So the doctor contented himself with chiseling out a piece of Joseph's bone below his knee. During the operation Joseph refused to be tied to the bed, and would not take any whiskey to reduce the pain; he only screamed for his mother to leave the room so that she would not suffer more than he would. He soon healed and was left with a slight limp that would stay with him for life, but the story of his heroism during the torturous procedure spread down the valley. Great things came to be expected of this child (Brodie 8).
When Joseph was ten the family moved to Palmyra, a town in western New York. This was the fateful new home of Joseph Smith where he would experience the events that were to mold the rest of his life. In the spring of 1820, he was subject to the "first vision." Fourteen years old, he was supposedly troubled by the religious revivals in the area. Confused as to which religion was the right one to embrace, he retired to a grove near his home to pray:.
I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said - pointing to the other - "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right - and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me- He again forbade me to join with any of them When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven.