We left our hotel room in Bath, NY and drove towards Palmyra, NY (but really thinking that we were going to Niagara Falls). We absolutely loved the drive!! It was so green, cute red barns surrounded by farms...
It wasn't until I looked further on the directions (about 45 mins away from Palmyra) that I realized we had forgotten to update our MapQuest addresses!! LOL, we decided to keep going to Palmyra and enjoy the sites there.
We first went to the Hill Camorah, where Moroni had told Joseph Smith to go to receive the plates. It was very beautiful there. We were lucky to be there when they had the Hubble satellite pictures from the Space. The pictures were beautiful and it left us awestruck that to all of God's creations, He knew and understood each of us, and we were part of His plan. It was a profound experience...how appropriate that they were displayed at one of the places where God's plan was once again shown to man kind, after it had been lost for centuries. I love this picture because it almost looks like the Angel Moroni is speaking with Joe...
This is us on top of the Hill Cumorah looking down at the valley...
After the Hill Cumorah, we walked around the Palmyra Temple...
Then we went to the Smith Farm. We really wanted to have a special experience, and enjoy this moment, so we decided to go to the Sacred Grove first, and then take the tour. These are some pictures of our moment together there...
After we we left the Sacred Grove, we went through the tour and enjoyed hearing about the hardworking people the Smith family were, and how close they were to each other. When we were finished, we started to walk back to the car (we didn't go through the Sacred Grove, like the rest of the tour group took). As we were walking past the Smith log home, a man came up behind us and asked if we wanted our picture taken. We turned around to talk to him, and instead of a complete stranger...we saw a man that was about 6'2", blonde, and big smile across his face. It was my brother, Kevin!! What a surprise!! How in the world did he, who drove from Cincinnatti, OH to Kirtland, OH end up driving to Palmyra, NY last night at the same time that we did? We hadn't decided to go to Palmyra until last night, and even then we were "thinking" we were driving to Niagara Falls, NY.
We were delighted to see him, and felt that this was not just a coincidence. We drove up to the town and took the tour at the Grandin Bookstore, where The Book of Mormon was first published...
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