Our visit to Kansas City and Nauvoo

This week Kevin and I had the privilege of visiting Kansas City and driving over to Nauvoo and Carthage. While we were in Kansas City we drove up to Liberty and went to the Liberty Jail visitor’s center.

Here’s a picture of the jail. The floor is the original but the rest has been rebuilt. There was a very special spirit there. Read Elder Holland’s talk that was in a recent Ensign at: http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=12459&x=68&y=6. It reminds us of the blessings that trials can bring. It was good to have the reminder that we don’t have to ‘descend below them all’ because Christ has done that for us.

We were in Kansas City for 2 days because I had a training for work (very good and so worth my time BTW), so Kevin went sight seeing without me. He went to the Jessie James family farm and learned more about this outlaw. The ‘take away’ that he got from this is that the people in Missouri were a rough bunch and although it doesn’t justify why Jessie James became what he did, it sure does help one understand why. If only he would have followed the example of the Mormons. :)

So, since we were in Kansas City—and really SO close to Nauvoo we decided to take a road trip and go. Kansas City is 4 and 1/2 hours away from Nauvoo, so we saw a lot of country side. Missouri is a beautiful state, we saw lots of beautiful trees and corn fields. I was so appreciative of cars, and thoughtful of how on earth the early saints had to travel. Here’s an idea of how far we went, we drove from Independence to Nauvoo:

We came into Nauvoo late and began touring early the next day. It was a very rainy day so everything was really green. We went to Carthage first thing which meant—more driving! Here’s some pictures:

This is the very door that the mob shot through and hit Hyrum. There were about 150 mob members that came to the jail that day. The Prophet and Hyrum didn’t stand a chance.

When we were in Carthage the missionaries told us that all of the historical sites would be closing at 3:30 instead of the usual 5pm for a special meeting. We had no idea why but knew we needed to get back to Nauvoo and take in as many sites as possible. So back we went, and again I was grateful for cars—and paved roads.

We took a ride in this wagon and got a tour of Old Nauvoo. It’s so cool! Many of the old building have been restored and the missionaries tell you about them as you ride around the city.

Here’s an awesome site from Old Nauvoo. What an inspiration it would have been to the Saints that lived there. How sad it had to be to leave!

These are the graves of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and Emma Smith. When we got to this site we parked next to a blue Caprice Classic—or one might call it a typical ‘grandma car’, certainly nothing special---except the passenger! President Monson was in the back seat! Yeah, we didn’t get to meet him, but we were right there with him!

Apparently he had decided, on short notice, to visit Nauvoo. That was why the missionaries all had a meeting at 3:30, he was speaking to them. Then we went to a musical that the missionaries put on that evening and he was just leaving. It was pretty cool. We kinda felt like we were stalking him though. :)

This was absolutely the highlight. This temple is so beautiful. How blessed we were to be able to see it. The whole day had been cold and rainy and then when we got to the temple the sun started to shine. It was incredible. We will definitely go back and take the kids. The entire trip was such a testimony builder.

If you didn’t get a chance to hear Elder Holland’s talk in conference last week, here is the link: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1117-28,00.html. He gave such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have to testify that I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was absolutely a prophet of God. How grateful I am for the experience of visiting Nauvoo and learning more about those who forged the way for us today. If you haven’t been there—plan a trip and go! Thank you to Grandma Tanner for staying with the kids so Kevin and I could enjoy this time together.