Palmyra, New York holds special significance for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the place where so many significant events happened, including the first vision, translating the Book of Mormon, and the organization of the church in 1830. We were so excited to finally get to go there, and having Eden with us was awesome. We arrived late on Thursday night, and checked into our hotel, so we would be ready to visit the sites on Friday.
We started out early on Friday morning with a visit to the log home that Joseph and his family lived in when they moved to Palmyra from Vermont. I loved getting to see it, hear more of the history of it.
It was amazing to think that in that little upstairs bedroom, that was where the angel Moroni appeared to the young Joseph.
Joseph's family eventually moved down the path to the framed house, which was where he lived by the time he had received the golden plates. The persecution Joseph received at that time, especially from people who were trying to steal the plates, made it so he was constantly having to find hiding places to protect them from people who would break into their home. The sister missionaries that were leading our tour, had Arthur pretend to hide the plates in a ten second time limit. He thought it was awesome.
After touring the house, we wandered through the barn and cooper's shop.
Then we headed to the Sacred Grove. On the way, we stopped by the field where Joseph passed out while trying to climb the fence and go home, after being up all night from Moroni's visits.
I was so excited to be finally visiting the Sacred Grove. It is a place I have always wanted to visit, and we had the most lovely time wandering through it. At one point, we stopped and had a little devotional and read the account of Josep Smith's first vision in Joseph Smith History:
14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
16 But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
It really is a holy place, so beautiful and the spirit there was so peaceful. I am so grateful that we were able to visit, and to share this special place with our kids - and Eden.
After our time in the Sacred Grove, we headed over to the visitor's center at the Hill Cumorah. We got to watch a special video there, and see the Christus statue. There is a Christus in most of the visitor's centers for the church, but this is the only one with a grove of trees behind it, because of the first vision. While we were there, the senior missionary that led our tour, had us walk up to a big table covered with Book of Mormons in all the languages it is printed in, and then reach out our hand and pick one up. It was supposed to be the language we would speak if we went on a mission. Eden, who is currently working on her papers for her mission, picked up one in the language Hmong (which I believe is Mongolian?). It sure would be funny if she really did get called somewhere she would speak it.
After that, we headed up the hill. It was pretty steep and a bit of a walk, which made us think about Joseph walking three miles to get there, climbing the hill, and not having slept the whole previous night. Wow! The Hill Cumorah was amazing, and I especially loved that monument with Moroni on the top. This was another place that was so awesome to finally see in person, knowing what a special place it is.
Our next stop was for lunch, and it was such a good lunch. We stopped at a Mennonite Market, and not only did they have delicious food at their cafe (such good fried cheese curds!!), but they had wonderful baked goods as well. Eden and I shared the most delicious chocolate mousse raspberry pie - yum!!
After our yummy lunch, we headed to the Peter Whitmer home, where Joseph finished translating The Book of Mormon, and where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally organized. They had a nice visitor's center there, with a really wonderful movie, and then we got to tour the home. It was amazing to think of the wondrous things that happened in this small, log home.
The last stop on our tour around the church historic sites, the Grandin Press, which was the original publication site of The Book of Mormon.
The site itself was really cool, and if it wasn't fascinating enough to learn about early printing/bookmaking methods, the miracles that took place for everything to come together so that The Book of Mormon could be published were just amazing.
We also loved getting to see the replicas of first editions, but especially the actual first edition. (In fact, at the book store next door, we bought our own first edition replica, which is so cool.)
After touring the Grandin Press, we went on a walk to see the Erie Canal, which was only a block away. It wasn't super exciting to look at, but after singing songs about the Erie Canal as a child, it was cool to see it in real life.
Then we went to a yummy pizza place right across the street from the Grandin Press for dinner. When we finished dinner, we went back to our hotel, and Eden and the kids went to play in the hotel hotter, and Kevin and I headed out. We had reservations to do a session at the Palmyra Temple, and it was so wonderful to get to go to the temple together. We had walked around the temple with Eden and the kids earlier in the day so that they could see it, which they always love getting to see temples and walk around them.
Going to the temple was the perfect end to a fabulous day. I am so very grateful that we finally made it to Palmyra, especially since it is only 5 hours away from our house. It was such a special experience, and I am so glad we got to have it with our kids, and with my sweet niece, Eden.