Lesson Summary for January 11th

Lesson 24 taught by Marie Tiller

 

In Relief Society we discussed Lesson 24 in the Joseph Smith Manual entitled,"Leading in the Lord's Way".  We learned that we are required to be a leader at all times - in our community, in our homes, in our church callings.  A good leader possesses such qualities as compassion, love, integrity, willingness to serve among many other qualities.  In the March to Zion in 1834 Joseph Smith lead many Saints to Missouri to confront those who had taken land away from the members in Jackson, Missouri.  They marched for over 900 miles in heat, rain, and grueling conditions.  During the march, Joseph Smith was a great leader.  Many of the men were frustrated by the difficult circumstances and grumbled against God and Joseph Smith.  Joseph remained patient, compassionate, and still determined to follow God's plan no matter what the circumstances were. 

 

"Despite all the problems of this dangerous and difficult trip, Joseph Smith taught the members of the camp important principles of leadership as he led them day by day. Wilford Woodruff, a member of Zion’s Camp who later became the fourth President of the Church, declared: “We gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We had the privilege of beholding the face of the Prophet, and we had the privilege of traveling a thousand miles with him, and seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfillment of those revelations.”

 

"Zion’s Camp did not accomplish its political objectives, but it had long-lasting spiritual results. In February 1835, when the Prophet organized the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Quorum of the Seventy, nine of the Twelve Apostles and all of the Seventy had served in Zion’s Camp. As recalled by Joseph Young, one of the original members of the Seventy, the Prophet explained to a group of these brethren: “God did not want you to fight. He could not organize His kingdom with twelve men to open the Gospel door to the nations of the earth, and with seventy men under their direction to follow in their tracks, unless He took them from a body of men who had offered their lives, and who had made as great a sacrifice as did Abraham.”