Day 1- Johnson Family Farm

Thanks to my mothers near miraculous deal finding gifts($5 per flight. Seriously) my Mom, Dad, Sister Sarah and I find ourselves on a last minute family/church history trip to the significant church history sites on the east coast. Since we only really started planning the trip less than two weeks ago we're learning as we go about not only church history but how our family history intersects with it. Because of the way plane tickets worked out we won't be going chronologically so after a stop-over in Chicago we set down in Cleveland Ohio and booked it out to the Johnson Family farm not far from Kirtland.

We didn't have any significant family ties to the Farm so I'll just go over a little history.

The Johnson Farm was the site of one of the few appearances of both the Father and the Son during the Restoration as recorded in D&C 76(the incredible revelation on the plan of salvation and the three kingdoms of glory) as well as the place of the first recorded healing miracle by the Prophet. One of the sons of the Johnson family, after reading the Book of Mormon, eagerly recounted his conversion to his skeptical family. Perhaps impressed by his earnestness, they felt enough interest to ask a local pastor what he thought of it. Pastor Ezra Booth obtained a copy of the Book of Mormon and with his wife brought it over to the Johnson Farm to see what truth it contained. The two families read through the night but despite feeling that it was true weren't certain. Upon hearing that the Prophet Joseph was preaching nearby they paid him a visit. 

Mother Johnson had rheumatic pain in her arm that acted up constantly with all the house work required of an early 1800's house-keeper. Upon meeting the Prophet she asked him if it could be healed. He responded by asking her if she had the faith to be healed by him acting as the Lord's instrument and she said yes. He gave her a special blessing and she was healed. I can imagine the excitement these early church members must have felt. A prophet was among them and miracles had returned to the earth. A great work was coming and they had been invited to push it forward. I hope to capture that feeling of newness, of grandeur and of eager anticipation as I go about those church activities that so often seem day to day.

 As we walked through that small farm house I felt a similar anticipation for the rest of this trip. Countless saints lived countless stories of faith in the places we will be visiting and left behind a legacy that can inspire all of us to do the same.