well here we are in the Marriott center
I'm trying to stand a little bit close
to you so that we have this intimate
feeling in a 20,000 seat hall now Lisa
and I are so grateful to be with you
this morning and we bring the
greetings of the First Presidency to
you they never fail to extend their love
to the Latter day Saints where and
whenever we assemble under their
direction and this morning we're going
to talk about two institutions with the
deep history that converged together for
this devotional and this week BYU and
Education Week and so I thought there
might be some interest and maybe even a
little bit of entertainment value to
travel back in time and to peel back
some of the layers of history
surrounding both Education Week and BYU
it's been a great tradition here as
president Worthen mentioned for 97 years
now it began in January 1922 just over
46 years following the founding of what
is now Brigham Young University and it
was called leadership week at the time
now during the first 30 years it was
held in in the wintertime in order to
better accommodate farmers in rural
areas and lecture topics included
farming homemaking and one leadership
training in 1922 was titled the boy how
to teach him
we remember my mother was a faithful
attendee every year and I've not
forgotten those three or four days when
she left every summer and was away in
Provo and immediately upon her return
being the recipient of wonderful gospel
principles that were shared with her at
education week as well as others that
always seems like it included job charts
and trying to make us better children I
even remember when she came back with
the idea of extending our food resources
with soy additives to our meals so what
I'd like to do is just talk about each
decade for a few minutes which began
with BYU Education Week in the 1920s
things on campus were very different
when leadership week began in 1922 with
the entire BYU student body of 25
seniors 30 juniors 57 sophomores and a
hundred and eighty-four freshmen so
that's a total of 296 students and for
that first leadership week held in
January 1922 there were around 3,000
people who attended it was a different
time in place when football players
could fold their helmets and put them in
their pocket after the game and the
women's swim team looked lovely here you
can also see here president Heber J
grant seated at the microphone in
college Hall to a capacity audience in
1926
now here we get a glimpse of social life
on campus in the 1930s what a fun
looking dance we see here
and we see the coeds dressed in ski gear
for the annual Winter Carnival president
David O McKay had several opportunities
to participate in education week one is
shown here in College Hall in the 19th
or and in the 1930s now we know how
World War two disrupted the world and it
disrupted Education Week as well it was
cancelled for several years in the 1940s
here you see an image of the track and
field 100-yard dash event and this is an
image of homecoming royalty in the in
the 30s here we see that education week
classes included instruction in agronomy
drawing many farmers in for coursework
such as soil analysis I'm not sure to
what to make of the hats worn by these
1950's BYU students it looks like it was
some sort of friendly freshman
initiation as you see the sign no fresh
allowed my mom and dad met here in the
late 40s and early 50s here is my mother
on the left with her roommate can you
see the Y on the mountain behind them
and mom and dad met at a matinee dance
here on campus and they were married in
1951 the crowds were growing year after
year for education week classes with
speakers such as Elder Legrand Richards
so now we're moving to the turbulent 60s
you can see that there were mirrors in
the hallways urging students to see
yourself as others see you and this is a
an assembly introducing the new student
body officers I suspect that there are
probably some in the hall here who know
brother Russ booth and sister Susan
stoom who we see standing in the circle
here Education Week registration at a
single table with an orderly line now
that was just in the 60s there are quite
a few of us in the room here who
remember the 60s quite well okay it
appears that the campus unrest of the
1960's spilled over onto the BYU campus
in the height in the 1970s highlighted
by this very important social issue of
french fries and now you can see this
really classy photo of president Kimball
and sister Kimball at the Centennial
Founders Day parade in October 1975 we
couldn't do this without an image of the
Osmonds in their costume singing one bad
apple and here's a cute young couple
enjoying some of the ice cream at the
BYU Creamery and it was in the 1970s
that Education Week registration finally
entered the computer era okay let's
let's skip now forward to present day
what we see today with Education Week it
was a year ago that sister joy Jones the
general primary president was the
Tuesday devotional speaker and her
address and other BYU classes Education
Week classes were broadcast to many
millions around the globe via various
channels including BYU TV which now
reaches
fifty-two million households via Dish
Network direct TV and cable carriers
across the United States in a typical
week there are over two million views on
these channels so it's astonishing isn't
it when we think of the difference in
just under a hundred years when all of
this began with three thousand
registered attendees who were
participating in and viewing then
leadership week in person so part of the
exercise that we just experienced just
now was to highlight the ongoing
restoration of the gospel it's
really inspiring to behold the unfolding
expansion in just one element of the
restoration BYU Education Week over
these few short decades.
To all of you, I bring the greetings of the
First Presidency, who never fail to extend
their love to the Latter-day Saints wherever
and whenever we assemble under their direction.
In October 2018, my wife, Lesa, and I accompanied
President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy
Watson Nelson to South America for President
Nelson’s ministry tour. During our final
few days there, we were in Chile for the Concepción
Chile Temple dedication. I was blessed to
be able to sit next to President Nelson during
the final press conference and interview when
he said:
This is a global ministry. We’re prophets
for the whole world—all of God’s children,
not just the members of the Church. So on
this tour we’ve talked to people in five
different countries. There are 200 countries
in the world and more. Five is such a small
drop in the bucket. Yes, we’ll get around,
but we’ll still miss more than we’ll touch.
But we’ll try. We won’t give up just because
it’s a big job.
We’re just at the exponential phase of growth,
yes, but it will continue. The Lord said,
“I will hasten my work in its time," and
He makes good on His promises.
We are witnesses to a process of restoration.
If you think the Church has been fully restored,
you are just seeing the beginning. There’s
much more to come.
Wait until next year—and then the next year.
Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It’s
going to be exciting!
Well, it is exciting, isn’t it? The work
is being hastened, and we see the work hastened
by our dear, loving prophet, President Nelson.
It was an absolute thrill for me to be able
to hear him speak and testify of this, knowing
all that has taken place since the Restoration
of the Lord’s true and living Church in
the early 1800s. We are blessed to have this
prophet in our day who continues the Lord’s
work that began almost 200 years ago in Upstate
New York 
in the Sacred Grove, where God the Father,
and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph
Smith.
I refer now to a valuable and instructive
statement found in Preach My Gospel for missionaries
that seems relevant for me right now: “Whatever
your initial approach, refer quickly and simply
to the Restoration of the gospel, for this
is our unique message to the world.”
I would like to share with you some of my
thoughts and my testimony of the Restoration
of the gospel.
I invite you to travel back in time to the
early 1800s to 1829, almost exactly 190 years
ago, to a small group of mostly what we would
call millennials today. Look at their ages:
I find it remarkable that the Lord chose this
young of an age group to introduce the dispensation
of the fulness of times.
To help you adjust to your travel back to
1829, let me create some context for you.
It was just nine years earlier, in April 1820,
that Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision
at age fourteen, with the appearance of God,
our Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Only six years earlier, in September 1823,
Moroni, a Book of Mormon prophet, appeared
to Joseph for the first time and, among other
things, described a record that Joseph would
later translate and over which he would become
an important steward. Joseph was then directed
to Hill Cumorah, and every September from
1823 to 1827, he was tutored there and prepared
by Moroni for the day that he would take into
his possession the ancient record engraved
upon plates with the appearance of gold.
Indeed, after Joseph Smith had taken possession
of the plates in 1828, he began translation
with Martin Harris as his primary scribe.
Their work continued long enough to create
a manuscript that was 116 pages in length.
Through a series of events, Martin Harris
persuaded Joseph, against instructions previously
given by the Lord, to allow him temporary
possession of the 116-page manuscript. It
was subsequently lost by Martin Harris. This
caused much anguish for Joseph Smith and his
family. As a result, Joseph lost his gift
of translation and his possession of the plates
for a time.
Which brings us back to 1829, with the small
group mentioned above, as well as others,
who were instruments in the hands of the Lord.
On April 7, 1829, Oliver Cowdery, accompanied
by Joseph’s brother Samuel Smith, knocked
on the door of Joseph and Emma’s home in
Harmony, Pennsylvania, with an inspired offer
by Oliver to assist in the translation of
the ancient record by acting as his scribe.
What we just viewed is the first step of our
walk through eighty-five stunning and miraculous
days following the day that Oliver met Joseph
and Emma for the first time. It is clear that
the heavens were opened and a waterfall of
revelation and manifestation commenced in
a special and unusual way.
Together, Joseph and Oliver, through the months
of April, May, and June, recommenced the work
of translation. By June 30 they completed
the translation and recording of the Book
of Mormon on 491 pages composed of 269,510
words. Some years later Oliver would reflect
that “these were days never to be forgotten.”
In discussing the translation, President Nelson
said in 2016:
How the translation was accomplished is not
fully known because the Prophet deliberately
said little about that sacred task. Yet we
do have a few precious insights. God prepared
sacred objects to assist Joseph with the translation.
Interpreters were buried with the golden plates.
Joseph used the interpreters, and other seer
stones that the Lord provided, in the translation
process. Such instruments were used by prophets
throughout scriptural history to translate
texts and receive divine communications.
What we do know is that what was done is an
absolute miracle, even by today’s standards,
with modern tools of electronic dictionaries,
word processing, and machine learning in translation.
The pace and subsequent work product are almost
unthinkable! President Nelson has fondly referred
to the translation of the Book of Mormon as
“a miraculous miracle.”
Yet there is more. Those eighty-five days
in the spring of 1829 brought much more than
translation and recording duties. Remarkably,
monumental elements of the Restoration took
place in this time as well. These, too, required
the time and attention of Joseph and Oliver,
drawing them away from their translation efforts.
Each of these activities has been carefully
analyzed, and scholars believe that, in reality,
the actual time available for translation
was only sixty to sixty-five estimated working
days.
When one considers what other events occurred
in April, May, and June of 1829, the translation
is even more impressive. I have summarized
some, but not all, of the documented events
that would have taken away from Book of Mormon
translation time:
John the Baptist restored the Aaronic priesthood.
Peter, James, and John restored the Melchizedek
priesthood.
Thirteen sections of the Doctrine and Covenants
were received and recorded.
Each one of these events is a story and a
miracle in and of itself. In film we can view
a depiction of just one of these miracles—the
Lord’s hand in setting up the relocation
of Joseph and Emma to Fayette, New York, where
David Whitmer lived with his parents, the
Peter Whitmer family. This story demonstrates
how temporal, even seemingly mundane events
occurred through miracles.
This is one of the beautiful lesser-known
miracles of the Restoration. And there are
more. Here are additional events taking place
in this eighty-five-day window:
Application for a copyright for the Book of
Mormon was made and received.
Joseph began and ended the tedious process
of finding a printer for the Book of Mormon.
Joseph secured the financing of the Book of
Mormon, arranged through the gracious pledge
of Martin Harris’s farm for collateral.
Finally, the long-awaited day came for the
three witnesses to view the plates with the
angel.
This was followed by the viewing of the plates
by the eight witnesses.
One of the eight witnesses, Hiram Page, a
son-in-law of Peter Whitmer, later in life
reaffirmed his testimony of the Book of Mormon
and of Joseph Smith as its divine translator.
He said:
I add my own personal witness to Hiram’s.
My dear brothers and sisters, consider what
we have learned—eighty-five miraculous days.
Imagine accomplishing the complete translation
of the Book of Mormon and all the additional
events just described in about two weeks less
time than that of a typical semester at BYU.
That is what Joseph Smith did.
Over many years I have studied intently the
events surrounding the coming forth of the
Book of Mormon. If we had the time, we could
also spend another hour on the concurrent
miraculous preparation for its printing to
take place.
My conclusion, as a result of my deep dive
into the events surrounding the coming forth
of the Book of Mormon, is that it is truly
a heavenly directed miracle. Its origins are
irrefutable.
But there is more, isn’t there?
President Nelson has said:
We have discussed the miracles associated
with the translation and publication of the
Book of Mormon, but miracles don’t cease
there. Each and every day, miracles surrounding
the Book of Mormon continue. Imagine: within
our grasp is another testament of Christ.
Joseph Smith described its significance in
the Book of Mormon’s introduction:
I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon
was the most correct of any book on earth,
and the keystone of our religion, and a man
would get nearer to God by abiding by its
precepts, than by any other book.
The power of the Book of Mormon comes in the
mighty change that comes into the lives of
those who read it “with a sincere heart,
with real intent, having faith in Christ.”
I believe this is why the Prophet
Joseph Smith defined it as “the keystone
of our religion.” The Book of Mormon is
the engine that powers conversion and a change
of heart, leading us closer to Jesus Christ.
Allow me to share a story to demonstrate this.
Four missionaries, a senior couple, and two
elders serving in Micronesia walked into the
only attorney’s office on the tiny island
on which they were serving. They had a problem:
they needed an amendment to a birth certificate
for a membership record of a girl in their
branch.
Previously the municipal office had had no
sympathy for their request. They had said
it would be too hard, and it didn’t matter
anyway since “we all know her and know when
she was born!” So the city had turned down
the missionaries’ request. It was suggested
that the missionaries go to the only attorney’s
office on the island, where they met a highly
educated and deeply respected man.
The missionaries sat across from him at his
desk and described their plight, to which
he replied that within thirty days he would
get an amended birth certificate.
At this point he stood up and walked around
his desk, closed the door to his office, walked
back around his desk, opened his desk drawer,
and placed a worn-out Book of Mormon on his
desk. Much to their surprise, he then stated,
“I have been reading your book for more
than twenty years, and I know it is true.
It was given to me by a fellow student when
I was studying in the United States.”
He handed the book to the missionaries. They
each marveled at the marked-up book.
“I can’t join your church because I smoke
two to three packs of cigarettes a day, my
family would be devastated, and I would likely
lose my job.”
The missionaries replied, “We can help.”
And they did. The teaching was easy because
he already had a testimony of the Book of
Mormon. With some time and help, he overcame
his smoking habit, which was much harder for
him. And although his family was upset, especially
his wife, he was baptized just months later
on Christmas Day.
He began to share stories from the Book of
Mormon and hymns of the Restoration with his
wife. She too gained a testimony, and two
months later she was baptized. Since then,
most of their children have also been baptized,
and this attorney has served as a leader in
the branch.
The Book of Mormon is a miracle, and it brings
forth miracles that lead to happiness and
lasting joy.
I am not aware of another book anywhere else
of which Jesus Christ Himself testified of
its truth. In describing the work Joseph was
called to do, the Lord declared:
Let me conclude by asking you, What are you
going to do? How do you make the Book of Mormon
your keystone to your testimony of Jesus Christ?
We start by becoming personally familiar with
it, by reading, pondering, and praying about
its truthfulness. We could think about the
devotion it took from the Prophet Joseph Smith
to get the book to us. We could perhaps resolve
to spend more time reading it. It is so simple
for us—we all have it with us almost continually.
Take some of your screen time or time you
use for other pursuits and make it “Book
of Mormon screen time.” It really is simple.
How about at least ten minutes a day?
I would like to share my testimony with you
by sharing the testimony of my fifth-great-grand­father
Edward Stevenson, who, as a fourteen-year-old
boy in 1834, listened to and recorded the
testimony of Joseph Smith, who had come to
his community in Pontiac, Michigan, and had
spoken in the old log schoolhouse. It changed
his life. Here is what Edward Stevenson said:
Brothers and sisters, I conclude with my testimony
of each of these heavenly events that we have
considered today. They are all elements of
the ongoing Restoration of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the restored Church of Jesus Christ—The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It fills me with unspeakable joy to know that
Jesus Christ stands at the head of this Church,
that the Book of Mormon was translated by
the gift and power of God and is the word
of God, that Joseph Smith was the Prophet
of this final dispensation, and that President
Nelson is the Lord’s living prophet and
mouthpiece on the earth today.
Finally, I bear my witness of Jesus Christ,
to whom the Book of Mormon leads us, and of
His sacred role as our beloved Savior and
Redeemer. I offer that testimony and witness
to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
