These pictures are one of the assignments Elder Poulson had. The front door on the Joseph Smith Sr. frame home was starting to come apart. It has been repaired before, of course, and the calking was cracked and falling out. Bill cleaned it up and replaced the calking and we planned to repaint it the next day. Then the rain started and kept up for days. The first clear day came and Bill was replacing shingles on a garage just across the street behind the Frame House. So, went together to the Farm and I painted the door while keeping an eye on Bill across the street. No pictures of the finished door, but we'll get them soon and post them. The door will need to be completely re-painted when we have some better weather. Up close it looks a little "touched up" due to the fact that the old red paint has faded a bit.
I just kept thinking as I was painting, "Joseph walked through this very threshold". How blessed we are to be helping to maintain these sacred places.
Bishop Bill and Carol
ReplyDeleteWell, to add to the import of that you should consider that the Savior himself appeared at the Smith Family home around 1930ish(circa). This property was dedicated (either Hyde or Talmage)to all missionaries who traveled to and from the European Mission as a safe haven. Sister Rebecca Bean served hundreds of meals and hosted as many missionaries in their travels in that house.
Sister Rebecca Bean and her husband Joe were the first missionaries to be called back into the Palmyra area in 1925 after the expulsion. She always said there was a special feeling when she was in "that" home. On one occasion there were about 7-8 missionaries who were coming home from England and they stopped by for a meal and some fellowshipping. Elder James E. Talmage was in attendance as they enjoyed the noon meal. A knock came at the door and Sister Bean excused herself and answered the door. There appeared a man to which she said looked familiar but could not place him. She invited the "stranger" in for a meal. He had some tracts in his hand and left them in the central hallway leading away from the front door. He immediately sat at the table with Talmage and the missionaries. He conversed with Elder Talmage in a "strange" manner and seemed to not make sense to those in attendance in the manner and text to which they conversed. When the meal was over, the stranger excused himself and started for the front door. As sister Bean followed him to the front door, she noticed that the stranger had left his tracts. She retrieved them from the little table and as she turned to hand them to him, he was ascending up through the ceiling over the FRONT DOOR. That very door that you talked about. She had been in the presence of the Savior himself!
I think I told you this story when we visited you last summer. She also tells the story of the time that a local minister came by with some friends to "visit" her and her Book of Mormon and to see the Smith Cabin. She had her children with her. As they entered the cabin, she got this terrible foreboding feeling about them. They didn't really want to visit, they wanted to rail on her and the Church and take the vintage the BoM. She immidiately went up into the gantry room for refuge and told them to leave. She felt Satin's dark presense in that home and through prayer, rebuked the Evil One.
Elder Bill and Sister Carol
ReplyDeleteHere is the second part
When Pres. Hinckley came to dedicate the Grandin Press Building and some other places in the area, the missionaries where told to ready the Smith Cabin as the Prophet would dedicate that as well. The cabin was not even completely built then and was about 12 miles away in a Mennonite man's field. They share the labor with local craftsmen so as not to offend any one group. The Mennonite man was informed that they needed that cabin immediately. He said that wasn't possible in that the field that it was located in was soggy and very muddy. He said a truck could not be driven out into it or the truck would sink. The Church said they had to have it and he said "ain't gonna happen!" All in the Mission prayed earnestly that night that something would happen to facilitate the movement of that cabin. Incidently, all the materials for that cabin came from the Sacred Grove except the shingles which came from Canada. That night a massive cold front came through and froze that field as solid as an oak plank. The cabin was retrieved and taken to the exact site and reassembled. When Pres. Hinckley and his entourage were arriving, the young Elders were still nailing the shingles on. There were 12 young missionaries working to haul, place and nail the shingles on that roof. Of Note: This reminds me (on a very small scale) of the night the Lord froze the Mississippi River in February of 1846 so the Saints could leave the exiled City of Nauvoo. Six ferried wagons a day was not enough to keep the mobs away from the torment and vile treatment that these beleaguered Saints had to endure. In my opinion, that is in no way any less of a miracle as the parting of the Red Sea, The Seagulls, Manna, and you name it down through the centuries!
Well here's the next miracle. When President Hinckley was coming to dedicated the structures, there was terrible storm coming to the Buffalo/Rochester area. They were telling everyone to batten down the hatches and brace for a terrific storm. As the weatherman was explaining his forcast on the ten o'clock news, he stopped dead in his tracks. He noted a phenomenon around the Palmyra area as "completely unexplainable" that there was a clear area just over the Palmyra Township. He couldn't understand it! The next day, the weather at the time of the Prophet's visit was 55 degrees at the 2pm dedication. There was about 500 people in attendance from the area. There are pictures of folks with there shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbows sitting on 3 foot snow banks(on blankets) awaiting the dedication of the Smith Cabin. As soon as the service/dedication was over and the Prohet and his party were leaving, the wind began to howl, the storm set in and it dropped to 22 degrees within the hour. Now, you explain that! Do you think that the whole mission's fasting and prayer had something to do with the weather?
Remind me to tell you about how they found the "EXACT" site of the Smith Cabin after BYU Archeoligists failed to find it!
My cousin was the Branch President there. Then he was the Mission District President, Stake President and then Regional Representative. He was the the only other person on the stand when Pres. McKay dedicated the entire area of Palmyra, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, etc. for the work that you see there today. Does he have some stories!!!
Milt Davies
I was thinking the same thing, that Joseph walked right through that door. How neat! Keep posting, I am having fun seeing all the neat projects ou are both working on.
ReplyDeleteKelsey
Oh and the stories that your friend posted above in the comments are pretty amazing!
ReplyDelete