Joseph Smith's First Vision leads one to a belief in Jesus Christ, said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve during the Saturday afternoon session.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Recalling a time when he was a young member of the Church, Elder Uchtdorf said he occasionally was assigned to operate the lever up and down to pump the bellows of the Zwickau, Germany, chapel's organ. Among the benefits of the assignment, he said, was a seat where he had a great view of a stained glass window portraying the First Vision, "with Joseph Smith kneeling in the Sacred Grove looking up toward heaven and into a pillar of light."

Elder Uchtdorf said, "I felt a special spirit while looking at the beautiful scene in this window picture of a believing young boy in a sacred grove who made a courageous decision to earnestly pray to our Heavenly Father, who listened and responded lovingly to him.

"Here I was, a young boy in post-World War II Germany, living in a city in ruins, thousands of miles away from Palmyra in North America and more than a hundred years after the event actually took place. By the universal power of the Holy Ghost, I felt in my heart and in my mind that it was true, that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and heard Their voices."

He said that when he was young, he had faith in the testimonies of friends which led to his receiving his own divine witness.

"I count Joseph Smith among those whose testimony of Christ helped me to develop my own testimony of the Savior," Elder Uchtdorf said. "Before I recognized the tutoring of the Spirit testifying to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, my youthful heart felt that he was a friend of God and would therefore, quite naturally, also be a friend of mine. I knew I could trust Joseph Smith."

Those who are humble will have faith enough to come to a belief in Christ, he continued.

"This is how Joseph Smith's First Vision blesses our own personal lives, the lives of families, and eventually the whole human family — we come to believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Elder Uchtdorf said.

Faith in Joseph Smith and the reality of the First Vision, leading to faith in Jesus Christ, is a gift that comes through study and prayer, living a pure and clean life, repenting and keeping the commandments, he added.

"As we remember and honor the Prophet Joseph Smith, my heart reaches out to him in gratitude. He was a good, honest, humble, intelligent, and courageous young man with a heart of gold and an unshaken faith in God," Elder Uchtdorf said. "He had integrity. In response to his humble prayer, the heavens opened again. . . .

"Through his work and sacrifice, I now have a true understanding of our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost and know of Heavenly Father's plan for us, His children. For me, these are truly the fruits of the First Vision."

He concluded, "I am grateful that early in my life I was blessed with a simple faith that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; that he saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in a vision. He translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God. That testimony has been confirmed to me over and over again."