This coming year of Come Follow Me will immerse us in an in-depth study of the history and restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ.  I’ve created a beautiful calendar that will aid you and inspire you as you study the sacred events and revelations of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these, the latter days.

Thousands of you ordered the Bicentennial Calendar celebrating the First Vision for 2020.  This coming year’s calendar includes a lot of additions and wonderful enhancements.

Take a look at the calendar and order now by clicking here.

First of all, the calendar includes 12 stunning photographs from Church History.  Each month will surprise and delight you.

January shows you the only remaining extent home of the Smiths from the New England period.  Located in a back road just outside the village of Norwich, Vermont, this beautiful home has been carefully restored (under private ownership by someone not of our faith) and is in mint condition.  This is a home where the Smiths lived for three years.  This is the home where their son, Don Carlos, was born.  This is the home and farm where they had three successive years of crop failures ending with a series of ice storms in June, 1816, which finally drove them out of New England to a little frontier village in upstate New York called Palmyra.  You can see the home and barn in the image displayed above.

Order the calendar now.  Click here.

Come Follow Me Lessons

In this coming 2021 calendar, I’ve added all 52 Come Follow Me lessons each Monday with the reading assignments. This will be a boon for your family.  Maurine and I have hung four calendars in various parts of our home (one in each of three offices and one in the hallway right as you come in from the garage, where we see it every day).  This 2021 Church History and Come Follow Me calendar will be a wonderful tool in your home to just take a glance, and there is the reading assignment for that week.

Major Events in early Church History

To help you feel and observe this year’s course of study, I’ve added more than 50 major events in Church History onto the calendar (can you imagine how hard that was—to pick just 50?).  For example, the Quorum of the Twelve was first organized on February 14, 1835 and the very first Quorum of the Seventy was organized exactly two weeks later on February 28, 1835.  If you pay attention to your calendar, you won’t miss a significant event like those.  The early history of the Church will begin to come alive for you as never before and your daily studies will be greatly enhanced.

I’d like to order the calendar now. Click here.

The Revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants

As an added bonus, I’ve added in all the revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants where we actually know the date—more than 70 of them!  So, for example, when you come to February 16—you’ll see that the great vision of the Three Degrees of Glory was received on that very day in 1832.  I’ve personally made it a habit of reading and studying Section 76 every year on that day for the past 40 years. You should try it—it’s amazing what you can learn by studying the revelations on the very day they were given—as a bonus to your regular routine of scripture study.

To order your 2021 Church History Come Follow Me calendars, click here.

Other Additions and Enhancements

Of course, I’ve included all the significant National Holidays and remembrances so that you can see what day of the week Christmas or the 4th of July falls on.  This can be an all-purpose calendar at a glance on your wall this coming year.

I’ve also added the phases of the Moon for all of you who gaze at the heavens or want to know when a good night would be to camp in the desert or the woods.  This will also include at least two major eclipses during the year.

And, just like the 2020 Bicentennial Calendar celebrating the First Vision, I’ve included an inspirational quote each month from men and women in early Church History. Read this one, for example, from the month of April:

“The Lord knows what is best for us. I feel but little concerned about where I am, if I can keep my mind staid upon God; for, you know in this there is perfect peace. I believe the Lord is overruling all things for our good. I suppose our enemies look upon us with astonishment and disappointment.”
-Mary Fielding Smith

Imagine how that could inspire you during April and also remind you of your heritage.  Mary Fielding was the wife of Hyrum Smith, sister-in-law of Joseph Smith, mother of the sixth prophet of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, and Grandmother of the tenth prophet of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith.  She is quite the amazing woman.

Or how about this quote from September:

“I will go forward… I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance… And the ‘testimony of Jesus’ will light up a lamp that will guide my vision through the portals of immortality, and communicate to my understanding the glories of the Celestial kingdom.” -Eliza R. Snow

Eliza Roxey Snow is the lyricist for ten of the hymns in our current hymnbook, including “O My Father,” “How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” “Though Deepening Trials,” and “Behold the Great Redeemer Die,” all of which are among my favorites.  Eliza is one of my favorite women from the early days of the Church and surely, she will inspire you all through the month of September.

Order the 2021 Church History Come Follow Me Calendar HERE.

Christmas is Coming (and so is the New Year)

And for all this, we’re still keeping the pre-order price at just $15.00 plus shipping and handling (we just use postal service rates, so if you order more than one calendar, the shipping is much cheaper per item).

Christmas is not that far off (need I say only 109 days?) and now is the time to get this very meaningful, useful and affordable present (while supplies last) for your grown kids, extended family members, your ministering sisters and brothers, your ministering families, your friends, extended family and associates.  They are perfect to hang in your kitchen, office, bedrooms or prominent calendar locations. This will keep the history of the Church and the Come Follow Me lessons up front and personal all year long.

Don’t be the last to order the new 2021 Church History Come Follow Me Calendar.  Click here to order now. 

Background as a Photographer and Researcher

I want you to feel Church History. I want you to come to know and love the Prophet Joseph Smith. I want you to live and breathe with the families of the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century, who felt the Spirit so intently they uprooted everything they knew to follow this incredible Prophet.

My wife, Maurine, and I have produced a number of books related to Church History including The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother. Our joint articles and photo essays (including temple dedications) on the current history of the Church have been read and viewed by millions.

I have been photographing the Church History sites for more than four decades.  Because I am the same size as the Prophet Joseph, in height and weight, I will often set up the camera either on the tripod or just shoot from the perspective of my line of vision, which is the same as of Joseph’s. How did he see things?  From what height did he see Nauvoo or the Kirtland Temple? It’s amazing how a few inches of height changes what you see.

Because I want to share my passion for Church history with people all over the Church, I have created this wall calendar. Something about a wall calendar is organic and present, ever before your eyes. It sets a tone. It can change a mood. In a world awash in technology, it can still inspire and give needed guidance with added quotes and sayings.

Please note: Placing an order now is a “pre-order” and will guarantee your receiving your calendars from our limited quantities. It is estimated that calendars will be shipped to you within 2-3 weeks.