Asked what the people of Vermont, most of whom are not Latter-day Saints, can gain from being near and seeing the monument, President Hinckley said that they can "come here and discover the roots of the church. That is the significance of it. The prophet was born here. This becomes, therefore, the roots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has grown and moved across the world and will continue to do so. It has become, without any question the largest church ever organized on the American continent. There have been other churches organized on this continent but none, I think, equal anywhere near the membership of this church as it has grown far and wide. Its work is carried on in many languages.

"The Book of Mormon, which is memorialized here in a sense, has been translated into 77 languages, and 130 million copies published. That's a very significant thing."

To a question regarding how much emphasis is being placed upon Joseph Smith, and during the Christmas season, President Hinckley said, "He was born on the 23rd of December and we celebrate the birth of the Savior on the 25th. I say this, that there has been no greater testator concerning the divinity and the reality of Jesus Christ than Joseph Smith, the prophet."

Asked what would be the message he will deliver today, President Hinckley said, "I'm going to talk about Joseph Smith, his birth here, about the Mack farm (owned by Solomon Mack, Joseph Smith's maternal grandfather) where his father tried to make a go of it, and about the erection of the monument, getting the stone up the hill, the whole story."

Elder Ballard expressed some tenderness in being present at the site of the birth of Joseph Smith. Elder Ballard is a great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith, an elder brother to Joseph Smith.

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Scheduled broadcasts of birthday celebration

Live broadcast 6-8 p.m. KSL-TV, Channel 5; KBYU-TV, Channel 11; BYU Television on the Dish Network and DirecTV; KBYU-FM 89.1.

Rebroadcast 9:30 p.m. today on BYU Television and 10 a.m. Sunday on KBYU-TV

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E-mail: gerry@desnews.com