I have given some thought as to how to present these testimonies for sharing time. A thought that just popped into my head this morning to assign the testimonies out to various "good readers" and ask them to read them at the microphone next week. I will bring various hats, vests, bow ties, suit jackets, etc. It would be good to have various pictures of Joseph Smith displayed.I will introduce each child as that prophet and put on one of the accessories to get the rest of the kid's attention... and then let them read maybe holding a picture of the prophet they are speaking for.

Now and then between the testimonies, I will throw in an appropriate song ("The Sacred Grove" #87, "Latter-day Prophets" #134, "The Sixth Article of Faith" #126, "Follow the Prophet" #110, "The Church of Jesus Christ" #77, etc.).

I will also use the video, "Testimonies of the Latter-day Prophets" for a couple of the testimonies for variety. At the end, I think I'll invite a male guest (or the bishopric) to sing the hymn, "Praise to the Man." Tell the children that William W. Phelps, who spoke at the funeral of Joseph and Hyrum, wrote this beautiful poem about the Prophet - which was later set to music - hymn #27.

I'll end with my testimony or invite the Bishop or counselor to do so. I also think these testimonies are so good I'll print them out into a tiny, little booklet to give to each of the children to take home and share with their families.

Here are the testimonies... I hope you each strongly feel the spirit in your sharing times next week. Kathy Shurilla
 
 

Brigham Young (Journal of Discourses 1:37-38):

"I can bear testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true; and the word of the Lord, whether written or spoken, is true.
" There is one class of people, and one only, that live upon the face of the earth, who do know it; and that class of men and women are those that keep his commandments, and do his will."

"I feel to bear my testimony to this work. It is the work of God. Joseph Smith . received his appointment from before the foundation of
the world, and he came forth in the due time of the Lord to establish this work on the earth."

"We testify to the whole world that we know, by divine revelation, even through the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that he revealed himself to Joseph Smith as personally as he did to his Apostles anciently."

Joseph F. Smith (Conference Report, April 1901, pages 72-73):

"I desire to bear my testimony to you; for I have received an assurance which has taken possession of my whole being. It has sunk deep into my heart; it fills every fiber of my soul; so that I feel to say before this people . that God has revealed unto me that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Redeemer of the world."

Heber J. Grant (Gospel Standards, page 24):

"There is one thing that is true and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Lord gives to men and women if they keep His commandments, a knowledge that it is true."

George Albert Smith (Conference Report, October 1921, page 42):

"I have been in the valley of the shadow of death in recent years. . The nearer I went to the other side, the greater was my assurance that the gospel was true. Now that my life has been spared, I rejoice to testify that I know the gospel is true, and with all my soul I thank the Father of us all that he has revealed it to me."

David O. McKay (Conference Report, October 1915, page 70):
"The gospel of Jesus Christ, as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, is in very deed, in every way, the power of God unto salvation. It is salvation here-here and now. It gives to every man the perfect life, here and now, as well as hereafter."

Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, November 1978, page 73):
"I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.

"He is my friend, my Savior, my Lord, my God.

"With all my heart I pray that the Saints may keep his commandments, have his Spirit, and gain an eternal inheritance with him in celestial glory."

"I testify that He will come again in power and great glory and that He will leave nothing undone for our eternal welfare.

"May we daily be the manner of men He is and thus be prepared to meet and dwell with Him, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Howard W. Hunter:
We praise Joseph not only for his capacity to endure but to endure it well (D&C 121:8). Early on, as a boy, there was the painful operation on his leg without which surgery he could not have made the later arduous Zion’s Camp march from Ohio to Missouri. During the march Joseph walked most of the time and had a full share of blistered, bloody, and sore feet (They Knew the Prophet, comp. Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974, p. 48).

Likewise, we praise him and Emma for enduring the sorrowful loss of six of their natural and adopted children to early death. Parents who have lost even one child are filled with empathy.
 

We praise Joseph for the capacity to endure persecution, including the long and severe deprivations in Liberty Jail. To so many everything then seemed hopeless. Yet the Lord of heaven reassured imprisoned Joseph that the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name (D&C 122:1).

We live in a day where there is increased inquiry about Joseph Smith and the restored gospel. Joseph knew which way he faced. It was toward the Savior Jesus Christ to whom he listened ever since our Heavenly Father first instructed young Joseph, saying, This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! (JSH 1:17.)
 

“I bear solemn testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith as the Lord’s anointed servant in these the latter days. To his testimony of the divinity and reality of Jesus Christ I add my own, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

The hall was filled with men “and they lifted their voices in unison in that great hymn, Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him and nations revere [see Hymns, no. 27]. There came into my heart a conviction that the man of whom they sang [Joseph Smith] was really a prophet of God, and I am grateful to be able to say that that conviction, which came, I believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has never left me.” (Gordon B. Hinckley: Man of Integrity, 15th President of the Church, videocassette [53503]).

“I was not acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith, nor did I ever hear him speak. My grandfather, who as a young man lived in Nauvoo, did hear him and testified of his divine calling as the great prophet of this dispensation. But I feel I have come to know the Prophet Joseph Smith.
 

I have read and believed his testimony of his great first vision in which he conversed with the Father and the Son. I have pondered the wonder of that as I have stood in the grove where he prayed, and in that environment, by the power of the Spirit, I have received a witness that it happened as he said it happened.
He was the instrument in the hands of the Almighty. He was the servant acting under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ in bringing to pass this great latter-day work.

We stand in reverence before him. He is the great prophet of this dispensation. He stands at the head of this great and mighty work which is spreading across the earth. He is our prophet, our revelator, our seer, our friend. God be thanked for the Prophet Joseph.”