Kirtland Temple

Sunday was the Temple Dedication and Kefford read online that it started at 10 am. We went to a church in Kirtland for the dedication so that afterwards we could go through the Kirtland Temple. We left our hotel early so that we had plenty of time to get to where we were going  and we thought we could walk around the Kirtland Temple grounds until we needed to be at the church. Well, it was a good thing we did, when we got to the church it was about 8:30ish, the parking lot was full and the doors were locked. There was a sign on the door that said the dedication started at 9 and the doors were being locked at 8:30 to have everyone in their seats to maintain reverence. We panicked but luckily there was a kid passing in the hall and he opened the door and let us in. We found some seats and settled in for the dedication. It was a really nice service and I am so glad that Kefford could be there for this. 

We headed to the Kirtland Temple next and found that the tours do not start until 2, we walked around the outside of the Temple and took some pictures and then we took a drive to find a lighthouse Kefford had seen was in the area. 

 

I thought it would be cool to walk out to the lighthouse and at some point people were able to do that but the pathway was closed off so nobody could do that anymore. We drove by, took some pictures and then we headed to find an Aldi's. It is a discount grocery store that is popular with the missionaries because it is cheap. Kefford thought we could get something for lunch there but when we went in a looked around it did not have any ready made food that we could grab to eat. Kefford enjoyed reminiscing about going to Aldi's and he realized it wasn't as great as he remembered it being. 

When we got back to Kirtland we were able to get in on the tour and we toured the Kirtland Temple, the Newell K Whitney store and the Whitney's house. I loved being in the Temple and seeing what they built all of those years ago. There was a special spirit and I kept imagining the Prophet Joseph Smith being there and what that time was like. 

Whitney House

Newel K Whitney store

After the tour of the store we went to the sawmill to see that. As we were in there on the tour it started pouring rain. Luckily our tour guides all gave us umbrellas and so we were prepared for the rain. 

Kefford found something about a crying angel statue that we thought would be cool to see. It was in a cemetery and upon entering the cemetery we found that is was the most massive cemetery we have ever been in and we were having a little bit of a struggle finding the statue. I asked Chat GPT for help finding and it gave us some coordinates which helped a little but then Kefford asked google and we were able to find it. I thought it was really cool to see and it did look like a crying angel.

We then found a statue of a hand that Kefford wanted to get a picture with so we stopped so he could do that. It was another fun day with a lot packed in.