Kirtland

I'm blogging on a Saturday night... I feel pretty lame. But, to redeem myself, I am waiting for a friend to pick me up, so I decided to post a couple pictures from last weekend's trip to Kirtland, Ohio*.

Lisa's old friend is serving her mission in Kirtland, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visitors center and will be going home next month. We wanted to go before she goes home and have her give us a tour of the Historic Kirtland visitors center, and since it was a long weekend we decided it was the perfect opportunity. (The weather was surprisingly nice, no snow until the drive home day.)

Here are a couple of the highlights. Pictures by Rebecca Reed, my awesome and talented, photographing roommate.

In front of the Whitney store. The Smiths lived here in the upper floor. The store was a meeting place for people in town and a place to do all their shopping. 80% of the house was original I guess technically Rebecca didn't take this picture since she's in it. But we'll still give credit since the picture was from her. And, I have HUGE hair! Wow. I should move south...

School of the Prophets. We sat and listened to the sister missionaries tell us how they begin their missions in this room, dedicating their service to God. It was really neat to be in there and think of the great things experienced there by early church leaders.

The Temple. I was so impressed by the dedication of the people and their hard work. It's a lot bigger than it looks. The second story is just as big as the first and the ceilings were high. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed inside, it's still a sacred place, but the wood carvings and attention to detail were beautiful and humble.

The visitor's plaque by the temple read: "Kirtland Temple symbolizes the empowerment that comes from spiritual preparation and dedicated stewardship while inspiring continuing efforts to build up the communities in which we live."

We all liked the quote and liked how the early saints lived their beliefs every day and sacrificed so much for God. We came back wanting to continue in that vein and have that same empowerment, knowing who we are and what we stand for and following what we believe.

Needless to explain, the weekend was fabulous. We also hit up Pittsburgh, ate tasty food, visited the Andy Warhol museum, perused the local mall and an awesome gigantic grocery store, saw True Grit, slept for 13 hours in one night, and made a synchronized car dance to Justin Bieber. It was a great and a most needed road trip.

* If you aren't Mormon, Kirtland is a small town in Northern Ohio, close to Lake Erie, where many church members gathered before moving west to Missouri, Illinois and eventually Utah. Moves were necessary since the Mormons were forced out of town by angry and antagonistic members of the community. Kirtland is one place they had expected to stay for a long time, and because of that they built a temple for worship, instruction and for their community.