Kirtland with Noah

We timed our visit to Cincinnati so I could drive the kids up to Kirtland, Ohio for their Stake Youth Conference. While they spent three days touring church historical sights with our stake youth group, Noah and I did our own touring. After dropping Xander and Savannah off, our first stop was the Kirtland Temple.

We spent some time in the graveyard and found the final resting place of some of the early saints.

It was so amazing walking around this beautiful temple and thinking about the amazing things that had happened it. One thing I did notice, however, was the absence of a strong spirit inside the temple. Unfortunately the temple had been used as many other things once the saints left Kirtland, including a housing place for animals, and the spirit that once must have resided here is gone.  Still, it was wonderful to be there.

Next we headed to the church-owned Historic Kirtland Visitors Center.

On the tour we visited the Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney home, where Joseph and Emma lived for a time, as well as the Newel K. Whitney store. While we were walking around the sister missionaries mentioned that a building across from the store had once been an ice cream store and a memory popped immediately into my head of my family visiting Kirtland way back when I was in college.  After touring the store I remembered that we had gotten ice cream, a memory that I had completely forgotten until she mentioned it!

The room where they held the School of the Prophets.

A little museum they had on sight that housed a bunch of original books and documents.

The last part of the tour included the saw mill and the ashery.

We had such a fun first afternoon/evening! Once back at the hotel we headed down to the pool for a bit before bed.