New York trip--part IV, the Hill Cumorah

While in New York, we took time to visit all the historical sites for the LDS Church. Both Dave and I have been before but wanted to take the boys and give them the opportunity, although they're both very young, to feel the spirit and the history of the early days of our church.

 

The first site we visited was the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the Angel Moroni after 4 years of instruction and growth.

 The Church has built this beautiful monument at the top of the hill. I thought it was especially gorgeous with all the fall mums and foliage around it.

 Jed brought his minion along and they both had a grand time exploring things.

 Around the bottom of the monument are carved some of the important events in our church's early history--this one depicts the three witnesses, with Joseph Smith, being shown the gold plates by the Angel Moroni.

 This one is the 8 witnesses seeing the gold plates. The testimonies of both groups of men are written at the front of the Book of Mormon, which was translated by Joseph Smith from the gold plates.

 The third side of the monument is a verse from the end of the Book of Mormon, typically called the Exhortation of Moroni, which urges the reader of the Book of Mormon to pray and gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the book.

 The front of the monument shows Joseph Smith receiving the gold plates from Moroni.

 The top of the monument, which shows the Angel Moroni with the gold plates. I LOVE how blue the sky was the day we were there! I really enjoyed visiting the Hill Cumorah again--there is such a peace there, and I always feel such awe, thinking of all the history it has seen.

 It is a Scherbel family tradition to roll down the Hill. Jed wasn't really good at rolling down, which is why it looks like Dave is torturing him, but once he got the hang of it, he had a blast.

 You can see, it's a pretty steep hill! I stayed at the top with Hank, who was in his stroller. What a wild ride that would have been!

 Jed finally got the hang of rolling down and had a great time.

After we got done on top of the hill, we went down to the visitors' center located at the bottom. Hank enjoyed rolling around on the grass on a much smaller hill with Dave and Jed. We enjoyed the beautiful exhibits inside and talked with the sister missionaries as well. It was wonderful!