We always have a testimony meeting that last day after the emotional experience of the Carthage Jail. Then we go to Sharon, Vermont and begin Joseph Smith's life chronologically and naturally we end the two weeks in the Carthage Jail. We take our many participants through two days of Revolutionary War and the foundations of freedom. Maurine and I lead a church history tour every year. But this letter has become one of the great treasures of Church History.

Barstow has taken the proper steps to obtain correct information, all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation.” Joseph carefully compiled the letter but it was never published in the newspaper or any history of New Hampshire. Joseph agreed to write the piece with this agreement: “As Mr. George Barstow, a friend of John Wentworth. The piece was also to be a part of the history of New Hampshire, being compiled by a Mr. Wentworth wanted a concise history of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he wanted it written by its founder, Joseph Smith. The Democrat would be published for just seven years, from 1842 to 1849. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat, a brand-new newspaper in the young, bustling city of Chicago. We know that the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote the Articles of Faith as part of a larger request from Mr. When Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni converted seven cities of the Lamanites and brought untold thousands to the Savior, they were using only the Old Testament in their teaching! What a treasure we have in the Old Testament! When Nephi says, “For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them…” he was talking about the Old Testament. When Lehi opened the Plates of Brass for the first time and searched them from the beginning (see 1 Nephi 5:10) and then he “was filled with the Spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed (see 1 Nephi 5:17) he was immersed in the Old Testament. On this particular journey with all these amazing people, the thing that struck me over and over again was this: When John the Beloved quoted Jesus Christ in chapter 5, verse 39 where He said: “Search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Jesus was sending the people to the Old Testament to find Him. Of course, you cannot go to these places and lead a spiritual tour without constantly referring to the Old Testament. We’ve just spent 35 days in the Middle East leading three tours in the Holy Land, Egypt and Jordan. This week we will see some of the ways that Job reminds us of Jesus and leads us to Him. And then we pull out the most obvious one: Who was the greatest doctor of the Bible? Some contend it was Job, because he had a lot of ‘patience.’ But most would agree it’s Moses because he delivered all the children of Israel! All humor aside, we know that the greatest physician in the Bible is the Savior Himself-the one who can heal each of us.

He brought the house down! And what kind of man was Boaz before he got married? Ruthless! … I’m waiting for all of you to finish laughing.

“Who is the great tennis player of the Bible? Of course, everyone knows it’s Joseph, because he served in Pharoah’s courts! And who was the great comedian of the Bible? It was Sampson. Our Bible jokes are many and varied and of a quality that only a dad could appreciate. When we lead our tours to the Holy Land, we will inevitably pull out some humor from the Biblical sources, attempting to create memories of laughter in remote parts of the tour.

Tad r callister