I don't know about you but to me 20 20 has felt a lot longer than the three months that we've experienced so far. This has been quite the year.

If you can remember back to January 1st, 2020, seems like a lifetime ago,

President Russell M Nelson sent out a tweet, a Facebook post, a blog

message inviting all of us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ to

celebrate this year as the bicentennial year of the

first vision of Joseph Smith. As we commemorate this ongoing restoration that we're

a part of, President Nelson invited us to do several things, one of which

was to read afresh the account of the First Vision as published in the Pearl

Great Price. And I'd like to do that with you today. In fact I got a new set of

scriptures without any markings so that I could truly read afresh this account.

I don't have any of my notes. I have taught Joseph Smith

history many times in the past in various classes, but I want to come at it with fresh

new eyes to be able to see what the Lord would have me learn and perhaps you learn as well as we do this.

So I hope you're up for the adventure. I'm just going to read and discuss the first 20 verses.

There's a second section. and discuss the first 20 verses.

There is a second section from about verse 21 to 26 or 27

where Joseph describes the persecution that he faced

in the aftermath.

And then he goes into the coming forth of the Book of Mormon with the

visits of the angel Maroni the restoration of the priesthood and so on.

Joseph history is a masterpiece but I just want to read together these 20 verses afresh and see what the Lord would have us know. So I hope you'll join me.

Verse 1, owing to the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil disposed and designing

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