Building the Church - Kirtland

Wednesday, June 27th

I got up early, unhooked the RV, and headed out.  The kids all slept and I drove.  Our route this morning - final destination Kirtland, OH:

We weren't in any hurry today.  We only had 1 site planned today, and it was nice that way.  The pace over the last few days had ended up a little tighter than I had wanted.  So today it was super slow-paced.  So we left our mark at a Denny's that morning:

Back on the road, we decided that a trip to Niagra was worth the time out of the way.  It would only add an hour of driving.  What we didn't know is that we went to the boring side of the falls.  You can buy some more expensive passes and go over and go under the falls and everything.  Our kids were all happy to just see it, take some pics.  Just cost $6 of parking and wasn't crowded.  With the RV, parking can be a major concern.  Karson grabbed some fun ones of the kids in the visitors center you have to walk thru

We got to practice some of our selfie skills.  It was worth the drive just for the great family pics:

Back on the road, we went to the Johnson farm on our way into Kirtland.  It is about 45 minutes away from Kirtland.  It was more on the way in than the way out, but really was out of the way, but was 100% worth it.  I figured I would make it the only historic site of the day, and it was totally worth it.  This is were Joseph was drug out of the house and tarred and feathered, where much of the work of the translation of the bible, and many revelations in D&C were given.  Most notably, this is where D&C 76 was given, and the missionary brother did a great job explaining to the kids why that revelation was challenging to the people in those times.

Overall, the tour was fantastic, the kids learned a ton, and was well worth the extra time down to the farm.  And it was beautiful!

The morning after Joseph was beaten, and tarred and feathered, he got up and preached a sermon the next morning with his "skin all scarified".  These are the original steps and the very steps that Joseph stood on.

After that, we went and checked into the hotel and just vegged.  The kids didn't want to move, Karson and I didn't want to move.  The hotel was cheap - but clean, and did what we need.  We got 2 rooms, which was nice to have a few minutes away from the kids.  :)

Thursday, June 28

One of the biggest surprises to me on the trip was how hard of a time our kids had in adjusting to the time.  Karson and I adjusted pretty quickly, but the kids - not at all.  And today was no different.  At 10 AM I went into their room and every one of the 5 were still totally racked out!!  Even Nate.  I had to wake them all up and get them moving.  So definitely any thought of getting a jump on any morning was out of the question.

In Kirtland, there is the Johnson farm and the Morley farms that are a ways out, and then all of the other stuff is all grouped together.  I chose just one of the far out ones (Johnson farm) and then told the kids we had approx 4 hours and we were going to knock them all out for Kirtland and we would play for the rest of the day.  The historic sites are play to me, but .... :)

We started off the day at the Kirtland temple.  I warned the kids that it would be much different because it wasn't owned by the LDS church, but they kept pointing out the differences.  First, you had to pay to tour the building.  The kids were floored (I was expecting this).  We started out in their visitor's center, and watched a movie.  The movie was very interesting and informative, but frankly felt awkward.  

At the end of the movie they roll up the screen and open the curtains and do a big reveal of the Kirtland temple.  At first sight, I realized how much love I had for this building and I was overwhelmed!  But then I was just almost overcome with sadness!  The wood around the windows is rotting.  The stucco on the building is cracked.  All of the work of these early Saints for this building ... and it just wasn't being cared for properly.

We went to enter the temple.  The our guide was a really nice boy, but no matter how he tried, the tour just felt awkward.  He wanted to preach the Community of Christ's beliefs, (formerly Reorganized LDS ...) but he knew he was preaching to a bunch of modern LDS people, and it just came off weird.  He talked about the things that happened in the temple with Christ appearing and the day of Pentecost at dedication and he kept telling us that this is what was meant by the prophecy that "an endowment from on high" would come in the temple.  As we would walk, we exchanged comments and questions with others in the tour that were clearly LDS.  (This is also the first time our kids had to share a tour with anyone.  We had been spoiled to this point.)  

We went into the upper assembly room, learned about it but didn't sit.  We then went to the lower assembly room, and then he crammed us into the pew.  We had 8 in our pew, and it was uncomfortable and he pointed out that on the day of dedication they had 15 per pew.  It was packed!  At the very end, he forced us to sing the first verse of "The Spirit of God."  It was super, super awkward to start, but once we started singing, you could feel the Spirit testify of the things that happened in that place.  However, it still felt empty - hollow.

Again, I was just saddened by poor paint jobs, and broken down pieces.  You could tell they were trying to keep the building up.  But my kids were so tired of hearing me point out how the Church has "spared no expense" in restoring these buildings .... only to see one of the greatest buildings literally rotting before our eyes.  It truly hurt my heart.  I love that building.  I love the sacrifice that went into building that building so we could have the keys and the ordinances of the temple.  

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple (the Community of Christ still hold it as a sacred building) but we were allowed to outside.

We paused and talked with the kids about how they felt here vs how they had felt the whole trip.  McKay said he felt "confused."  Abby said she just didn't feel right.  Grace and Matt said it was just awkward.  We took the time, right there on the grounds to explain that this was a desecrated temple.  We told them of the amazing and important things that happened there, but let them know that what they were feeling was the absence of the Spirit because that was no longer a dedicated building.  

What a great Miracle!  These kids didn't even know how enveloped in the Spirit they had been in all of these places until that Spirit was gone!  It was a great teaching opportunity and I know it is something that the kids won't forget.

We drove down the road, and parked at the Kirtland Visitor's center.  The Church has build a visitor's center around a cluster of buildings and you knock out about 7 tours all in 1 long tour.  It takes over 2 hours, but is totally worth it.

As we walked into the Visitor's center, immediately the kids were all enveloped by the Spirit.  This wasn't prompted by us!  They all looked around at each other and smiled.  And then they started telling us.  "This is right" "Now I feel better" and on.  Oh the joys of the Spirit!

They started off with a video (which immediately my kids all whispered in the opening seconds was better than the one we had just watched) that talked of the things that happened in Kirtland.  It reinforced some of the things we had learned at the Johnson farm.  It was fun to see the kids eyes light up with "We've been there!" (another small miracle for parents who have worked hard to plan the trip).

We first went to the Mill, then the Ashery.  Very interesting how everything came together for the Saints in Kirtland, and definitely shows what N.K. Whitney walked away from!

Then we went into the Newel K Whitney store.  We spent a lot of time upstairs in the rooms that Joseph used as a study that many revelations were given.  Then we spent a long time in the room where the School of the Prophets was held.  There is a powerful Spirit in those rooms, and all of the kids told me how they felt it.  Nate was pretty done at this point, so out came the phone.  Better to have him quiet than a nuisance.  And for his age (5) he will remember being there, and better to have a good feeling about it than a bad one.

The Spirit and what happened in those rooms I know left an impression on each of the kids in a different way.  The Spirit is palpable in these places.  We know Pres Hinckley dedicated the Johnson farm, and we heard other general authorities had dedicated these other builds.  They were truly hollowed ground.

The tour then takes you into new N.K. Whitney house where Sister Johnson's arm was healed, and where Emma and Joseph stayed for a short time.  Again, shows how much they gave up to leave to follow the Prophet's call when the Whitney's moved to Far West.  The tour ended in the Kirtland Inn which is now like an end Visitor's Center.  They had some really cool artifacts that we got to talk to the kids about, and some great original art I had never seen before.

After that, we grabbed Pizza at a yummy pizza place by the Kirtland temple, and then went back to the hotel and napped and vegged.  A couple of the kids and I went and saw a movie (the new Jurassic Park movie which was meh....) and then we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Kirtland is amazing and wonderful, but there is a surprisingly small number of sights to see.  The days definitely weren't as packed as Palmyra, but this is definitely a necessary stop in the trip.