Boston Days 8 & 9

Our first morning in Rochester was an early one, at least for the older girls. John and I got them up early and ready for filming. Holland's age group wasn't included in this one. I stayed with the little girls while they headed off to Palmyra to film "The Vision" right outside the Sacred Grove. MCO had gotten permission from a wedding venue business to film in their fields, and the grove of trees in the background is the actual Sacred Grove. Of course it isn't without its drama. The owners of the business started to get nervous about the number of cars arriving, and everyone had to find other places around the town to park. The song and music video are absolutely gorgeous. I was pretty disappointed that you can't really see our girls in the video. You can see Eliza in the background 9:42 for a split second. But if you blink you'll miss her. Regardless, it is an amazing song, and I am glad they had part in performing it.

 

Because of the older girls' busy, early morning, the littler girls were able to sleep in. I made them a smoothie with some of the things we bought in Boston. We bought a cheap foam cooler to bring them across state lines over to Rochester. Some of the things melted pretty bad, but the smoothie was yummy. The girls loved the fancy glasses we found to put them in. 

John and the older girls made it back to Rochester, but then we turned around headed back to Palmyra. We only had one rental car, so they had to come back to get us. But we made it back to the Hill Cumorah for our appointment at 11:15am. Because we actually had an appointment we were able to get a parking spot (that was what the appointment was for, the parking spot :) ). I guess a couple thousand people wanting to come see the same sights is a little more than they typically deal with on a given day. 

We did the walk up the hill to see the monument first. This is a fairly large hill, but not too massive. The shady trees and personal fans (win!) made it pretty pleasant. It makes me wonder, "Do they think this is the actual Hill Cumorah?" "Is there any sign of a large stone box?" Probably not, or we would have heard about it. This isn't too much of a problem for me though. I heard recently, "If I believe in the big miracle (Christ's resurrection and our resurrection), why am I worried about other little miracles or things not really making sense?" "Is it really that important where the exact hill and stone box are or are not?" Not really. I see and feel the evidence of that reality every time I feel the Holy Spirit when I read the Book of Mormon. 

Because I am writing this post seven months after the fact, we are now in the Come Follow Me year of studying the Doctrine and Covenants. I am listening to the podcasts, talking about this with my family, and thinking about what a miracle the coming forth of the Book of Mormon really is. Like today I was listening to these scholars talk about how Elder Holland talked about the lost 116 pages. This is Hank Smith quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

If the loss of those 116 pages was simply the disappearance of some thoughtful wisdom literature and a

few chapters of remarkably deft fiction as opponents of the Book of Mormon would say, what's the big deal?  Why all this business about Joseph going through the depths of hell, worrying about whether he was going to get the manuscript back, and fearing the rebuke of God? He's a quick study. He's a frontier talent. He can just write some more. Listen to some of the emotion of that difficult moment. When Martin does not return and does not return with the manuscript, although Joseph was now nearly worn out, sleep had fled his eyes. Neither had he any desire for food, for he felt he had done wrong.

And how great his condemnation was, he did not know. This is coming from his mother. When a fellow traveler inquired about Joseph's gloomy appearance and the cause of his affliction, Joseph thanked him for his kindness and mentioned that he had been caring for a sick wife and child and that the child had died. As a result, his wife was very despondent, but he refrained from giving any further explanation beyond that.

When pressed about the situation, Joseph replied as before, that he had left his wife in such precarious health that he feared he would not find her alive when he returned. Furthermore, he had buried his first and only child just days ago. There was another trouble lying at his heart which he dared not mention.

Again, that's from his mother. Another trouble, this is Elder Holland, deeper than those? Deeper than a wife who's on the threshold of dying and a son who already had?

How deep can such a trouble be and what could possibly be the nature of? Well, this is Elder Holland, you and I know the answer to that. The next morning, 8:00 came. Then 9:00, 10:00, 11:00. Finally, at half past 12:00, Martin is seen walking with a slow measured step toward the Smith house, his eyes fixed remorselessly on the ground. Then he pauses at the gate, draws his hat over his eyes.

Finally, summoning the courage to enter the house, he takes up his knife and fork to eat a noon meal with the Smith family, but immediately drops his utensils. Hyrum Smith observing says, "Martin, are you sick?" Upon which Martin presses his hands to his head, cries out in a tome of deep anguish, "I've lost my soul. I've lost my soul." Joseph, who has not verbalized his fears until

then, springs from the table.

 "Martin, have you lost the manuscript? Have you broken your oath and brought down condemnation upon my head as well as your own?" "Yes, it's gone," Martin says. "I know not where." "Oh my God!" Joseph clenches his hands, "All is lost. All is lost. What shall I do? I have sinned. I tempted the wrath of God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer." He weeps and groans and walked the floor in anguish. At length, he tells Martin to go search again.

"No”, Martin says, "It's all in vain. I have ripped open beds and pillows. I know that it's not there."  "Then”, says Joseph," how do I return with such a tale as this? I dare not do it. How shall I appear before the Lord? Of what rebuke? I am not worthy from the angel of the most high." Can you guys imagine Moroni? Elder Holland talks about that whole scene and he says, "My goodness, that's an elaborate little story which makes absolutely no sense at all, unless, of course, there really were plates, there really was a translation process going on, and there really had been a solemn covenant made with the Lord, and there really was an enemy who did not want that book to come forth in this generation." Talk about a literary flair and a gift for fiction. This is called sarcasm. Lucy Mack Smith gets an A, right along with her son. If all of this is an imaginary venture to say nothing of the terrific performances by Mr. and Mrs. Harris and the entire first generation of the church, which is only to say, which many have said before, if Joseph Smith or anyone else for that matter created the Book of Mormon out of whole cloth, that to me is a far greater miracle than the proposition that he translated it from an ancient record by an endowment of divine power.

I love that long quote. It is interesting to read those first hand accounts, and realize that everyone that was actually there first hand believes it with their whole soul. The people that try to detract and convince you that it is all false weren’t really there. Even at that period of time. 

Regardless of what people say or don’t say about the truthfulness of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s story, I love to consider what a difference the Book of Mormon has made in my life. I have seen anti people say, “The Book of Mormon isn’t the magic bullet that makes or breaks your testimony.” Actually it is. And someone saying it isn’t doesn’t make that statement false. I feel like the bedrock of my testimony is the love I feel from my Heavenly Parents and the spiritual witness I have received of the Book of Mormon. I don’t understand a lot of other things about this true and living church (living means changing), but it does make everything else about my faith feel manageable. There are things that still bother me, but I have faith that it will all work out in the end. 

Such a lovely walk

Odd to see nature reclaiming where the Hill Cumorah pageant has been. I think when we were there in 2019 was the last year they did the pageant. 

We’re such a statement with all of our sun hats. :) 

Next we went to the visitor center at the Hill Cumorah. It was busy and lovely and air conditioned! I loved the Sisters sharing their testimonies. I am half way hoping that if any of my girls go on a mission, she might be called to a visitor center mission. :) 

I love the exhibits and the art there. I recently heard that religious art isn’t supposed to be a representation of historical events, but a representation of a religious feeling or experience. So we shouldn’t let ourselves get upset if we find out that the way Joseph translated the Book of Mormon isn’t the way it has historically been depicted in religious art. 

Next it was on to the Sacred Grove visitor center. From the sign:

 In 1818 or 1819 Jospeh Smith Sr., his wife, Lucy Mack Smith and their eight children moved from Palmyra village to Stafford Road just north of the 100 acres they planned to acquire. They built a log home and outbuildings on this site where they resided for approximately seven years. 

In late 1825 they moved a few hundred feet south to their new frame home. Their son Hyrum had arranged to purchase the eighty acres of land surround the log home. Following his marriage to Jerusha Barden, in late 1825, Hyrum and his wife resided in the home. 

My take away from visiting the log cabin is that it is nicer inside than I would have thought, but I can not immagine having eight children housed in there. Truthfully I can’t imagine having eight children in any home. But I felt like there just wasn’t enough space for everyone. We’re so spoiled in the 21st century and our 3000 square feet homes. 

Of course the frame house was bigger and nicer. The log cabin is a reconstruction but the frame house is the actual building. There are areas where you can see the original paint, slats, brick, etc.

First edition Book of Mormon

Joseph hid the plates under the bricks in this fireplace. 

You can see the original wall in this cutout. 

One of the outbuildings. 

Next we walked out into the Sacred Grove. The last time we were there, we lost Miriam for a scary few minutes. I ran through the grove calling her name. We certainly disrupted whoever was trying to have a beautiful experience there. I made peace with that visit though because it taught a good lesson to her about not taking off by herself before we went to NYC. 

Because that was our background of visiting the Sacred Grove, I didn’t have any particular expectations visiting again. But it was a really beautiful (although sweaty) experience. We found a quiet bench and shared our testimonies of the reality of the Restoration. We prayed and shared and felt the peace from the Holy Spirit. 

After the Sacred Grove we had to get lunch and prep our girls for the concert. Holland was the first one dropped off, and before we dropped off the older girls we walked around the Palmyra temple. 

After we dropped off the older girls we headed to the Grandin Print Shop Museum. Darcy was a little young to really appreciate the interesting exhibits and explanations, but it was still great. It felt kind of amazing to see three first editions of the of Book of Mormon in the same day. Also, there is so much original art work. I loved how they kept the original building within the museum so show how they would use pulleys to get things from one level to the other. 

After the Grandin Museum, we headed to the stake center that is kiddie corner and down the road a little from the Palmyra Temple. This means that it is really quite close to the Sacred Grove. We could see the trees in the distance. 

This MCO concert was different than any other we have been to. It was outside on the grassy hill of a Stake Center. There were no tickets and no reserved seating. We had to show up in time to get a place on the grass to lay down a blanket. This wasn’t as easy as you’d might think because of limited parking, but it all ended up working out. We sat by a cute family from Idaho who said we were Eagle Scouts because we brought fans to help combat the humidity and heat. 

The first few songs were fantastic as usual. MCO brought all the concert equipment—sound system and al. But we weren’t that far into the concert when we noticed there were dark clouds gathering behind us. We had check the forecast and knew that rain was a possibility, but those clouds were ominous. Before long the rain descended. It was just sheets of water. Thankfully we had packed ponchos and were just fine. (I guess we really did earn that Eagle Scout comment.) I can’t say the same for everyone’s instruments in the orchestra. Some ran under the pop up shades, but some of their instruments were too large to move in a hurry. (How did they even get them to New York and Boston?) 

It down poured. Singers ran for the building. Instrumentalists ran for the pop up shades, and the concert definitely stopped. We stayed where we were in our ponchos, and so did the most of the rest of the audience (maybe without the ponchos). After about 4-5 minutes the rain stopped, but it was too late for the sound system. I was surprised when Brandon Stewart came back on stage with a megaphone and asked the audience if they wanted to hear a few more songs. Of course we did! We had all traveled across the country to do this, and we weren’t going to give up after a few minutes of intense rain. 

Because there was no longer a working sound system, they instructed the audience to circle close around the performers. I went behind where the singers were standing, and had a truly remarkable experience. It was such a beautiful combination of events to bring upon this life changing experience. I will never forget it. First, they sang the most beautiful song “The Vision.” Next we had been immersing ourselves in the stories of the restoration. We had been bearing testimony of our faith in the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and been praying about it. The rain made us change position and we were literally seeing the Sacred Grove in the background. The sound system went out and it felt like the Lord wanted us to hear it without augmentation. All of this, plus hearing that inspired song. I truly felt like I could almost hear the angels sing with the choir. It was amazing, moving, and never to be forgotten. I feel like the Lord was just showering us with a witness from the Spirit. Side note, I loved Darcy dancing and leading the music behind everyone. 

Miriam is this way.

You can see Eliza’s cute face this way.

The next day we headed down the Finger Lakes areas to see Watkins Glen. This was one of our favorites from our last trip to New York so we had to make it happen again. "Within two miles, the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade." It really is so fun. 

It's just so pretty. The lines in the cliffs, the waterfalls, the path that is so close to the action. I love it all. I feel like the path wouldn't be built like that anymore because it is too invasive, but I kind of love it. 

The bright green contrast from the foliage is amazing.

We came her on her 8th birthday last time, so it was only fitting we did an almost birthday photo when she was about to turn 13. 

I mean, c'mon!

Nearing the top which means there a lot fewer people but not really any more waterfalls. Still pretty though. And a lot of stairs. 

I had to go all the way up to the top of the gorge. Spoiler, it was just a parking lot and campsite at the top.

Watch out for the puddle!

Oo la la

Am I glistening from sweat or waterfall spray? :) 

Holland didn't want to walk up with us to the top of the overlook so you can see her at the bottom of this long staircase.

I tell ya, those fans. Solid purchase.

This photo makes me think of my mom. I have one of her right there.

After Watkins Glen we barely made it to the Susan B. Anthony House. We were too late to take a tour, but we got to walk through the little museum. Some people are truly inspirational. She is one of the most famous women's suffragists, but she never got to see the 19th Amendment, but there is no doubt of her influence for it. 

I thought Holland's postcard to Sophie is so darling.