April 28-May 4

We live in a time when the Church of Jesus Christ has been well established and we are used to talking in terms of large numbers, general conferences translated into scores of languages simultaneously, missionaries serving in diverse countries all over the world and the Kingdom of God on the earth organized unlike any worldly entity. We are used to thinking in terms of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Church Headquarters, the Conference Center, Temple Square—but in the era we are talking about today, the early part of 1831, none of these things were yet a reality. When Joseph and Emma arrived in Kirtland, Ohio in February, 1831, the successful missionary efforts of Parley P. Pratt and his companions had just doubled the entire membership of the Church to about 250 people!