Palmyra

After Niagara falls, we drove a few hours across New York to get to Palmyra.  Our first stop was the Palmyra temple.  The temple and the grounds were smaller than we expected, but it was beautiful.  We were surprised to be the only ones there when we got there, but found out the temple wasn't open that day.  Lucky for us, someone arrived and offered to take a picture of our family together.  We love those opportunities for proof that both parents went on vacation.  After taking a few pictures, we decided to head down the road to the Smith farm. 

Closeup of the kids in front of the temple

Whole family in front of the Palmyra Temple

View of the Angel Moroni on the temple from the Smith farm

 The Smith farm was really interesting.  We saw the family farmhouse, the log cabin, and a barn. We heard stories and saw things that reminded us how hard it was for the Smith family to make a living and survive on the land. Unfortunately, all these months later, not a lot stands out to me from the tour of the farm.  But the most important part is clear in my mind, and I hope it will be forever.

The tour of the farm ends near the entrance to the Sacred Grove.  I remembered the feeling of being there, so many years ago, but I didn't remember what it was like, beyond being green and beautiful. We all walked into the Sacred Grove and went our separate ways.  There are paths throughout the grove of trees that take you wandering around and through the area.  I walked with Sarah.  I immediately felt the spirit of that special place. It was undeniable. I hope Sarah felt a bit of it as well, but I think mostly she didn't want to walk so much after walking all around the farm. We wandered through the grove on our own, as I prayed to my Heavenly Father, thanking Him for this wonderful experience and for the knowledge of what happened in this grove of trees.  After a while, we bumped into Robert. He was on his way out and I asked if Sarah wanted to go with him. She decided to stay with me, even though she was cranky about walking and about the sun that was beating down through an opening in the trees.  We walked on a little further and found Matthew. He asked how I was doing and I told him that I would like to spend a few more minutes wandering, but that Sarah wanted to be done. So he offered to sit with her while I wandered a bit. As I started to walk away, Matthew was joined by a few of the other kids. I heard him telling Sarah what was so special about this place we were in. My heart melted and I wanted nothing more than to be with my kids while Matthew testified to his sister of the First Vision.  We all walked together out of the grove and came across a some signs on the trail.  Matthew was reading one aloud about the details of the First Vision and got choked up and couldn't speak anymore.  I finished for him. Matthew, Rachel, Josh, and Emilee later testified of the sacred experience they had in the Sacred Grove and of how their testimonies of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the First Vision were strengthened by the experience.

We walked out to find Robert on his phone. A client from Utah had called him to ask a question. I think he gave Robert a bit of grief when he found out that Robert had taken his call outside the Sacred Grove.  We gave him a bit of grief too.

After our time at the Smith farm, we drove down the road to the Visitors Center.  The missionary asked if we were there for the pageant.  We told him no, and that it was just a coincidence that we were there right before it started. We told him that we were only in town for the day. He kindly offered us the option of coming to see the pageant that night.  It was the final rehearsal and it would be a full run through. We were so excited for the opportunity.  This opportunity came because the Lord guided us in our planning for the vacation.

Originally, we had planned to see Palmyra, then drive down to the Priesthood Restoration site and stay in a motel a few miles away. We had picked one out, and for some reason didn't book it, even though we had booked all our other hotels. A week or so later, Robert was talking to a friend who asked if we were going to see the Whitmer farm. We hadn't even thought of doing that, but once he mentioned it, we both felt like we wanted to see it.  So we looked at the map, realized it would barely be out of the way, and adjusted our plans. Instead of driving 2 hours down to Pennsylvania that night, we would drive a half hour down to Geneva and then see the Whitmer farm the next morning.  We thought it was a pretty good idea, but didn't realize it was the hand of the Lord preparing us for an amazing experience in Palmyra. Because our hotel was only a half hour away, we were able to drive back that evening and see the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

We had a brief tour of the visitors center and then climbed the Hill Cumorah to see the obelisk at the top. Some wanted to actually hike up the hill, and others decided to drive up the road to the top. It isn't a very big hill, but it's pretty steep and it was pretty darn warm outside, so I opted to sit in the car. It was so cool being at the top of the hill and knowing that this was the place where Moroni buried the plates. We could see the Smith farm in the distance from the top of the hill. Also, we could tell by how bare the hillside was, that things had changed a bit from 1837 when Joseph Smith climbed up the hill to receive the plates.

The family atop the Hill Cumorah in front of the monument

 Our next stop was the Grandin Building, the site where the Book of Mormon was printed.  We got there behind a tour bus full of seminary and institute teachers, so we did our tour a little bit out of order.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but more importantly, she was enthusiastic and had a great love for everything she shared with us. We learned about the history of how Grandin came to be the printer of the Book of Mormon (he turned it down once, but later reconsidered). We saw a replica of what the book store would have been like in the 1820s, with a variety of books, toys, candies, etc.  Afterward, we saw the actual printing press. They don't often print anything on it anymore, because they don't want to damage any of the equipment, but it is all kept in working order. The missionary explained how the printing process worked and showed us a lot of the tools used. It was fascinating, especially realizing how involved the process was and what a difficult thing it was to print up these sacred books.  The tour concluded with some artwork depicting some scenes from the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful for all the people who worked to bring the Book of Mormon to light so it could bless my life the way it has.

The family in from of the building. The original printing shop was smaller. This larger building protects it and allows for museum space inside,

Robert, Josh, Matthew, Emilee, and Rachel inside the book shop on the first floor.

Josh, Emilee, and Angie in front of the printing press

Josh with some of the tools and many sheets of paper in the process of being finished

Emilee, Matthew, and Rachel in the binding room with our tour guide

After the tour, we went to check into our motel in Geneva and to get some dinner.  We toyed with the idea of finding the Erie Canal, but decided against wandering because we were all tired and hungry. After checking into our hotel, which turned out to be a dump (thankfully the only one on the trip), we went out to eat at a local restaurant that offered a discount to hotel guests. We ended up in our own private room and had a fun time relaxing and eating after a long day.  When we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go.  Unfortunately, Matthew had a nasty headache (probably from not drinking enough water) and we left him behind to rest at the hotel. We were really sad that he missed the pageant, but it was good that he rested so he didn't have to miss out on any more of the vacation. (We stopped at a grocery store to pick up a case of water so we didn't have to be dehydrated again.)

Opening scene of the Hill Cumorah Pageant 

Christ appearing to the Nephites later in the pageant

Rachel, Sarah, and Josh after the pageant

The pageant was fantastic. It was beautiful and moving and inspiring. The coolest parts were seeing Moroni kneeling on the hill, putting the plates in the ground, and then later handing them to Joseph Smith on the very hill where these wonderful events occured.

We were truly blessed in being able to see the pageant this way. The only difference between and actual performance and what we saw was that they ran through the first scene twice.  The best benefit was that there were no more than 50 people in the audience, so we didn't feel crowded and we were able to park in the visitors center parking lot and leave with no traffic. Given how some of our kids deal with crowds, and how many crowds we were going to deal with within the next few weeks, this was nothing short of a miracle for us.

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