Kirtland, Ohio

Our first stop as we traversed the country was in Kirtland, Ohio (I always want to write Kirkland - dang you Costco!) where the Saints (which I use as a short form of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for those unfamiliar with the term) first gathered and built our first Temple in the Latter-days.

We started out at the visitor's center, where we watched a short film that portrayed the gathering of the Saints to Kirtland, the building of a temple, and then their persecution prior to their exodus to Missouri. Seeing what the Saints sacrificed to build a temple at that time was very touching and reminded me of the sacrifices we are sometimes asked to make to follow the gospel.

Liam practicing his sitting skills on the vistors' center sign.

From the visitor's center we toured the Newel K Whitney store, where the Bishop of Kirtland provided for the needy, temporary residence of the Prophet Joseph, and home to several Church History milestones including the location for the school of the Prophets.

Sara and Liam in front of the Newel K Whitney store.

Bishop Whitney kept very detailed records of every purchase made at the store and the church has transferred the manuscript records into a typed-up ledger to allow you to search for your ancestor's purchases. Above is a page from that ledger, showing several purchases of Sara's ancestor and one of the architects of the Kirtland temple, Artemas Millet's. There were several pages recording his purchases for himself and others.

Will and Liam in the parlor on the second floor of the Newel K Whitney store. The table in the picture is from the actual store and was used for drawing plans for the Kirtland temple.

After viewing the store we cut our site tour short to head over to a scheduled tour of the Kirtland Temple put on by the Community of Christ church (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We watched a quick documentary about the building of the temple and the Community of Christ church before going into the temple, which is a National Historic Site by the way. Pictures weren't allowed inside the building, but it was great to behold such a significant building in the history of the church.

Liam fell asleep while we were touring inside, so here's a picture of the temple without us.