Independence and Liberty

St. Louis Temple

We departed St. Louis in the morning and drove west to Independence, Missouri after a visit to the St. Louis Temple. This is one of the settling places for the Saints during the Missouri period. In revelation God revealed that this would be the Center place for the Church. Currently the acreage is owned by three different churches who claim Joseph Smith as their founder, the Community of Christ, the Church of Christ, Temple Lot, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each has one or more buildings here.

Our next stop was Liberty, the place where the Prophet Joseph Smith and several associates were held while the Saints that were in Clay County were driven out. They moved to Caldwell County and Far West. In Liberty Jail Joseph Smith received some of the most powerful revelations and the experience made him both stronger and more empathetic to the distresses of others.


Liberty Jail

Other pictures of the day.

Zion's Camp and St. Louis

To follow the life of Joseph Smith in a semi-chronological way, we traveled from the Kirtland area to Missouri today. Joseph Smith and several hundred men from the Kirtland area traveled to Missouri to help the saints there who were being driven from their homes by mob violence. While the 'Zion's Camp' didn't fight once they reached Missouri, the hardship of the march forged strong church leaders. Nine of the 12 Apostles, the Seven Presidents of the Seventy and all of the Seventy were called from those men who were willing to sacrifice their all if necessary.


Words to Remember

We are staying at the Drury Inn in St. Louis tonight. We had a prime rib dinner on the Becky Thatcher riverboat and watched the fireworks from the boat, with the St. Louis arch behind us.


Old and New St. Louis

This hotel has broadband via a data line so I'm finally able to get caught up on loading pictures. It's late so I probably won't be able to caption many of them but I'll be able to insert links to this and earlier posts soon - so you can see selected pictures.

Other pictures of the day.