Then Shall They Break Forth into Joy

Mounting a fireside is no easy task! First, we have to be sure everybody makes it onto the bus.

Vinton and Doug, our bus drivers

Then, because a choir, like an army, crawls on its stomach, everybody has to be fed.

The suitcases have to be schlepped into the building, along with tons and tons of sound equipment.

If we're lucky, there will be time for a little rest and relaxation.

There's always some last-minute trouble-shooting to be done . . .

. . . but Mr. Thornton has the knack of making us see it's all good.

Then it's time to tune the instruments and run the sound check.

All systems are go! The chaperones report to their stations. Sick bay! Clean-up! Programs!

Then shall their watchmen lift up their voice, and with the voice together shall they sing . . . Then shall they break forth into joy! (3 Nephi 20)

Making Memories

More magic from Cayla!

Days Never to Be Forgotten

At the end of the tour, the choir was privileged to visit five sites sacred to our people and pivotal to the latter-day restoration of the gospel: the Peter Whitmer farm, the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, Kirtland, and the new, not-yet dedicated priesthood restoration site on the Susquehanna River.

We listened, we learned. We heard and bore testimony. And everywhere we went, we sang. 

The Sacred Grove

The frame home of Joseph Smith, Sr., in Palmyra

The Smiths' kitchen garden, planted each year in historic fidelity by the missionaries

Alvin Smith's grave in Palmyra

Hill Cumorah

The Kirtland Temple, owned and lovingly cared for
by the Community of Christ. At their request, we
refrained from taking pictures inside the temple.

The Newell K. Whitney store in Kirtland, where Joseph Smith opened
 the migration from Palmyra to Kirtland with the words,
"Newell K. Whitney, thou art the man!"

"These were days never to be forgotten!" --Oliver Cowdery

Niagara Falls

Formed by receding glaciers, the Niagara Falls are actually three waterfalls located on the Niagara river, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. The three falls have a combined flow rate of 75,000 gallons per second, the highest  rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate and vertical height.

What we learned riding the Maid of the Mist: the falls are also very wet.

As seen through the Cayla's eyes: