Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kirtland

Here we are-- standing in front of the Kirtland temple. It was the first temple built after the church was restored. The saints were forced to leave Kirtland shortly after finally finishing the temple, so we do not own it anymore. But the Community of Christ church now owns it and they give tours which is kind of fun. The temple was beautiful and the experiences that the saints had there when it was first built was worth all of the sacrifices they made to build it even though they had to leave shortly thereafter.
It's amazing how many little details there were! There were many accounts of the saints seeing "concourses of angels standing on the rooftop of the temple" at the dedication. My ancestors were some of those witnesses. They sacrificed so much to build this temple and it is so cool to know that they all witnessed many miracles because of it, through their hardships and sacrifices.

Parker was a little tired after our tour. :)

One of my favorite parts of the whole trip was going to the Neuel K. Whitney Store.

It was so cool to walk through the very same doors that Joseph Smith and many of my pioneer ancestors walked through to buy all of their necessities.



Upstairs is where Joseph and Emma lived for a while. This is the room where they had others over for dinner and shared their testimonies of the Gospel with many people. The table here is the actual table from when the Smith's used it.

This tiny little room is where the school of the prophets was. This is the very room that Joseph and his apostles saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. There was a VERY powerful spirit in that room. The missionaries let us have our own private family prayer in there and it was such a neat experience to kneel down and pray in that sacred room. An experience I will never forget. :)

The sister missionaries were such great tour guides (my favorite on our whole trip!)

Parker had fun checking out the sawmill with his Uncle McKay.

Kirtland really was a beautiful place!



But by the end of our amazing day... this little boy was worn out! He was such a good boy!

Only two more days left to share... 
Next stop: Nauvoo, IL!

7 comments:

  1. Wow, beautiful pictures!! I love the one of Parker 'worn out after the tour'. I love the stories written by our ancestors of the experiences in that temple and the Kirtland area.

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  2. A-MA-ZING! Love all beautiful pictures and the picture of Parker and his little belly button and when he's all tuckered out and how his arms are all over the place ;)

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  3. How fun! I can wait to visit there. Chris is taking a church history class right now with Susan Easton Black. It's so neat to hear of all of the little stories you don't hear about in church. Can't wait to see the rest of your trip :)

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  4. What a fun trip. How beautiful to be able to see all of those amazing locations. Okay Parker is starting to look so much like Colton. So cute! I can't believe he is one years old now. Time flies!

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  5. All I need to say is that Parker is ADORABLE!! I'm so obsessed! hehe!

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  6. I have read your blog for a long time and just love your little family....my in laws life right across the river from Nauvoo....I just love that little town and all the history. We love looking across the river at the beautiful temple. Thank you for sharing...

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