Really Quick: Nauvoo...

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD AHEAD...

Not even a week after I'd gotten home from Europe, I was randomly surprised with a school trip to Nauvoo and surrounding church history sights for my birthday!  So I quickly unpacked, then repacked, then got on a bus! It was a really short trip: Thursday-Sunday I believe. There was a LOT of driving. I had forgotten what an adventure it is to sleep on a tour bus. Fun times. :) But it was totally worth it! Here are the pictorial highlights:

The weird seashell "temple" of the Community of Christ church, formerly known as  the RLDS church. 

The ceiling of the chapel in the seashell temple. I don't get it, but for some reason it's really symbolic for them. As for me, it made me feel like I was inside the conch in Lord of the Flies. 

 VS.

The gorgeous Kansas City, Missouri temple under construction.  This building didn't have an interior yet when I was there yet the spirit was about a million times stronger.

Liberty Jail. Not quite what i was expecting: the jail is a replica, basically cut in half, within a typical visitor center. But it was still cool. It really gave you an idea of the living conditions.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The picture does not do it justice. It's this huge expanse of mostly grassy plains, but the Spirit is extremely strong there. It was incredible.

At Carthage. It was exactly how I remembered it from when I was little. And it was just as amazing.  I love this place. They let us stay a little longer in the room where Joseph and Hyrum was killed and sing Praise to the Man. It was a really powerful experience. 

This is in Nauvoo at an art gallery. That lady in the pink cardigan is a direct descendant of Joseph Smith. She was originally a member of the Church of Christ (another offshoot of the church besides Community of Christ), but the missionaries found her about twenty years ago and now she has a whole family of little Joseph descendants who are active members of the Church. Pretty amazing. :)

The headstones of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma from the backside.  We went on the tour of church history sights owned by the Community of Christ. They don't own the park on the other side of this fence, so we didn't get to see the full view of the headstones. Sad :(

The first time I saw the Nauvoo Temple I couldn't breathe. Last time I was here it was a field with four rocks in the ground. Seeing it was like running head-on into a brick wall of amazingness. :) It was surreal. Doing baptisms for the dead there was even more surreal. You can feel the spirits of the saints who sacrificed so much to build it the first time. I would have slept on a bus for a week just for that hour in the temple. It was life-changing, and extremely testimony-building.

A statue of Joseph and Hyrum looking on towards the temple for the last time before riding on to Carthage. Favorite.

Me with a moonstone.

Again- surreal. I can't believe it's actually there. I love that building.

This statue is of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards--the second First Presidency of the Church. It is at the Kanesville Tabernacle in Iowa, where they were called and sustained as the new First Presidency at the first general conference since the martyrdom, December 25-27, 1847. 

The famous statue of the Pioneer family. I think this was at Winter Quarters, but I'm not 100% positive.

The Winter Quarters temple in Nebraska

Independence Rock! I love this place. This picture was taken at the highest point of the rock, on a boulder at the top. You can't tell from the picture, but standing up there, if you ignore the rest of Independence Rock, it feels like your floating on air. 

Climbing down the backside of Independence Rock, I jumped down from one rock to another, right over a bunch of rattlers in stealth mode, who evidently I startled, because they all rattled at me. I don't think I have ever moved so fast or so gracefully in my life. ADRENALINE DUMP. Here's a mug of one of the little buggers.

Martin's Cove! Love. It. 'Nuf said.

Me in the Cove. This is a really gross picture of me, but it gives you a good idea of what I look like after about thirty hours on a bus, a mini Trek up a mountain, exposure to a LOT of sunlight, and a minor case of heat exhaustion/dehydration. Good times. It was worth it. :)