Oh How Lovely Was the Weekend

 

The opening line of the hymn Joseph Smith’s First Prayer begins with “oh how lovely was the morning,” and then details the setting in which Joseph Smith’s first vision took place where he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ who ushered in the restoration of Christ’s New Testament church and the dispensation of the fullness of times. In keeping with this event and this line I want to share about the weekend we spent roadtripping to upstate New York where we saw several church history sites and explored some areas where Keile served her mission.

A few weeks ago Amanda texted all the girls and asked if we would be interested in finding an Airbnb and going to see church history sites in New York. None of us except for Keile had ever been to any of the sites so we were excited to make a weekend trip out of it and do some more exploring out here. Amanda was the event planner and found us a cute little Airbnb in a little town called Canandaigua. So on Friday as soon as Tanner got out of his late class they came and picked us up and we made the trek out there. Unfortunately the boys found out after we booked the stay they had a stats test the Monday after we were supposed to come home so they spent the car ride studying together. Well at least until they started quoting Anchorman and that successfully ended their study session. We arrived at the Airbnb and got settled in and hung out and chatted with everyone until well after midnight. As soon as we walked in the door there one of the couples (not going to spill names yet because I’m not sure who they’ve told) told us they are pregnant so we found out the Carnegie Crew is expanding and getting a new member next May!!! Needless to say that gave us plenty to talk about! We’re so excited to have a newborn to snuggle especially since we’re so far away from baby Wesley and baby Hayes and miss them so much!

 

 

 

 

The next morning we slept in and had a lazy morning consisting of another study session for the boys and the girls hanging out until everyone was up and ready to try a local breakfast diner. Patty’s Place was one of those awesome gut bomb breakfast places (my house special cinnamon bun waffles didn’t disappoint). Our waitress Sandy was the cutest and spunkiest lady who gave us all kinds of local recommendations and was shocked when she learned we were all under thirty and married. When Jaden said it was because we were LDS she laughed and said “Oh, wait, really?” She told us she was the wife of the local Mosiac Fellowship Church pastor and told us about her necklace which had her name written in Hebrew that her husband brought her back from one of his trips to the Holy lands. She was so great, and said it all made sense why none of us ordered coffees but she was still going to make fun of Jaden and Taylor for ordering apple juices like six year olds. After we rolled ourselves out of there we walked down Main Street and checked out a shop she recommended called “Goody Two Shoppe” I bought Jade a shirt that said Canondaigua on it because we probably heard him say it over 75 times after he found out that’s the name of the town we were staying in. It is a pretty unique name I’ll give him that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we went back to the house and grabbed our beach bags for the day and drove a half hour to a rural apple orchard shop called the Apple Shed that Keile went to when she was a missionary. She said their apple cider slushees and doughnuts were to die for and she wasn’t lying. They were awesome. It was so fun seeing orchards and orchards of apples as we drove (instead of corn;). We drove another half hour to the Sodus Lighthouse on Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is actually one of the smaller lakes of the Great Lakes but we come from a place where you can see the opposite side of the lake at all times so this lake felt like we were staring out at the ocean. The lighthouse was great and the weather was even better, it was cool enough for sweaters but not cold or windy enough for coats so we were able to enjoy the pre-fall weather and play games on the beach for a few hours before going to the local Captain Jack’s tavern for dinner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water was too cold to swim in so we waded a little bit but mainly hung out talking, munching on the most delicious honeycrisp apples and playing Spikeball.

Fortunately Jaden was able to stream the Utah game from his phone so he was able to tune in and watch that. I’m the worst fan and only watched the fourth quarter with him. I’m finding I don’t always have the energy to suffer through watching the first few hours of the game so I just come in at the end and watch it with him and gear up to either console him or celebrate with him. Luckily this was a celebration night so he wasn’t grumpy the rest of the night and was able to enjoy hanging out with the crew and experience the magic of Captain Jacks. It was probably more of an experience than anything, we all agreed it wasn’t the best meal we’d ever had but it was fun to go while we were there. The thing they’re most famous for is on your birthday they’ll give a free wing for each year of your life so Keile said she met people who went and got 80 free wings at Captain Jacks on their 80th birthday. That’s about 79 wings too many for me but definitely a memorable marketing technique. After Captain Jacks we drove back to the Airbnb and spent the rest of the night playing board games laughing and talking well after midnight, round two.

 

 

 

Sunday morning we got up and made breakfast and Keile and Taylor drove out to go to church and see some people from her mission. We all hung back and got ready for the day, cleaned up the kitchen and had a little morning side devotional and watched the Restoration Proclamation video from President Nelson. We also watched a video of President Hinckley speaking from the Sacred Grove and one of the things that struck me that he said was that Joseph had an “uncluttered and receptive mind” as he knelt and prayed. I thought about that a lot as we went through the rest of the day.

As soon as Taylor and Keile got back we loaded our cars and locked up the Airbnb and headed out to Palmyra to see the Book of Mormon Printing Press site. The cute sister missionary there gave us a tour and walked us through the start to finish process of printing the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon.

She told us so many insightful facts and stories that really touched my heart and made me so grateful for the sacrifices of so many to bring forth out of the dust the companion scripture to the Bible, book that has changed my life and brought me even closer to Christ: The Book of Mormon. One of my favorite things the sister talked to about was about Martin Harris. Those of us who remember him from church history remember that he was the one who asked Joseph for a portion of the translated manuscript that he could show his wife in hopes that it would convince her that his belief in Joseph’s vision and the restoration work that was taking place really was true. After obtaining the manuscript we know he lost the 116 pages and was severely rebuked by the Lord. But what we don’t always focus on is the fact that he mortgaged his farm to come up with the $3000 it took to print the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately during the initial distribution of the Book of Mormon the price per book (they had to sell them then because the church was only in the beginning stages of restoration and tithes and offerings hadn’t been put in place so there weren’t enough members to contribute to donations to allow the books to be given away for free like they are nowadays) was $1.75 which is equivalent to $119 in today’s money. Low demand due to price caused the price to be lowered to $1.25 which is the equivalent to $80 today. This helped more people be interested in purchasing and reading the book but also meant that the books were not profitable and so the money Martin donated was lost. His wife also divorced him so you could say that he lost everything. But he never regretted it and never denied his personal witness of the Book of Mormon. The sister missionary relating this talked about how we should remember the good Martin contributed and how much he sacrificed even though he made grave mistakes.

Martin repented and was forgiven, he continued to be instrumental in the continued restoration and was eventually permitted to be one of the three witnesses who saw the gold plates for themselves. This cute sister then posed this question: Do you want to be remembered for your mistakes or the good that you did and sacrifices you made for good? She then asked us to try to think of the good Martin Harris did the next time we hear his name rather than his mistakes. I loved that! I think this principle goes far beyond Martin Harris. I’m sure we can all think of people in our lives and in society that we immediately peg with mistakes when we hear their name rather than the good they have done and do. I want to be better at focusing on the good people do rather than the mistakes they have made. We are all children of God and He is the only one with perfect omniscience that can be the perfect judge.

 

 

 

  

 
After the printing press we went to the Joseph Smith family farm and toured around the farm Joseph grew up on. We could not believe that eleven people lived in their small log home. It really made us think about the basics for survival; food, water and shelter and how simple life was. It consisted of hard work out on the farm and taking care of a family in the home. Imagining where Joseph grew up was very awe inspiring. I was especially touched as I saw the family Bible sitting on the main kitchen table open to James 1:5. Thinking about them all gathered around the table listening to Father Smith read and discussing verses together made me smile. I loved the line in the visitors center that Lucy Mack Smith said “the sweetest union and happiness pervaded our family.” That’s the ultimate goal right?  I think of my own home I grew up in and smile as well, we certainly weren’t perfect but we also read scriptures together and discussed spiritual perspectives frequently. There is a sweet union and happiness in both the family I was raised in and the family I married into. I hope and pray that there will be the same for our future family. 

 

 

From there we toured a barn and the Smith family’s second and larger home they lived in after the death of their oldest son Alvin. I learned he was the one that began building the home before he got apendicitis that unfortunately was fatal. We walked through each room and heard stories of the mobs that regularly attacked the home looking for the gold plates. We saw the brick fire place Joseph hid the plates under during one of these attacks. We saw Mother Smith’s oil printed rugs she made and sold to the local townspeople and the kitchen where they made meals and gathered together.

 

 

 As we walked out of the home the cute little senior missionary said the next stop was the sacred grove and that we were to walk down the rest of a little lane and enter the woods on our own. We divided up as couples and each went and found our own benches that are scattered throughout the forest where we could ponder the sacred events that took place there.

 

 

 

 

It was there that the young boy with an “uncluttered and receptive mind” (as President Hinckley said) knelt down and offered up the desires of his heart: to know which of all churches were true. It was there that he encountered unspeakable darkness only to be dispelled by remarkable light. In the middle of that light stood two personages whose brightness and glory defied all description. One of them spoke to him and said “Joseph, this is my beloved Son, Hear Him!”

And that changed the trajectory of that boy’s life. He was called to he the prophet of the restoration of Christ’s New Testament church. He was called to lead, guide, restore and inspire. He was called to change the course of our lives. Was he perfect? In no way! But one of my favorite quotes from Jeffrey R. Holland addresses that best,

“Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work.”

Perhaps that’s one of the most beautiful parts of Joseph’s story, that despite his imperfections God was able to use him to fulfill an incredible purpose, to do an incredible work. Rather than critiquing Jospeh for his mistakes though there may be many and a quick Google search will tell you that there are, I would ask the same question that the sister  missionary at The Book of Mormon publication site posed, “Do you want to be remembered for your mistakes or the good that you did and sacrifices you made for good?”

I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, not because he was perfect, but because he was a boy with an “uncluttered and receptive mind” that had the faith to pray and the willingness to act and do whatever the Lord asked of him no matter the cost, even his very life.

I choose to remember him and revere him for the good that he did and the sacrifices he made for good. The work he accomplished forever changed the lives of family that came before me and has forever changed me.

There are those who might suggest that we worship Joseph Smith. I can see how that critique might be made but I also know it is false. I revere Joseph Smith because he helped bring me closer to my Savior Jesus Christ who I worship. Because of the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I have an understanding of who I am as a daughter of God. I know why I’m here on this earth and I know who I can become. I know that despite my own imperfections and stumblings I can be forgiven and found worthy. And when the day comes that I too stand before my Heavenly Father alongside His Son Jesus Christ it will be because of the covenants that were restored and authorized by priesthood power that I will be able to stand before them with confidence, perspective, gratitude and immense joy. The covenants—promises made with God—were made available because of a boy in those woods who knelt down and spoke with God.

I know God hears us and He knows our needs. He knows our divine potential and our mistakes and weakness. He can make us into something more than we could ever imagine, as we approach him with uncluttered and receptive minds I know He can enlighten and change us to be more like His Son. Our perfect example.

We rounded out our tour at the Hill Cumorah where the gold plates were buried. The ancient record that contained the words we now know as the Book of Mormon. As we walked into the visitors center and saw the image of the Christus Statue I was reminded that “this is what it’s all about.” Christ is what it’s all about, everything Joseph did was to bring us closer to
Christ, the Book of Mormon brings us closer to Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints brings us closer to Christ. He is the reason, the truth, the light and the way. And he uses imperfect people to be instruments in His hands until the day He returns in power and glory to rule and reign over the earth once more. How grateful I am for Him and for His servants the prophets. 

 

I can’t wait for this next week when we get to hear from our current prophet President Russell M. Nelson and the apostles and other church leaders. I can’t think of a better way to kick off my preparation for conference than by remembering the sacrifices that were made and good that was done to make my current life and perspective a reality.

I hope we can all seek the God of love as Joseph did and know we’ll find answers to our prayers and more goodness and joy than we can even imagine.

Peaches

• Got to talk to Bridger one on one with Jaden
• So proud of Jaden for wearing his helmet when he rides his bike even though he doesn’t want to. Roads are scary out here!
• Got a postcard from Aunt Steph
• Mom sent me a year subscription to Magnolia Journal and the cutest General conference journal ever!!!
• Trip to the sites
• Coloring and writing letters on coloring pages for nieces and nephews
• Surprise half day off on Friday
• Getting caught up on chores before we left
• Seeing a video of Hunter playing at my mom’s house while Brock was working on their sprinklers and thinking about what a good grandma she’ll be one day  
• Driving in the car with Amanda and Tanner
• Meeting Sandy at Patty’s Place
• Apple cider doughnuts and slushees
• Lighthouse and seeing Lake Ontario
• Laughing our guts out with the Carnegie Crew
• Playing games
• Texting back and forth with a cute girl from my ward growing up that just got back from her mission
• Morning devotional
• Feeling the spirit throughout the day
• Seeing a family with two little boys with down syndrome right by the spot where you can see the Palmyra temple through the trees and thinking of sweet baby Hayes
• Hearing news that our friends are pregnant
• Sam and Kennedy back home are going to have their baby next week so we are just in baby heaven!
• Sitting with Jade on a bench in the sacred grove and asking him to recite the first vision like we learned as missionaries
• General Conference is this next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pits

• Frustrating work calls with clients
• Didn’t know it was my boss’ birthday but thank goodness for DoorDash was able to send him an açaí bowl for a birthday breakfast
• I forgot to wear my actual wedding ring so I didn’t have it the entire trip only my silicone rings
• Jaden wasn’t feeling great for the first part of the road trip due to some pad tai I made not sitting well with him. I felt really bad about it
• Coming home and having our apartment smell like beef broth again
• Hearing about Aaron Lowe’s tragic death

 Lessons Learned

• Remember people for the good not the mistakes
• Have an uncluttered and receptive mind
• Strive for a sweet union and happy family
• It's all about Christ