Spring Break '10.....Part Four

Alright...the final day of Spring Break!  On our way home from Buffalo, we stopped in Kirtland to check out some more church sites.  This stop took us to the place where the Saints went after leaving New York.  Our tour of Kirtland started at the Whitney Store.  The man who owned this store was called as one of the first bishops of the church.  The first bishop's storehouse is in this store.  Joseph and Emma lived in the upstairs of this store for awhile when they arrived in Kirtland. 

Front of the store

Upstairs-where many revelations were written in the D&C.

School of the Prophets, or the first MTC

On the front steps of the first temple

Going on the tour of the temple was amazing.  The temple is now owned by the Community of Christ Church (the re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)...so they were the ones giving the tours.  It was interesting to hear how their church differs from ours...even though we have the same basic beliefs.  After Joseph died, this group (including Emma) believed that a decendent of Joseph's should be the next prophet.  There are many other differences between our two churches nowadays.  One thing they do not have that we do is temple work (that revelation came a bit later after they had started doing their own thing).  The women in the chuch also can hold the priesthood and they have had female prophets.

Sitting in the temple, I could just picture Joseph taking his place and preaching to the crowd.  This really was a testimony builder for me to walk through this temple and knowing the sacrifice that so many people had to make to get it built.  And many of these people had to shortly after leave their temple they loved so much.  After hearing the stories from the Community of Christ tour guide, I knew that a was a part of the true church on the earth today!

The Whitney home...right across the street from the store.