Church History Trip - Days 1 & 2

Apologies in advance. This post covers just the first two days on the trip, but in order to really do the trip justice the posts will be long, full of pictures, and probably come several days apart... just fair warning. But I couldn't really do less - this trip was life changing in many ways.

On August 27th, I left work early and headed straight up to Salt Lake Airport. Destination - Kansas City, Missouri. I was slightly nervous (understatement) as I was traveling halfway across the country with 80 other young single adults - and only one knew my name. So I arrived in Salt Lake and found a seat at the gate where I could observe others while reading the book I'd brought myself. The flight from Salt Lake to Denver, where we had a layover, was uneventful - I read. But I met up with Gretchen - the one person I had met prior to our departure - and we had lunch at Paradise Bakery on the Denver concourse. (BTW - that is some wicked-good food!) Boarding the second flight from Denver to Kansas City, I met the two "Keith's" who I also happened to be sitting by on the plane, making the flight much more entertaining (they were from Camarillo and grew up with my cousins... we had a good time playing the "did you know" game.)

We landed in Kansas City, MO - possibly the smallest airport I've ever been in. The shuttle that was supposed to take us to the hotel that night was late and only fit about 8 people in it at one time... so I grabbed my very first taxi with some others and arrived at the hotel around 11:30p. I checked into my hotel room and met my trip roommates: Gretchen (already kinda knew), Mindy, and Bethany. We all decided that since we had an early morning, we would head straight to bed.

We got up early the next morning, August 28th, and boarded the only permanent thing for the rest of the trip - our bus. :0) This is Gretchen and me leaving the hotel:

We headed to our first trip stop, which interestingly enough gave me a great starting perspective through which to view the rest of the trip. We headed to Independence, MO - and consequently the headquarters for the Community of Christ Church, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS). And our first stop in Independence was the Community of Christ Temple. I'm not sure what I was expecting... but this was not it:

Gretchen, Mindy, and I quickly concluded that the temple looked like a hybrid between a conch shell and a wizard's hat. I've seen a lot of different temples, LDS and others, but nothing that would have set my expectations for this building.

Our first steps inside, once we'd met up with our tour guide from the Community of Christ Church, revealed this room: 

This room is supposed to symbolize the sacred the sacred grove, which explains the double-paned etched glass artwork. The piece in the middle is representative of the burning bush. The glass walls took the artist over a year of constant work to complete; she also sacrificed several years of her life by completing the piece, because as she etched the glass, she would breath the dust particles which have damaged her lungs. An amazing sacrifice - the finished product was beautiful!

As we made our way, in a circle, to the middle of the temple - the main worship room called the Sanctuary - we passed even more artwork depictions. This one is called The Prodigal Son; on the wall next to this etching was a marble engraving that said, "Once was Lost... Now is Found." Passing this artwork on your way into the Sanctuary was designed to recall the parable to mind, causing the viewer/worshiper to remember that we are all lost and must return to Christ to be found. Entering the Sanctuary was one path that led to Christ.

When the RLDS Church changed its name, it adopted the Cross as a symbol of its religion. I loved the symbolism of this next piece, which cast a shadow of the cross along the path into the Sanctuary. Each person who entered the Sanctuary had to pass through the shadow of the cross before they reached their main goal. Again... awesome symbolism.

This is the Sanctuary. In this room, as well as others, our guide allowed us to ask questions about the Community of Christ religion. Many of us were curious about the differences between our beliefs and theirs, since we stemmed from the same main beliefs. The best way to explain it is that they believe that Joseph Smith, Jr. was a prophet - to a point. They do not believe in any of his revelations after the time the Saints entered Nauvoo. They practice the ordinances of baptism by immersion, confirmation of the Holy Ghost, and the healing of the sick, but they do not practice any of the temple ordinances we hold so sacred. They can receive Patriarchal Blessings (multiple in their lifetime even), but they are not married and sealed for eternity. This was almost heart-breaking to hear. They also now down-lay the significance of Joseph Smith, Jr. as a prophet as well as the significance of the Book of Mormon. It was really sad to see how far away from the true Gospel this religion has pulled.

The Community of Christ Temple was actually designed to resemble the nautilus shell. Standing in the middle of the Sanctuary and looking up, this is what you see, the symbolism indicating a gradual ascension into the heavens:

This is the view of the entire temple from the northwest side - the side facing the actual temple site dedicated by Joseph Smith, Jr. It really is beautiful in its own way.

I was having a difficult time reconciling this temple with the other temples built in the time of the saints. This temple was actually built in the 1980s and 1990s. The other temple that the Community of Christ owns is the Kirtland Temple in Ohio... And this one is just so radically different.

I'd predicted hot and muggy weather for the entire weekend... I was right about the muggy part, but the weather was actually cooler than anticipated - almost refreshing. I like this picture because it shows my attempt at making the temple fit into my expectations (which didn't work) but also shows the large white clouds that were everywhere:

Across the street from the temple is this open field, the actual temple site dedicated by the the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. on August 3, 1831. Some say that the Garden of Eden was located in current Jackson County, MO - the county where Independence is located. Independence itself was referred to as the City of Zion by the Saints that lived here in the early days of the church. The location of the four cornerstones of the Independence Temple are still identified on this site by markers. You can see the North East marker at the bottom of this picture:

This is a close up of the same marker in the picture above:

This is the Stone Church, built around 1888. It was where the RLDS church held its meetings for years until the Temple was built. Mostly I just thought it was a really pretty building.

This is the entrance to the LDS Visitor's Center in Independence, MO. I loved how big and beautiful the plants that covered this entire region were. It really is one of the most beautiful places on the planet... for a variety of reasons...

And, as always, the Christus was amazing! I can think of no other statue that holds such a powerful place in my heart.

We were really hungry by this point. We stopped at this huge shopping center that had lots of restaurants. Gretchen and I just decided to go to the closest place - the really good burger place that was only about 30 feet from the bus. We were already tired! :0S

Our next stop was the Historic Liberty Jail. This picture is the rotunda that was built around the remnants of the original jailhouse. They've reconstructed the jail as a life-size cross-section diorama of what it was like for the Brethren incarcerated in the Liberty Jail.

In the Visitor's Center portion of the Liberty Jail, we sat and discussed some of the things that occurred on that holy site. I found it incredibly powerful that Liberty Jail is referred to as the Prison-Temple. These are copies of the paintings housed in the Liberty Jail Visitor's Center, Liz Lemon Swi

ndle's depictions of what occurred while the Prophet was in Liberty. The paintings are a set called Of One Heart; Joseph in Liberty Jail and Emma on the Ice. During Joseph's incarceration at Liberty Jail, the Saints were driven

 from the state of Missouri into Illinois, and were forced to cross the Mississippi River during the coldest winter on record - so cold the entire Mississippi River froze over. Emma, left alone with their young children, crossed the frozen river with the Saints. Joseph knew of the hard times with which his family and the rest of the Saints were faced. During this time, Joseph received revelations we now refer to as Doctrine and Covenants sections 121, 122, and 123. Reading these sections now I feel more powerfully the emotions that went into these powerful scriptures.

This is the existing entrance to the Liberty Jail, within the external rotunda. It was the only entrance into or out of the jail itself. And except for periods when the prisoners were being taken in and out, or when the guard was being changed, this door was locked at all times. 

This is the top half of the Liberty Jail cross-section, the place where the guards stayed. The prisoners were lowered into the bottom half of the building through the trap door in the middle of the room.

The walls were four feet thick, from the ground to the roof; from the inside out, there was a layer of 1-foot-thick oak beams, a 1-foot-thick space filled with loose rock and gravel, and a 2-foot-thick wall of rock and mortar. If the prisoners were able to bore through the oak beams, they would then have to remove the loose rock and gravel from the inner cavity. As they did so, the rock above would fall to fill the vacant space created, and alert the guards on the upper floor. 19th century prison security - and very effective.

This is the lower floor of the Liberty Jail cross-section. They have depictions of each of the five men incarcerated during that winter: Joseph Smith, Jr., Hyrum Smith, Lyman White, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin (I believe Sidney Rigdon was also held here for a time, until he became very ill and was allowed to leave - so he is not portrayed at the site). The space from floor to ceiling was 6 feet, and most of the men were taller than that when they stood up straight; the tallest was 6'6" tall - they had to stoop most of the time they were incarcerated. They had one blanket to share between the five of them, and during the bitter cold winter, they usually shoved the blanket into one of the two windows, attempting to block out the cold. They were fed food that was barely palatable and was usually accompanied by maggots... or worse, often having been offered to the chickens first.

I would say that of all of the places we went to, Liberty Jail was one of the most powerful places for me personally (the other being Carthage Jail). I found it interesting as well that the CES fireside given by Elder Holland the Sunday after I came home to Utah was focused on the events at Liberty Jail, a reminder that no matter what our conditions nor our surroundings, holy places can be found and powerful, spiritual experiences, even revelations, can be received.

We left Liberty, MO and drove north into a lot of more rural areas. As we approached Adam-ondi-Ahman, thick, black clouds formed and began unleashing sheets of rain. The windows on the sides of the bus looked as if we were sitting right under a giant hose, as the rain water streamed down. We actually went up this one hill that looked just like the hill in Twister where they release the Dorothy machine and that tornado tears down the hill after them. Seeing a tornado come out of that storm wouldn't really have surprised any of us... it was that ominously dark! We drove through the surrounding hills, approaching the valley through mud puddles and past mist-covered meadows. When we got to the overlook trailhead, those of us that wanted to got off the bus and ran through the storm to look over the valley.

As is mentioned on the plaque below, many Saints lived here for a very short time before they were driven out due to persecution. One of the hills - Tower Hill - received its name because Joseph Smith, Jr. found the remains of what he called an old Nephite altar.

Many believe that Adam-ondi-Ahman is the land where Adam dwelt and built an altar after he and Eve were driven from Eden. The foretold significance of the valley during the 2nd Coming was something we discussed for a while as well. Mostly, it was just amazingly beautiful... probably made even more so with the mist and storm. It really emphasized the belief that this was the one location in lone and dreary world that Adam picked after leaving the garden. Of course some say that this valley was the garden itself... I don't guess. It was just really pretty. :0)

And, I might add... really wet. I was off the bus for a grand total of 5 minutes (if that). I was completely - completely - soaked when I got back on the bus. It took two nights for my sweatshirt to dry... even with that I was soaked to my skin!

Our last stop for the day was to take a tour through a nearby Amish community called Jamesport. This was really cool! This was our "English" tour guide (the Amish call the other people in their community the "English".):

The people there are so friendly and humble. We were joking that if one of us were to convert an Amish man to the gospel and introduce him into society, we would feel almost guilty for corrupting him - even if that corruption included giving him the true gospel. They are just that humble and good. Makes me wonder how much better a lot of us would be if we went back to the basic ways of life...

This ended the tour  stops for the first day. We stopped at Ma & Pa's Kettle for dinner (not recommended) in Cameron, MO. We stayed at a hotel right next to a WalMart (this was a bonus!) and played card games in our hotel room with the Keiths and some of Gretchen's friends. I would like to say we were reasonable and went to bed early, but the pillow talk (or pillow laughing) went on well into the night... :0)