Thanks to our tour director and his beautiful assistant!

Our tour leaders were John and Tricia, his daughter. They did a great job. Tricia organized and John filled our minds to the brim with historical information. Thanks for a job well done.

26 Jul - Thanks from Jerry (and Doris)

“Dear Friends: I wish to thank all of you for your kindness and service to Doris and myself. We will never forget all you have served us with such an outpouring of love and tenderness. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel. When we signed up for the tour, I was quite healthy. I never dreamed I would need help. Each of you came to our rescue with the baggage and wheeling Doris. Thank you for your loving concern for us. And thank all of you for making this truly a trip of a lifetime. Much love…

26 Jul - Independence, MO, LDS Visitors’ Center

Our last historical stop of the day was the LDS Visitors’ Center, which sits on 20 acres of the original 63 acres. When the Saints came to Missouri, Edward Partridge purchased 63 acres of land for the temple complex that was to be built in the New Jerusalem, which will be one of two centers of Christ’s kingdom during His Millennial Reign. Partridge purchased the land for $130, or about $2 an acre. Saints poured in because of revelation given to the Prophet Joseph and purchased lands around the temple site. Soon there were more than 1000 members in Independence. They were drawn to the rich farmland and bountiful resources in this land of promise. Some Saints settled in Clay County, where they were treated well.

In Jackson County, growth came faster than the Saints could build houses. Even though they helped each other, sometimes up to 10 families lived in a small log one-room cabin. Members were counseled to keep the commandments and live as good examples of children of God. The Colesville Saints came here after being deprived of their inheritance in Kirtland. Here, Joseph sealed them up (See D&C 57, 58, 59). Section 59 is given at Polly Knight’s funeral. The Knight family was especially faithful.

One new member of the Church in Independence was W.W. Phelps. He owned a printing establishment and was called by the Prophet to print the Book of Commandments. He also printed the Morning and Evening Star and wrote the hymn, “Now Let Us Rejoice.” We all know the story of the mobs destroying the printing press and shop and tarring and feathering W.W. Phelps and Edward Partridge. We also remember the children who saved pages from the manuscript of the Book of Commandments. Soon problems arose over religion and conflict about slavery (Missouri was a slave state and the Church was opposed to slavery), and mobs drove the Saints out of Jackson County (giving them as little as 15 minutes to gather their belongings). A book of grievances was compiled, part of which was presented to President Van Buren.

We ended this portion of the tour with a couple of videos. One was about the first Bishop’s Storehouse and the message, “Find and Feed those in need” (both temporally and spiritually). Another was President Hinckley speaking about the Church in more than160 nations. Four million copies of the Book of Mormon are printed each year in 77 languages. He spoke of the early Saints learning that Zion was not just a place, but a state of mind where the people had all things in common and there was no contention among them—that they learned to build Zion in their hearts. The missionary then spoke to us about how we can build Zion today. She was impressive in her ability to use appropriate scriptures at just the right times that helped her and us understand the concept of Zion.

We wandered around some of the other exhibits while we waited for the end of the tour. We heard Elder Uchdorf’s testimony of the living Christ and began listening to Elder Bednar’s testimony. We’ll have to look those up on the Church website: www.lds.org
Our last exhibit was a walk through “God’s plan for His Family,” an exhibit and video showing the importance of eternal families. It was very uplifting and a great way to end our tour of the visitors’ center and church history.

It might have been interesting to go on the walking tour of some of the homes and stores in the area; however, we had to catch our planes for home. After 11 days together, it’s time to get back to the real world. You know, the one where we have to make our own beds, change our own sheets, clean our own bathrooms, cook our own meals and clean up afterward, fill up our own cars and drive ourselves places, and generally get back to work. This trip has been uplifting, inspiring, informational, relaxing and hectic at the same time, and most especially, testimony building. Thanks to John, Tricia, and Henry for making it happen.

26 Jul - Independence, MO, Temple Lot

The Church of Christ Headquarters of Temple Lot are the caretakers of the temple lot. Here in 1929, the surveyor’s stone for the NE corner foundation stone and the SE corner stone were discovered. The temple measures 90 feet wide by 180 feet long, just a little smaller than the Nauvoo temple. The guide showed us a picture of the members outlining the temple lot. Granville Hedrick formed this church in 1852 from congregations in Bloomington, Ill, and in Indiana. He was named presiding elder and these members returned to Independence in the winter of 1866-67. In 1877, they purchased the 2 1/2 acres where the temple lot now stands. Revelation says that New Jerusalem will be built by the gather ing of the Saints, beginning at the Temple Lot. Thus, our interest in this site.

26 Jul - Independence, MO, Community of Christ Temple and Auditorium

A student from Grace University, housed on this site, guided us through the temple. We began in the Meditation Chapel, which contained paintings of the 8 sacraments (ordinances): baptism, confirmation, communion or Lord’s Supper (what we call the Sacrament), marriage (for time only), baby blessings, blessing the sick, evangelist’s (Patriarchal) blessing, and ordination to the priesthood (which women have been able to do since 1968). There was also a Japanese floral arrangement in 3 levels, symbolizing earth, humanity, and spirit dwelling together. The room looks out on a beautiful Japanese meditation garden donated by Independence’s sister city in Japan. The oil lamp for the daily prayer ceremony is also currently in the chapel due to renovation in the Sanctuary.

Our next stop was the Lobby, where we saw the flags from 50 nations where this church has congregations. They are aligned in order of chronology from the U.S. to Nigeria. There is a wooden cross with 360 pieces of wood of more than 100 varieties from the 50 nations. In the intersection of the two cross pieces is an olive branch in the shape of a dove, symbolizing peace in two different ways. Across the hall was the opening to the Sanctuary. We saw a beautifully etched glass window with a garden theme. The guide said it represented Joseph’s First Vision, where God spoke again to man.

We then passed a representation of the burning bush as we entered the Sanctuary through the Worshipper’s Path. This is an ascending path up to the worship area. It represents man’s ascending path to God and His descending path of communication to us. We passed several beautiful pieces of art, including “once was lost…now is found,” a depiction of the return of the prodigal son etched in black reflective granite (see yourself in the story as God accepts you back into His presence after you have sinned), a rough-hewn cross with a light casting the shadow of the cross across the path (we have to acknowledge Christ’s sacrifice for us), a tree of life (Revelations 22), and a reflecting pool entitled, “Whosoever dinks of the water that I shall give…will never thirst” (granite pool resembling a baptismal font and overflowing with God’s love for us).

The worship area is in the shape of a Nautilus seashell, spiraling upward and inward in degrees of discipleship. The tower is 195 feet tall and has a blinking light to warn incoming aircraft. The organ has 102 ranks and 5685 pipes, including outward protruding trumpet pipes. The room seats 1600, with about 1200 on the main floor. The auditorium across the street seats 5800 people and the organ is a little bigger. The sanctuary is not used for Sunday worship, only for individual worship and for special occasions where a large space is needed.

We left the worship area for the benediction or going forth hall. A wooden statue of Christ is at the top of the stairs. This statue is carved entirely out of one piece of wood, except for the hands. We then looked at a stained glass window, entitled “The Field Is White, Ready to Harvest.” (D&C 4, John 4:35) This showed sheaves of wheat both in the field and being harvested. This also symbolizes everyone’s need to be nourished in Christ. We passed by some pictures of this church’s leaders (first presidency, quorum of 12, presiding bishopric) before proceeding outside, where we stood on the world plaza (a map of the world is portrayed in the brickwork) and saw the bronze Doors of Peace with the child leading the lamb and the lion together. These doors are directly behind the wooden statue of Christ at the top of the stairs. The idea is to worship, then go forth through Christ to bring peace to the world. Our guide also pointed out the original stone church across the street where congregations have their Sunday worship services.

Some of our group visited the museum on the bottom floor of the temple. Here they saw the original door of the Liberty Jail and the manuscript of Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible, signed by him. The Community of Christ owns 40 of the original 63 acres purchased by Edward Partridge in 1831.

25 Jul - Banquet Banter

Our last meal at the Hometown Buffet in Blue Springs, MO, was delicious. There was plenty of food for everyone, including the vegetarians in the group. After we all filled our bellies to the brim, Frank introduced the program. The blog committee gave some directions for adding comments (just click on “post a comment” and follow the directions), printing the blog, etc. If you would like to send pictures to add to the blog, send them to pagardn@byu.net. Pat or Mike will upload them for all to see.

Jake and Katie’s children recited the Proclamation to the World on The Family. Well done! The sunshine committee gave out awards to everyone. Our tour SweeTarts were Doris and Jerry, while Janet H. was a Hot Tamale. The kids got Danish coins—Thanks, Eva. There were awards for Marvelous Marge (M&Ms), Carmello for patient Brenda, Nerd award to our computer geeks (Pat and Mike), Almond Joys to Tricia for her bubbly personality and Katie for beginning our days with joyful music, Jake made us Snicker, and many more. John then told us some more history of the tours, including a woman some of us met at Liberty Jail who he and his family helped to come back to activity in the Church, thanked us for being great, and bore his testimony. Eva then bore her testimony of the Church and the Prophet Joseph. She was grateful for this tour, which helped her gain a stronger testimony of Joseph.

25 Jul - Hotel Hullabaloo

We arrived at our hotel in a timely manner to check in for our last night’s stay and clean up for our final dinner together, except for one small snag. The hotel didn’t have enough rooms for us all and even though we were willing to double up so that we could stay together, 5 or 6 couples ended up spending the night at another hotel down the street. Henry wowed us again with his ability to get that bus in and out of those very tight parking lots.

To put it in perspective, Karin said, “We may be having a few problems, but they are nothing compared to what the early Saints went through.” Someone else added the following insight, “At least we don’t have to leave all our belongings and walk across the frozen ground and rivers with just the clothes on our backs, carrying our children and trying to stay warm.”