I Love Palmyra!

The breakfast at the Palmyra Inn isn't as good as some of the others, but it fulfilled what it was set up to do and we were ready to go at 8. We started the day by driving up to Cumorah's Hill and visiting the monument dedicated to Moroni and the receiving of the gold plates. It was a little cloudy and it sprinkled a little, but it always seems like the weather cooperates very well with our schedule. For example, two or three nights it has rained all night then in the morning when we start our sight-seeing and we never have any problems. After the monument and the devotional at the top of the hill, the three buses split and stopped at three different sites around Palmyra. The first one we went to was the printing place of the first copies of the Book of Mormon in the town of Palmyra. They had the original building and they showed us how they printed back then. Then we drove to the Sacred Grove, which was probably the highlight of the day. It is so cool to be in the same place where both the Father and the Son appeared to start the church that we live today. The night before when I walked through, I had a feeling of where I should go the next day, so today I went to the place which I had previously designed to go, which I just barely realized the significance and irony. I read Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, then pulled out my Patriarchal Blessing and really pondered on that, then read a chapter in Alma, where I am reading. Just outside the grove entrance, there is a visitors center, where the third destination of the day was. We started the tour there, then went to the log cabin, he place where the Smith's lived for a short while. It is only a replica, but it is in the original spot where the original home was. We went upstairs, where Moroni visited Joseph and told him about the gold plates. Then we walked down the road to Alvin's home. Alvin, Joseph's oldest brother and idol, was building the home for him, but he died before he finished it, so the Smith family finished it and moved in. Today, 85% is original, which is really cool. (FYI, I have been taking a lot of pictures, so I will either figure out how to post them or bring them home and let you see them.) The Palmyra temple's steeple and Moroni can just be seen from the home, just over the trees. That is a cool picture. After we finished our three-part tour, we went back to the town of Palmyra, did our laundry, and found a place for lunch. Mitch Kunzler and I did our laundry together, then Weston, Tori, Brianna and I walked down to a quaint sandwich shop, which got overwhelmed with the number of people that came and took FOREVER to get our paninis. There were about eight people behind us that got our order before we did! I was kinda upset, but I have developed a patience from working at Pizza Hut that prevents me from getting too mad. We went and threw our clothes into the dryer and Mitch and I walked up to Alvin's grave, which was only a few blocks away. That was really cool: it was the original headstone encased by a modern headstone. Mitch says that was his favorite part of the whole trip. Just down the road from the grave is the corner with four churches. Its not the same churches that were in Joseph Smith's youth, but it symbolizes the great fervor of religion that occurred in that same town. I visited the LDS discount bookstore and got some gifts:) Then we got back to the hotel and were left the rest of the night. We had dinner, messed around, and I got in a great nap. I was awaken by the sounds of people playing outside my window, so I put on my shoes to see what was going on, and they started a game of football right then and there. It was fun, even though I had originally gone out to play ultimate frisbee. I played with some North Sevier kids and it was a good time. Then we had to go in for an information meeting, which was great as always. After the meeting, Ashley Harris, Emily Nash, a cool kid from Arizona named Brennon, and I walked to the temple and got some night pics. Only one of them turned out good, which was sad, but we found some fireflies and had a good time. Emily then broke off and the three of us walked down to the Sacred Grove again. We didn't go very far in because it was dark and almost spooky, but it was still good. Brennon likes music too and sings very well, so we sang Praise to the Man together. We barely made it back before curfew, and my good friends and roommates got my tour shirt that we were supposed to pick up. I ironed my shirt for tomorrow, and after I finish blogging, I am going to pack so I don't have to do that tomorrow and maybe get an extra visit to the grove.

Destination: New York

So pretty sure my bath last night was amazing. I enjoyed it throughly. Anyway after going to sleep at 3:30-4, I had to be up at 6:30 for breakfast and driving to Niagra Falls. I slept most of the way, but took time out of the napping period to play the key game, the hat game (of which I despise greatly), and psychiatrist. The falls were really cool. I got to go to Canada, ay. I stopped by the gift store and bought some things then ran, literally, to American Falls for pics from the top. We wanted to go to the Horseshoe Falls overlook, but time prevented us from even walking to the first stop let alone making another one. We got back to the bus and drove out to Fayette, New York to the Peter Whitmer farm, which was really cool. They built a chapel to commemorate the organization of the church, and the chapel is used regularly by the Fayette Ward. The sister missionary told us of the Whitmer family and of some pretty cool stories. Then we went to the visitors center and to the cabin, where some translation of the golden plates took place. The other sister missionary said that Joseph Smith translated First Nephi through Words of Mormon on the farm. It was really cool. After, we all met back in the chapel and listened to a really funny elderly Elder speak to us- rather enjoyable. Then we drove to Palmyra, where we found our hotel, which is a pretty good one. I get my own bed rather than sharing with Al:) The Palmyra Temple and the Sacred Grove are just a few blocks away. For dinner, they basically gave everyone their own chicken. Joined with the macaroni salad, a cream puff, and a really good roll, it made for a decent change from the buffet setting. Afterwards, I joined up with Brian Chappell, Mindy Erickson, Gavin Anderson, Stephanie Horton, and Jayden from Wayne and we walked down to the Grove. It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong there. It was exactly like walking into a temple, but outside with birds singing and the gravel softly crunching when you walk. Brian and I broke off from the group and just walked by ourselves. It was really amazing. Its cool because you can tell which part of the Sacred Grove is actually the sacred part because the feeling gets weaker when you get towards the outside of the grove. Brian and I just chit-chated and walked back to the hotel. The rest of the night was filled with playing a very out of tune piano, playing signs, and just messing around. Today has been really chill, and I expect tomorrow to be super spiritual because we get official time at the Sacred Grove where I am going to do my daily study in the grove. I am so stoked. But thats tomorrow's blog.

4 States in 1 Day

Just so everyone knows, I finished the whole blog then the stupid, stupid computer went weird so now I am doing it again:)....... Well we woke up and hopped onto the bus for a 9 hour bus ride. I mostly slept the whole time, except for the rest stops every few hours. Then I woke up, staggered off the bus, hobbled to the bathroom if needed, and mingled. We watched some movies during the grueling ride: the first one was a story about the Amish and hate crimes or something... I fell asleep. The second one was National Treasure, which was pretty exciting. I saw Nicholas Cage in person while that film was in production almost exactly four years ago in New York City. For lunch, we stopped at a strip mall and split up to our various food desires, and that was basically our "Amish experience" that we were supposed to have. There were a lot of Amish families and couples gracing the various shops, but thats about all we got. We covered four states- Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and finally arrived in Pennsylvania- to end up in Erie, PA right next to Erie Lake. In fact, if you look out our motel window, you can see the waving water. The motel is so very very nice. Its still the usual Holiday Inn EXPRESS, but it is fancier. There is so much more space in the rooms and there are jets in the tub! Very exciting. Poor Luke had to go visit the Emergency Room to have them check on his ear, for he had a stick go up his ear while messing around in Nauvoo then it started to bleed today. Al and I went downstairs and played Skip-Bo, then were shooed of to bed before we could finish. When we got to the room, we took off again (sneaky, sneaky) because Jake had to get his housing application done so he could room with all of us at SNOW GARDENS! We messed in their room for a while, then came back to find that Cody had bought National Treasure 2 for our viewing pleasures. I thought it was very kind of him. I stayed up afterwards playing Peggle, then decided I out to blog. After I finish, I am going to hop into the enticing bathtub, fill it up, and turn on the jets. Too bad Elton John isn't here to sing, "J-J-J JD and the Jetsssssss." The funny thing is I already wrote that the first time I tried to blog and its not as funny the second time, but still worth to put in the story ha ha.

Joliet, Illinois

After waking up today, which we were lucky enough to sleep in :), we had an amazing breakfast then started our tour of Nauvoo. The Temple is so beautiful. Even though its brand new, it seems to fit in with the rest of the village. The buses took us around Nauvoo then dropped us off in old town Nauvoo. Me, Tuttle, Luke, Al, Jessi Lyn Gurney, and Kayli Coats buddied up and had some good times. We visited the blacksmith shop and got a tight rign, saw the graves of Joseph Smith, Emma, and Hyrum, and, the best place of all, the tinshop. it was fun because the sister missionary was so awesome. We just messed with her and her with us. It was a lot of fun. Then we drove like four hours to random Joliet, Illinois, which is like toilet with a J. On the bus, we (Nate Roberts, David Blackburn, Jessi Lyn, a chick from Wayne, Kayli, Brennan from Arizona, and I) played ER in the back. I took third overall, but I blame that on the rocking bus and me having to be on my knees. After dinner at a pretty good buffet (even buffets are getting really annoying and old), I found a tick in my leg. I have kinda been afraid of getting a tick, but it didn't hurt and I think that its been there since Missouri and I never felt anything. I was freaking out a little inside, and everyone had to look at my amazing, small tick that was lodged in my skin. I found a Bro, but it wasn't Bro Dunsten, who is the medic of the trip. Dunsten was in Chicago getting some girls from Spanish Fork who wanted to go to graduation, so for a quick fix Sperry, Jenkins, and Campbell put alcohol and a band-aid on it. I was still a little freaky-outy about it, so Al and I went downstairs for a walk and found a soccer game. We joined and it was a good time, even thought I got a blister on my foot. After, I came in and played the Skittle game. I think I had about 40 in my mouth before I could chew. Then Dunsten came down and found me and pulled out the tick with much attention from others ha ha. It was just a small bugger, and I wish I would have had my camera. He put some iodine on it and hopefully it will just be a small red spot tomorrow then go away with no lime disease and no need for amputation ha ha. Now I am laying in bed, getting ready for bed, and now that I am finished with this I can go to bed:)

CHT: The Beginnings

I figured I would start a blog to keep track of the many happenings of the Church History Tour. I am going to condense the first four days into one entry. Here we go: Saturday morning started actually with me finishing packing/packing/hurrying to get into town because I woke up late. It turned out to be a long day. Several hours of sitting in sometimes comfortable, but generally uncomfortable seats on buses, meeting new people, and watching the flatlands after the rockies go by. We stopped in pretty Colorado, before Denver, but afterwards it was just flat flat and well flat. We stayed in Colby, Kansas, then drove to Independence, Missouri Sunday and had a pretty cool time there.
We did our own little sacrament meeting (I was in charge of organizing the sacrament and it was scary because in S-town, we do things way differently than everywhere else. I am glad Luke was there helping) which turned out really cool. We toured the outside of the RLDS Temple
and saw the site of the Independence "temple." Brother Campbell gave some interesting insight about how we need to always follow the modern prophet's teachings because the Lord can change things around than what He previously said. Its the whole point of modern prophets.
Monday we basically started the tour. We went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, which was really pretty and lush, then to Liberty Jail and Far West where the lessons taught superceded the place itself. Far West was accompanied with Bro Sperry and Bro Monson giving us lessons about the history and the Liberty Jail had sister missionaries serving there and their testimonies were really strong. That night was a FHE talent show where Gavin sang his medly, Lauren did her smartie trick, and there were several stand up comics that would fail miserably in real life. Tuesday, today, we drove from Independence to Nauvoo, stopping in Tom Sawyer's hometown. We went on a boatride on the Mississippi (which is behind the green glass door) then drove to Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith was martyred. It was cool because the Praise to the Man celebration we did while I was a Sophomore gave me an opportunity to be John Taylor and it was cool to see how that short skit fit in with the whole scheme. I even got to play the piano while we waited for the movie to start:) I miss playing very mucho. We then drove to Nauvoo (while on the bus ride, I perfected the art of zonking out on the bus) where we settled into our hotel. Al and I took a short walk around the premises then went to dinner, which was pretty good. Then we did a short meeting, where I got to play the piano again! After, we played spoons, where I kicked trash and beat Tiph-Dawg in the final round. Now I am chilling in bed with Al, Cody, and Josh all asleep and I am going to join them:)