Healing Hearts, Restoring Ties, and Choosing a Better Way Forward
As 2025 comes to a close, I find myself reflecting with deep gratitude on the many conversations, gatherings, and quiet moments of healing that unfolded this year. It was a year marked by movement—across states, across histories, and, most importantly, across hearts.
Over the past year, we held more than 25 firesides and 15 heritage-based tours, centered on the history of Nauvoo and the lives and families of Joseph and Emma Smith. These gatherings took place across Illinois, Missouri, and Utah, with attendance ranging from intimate groups to audiences of over 1,100 people. Each setting was different, but the needs people carried with them were strikingly similar.
Again and again, individuals came not simply to learn history, but to seek understanding, healing, and peace. Several individuals spoke to us after some events in gratitude, saying that their hearts were ready to process forgiveness or seek help in doing so. This is why we do what we do. If only one person at each event is helped in any way whatsoever—-it makes it all worthwhile!