My JellyBellies: Nauvoo Vacation Day Four: Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahmen

Far West:

"Settled by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836, Far West became the commercial and ecclesiastical center of the Church, as well as the county seat. As members of the Church continued to gather in Far West and surrounding towns, local Missourians began to fear the growing population and its influence. Differences in religion and political views and many other factors led to discord between the two groups. Local mobs began harassing outlying Latter-day Saint settlements, forcing the Saints to consolidate into Far West.

In October 1838 a Missouri army surrounded Far West. At the end of three days, the Prophet Joseph Smith and other Church leaders agreed to meet with militia leaders outside the city. However, instead of conducting talks, the militia leaders arrested and sentenced Joseph and the others to death by a firing squad. Brigadier General Alexander Doniphan refused the order, stating that it was illegal. Although their lives were saved at this time, Joseph and the other leaders were unjustly incarcerated for five months, suffering horrible conditions.
While the Church leaders were in jail, mobs continued to harass the Saints, eventually driving them out of the state despite an early winter. Church leaders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and John Taylor led 5,000 suffering Saints across Missouri into Illinois.
There were good times at Far West as well. While there, Joseph Smith received divine communications, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 115, that revealed that the Church's name should be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also revealed was the system for tithing Church members and the instruction that a temple should be built at Far West."
(http://lds.org/placestovisit/location/0,10634,1808-1-1-1,00.html)

We visited the town site of Far West, Missouri, about 30 miles north of Liberty. Here you can see the cornerstones of a temple planned by the Church.

We are standing by one of the huge corner stones that was laid for the temple.

Leah is cute.

She wanted to pose and have me take pictures with her camera.

Leah thought the flowers were so pretty that she took pictures of them.

In front of the monument at Far West.

This is one of my favorite places. At age 18 I was able to travel with a group from Ricks College to Chicago for a summer program. On the way there, we visited several church locations. Adam-Ondi-Ahmen was one of our stops and I fell in love with it then.

There is a certain peace in the valley--a sense of serenity and calm that soothes a soul. When I am there, I feel I could ponder for hours, being lost in thoughts of creation and eternal purposes. I feel closer to our heavenly home--some sense of belonging that is hard to pen. It is my favorite place to visit.

There isn't really a lot to see or do--just the beautiful valley, the trees, the green!

It's the feeling--the history--the future-- of the place that wrap your mind and heartstrings to the Lord and leave you with a yearning to return again and again.

It is a place close to my heart.

"The area known as Adam-ondi-Ahman is located in Daviess County, 70 miles northeast of Independence, Missouri. It is a place of beginnings, departures and returns. This is where Adam and Eve first dwelt when they left the Garden of Eden. Three years before his death, Adam called his posterity together, blessed them, and the Lord appeared unto them.1 Also, "it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet."2

Wilford Woodruff gave an account of President Brigham Young saying that "Joseph, the Prophet, told me that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. When Adam was driven out he went to the place we now call Adam-ondi-Ahman, Daviess County, Missouri. There he built an altar and offered sacrifices."3
Orson Pratt defined the words Adam-ondi-Ahman from the Adamic language as, "valley of God, where Adam dwelt."4
At the time the Saints began moving into Daviess County the land was not yet available for sale, but individuals could lay claim to land through preemption rights. It allowed someone to move onto a property, improve it, and then they would have the first claim to purchase the property from the government when it became available.
Lyman Wight was the first person to construct a home at Adam-ondi-Ahman and built a ferry which became known as Wight's ferry.5 It was near this ferry that Joseph identified Adam-ondi-Ahman. In a conference held on June 28, 1838, a stake at Adam-ondi-Ahman was organized with John Smith, the Prophet's uncle, as the president of the stake, Reynolds Cahoon as first counselor and Lyman Wight as the second counselor.6
While here, the Saints laid out a city and placed stakes for the cornerstones of a temple block which was dedicated by Brigham Young.7 Persecution from the Missourians forced the the Saints to flee to Illinois and abandon their land. The preemption rights did not protect them from losing their land and so they lost all claim to it.
In 1944, Wilford C. Wood purchased 38 acres of land at Adam-ondi-Ahman and additional land was later puchased."
(http://www.mormonhistoricsitesregistry.org/USA/missouri/daviess/adam-ondi-ahman/history.htm)

We love our posterity. We are thankful for eternal families.

Sorry Mckay, yours got fuzzy. But I couldn't delete you!

You are a treasure to my heart.

How sweet are the keys of sealing.

How dear are our hearts to each other.

I love you Ryanne Faye!

Ryanne in front of the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahmen.

And Mckay!

After enjoying the Valley, we had a picnic lunch. Imagine our surprise when we bumped into the same family we had lunched by on the lawn in Independence yesterday! We formally introduced ourselves and met the DeForest family from Utah. It was a fun lunch because, rather than eat, our kids and theirs just wanted to run around and play "swords"! I think our boys were flirting . . . our whatever they do at the age of 10 and 5! They were definitely showing off. Boys! The DeForests were also headed to Nauvoo, and we hoped we would bump into them again. Ryanne, having no one her age to play with, sat with Wes and me at the table. We talked about the best parts of our trip and joked. Ryanne has a great sense of humor and had Wes and me rolling around in laughter after a few minutes. She is fun!