LDS Pilgrimage

So I'm not gonna lie, this post probably won't be very funny, and I know that's why everyone reads this blog. I admit it's funny to hear about how I mess up being a stay at home dad, and my successes, and Mollie..... well everything about Mollie, she's just funny, Lukas' obsession with sports, spiderman, and now Missionaries, and anger management with Nikki. But today it's pretty much all about me, well my photography, and my job. I have a great job that allows me to travel quite a bit and lets me see a lot of the country, and because of this I get to see some really cool church (LDS) history sites.

Now if you happen to not be familiar with the LDS faith and it's history, these images will probably be just a little bit confusing, and wondering specifically "Why?" In the LDS culture, there are several places where the Saints (That's what we call ourselves) have lived and then moved on afterwards, eventually settling in Salt Lake City.

To make things a little clearer, think of Salt Lake City as an LDS Mecca, and these other sites as pilgrimage trails. Well in the last two weeks I got to go to 2 of these,  and they're pretty big as far as LDS Pilgrimage locations go. I hit up Kirtland, AND Nauvoo within a week of each other. While I was at Kirtland the missionaries there said all I need now is to get to Palmyra within the year and I'll be good.

It was a real great experience, looking at the history of the church and seeing what used to be and what could have been. Just think what would have happened if the LDS church had not been kicked out of all these locations and just gathered all the Saints there? I mean seriously there was a lot of people in these cities at the time, and now they only have populations of less than a thousand.

When I was walking through Nauvoo specifically, I felt a palpable sadness. Not that the people were sad, but it was kind of like thinking back on playing football, remembering how happy you were playing it, and then in that same moment, knowing that you will NEVER play football again (sorry it's the best analogy I got, go ahead and substitute the word football for something else like running or monopoly).

Nauvoo, this is the site that greeted me as I came into the town. I had a great opportunity to do a temple session as well. 

Kirtland Ohio, The Newell K Whitney Store, Joseph and Emma Smith lived here for a while, school of the prophets was here, and we received the Word of Wisdom.

N. K. Whitney Store Baskets

I'd like to say this is an original book of commandments (what is now the Doctrine and Covenants) but it's just a prop.

The table is an original piece of furniture from the house.

Corn/Bowl

The Kirtland Temple, currently owned by the Community of Christ.

Kirtland Temple

Flowers outside the Nauvoo Temple.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith.