Eastern Escapades: Day 5--Kirtland

On day 5 we finished the drive from New York to Kirtland, Ohio. Dad let me drive part of the way. I love driving. :)
We first went to the LDS Visitor's Center. They gave us a two hour tour of the part of Kirtland that the church has bought and restored. It included the N. K. Whitney Store, which is really amazing. That is where the school of the prophets was held, and many amazing visions happened. Most of the building is original, which makes it even cooler. The Word of Wisdom was revealed here, and on a different occasion Christ himself appeared. We stood on those very floors. It was really amazing. We also got to see the Whitney home, and replicas of the saw mill and ashery. We ended in the Johnson Inn.

Looking around in the front of the store.

In the School of the Prophets room.

The cute Whitney home.

The Sawmill--replicas of making the pulpits for the temple.

The ashery.

Us and the Sister missionaries. I liked these ones a lot. The one on the far left met our cousin Derin in the MTC, because he is headed to her homeland, Ukraine!

Next we drove to the Kirtland Temple. It is so crazy to me that it is still standing! What an amazing site! It is owned by the Community of Christ (formerly known as the RLDS church). We started the tour in their visitor's center by watching a film about the beginnings of the church. It was interesting because it was about the history we had in common. Their account was very similar to ours, but with a larger emphasis on the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society as a reason for the saints leaving. They also said that only Christ appeared to Joseph in the Sacred Grove. That might have to do with their belief in the trinity. They also emphasized the fact that the church splintered after Joseph's death, which is true, but failed to recognize what a huge fraction ended up in Utah as Latter-day Saints. It was interesting.
After the video, The Spirit of God started playing over the speakers. The problem was that it was a super fast version by a funny choir. As it was playing, the movie screen rolled up and the curtains rolled back to reveal a huge window view of the Kirtland Temple. It was pretty, and a cool way to end the movie, but I couldn't help but laugh later because it felt like a carnival ending. Like, "Ta-da!!" Can't you imagine it? Kinda fast in a dinky voice: "the spirit of God like a fire is burning" "brrrrr...brrrrr" (the curtains rolling back) ta-da! I can't seem to stop laughing about it.
But really, the tour was good. The tour guide was nice and really knowledgeable. She definitely wasn't a sister missionary, but she did well.
It was really neat to tour the temple. So much of it is original! It was really neat to think of the things that happened there. I love D&C 109, which is the dedicatory prayer, and it is also neat to think of D&C 110 where Moses, Elias, Elijah, and Christ all appeared in the temple. Really the Kirtland Temple was a preparatory temple so that we could receive the keys necessary to do ordinances in later temples. I feel bad for the Community of Christ, because they don't seem to understand what a temple is for. The ordinances! They built a temple in Independence, but they don't really know what to do with it, besides hold meetings. It is really tragic. I love the temple so much.

In front of the temple's green doors.

The best we could do with a timer camera.

After that we were all ready for dinner. Mom had had it with bland food. She wanted something good. We ended up at the Longhorn Steakhouse. It was a little more expensive, but oh my goodness. That was probably the best chicken I have ever had. Rachel and I shared Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and it was amazing. It came with salad and the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. Mom got Grilled Chicken & Stuffed Portabella, and dad got steak. It was all delicious.

On our way back from dinner, I went to the Salvation Army for the first time ever! It was way better than the DI.

Then we went and relaxed in our hotel. By far it was the nicest of all of the hotels we stayed in. It was the cheapest, too! It even had a little living room, a kitchenette, and two TVs. Dad was happy.
We also discovered my blonde moment of the trip. Please don't laugh at me. Because I had had a runny nose, my upper lip was pretty chapped. When we went to a Walmart on Tuesday I bought a travel sized Olay lotion to put on it to help it feel better. On Friday, it wasn't better--my face felt like it was on fire!! Rachel took the lotion from me and read the label. It wasn't labeled very well, but it was definitely body wash. No wonder it hurt so much! My cure was worse than the disease! My face pealed for days. I looked awful on Sunday. How embarrassing. We laughed and laughed (it's feeling much better today, by the way).