Alive and well in Palmyra

Well Susie and the kids made it to Kansas City, MO and her mom and Jason made it there successfully on their flight. We spent the night there in Independence, MO and went on a driving tour of the church historical sites there as well as visiting the visitors center there. The tour was actually supposed to be a walking tour. The markers were set in the sidewalk so it was a little challenging to find them as we drove around the town.

While we were in Missouri we also visited Far West, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and Liberty Jail. The Liberty Jail site was interesting. They have built a replica of the original Jail on the original foundation and then have built the entire visitors center around the jail. It was a really small building. At Far West they have the temple site with the cornerstones set there, you drive along the road and see an area that looks like a rest area and then you realize that there you are. It is interesting that the new small temples would fit pretty easily in the temple site there. When we visited Adam-Ondi-Ahman we stayed on the road and drove around. There was a really peaceful spirit there and it was neat to visit. We also visited the site of the Hahn's Mill Massacre. We drove around on these dirt roads following the signs and when we finally got to the site all there was was a stone marker that said we were in the right place. So if you ever come out this way we all vote that you can skip the Hahn's Mill site.

Before we left Missouri we went to Hannibal, MO - the birth place of Mark Twain. We did the whole Mark Twain experience. Did you know that when the riverboats went down the Mississippi the depth finder would check for depth and if it was deep enough to go the depth finder went down two marks, so the depth finder guy would yell back to the captain, "Mark Twain". So that is where Samuel Clements took his pen name. We went on the riverboat on the Mississippi river, we toured the cave and we went through the Mark Twain Museum in downtown Hannibal and toured his boyhood home. My vote - thumbs up on the riverboat, the museum and the cave, thumbs down on the boyhood home. The cave was interesting because it's a bunch of passageways that intersect in a big maze but there aren't a lot of stalactites and stalagmites and other water features like that but there are these big open passageways in the mountain. It was pretty cool.

We spent the weekend in Nauvoo, IL. The restored pioneer homes there are neat. We have had fun going into little log cabins and telling our kids that next time they tell us our home is small we can think of a family of 9 or 10 living in this little cabin. We also went down to the spot where the saints left Nauvoo and touched the Mighty Mississippi river. Susie and her Mom did a session in the Nauvoo temple. Susie and Jason will do a session next week when we are back there. We will also get to go with Mitchell and do baptisms for the dead.

After Nauvoo we had a couple days of driving to get to New York. We spent the night in South Bend, IN, so before we left in the morning we drove onto the campus of Notre Dame University so we can say we were there.

We have really liked touring around Palmyra and the Hill Cumorah. One of the missionaries told us we timed our touring right because we were touring on Wednesday. They said that on Thursday before the pageant they have to really scale back on the amount of time you can spend in each area because there are so many people that they have to get through the sites.

We went to the Smith Family farm and walked through the Sacred Grove. It was really cool. You can really feel the spirit there. We also went to the Palmyra Temple and did a session and went with Mitchell and did baptisms for the dead. One cool thing about the Palmyra Temple is that it has a window that you can look out and see the Sacred Grove. It is the only temple in the world that has a window that you can look out or into the temple. We also went to the publication site of the Book of Mormon and the Whitmer farm where the church was organized. We had a personal tour through the Whitmer farm because we were running late. Our tour guide at the publication site called her sister who was at the Whitmer farm and told her we were on our way so we got to see the visitors center there and the cabin even though we got there a few minutes after they officially closed.