Family and Father Experiences

Last week my oldest boy, who is five years old, started school for the first time. The very first day we as parents were invited to come together with our child. So Deborah and I got a babysitter and went. We had a great time.

On Sunday, as I contemplated this new experience for us, I thought about the many different ways my family and I had been blessed and have grown over the past five years. First, it was obvious to me how much my son had grown - from the day he was born to this first day of school. It's amazing how fast children develop and learn. As a father, I was very proud of all that Dallin had learned and the little person he had become.

But I also thought about how much I myself had grown. I have had many experiences over the past five years that have taught me much. I earned two degrees at Universities, I have moved three times to new and far away places from home, I have worked in new jobs with new people, and have served in different ways in the church. However, I became convinced that the one thing that has caused me the greatest and most important growth, was to become a father. As a father I have learned a much more about living with love, providing service, putting others first, being patient, how to teach, and how to be a good example.

Modern prophets have taught us a lot about the importance of families and I so grateful that for my own family and to the blessing it is to be a father. I am so grateful that the church helps me understand how to best teach my children and raise them to be good, honest people in our community, country and world. (What is the best way to teach a 2, 3, or 4, year old? The church has really helped me know how to do this much better than I ever could have done on my own!)
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for these experiences and blessings and grateful for modern prophets and Priesthood leaders that teach me so much!

To learn more about the families and the church, please visit http://www.mormon.org/ or http://www.lds.org/.

Joseph Smith's Vision of God and Jesus Christ

I am grateful for the vision Joseph Smith had - now known as the First Vision. Joseph was born in 1805 in the state of Vermont in the United States. As a youth, there was a great deal of excitement on the topic of religion in his community. Joseph and his family sought to find which church they should join. While studying in The Holy Bible, Joseph read, "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." (James 1:5) He decided to follow this counsel and pray to ask God which church he should join.

Joseph, just 14 years old, on an early Spring morning in 1820 went to a wooded area near his home and prayed out loud. Joseph later recorded, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. 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!

Joseph went on to talk to our Savior Jesus Christ and learned many great things from Him. Through this great experience and others, Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet - like Moses or Isaiah who were prophets anciently.

How grateful I am to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and their visit to the prophet Joseph Smith in 1820. I have learned so much about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and their plan for us because of Joseph's vision, what he learned, and what he was able to teach us about this and other special experiences he had.

To learn more about Joseph Smith and his experiences, please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org.