Cool Experience (YC 4)

The Second day was started at the Sacred Grove. I went with a different group from the van ride and was in charge of six girls. I didn’t know any of them, but I saw two of the girls walking slowly and asked if I could join them. They said the Grove looked creepy and they weren’t sure if they wanted to go in. I ignored them and rolled my eyes. The trees were bare and the only color was the gray of the trees and the brown of the dirt path. I stopped to read little signs along the way and they would keep going. I felt bad for these girls. They didn’t grasp how fortunate they were. We walked for a while, with them saying things like ‘did you hear that scary bird?’ or ‘look at that creepy tree.’ After a while, selfishly, I said, “Man, we are so lucky to be here.” They looked at me questioningly, so I continued, “in the scriptures when people say the Lord appeared to them, it’s Jesus Christ. But here of all places is where God the father appeared. The two most holy beings appeared right here in this grove of trees, and we get to be here in this holy place.” This is all true, but I mostly said it so they would respect the fact that I wanted to be here, and maybe they would stop calling it scary and appreciate it. We walked in silence for a short while, when I saw a snake. (snakes have a very sacred and personal meaning to me) I wasn’t sure if I should tell them because it might scare them, but I did. They thought it was so cool, and this surprised me. Their whole attitude had changed. I said, “In all the pictures, it shows leaves and lots of green, but it’s early spring right now. This is probably how it looked for Joseph Smith.” They started looking at the Grove in a different way. I actually heard one of them say, ‘did you hear that cool bird.’ Their opinion of the Grove took a 180 degree turn. The rest of the time spent in the Grove was wonderful. We appreciated the beauty of the feelings we had while in there. We continued on to the Joseph Smith farm and they loved it. They read every plaque and wanted to know all they could. A friend came up from a different group, and I thought ‘oh great, now they’ll get all cool again’ the friend said, “Let’s go find so-and-so.” They said, “Actually we want to go in this house, let’s go read the sign about it first.” I was so impressed with these girls. When we came to Joseph Smith’s cabin, the lady working there said, “The angle Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith upstairs.” We went up and the girls said, “Wow, an Angel was in this room.” They were pumped. It was awesome! We went to the printing press and they seemed interested and positive. They were picturing what it would be like to be there while the Book of Mormon was being printed. I thought it was interesting and amazing to see these things I’ve only heard in stories. Next we went to the Temple. One of the two girls I had spent the morning with couldn’t go in ‘I’m inactive’ she said. The attitude from the morning started to make sense. We went to the Hill Cumorah next, but I didn’t see them because we met up with all the other groups there. They met up with their friends, and I met up with mine. The next day was testimony meeting and we had it in the Sacred Grove. Michelle, the one of the two girls that wasn’t inactive bore her testimony. She talked about a dream she had where there was a fire and all she could see was the temple. That was the first time she felt the spirit. It had been a while since that and she was starting to doubt the church. She came to the youth conference to be with her friends, but she said that when she was in the Grove, she felt the spirit again and she knew that it was true. This brought tears to my eyes that I was able to see that transformation happen. She said that she was, for the first time, excited to go to church the next day. I marvel at the spirit and how its’ influence can change people. How grateful I am for that experience.