Attention Activity

Show the children two cans that are the same size but the labels are removed. 

I am planning on having chicken noodle soup after church today.  I cannot remember which can has the chicken noodle soup in it.  How can I found out without opening the cans? I really don’t want to waste food by opening both cans.  The cans look the same on the outside but on the inside they are really different!

Put the pictures of the churches on the cans.  There are many different churches in the world, many even look the same.  What makes the church different is what is in the inside.

When Joseph Smith was fourteen years old, he was confused about a choice he needed to make. He was trying to decide which church he should join. Other people tried to help him choose a church, but he only became more confused. He felt that he needed more information to make a wise decision: he wanted to know which church was true. Everyone wanted him to choose their church, but he did not know which church was the right choice.

Learning about Joseph Smith’s youth could help the children relate to him and prepare to learn from his experiences. Perhaps you can help them see how Joseph’s experiences as a boy prepared him to be a prophet of God.

Teach the children about Joseph Smith’s life and the events leading up to and including the First Vision, as described in Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26 and the following account. Show the map and the pictures at appropriate times.

Joseph Smith was born in 1805 in the state of Vermont

 (place the map marker on Vermont) in the United States of America. He was the fourth of nine children. His dad’s name was Joseph Smith Sr and his mother’s name was Lucy.

When Joseph was ten years old, he and his family moved to the state of New York, settling near the town of Palmyra (place the map marker on Palmyra). The Smith family was poor, and all the members of the family had to work hard to provide food and other necessities for the family. The family had moved many times before settling near Palmyra, where they found farmland on which crops would grow well.

Where did Joseph Smith’s family move after they left Vermont? Palmyra, New York.  Although the family moved from Vermont to New York to find a better place to farm, a more important reason for their move—a reason they did not know about—was so that Joseph could live close to the place where the gold plates were buried. In what ways might Heavenly Father direct our lives without our knowing about it?

Joseph did not have much opportunity to attend school, so he learned only the basics of reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. Joseph’s mother said that he seemed just like other boys his age until the time of his vision. She said he was quiet and well-mannered and liked to study and think about important things. He was a tall, athletic, cheerful boy who seldom got angry.

Joseph’s family loved God and wanted to keep his commandments. They read the Bible and prayed together often. Like Joseph, they were confused about which church was the true church of Jesus Christ. After Joseph received his first vision, his family believed him and supported him in the great work he was called to do.

This year we will be studying the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history. The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations, most of them given to the Prophet Joseph Smith by Jesus Christ. Many of the historical events that occurred during the early days of the Church were recorded by Joseph Smith himself in the section of the Pearl of Great Price entitled “Joseph Smith—History.” Help the children find this section in their copies of the Pearl of Great Price.

In 1820 preachers of different churches claimed to be the true church.  This was really confusing because some churches preached one thing while another church preached something completely different

.  At that time, the people living nearby were interested in religion and the ministers were out trying to get everyone to join their church. The ministers of the different churches held many meetings to explain their beliefs. Each minister said that his church was the right one and all the rest were wrong.

There was a fourteen year old boy, do you know a fourteen year old boy?  In 1820 there was a fourteen year old boy and he was really confused.  He had just moved to New York and with all the ministers of all the different churches saying that their church was true, he was confused. He did not know what church to join.  The boy was Joseph Smith and he wanted the find the true church. Because Joseph Smith wanted to know which church really was true, he went to several meetings of different religions. He found that each minister had different ideas about God and the scriptures. The churches looked the same on the outside but really different on the inside.

All these ideas and opinions confused Joseph. He wondered which of these churches were right or if they were all wrong.

Joseph Smith—History 1:10–19

Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers.

Bookmark

Give each child a bookmark to keep in their scriptures.  You may want to laminate it to make it more durable.

One day Joseph was reading the Bible and he came to James 1:5.  Have a child read James 1:5 aloud or read it aloud yourself.   “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”  What do you think it means to lack wisdom? (Make sure the children know that to lack wisdom means to not know or understand something.)  What does it mean to ask of God? (Pray to Heavenly Father.)

Reread the scripture. We can pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to help us understand and learn about something.

Joseph said later, “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine … I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did.”

Joseph thought about this and came to a decision, he had 2 choices.  The first choice was to never know what church to join or his second choice was to do as James directed and ask God.  If the scripture was true, then God would really give Joseph the answer to his question.  Joseph Smith decided to pray to God to see what church to join.  Joseph knew that he lacked wisdom. He was confused. He didn’t know which church was true, so he decided to do what the Bible says—pray to Heavenly Father.

Joseph Smith—History 1:17–19

Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Have a child read JS—H 1:14.   On a beautiful spring morning Joseph went into the woods by his home.  When he got to the perfect spot we looked around to make sure he was alone and he knelt down and prayed

.  Why do you think he wanted a place where he could be alone?  

The thing that happened next is really scary. Have a child read JS—H 1:15.  Joseph was overcome by a power that made it so he could not speak.  A thick darkness surrounded him

 and Joseph thought that he was going to die.  Where did this darkness come from? (JS—H 1:16.)

With all the strength that Joseph could muster, he called upon God to deliver him from this evil power.   What did Joseph learn about Satan and his power from this experience? What did he learn about Heavenly Father’s power? (It is greater than Satan’s power.) Why is it important for us to remember that Heavenly Father’s power is greater than Satan’s power?

Just as Joseph thought he was about to be destroyed he looked up and saw a pillar of light over his head.

Have a child read JS—H 1:17. Show picture 5-6, The First Vision.

The light was brighter than the sun.  The darkness lifted and Joseph was free from the darkness.

In the light Joseph saw two personages standing above him.  What did these personages look like? What did Heavenly Father say to Joseph? What did Joseph learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ from this vision? 

One of them, Heavenly Father, spoke and called Joseph by name. He said, pointing to the other Personage, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Joseph asked which of all the churches he should join.  The answer was that none of the churches were true, so he should join none of them. . Joseph learned that Jesus’ true Church was no longer on the earth.   Jesus said to Joseph “They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

Display the cans from the attention activity. None of the churches on the earth in Joseph Smith’s time was the right choice. Each of these churches had some good teachings, but none of them had the complete truth of the gospel.

Young Joseph was physically drained but spiritually enriched with exciting restored truth. He knew with certainty that God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, were real, for he had seen them. He knew that They are two separate, distinct individuals. He knew that no church on the face of the earth had the authority of the priesthood to act in the name of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Have you ever been persecuted for the things you believe? What have you done about it?

Ask two children to each read one of the following quotations:

Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church, said: “The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world, since the resurrection of the Son of God from the tomb and his ascension on high, was the coming of the Father and of the Son to that boy Joseph Smith. … Having accepted this truth, I find it easy to accept of every other truth that [Joseph Smith] … declared” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939], pp. 495–96).

Ezra Taft Benson, thirteenth President of the Church, taught us: “You should always bear testimony to the truth of the First Vision. Joseph Smith did see the Father and the Son. They conversed with him as he said they did” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], p. 101).

Why is it important to have a testimony of the First Vision?

The First Vision is the foundation of a testimony of the true church of Jesus Christ. Once we believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ actually appeared and talked to Joseph Smith, then we can be sure that everything else the Prophet taught or restored to us is also the truth.