Church History

Kirtland · March 27, 1836

Kirtland: A House Built for Learning and Prayer

The Kirtland Temple brought worship and learning into a house built through shared sacrifice. Stone came from a nearby quarry; carpenters and other workers contributed their skills. Its assembly rooms included tiers of pulpits at opposite ends. On March 27, 1836, the Saints gathered for the dedication, and Joseph Smith offered the prayer now preserved in Doctrine and Covenants 109. Study the temple’s construction and purpose.

Begin with Doctrine and Covenants 109:7–9. The prayer brings learning, faith, order, and worship together. Let each part become a question about your own preparation. What helps you listen? What are you willing to learn? Where could greater order make room for prayer without turning your home into a place of pressure or perfectionism?

Then read Doctrine and Covenants 110:1–10, the account of Joseph and Oliver’s vision a week after the dedication. Attend to the Savior’s words and to the relationship between a sacred place and a people who seek Him. The building’s meaning reaches beyond its architecture into the lives of those who worshipped there.

Consider an ordinary skill you could contribute to someone else’s spiritual growth: teaching a child, preparing a lesson, repairing something, or making a gathering welcoming. Write down one action. Remembering the temple’s builders can help us notice the quiet labor through which a community makes room for worship.

Courage before Liberty Jail

Richmond: A Voice against Cruelty

Explore these moments in Church history through the pictures and the accounts linked beside them.

In November 1838, before Joseph Smith was confined in Liberty Jail, he and other prisoners were held in a log house in Richmond, Missouri. Shackles and a heavy chain bound them together as they tried to rest on the cold floor. Parley P. Pratt later recalled the guards speaking boastfully about violence against the Saints.

In Pratt’s account, Joseph stood and commanded them to stop in the name of Jesus Christ. The guards quieted and asked his pardon. Read the episode in Saints, chapter 31, which cites Pratt’s later recollection and autobiography.

Consider the courage it takes to defend the dignity of people who cannot answer for themselves. Then carry that question into Liberty Jail: how do conviction, compassion, and restraint belong together? The teachings that emerged there invite us to examine how we use our own words and influence.

Prayer, patience, and the use of power

Liberty Jail: Words of Peace from a Place of Suffering

In March 1839, Joseph Smith was separated from his family while the Saints struggled to find safety beyond Missouri. He and his fellow prisoners had spent months in Liberty Jail. Cold, poor food, and uncertainty wore on them. Letters could bring comfort, but they also carried news of other people’s suffering. Read the experience within the walls before turning to the words that came from them.

Bring the question into prayer

“O God, where art thou?” begins the plea preserved in Doctrine and Covenants 121:1–9. Joseph asks how long suffering will continue. The answer addresses him as a son and offers peace, endurance, and the assurance of friendship. Read the question and the answer together. Faith here includes the courage to tell God how hard the waiting has become.

In Doctrine and Covenants 122:7–9, the response turns Joseph toward the Son of Man, who descended below all things. Christ’s suffering gives the passage its depth. Consider what it means to trust His understanding while an answer, release, or healing is still beyond your sight. This is an invitation to seek His companionship in pain, never a reason to dismiss someone else’s distress.

Let suffering change how you treat others

Passages from Joseph’s March letters became Doctrine and Covenants 121, 122, and 123. Explore the Church History Library’s letter exhibit.

The surviving letter carries the handwriting of Alexander McRae and Caleb Baldwin, with insertions by Joseph. These were words dictated, written, and shared with a scattered Church. Examine the manuscript and its source note. The document lets us follow the counsel beyond familiar quotations into the circumstances of the people receiving it.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:41–46 describes influence through persuasion, patience, gentleness, and genuine love. Read it with a relationship in mind: where could listening replace pressure? Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 joins willing action with trust in God. Choose one helpful thing within your power today, then bring what you cannot control back to Him.

As you finish, write down the phrase you most need to remember. Beside it, name someone whose burden you could help carry. Let your reading become a patient conversation, a practical kindness, or a prayer offered with greater honesty.

Nauvoo · March 17, 1842

Relief Society: Faith Organized to Care

In the upstairs room of the Red Brick Store, women gathered to organize their service. The surviving minutes of March 17, 1842 record a meeting with prayer, discussion, decisions, and donations. Emma Smith was unanimously elected president and chose Sarah Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as counselors. Caring for people in need was part of their stated responsibility. These pages let us hear women considering how to act together.

Notice how much faithful service involves listening and deciding. The minutes preserve discussion about the society’s name and the work it would undertake. After the men withdrew, the women appointed a secretary and treasurer. Read slowly enough to notice their initiative, voices, and practical responsibilities. A record of names and motions can open into a story of people learning to share the work.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 25:7–10 alongside the meeting record. Consider the relationship between learning, teaching, and encouragement. Then turn to Mosiah 18:8–10: whose burden could you help carry without taking away their dignity or voice?

Choose one need you can understand more fully this week. Ask, listen, and offer something specific. A meal, a visit, patient teaching, or shared responsibility can make care tangible. The historical record invites us to see organized service as people making room for one another, with Christ at the center of their effort.

As you read, notice whose contribution you might otherwise overlook. Who keeps the record, provides the resources, notices a need, or encourages someone to speak? Give thanks for a person whose steady service has helped you belong.

Friendship through hardship

Porter Rockwell: A Friend Recognized at the Door

On Christmas Day in 1843, a road-worn stranger walked into the Smith family’s celebration in Nauvoo. His hair fell over his shoulders, and his behavior caused such a disturbance that Joseph called for him to be put outside. Then Joseph saw his face. The stranger was his old friend Porter Rockwell. Joseph’s journal records the recognition with the words “Joy untold.” After months of imprisonment and a difficult journey home, Porter had reached people who knew him. Read the contemporary journal entry.

Their friendship reached back to the neighborhood where the Book of Mormon came forth. The Rockwells and Smiths were neighbors in western New York, and Porter joined the Church in 1830. He was part of the circle of friends and families whose lives became bound to the Restoration. His story opens another way to study that community alongside the scribes, witnesses, and printers who helped bring the record to readers. Explore Porter’s life.

Porter’s loyalty is memorable, and his life also requires careful reading. It involved violence, accusations, and a reputation later enlarged by frontier stories. In the case behind his 1843 imprisonment, a grand jury did not indict him for the attempted murder of former governor Lilburn Boggs; that does not settle every historical question. The Church History Library explains why many familiar stories about him are difficult to verify. Examine the records behind the legends.

The Christmas reunion offers something quieter to consider: what does it mean to recognize and welcome a friend after hardship? We can begin with this reunion, ask what it teaches us about friendship, and keep reading the rest of Porter’s complicated life with honesty and care.

Nauvoo · 1841–1846

Nauvoo: Strength for the Journey Ahead

The original Nauvoo Temple rose through years of donated labor and resources. As departure from Illinois approached, Saints continued seeking its blessings. The temple was dedicated on May 1, 1846, although some portions remained unfinished. Its story holds together devotion, urgency, and loss: the building they had worked to complete could not remain their home. Read the history of the original temple.

The question is personal as well as historical: what can a sacred commitment give you when your circumstances become uncertain? In her later recollection, Sarah Pea Rich described temple blessings as a source of faith for the difficult journey west. The Church’s history preserves her perspective alongside the events of construction and departure. Her memory invites us to consider strength that can be carried beyond the place where it was first received.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 128:18–19 with family relationships in mind. What changes when you see your life as connected to generations before and after you? Continue with verse 22 and consider how gratitude can accompany difficult work.

Choose a family story, name, or memory to preserve. Ask someone a thoughtful question and record their answer with care. You do not need a complete family history to begin honoring those who came before you. Let this study lead to a small act of remembrance, reconciliation, or service that strengthens a living relationship today.