From our campsite near Seneca Lake in New York, we left around noon and drove about four hours to see the new Priesthood Restoration Site in what was called Harmony, Pennsylvania. Everything is so green and gorgeous and the drive was pretty uneventful. We got to the site, it's only one year old, had a quick snack and headed in to the Visitor's Center. It is also a church building as well for local members. The sisters that greeted us were so fun and loving. They really made our experience there wonderful. Of course it had started raining as we were running into the Visitor's center and while we were watching the prequel to the movie we saw at the Peter Whitmer Farm, we could here grumbles of thunder outside.The movie was a wonderful introduction to the events that went on in this beautiful place. Most importantly, this is where Joseph and Oliver received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist and were able to baptize each other in the Susquehanna river which ran through Joseph and Emma's property. I find it very interesting the way that Jesus organized his church here on earth. He didn't just hand it all over to Joseph at once. He gave it to him gradually as he asked questions and as he translated the Book of Mormon. When he and Oliver were translating, they realized they had not been baptized yet and realized they needed the proper authority to do so. So they asked Heavenly Father and John the Baptist appeared to them in a nearby grove of trees. I love how the Lord works and watches out for us. Joseph and Emma had also lost their first baby in Harmony and it is also when Martin Harris lost the 116 pages which caused Joseph to loose the ability to translate for a time. It was a sad time for Joseph and Emma.
But through these hard times, Joseph was humbled and learned and still knew that what he was doing was the Lord's work. So many miracles.
When the movie was over, we went outside to see the restored home of Emma's parents and then the home she and Joseph lived in nearby. Since it was still raining, we enjoyed using the umbrellas that we brought and some were provided by the Visitor's Center as well. Some of us used our Maid of the Mist ponchos as well.
This was one of my favorite sites to visit. I'm not sure if it was the rain, the short distance traveled, the Sister missionaries, the spirit, what happened here or what, but the Spirit was very strong here. At one point on our tour, in Joseph and Emma's summer kitchen, the sisters had us sit down and gave us the chance to bear testimony. Well one of the sisters, Sister Eckman, I believe, she had been chatting with Scotty and asked him to share his testimony. He said yes! It was so simple and sweet, he just shared how he felt the Spirit in the Sacred Grove. I'm so grateful to have been able to take our family to these sacred sites and share them with my parents and with Jeremy's parents. It was so nourishing to our family unity and to our spiritual growth.
After our tour, the sisters went back up to the Visitor's Center and we walked down to the old cemetery where Emma's parents are buried and where their sweet baby is buried. Right by there is the statue that has been there since the 60's, denoting the restoration there.
In oder to see the river, we had to get in the RV's and drive across the railroad tracks where they have a little parking area and some signs talking about the river and Joseph and Oliver getting baptized. The river was used for commerce, so in order for them to get some privacy, they most likely went later in the day. We walked down there while our dinner was cooking and enjoyed seeing the beautiful river and the rain. As we were pulling out and I was driving ( we needed to drive about 2 more hours to our camp spot to be close to Philadelphia the next morning), it started pouring! Thunder and lightning! I had to slow way down at some spots just because it was coming down so hard we couldn't see. We didn't ever get tired of the rain though. It was great.
At one gas station, I went in to get some candy because I wanted something to munch while I was driving and when I cam back out, it was just dumping. I almost waited until it stopped, but had a feeling it wasn't going to let up soon, so I just ran for it and got soaked!
The kids slept as much as they could and we pulled in to our site around 11pm, plugged in and went to bed. We had to get up around 6am to leave by 7am to be at the temple by 8:45am.
