Thanksgiving Break

My mom showed us a video on youtube of a recent talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I put this at the beginning (even though it's a little out of order) for two reasons. First, this is a pretty long post and didn't know how long it would keep the attention of everyone. So I wanted everyone to see it. Second, it really sets the tone for this entire post. This is stirring, faith-promoting, and testimony-building.

After my class on Friday, November 20th, Cal and I set off for the airport. We flew to St. Louis, Missouri to meet up with some of my family. My mom, dad, aunt Diane, and brother Zack drove up. We planned to do a Church history tour of the Midwest. The next day, Saturday, we drove up to Nauvoo. Callie, mom, dad, Diane, and I did an endowment session. Zack got to do baptisms for the dead. Then, we went around to some of the different buildings and homes in historic Nauvoo. We went by the Wilford Woodruff home and the brickyard. We got our own little brick to remember Nauvoo.

Joseph and Hyrum leaving for Carthage

Callie and my mom

Our happy group

Zack looking into the sun

Dad and Diane in the van

We also went in the Red Brick Store - a significant building in the history of the Church. However, the Store is owned and operated by the Community of Christ (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The feeling in the Store was just so different from the other buildings in Nauvoo. There was merchandise lining the walls and the women did not try to talk to us about the significance of the building or about anything.

After we rushed through Nauvoo, we hurried down the road to Carthage. I've been to Carthage a number of times in my life, but it never loses its spirit for me. It is a wonderful place. It is a testimony-building place. (By the way, this was Callie's first time to see these sites. That's one reason why we went on this little trip.)

Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage

Checking out the door the mob shot through

The window Joseph fell through

That night, after we stopped in at our hotel and ate some dinner, we decided to go see New Moon. This was a serious po-dunk town. The only movie theatre had 3 or 4 screens. And listening to the conversations and accents of the people around us, you knew they were rednecks. Then again, I guess the recliners and sofas in the beds of the trucks in the parking lot could have been a dead giveaway, too. New Moon was pretty good. I must admit that it was considerably better than Twilight. Callie and my mom LOVED it. Cal would mention once or twice for the next several days.

The next morning, we got up and drove for a little while and stopped a little branch in the town of Chillicothe to go to Sacrament meeting. It was kind of interesting because for a little bit of the meeting I felt like I was back in Russia. They were wonderful Saints and had wonderful hearts, though.

After the meeting, we continued to drive up to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It seemed to us that the Church had cleared away a few of the trees and made a nice walkway to one of the lookout points. It is a peaceful place. You can definitely feel that it is a special place.

Then, we stopped off in Far West. There is some wonderful and inspiring history at Far West. The Prophet Joseph had received revelation and prophesied that a group of elders would set out on a certain date from Far West on missions. Opponents to the Church caught wind of this and decided that they would thwart this plan by ambushing the men before the prophecy could be fulfilled. However, the Lord knew this. The elders assembled shortly after midnight of the morning they were to leave - the morning of the prophecy. They left and preached as was prophesied. Far West is also important because there is to be a temple built there. The land was dedicated by Joseph and the four cornerstones were laid. Those cornerstones remain there, today. When the time is right, a temple will be built on that spot. Other important revelations, now contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, were received at Far West also.

Dad and Mom reading one of the placards at Far West

Zack decided to throw acorns (which Callie found very cute) at us

Our final stop of the day was the Liberty Jail in Liberty, MO. (Quite an ironic name, don't you think?) The Spirit is so strong at the visitor center there. The missionaries always do a wonderful job or relating the special importance of the jail and the events that transpired there. What is most amazing, though, is the faith, will, and determination of those men held there for those winter months. I can only imagine what they might have gone through, but that doesn't even come close to feeling what they did. This time, I learned that it wasn't until toward the end of their stay in Liberty did the Prophet ask and receive section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants. They spent the previous months in the jail with no counsel or solace from the Lord. It was just wonderful.

Liberty Jail recreation at the Visitor Center

Joseph Smith, Jr.

The walls were a total of 4 feet thick

The upper level where the guard stayed

Front of the jail

The next 4 pictures are revelations received in Liberty Jail and a statement by Joseph about the Constitution of the United States

That night, we stayed with my uncle Jack's sister's house (just a few minutes from Independence, MO). She was SO nice and SO hospitable. We loved her cats and had fun playing with them.

The next morning, we got up and went to Independence. We stopped off at the Church's visitor center, first of all. The Sister that took us through the tour had a wonderful spirit about her that made the message so much more powerful. We watched a movie about families. Isn't it one of the greatest things to know, if we keep the commandments and our covenants the Lord has outlined for us, we will be worthy to live with our family after this life!?

After looking through the rest of the visitor center, we went across the street to the Community of Christ temple (the one that looks like a sea shell). I had never been in their temple and wanted to take a look. There was such a lack of the Spirit in that building. There was some interesting stuff to look at, and we got to sit and listen to their daily prayer for peace. They have a museum of church historical artifacts and pictures, but they don't allow any photography in there. So there are no pictures, but it was interesting to see all that they had. They have a lot of things from people like Joseph, Emma, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, and others. Cal remarked how sad it was that Joseph spent his entire life trying to reestablish the Church of God on the earth the way He said it should be, and Joseph's own son and wife broke away from that. You have to think that Joseph is sad about it. They were very nice people, though.

Christus at the Independence visitor center

W. W. Phelps' printing press in Independence where the first edition of the Book of Commandments was published

The Temple of the Community of Christ

It's meant to resemble a conch shell

Inside the Temple

The Prodigal Son

Cal going up the ramp inside the temple

The inside of the spiral shell part

The Auditorium of the Community of Christ

They still have some meetings here

Their President/Prophet's office is here

Overall, our Church history tour reaffirmed my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He did see God and Jesus Christ as he said. God called Joseph to be a prophet, like Moses and Noah anciently. God, through Joseph, restored the fulness of His truths to the earth.

And here is that video, again... in case you didn't get enough of it the first time.

We got back home in the early evening of that night (Monday). Tuesday, Cal and I got up to substitute teach early-morning seminary for Mack's class at 6 am. It was neat because the subject was reasons for serving a mission. We were pretty excited about that. I wanted to keep talking with them, but they weren't too interested that early in the morning.

Later in the day, mom cleaned our teeth and we got some sealants done. It felt good to get that taken care of.

Finally, that night, we went to go see The Blindside. What a great movie! I absolutely LOVED it. If you haven't seen it, you've got to! In my opinion, it's the best movie Sandra Bullock has ever done. There are some close seconds, but this is the best. The messages are great: don't judge anyone, get to know people, and be charitable in every way you can. Based on that movie, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy really inspired me. It's pretty unfortunate that it takes a Hollywood movie to inspire me to be more charitable and to give what I can, but it was that inspirational. I did get kind of teary a number of times throughout the movie. Wow. Writing this brings back those feelings. Just go see it and you'll know what I mean.

Oh yeah, there was Thanksgiving dinner on this trip, too. It was nice to have so many family members and friends around. The food was really good, too.