DAY 22 – July 20, 2012 – Peter Whitmers Home, Aaronic Priesthood Monument, Susquehanna River and Jersey City : )

I believe I said it before, but seriously each day gets better and better. I can’t wait to tell you about today!

I had on the itinerary to go to Waterloo (Fayette), NY to Peter Whitmer’s log cabin. It didn’t sound really exciting after everything we had done, and Mr. S asked if we could wake up early do a drive by and head on. But I told him to check and make sure it wasn’t a place that gives tours. He asked, and they said they had a visitor’s center and it was a place to stop. I will tell you now, it is a SIGNIFICANT place to stop.

Peter Whitmer Visitor Center

The Visitor’s Center is actually a Chapel for the church. It was built to look like a chapel the church would have built if they had money in the 1800’s. It is Greek Revival Architecture, and it is beautiful (I personally like that style better than what we have today). There are shutters on the windows in the chapel. The ceiling is higher and flat. The benches are old fashioned, and chandeliers are hanging on the ceiling.

A missionary told us the story of how David Whitmer brought Joseph back to his home… The persecution in Palmyra had gotten so bad nothing could happen. So Joseph and Emma had gone to Harmony to be with Emma’s parents. But they really needed to find somewhere else where they could concentrate on getting the Book of Mormon translated. Oliver Cowdery was friends with David Whitmer and wrote to him about the problem.

David asked his father Peter if he could go get the prophet. But it was during farming

season, and his dad said he didn’t know how he could go, because there was so much to do on the farm. He told David if he could get ahead on work, maybe he could go. So David worked really hard on the farm that day and got 2 days worth of work done in one day. The only thing left he had to do was sew plaster of paris into the soil (I guess that helped the crops grow). David woke up the next morning to do it and found the work already done. He asked his sister what happened. She told him she had assumed he was the one that had hired the 3 men to work that morning, the work was done.

David was able to leave and go get Joseph and Oliver. The significant things that happened here…The church was officially organized here, they finished the Book of Mormon translation here, 20 sections of the Doctrine Covenants were received here, and part of the work on the Bible happened here, and the sacrament was passed here for the first time in this dispensation.

In the Visitors center there are four charts that are amazing. I wish I had them in print. One shows all the dispensations when the gospel has been on the earth, who brought it back (Christ) and which prophets received it.

Then there are three charts that go together. One shows all the different parts of the church that existed in Christ’s time, then one in Joseph’s Smith’s time, then one for modern days. They show how the church is the same. We have prophets, apostles, the laying on of hands, the priesthood, eternal marriages, and more (I will post one of them).
The Visitors Center also has an art gallery that shows the sequence of what happened here in Fayette they time the church was organized. All the art is different, and it is beautiful.

In 1980, President Kimball came to the Whitmer home to dedicate the chapel and the home. It was the 150th anniversary of the official organization of the church. They broadcasted a session of general conference from here on Easter Sunday during conference.  They put a time capsule together during this time. They placed the scriptures, and photos of all the temples on the earth at that time in the time capsule. You will never guess how many temple photos that would be…we couldn’t believe it! There were only 17 temples in 1980… Last general conference they announced we have 136 working temples! They are going to open the time capsule in 2030, the 200th anniversary of the church.

Peter Whitmer Home

Then we sat outside the rebuilt log cabin of Peter Whitmer. They told of how they had 9 people living in this cabin (many of Peter’s children grown but still living there). And then they invited Oliver and Joseph and later Emma to live with them. The cabin is not big, and after having been to so many places where we have learned all the work it took to keep a home, we appreciated the generosity of Sister Whitmer. That was a lot of work for her to take on. They told us that she is sometimes called the 4th witness.

One day she was walking out to milk the cows and she was approached by a man. He told her he knew she was tired from all the work she was doing, and he knew she needed something to renew her faith and keep her going. So he showed her the Golden Plates. Later on she described the man to Oliver and Joseph, and they confirmed that it was Angel Moroni.

I’ve been waiting to get to this part, because this was one of the coolest parts of

Video taping for next years 2013 YM/YW theme

being here…another testament of the significance of this area…We had to wait outside the house for a while. Ahead of us in the cabin was President Beck, the president of the Young Men’s Organization. They are working on the YM/YW theme for next year, and they were doing some filming here. So we waited outside the cabin while they filmed inside.

I am so grateful that we took this trip this year. It will be an amazing foundation for our children. Our testimony of the restored church, Joseph Smith, and pioneers has grown exponentially. I expected that. But I am surprised at how our testimony of family has grown, and of standing in sacred places. Our kids have mentioned several times on this trip the different feelings they have had in the different places we go. And I don’t’ think these are exclusive to just church sites. The feeling has been felt with certain people and places all over. And I know there are many more historical US and church sites ahead were we will feel the spirit very strong. To be able to identify it as clearly as we have been able to do on this trip, has been such a blessing. There is something wonderful, important and strengthening about standing in holy places.

One of the things that President Beck told some of the missionaries that has stuck with me, and I think is significant about all we have done…he said ‘isn’t it amazing the church was organized in a family setting.’ Everything we do, everything the church does is to build and strengthen families. This trip has done it, these places have done it. It IS significant that the church was reorganized in a home, in a family setting.

On our way to Harmony (Oakland), Pennsylvania, we passed through Ithaca, NY, where Cornell University is. Around this area, it started to look super lush, green and hilly. We hadn’t seen many hills like this for a while. I also want to mention, since arriving in New York, the buildings are just amazing. The homes have age and character. There are so many old things here, it makes the West feel so young and new. For me, I love old. It’s beautiful here. I love history, and this area has history!

Aaronic Priesthood Monument

Oakland (formerly Harmony) is where Emma, Joseph’s wife was from. Joseph and Emma came to Harmony to live with her parents when the persecution in Palmyra increased. The church has announced that they are going to build a Visitors Center here, but as of yet, it has not happened. They do have the Aaronic Priesthood Monument here. I had thought that was all we were going to see, but as with everything else, it was more than that. When we got to the Monument, there is a plaque to the right of the Monument saying that this was the site of the home of Joseph and Emma (they lived in a home on her parents land).

To the left of the Monument is a cemetery. In that cemetery both of Emma’s parents are buried there, and Joseph and Emma’s first baby Alvin. This is a small portion of the large sacrifices that they both made for the gospel. After they left Harmony they moved to Waterloo (Fayette), then Kirtland, then Nauvoo. Emma never saw her two parents again after this time they spent here.

There is also the foundation of Emma’s parent’s home across the street and down a ways, but we did

Trail to the Susquehanna River

not go there. We wanted to get a photo near the Susquehanna River. The church has bought the land along the river, but it is not connected to the monument site (there is a piece of private land between them). There was a map there telling how to get to the River. We drove down the road past the cemetery, and the first road on the right was a paved road. The map said it was next to a wrecking company, but the building there had no signs, so that was no help. But it was the first right. We turned down that road and parked at the end. Then we walked along a gravel path (a car could probably drive down it, but you’d be stuck if there was a car coming back the opposite way, there is no room for two cars). It was labeled a .4 mile walk. It seemed about that. We were basically back tracking on the path to end up behind the site where Joseph and Emma’s home was. We could see people at the Monument through the private property between us. At the end of the gravel road you could see a path to the river. It would be assumed that Oliver and Joseph walked right outside their home and down a path to the river.

On the shore of the Susquehanna River

Harmony is a lush green beautiful area. And the path to the river was just dreamy. It was a misty, slightly rainy day, which always makes things look slightly more romantic and vivid. It was beautiful.

Joseph and Oliver were translating the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi, when as they were translating about baptism, they realized they had questions they needed answered about baptism. So they went to the grove along the river to pray. There John the Baptist (the same who baptized Jesus Christ) came to them. He told them that in order to baptize they needed the Aaronic Priesthood. So John the Baptist gave them the Aaronic Priesthood and told them to go to the river and baptize each other by immersion. So there at the Susquehanna River they baptized each other.

Mr. S found in 3 Nephi a place that talked about the importance of baptism. So he read it to the kids as we sat along the Susquehanna River. We talked about the significance of the event. Then I took pictures with Bazooka and Mr. S. Bazooka will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood as a Deacon next year when he turns twelve. Then I took a photo with Mr. S and Starburst, who is going to be baptized in a couple of months. And then a photo with Fireball and Mr. S, as Fireball will be baptized a year after Starburst. Then the older boys took their photo together. It was a great time. Like all our stops, it was more and better than we expected.

We drove to Jersey City, New Jersey tonight.  First of all between the rain clouds and the dirty city, we all decided it looked like we were driving into Gotham City.  Then this RV Park is crazy!  It’s right off the river between NY and New Jersey, we can walk outside our RV and see New York City and the Statue of Liberty.   We are going to take the subway into New York City in the morning and walk around.  Can I tell you, our motorhome sure looks out of place in Jersey : ) !!  But we aren’t the only ones, this lot is full of motorhomes all here to do the same thing.  We are parked in the middle of a boat marina.  It’s the silliest funnest thing ever.

Summary of Day 22
Drove: 315 miles (98130-98445)

Places we visited or saw:

Susquehanna River

Peter Whitmer Home, Aaronic Priesthood Monument, Joseph and Emma’s Home Site in Harmony, the grave sites of the Hale’s (Emma’s parents), and Alvin Smith (Joseph and Emma’s first son), Susquehanna River,

Favorite thing we did today:
Jawbreaker: Susquehanna River
Spitz: Peter Whitmer’s Home
Warhead: Peter Whitmer’s Home
Bazooka, Fireball and Starburst: Susquehanna River
Mr. S and Mrs. S: Peter Whitmer’s Home and the Susquehanna River