Winter Quarters

We took a quick family trip to see the church historical sites at Winter Quarters. I truly believe the hand of God was evident in this trip. The flight to Omaha looked great until the day before and then, suddenly, there were barely enough seats for our family. It was worrisome but I prayed and felt really good. The morning we were leaving I checked the seats again and found more seats had opened up. I've never seen that happen before (usually they only decrease). I knew the Lord had answered my prayer. Another small miracle was that the minivan rental cost decreased $20 from when I checked to when I booked it. Yippee!

We got to Omaha and picked up our minivan and drove straight to the Mormon Trail Center. We enjoyed a film. The kids tried their hands at packing a wagon for the journey. We toured the visitor's center and learned lots. This statue is outside the Mormon Trail Center.

Next we drove to the Kanesville Tabernacle where Brigham Young was sustained as prophet. Again we watched a film and learned quite a bit. I knew there was a gap between Joseph's death and Brigham being sustained as prophet but then I thought it happened quickly after that. I didn't realize there was a big gap between Brigham's death and John Taylor being sustained and then another gap between his death and Wilford Woodruff being sustained.

The Tabernacle from the back and a few shots from the inside:




The Tabernacle was built for the express purpose of sustaining the Prophet. Brigham Young was actually in the Salt Lake Valley but most of the Saints were still at Winter Quarters. The largest building only held about 100 people and they felt that more people should have the opportunity to be there to sustain the new President of the Church so the Tabernacle was built to hold 1000 people. Brigham Young returned for the sustaining vote. Here is the first presidency of Willard Richards, Brigham Young, and Heber C. Kimball.

In downtown Omaha there is a block where statues of wagons circle the block. Here's a few of them.



The highlight of the trip for me was going to the Winter Quarters Temple where the kids did baptisms for the dead. I love the temple!