Church History Trip, Summer 2025

 

Amanda returned from Costa Rica on June 14, 2025.  It was a wonderful day for us and we were thrilled with all she accomplished and thrilled to have her near again.  We planned a church history trip to the Eastern United States to visit sites of importance to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the same Christ-centered church Amanda had just spent 18 months sharing so far from home.  

Here are photos commemorating that amazing trip, in approximate order.

June 30, Palmyra, New York

From the road to the Sacred Grove, you can see the Palmyra New York temple, where families can be sealed for eternity through the restoration of priesthood authority.  

A replica of the plates wrapped in cloth demonstrate how heavy the original plates would have been.

At one point, the plates were hidden below the bricks of the hearth to keep them safe from locals who tried repeatedly to take the plates.  Even if they didn't believe in Joseph's vision, they believed he had something precious worth stealing!

The Sacred Grove, where Joseph Smith prayed to God and received a miraculous answer that God knew and loved him, that Jesus Christ was a real personage, that his sins were forgiven, and that future messages about Christ's true church would be given to him in time.

From the Palmyra, New York temple, you can see a view down to the Sacred Grove, where the story of the Latter-day Saints began.

We wished Carrie a very happy birthday from afar.  She was hosting Lisa and Burton on a hike to Mount Rainier.

Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Joseph and Emma Smith mourned the loss of their first child.  Also a place of translation, revelation, and restoration of the Priesthood.

John Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio.  Site of revelations but also persecution, such as the tarring and feathering of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.  

Elsa Johnson had good taste in home furnishings and design choices!

We headed to the "End of the Commons" for some famous sandwiches.  Little did we know it was the weekend of the annual ox roast festival!  Amish residents mingled with "English" visitors in this community gathering.

Kirtland, Ohio.  The first temple built by the Latter-day Saints still stands here, recently purchased by the church from the Community of Christ.

Examples of fine construction despite lack of modern tools.  

Inner glimpse of the construction and also modern additions like air conditioning ducts.

Liberty Jail, a place of painfully cramped confinement, inhumane living conditions, and also tender correspondence and revelation.

Independence, Missouri Visitor's Center

Community of Christ headquarters

Far West, Missouri, where saints once settled in large numbers, established a hoped-for temple site, then were violently driven out.

We ran into a former Jerusalem Center Student, T.C. Corless.

Long day of driving, but we had beautiful skies to keep us going!

We arrived in Nauvoo in time for sunset and a walk down to the Mississippi River.  As we walked, we heard vignettes from interpretive storytellers recounting the sadness and courage of learly Latter-day Saints as they were driven out of Nauvoo.  

Frank's Dart ancestors were listed on a memorial to those who died while crossing the plains.

Full day of enjoying Nauvoo!

John Taylor's house

The Mansion House, Smith Family Homestead, and Red Brick Store changed hands in March 2025, but the Smith family gravesite is still owned by the Community of Christ.  

The Mansion House

Smith Family Homestead

The Red Brick Store

Activities at the park before the Nauvoo Pageant

Carthage Jail

Frontier era crafts and activities - candle dipping

Amanda ran into friends she knew from Costa Rica!  Such a highlight!

Enjoyed seeing Marcie and Jason's family!

Model of a contraption to hold an ox while you reshoe it.  Like Big O.  But for oxen.

Nauvoo temple!  

On the last day, we squeezed in a trip to Hannibal, Missouri.

Sorry this is long on pictures and short on explanations.  It was a wonderful week and brought us closer to each other as we travelled together, and the beautiful stories and explanations along the way would take a long time to adequately share.  So plan your own trip!

Reunited!

 Four days ago, after nearly 3 months apart, I was reunited with my eternal companion, and it has been very sweet!  

Frank has been in the Holy Land since August with the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (locally know as "Mormon University" or BYU Study Abroad).  He is currently filling the role as the Near Eastern Studies instructor who teaches history and geography as well as orienting the students for what they will see on each field trip.  He is enjoying this role and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the extensive preparation involved in teaching a new class.  

Meanwhile, I have been student teaching in a first grade classroom in Saratoga Springs, Utah.  This has been the capstone experience for my masters degree in elementary education through Western Governors University, an online program accredited in Utah.  This has been a great experience and  added elementary certification to my original secondary license.  It has also given me a lot of confidence in teaching my own classroom n the future.  I have a lot of experience with small group literacy instruction, but whole class teaching has always felt out of reach before.  Back in January, after much thought and prayer, we committed to the student teaching experience, all the while knowing that the opportunity of serving at the Jerusalem Center could also be a possibility if several miracles happened to stabilize the political crisis here.  

So looking back on this tough separation, I am grateful that we were able to talk almost every day despite the distance and 9 hour time difference.  My very long 30 minute commute to work proved to be an excellent time to catch up with Frank during my morning hours and his afternoon hours.  I am grateful to have spend a few more months with my kids in college and beyond.  I was able to visit my daughter in Tacoma right after Halloween, and we celebrated "Thanksmas" with all the others last week.  Thanksmas has become a tradition for any time we know we'll be apart for those huge, family centered holidays.  This time we ate the traditional turkey dinner with all our favorite sides, wore plaids and flannels, listened to Christmas carols, and put a crackling fire video on the tv.   The evening ended with folded paper games and opening stockings.