Day 31-Independence Missouri AreaJul 24, 2011
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| Since today is the Sabbath, of course, we went to Church. But, we expanded the walls of the Church a bit. First, we went to the Independence 1st Ward Sacrament Meeting here in Independence. Then we went over to the LDS Independence Visitor's Center. It turns out that in Independence it is right next door to the Stake Center where we went to Church. This is a beautiful Visitor's Center. Of course, it has lots of interesting information on the history of the members of the Church in this area during the early days of the Church. Here, as in other areas in which the Church had been established, the local people berepcame afraid of what these early members represented and how that might affect their lives. That fear turned into hatred and violence and resulted in the members of the Church being driven out of Jackson County. The visitor's center uses modern technology to show what life was like in the log cabin days of their lives here in Jackson County during the peaceful early days in this area up and to their departure. From Jackson County, the Saints went to Clay County where they were welcomed as refugees. Unfortunately, as their numbers increased, their welcome wore out and they were asked to leave...then forced to leave. At the Liberty Jail Visitor's Center in Liberty, Missouri, the history of the Saints in this area continues. In particular, the Liberty Jail Center tells the story of the 4-1/2 months that the Prophet Joseph, his brother and others were held in a dungeon type of a cell. They have the actual jail reconstructed there in a cut-away form. Its hard to imagine that people would treat others in that manner...particularly when the charges were trumped up and the arrests were not legally done. Eventually, during a transfer to a different jail, they were allowed to escape by a Sheriff who recognized that the arrests were a sham and that they should not be held. From Liberty we went to Far West which was the next destination for the Saints as they were driven out of Liberty. All that remains of their residency there is the temple lot. While they were there, the Prophet Joseph laid out and dedicated the site for a future temple. They laid the four cornerstones of the temple before they were again driven out. The four cornerstones are there but are all that remains of their time in Far West. From Far West we went up to Adam-ondi-Ahman. A small community was established there but they were only there for about six months before having to leave again...this time they were bound for what became Nauvoo. The Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman has been prophesied as the future gathering place of the Saints during the final preparations for the second coming of the Savior. There is nothing there now but some viewing areas and signs identifying the location and its importance to the Saints. We then headed back to Independence to eat and hopefully have a video Skype session with some of our grandchldren (and, their parents ;-) ). We had lasagne and veggies for dinner and then waited for our Skype call to come through. There were some technical problems on the other end but eventually they were mostly solved. We got to watch Kaila, Glenn and Addie driving their mother, Sarah nuts. ;-) But, it was really fun to see them and let them see us and be reminded of who we are. We've been gone a month and won't be home for two to three more weeks. We couldn't get any sound from their direction but solved that by placing a cellphone call and paralleling that with the Skype call. We had a great time and it was really good to see them. We were amazed at the progress of Addie. She was just getting ready to crawl when we left. Now she is crawling all over, as well as pulling herself up on furniture. She'll probably be driving by the time we get home. ;-) Well, maybe not. Weather wasn't as miserably hot and humid today. There are thunderstorm alerts and watches to the west of us, in Kansas, but hopefully they will stay away from us. tomorrow will probably be spent mostly around here. We want to see some of the historical sites of this area including those related to President Harry Truman. We are very close to Independence Square here and will be visiting some of the historical buildings of the area. See you tomorrow. |
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