March 8

1831 – The Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon begin work on the Joseph Smith Translation of the New Testament.  The Prophet receives the revelation known as Doctrine and Covenants 46, which gives instructions on conducting Church meetings and the proper use of the gifts of the Spirit.  He also receives Doctrine and Covenants 47 calling John Whitmer to keep a history of the Church. 1832 – The Prophet Joseph Smith organizes the First Presidency for the first time in this dispensation after receiving Doctrine and Covenants Section 81 by revelation.  He calls Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gause as his counselors.  However, Jesse Gause was excommunicated from the Church in December 1832 and Frederick G. Williams was chosen to fill his position in the First Presidency in March 1833.

1833 – The Prophet Joseph Smith receives the revelation known as Doctrine and Covenants 90, adding additional information on the importance of the First Presidency and is a continuing step in the establishment of the First Presidency begun a year earlier with the revelation recorded as Doctrine and Covenants 81.  The Prophet Joseph then ordained them as his counselors in the First Presidency. (History of the Church, 1:334).

1834 – The Prophet Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Freeman Nickerson, during their return trip to Kirtland, arrive in Palmersville, New York.  They stay at the home of Esquire Walker.  “We found them very friendly and somewhat believing, and tarried all night’ (History of the Church, 2:42).

1849 – At the constitutional convention in Salt Lake City, a constitution for the proposed state of Deseret is adopted.  However, the United States Congress, in the famous Compromise of 1850, makes Utah a territory instead of a state, denying the Saints local home rule and leading to a nearly fifty-year struggle for statehood.

1869 – The Union Pacific Railway reaches Ogden, Utah.  With the arrival of rail transportation to Utah, immigrants would no longer need to use wagons to come to Utah.

1973 – The first stake in Korea, also the first stake on mainland Asia, is organized at Seoul by President Haeold B. Lee.

2000 – President Gordon B. Hinckley is the featured speaker at the National Press Club Newsmakers Luncheon in Washington D.C., becoming the first President of the Church to address such an audience.  Also on this date, God’s Army, an independent film about LDS missionary life in southern California, premieres in Sandy, Utah.  The success of God’s Army would open the doors for other Latter-day Saint themed films.