Fort Wayne Basketball

Nate joined a stake basketball team with several of his friends.  Each ward or branch in the stake created a team and they organized them to play one another each week.  Fort Wayne 1st ward has some key players though that may determine the championship team already :-)

The Kirtland Temple

Next we went to the Community of Christ visitor center where the Kirtland Temple still stands.  Since it is not owned and operated by the LDS church, we were able to go inside the temple and tour it and learn about it.  The temple had two levels of chapels, one that was used primarily for church services, and the other that was used for more sacred uses.  We hear about the "veil" that was drawn when Christ visited the Kirtland Temple and there indeed are curtains that are pulleyed from the ceiling to make partitions out of the general assembly hall.  This way, more than just 1 class or lecture could take place.  Upstairs even further were 2 long hallways that went the length of the temple.  On each side of the hallways were rooms where apparently people would come to lodge in if they had traveled to the temple and needed a place to stay.  So the third floor served as a kind of hotel.  At the very end of the hallways was Joseph Smith's office.  Here, he studied, prayed, and received lots of revelation.  It was a very neat experience to be inside the Kirtland Temple and to experience the feeling in there firsthand.  I am grateful that we were able to take this road trip and see some of the important sites in our church history that have such significant meaning for the church.

Town of Kirtland

We visited Kirtland Temple as our last stop on our road trip. Kirtland has two visitors areas: the LDS Visitors Center and the Community of Christ. We went to the LDS Center first and got to see the original Newel K. Whitney store. This store had lots of purposes. First and foremost, it was a store where they both sold goods and bartered goods. There was a notepad that showed every transaction. You could see many times when Joseph Smith had paid for another's debt, which we found very interesting since many of the saints traveled far distances and really did not have much supplies or cash.  Upstairs, Joseph and Emma lived with their child for a time, and we could see their room. Also upstairs one individual acted as "security" for the store and had a room for himself upstairs. 

Most importantly, upstairs in the Newel K. Whitney store was the School of the Prophets. This small room was apparently much like the temple. Revelations were received in there where Joseph would teach the apostles. It was a very sacred room. In that room Joseph had prophesied that "one day the church would fill north and South America."  In Kirtland there was a small creek near the store. We were told that many saints had been baptized in that creek.  It was neat to visualize this little neighborhood near the store bustling with people from the 1800's. 

Niagara Falls

The next stop on our road trip was Niagara Falls, which was about 2 hours back west toward Kirtland. It was a nice break in the middle of our 4 hour drive to Kirtland.  Niagara Falls was absolutely incredible.  It was just magnificent!  As a child, I remember riding on the boat down in the falls, but this time, we looked down at the falls from a cliff above, and it was amazing!  We were on the level of the huge river and we could see the water from the river flow over the cliff edge down below us.  The power of that water was beyond measure, such strength!  We happened to be in Palmyra on the most beautiful spring day with the sun shining and reflecting off the falls.  It was just beautiful.  It strengthened our testimonies of God's creations and the beauty of the earth.  The kids really thought it was pretty neat too.  As high above the falls that we were, we still got sprayed by mist.  I'm so glad we took the time to see this creation of nature.

Book of Mormon Publishing Store

We went to see the publishing store where the Book of Mormon was first published. It was a fascinating process to learn about. The missionary tour guide described and demonstrated the process step by step. First each ABC letter had to be placed in the iron sections for 16 pages of the book. The stamps were then brushed with huge ink brushes. Next a very large piece of paper would be lowered and pressed to stamp the words onto paper. Now this paper had 16 pages of the Book of Mormon stamped on it. They were in order so you could then fold the paper 4 times until it resembled a book and each page was in the correct order and right side up. I bet they made a lot of mistakes as they were first getting started, making pages backwards or upside down.  After the little 16 page book was folded, they would then stack these mini books on top of each other until the whole Book of Mormon was in a pile with the pages in order.  They would press this book down with a giant press to crease the folds well.  Then, they would sew the left side of the stack together to create a binding.  Then they would glue on leather on the left side over the binding.  Last they would cut the creases that were left on the right side of the book.  I guess I never knew all the steps involved in printing a bound book.  It seems like sooo much work just to make 1 Book of Mormon without the help of computers.  Of course it is all the people of that time knew, and so they probably believed it was advanced technology.  It makes me more grateful for all the effort and work put into publishing the Book of Mormon.  

 The kids thought these were the real golden plates at first.  Their reaction was pretty funny.  :-)

 Here is our whole group together.

This is one of the copies that they originally would make.  It is a bit different from the title page of the Book of Mormon today.

The Hill Cumorah

In Palmyra, we next visited the Hill Cumorah.  In my head, I always imagined it right next to Joseph Smith's home.  But it wasn't.  It was a good couple miles distance away.  That means, Joseph had to walk 2 or 3 miles just to get there.  I'm sure back then, since the people had to walk most places anyway, he was familiar with the land even a couple miles away.  But even when he received the golden plates and had to work his way several miles home with his persecutors following him, it must have been a very long trek. 

The Hill Cumorah is a really nice size hill surrounded by smaller hills and flat lands.  It looks so huge and magnificent since they have cleared the trees on the front side for the pageant that happens every summer.  The kids started at the bottom of the steep hill and ran straight up the hill to the very tip top!  At the top is the Angel Moroni monument reminding us that the Angel Moroni was here many years ago and that this was the place where the golden plates were found in the earth.  Someday we will have to come back and see the Hill Cumorah Pageant with the kids.  

The Sacred Grove

We walked down a ways from the Smith home into the Sacred Grove.  Being April, there was not much green like I remember from our trip when I was a child.  So it looked different to me.  But still just as beautiful.  With 4 young kids with us, it was difficult to have a reverent demeanor and to keep the Holy Ghost with us as we browsed the grove.  The kids were excited to be there, interested that it was where Joseph Smith prayed, but it was hard for them to keep their voices hushed and reverent.  The joy I saw in their faces though was reverencing.  They understood that somewhere in this grove, Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith.  As we walked through the groves, the boys would guess where it might have happened, since we are unsure exactly where.  As a family, we picked a spot that we guessed it might have been and snapped some photos there.  Definitely a neat experience.

Palmyra, New York

We planned a little vacation with some old time friends to visit some church history sites and Niagara Falls.  Kenny & Brittani Williams drove from Missouri to our house with their two little ones, Shiloh and Eli.  Shiloh was about Kaylee's age and had such a little personality.  He was a mini Kenny.  He would always go around giving compliments to others, saying, "That's cute!."  I think its because his mom would say that about him a lot.  :-)  They stayed at our house overnight and the following day, we caravanned an 8 hour drive to Palmyra, New York to visit Joseph Smith's home, the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah, where the restoration of the gospel all began.  

When we arrived at our rental home, we were joined by Mike and Risa, also old friends from Provo, with their two little ones Eva and Roman.  We all shared a rental home that had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a common kitchen and living room.  We split up our families amongst the three rooms and the adults actually slept on pull out couches in the living room so we could visit and talk while our kiddos were sleeping.  It was really so much fun to get to know Brittany & Kenny and Mike & Risa better.  When we lived in Provo, we were the only ones that had kids, so our lives were just at a different stage.  But now, we all had so much in common and so much to relate to.  

Our first stop, we visited at the Smith family farm.  This is where Joseph Smith lived with his family when he was a boy.  We saw the fields he would work with his family and we saw a replica of his small home.  We went upstairs to his bedroom area where we could imagine the Angel Moroni descending where we were standing.  It was very neat.  Some of the Smith family members worked as "Coopers" making barrels.  Cooper was thrilled about that!  

Cooper's PreKindergarten Graduation

Cooper graduated from Pre Kindergarten!!!  Now I don't have any kiddos in preschool!  That's a little strange. He has really enjoyed Mrs. Kruse's class this year and his little buddies in that class.  His best buddy was Hunter.  Cooper is more than ready for kindergarten. He is already partway through our family reading lesson book and can read simple stories by himself.  He enjoys playing with friends more and more these days.  I think he is looking forward to going to Cedarville across the street with his big brother, and riding the bus home with him too.  

Creative Playschool has such a wonderful experience for our family!