TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY: 15 May

[Hemidakota]

1829 - John the Baptist confers the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, thus restoring the Priesthood to the earth. While translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph and Oliver went into the woods by the bank of the Susquehanna River near their home in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to ask concerning baptism. While praying, John the Baptist appeared and ordained them to the Aaronic Priesthood and commanded them to then go and baptize each other in the river. See Doctrine and Covenants 13 and Joseph Smith-History 1:68-73.

1834 - Zion's Camp "forded Mad river, and passing through beautiful country, encamped a little west of Springfield" (History of the Church, 2:66).

1844 - Josiah Quincy, future mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, and Charles Francis Adams, son of US President John Quincy Adams, visit Nauvoo and the Prophet Joseph Smith. Later in his life, Josiah Quincy wrote a book where he wrote: "It is by no means improbable that some future textbook . . . will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer . . . may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet" (Figures of the Past, p. 376).

1977 - The first stake in Venezuela is organized in Caracas.

1988 - The first stake in Nigeria is organized in Aba.

2002 - President Gordon B. Hinckley, en route to dedicate two temples in South America, made a stopover in Kingston, Jamaica, where he addressed 2,000 people at a fireside in an outdoor amphitheater.

2005 - President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke by satellite from Salt Lake City to 133,000 members in the five states in the Ohio Valley area of the United States. Also, President Thomas S. Monson of the First Presidency presided over a satellite broadcast to tens of thousands of members in the United Kingdom and Ireland that originated in Preston, England.