Eighteen Months in the Making

A year and a half ago we started preparing for our trip across the country and today was the day that we put those plans into motion. Beginning in January 2009 we started having family nights centered on different phases of church history, I researched what happened where, ordered books and DVDs on line, pulled together pioneer stories from the Friend, and arranged for activities to participate in along the way. This morning we drove out of Sudbury, knowing that we wouldn't return until the summer was over and we had a new, more informed perspective on who we are as Latter Day Saints, where our ancestors sacrificed and even died for our beliefs and how this reshapes our spirituality. Our first stop of the day was Harmony, Pennsylvania. Fortunate for us, we have an eight year old in our family, which meant that the natural thing to do is baptize her in the Sesquehanna River, the same flow of water in which Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey were baptized.

We arranged for the missionaries to be witnesses in the event, so Elder Ulrich and Elder Roberts met us at the Joseph Smith home site. They took us to the banks of the Sequahanna River where Steve baptized Annelise. The spot was serene and beautiful. I knew we were so lucky to have her baptism on this sacred ground. As we enjoyed the surroundings, I felt impressed by God's love for his children, which is evidenced by him blessing us with the restoration of the priesthood. We were standing on or near the spot where Peter, James and John appeared to Joseph Smith and gave Joseph the priesthood keys. This was also the spot where John the Baptist gave Joseph Smith the Aaronic priesthood, telling him to baptize Oliver and then for Oliver to baptize Joseph. When we set up Annelise's baptism, the bishop in the area told us that while we do not know where Joseph was baptized exactly, there is no other spot on the river in the vicinity where someone could be baptized due to the depth and the currents. The spot on which we stood was on Joseph's original 13 acres of property that he had bought from Emma's brother.

After the baptism, we drank from the spring that was on Joseph's land and visited the McCune cemetery were Alvin, Joseph's first son was buried, along with Emma's parents. Alvin died shortly after Martin Harris lost the 116 pages from the transcription of the Book of Mormon. This was a time of great sadness for Joseph and Emma.

We visited the Priesthood monument and learned that the monument is a time capsule as well, with items from 1960 placed inside.

We took a picture on top of the foundation of Joseph and Emma's house. It was amazing to think that we were standing on top of the location where much of the miracle of the Book of Mormon translation took place.

We then crossed over the highway to Issac and Elizabeth Hale's home, where Emma lived as an older child. Because we were with the missionaries, we were able to go through the locked gates and explore the home site. To the left of the property is an area that had been recently cleared. The missionaries were surprised. They informed us that a year ago this area had been discovered, but that it had only been cleared out of thick growth the day before. We explored the remains of perhaps an old barn, with the missionaries pulling up a stone to discover an old well with water at the bottom. We could see where the animals would have been fed and corralled. We found a wagon wheel, with the iron frame still intact. Silo foundations were built in the ground and old wagon parts were scattered about. The missionaries indicated that we were the first visitors to visit this new area and that it would surely be cleaned out soon. We felt so lucky to see it literally in the same condition and form in which it had rested for about two hundred years, under thick brush. Apparently the Hales were the only ones to have lived on this property, so it was left exactly the way Emma's parents had abandoned it at some point hundreds of years ago.

While exploring, the children found a kitten. They begged to bring it with us and make it our pet. Tears even ensued. If the children don't remember the Indiana Jones type of experience we had discovering the untouched Hale archeology site, they will at least remember the little kitten they found!

We then wandered up to the Hale's home site, which was neatly fenced in and presentable for visitors. A brick was left from the original house and the old stone wall from the grist mill still remained, along with a river bed that still fills with raging water during rain storms.

Our explorations were concluded and so we took the missionaries out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. We thanked them for a fantastic day.