was thrilling just to be in this room.

Exit through the storage rooms . . .

and the homewares. . .

Another beautiful newly restored building.

This is a working sawmill powered by an honest-to-goodness waterwheel.
I love beautiful wood.

. . . coming out of the lye mill. Next stop:  Palmyra.


 

Endowed with Power from on High: the first temple dedicated in this dispensation

After a restless night in a smoke-filled motel room in Kirtland, LeGrand got up very early and found the Isaac Morley Farm by himself.  He didn't dare wake the rest of us since we got in so late the previous night.  But the beauty of the sunrise and his own love for the man who would teach and baptise his own great grandfather inspired him to get the rest of us out of bed for an amazing start to the day.

The fields of the Isaac Morley Farm in the early morning

Farmhouse/Missionary Quarters

Rolling out of bed and on to the trail to the Morley Schoolhouse site where many important revelations were received. From Joseph who was teaching a few of the elders of the Church at this site:  ". . . I want  to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of the Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap.  You don't comprehend it. It is only a little handful of Pristhood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America and it will fill the world."

LeGrand's Devo:  "When God gives a commandment, He already has a way prepared for us."  Thank you John Tanner!

After breakfast, we arrived at the Kirtland Temple.  Love love love that temple!

Jodi's Devotional at Kirtland Temple:  "Covenants are disproportionate--we make covenants, God does most of the work and we get all of the blessings."

     The Kirtland Temple was the most expensive temple the Church ever built in relationship to the Saint's ability to pay.  During construction, the Kirtland Temple was guarded at night to protect the building from threatening mobs and vandals.  The Saints crushed glass and chinaware into the stucco applied to the exterior walls of the Kirtland Temple, which glittered in the sun.

"The temple is concerned with things of immortality. It is a bridge between this life and the next. All of the ordinances that take place in the house of the Lord are expressions of our belief in the immortality of the human soul." Pres.Gordon B. Hinckley

     During the weeks surrounding the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Saints experienced an outpouring of heavenly manifestations, which included the appearance of angels and the Saints seeing visions, uttering prophecies, and speaking in tongues.
     On Easter Sunday, April 3, 1836, during the Jewish Passover, the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple, accepting His house. Priesthood keys were then restored through three ancient prophets: Moses, the keys to the gathering of Israel; Elias, the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham; and Elijah, the sealing keys. (The Kirtland Temple, LDS website)