How Great the Passion

Last night I booked a tour to tour Winter Quarters this morning.  It wasn’t anything like what I had imagined.  Oh, but Elder Anderson shared his testimony through his passion of explaining historic moments through paintings and artifacts.  I think he was a little frustrated that I was not as live as he.  My laptop rarely gets turned on anymore, because it is always such an ordeal as though I am using AOL dialup (that is a reference to old school internet) and overall prefer my PC which does not include camera or microphone and so I have to use the chat box.  Of course my fingers don’t fly as quickly as my tongue.

I’d been introduced to Zoom almost four years ago when I started taking classes online. But I have never used Google Meet until this morning and didn’t know where the chat was located.  As I was searching, I inadvertently chose the closed caption and it played as I took screenshots of various pics – none which I might choose to keep if it weren’t for the captions which are more meaningful than the pictures.  Some of the captions don’t really go with the pictures that I took but are continued from something we just saw or where we are headed.

Elder Anderson would often focus on that which
was meaningful but did not "zoom" as well from
my perspective and often came out blurry

The weird brush-looking thing above is used for splicing tares from plants to make threads for sewing

Brigham Young's violin

More explanation of the Mormon Battalion – though not as much detail.  I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that the white band was the most important part of the uniform.  The soldier’s HAD to wear the white band.  Rather than don themselves with the uniform in it’s entirety (blue uniforms pictured within frame to the right) money was sent to the pioneers in winter quarters

Elder Anderson focused on the dirt road and pointed
out a spot to represent where the Mormon Trail Center
(Winter Quarter Museum) is located.

 I thought the tour would include more outdoors than it did.  Truth is we never even left the building.  He pointed out the temple and the cemetery across the parking lot.  He even pointed out a man who was mowing the lawn, but the pictures were so distorted I couldn’t see much of what he was telling me about.

I took several pictures of this same replica as he said to me “You may want to write this down” – oh, as though I can write that fast.  I waited for words to move and took several screenshots as he spoke.  It was interesting but I know I wouldn’t have been able to write down even a fourth of it.

This was Orson Hyde's printing press
or at least a replica of it

The captions are still about the printing press though the subject had moved to blacksmiths and carpentry

I’m not certain who this rifle belonged to.  He talks about Jonathan Browning pistols and rifles in the picture but caption did not come until the screenshot below

He would zoom in on the maps and other features that would either blur or pick reflection.  I had laughed at the armature filming knowing fully well that I would have probably done worse.  Bless those missionaries who may have never had to work with modern technology before

 I also had many pics of this area as Elder Anderson explained the roles of Brigham Young and those circled in the chart to his right (well, Brigham Young’s left, our right) but kept many of the same picture with the different captions

This is an example of the blurriness that just didn’t convey through to my end.  Though Elder Anderson may have been frustrated at times not knowing I was still with him, I am grateful he could not hear me laugh as I know it must have sounded disrespectful.  Of course I would have muted my mike if I had made that option.  But I am not disrespectful about anything he said.

This is what was on the screen when Jenna came in to ask if I would like to take a walk with her and Bonnie.  She asked me if we had been there before.  I said the layout looked a lot like the Church Museum in Salt Lake City – and so did many of the displays.  But I really did love Elder Anderson’s enthusiasm as he shared his love and gratitude for the pioneers and the many sacrifices that were made.

I love Elder Anderson's tender explanation as
he zoomed on this part of the painting

 

I didn’t realize until the end I had gone through my screenshots that I made the connection of having a view of the Nauvoo Temple when I started the tour and ended up at the Salt Lake Temple (or what represented the Salt Lake Temple) Elder Anderson had summarized Pres. Gordon Hinckley’s quote on bookends but I did not make the connection right away.  

  “Today, facing west, on the high bluff overlooking the city of Nauvoo, thence across the Mississippi, and over the plains of Iowa, there stands Joseph’s temple, a magnificent house of God. Here in the Salt Lake Valley, facing east to that beautiful temple in Nauvoo, stands Brigham’s temple, the Salt Lake Temple. They look toward one another as bookends between which there are volumes that speak of the suffering, the sorrow, the sacrifice, even the deaths of thousands who made the long journey from the Mississippi River to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.”  - Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, “O That I Were an Angel, and Could Have the Wish of Mine Heart”, Conference October 2002 (here)

When COVID hit all of the church’s historical sites were shut down, but they now offer virtual tours for everybody.  Tours are offered in many languages.  Please go to this site to sign on.  Pick a language and find your options.  Have fun.