When the LDS missionaries came to Toronto in 1836, Mary Fielding Smith and her sister Mercy ran and warned their neighbors to avoid them, fearing the strange new church. Amazingly, only a few days later they were baptized. Parley Pratt wrote that the people in Toronto “drank in truth as water, and loved it as…
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Jean Brown started her clothing boutique Three Keys Collection to inspire her three young sons. She wanted to show them it’s possible to follow your dreams. She even named her store after them. “They hold the keys to my heart,” Jean said. The odds were stacked against her. She was told there had never been…
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Memorial Service This summer my family and I participated in a memorial service at Smith Family Cemetery in Historic Nauvoo for the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith (June 27, 1844).1 The service included prayer, music, scriptures, and quotes all crafted into a dramatic retelling of that fateful June-day when…
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After a windy and rainy Mother’s Day morning, the sun finally came out in time for us to be able to visit the historic sites of the famous and beloved mother of the prophet, Lucy Mack Smith. As we visited Lucy’s grave and one of her homes, I thought about my memories of my mom…
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I had hit rock bottom. The month had begun with a birth, but had ended with a death. My second son was born, but my grandma was gone. I gathered my newborn in my arms and traveled halfway across the world and back so that I could attend the funeral. Upon my return to Germany,…
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