We watched a Joseph Smith movie at the visitor's center. It was really good. On the way out of the theater, Richard tripped and fell down the stairs and bit his tongue. So he then had a swollen upper lip and a bleeding tongue. Poor kid.
The Community of Christ, formerly known as the RLDS church, owns the Joseph Smith mansion, the Red Brick Store, and the original homestead.
We took their tour of those buildings. I thought it was very informative. I am amazed at the lives of Joseph and Emma. They were amazing people and had to have had so much faith in God and the Savior and the gospel. Emma's love for Joseph had to have superseded all of her worldly desires. She watched her husband go through so much in the name of the Lord. I feel she truly was an elect lady.
These are Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith's grave stones. This is not where they were originally buried. Joseph and Hyrum were buried in the basement of the mansion but then later Emma had them moved to a little building towards the back of the property. Emma was originally buried not too far from them. Later when dams were built on the Mississippi River downstream from Nauvoo, the water began to rise on the property. The RLDS church had the bodies moved to higher ground and had these markers made.
The boys are trying to cut down a tree with some little hatchets we bought at the Red Brick Store.
I didn't get many pictures that turned out on this day. I really need a new little camera.
We had a picnic lunch after our tours of the Smith properties. We were then able to go on a carriage ride into the countryside of Nauvoo. It began to rain again during that ride.
There was one point when the teamster stopped the horses while we were in the forest. The tour guide told how the people of Quincy, Illinois helped the Mormons when they were run out of Missouri. When the Nauvoo Temple was rebuilt and dedicated, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came and did several concerts in the town of Quincy. They almost never charge for their concerts, but they did charge admission to these. Then after the second concert, President Hinckley had the mayor of Quincy come up. He handed the Mayor a check for $75,000 (which was the proceeds collected from the two concerts). The Mayor asked what the check was for. President Hinckley said that it was a small token of appreciation for all the help that the town gave the Mormons years ago.
I guess a lot of the original members of the choir had Welsh blood. The tour guide then asked if any of us had Welsh blood. Mark raised his hand. I guess I do too but I didn't know it. The tour guide asked if Mark could sing. He then asked Mark to sing "I am a Child of God". You could hear a pin drop in the forest as Mark sang. It was beautiful.
When we got back from the tour, the tour guide asked Mark where he was from. Mark told him he was from Paul, ID. The tour guide was from Burley, ID and knew Swensen's Markets. What a small world.
We went back to the camper for dinner, then got the trailer ready to drive home. We went back up to old Cultural Hall for one more show called Rendezvous at the River, put on by the senior missionaries. It was pretty funny. When the show was over, we went back to camp, hooked the trailer to the car and started driving for home. We left Nauvoo at 8:30 p.m., drove pretty much straight through, and got home at 4:30 p.m. the next day to complete our second marathon road trip this year.
1 comment:
Sounds like you had a good trip.
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