Pres. Boyd K. Packer
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"The first edition of the 'Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ,' came off the press in Palmyra, N.Y., in March of 1830. Joseph Smith, an uneducated country boy, had just passed his 24th birthday. The year before, he had spent a total of about 65 days translating the plates . . . The printing had taken seven months.
"(Upon first reading the book) if I expected a glorious manifestation to come at once as an overpowering experience, it did not happen. Nevertheless, it felt good, and I began to believe . . . If I had expected in my little-boy innocence some special spiritual experience, it had not happened. Over the years, as I listened to sermons and lessons and read in the Book of Mormon, I began to understand . . . In time, I found that the scriptures had answers to things I needed to know.
"My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly.
"The central purpose of the Book of Mormon is its testament of Jesus Christ. Of more than 6,000 verses in the book, far more than half refer directly to him . . . From the Book of Mormon we learn about the Plan of Salvation, the doctrine of Christ and the Atonement, why death is necessary, life after death in the world of spirits, the workings of the evil one, the order of the priesthood, sacramental prayers, a sure way to judge between good and evil, how to retain a remission of your sins, clear prophetic warnings."
