Growth rings mark history
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President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency, took more than just a memory home with him from a visit this past weekend to the Hill Cumorah and area Church sites near this village in upstate New York.
Missionaries in the New York Rochester Mission presented the First Presidency, through President Hinckley, with a cross-section of a tree cut down in the Sacred Grove. The tree is more than 370 years old.The "tree trophy," as it is known by the missionaries, has had engraved on it key U.S. historic events and Church events that correspond with dates shown on the tree's growth ring. One of the events is the appearance of God the Father and Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith in 1820 in the Sacred Grove, near the Smith farmhouse.
The American birch tree dates back to 1602 and was cut in 1972. The trophy measures 36 inches in diameter.
The presentation was made in the Canadaigua Ward meetinghouse during a mission conference attended by President Hinckley. Pres. Richard Christensen presides over the New York Rochester Mission.
While in New York, President Hinckley and his wife, Marjorie, also attended the opening performance July 22 of the newly revised pageant at the Hill Cumorah, "America's Witness for Christ." (Coverage of this year's pageant is on page 6.)
In addition, President Hinckley presided at a Sunday morning service on the Hill Cumorah July 24.
The service was also attended by Sister Hinckley, and by Elder Robert L. Backman of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Keith W. Wilcox of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Wilcox's wife, Nancy.
