The past three days I spent in Kirtland, OH with around 280 14-18 year olds experiencing fantastic things.
DAY ONE.
First, we visited the Johnson farm in Hiram. We arrived at the Leesburg building at 4 am, drove a good 6 hours to Hiram, sang (FANTASTICALLY) an arrangement of Praise to the Man, which I had the honor of conducting, spent a good 4 hours in sweltering 95 degree, 90% humidity weather touring around the farm and going to classes taught by the anchors of our stake. (Taggs, Dicksons...) We then arrived at Lake Erie College and set our stuff in our dorms. Dinner and the last youth dance I'll ever attend followed that. On our way back from the dance, our stake leaders set up an extremely memorable reenactment of the tar and feathering of Joseph Smith. At the end, a single person began singing "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet." Needless to say, it was extremely moving. Then, the worst night of sleep followed. If you can call it sleep. It was so incredibly hot, and sticky, it was pretty miserable. But I did fall into a sleep, which is more than some people can say. Anyways, the next day was so great that it didn't seem to matter
DAY TWO.
Woke up early, ate breakfast, and then rotated in our six buses around Kirtland. Our group had the opportunity to tour the temple first. It had a different feel about it; not necessarily bad, just different. After the introductory video, the curtains opened showing a magnificent view of the temple just a few yards away. It took my breath away. We walked around the temple and heard a lot about the architecture, decorations and uses of the designs in the temple. Then our leaders (Brother Dickson was my "Papa Pratt" :) had the insight to sit us down in the conveniently located park benches in the shade outside the temple and we discussed what we had heard and seen. I was grateful for their testimonies and their willingness to teach us the truth. Our tour guide was nice enough, but like many others said, there was something missing. The Spirit, obviously. We then went to the LDS Visitors Center where the Whitney Store was located. That was powerful. Our tour guide, the sweet Sister Olsen, was more than I could have asked for. She had the most sincere and unselfish spirit about her. She was so focused on bringing the Spirit, I can't imagine anyone in that room not feeling the Spirit for at least a second. She bore her testimony countless times as she talked about each room, and even invited us to share our testimonies of the Prophet Joseph. Good ol' Heather stepped in to save the day there :) (By the way, Amy, Kasee, Heather and I were all in the same group. How'd that happen?!) As we walked into the School of the Prophets, I was first startled at how small it was. I had heard that 25 to 30 men would come to hear Joseph preach, yet the room was so limited. The highlight of that room for me was the testimony of Thomas B. Marsh's vision of Christ. He said that he only saw Him for a moment, before the vision was closed, but he was overwhelmed with a powerful feeling of love that he felt just as strongly for an additional 6 months. After the tour, we went to the visitors center where we watched a beautiful video about Brother Joseph. One thing that I loved about the movie was that he seemed so real and so human. Sometimes we build him up so much in our heads, rightly so, but I also need to remember he was mortal, human, full of flaws; just like me. I also felt a sincere love for the Prophet who courageously brought forth the gospel again on the Earth. Later that evening, we had the opportunity to have a sacrament meeting in the temple. It was peaceful, yet powerful as well. I can't say that I had a vision appear to me, but just being in that room, I felt loved and felt the Spirit of the early saints and their faith. The choir sang a few songs, one being "In This Very Room" which was such a neat song to be singing in the temple where Christ appeared on the breastwork of the pulpit. I think I can say for all of the youth that it was certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
