Church History Road Trip- Intermission and Reflection

Before I go on with pictures and stories, I'm going to share my thoughts on the pioneers and a few things I learned.
I can't remember every name I heard, or every story, but I will always remember the hard things the early saints went through. Hard things. Hard! I wouldn't want to spend ten minutes in Liberty Jail; I can't imagine what four months would be like. The distance they walked felt far even at 75 mph. Nauvoo is so beautiful. They worked so hard. And then they left, walking away from their temple. But they were strong. They left willingly. Because they had to. I feel such incredible admiration for them. I learned the names of my pioneer ancestors. I hope I can have a portion of the faith and courage they had.

We were able to do baptisms in the temple on Wednesday morning. I learned two things while in the temple. First, even though the temple's appearance was different from our temple here, the same words were said. The Spirit was still the same feeling. This taught me that the decor and the location and the actual structure are not what make the temple what it is. It's the gospel and the things we do inside. That was why the saints could leave. They knew that they could build another temple that would be just as meaningful.
The second thing I learned was greater reverence and respect of the temple. I realized that I was so familiar with our temple that I was almost casual while inside. I spent six years seeing it every day. I've done baptisms regularly for five years. I'm always reverent, but sometimes in a casual way. In the Nauvoo temple, everyone spoke in whispers, and only when it was necessary. The attitude of everyone, even when silent, was one of reverence. I felt the Spirit on a more personal level and found my thoughts naturally stayed away from worldly things. I want to bring that same attitude and deeper feeling of reverence back with me. Basically, I learned that reverence is not just speaking quietly and walking slowly; it's a complete attitude. "Reverence is more than just quietly sitting. It's thinking of Father above." Have I already forgotten what I learned in primary?