Kirtland, Ohio

We also stopped off in Kirtland on our journey home. I had never been to Kirtland before, and it's a neat place to visit. I don't think I truely realized how many revelations, doctrines, and explanations were received during the Kirtland time period. Nor did I understand the persecution and sacrifices the early saints made. Since we have the luxury of living 3 1/2 hours way from Nauvoo, Bruce and I get to visit historic Nauvoo quite often. However, knowing the events in Kirtland bring new insight on the happenings in Nauvoo.
I always wondered why the Community of Christ church owned the Kirtland temple and why our church wasn't using it like our temples today. It wasn't until I was there and noticed that it wasn't built for the same purpose temples are built today. It was built as a place of worship - like a meeting house in which doctrines of the gospel were received and studied. The Kirtland temple has been through various owners and gone through many uses - like a barn; yet what once took place there was absolutely remarkable. Walking through the building, it was hard to believe that Christ and other angels appeared there, but I do know that it actually happened.
I really liked watching the video that told the Kirtland story from the perspective of the Whitney's. It gives you that everyday member perspective and the personal sacrifices the Whitney family made in order to establish Zion on earth.
Bruce and I were the only two people on our tour, so we got special privileges. We could take as many pictures as we wanted, enter rooms they don't usually show, and stand behind the counter at the Whitney store.

This picture is taken in the upstairs room of the Whitney store also known as the school of the prophets. It was in this room that the word of wisdom revelation was received. The brethren were studying Hebrew and other gospel doctrines. According to time period customs, the men often drank, smoked, and chewed tobacco during these learning sessions. Emma got tired of cleaning up the mess and approached Joseph. Joseph approached the Lord thinking this behavior probably wasn't approved by the Lord. After receiving the revelation, Joseph had the burden of telling his good friends and trusted colleagues that they were sinning and doing wrong. I would have been a little nervous to chastise my friends. However, after Joseph told the brethren, many of them got up and threw their pipe into this fireplace, vowing that they would follow the commandments of the Lord. I wondered if I am so willing to just cast my sins into the fire upon word from the prophet, or do I try to hold onto things.
This is a picture of the kitchen Emma shared in order to take care of her family. I know how nice it is for me to have a kitchen of my own that I can cook or entertain guests. This was something that Emma never really had. She always shared with someone else and always gave willingly of the few possessions she had to call her own.

We visited the saw mill and ashery where they make lye soap. Left over ashes from their cooking fires could be used to make soap which isn't worth a lot. Ash can be refined to make pot ash. Pot Ash can be refined even more through high levels of heat and trail to make something remarkable that is worth much more than a pile of ashes. In a way, we can compare ourselves to ash. We can settle to be made into soap through a small process. Or we can undergo large amounts of heat and be pushed through the refiners fire to be made into something remarkable. I know that I would rather become something valuable.

Perhaps what struck me the most was the fact that the successful Whitney family were willing to pack up their profitable store that they had worked so hard to build up, and move to Missouri with the saints. They left family members and other friends behind to do what the Lord wanted them to do. They did it again when they were driven out of Missouri, and again when they were driven out of Nauvoo. Those early saints truely passed through the refiners fire to become something of much greater value than just ash. I wonder if I would do the same. The Prophet Joseph Smith said a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things does not produce the faith sufficient enough to bring salvation. Now we know what the Lord expects of us.