This was a different Memorial Day for me. Growing up on this day we would visit our grandparents ' graves, leave flowers and then spend the ride home looking for asparagus on the back roads of Idaho. Well, today I didn't get to go to my grandparents' graves but I did visit the graves of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo. I didn't really know there was a final resting place for the two of them. I knew there bodies had to be hidden for awhile to keep them safe from evil men. They are located in a beautiful spot where Joseph Smith used to live right on the Mississippi River. It was reverencing to be there. While I was there it hit me that it was Memorial Day. It felt like it in that moment. I was honoring two men who had fallen victim of different kind of war. They were truly soldiers for God's work here on earth. I really felt privileged to walk in places that the prophet walked. I felt humbled by the work he did in this life and what he suffered because of what he knew and saw. I have never doubted that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. You can see the fruit of his works and know that he was a good man called of God. My testimony has only deepened of him as he became more real to me today. I saw where he lived. I saw where he died. He was an amazing man. I am grateful to him for choosing to follow God, laying a foundation for Christ's church, and being faithful to the end.
The Mississippi River is in the distance
Joseph Smith's house.
4 comments:
That totally made me ache to go back to Nauvoo. I love your testimony of Joseph Smith, Tiff. You said everything I feel.
I had no idea he died so young! Wow. I am glad you got to go there. Sounds like it was a very special experience.
The experience in Nauvoo is truly a spiritual one! When Dad and I visited there a couple of years ago, we were in tears most of the time. You are so right about those brothers being the early soldiers of the Restoration. The more I study about them and their lives, the more I know that they were true prophets of God and I thank God for such leaders in these last days
Sounds like the "roadtrip" was a success. Thanks for sharing your testimony with me today.
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