The youthful prophet received many visions through the medium of “Urim and Thummim”—sometimes a seer stone and, more particularly, the Nephite interpreters. Both of these instruments apparently operated in much the same spiritual manner, and through them Joseph received an undetermined number of visions in addition to the translation of the Book of Mormon. The young prophet obtained a seer stone, described as dark brown in color, while digging a well for Willard Chase around 1822.1

Noelle Pikus-Pace posted photos of her brand new baby boys on Facebook Tuesday, saying that little Payton and Makai are healthy and doing well.

We are praying for Bishop Wells and his family.

There is a wonderful story told about President Gordon B. Hinckley regarding the importance of working hard on his mission: “I was not well when I arrived. Those first few weeks, because of illness and the opposition which we felt, I was discouraged. I wrote a letter home to my good father and said that I felt I was wasting my time and his money. He was my father and my stake president, and he was a wise and inspired man. He wrote a very short letter to me which said, ‘Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself and go to work.’ Earlier that morning in our scripture class my companion and I had read these words of the Lord: ‘Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.’ (Mark 8:35.)

Charity Tillemann-Dick is an accomplished speaker, presenter, and soprano singer. She has performed in prestigious concert halls across Europe, Asia, and America in front of celebrities, presidents, and world dignitaries. In 2004, Charity was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition that causes the arteries in the lungs to harden, forcing the heart to work harder and harder to pump blood throughout the body. Left untreated, Charity was not expected to live longer than five years. But since her diagnosis, Charity has received two double lung transplants and continues to speak, sing and perform across the country.

I’d like to kick the year off with a bit of an introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants, along with some links and suggested reading that will enhance your lesson preparation or participation. Then I’d like to discuss three common ways of reading the scripture. This year holds some important and dramatic differences from any previous cycle through this curriculum. The primary distinction is the availability of the work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. While Revelations and Translations, Volume 1 (R1) and Volume 2 (R2) (reviewed here and here) are tremendously important, even key to a serious approach to the revelation texts, the Joseph Smith Papers website is almost overwhelming in its documentary and contextual goodness (http://josephsmithpapers.org/). For example, it has the earliest revelation texts in the documents section, the manuscript and published revelations collections in the revelations section, and biographical sketches of all those mentioned in the supplemental materials.

Brent

“How do you teach the concept of consent to your children? That ‘no’ means ‘no,’ that our bodies are sacred and private, and that a child’s comfort and discomfort are important?”

"Rise Up and Speak" features 52 of Eliza R. Snow’s most powerful and timeless discourses.

First and last words have always intrigued me. Their positioning adds a dimension of importance. The first and last words of Jesus in the Gospel of John are questions—very relevant questions for us all, very simple questions, which is wonderful to me. Let’s look at Jesus’s first three words. John the Baptist was standing with John the Beloved and Andrew by the Jordan River just north of the Dead Sea when Jesus walked by, drawing from the Baptist the words, “Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?” (John 1:36–38; emphasis added).