Missouri

This morning we began our day in Independence Missouri. We went straight to the church's visitor center and spent a couple of hours with the sister missionaries. The upper floor consisted of a children's area where we could watch church commercials and participate in other activities similar to those found on Temple Square. Downstairs there were displays on the Saints life in Missouri. We learned that during the first cold winter in Missouri, ten families shared a small one room cabin. We heard the story of the WW Phelps printing press that was destroyed by the mobs and of the heroic acts by the Rollins sisters to save the unprinted pages of the Book of Commandments. The kids then played in the children's area. It was so fun to watch Sophia and Ezra pretend that they were pioneers, leaping on their wagons to avoid the mobs. The kids absolutely loved the visitor center and we left looking forward to our time in Missouri.

We walked across the street to visit the Community of Christ (formally the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) headquarters. We watched a movie and then took a tour of their temple. My impression was that they are a good community of people, but lacked a focused purpose and certainly had lost the truth. To me they seemed to have a similar, but somewhat twisted beginning, with a very new age feel. They were vague at best in describing Joseph Smith's First Vision, they include the symbol of the cross, not because they believe in focusing on the cross as they explained, because they don't, but so that other's will accept them as Christian, and just recently they increased their tithing to 11 percent so that they could balance their budget. It was interesting to compare what is similar and what is drastically different from our church.

Tree of Life

First Presidency

We then took a walking tour of Independence which quickly turned into a driving tour due to the heat index! We saw the temple plot, the Flournory house where Joseph Smith met to buy the temple land, the new and the original court house where Joseph was sentenced and then sent to Liberty Jail, the Gilbert and Whitney Store which is still in business as the perfect little gourmet food store, Governor Bogg's home site and the W.W. Phelps Printing Shop site.

Court House where Joseph Smith and other church leaders were charged

Whitney store which was established by church members in 1832.This store is still in business.

We then drove to Liberty where we took a tour of the infamous Liberty Jail. It was sobering to hear of the treatment that Joseph Smith and other leaders of our church endured in the cell that was before us. However, we also knew that this was a time of great refining strength and faith for Joseph Smith.

Our next stop was Far West. This is where the Saints were driven to from Independence. Once again they hoped to have a peaceful existence here, but the mobs attacked soon after they had established this area as their new home. Before they were forced to flee the area, they laid the corner stones for a new temple. Joseph Smith had a revelation that the twelve Apostles would depart for their missions on a certain date from this spot. The mobs tried to prevent that from happening by viciously chasing all of the Saints out of the area. However, on the date prophesied, the Twelve Apostles courageously snuck back to this spot from Nauvoo, shortly after midnight, and from here left for their missions abroad. We visited this spot, appreciating the sacredness of the area.

The only remains of a Far West era structure. This was Charles Rich's home, an ancestor of our good friend Chris Rich.

We then traveled to the Haun's Mill site where a Mormon village was brutally attacked by 240 mobsters, killing 17 men and boys. Once again, the solemnity of the tragedy that occurred here could be felt.

Our last stop for the day was Adam-Omni-Ahmen. This area was absolutely beautiful and felt so peaceful. Most of the land is leased out to local farmers and there are 12 couple missionaries whose job it is to maintain the area. We arrived late in the evening, at sunset, so we had the area to ourselves. Upon leaving, a missionary stopped to talk with us. He had such interesting insight into the area.

A rock from which Joseph Smith often preached.

Unexpectedly, the Missouri portion of our tour has been one of my favorite days. Such significant events have occurred in this land which made our time in Missouri so meaningful.

Tom and Huck

This morning we awoke in Quincy, Illinois. When scheduling our hotels, we didn't realize that Quincy was such a significant church history site. After the Saints were chased out of Missouri, they fled to Quincy for several months. They were taken in by the people in this town, with one man describing that each morning he woke up with his entire floor covered with people sleeping and he could barely avoid stepping on a Mormon! Joseph Smith said that the support given to the Mormons would not be forgotten and in 2002 the Tabernacle Choir raised $75,000 which President Hinckley presented to the Mayor of Quincy and explained that our church had not forgotten the love their people showed the Saints in 1838.

We then traveled to Hannibal and visited Mark Twain's boyhood home and town. We took a river boat cruise up the Mississippi where we saw the island that Huckleberry Finn camped on and the life that Mark Twain lived as a river boat captain before he was a writer. We learned that Samuel Clemens chose his pen name, Mark Twain, because when he would reach safe water as the captain of the river boats, the phrase "Mark Twain" would be shouted out, which meant that the boat had reached the marked spot on the twine, indicating that they had reached twelve feet of water, in which was safe to dock the boat.

The river boat also gave us the experience of the Saints who traveled up the river to Nauvoo on river boats. We then traveled an additional five hours southwest to Independence, Missouri and looked forward to resuming our church history tour there.

Nauvoo

This morning we woke up early and drove three hours down to Nauvoo. As soon as we arrived in the city, we knew that we had come to the right place for our family. I had arranged to do baptisms for the dead with Emilie. We were in awe at the beauty of this building. This was Emilie's first time to participate in the baptisms, so it was so rewarding to be able to be with her.

"The Last Ride" Joseph and Hyrum riding past the temple before being taken to Carthage

When we came out, the kids were waiting outside with Steve. They had been to the Pioneer Pastimes, which was where they played games and dressed up in period clothing. They had so much fun, they begged to go back.

We then toured the different homes and shops from the time that the Saints lived in this beautiful city on the banks of the Mississippi River. In the printing shop we learned what “mind your p's and q's” really meant. In the John Taylor house we saw the rocking horse that John Taylor risked his life to retrieve for this son, in the tin shop we saw how pots and lanterns were made and what was used for mouse and fly traps and in the gun smith shop we learned about the beginnings of Browning Guns.

We then attended the High Hopes and River Boats musical. We spotted Jess Ellsworth from our Millcreek ward in the cast, and were so excited to congratulate him afterwards on a great performance. (He is in the back with the black hat.)

We then explored the Women's Garden that had life sized statues of many of my favorite sculptures. That evening we attended Sunset on the Mississippi and then checked into the hotel and ended the night with a swim and pizza night.

The next day we woke up early and took an 8:00 am carriage ride to Inspiration Point, a scenic spot looking over the Mississippi where Joseph Smith would come to take a break from the constant demands from both his friends and his enemies. During the ride we were told pioneer stories from the cutest older missionary with the perfect western accent.

We then visited the brick maker, who gave us a brick, listened to the blacksmith and wainwright tell us about the huge undertaking of getting an entire community outfitted to cross the plains, we toured Brigham Young's house and heard about how they buried their china in hopes of returning for it, and then we visited Lucy Mack Smith's house and learned about how she returned to Nauvoo and lived out the rest of her life being taken care of by Emma.

Later we attended the children's play Just Plain Anna Amanda, which was a perfect mid day break. Sophia was called up on stage as the sole audience participant and Ezra was so cute to watch as he joined in the singing of his favorite primary songs. We then toured the Joseph Smith area of Nauvoo, which is owned by the Community of Christ Church. They took us through the Joseph Smith homes with hiding places for Joseph during the years when the mobs were after him, the Mansion House, which served as one of his residents as well as a hotel, and the Red Store were the Relief Society was organized.

We took the kids into the Living History Center where we were able to see how the pioneers completed certain tasks like making pottery, baking bread and weaving rugs.

Afterwards we traveled down to Carthage to see the jail in which Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were killed. The feeling was definitely somber in Carthage, but it was fascinating to learn about the events surrounding his martyrdom.

We then returned to Nauvoo and walked down the Trail of Tears, a path which leads to the Mississippi River on which the pioneers fled across the river. Along the path are quotes from the Saints about their exodus. One quote was about a woman who had bread baking in her oven, but when the mobs came to chase her out of her house, she had to grab her bread and hang it on her wagon to finish cooking it in the sun. Another woman, Brigham Young's wife, described delivering her baby in a wagon while the wagon rumbled across the trails, only stopping for her to catch her breath. This was a great way to end our day learning about the Saints. In the evening we attended the County Fair, which was a celebration with games, square dancing and a barbecue. We then attended the Nauvoo Pageant, a musical of what the Saints experienced in Nauvoo.

Our family loved our time in Nauvoo. While there the children all agreed that this has been one of their favorite vacations and that they would love to come back next year! These were significant words considering that they had driven 25 hours in the car to get there!