Saturday, May 23, 2015

We Finished the OLD TESTAMENT!

Today we visited the John Johnson farm.  This is where Matt lost his 'I'm impressed' button years ago.  More importantly, a lot of revelations were given here, including the revelation of the three degrees of glory. That one took hours.  My dad said that Joseph Smith leaned against one of the windows in this room.  This room was called the Revelation Room.  This was the Johnson's bedroom, but when Joseph and Emma needed a place to stay they gave their bedroom to Joseph to use as a study.
Revelation Room
This house was beautiful and has the most amazing colors.  I definitely never pictured such bright, fun colors in a pioneer house.  They were able to strip the wood down and match the original paint.  Everything was so cheerful.  I loved it!
They had many visitors, especially when the prophet was staying with them.  They converted their attic into a bedroom.  There were four beds squished in here.
This door and mantel were painted like this when Joseph Smith lived here.  How cool is that?
The inside of this cupboard was left to show how the wood looked when it was stripped down.  That is how they knew what swirls went where. Kind of fun.
This is the room that Joseph slept in when the mob burst in and took him to be tarred and feathered.  His little boy was sleeping in the pull out bed.
 My dad in Joseph Smith's room
 Joseph Smith was most likely tarred and feathered around this spot.
Joseph spent the entire night getting the tar scraped off him.  He still went and preached the next day.  He didn't mention anything about the night before, even though he looked pretty beat up.  Joseph Smith stood on these very steps to give his sermon.  I made my dad pretend to preach on those steps for the picture.  It made me laugh and laugh.
Ron
When I got to my seat on the bus I found this little surprise.  Dan had gone bike riding and bought this for me and my dad.  We had been talking about maple syrup before.  Dan has maple trees in his yard.  He makes his own syrup.  He learned how to do it because his children are homeschooled.  They love it and do it every year.  He didn't like it when my dad explained he makes his syrup with mapleine.  My dad had Dan sing before we went in the John Johnson house.  He sang I Need Thee Every Hour.  Wow.  He sure has an amazing voice!
We had lunch at Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen.  it was so good!  It was a nice way to end our trip.  Our next stop was the Cleveland Airport.  We parked and had a prayer given by Dave before we got off the bus.  Dave sat by me while he gave the prayer so he could use the microphone.  He wasn't able to get back to his seat because people were getting off the bus.  He waited with me and we chatted for a bit.  His wife walked by carrying everything and he said, "Oh no!  She has all my stuff!  I need to help her!"  I looked out the window and saw his wife carrying his cane.  Dave got off the bus and I started gathering my things.  Next thing I know, Dave is on the ground!  He looked white as a sheet and his head was all bloody.  It was horrible.  I have always heard people make the comment 'a goose egg as large as a golf ball'.  I had never really seen it.  This was definitely as large as a golf ball, maybe larger on the right side of his head.  The left side of his head had blood gushing out.  The ambulance was called.  A nurse had been walking by and was helping him.  She shined a flashlight in his eyes and was asking him questions.  The first one was what day is it?  He answered Friday.  He laughed when she told him it was Saturday.  I was thinking, 'That's not a fair question.  None of us know what day it is!'  Anyway, he ended up being taken by an ambulance to the hospital.  He kept telling them he was fine.  They finally told him that there was no way they would let him on an airplane looking like that.  My dad and I tried to work with Patty to get him another ticket.  By the time we landed we found out that he had an MRI and everything was fine.  He needed stitches, but all is well.  That is such a relief!  They are staying in a hotel tonight and will get home tomorrow afternoon.

After all the excitement I managed to get a picture of my dad and Dan before Dan drove his bus away.  My dad does several tours.  When he does his New York tour Dan is always the bus driver.  I asked Dan what church he goes to.  He goes to a non-denominational church.  I asked if they meet on Wednesdays.  In Georgia it was a big deal to most churches to have meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays.  Dan said they usually got to church for three hours Sunday morning, then a couple more hours Sunday night.  Mondays they have off.  They do something Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Fridays the youth usually does some service projects for a couple of hours.  Saturdays they spend a few hours proselyting.  Wow!  We think we spend a lot of time at church!
Ron & Dan
Mike picked us up at the airport.  My kids were waiting for me when we got home.  Preston and Jorja gave me big jumping hugs.  We read scriptures before bed.  Malachi 4.  The last book in the Old Testament! We finished!  Hallelujah!  That sure took forever, but we did it.  Read every word.

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