Palmyra – 7/13/10

We decided to take a drive out to Palmyra Tuesday afternoon so we could hit the book store and see some of the church sights out there.

We drove the kids past the temple where their Aunt Rachael was married almost 5 years ago.  My children each look forward to the day when they can enter the temple.  It is a beautiful place with a special spirit about it that they can all feel.

Here is one of the beautiful flower gardens outside of the temple.

Here is Joseph Smith’s log home.

This frame home was built later for the family.

This is near the Smith home and the Sacred Grove.

We decided to take a tour of the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was first published.  We had to put up with a lot of hateful anti-Mormons all along the street outside who don’t begin to know the first things about us.  But then they don’t really have to educate themselves about us as long as they are successful in deterring people away from us.  Haley was particularly disturbed by this.  I told her that there is opposition in all things and that it is but a small taste of what Joseph Smith endured for the rest of his life until he was killed for who he was.  We only put up with this under the guidance of a nearby sheriff for a few minutes.  These days, most of the time, people don’t care that we’re Mormon.

A farm boy with maybe a dozen friends wanting to publish 5,000 copies sounded inconceivable in the early 1800’s.  Bu it was published and they were certainly all distributed.

Publishing books was a painstaking process.

Only special books were hardcover and bound in leather.

This exhibit depicts the home in Harmony, Pennsylvania.

Beautiful artwork depicts Joseph being visited by the Angel Moroni who told Joseph about the buried plates, the same ones he, as a mortal, had hidden as the last living Nephite to protect them from the Lamanites.  These plates lay in the side of Cumorah for about 1,500 years until the world was ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored.  I am grateful to live now and have full access to the blessings of the restored gospel.  I’m also grateful that I was given this blessing at birth and that I didn’t have to wait to find the truth later in my life.  I was taught precept by precept all along the way.  That is a huge blessing to me.

 

I feel so grateful for the Book of Mormon.  I recently re-read the account of Christ visiting in the Americas after his death and resurrection plus I read the books of Mormon and Moroni a couple of weeks ago.  There is such an amazing strength to be found within it’s pages.  I can honestly say that my tattered copy with all my red markings and side notes from years of use is one of my prized possessions. 

Original handwritten manuscript of the Book of Mormon sits protected inside a glass case. 

Lindsay was chosen as a companion to this Sister and read to the tour group from Moroni 10:4 where it states how you can tell if this book is true.  I had several people from the tour come and tell me what a special girl she is.  I am a lucky Mom.  I know Lindsay is a special young lady.  I’m sure she will go on to do wonderful things with her life,  just as one lady told me, if she chooses to continue in her current track and makes wise choices.  I couldn’t raise my children without the strength of the gospel as a guide, bar and standard.  I am grateful for its power and direction.  We loved our time in Palmyra on this day.