This week I learned about an early Latter-day Saint named Theodore Turley. It turns out we are distantly related! In his autobiography he wrote, “I came to Nauvoo with Joseph Smith the Prophet and built the first house that was built by a Mormon in Nauvoo.”1 I was intrigued by the phrase “first house” because…
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I had hit a crossroads. I knew I had to make a decision. I was 17 years old and I wanted to know: Should I continue to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or should I take a different path? Growing up, sometimes we would go to church, and…
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I have been thinking about the meaning of home. What makes a home? A house? A person? A family? A neighborhood? A community? A church? A country? A language? A culture? This question is important to me because my family and I recently moved from Germany to America. Ever since we got married my husband…
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We have arrived! After seven years of living in Germany, I am finally back in America. It’s a strange feeling. It’s kind of like half of me is still in Germany and half of me is here. Nonetheless, I am thrilled to be back. Now we are living in the small town of Nauvoo. We…
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For the past two years we have lived in a village in Germany called Isenburg—tucked in the middle of a forest and nestled under a castle ruin. Every day driving home we passed under an ancient stone archway that served as the entrance to the castle grounds. On the hill directly above our house is…
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