“Learning from the Prophet Joseph,” Liahona, April 2009, 48
Learning from the Prophet Joseph
Sue Barrett, Utah, USA
One of our favorite family home evenings was role-playing the story of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. I told the story; then my grandchildren acted it out, taking the parts of the preachers and Joseph Smith. I drew some paper trees to represent the grove and taped them to the wall in the corner of the room, made some signs that said “Preacher” for the preachers, and had a chair and a Bible for “Joseph” to study from.
Each of the preachers said to Joseph, “My church is the right one. Join my church, Joseph.” And Joseph replied, “I don’t know,” or, “I need to think about it.” After all the preachers talked to him, Joseph sat in the chair and read James 1:5 out loud. Then he went to the “grove” and knelt to pray. No one acted the parts of Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ, and we were all reverent when each “Joseph” went to the grove to pray. Each child had a turn to be a preacher and Joseph.
We then talked about what Joseph Smith learned in the First Vision, how we get answers to our prayers even though we don’t see visions, and how the scriptures can guide us.