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PROVO — A new visitors center for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is taking shape in Pennsylvania, at a site of special significance for church members.

A new film is taking shape as well. It depicts the story of the restoration of the priesthood in that area.

The scene is a log cabin in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were in the process of translating the Book of Mormon.

Anna Daines plays the role of Joseph’s wife, Emma Smith.

“I have always had ideas about Emma and Joseph and looked up to them. Now I feel like I’m getting to know them on a personal level. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on,” Daines said.

A cabin at the LDS Motion Picture Studio in Provo is the set for Joseph and Emma’s home. But some of the film is being shot on location in Pennsylvania. Latter-day Saints believe this is where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from John the Baptist, and where the two were baptized in the Susquehanna River.

Director T.C. Christensen said, “We went back and did a few days of shooting there, and it was beautiful. That river, the Susquehanna River, was so photographic. We did in two days some great shots that are going to make a big difference in this film.”

The 22-minute video will be shown in a new visitors' center currently under construction.

Photo: Mormon Newsroom

“You go there and look around,” said Reid Nielson, managing director of the LDS Church History Department, “and you don’t see a lot. But you get out and learn the history and you appreciate what transpired there.”

“Much of what we believe, much of what we follow, the covenants we make, they all come from these sites here in Harmony, Pennsylvania,” he added.

The priesthood restoration site is the last of the early church history locations to be developed with a visitors' center.

“This makes it highly, highly significant,” said Stephen Allen, managing director of the church’s Missionary Department. “It goes hand-in-hand with Nauvoo, Kirtland, Palmyra, all those other sites. This is the final one.”

The filmmakers believe that heritage will come to life in this film.

“There are so many great stories that have not been told on film,” Christensen said. “For me, I just love being able to tell even a small section of that, like we are with this film.”

The film will debut when the visitors' center opens next summer. It is located in present-day Oakland Township, in northern Pennsylvania.

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