I have decided to vary my account to speed up the process.  I will paraphrase some passages interspered with quotes from the Book of Mormon.  Some of this will repeat what you may have already read, but it also contains new explanatory material.
Because of the controversy concerning the Fundamentalist Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, I present in the following posts a history of the church from its inception through the present. I neither endorse nor condemn the beliefs herein recorded; but offer them simply for the purpose of educating those who may not be familiar with the beliefs. Let me add that I am not a member of this faith, so I have no personal agenda.  I will, however, try to be as unbiased as possible.

(From the Book of Mormom as Recorded by Joseph Smith)

 

JOSEPH SMITH-HISTORY
EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET

In the first two excerpts from the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith relates at the age of fifteen, he saw a vision of God and Jesus Christ.
Smith is confused about what religious sect to join.  His mother and father as well as three of his siblings have become Presbyterians; Smith, however, leans toward the Methodists.  The Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists are busy condemning one another, each avowing their interpretation is the correct one. ( Sound familiar?)

 
He prays one day in the woods for an answer from God. Then, according to Smith, in his Book of Mormon, he sees an exceptionally bright light.  Appearing in the light are two figures of such brightness and glory that he can hardly look upon them.  One of the figures speaks, stating that the figure standing beside Him is His son.
Smith then inquires which sect of religion he should join.  The vision answers that all of them are an abomination to Him, that they are following the words of men, praising Him with words, but that their hearts are far from Him.  He instructs Smith not to join any of them.
A few days later, while visiting with a Methodist minister, Smith relates the message to him.  The minister immediately informs him that the vision was the work of the devil, that such things ceased with the Apostles.  Subsequently, Smith is not allowed to join any church.  Soon, his story spreads with the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, who cannot agree on anything, soundly denouncing him.  Even Biblical scholars at the universities condemn him. 
Smith then goes through a three-year-period, he states, in which he enjoys the follies of youth.  He remains confused, because he believes he really has spoken with God.  He is also confused by the condemnation of the churches, whom he believes should be advising him rather than condemning him. 

One night while praying to God to forgive him of his sins, Smith relates that a bright light lit his room as though it were midday.  Suddenly a figure dressed in brilliant white from head to toe appears.  He identifies himself as Moroni, stating that he is a messenger.  Since all messengers from God are angels, the implication here is that this is an angel also.   Smith relates that he was at first frightened, as people in the Bible often were when an angel appeared with a message.

33 He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
34 He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;
35 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows-and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim-deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted "seers" in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.(Chapter 1:  Verses 33-35)
 A passage - 1 Samuel 14:41 - in the Books of Samuel is regarded by biblical scholars as key to understanding the Urim and Thummim^[11]; the passage describes an attempt to identify a sinner via divination, by repeatedly splitting the people into two groups and identifying which group contains the sinner.
The description of the clothing of the Jewish high priest in the Book of Exodus portrays the Urim and Thummim as being put into the sacred breastplate, worn by the high priest over the Ephod[14]   

There is no description of the form of the Urim and Thummim in the passage describing the high priest's vestments, and a number of scholars believe that the author of the passage, which textual scholars attribute to the priestly source, wasn't actually entirely aware of what they were either[20].

 Nevertheless, the passage does describe them as being put into the breastplate, which scholars think implies they were objects put into some sort of pouch within it, and then, while out of view, one (or one side, if the Urim and Thummim was a single object) was chosen by touch and withdrawn or thrown out[21]; since the Urim and Thummim were put inside this pouch, they were presumably small and fairly flat, and were possibly tablets of wood or of bone[22].

With the view of scholars that Urim essentially means guilty and Thummim essentially means innocent, this would imply that the purpose of the Urim and Thummim was an ordeal to confirm or deny suspected guilt; if the Urim was selected it meant guilt, while selection of the Thummim would mean innocence.

In the days of the Tabernacle, ISRAEL was divided Into three classes: THE HIGH PRIEST, PRIESTHOOD, and the CONGREGATION (of people).

THE PRIESTHOOD 
The necessity for the appointment of priests lay in the fact that the people were sinners, and as such, could not come before God.
[1]. The object of the priestly office was to minister unto God (Ex. 28:1) on behalf of the people (Heb. 5:1,2).

[2]. All believers are now priests - (I Pet. 2:5,9; Heb. 10), for Aaron was a type of Christ - when seen alone; and a type of the believer when seen with his sons).
 Regarding the angel Moroni:

This article is about the angel that appeared to Joseph Smith. For the Book of Mormon prophet (considered by Latter-day Saints as the same person as the angel, albeit before he died) see Moroni (prophet). For other people and things with the same name, see Moroni

The Angel Moroni IPA: /mɒˈroʊnaɪ/ is an angel that Joseph Smith, Jr. said visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 22, 1823. The angel was the guardian of the golden plates, which Smith said were buried in a hill near his home in western New York, and which he said were the source material for the Book of Mormon. Moroni is an important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, and is featured prominently in Mormon architecture and art. Three Witnesses besides Joseph Smith said they saw Moroni in 1829 visions, as did several other witnesses who each said they had their own vision.
Moroni is said to be the same person as a Book of Mormon prophet-warrior named Moroni, who was the last to write in the golden plates. The book says that Moroni buried them before he died after a great battle between two pre-Columbian civilizations. After he died, he was resurrected, became an angel, and was tasked with guarding the golden plates, and with eventually directing Joseph Smith to their location in the 1820s. According to Latter Day Saint movement theology, Moroni still has the plates and several other Book of Mormon artifacts in his possession.