Spiritual History in Palmyra, Cumorah, and The Sacred Grove

 

Since we were at Niagara, we realized that Palmyra, NY was close by. The beginning of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had its founding in Palmyra. It is another place that Lady Hiva has always wanted to see. I am so glad that we went! It was such a special experience to connect the lessons we have talked about the last year during our family scripture study and Come Follow Me to some tangible items. 

We learned about Joseph Smith and his family. We went to Hill Cumorah where the Gold Plates were located and then translated into the Book of Mormon. 

One of our favorite parts of the trip was going to the Grandin Printing Press. This was the printer that printed the original copies of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to see how the right people were in the right place, at the right time. EB Grandin had just opened his printing press, he had the state of the art printer, and was able to print the books. He died shortly after Joseph Smith died, so it was clear that there was a greater plan here orchestrated by someone from above. I was also impressed to see the many ways that Heavenly Father uses all of our skills to help others. 

They walked us through all the steps of printing. It was labor intensive and extremely busy work. We were all amazed at what was being explained. 

These are the type sets for the pages, each page, word and sentence has to be built one letter at a time. The capital letters are in the upper case and the smaller letters in the lower case...hence "upper-case" and "lower-case" in writing. 

The Martin Harris farm that was mortgaged to print the Book of Mormon. 

The monument at the Hill Cumorah where the gold plates were hidden anciently by Moroni and later Joseph Smith used them to translate into the Book of Mormon. 

we visited the two homes (one was rebuilt) to look like the original, the other is 80% original. It was special to walk the grounds and see the places they lived and talk about the Smith Family. They all were exceptional people. From both Lucy and Joseph Smith, Sr, being spiritual and open minded people, to all of the siblings who trusted each other. What a great way to live and learn from each other. 

Our two muggles loved the stories and especially liked the stories about where Joseph hid the gold plates when people would come to steal them. 

The door from the Smith family home to the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith had the "First Vision" that started the Restoration. When in reality, it started long before that. The Smiths moved to Palmyra from Vermont when a volcano erupted in Indonesia and the ash destroyed crops in Vermont. They were in Palmyra when there were several churches competing for parishioners. It was fun to see the churches still standing in downtown Palmyra. Joseph's family were there for him to ask questions about which church to join. He read in James 1:5 (see Lucky Dragon reading it for us below) and learned he needed to ask in prayer. He asked in the grove just behind the house and the gold plates were nearby. 

We took some time to walk through the Sacred Grove and talk about all that we have learned today. As well as how we have been blessed by what happened in these trees.