kansas city: the church history tour

it's fair to say that i wasn't quite 'on' this trip. now that i've been back for two days and have spent both of them with a miserable cough, runny nose, and headache, i have a better understanding as to why--my body was getting ready to break down. i should be grateful it held off so long, but as i'm back on a plane on monday, all i can think about is how poor the timing is. oh well.

the exhibit setup was rougher than usual. the exhibit hall doesn't usually get air until the show starts, which is sometimes not an issue, and other times downright awful. i do thank my lucky stars that kc was experiencing unusually cool weather while there, but even in the high 70's with the high humidity that rain and thunderstorms brought, it was pretty uncomfortable. both myself and the install team were dripping with sweat. and that was how i spent my birthday:)

the install was supposed to finish up on thursday, but by day's end, there was still a few hours of work to be done. and 'a few hours' is not insignificant when it comes to an install. when you are contracted to pay for 6-8 hours of labor, that's pretty much what it should take. in this case, there was no one reason for the extra time, and i can't even entirely pinpoint it. maybe we were all moving slow in the humidity. there were certainly enough people - it just seemed to take forever.

that was compounded by learning on friday morning that my shipment of materials from our distribution center had been screwed up, and would not arrive until monday - the last day of the show. there was a lot of scrambling to try and figure out how to remedy the situation, and by early friday afternoon, with the booth finally set up, i was in desperate need of a brain break.

in a normal situation, that would have meant sleeping for hours in my hotel room, but on thursday evening, dad had pointed out that i was close to a lot of church history sites, so i decided to take advantage of having a rental car.

the first stop on the list was adam-ondi-ahman.


for those 5 of you readers who are not lds, you can google this or any of the places i'm going to mention, but i'm going to keep it pretty high level.

adam-ondi-ahman is, largely, a giant parcel of land. there isn't much to see other than grass and trees, but there was definitely a special feeling about the place. i must have hit this (and all the other sites) in an off time, because i was the sole visitor. the solitude, the quiet, and the spirit of the place provided an ideal setting for some reflection and introspection.

from adam-ondi-ahman, it was on to haun's mill, the site of the 1838 massacre. there is a good explanation of the events at huan's mill found here. and again, there isn't much to see. the haun's mill site is off the beaten path - literally. in doing my research, i couldn't find an actual address to plug in to the gps - just coordinates. those coordinates took me about 5 miles on a one way dirt and gravel road.

the former rlds church, now the community of christ, has placed a marker there, but truth be told, i never found it. instead, i found a field. the original memorial millstone now sits in breckenridge, mo, so there is no evidence of what took place here. only the knowing of it, which creates a profound reverence for the lives lost.

from haun's mill, it was on to far west:

In August 1836, W. W. Phelps and John, presidents of the Latter Day Saint Church, selected 1 square mile of land overlooking the rolling native prairie, as the site for a new town to be called Far West. Settlement of this and neighboring lands along Shoal Creek began immediately. Far West became the county seat of Caldwell County, a region set apart by the State especially for the Mormons. In Far West the Saints built some two hundred homes, several dry goods stores and groceries, half a dozen black smith shop, two hotels and a printing office. The city quickly expanded to four miles square, eventually becoming the home of as many as 5,000 inhabitants. Residents excavated and laid foundation stones for a temple for worship on the Public Square. They also erected a large school building on the Square for use as a courthouse, town hall and temporary church. By the fall of 1838, Far West was the hub of community activity extending throughout Caldwell- encompassing nearly 2,000 farms comprised of approximately 250,000 acres purchased from the Federal Government.

In October 1838 a Missouri army surrounded Far West. At the end of three days, the Prophet Joseph Smith and other Church leaders agreed to meet with militia leaders outside the city. However, instead of conducting talks, the militia leaders arrested and sentenced Joseph and the others to death by a firing squad. Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan refused the order, stating that it was illegal. Although their lives were saved at this time, Joseph and the other leaders were unjustly incarcerated for five months, suffering horrible conditions.

While the Church leaders were in jail, mobs continued to harass the Saints, eventually driving them out of the state despite an early winter. Church leaders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and John Taylor led 5,000 suffering Saints across Missouri into Illinois.

There were good times at Far West as well. While there, Joseph Smith received divine communications, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 115, that revealed that the Church's name should be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also revealed was the system for tithing Church members and the instruction that a temple should be built at Far West.

from far west it was on to liberty jail. a visitors center has been built around the jail, and the theme for the day - solitude- continued...at least initially. the missionaries gave an an overview of the history, at which point, we were joined by a road-tripping couple on their way home.

after the introduction, we were taken in to the main room, where the foundations of the jail and the recreated upper and lower rooms are. joseph smith was held in this jail for five months before being allowed to escape:

Incarcerated in Liberty Jail with Joseph Smith were other Church leaders: Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. During the winter months in which they were held in the basement jail, they suffered from intense cold and exposure to the elements because of the small slits in the walls that served as windows. The men slept on dirty straw and suffered poisoning attempts and insults. However, Joseph's biggest grievance was not his own condition of imprisonment but the knowledge that the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were suffering untold anguish that he could not prevent.

liberty jail is often referred to as the 'prison-temple', as joseph smith had much time for meditation, reflection, and prayer. this ultimately resulted in sections 121 & 122 of the d&c. you can most definitely still feel a spirit in this place. and it was enhanced by the sister missionary's closing on her presentation, in which, she sang the hymn 'abide with me' in a clear and beautiful voice. it was a perfect example of how music can magnify the spirit. and a perfect finish to the day.

a couple days later, i hit the last stop on the church history tour, independence, mo. currently, there is no temple in independence, though the site was dedicated in 1831 by joseph smith. there is, however, a visitor center where you can learn more about the history of the churh in the area and that of the temple site itself. the visitors center currently has an exhibit on display called 'reflections of christ'. there are some powerful an interesting pieces on display. this was one of my favorites:

we so often see christ portrayed seriously and i love the expression on his face here. i didn't know the title of the piece at the time, but was struck by the joy and love evident on his face. the photograph, fittingly enough, is titled 'joy.'

there were a few other highlights as well, one of the 10 virgins, one of jesus walking on water. all in all, a truly beautiful, truly inspirational exhibit.

i grew up visiting places like palmyra and nauvoo - heck, that's what we did for youth conferences! maybe as a result of having such easy access to those places, i hadn't previously given much thought to visiting others. with my close proximity though, i couldn't miss these missouri sites, and there is something about just being there and seeing it firsthand. all those sunday school lessons and scriptures and stories take on a whole new light when you are standing in those holy places.

more pics here