Eastern Escapades: Day 3--Palmyra

On the third day of Christmas... I mean of our trip... we went to see all of the sites in Palmyra. It is the cutest little town ever! I think they must have a law there that everyone has to have cute houses because everyone does! They understand that that the garage should not be the focal point of front of your house. But that is a rant for another day.
First we went to the visitor's center at the Smith farm and the Sacred grove. This was the first time I saw sister missionaries on this trip, and it was interesting. I paid close attention to all of them on the trip. I'll comment more on that later.
I was also still pretty sick, but improving.
It was neat to be where everything happened. The Sacred Grove is beautiful. I always thought when I saw the restoration movie that the grove couldn't actually look like that. I thought there would be more weeds and underbrush and rotting logs and ugly trees. But it actually looks just like the movie. There are weeds and underbrush and rotting logs, but even they are pretty. The trees are tall, with most of their thin branches at the top with all of their leaves, so everything glows green. The forest feels reverent with the beautiful sounds of nature (birds, crickets, little clicky bugs). We loved it. There were so many paths that we could have wandered around there for hours.

The Smith home

In Joseph's room where Angel Moroni appeared.

The second Smith home where Joseph Smith Sr. hoped to retire.

The path leading to the Sacred Grove.

My parents being cute.

My parents being even more cute in front of the Palmyra Temple.

 Then we went to Hill Commorah. One of the sister missionaries there was my FHE daughter a few years ago! Crazy! It was also beautiful.

The Hill Cummorah Visitor's Center

The monument at the top of Hill Cummorah.

On our way down dad showed us an indent in the ground. What if the plates were buried here?! Just kidding. :)

Next we headed to downtown Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was printed. First, we got to drive down the street where the four churches still stand on opposite corners from each other, standing as a memorial to the Second Great Awakening and its impact on the "Burned Over District" in New York--the place where Joseph Smith started asking questions. None of the churches are small either, even though originally only the Presbyterians had a building. The rest used to be tents. Now they are all beautiful buildings.
The sister missionary in the visitor's center around the print shop was my favorite. She was enthusiastic, sweet, and sincere. I hope to be like her.

 We used the kitchenette in our hotel room to heat up leftover pizza, then headed to Fayette. We got to see the David Whitmer farm where the church was founded in 1830. What a cool place! The church is still standing, still growing, and still true. I loved it.

The David Whitmer home.

The church was organized in front of this fireplace (or one that stood here).

  

A funny failed family picture in front of the Visitor's Center there.

This sign is near the Whitmer farm. We thought it was pretty great.

That night mom, dad, and I did an endowment session in the Palmyra Temple. It is so small! It was very beautiful, though. All of the windows in the entire building were stained glass pictures of the Sacred Grove. The celestial room has an amazing chandelier, and the main window has a larger tree that clearly is the tree of life. It was pretty late and dark when we finished, so all of the windows glowed beautifully from the inside.