Day 1: Thursday June 17th, 2010

Today we started our adventure. We left my grandparents house at about 7:30am. My mom was a little nervous about starting the trip.

Grandma and Grandpa got up early to see us off.

About to start the journey to Nauvoo.

After about 8 hours of driving we arrived in Carthage, IL.

Joseph Smith was Martyred in Carthage jail on June 27th, 1844.

The mob stormed up these stairs and began trying to break the door down. This is the original door with the two bullet holes in them. They are the bullets that killed Hyrum Smith (Joseph's brother)

Once Hyrum was shot Joseph ran to the window crying "My Dear brother Hyrum." He was hit by two bullets in the back and two in the front that came from the window. He fell through the window and cealed his testimony with his blood.

A view from the outside of the jail. The top window is the one the picture above was taken in.

My sisters and I in front of the Brothers.

We all had a really great experience in Carthage. The spirit there was so special. As we drove the 30 min to Nauvoo we listened and sang a long to some of the greatest songs of the restoration (The Spirit of God, Praise to the Man, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief) and a new song for the youth 'Be Strong'. Music and lyrics can be so powerful and it brought the perfect spirit to be with us as we entered Nauvoo.

We got there around 6pm so we didn't have much time to see things. We looked around the visitors center and got a map to plan out the next day. We also watched a musical put on by the Young Performing Missionaries called "High Hopes and River Boats." It was really cute, it was a great introduction to the "City of Joseph, City Beautiful."