Missionary Moments! A Trip To The Church History Museum ~

We recently took some good friends to the Church History Museum in downtown Salt Lake City.  The Church History Museum was renovated not long ago so we were excited to visit it. Wow, we soon found out that it had changed a lot and there was so many exhibits to see. It took us a couple of hours to go through and it was so interesting and a fantastic experience. 

Here we are with our friends, John and Jamie inside the museum~

 I took a few photos while in the museum and then I will also give some great links for more information. If you ever get a chance to visit here; I would highly recommend it.

We first watched a 7 minute video in an 180 degree round theater of the First Vision. It was so inspirational that it brought tears. Joseph Smith wrote more than one account and this video shows that in a clear way. This video is only shown in this museum. 


There were so many lovely paintings in the museum that you have to go to see them all. Here are three paintings in a collage representing moments in the beginning of restoration of the gospel. First one is the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery baptisms, second one is restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the third one is receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood. 

 There were many displays on The Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith received the Gold Plates from the Angel Moroni. He translated these plates and then they were printed into the Book of Mormon on a press such as the one in the upper left corner. This collage shows a Dictaphone and a typewriter in the bottom half; thus showing the advancements in how things have been  written through the years.  Of course, we now have our marvelous computers. The Gold Plates are a replica of what they may have looked like. 

The History of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the early days are poignant. We suffered great persecutions for our beliefs. The church moved from New York, then Ohio and finally settled in Missouri. After a while there began to be contentions and as they increased there was an Extermination order by Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri in the Fall of 1838. Below is the original order and then it was finally rescinded in 1976. The members of the church were driven from the state of Missouri following that order.

 The saints then gathered in Nauvoo, Illinois and build a beautiful city with a grand temple. Again tensions arose and our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith were killed in the Carthage Jail on June 27th of 1844. Later the Saints were again driven from this city and thus the sad story of their pioneer trek to the desert of Salt Lake Valley.

The Nauvoo temple as they left it.The photo next to it is one of the Sun Stones from that temple. The temple was destroyed by fire in 1848. The Nauvoo temple was rebuilt in 2002. 

The Nauvoo Temple today~

The 2nd floor of the museum has displays of the 15 Prophet Presidents since the Prophet Joseph Smith. Each display showed various artifact from their lives, pictures of them through the years and what their main accomplishments were during their presidency. I enjoyed those displays a lot.  

The top left photo is a display of President David O. McKay's life. He has always been one of my favorites. I love his double breasted white temple suit. He was very involved in forwarding missionary and temple work. The upper right photo is a picture of a stone in Scotland that had a profound impact on President McKay. It is one of my favorite stories.

"While serving as a missionary in Scotland, David O. McKay had an experience that gave him the motto he used for the rest of his life... “What E’re Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part.”After he and his companion returned from visiting Stirling Castle, they passed a building where, above the door was a stone with the carved inscription: "What-e'er thou art, act well thy part." This message struck David O. McKay forcefully, and he decided to devote himself completely to always doing his best in whatever responsibility he had." ~Maskery & Lund

Another President that I loved was President Gordon B. Hinckley. My husbands Dad; LaMar Williams worked with President Hinckley in the Missionary Department for many years. He, under President Hinckley's direction help to develop the first temple films. The lower right picture displays his involvement in the increase in building of temples throughout the world. The lower left hand picture is of a podium made out of a tree that President Hinckley had in his backyard. 

Here are some of my own experiences in meeting various prophets. The first prophet was President Ezra Taft Benson. He married and sealed us in the Salt Lake Temple in 1967. We later visited him at his office two years later. He was a marvelous man and a great patriot. He was known for his love of The Book of Mormon and his desire that we all read and study from it's pages. 

When I was a nurse, I had the privileged of being the charge nurse on the wing that President Harold B. Lee was a patient in. I was able to visit with him briefly. He was such a kind and wonderful prophet that we all loved. 

I did shake hands with President Howard W. Hunter at a fireside one evening. He was very inspiring. 

I enjoyed the moment that I met President Joseph Fielding Smith inside the apartment building where he lived. He lived just down the hall from my husband's parents. We met them as were going in for a visit. He was with his wife, Jesse Evan Smith. At the time we had two little boys. The youngest was a baby in a carrier. President Smith asked to see him. Sister Smith said; "You better not let him, he will a make him cry. She then peered in at our son and he was smiling. Then President Smith looked at him and he did cry. It was a fun moment. 

I have had the privilege of being in the presence of President Gordon B. Hinckley more than once. He attended the funeral of both my mother in law and father in law. Both times I was able to shake his hand. He spoke at my father in law's funeral. My children had the sweet experience of singing at that funeral and were able to shake his hand and talk with him briefly.

As you can tell many memories of these great men and their presidencies came back to me when viewing these displays. 

We had such a fun time with these dear friends and it was a wonderful day of learning. 

Later in the evening we were able to attend and be part of a baptism. Here is a picture of the man that was baptized by the missionary that we team taught with. 

Elder Robinson, Clint a nephew that baptized Kevin and then Elder Dutton assisted with the baptism. 

 This was the end to a perfect missionary day!