A walk with Joseph Smith

Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files

Introduction – In the Chapel

Opening exercises in chapel.  Young Women’s President introduces the evening:
 

We would like to welcome everyone to a very special fireside this evening.  Throughout the evening you will become more acquainted with the prophet Joseph Smith.  You will see what he saw and hear what he heard.  Our prayer is that you feel just a piece of the tremendous spirit he had.

The evening will begin with an opening song, Hymn 26, Joseph Smith’s First Prayer.  I would like to thank ________ playing the piano  and ____________ directing the music tonight.  The opening prayer will be offered by ___________

You will then hear from from Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith.  Following her remarks, you will follow Brother _________ (guide) for a Walk with Joseph Smith.

Congregation sings Hymn 26 
 

 A woman dressed as Lucy Mack Smith shares her perspective of her son’s life as a Prophet of God. (Click here for a copy of her script)

Room #1 – The Confusion Room

SETUP: This was in one section of the cultural hall.  We had 4 men set up as preachers.  We used a couple of pulpits, a box to stand on, and one was just standing on the floor.  We brought in “extras” to be the townspeople, all dressed in pioneer clothes.  One preacher was baptizing people by sprinkling water on them.  Another was healing people.  All were yelling and loud.  The people were shouting “Hallelujah” and “ Praise Be!”

(Narrator leads group into first cultural hall.  All participants are quiet and still.  Narrator reads from passage below.  Then room comes alive with noises and confusion.  Narrator slowly leads group past the preachers and out the far door)

Joseph Smith History  1:5

5          Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion.   It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country.  Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying,” Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!”  Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.

6          . . . for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued – priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely  lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions.

10        In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done?  Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together?   If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know?

Room #2 – The Sacred Grove

SETUP - The light in the room was dimmed.  Only ambient light was used scattered throughout the trees of the grove.  One corner of room was set up with a small table and cloth.  On the table were a candle and a large Bible.  In the other corner of the room was the grove.  We used many fake plants and trees of various sizes to create this.  For the bright light we attached a bright halogen work lamp to one of the trees.  It was plugged into a power strip hidden on the floor by where Joseph would kneel.  At the appropriate time, Joseph would secretly flip on the power strip thus turning on the bright light.

(Narrator leads group into room # 8.   Music, Oh How Lovely Was The Morning, is playing softly in the background.  Narrator reads from the passage below.  As narrator reads, young Joseph is reading from Bible in corner of room.  Joseph puts Bible down and slowly walks toward the grove of trees.  He kneels down and bows his head.  A bright light appears.  Joseph looks up.)

Joseph  Smith History  ( Joseph reading from Bible)

11        While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads, “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.”

12        Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine.  It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart.  I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know ; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passage of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

14        So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of god, I retired to the woods to make the attempt.  It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.  It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.

( Joseph puts Bible down, and walks over to trees)

15        After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having  looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.

( Joseph kneels down and bows his head)

16        . . . I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

( Joseph looks up)

17        It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.  When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other,” This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him !"
 

Room #3 – Translating the Plates

SETUP - We used the primary room and made one half be Room #3, and the other half be Room #4.  For the translating we used a classroom table with a partition in the middle. and a candle on either side.  Someone in our ward has actually crafted a replica of the golden plates.  So we had that on the table.  The lights in the room were completely off.  We used a dual, free standing, halogen construction lamp, and lit up one “Room” at a time.  The second half of the room was arranged like a family room.  With a rocking chair, quilts, and two kids playing on the floor. 

(Narrator leads group into primary room.   Joseph and Emma are translating at the table.  Emma gets up and goes over to the “home “ scene.  Oliver Cowdery sits down with Joseph Smith.  After narrator is finished, Oliver Cowdery stands and gives his testimony)

On September 22, 1827, after four years of preparation, Moroni gave the Prophet Joseph the gold plates and told him to begin the work of translation.  Emma Hale, whom Joseph had married earlier that year, accompanied him on that occasion and was waiting at the foot of the Hill Cumorah when her husband returned with the plates.  She became an important help to the Prophet and acted as one of the Book of Mormon scribes for a brief period.

(Emma stands up and walks over to family scene.  Oliver Cowdery sits down at table)

Joseph Smith History  1: 66-67

66        On the 5^th  day of April, 1829, Oliver Cowdery come to my house, until  which time I had never seen him.  He stated to me that having been teaching school in the neighborhood where my father resided, and my father being one of those who sent to the school, he went to board for a season at his house, and while there the family related to him the circumstances of my having received the plates, and accordingly he had come to make inquiries of me. 

67        Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery ( being the 7^th of April ) I commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he began to write for me.

Oliver Cowdery’s Testimony   (Oliver stands and address the group)

Joseph Smith History  p. 58

“These were days never to be forgotten – to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom !  Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or as the Nephites would have said, “ Interpreters,” the history or record called “ The Book of Mormon”.

Room #4 – Persecution

(Still in the primary room.  Narrator walks group to other end of room where the “home” scene is set up.  Joseph gets up from the table and walks over to his family.  Emma in rocking chair, kids playing on the floor.  Joseph interacting with them all.  Narrator reads first paragraph, then pauses.  Mobsters barge in, scuffle with Joseph, and drag him out.  Family members try to help him, but are overpowered.  They hug and cry.  Narrator reads second paragraph, then quietly leads group out)

Our Heritage p. 39

Every where Joseph and the Saints went , persecution seemed to follow.  The adversary was unrelenting in his desire to stop this marvelous work from moving forward.  The saints suffered beatings, tar and featherings, having their homes burned to the ground, and false imprisonment.

(Two mobsters enter and drag Joseph off.)

Leaders of the church had just come from a very painful experience at the John Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio, where Joseph had been working on the translation of the Bible.  A mob of enemies of the Church had dragged Joseph from his home during  the night.  They had choked him, stripped him, and covered his body with tar and feathers.  Sydney Rigdon had been dragged by his heels along frozen, rough ground, causing severe lacerations to his head.

Room #5 – Liberty Jail

SETUP - We wanted to recreate the sensation of low ceilings.  We set up an outdoor canopy and lowered it to 6 feet.  The canopy was vaulted, so we took some butcher paper and created a ceiling.  We also used butcher paper for the exterior walls of the jail.  We put a little hay on the ground in the corner where Joseph was huddled.  He had a lantern, parchment, a quill, a small blanket, and a crust of bread on a platter.
 

(Narrator leads group into young women’s room.  Joseph is huddled in corner of room trying to keep warm, nibbling on a crust of bread, and  writing by scant lantern light. )

Our Heritage p. 51

Shortly after the massacre at Haun’s Mill, the Prophet Joseph Smith and other leaders were taken prisoner by the state militia.  The Prophet described their situation: “ We are kept under a  strong guard, night and day, in a prison of double walls and doors, proscribed in our liberty of conscience, our food is scant… We have been compelled to sleep on the floor with straw, and not blankets sufficient to keep us warm… The Judges have gravely told us from time to time that they knew we were innocent, and ought to be liberated, but they dare not administer the law unto us, for fear of the mob.”

While confined in Liberty Jail, the Prophet pled with the Lord for the suffering Saints and received the divine direction and comfort now recorded in section 122: 6&7

6          If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments , and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us ?  O, my father, what are the men going to do with you ?  and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; 

7          And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; of thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee, if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

Room # 6 – The Martyrdom

SETUP - As the youth entered the room a man was singing “ A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief”.  In the room was a cot with a quilt on it.  A classroom table with a candle and a wooden chair.  We had a window open with a cushion outside of it.  Joseph actually fell out the window during the scene.  When the song was almost finished we quietly opened the door and let out two loud gunshots.  Then two men began making shouting noises, but never actually entered the room.   All the while, gunshot sounds were ringing through the air. This went on until all the men were dead or wounded.  Then everything fell silent.  For the gunshot sounds, we used the back of a wooden brush, and banged it against a book.  We had two of these going at the same time.

(The narrator leads the group through the passage way into the seminary room.  He reads the first passage, and then pauses for the action.  After the action is complete and all is silent, he reads the second passage)

Our Heritage p.62-63

On at least 19 different occasions, beginning as early as 1829, Joseph Smith told the Saints that he would probably not leave this life peacefully.  As the spring of 1844 became summer, enemies both within and without the Church worked toward Joseph’s destruction. Citizens’ groups, apostates, and civic leaders conspired to destroy the Church by destroying its prophet.
 

Answering to a charge of civil disturbance, the Prophet, his brother Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, and others submitted to arrest, fully aware that they were guilty of no crimes.  As the Prophet prepared to leave Nauvoo, he prophesied, “ I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning.”

(Gun fire and martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum)

D & C 135 : 1-3

1          To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch.  They were shot in Carthage Jail, on the 27^th of June,1844, about five o’clock pm, by an armed mob  - painted black – of from 150 – 200 persons.  Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: “ I am a dead man !”  Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: “ O Lord my God ! “  They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.

2          John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

3          Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. . . . He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood. . .

Conclusion – In the Chapel

SETUP - As the youth are led down the darkened hallway, they see the light coming from the open chapel doors.  They hear the echo of the ward choir singing “ Come Come Ye Saints”.  The narrator leads them to the front rows of the chapel, where Brigham Young addresses them.  He talks of how they thought the church would fall apart without Joseph Smith, but it stayed the course, and went on to Utah. 

(The Narrator leads the group back to the chapel.  As they walk down the hall, they hear the echo of the choir singing Come, Come Ye Saints. )

Brigham Young:  Addresses the audience:
 

We would like to thank you all for joining us tonight.  We hope you have felt the spirit as you followed the prophet Joseph Smith in his footsteps.  We will now have sing the 4^th verse of Come, Come Ye Saints, Hymn #30, followed by a closing prayer and blessing on the refreshments.  Afterwards, please join us for refreshments in the cultural hall.

Everyone joins in singing the 4^th verse of Hymn 30.

Closing Prayer - assign

Refreshments - (We served pie and lemon water in the other side of the cultural hall)