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Where was I? I was in the Latham home in Blackburn, England. Many years ago, I was sitting next to my missionary companion teaching a couple the first discussion about Joseph Smith's vision. It was in February, so it was cold. In the home there was a heater in the corner, but it was not on. As a new missionary, I was listening intently to my companion tell the story of the First Vision. I wanted to learn it. As I listened, I began to feel warm inside. I thought I had suddenly caught a fever. That feeling radiated in me until my companion finished the Joseph Smith story. After we left the home, I told my companion that we ought to go back to the apartment. He asked why. I said "I am warm all over my body. I think I am getting sick." He said "You're not sick. That's the Holy Ghost." He then explained to me the ways the Holy Ghost can feel. Over the next two years and over the course of my life I felt that feeling over and over again as I shared what I then learned well, the Joseph Smith story. This is where I was when I first received my spiritual witness of the Spirit that Joseph Smith was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  

 I honestly cannot remember one particular “Sacred Grove” experience. As a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, raised in a home where this truth was just part of the consciousness and culture, I did not experience one dramatic, life altering spiritual witness. Thanks to my goodly parents and generations of sacrificing saints whose spiritual DNA runs through my veins, I don’t remember NOT having a witness. I do remember an experience, however, over forty years ago, that really strengthened my knowledge and testimony of the First Vision. When I was a teenager, living in the Spokane, Washington area, I was part of a musical production centered around the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was in a choir led by a wonderful, faith-filled woman in my ward, Sister Donna Andres. This program was part of an open house to help those not of our faith learn the history of the Great Apostasy, the Protestant Reformation, and the settling of the new nation of America, all which prepared the world for Restoration of the Gospel through the prophet, Joseph Smith, and the coming forth of The Book of Mormon. The script for this program included messages from the ancient prophets as well as quotes from key figures from the Reformation – Martin Luther, John Calvin, Wycliffe & Zwingli – men who declared that their work was just preparatory to the day the full Gospel would be brought back to the earth. This history fascinated me, but even more key to this testimony building experience was the music we sang. Music that has beautiful melodies, rich harmonies, and well-crafted and inspiring lyrics, has always been one of the primary ways the Spirit communicates to my spirit. The music we sang for this event was soul stirring for me. Hymns of the Restoration were engrained, melody and message, into my heart. At each rehearsal and performance I, whole-souled, sang these truths:

“The visions and blessings of old are returning, and angels are coming to visit the earth”

“The time is now fulfilled, the long expected day; let earth obedience yield and darkness flee away”

“The clouds of error disappear before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar, wide o’er the nations soon will shine”

But none thrilled me more than this verse from “Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning.” Singing these words sealed my testimony of the First Vision deep into heart:

“Suddenly a light descended, brighter far than noonday sun
And a shining glorious pillar, o’er him fell, around him shone
While appeared two heavenly beings, God the Father and the Son
While appeared two heavenly beings, God the Father and the Son”

I still thrill when I sing that hymn. It reminds me of that important and formative musical experience in my younger years. To this day, I cannot deny what I’ve always known, and what was and is so powerfully confirmed by those lyrics – two heavenly beings, God the Father and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith. It is from that foundational truth that I gratefully lead my life. 

When I was a Senior in High school I visited Temple Square in SLC, Utah. (not an active member of the church) As I observed and listened to the various tours - I found myself saying - "WOW! all of this has come from the prayers of a 14 year old country boy wanting to know how he could be forgiven and loved by God." I quickly found activity in the church - received the Priesthood and entered the Mission field - North Scotland. While in Scotland I met a 90+ year old lady that had been baptized (just before WWII) by a young missionary named David O. McKay. She had lost total contact with the church and had no idea that 'her Elder' was now the prophet of the church. As she shared her testimony of the 1st Vision - My understanding was enhanced. I now love studying the Joseph Smith Papers and his many accounts of the First Vision. This 1st vision opened the heavens again and an Eternal plan is in motion.

I was at the side of my bed in Springfield, Virginia. I was in my 30s when two beautiful sister missionaries knocked on our door. I wanted to hear their message and spent the next eight months listening to them as well as elder missionaries and Church members. As my son and I learned, the sisters kept asking me to pray to know if Joseph Smith were a prophet and if the Book of Mormon were true. I prayed, but I was afraid to get an answer. I knew that if it were all true, I'd need to make some changes, and I would want to be 100 percent dedicated to the Church. About six months into our learning, I was finally ready to get an answer. I kneeled next to my bed and asked, "Heavenly Father, is Joseph Smith a true prophet." The words that came to me were clear and sure. "April, as sure as Abraham, Isaiah and Jesus Christ were prophets, so is Joseph Smith." He chose these three men because He knew I had no doubts about them. Then I asked, "Heavenly Father, is the Book of Mormon true?" This time, I didn't hear anything, I felt Heavenly Father smiling, a big, broad, loving smile." I pondered that and wondered what He meant by it. A couple of days later, I was reading my scriptures, it was the Doctrine and Covenants, I think. Then it hit me. I heard, "April, if I've told you that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, then everything else is true." I am so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a testimony of Joseph Smith first. It answers ALL of the questions that may come up about the Church to me, past, present, and future. My testimony that God the Father and Jesus Christ visited Joseph Smith grew over the course of time. I can never forget that moment I was finally ready to hear, and did.

 My most singular experience concerning the events of 1820 occurred in the sacred grove late one fall. I had been raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and from the time I was a teenager had felt the Holy Ghost testify of the truthfulness of the first vision and of the Book of Mormon. I had also been to the sacred grove several times before my mission. During my mission the feeling of the Holy Ghost very strong when teaching others about what happened in the spring of 1820.

In the early 1990’s I worked for a company which operated a manufacturing plant in Macedon, New York. Macedon is four miles from Palmyra and each time I would visit the manufacturing plant I would take time to go to Palmyra. One cold and grey October day I was in Macedon and had a desire to go and visit the Joseph Smith home. It was after work, and when I arrived at the Joseph Smith home I was the only person there, other than the missionary couple who were closing up. They were kind enough to give me a personal tour and then I walked across the road and down the trail to the sacred grove.

It was dusk and growing dark with a cold wind. The tree branches were bare and all the leaves were underfoot. As I entered the grove I began to sing the hymn “Abide With Me Tis Eventide.” I walked down through the grove and stopped to reflect for a moment. I felt the need to pray once again concerning the truthfulness of the first vision and the appearance of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. No sooner did I ask for a reconfirmation than I was filled with such an overwhelming feeling of warmth and love. It was not a lovely morning, there was no radiant sun or birds singing – but the warmth of the spirit filled my soul. I know we have a loving Father in Heaven who answers prayers. 

I've had hundreds of simple and small witnesses of the truth of Joseph Smith's First Vision, and several independently significant ones. I don't recall the first time I received a witness, but one of the unforgettable witnesses came while serving a mission in the Marshall Islands. While there, my companion and I had the opportunity to be the first missionaries from the Church to serve on Kili Island, a 200-acre island in the middle of the middle of nowhere. A few days after arriving, my companion and I were out walking an approached a man sitting on a table under a tree. The first words he said to us were, in Marshallese, "What can you tell me about Joseph Smith?" This surreal moment struck me profoundly. Here I was on a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and this Marshallese man saw our white shirts and name tags and knew we were from a Church associated with Joseph Smith, an obscure farm boy who in September 1823 was visited by an angel who declared that Joseph's name "would be had for good and evil among all nations., kindreds, and tongues" (Joseph Smith—History 1:33). This experience on Kili was a direct fulfillment of this prophecy, which bolstered my testimony in Joseph Smith's prophetic mission and the reality of his being visited by the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove.  

As a new missionary in the England London South Mission in 1988, I recall reading Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision with my companion on an early Fall morning. Although I had read this account multiple times, this time it was different. Prior to this, I wondered if Joseph's experience was real. Was it really possible that God and Jesus Christ could appear to a young boy who was searching for an answer? After reading about his experience in the sacred grove, my companion and I knelt down in our small bedroom and prayed together. I was overcome with emotion as I asked God if the things I had read were true. I knew at that moment that Joseph Smith's experience was real, but more importantly that God does answer our prayers . 

I grew up a member of the Church, so as a child, I heard the account of the first vision many times, and I think I just 'believed'. It wasn't until very recently, when I was teaching my children, that I had a very palpable impression from the Holy Ghost that what I'm teaching is, in fact, completely true. The Sunday after President Nelson encouraged each member of the church to read the account of the first vision and begin studying the Restoration of Christ's church in preparation for General Conference is when I decided I would teach it to my kids. So, we were standing in our kitchen and I casually grabbed my scriptures. I verbally started asking them if they knew who Joseph Smith was; if they knew about his desire to find which church was true. I told them the story about Joseph and his family going to many different churches, and his experience studying the Bible looking for truth. Then, I started reading from the scriptures where Joseph "retired to the place he had previously designed to go" to pray for his answer. By the time I got to "I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun..." I couldn't hardly speak the impression was so strong in my heart. I finished the story the best that I could, then I bore my testimony to my family about the truthfulness of what I was teaching them. 

It was my 19th year. I was a college sophomore taking a Marriage and the Family class in So Cal wherein everyone was assigned to give an oral report on an aspect of marriage or family. A newly returned missionary gave his oral report on the concept of LDS eternal relationships here and beyond this life. The information was new to my ears but familiar to my heart and tugged at me with an instant "restored" awakening to "what I already knew" and "was at home with". I followed up his report with questions that led me to missionaries who taught me the details that led to my baptism. I had been visiting various churches throughout my high school years . When information was introduced to me I knew the truth and could not deny it the moment I heard it presented in class that day.