I guess you could say this trip fell onto our lap. We were driving from Vegas to Orem when William started telling me about this Cummorahland trip that he got an email about. He told me about this scholar/journalist named Ryan Fisher who had a ton of videos on YouTube and his own show on a Utah channel. Apparently this guy did a ton of research about the history of the church and the Book of Mormon. So we know that the Book of Mormon stories happened in America, but his research led him to more specific regions, like the Northeast states and the Midwest. Ryan invited Wayne May on this trip. They have both done a ton of research together, actually. Wayne is an archeologist who converted to the church after realizing that his research lined up with a lot of the teachings and history of the church. Together they gave made amazing discoveries.
So anyway, we were calling Lily to tell her we were getting close when William told her about this trip. Up to the point, we'd figured maybe we'd go drop the kids off in Maryland if my parents were okay with it, but then she totally offered to watch the kids! We weren't prepared for this trip, so we ended up having to go home as planned, then fly with the kids to Salt Lake City and stay the night. Then the following day, William and I took a flight to Dallas and Cleveland. 6 days later we took a flight from Syracuse to Chicago and then Salt Lake City. The following day we flew back home with the kids. Phew! That was a lot of time on airplanes in very little time.
I should also mentioned that we were the youngest people in our group of 30 people. There was one couple in their late 40's and everyone else was in their 60s and 70s. And they were all very curious as to what motivated us to come on this trip. There were all so sweet and nice, though. We had some great conversations with them. And we learned a lot from their life experiences. Some of them have had to deal with really hard trials, but they remained strong and their testimonies are strong.
Day 1:
- Kirtland historic tour: We saw the Newel Whitney store, his house, the ash factory and the sawmill. We learned that 2 missionaries were originally just passing through Kirtland, but they ended up staying 2 weeks because so many people were fascinated by the things they were teaching. It's where Sidney Rigdon, a Baptist pastor, was converted. He joined the church, and so did a lot of his congregation, including Newel and Elizabeth Whitney. When Joseph Smith later came to Kirtland, he called Newel and Elizabeth by name, and they welcomed him and Emma into their home. Newel and Elizabeth then moved Joseph and Emma to the upper floor of their store. Many revelations were given there. Many meetings with other men also happened there. Joseph, Emma, and their children moved around a few more times before finally moving into a home of their own, just up the road, close to where the Kirtland Temple ended up being built.
- Kirtland Temple: The Kirtland Temple is owned by the RLDS church, so temple marriages and ordinances aren't performed there. But we could walk around the temple and admire the architecture. It is amazing that people with very little knowledge for architecture and structure were able to build such a strong temple in just about 3 years.
- Indian Point Park: We came to a ginormous wall at a (probably) 60-degree angle, surrounded by water on both sides. The wall was clearly man-made and built for protection from the enemies. We took the stairs and could immediately see the advantage from the top.
Day 2: The Niagara Falls
On the drive to our first stop, we talked about the Saints who weren't righteous and were therefore chased out of the Promised Land, from Kirtland to Missouri, and from Missouri to Utah. They basically left a land where they could grow just about anything to go to the desert where nothing grows.
The same things happened to the Nephites. They lost the Promised Land to their enemies, the Lamanites, who weren't necessarily more righteous, but at least their wickedness came from ignorance.
- Seneca Cultural Center: The Seneca tribe are "the keepers of the western gate", or literally on the west border of New York. The Hill Cummorah is on their land. Many historical records were kept in a cave on the Hill Cummorah; however, they lost the location of that cave, since stories and information were only shared verbally.
There was a speaker at the museum, a Seneca tribe member who is an actual descendant of Wilford Woodruff. So basically his descendants joined the rod of Mannaseh and the rod of Ephraim. He shared a lot of really cool information, but I was especially intrigued by one thing he said about a disease coming to the land. So this guy is of the 7th generation since The Book of Mormon came about. Long ago, his tribe predicated that a disease would come upon the land in the 7th generation. This disease would kill millions, and it would not have a cure. Covid-19 obviously came to mind. Maybe what we think is the cure, or the vaccine will prove to not be effective in the long run? Or maybe there's something coming that will be even worse than Covid-19?
We also learned about the story of Sky Woman, which is the story of the creation of the world. There were three levels in the world: sky, land, and water. Sky Woman fell from the sky and was rescued by the animals on the land. She was pregnant when she fell, so the animals placed her on the back of a turtle. They soon realized that she needed food and water to survive, so they went into the water to gather earth. No animal was successful at gathering earth, except for one, which died in his attempt, but not until he dropped the tiny bit on earth onto the turtle's back. The other animals didn't know how the earth could keep the woman alive, so they had her dance around the pile of earth. The earth sprouted leaves and provided food for the woman, so she lived, and so did her child. Interestingly, America is shaped a lot like the back of a turtle. Anyway, that was the beginning of humanity.
- The Niagara Falls: I've always wanted to go to the Niagara Falls. I've been to New York City many times, but with the Niagara Falls still 4 hours or so away, it never made sense to spend the extra time to see that one thing. Now that I've seen the Niagara Falls, I'm so glad I did. The New York side was amazing and beautiful, while the Canadian side was powerful and breathtaking. We took a boat and got completely soaked, but it was worth it.
- Lewiston Indian Mound: We then made a quick stop to see a mound that is believed to be a burial ground for someone very important. The Jaredites and Nephites both used to bury their dead above the ground, then they'd cover them with dirt and rocks. Ryan and Wayne have discovered and uncovered enough of them to recognize them when they see them. It's pretty amazing because they seem to be usually placed very randomly, at least randomly from how things have since bene built around them.
Day 3:
- Our first stop was at Fort Hill Cemetery. The cemetery was huge! Right away you could see the levels, the mounds, the dimensions throughout the land. These mounds were first built for defense against the enemy. But then they used that same land to bury their dead, instead of having to drag the bodes elsewhere. The Jaredites did this, then later the Nephites did, too. And now, clearly, it is being used again to bury the dead. It's amazing to think about all the levels of bodies buried in the ground, from the Jaredites, to the Nephites and Lamanites, to the people of our day. I obviously didn't look at every single tombstone, but the oldest one I saw was from 1862. There was moss growing on it, indicating that it hasn't been visited in a very long time. Some of the tombstones had even been tipped over, thankfully not revealing anything spooky.
- Union Springs Mound was actually discovered on someone's property. Ryan stops by every year to ask the owner if his tour bus full of people can go check out this mound. The guy never remembers him but always agrees.
- After lunch we went to the Legendary Turtle Mound, shaped, as its name says, like a turtle.
- Watkins State Park was awesome! And I wish we'd had more time to spend there but the weather was against us. We actually just barely made it into the park. The rangers closed it because of the rain and the levels of water rising. Some of our group didn't actually even make it into the park because we'd split up to do our own thing. Anyway, so the currant of the water was super strong and some of the paths were flooded, which really concerned the rangers. I didn't think it was a big deal, but rules are rules, and eventually we all got kicked out of the park "for our own safety". It's sad that we didn't get to walk very far to see the multiple levels of waterfalls. But we still came to understand that this land is "a land of many waters", just like the scriptures describe it to be.
That evening, the bus driver was supposed to take us to the downtown area for dinner, but he left at 5:59 and we came outside at 6:00 to see him pulling onto the main street. Not cool. We ended up walking to Wegman's to get some bread and fruit. The bread was mmm-mmm good!
Day 4:
- Lake Ontario. The body of Moroni was supposedly carried down the Oswego River and buried on an island close by. The British Invasion also occurred there.
- Ska-nonh Great Law of Peace Center. We learned a ton more about the Native American tribes and some of the parallels between their beliefs and ours.
- Gonondogan Cultural Center. We learned about long houses and how the mothers were in charge of everyone living within the house. It was very interesting. The guide told us that mothers didn't have to discipline their own children and the older children living in their house very often because the children learned respect early on, and from that respect sprouted obedience and even self motivation to help and work for everyone's well being.
That evening we had dinner with a few people from our group. It's actually really interesting to talk to people who have different ideas. I like it because it opens up my mind to other thoughts, to what drives and motivates other people. I think it makes me a better, more accepting person.
Day 5:
This was for sure the most spiritual day we spent on this trip.
- Hill Cummorah. There have been many wars fought on this land, so it was very cool to see just how big the Hill actually was. On top of the hill, there was a monument. Wayne told us that a couple of years ago he brought his metal detector and detected something underneath the monument. Could it be that the golden plates are buried underneath the monument? I think it's a possibility, for sure.
- Grandin Print and Press. A missionary took us around and told us about the process it took for Grandin to print 5000 copies of The Book of Mormon. First off, Oliver Cowdery had to rewrite everything Joseph Smith had translated. 116 page had already been lost previously, so they wanted to be cautious and have at least 2 copies of the translations.
Each page had about 600 words on it with no punctuation whatsoever. Not only did Grandin gave to use a stamp for each letter, but he also had to add punctuation. As we know, punctuation can completely change the meaning of a sentence, so he occasionally had to ask Joseph his thoughts on the meaning of a phrase with different ways to punctuate. It took 7 months to get all 5000 copies printed. That actually sounds amazing because there was a lot of steps: placing the stamps correctly, adding the ink, pressing, drying, folding by hand, pressing again, binding, gluing the binding, cutting the folds, adding the leather cover, and stamping the title on the leather with gold. And I probably missed a few steps...
We walked down the street to an intersection where there was a church on literally every corner. There was a Presbyterian Church (1832), a Community Church, a Methodist Church, and an Episcopal Church (1872). It was really cool to think about Young Joseph Smith, walking the streets of Palmyra, investigating churches.
- Palmyra Temple. I thought the Palmyra Temple was an old temple, but I was surprised to learn that it was only built in 2000. The temple isn't far from the Hill Cummorah and actually sits on the 100 acres owned by the church.
- Sacred Grove. The Sacred Grove was awesome. To think about Joseph Smith, kneeling in the forest and praying to know which church he should join, and then to have a vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing to him and telling him to join none. Wow!
- Joseph Smith Farms. Sister missionaries gave us a tour of the house Joseph grew up in. It was a replica, but still it was built on the original foundation, so that was cool. Like, Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, multiple times, right there!
We also saw Joseph's brother Alvin's house. Alvin was still building the house when he died. Joseph and his brothers later finished building it and Joseph lived in that house with Emma. We saw the fireplace where Joseph hid the plates when the mob came to find them and take them from him.
- Lake Canadaigua. We took a dinner cruise around the lake. It was very relaxing. Except for the part where I cried as an older gentleman named Scott told us about some of the struggles he's faced with his daughter making poor decisions. It was super awkward how emotional I got.
This was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad everything worked out to make it possible for us to go. It was definitely a testimony-building trip.
