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.