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Hill Cumorah Pageant

After a very long hiatus of more than a decade, this year we suddenly decided to embark on a quick pilgrimage to the Hill Cumorah to watch the famous pageant and to visit the surrounding historical sites.  Our original plans to go the week before with friends fell through due to a cacophony of overloaded schedules.  Nevertheless, this week we finally realized our dream of journeying to the place of the Restoration of the gospel.  And although the travel there was met with a long and arduous traffic jam in Harrisburg, we did arrive before dark in Egypt, NY, where we checked into our motel.  Luckily the rest was all worth the trip.

The night was very frigid for a July evening, but the air was buzzing with excitement for the pageant.  We arrived an hour before the pageant and had time to blend in and pose with the amiable actors.



Here we are at the base of Hill Cumorah right before the pageant with the lighted stages in back of us.


At the beginning of the show, the scene was spectacular.  The whole show was amazing.


The next morning, we drove into downtown Palmyra, near the corner of the famous 4 churches.  Near that intersection, there is a sign that reads: "4 miles south: CUMORAH, famous Mormon hill and Angel Moroni monument."



One of the 4 churches at the intersection of downtown Palmyra is the Presbyterian Church, established in 1832.


Inside the Grandin Print Shop, the tour guide shows a copy of the original Book of Mormon.  Two of the original 5000 copies of the first printing by Grandin still exists in this shop.  One of them is in the viewing case below.



In the attic bedroom of the Smith log home, we met two sister missionaries: Sister Lau and Sister Su.


We strolled through the Sacred Grove.


In the Smith frame house, the gold plates were once hidden under the bricks at the fireplace.  At the back of the frame house, Joshua is admiring the water well, used to retrieve water from the underground spring.  To the side of the house, we pose in front of the imposing tree.  Finally, Joshua is standing in the threshing barn in front of the frame house.



We drove by the front of the Palmyra Temple with its small frame but beautiful composure.



Finally, we climbed up the footpath to see the Angel Moroni monument which overlooks the Hill Cumorah.  Joshua demonstrates how to stay on the footpath as the guide observes.



We had a very quick but meaningful journey to New York.  It was a great blessing to leave the drudgery of every day monotony (work) to see things which are of great value in the eternal scheme of things.

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