On Saturday, July 18 we finished loading up our cherished possessions (at least the things we didn't think we could do without) and drove Northwest towards I-80 and Kirtland, Ohio. This was the our last Church history stop, and one of our favorites.
We arrived an hour too late to tour the Kirtland Temple. But we enjoyed the beautiful grounds and imagined what kind of sacrifice it took for the early church members to build this special building.
The Church has impressively restored many buildings in "Historic Kirtland." This is Newel K. Whitney's store. Joseph and Emma lived in upstairs rooms here and this is where the "School of the Prophets" was originally held.
A senior missionary couple from Idaho gave us a personal tour. We appreciated their knowledge of Church history and their strong testimonies.
This where the School of the Prophets was. In a tiny upper room of the Whitney store future leaders of the Church met and were taught by Joseph Smith. This is where the Word of Wisdom revelation came from--remember the story of Emma scrubbing the tobacco spit off the floor and not liking it much? This is also where wonderful visions of the Savior occurred. There was a special feeling is this room. It felt like a sacred place to us.
Newell K. Whitney's home
A working saw mill and an ashery have been restored. We thought these were fascinating buildings. Newell K Witney was a very astute businessman and made a lot of money with his mill and ashery and store. He gave most of it to the fledgling church. He was a great man.
Packed floor to ceiling, but happy to be on our way home. We stopped in Colorado for one night to return the U-haul and attach our camp trailer. We had to retrieve Toby from Neil's brother in Utah and spend our last week and a half of sabbatical with our Utah families.
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