Lanie flew into Cleveland late Friday night July 20th. We woke up early on Saturday, July 21st, to head to Palmyra, New York to visit the Church history sites and to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant.
Our first stop was the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center where we saw...
 |
| First Edition of The Book of Mormon |
 |
| The Christus |
 |
| The kids |
 |
| The Family |
After we finished at the visitors center we walked up the path to the top of the Hill Cumorah...
 |
| Monument |
 |
| The Boys |
 |
| Angel Moroni |
We then headed over to the Palmyra Temple...
 |
| Stained glass windows |
I think that one of the most beautiful things in the world are LDS Temples and the Temple grounds, here are some of the flowers that were there...
 |
| Dragonfly (this one if for you, Angel) |
 |
| lily |
 |
| outside the Smith Home |
We went upstairs where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith 3 times during the night.
 |
| This is the bedroom where Joseph was sleeping |
 |
| steep stairs |
Just down the way from the Smith home is another Smith Home that Alvin started to build along with a barn.
 |
| threshing barn |
 |
| tools |
 |
| wheel barrow |
 |
| trough |
Across from the barn was a tool shed. In this tool shed is where Joseph Smith hid the gold plates in the loft and the mob was not able to find them. Joseph had originally hid them in the floor boards but was prompted by the Spirit to hide them in the loft. The mob never looked up to find what they were looking for.
We walked through Alvin's house...
 |
| the sink just drained through a pipe outside |
 |
| pantry |
 |
| to the cellar |
After seeing all the buildings we walked over to the Sacred Grove...
Lanie and I had an amazing experience together while we were in the Sacred Grove. We were slowly walking and quietly talking wondering if anyone really knew the exact spot where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph.
We started to feel the Spirit grow stronger with each step that we took until it was strong enough to bring a tear to my eye. Then the Spirit gradually faded with each step that we took. Lanie and I looked at each other and we knew that we had just walked past the very spot our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ had once been.
After the Sacred Grove we headed into town to tour the printing press where the first 5000 copies of The Book of Mormon were published.
 |
| This is the ORIGINAL! |
At the end of the day when we saw everything that we wanted to we went back to the Visitors Center to watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant...
 |
| The stage |
 |
| Angels singing |
 |
| Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life |
 |
| Crossing the seas to the America's |
 |
| Abinadi preaching to the people |
 |
| Abinadi and King Noah |
 |
| Our Savior Jesus Christ--the Light of the World |
 |
| Jesus Christ visiting the Americas |
 |
| Joseph Smith |
| We had an amazing time and it was worth the trip out! If you have the chance to go you should! |
|
