Three and half years later, Joseph was visited by the angel Moroni, and instructed in many things. Four years of heavenly tutoring began, preparing Joseph to unearth and translate the religious writings of the earlier inhabitants of the Americas. As Joseph continued to receive these instructions, his family would gather in the evenings, sitting in a circle, giving Joseph the most profound attention as he would “describe the ancient inhabitants…their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular….as if he had spent his whole life among them” (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, p. 82-83). The work of the Seer had begun. And soon the holy record was translated and published to the world.
“And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered….And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see” (2 Nephi 27: 6, 29).