We enjoyed the day touring Salt Lake City... We visited the Mormon Temple Square.
Joseph Smith had an experience with the Holy Spirit... "Members" say that it is their belief in Jesus Christ, their Savior & Redeemer, that changed their lives. He change mine as well. However, it seems a bit extreme that now the "Members" follow a "Living Prophet" over and before following Jesus Christ. This is where I struggled...
Above is a replica of the "plates" that
Joseph Smith "found" and then returned to
the "Moroni" or angels...
(There seems to be a deeper secret about this belief... something that deeply disturbed Dave and I. The longer we stayed on the Temple Square, the stronger it got... and even this morning, as I google information about "Mormonism" there is an obvious "missing piece" that seems to leave a gaping hole in "their truth".)
The grounds and gardens were beautiful, well kept and very clean.
This is a cut-away replica of the "Holy Temple" - they only perform marriages and baptisms for members in there. It is not cathedral like at all, which was somewhat surprising.
We did go listen to the organ concert, which was quite impressive. The acoustics are incredible... you can hear a pin drop with out the need for amplification.
Funny story!!! There was a school group on a field trip... probably about 2nd or 3rd grade, with several boys sitting in the row just in front of us. The concert was 30 minutes long and they were getting restless (and the chaperons were not paying attention the the children because they were on their cell phones!). Dave quietly leaned forward and whispered "Stop it." They were very taken by surprise, but they stopped. (Again, the chaperons were completely unaware that this had happened.) We had to suppress our giggles at their reaction. Dave worried that he had caused them to have nightmares or that they would have some fear of organ music... lol! I'm sure they're fine... wink, wink.
After a street-side picnic, in the back of the jeep, downtown we traveled to Antelope Island, located in/on the Great Salt Lake.
There was a huge herd of buffalo on the island - about 700, we were told. We had to stop a couple times as they crossed the road in front of us... hoping that they didn't spook and suddenly head-butt or kick our car.
There is a 8-mile causeway to the island.
Day three we traveled on to Idaho... more to come!
Melva
Our grandchildren and their mother still live in the Salt Lake suburbs. We visited Temple Square last year when we spent time out there for Rachel's wedding. It certainly is impressive, and the Tabernacle Choir acoustics are amazing. We also went some years back when Joe was still alive. While other people hesitate to let the Mormon missionaries into their homes, Joe would invite them in and discuss Mormonism vs Christianity. Every time they would bring up something in the Book of Mormon, Joe would ask them to show him where it was in his Bible, the one true Word of God. After awhile, they would stand up, thank him for his time, and leave. He loved doing this. A day or two after he died, two missionaries showed up at his door while we were there. They had an appointment to see Joe, which he apparently made before he went to the hospital. They were quite stunned to learn that he had left this world for the next one. We couldn't help thinking that Joe was looking down and saying, "See? I was right!"
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