Ward Trip To Kirtland

My ward went to Kirtland, OH last weekend. I have to admit, the thought of sitting on a bus for 15 hours over the course of 2 days didn't sound all that appealing to me. But, I'm so glad I went. We had a lot of fun (and a lot of funny stories that aren't appropriate to share on the internet) and saw and experienced some amazing things.

We left early on Friday morning, and drove about 7 hours (including breaks) to Kirtland. Luckily for us, the bus was fully equipped with nice televisions, so we were able to watch movies like "The Sandlot" the whole time. Can't complain too much about that!

Our first stop was the John Johnson farm ... we split into groups and toured the home there. This is in the "translation room" where Joseph Smith finished translating the Bible, and received the revelation in the 76th Section of the Doctrine & Covenants (among others):Here's my roommate Lisa and I standing on the porch where Joseph Smith preached:We had a BBQ with the single's ward there on Friday night, and then a bunch of us walked across the street from our hotel to the bowling alley for a little cosmic bowling.

Saturday EARLY we got up and went to the Kirtland temple ... The Community of Christ owns the temple now, and they let LDS groups rent it out for church, which is exactly what we did - for a nice Sacrament Meeting (testimony meeting), followed by a tour.We spent some time on the temple grounds, walking around, etc., Then we headed over to the Church-restored downtown Historic Kirtland (just a couple blocks down the road). We toured the buildings there with the LDS missionaries, and had a great time. From there, we went to the Isaac Morley farm for one last tour, lunch, and the last bit of socializing with "the other bus" before we headed back to Virginia. We crammed a lot into those few hours in Kirtland! Its out of character for me, but I didn't really take a lot of pictures on this trip. That doesn't mean it wasn't an awesome experience though. For those of you who haven't ever been, GO to Kirtland! It is an incredible place where so much of Church history happened, and there is no denying the spirit that is still there. What a great way to spend a weekend.