These personages were Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

1. On a beautiful spring morning in 1820, Joseph Smith went into the woods near his home to pray. He did not know which church to join and decided to ask Heavenly Father. … 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! These personages were Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Joseph asked Heavenly Father and Jesus which church was right and which he should join. Jesus told Joseph that he should not join any of the churches, because they were all wrong. (See Joseph Smith—History 1:1819.) He said, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Joseph Smith—History 1:19). Jesus again told Joseph not to join any of the churches. He also told him many other things during the vision.

2. Following the First Vision in 1820 Joseph Smith continued to pursue his common vocation in life until the 21st of September 1823. That night he supplicated God for forgiveness of his sins and follies and a manifestation. He was visited by the angel Moroni who said God had a work for him to do; that his name should be had for good and evil; that Joseph was to translate the Book of Mormon; and then he was taught the first principle of this dispensation – “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah … And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the father, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” (JS history 27-39)

3. In 1995, in the Let Your Hearts Rejoice video, Gordon B. Hinckley said, “To me it is significant that in the opening of this dispensation, the foretelling of this remarkable family history work occurred on the initial visit of Moroni to the boy Joseph Smith on the evening of September 21, 1823... (Moroni) told of the Book of Mormon record, and after speaking in some detail concerning this, he quoted from the Book of Malachi. I repeat my brethren and sisters, it is tremendously significant to me that this declaration, this repetition of the wondrous words of Malachi concerning work for the dead, was given to the boy Joseph four years before he was allowed to take the plates from the hill. It was given before he received the priesthood, before he was baptized, and well before the church was organized. It says much concerning the priority of this work in the plan of the Lord. God in His infinite wisdom had a plan under which the full benefits of the Atonement wrought by His beloved Son might be made available to all the sons and daughters of God of all generations of time. That which goes on in the House of the Lord - and which must be preceded by research - comes nearer to the spirit of the sacrifice of the Lord than any other activity of which I know... . “

4. On September 22, 1827 Joseph received the plates and then went through a period of persecution requiring him to move. Next he learned to translate and finally on April 5, 1829 a scribe named Oliver Cowdery was provided to Joseph. They started their work of translating the Book of Mormon on April 7, 1829. First Ordination In May 1829, we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of gLevi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”(D&C 13:1) gD&C 84:31 Therefore, as I said concerning the sons of Moses – for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable bofferingand sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation… b D&C128:24 … and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

5. D&C107: 1,6 There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood. D&C132:29-50, Abraham 2: 6-11. Abraham first received the gospel by baptism. Then he had conferred upon him the higher priesthood, and he entered into celestial marriage (the covenant of Exaltation), gaining assurance thereby that he would have eternal increase. Finally he received a promise that all of these blessings would be offered to all of his mortal posterity. This Abrahamic covenant was renewed with Isaac and Jacob. Being an heir to the Abrahamic covenant does signify that such are chosen to responsibly carry the gospel to all the people of the earth. • Discussion: • What was the first principle in this dispensation taught by Moroni to Joseph Smith? The hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers. 2) In the first ordination in this dispensation done by John the Baptist, in the first verse what is the offering he tells them about? Who has the charge to prepare that offering? The Priesthood are charged with preparing the book of our dead and doing the ordinances of the temple. The emphasis is on the new.FamilySearch data. 3) What does “worthy of all acceptation” mean?

6. Responsibility “The exaltation of our Father’s children rests upon the completion of required ordinances, if all are to move forward on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life. The determination of accurate family history records and the work which follows in the temple are basic in this vast undertaking which the Lord has placed upon our shoulders.” Ensign (The State of the Church) Nov. 1999, pg 52 How do you prove that something is accurate? • Members should IDENTIFY their kindred dead using: • Full name • Complete Dates • Complete Places • Relationships Documentation using Evidence. (Folklore & myth vs. Truth & fact) • The new FamilySearch was created to: • Reduce duplication of temple ordinance work. • Simplify the process to submit names to the temple. • Help families work together to identify their ancestors and to make sure their family history is as accurate and complete as possible. • It was not created to be a replacement for personal research records. • Concentrate your efforts on the first four generations as a beginning. • Organize your records. • Analyze your records. • Use the Research Cycle process.Document the Evidence.

7. “Oh I wish we could see and know the things of God as they do who are laboring for the salvation of the human family who are in the Spirit World; for if this were so, this whole people, with very few exceptions, would lose all interest in the riches of the world, and instead thereof their whole desires and labors would be directed to redeem their dead.” Wilford Woodruff Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, Bookcraft, said, “There somehow seems to be the feeling that genealogical work is an all-or-nothing responsibility. That is not so. Family History work is another responsibility for every Latter-day Saint. And we may do it successfully along with all the other responsibilities that rest upon us. The bishop can do it without neglecting his flock. A stake missionary can do it without abandoning his mission. A Sunday School teacher can accomplish it without forgetting his lesson. A ward Relief Society president can do it without forsaking the sisters in the ward. You can fulfill your obligation to your kindred dead and to the Lord without forsaking your other responsibilities. You can do this work. You can do it without becoming a so-called ‘expert’ in it. But the decision, the action, must begin with the individual. The Lord will not tamper with our agency. If we want a testimony of genealogical and temple work, we must do something about that work.”