I really loved our trip to Utah a couple of weeks ago. Harvey and I took Matt to EFY at BYU-Idaho and stayed the week with Harry and Rhonda in Brigham City. We always enjoy visiting there. Matt had a wonderful time and Josh, Harvey, and I spent our days kicking around Zion viewing all of the traditional and some of the non-traditional sites. The highlight for me was our trip to Gilgal, one of my very, very favorite Salt Lake stops.
Gilgal began as an attempt for Brother Thomas Child to try to visually express his testimony. Child was a bishop of one of the Salt Lake wards for many years. He reared a large family and lived in the same house all of his marriage. The two things he was most thankful for were his testimony of the gospel and that he was taught his trade which enabled him to care for his family. He was a stone worker and brick mason. On the lot behind his house, he began bringing large boulders in from the mountains and carving them into visual testimonies. The most famous piece is the very prominent "Joseph Smith Sphinx" which is in the center of what is now a well kept garden. Child's inspiration was Brigham Young's statement that Joseph, "Expelled the Egyptian darkness and brought earth up to heaven and heaven down to earth."
There are many more equally fascinating offerings. I will post pictures and would love to take any of you for a tour of Gilgal.
2 comments:
hmmmm..... interesting
Ditto Liza's comment. Our particular branch of the Reed family has been raised to be highly suspicious of anything remotely unconventional. (Which makes us all a little boring, I suppose.) We appreciate the efforts of the more adventurous members of the clan who allow us to live vicariously through them.
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