Mark and I woke up early and were able to go to do a sealing session in the Nauvoo temple. What an amazing experience that was! It was just so neat to be able to be inside the rebuilt temple and feel of our Heavenly Father and Savior’s spirit. We were able to help some of the senior missionaries do some family names while we were there. It is always so nice to do sealings because we are reminded of the covenants we made to each other and our Father. It puts things back into perspective and helps us stay close to one another.
After the sealings, we had the opportunity to sit in the Celestial Room. It was so peaceful and beautiful. Everything that I picture heaven to be. We then had the opportunity to go to the baptistry and see the font. It is the largest temple font today and sits in the same location as the original font. The oxen are all hand carved and we were told that the oxen’s feet are buried and can not be seen because it symbolizes the heavy load the early saints had to bear. We also were able to see the spiral stair case which was in itself stunning! Before leaving the temple, we saw some artifacts. We saw Joseph Smith’s saber, an orginal painting of Hyrum and his wife, Mary, temple clothing, and original temple keys. It was so neat to be able to see all those things and to just go to the temple together. It was a great way to start our day in Nauvoo!
We got back to the cabin and got things cleaned and packed up. We went to the visitor center and were going to go on a carriage ride but it was just a bit too chilly for all the kids. We got to pet the horses and then decided to see the Joseph Smith Historical sites. We were able to see the Mansion House, the Smith family cemetery where Joseph and Hyrum Smith are buried, and the Red Brick Store. These sites are not owned by our church and we could definitly tell there was a different feeling when in these buildings. It was almost tangible. The Spirit was not there. It was neat to see his home and store and where he and his family lived while in Nauvoo.
We were able to go down to the river bank and touch the Mississippi River. We stood at the same location as the early saints did when they began their journey to the west. It was incredible to see the river and know that they crossed the frozen ice and left behind their precious city and temple to journey to a new place out West. What amazing courage and faith they had in the Lord and of His plan for them!
After seeing the river, we met up with Mark’s cousin for lunch. We had fun talking and eating some pizza before heading out to see the rest of Nauvoo. We went into the blacksmith shop and learned about how they made things and watched someone make a horse shoe. We even got to have a horse shoe nail ring and a mini horse shoe. The kids loved their rings! We then went to the Brickyard and learned about how they made bricks. What we all realized is that these early saints knew how to work and worked hard for everything that they had. We have a luxury of having things very accessible and I feel like we have lost the value of hard work. We were able to get a brick to take home as a souvenir.
We then walked over and took a tour through Lucy Mack Smith’s house. It was neat to see how they lived. The homes are so small and it made me realize how little we can live off of! We then made our way to the print shop and learned how they printed things. Again, it took A LOT of work to just print a newspaper! We then headed to the Scoville Bakery where the we got to sample a cookie and learn about how they baked back then. The kids loved getting a cookie. They had been asking to get one all day long! We toured John Taylor’s home and was told a story about him going back and getting a wooden horse for his son because he was so sad that it hadn’t made it in wagon to go West. It was a cute story about how he was a great dad. Our last stop was at Brigham Young’s house. We were able to see some original china that was excavated and restored. The kids had their fill of going into old homes so we didn’t stay too long in the house.
We were able to see all that we wanted to. It was such a great day spent visiting all of the amazing sites and seeing how the saints lived back in the 1800’s. It really made everything more real for us and put places to names that we have learned about in church. This has been a great testimony strengthening experience for all of us! The church is TRUE!
Things close down at 5 pm so we grabbed some dinner and started our 3 hour drive back to Alton. We are so glad that we were able to go and visit Nauvoo on our little vacation.
