Day 8: Sacred Grove, Smith Homes, Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, EB Grandin Building, Laundry!

Today was a packed day, but not really because we had a lot of free time to spare at the end of the day. We started by all traveling to the Hill Cumorah to see the Angel Moroni Statue and hear some history about it.

Apparently Joseph found the plates in the Upper Western part of the hill, but we still don't know where exactly. Everything was cleaned up to get ready for the pageant coming up soon, and it looked really nice. It was cool to be so close to the Angel Moroni figure, it was awesome.

After we finished up there, we split into three groups (our tour buses) to visit the various sites in and surrounding Palmyra. My group started with the Smith Family farm. The Smith home is very small and short, but the replica they have made stands exactly where the original did, and that is where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph multiple times explaining what to do with the plates.

On the Smith Family Farm is also the home Alvin Smith was building for his future family (as he was engaged) and to share with his parents. He wanted it to be super luxurious for them, and was unable to completely finish it before his death. The Smiths did live there, but were later kicked out due to a misunderstanding, and had to move back to their original home. The cabin that stands there now is actually 80% original from the actual building Alma made and it was so neat to actually walk in the place where the Smiths had done their day to day activities.


Next we were able to go to the EB Granding Printing Offices where the original Book of Mormon was first printed, covered, and published. It was cool to see the things they had to do and realize how incredibly fast they put everything together and printed all of the pages off. They finished 5000 Books of Mormon in 7 months, working 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. It really was a miracle.


When we finished up there, we were able to visit the Sacred Grove for an hour. This time I just thought about what had happened there while I recited the Scripture Mastery of JS-H 1:15-20.

The thing that hit me the hardest today is that in that exact same calm, peaceful, sacred place, the Devil nearly stopped at nothing using is incredible power to try to stop Joseph from completing his prayer to ask God for wisdom where he lacked. But the thing is, it didn't work! The Devil can work so hard on us, but if we remain righteous and focused on the Lord's Plan, theres nothing we can't withstand (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The Sacred Grove is such a special place, I love it there. When you exit the grove, theres a clearing in the trees between the Grove and the Temple where the Temple overlooks the Grove, and it still gives me the coolest feeling just thinking about it.

After the Sacred Grove we were able to have some lunch and get some laundry done, finally, and thankfully. I spend the rest of my evening writing postcards, chatting with the Arizonians, and repacking all of my fresh, clean clothes. Tomorrow we have Sacrament Meeting early at 7am and we'll be heading out for Gettysburg at 9am, so I had better get some sleep. I'll try to add pictures tomorrow! Thanks for your patience!