Adults to Study President George Albert Smith in 2012

  • 23 November 2011

George Albert Smith is the 10th manual in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church series and the course of study for adult Church members in 2012.

Article Highlights

  • Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith is the Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society curriculum for 2012.
  • George Albert Smith is the 10th book in the series, which began in 1998 with the release of the Brigham Young volume.
  • The printed version may be ordered in 30 languages through store.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. It is also available for free download in PDF format on ChurchofJesusChrist.org in 26 languages.

After two years of studying the newly revised Gospel Principles book, adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will return to studying the Teachings of Presidents of the Church series in 2012, beginning with the George Albert Smith volume.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church is a series of manuals, each of which contains teachings and sermons of a single prophet of the Church. It has previously been studied during Relief Society and Melchizedek Priesthood meetings.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith is the 10th book in the series, which began in 1998 with the release of the Brigham Young volume. George Albert Smith (1870–1951) served as the eighth President of the Church from 1945 to 1951. (The books are not being issued in the same order in which the prophets served.)

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith is the first book in the series to have colored pictures, teaching helps in each chapter, and references at the end of each section in the chapters that point to a specific idea under “Suggestions for Study and Teaching.”

This volume, like each one in the series, expresses the past prophet’s testimony through his teachings and his experiences.

For example, in the April 1990 general conference President Thomas S. Monson told a story about President Smith that is included in the volume:

“On a cold winter morning, the street cleaning crew [in Salt Lake City] was removing large chunks of ice from the street gutters. The regular crew was assisted by temporary laborers who desperately needed the work. One such wore only a lightweight sweater and was suffering from the cold. A slender man with a well-groomed beard stopped by the crew and asked the worker, ‘You need more than that sweater on a morning like this. Where is your coat?’ The man replied that he had no coat to wear. The visitor then removed his own overcoat, handed it to the man and said, ‘This coat is yours. It is heavy wool and will keep you warm. I just work across the street.’ The street was South Temple. The good Samaritan who walked into the Church Administration Building to his daily work and without his coat was President George Albert Smith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His selfless act of generosity revealed his tender heart. Surely he was his brother’s keeper” (“My Brother’s Keeper,” Ensign, May 1990, 47).

The manual is available in many different formats and languages. The printed version may be ordered in 30 languages through store.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. It is also available for free download in PDF formaton ChurchofJesusChrist.org in 26 languages in PDF format atChurchofJesusChrist.org/manual or at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/languages.

Audio recordings of the book have been made in EnglishPortuguese, and Spanish. They are available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org or for download on iTunes.

An American Sign Language DVD of the book is available through store.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and individual videos from the DVD are available for download at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/asl and store.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith has also been added to the gospel library app in these languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, and Samoan.

Images from the life of President George Albert Smith are available in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church section of the LDS Media Library.

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