# 6 Go to Liberty Jail

note: This was written on Monday morning but I was not able to get pictures to load.

For those of you that are not familiar with the history of our church you might find this one a tad strange. I don't want to actually spend time in jail, I want to visit the place where the prophet Joseph Smith spent four months with 4 other men.

And I went. Last night. Despite the obstacles that stood in our way.

We left Enon, Ohio around 8 a.m. yesterday with plans to arrive in Independence at around 5 p.m. On the way we had terrible weather with high windstorms and tons of rain. We stopped for a break about 2 hours outside of Kansas City and witnessed two car accidents. One of which flipped three times and I saw one of the guys fly out the window. I thought for sure he was going to be dead but all three of those young men got up and walked away. Amazing. But since we had seen it we felt we should stick around to make sure they were okay.

So by the time we roll into Independence it's 8:15 at night. The visitor center to the Liberty Jail closes at 9 p.m. and we still have to drive north to Liberty. We start going and realize the weather is getting worse. It's dark out and the directions we had said we should have already arrived and we hadn't seen the street yet. We finally get there and it's 20 minutes until closing. We get out of the car and realize that it's snowing. And we still have to drive back to Independence where we will be spending the night. So we are feeling pretty rushed.

We get inside and all that goes away. The older gentleman missionary had a huge smile on his face welcoming us. He made us feel immediately like they had all the time in the world for us. A sister missionary took us in to see the Liberty Jail and the spirit was so strong as she bore witness of the sacrifices the prophet made for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the sacrifices that our Savior has made for us as well, even his own life. I felt as if I was on holy ground. It was a beautiful place to be. I loved that Makenzie could experience the spirit there and also see this sister missionary. I know all my girls want to serve missions yet where we live we don't see sister missionaries so it's almost been this foreign concept to them. Something they know they can do but have never seen done besides pictures from their aunt and mom. So I was so happy that she had this experience.



I've had some people ask me why do I have the Liberty Jail on my list and not Carthage where the prophet was shot and killed? It made me really think about it. When I first made my list it was right there at the top of things that I wanted to do. I've always wanted to visit there. And I know why. The first girlfriend of mine that ever served a mission was Tara Olsen. We grew up in Coos Bay together and she was a couple years older than me. She decided to serve a mission and she was the first sister missionary that I knew personally. She was called to the Liberty Jail visitor center. She would write me letters and tell me how amazing it was and share her testimony with me. At that time in my life I was struggling not so much with whether the church was true or not but with doing the right things in my life. Her letters were a huge push to keep me doing the right things. I felt the spirit of that place, in a small Missouri town through letters.

And last night I got to be there and feel that spirit even more. It's a beautiful place and I hope all of you can experience it sometime in your life.