a final visit to Palmyra, Dec. 2013

On my birthday, Dec. 5, we made our final visit to Palmyra.  Luckily, our last two weeks in the mission were unaffected by the polar vortex that hit right after we left New York. We took a final stroll through Sacred Grove and parts of the Joseph Smith farm.

 

When we entered the Joseph Smith Farm Visitor Center, Elder and Sister Poulson and Sisters Astorga and Sister Rippstein surprised me by singing "Happy Birthday". How we will miss not only the sacred sites, but our associations with wonderful junior and senior missionaries.

We took a few photos inside the visitor's center, to capture a picture for our Christmas card.

The building you see through the window of the Visitor's Center is a replica of the Joseph Smith Log Home. It recently got a new roof, hence the bright color, which will fade with time.

Next, Sister Astorga (from Guatemala) and Sister Rippstein (from Texas) gave us our final tour of the Joseph Smith Log Home.  This has been one of the highlights of our mission, getting to know such wonderful young missionaries. The Sister missionaries serve for 18 months, and can now serve at age 19. They do such a fine job teaching others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been restored upon the earth.