December 23

Happy December 23! Happy Birthday Joseph Smith!!

Scripture: D&C 135:3
“Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it…He lived great and he died great in the eyes of God and his people.”

Hymn 27: Praise to the Man

Snack: Pie and Root beer

Game: Copy and Cut out each fact. Have family members play Charades with the information.

Here are some facts about Joseph Smith that are “kid friendly” to share. What a great day for a birthday celebration of our Prophet!

DID YOU KNOW:
Joseph Smith was born on Dec. 23 in 1805. How old would he be now if he were still alive?

Joseph Smith was the 5th child of eleven

*Joseph Smith was kind to Indians: Quote from Helen Mar Whitney: Our city was occasionally visited by Lamanites (Indians) and a deputation of Pottawatamie chiefs came to the city to see Joseph Smith in June, 1843. The Prophet had an ox killed for them, and some horses were also prepared for them.
They remembered the kindness of Joseph and his people, and when driven from Nauvoo they made us welcome upon their land, where we were obliged to make our winter quarters.

*Joseph Smith Loved Children: by Jane Snyder Richards
On one occasion when his enemies were threatening him with violence, he was told that quite a number of little children were gathered together praying for his safety. He replied: “Then I need have no fear; I am safe.”
It was the common custom for men, women, and children alike to flock to the road side and salute him as he passed along.

*By Mary Ann Winters:
As we were going home on the little boat, Brother Joseph sat on the upper deck with the company gathered around him listening to his wonderful words. My father sat opposite him, so near that their knees almost touched. I, a little girl, being tired and sleepy, my Pa took me in his arms to rest, Brother Joseph stopped speaking, stooped and took my feet on his knees. When I would have drawn them away, he said “No, let me hold them; you will rest better.”

*By Margarette McIntyre Burgess:
Another time my older brother and I were going to school, near the building which was known as Joseph’s store. It had been raining the previous day, causing the ground to be very muddy, especially along that street. My brother Wallace and I both got fast in the mud and could not get out, and of course, childlike, we began to cry, for we thought we would have to stay there. But looking up, I beheld the loving friend of children, the Prophet Joseph, coming to us. He soon had us on higher and drier ground. Then he stooped down and cleaned the mud form our little haven-laden shoes, took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped our tear-stained faces. He spoke kind and cheering words to us, and sent us on our way to school rejoicing. Was it any wonder that I loved that great, good and noble man of God?

*Did the Prophet Joseph Smith Play? By Edward Stevenson
I have often seen the Prophet indulge in a game of checkers. He was cheerful—often wrestling with Sidney Rigdon. One time he had his pants torn badly, but had a good laugh over it. In Missouri, when mob forces oppressed the Saints, we were encamped in Adam-ondi-Ahman, mostly around campfires without tents. One night the snow fell four or five inches. The Prophet, seeing our forlorn condition, called on us to form into two parties—Lyman Wight at the head of one line and he (Joseph) heading the other line—to have a sham battle. The weapons were snow balls. We set to with a will full of glee and fun.

*By Calvin W. Moore:
When Porter Rockwell was in jail, in Missouri, his mother went to see him at the jail, and the Missourians told her that if she would raise a certain amount of money and give it t\o them they would let her son go. Joseph started out to get the money. He came to a large crowd of young men who were wrestling, that being the popular sport in those days. Among the boys there was a bully, from LaHarpe I believe. He had thrown down every one on the ground who wrestled with him. When Joseph came to the crowd he told them what he wanted, passed around the hat, raised what money he could and then went into the ring to take part with the young men and boys in their games. So he was invited to wrestle with this bully.
The man was eager to have a tussle with the Prophet, so Joseph stepped forward and took hold of the man. The first pass he made, Joseph whirled him around and took him by the collar and seat of his trousers and walked out to a ditch and threw him in it, Then, taking him by the arm, he helped him up and patted him on the back and said, “You must not mind this. When I am with the boys I make all the fun I can for them.

*Did you know that Joseph Smith and his mother had a stand kind of like a Lemonade Stand in the Town of Palmyra. But they sold Pie and Beer. Not real beer, but what kind…Root beer! They did it to earn money.

*Did you know that Joseph Smith had a cane, and still carried a limp from when he had that terrible surgery when he was just a little boy

*Guess what Joseph Smith’s horse’s name was? Old Charlie

*Joseph Smith was courageous: Luke S. Johnson
In the fall of 1831, while Joseph was yet at my father’s place, a mob of forty or fifty came to his house. A few entered his room in the middle of the night, and Carnot Mason dragged Joseph out of bed by the hair of his head. He was then seized by as many as could get hold of him, and taken about forty rods from the house, stretched on a board, and tantalized in the most insulting and brutal manner. They tore off his clothes …In attempting to force open his jaws and pour a vial of some obnoxious drug into his mouth they broke one of his front teeth.
The mob divide, and did not succeed; but poured tar over him and then stuck feathers in it and left him, and went to an old brick yard to wash themselves and bury their filthy clothe. AT this place a vial was dropped, the contents of which ran out and killed the grass….[later] after this accident, we heard the voice of Joseph calling for a blanket. Some person handed him one, and he came in, the tar trickling down his face. His wife was very much alarmed, supposing it to be blood, until he came near enough to wee that it was tar. My mother got some lard and rubbed it upon him to get the tar off, which they succeeded in removing.
Waste, who was the strongest man on the Western Reserve, had boasted that he could take Joseph out alone. At the time they were taking him out of the house, Waste had hold of one foot, Joseph drew up his leg and gave him a kick, which sent him sprawling in the street. He afterwards said that the Prophet was the most powerful man he ever had hold of in his life.
[Joseph Smith gave a sermon the next day]

*Obtaining the plates was scary:
Previously he had hidden them in an old birch log that he had hollowed out and placed the bark back in the tree to hide them.

Written by his mother”
Joseph on coming to them, took them from their secret place, and, wrapping them in his linen frock, placed them under his arm and started for home. …Traveling some distance after he left the road, he came to a large windfall, and as he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further he was attacked again in the same manner as before, he knocked this man down in like manner as the former, and ran on again, and before he reached home he was assaulted the third time. In striking the last one, he dislocated his thumb, which, however, he did not notice until he came within sight of the house, when he threw himself down in the corner of the fence in order to recover his breath. As soon as he was able, he arose and came to the house. He was still altogether speechless from fright and the fatigue of running.