Dominos

*As you talk about each person hold up the domino with their picture on it.  When you are finished talking about them place them on end just far enough apart so that if one is knocked down, it will knock down the next one.

Samuel Smith, the First Missionary

Samuel Smith

 was one of Joseph Smith’s younger brothers. He was the first person to be baptized after Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and was one of the six original members of the Church. He was also one of the Eight Witnesses. Soon after the Church was organized, Samuel Smith became the first full-time traveling missionary. Samuel, who was twenty-two years old, took several copies of the Book of Mormon and started out on foot to preach the gospel.

He walked twenty-five miles the first day and stopped at many houses to teach the people about the Church. But the people treated him unkindly and did not listen to him. When night came he stopped at an inn and tried to sell a book to the innkeeper. When the man heard that the Book of Mormon was translated from gold plates, he shouted, “You liar! Get out of my house” (quoted in Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, p. 169). Sad and discouraged, Samuel spent the night sleeping on the ground under a tree.

The next day Samuel came to the house of John P. Greene

, a minister in another church. Mr. Greene did not want to buy a book, but he said he would try to find someone who did. Samuel came back to Mr. Greene’s house a few weeks later and found that no books had been sold. But the Spirit told him to give a book to Rhoda Greene

, John’s wife, and ask her to pray to find out if the book was true. Mr. and Mrs. Greene read the Book of Mormon and were converted. Earlier Samuel had sold a book to Rhoda Greene’s brother, Phineas Young

. He read it and believed it was true, and he gave his copy to his younger brother, Brigham Young

, who also read and believed it. Brigham Young then passed the book on, and eventually it reached Heber C. Kimball

. Within two years these people and their families all became members of the Church, thanks to the Book of Mormon and the missionary efforts of Samuel Smith (see enrichment activity 4). Later, these men became leaders in the Church.

Hyrum Smith Meets Parley P. Pratt

Doctrine and Covenants 11 contains a revelation that was given through Joseph Smith to his brother Hyrum. In this revelation Hyrum was told to seek wisdom, teach people to repent, and study the gospel (see D&C 11:7, 9, 20–22).

One evening as Hyrum Smith

was herding his cows home, a stranger approached him and asked where he might find Joseph Smith, the translator of the Book of Mormon. Hyrum told the man that Joseph lived about a hundred miles away but he was his brother. He invited the man to come in. The man’s name was Parley P. Pratt

, and he was a preacher for another church. He told Hyrum that he had obtained a copy of the Book of Mormon and had stayed up all night reading it. Parley had read the Book of Mormon completely in one week and knew it was true, and he wanted to learn more about the Church. Hyrum spent all night teaching Parley the gospel and bearing his testimony. A few days later Parley and Hyrum walked twenty-five miles to have Oliver Cowdery baptize Parley. Parley then went to visit relatives. Soon his brother, Orson Pratt

, was baptized. Both Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt later became leaders in the Church.

Hyrum Smith was not serving an official mission when he taught Parley P. Pratt the gospel. How can you share the gospel with people you know right now? (Answers may include telling people about the Church, inviting people to Church meetings, and setting a good example through righteous behavior.)

The Mission to the American Indians

About six months after the Church was organized, four men—Oliver Cowdery

, Parley P. Pratt

, Peter Whitmer Jr.

and Ziba Peterson

—were called to preach the gospel to the American Indians living near the Missouri border (see D&C 32). These missionaries walked more than 1,500 miles during their missions.

They first visited the Indians on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Buffalo, New York. Then they traveled through the state of Ohio, where Parley P. Pratt had been a preacher. The men stopped to visit Sidney Rigdon

, another preacher Parley knew in Kirtland, Ohio. Parley told Sidney about the gospel, and Sidney read the Book of Mormon and was converted to the Church. He and Parley Pratt taught the gospel to his followers and were able to baptize almost the entire congregation. The branch in Kirtland soon became one of the strongest branches of the Church and later became the Church headquarters.

The missionaries left Kirtland in the middle of winter and traveled through snow and ice toward other Indian tribes. They were joined by Frederick G. Williams

, a new convert from Kirtland.

The missionaries reached Independence, Missouri, in February. Three of them traveled farther west to visit the Delaware Indians. The leader of these Indians, Chief Anderson

, called a meeting of all the chiefs of his people. Oliver Cowdery told the chiefs about the Book of Mormon. Chief Anderson was thankful to the missionaries for coming so far to tell them about the book. He wanted his people to hear about this book that was a record of their ancestors, the Lamanites. But missionaries of other churches were jealous and asked the United States government to keep the Latter-day Saint missionaries out of the Indian territory. The elders were soon forced to leave Chief Anderson’s people. They returned to Independence and taught white settlers in that area.

These five missionaries opened the way for the Church to move westward. The area around Independence, Missouri, soon became another gathering place for members of the Church.

Object Lesson