Church News reporters are occasionally asked, “What has been your favorite assignment?”
Throughout my career, I have had many rewarding and memorable assignments, but covering the Hill Cumorah rededication the weekend of Sept. 21 ranks among my favorites because of what I learned and felt and how it strengthened my faith in Jesus Christ.
A few weeks before Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles rededicated the Hill Cumorah, a keynote address at the Church History Conference provided an insightful perspective on how to explore events in Church history.
Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy who serves as Church historian and recorder and executive director of the Church History Department, spoke on the conference theme “‘I Am in Your Midst’: Jesus Christ at the Center of Church History.” He encouraged conference attendees to look for and “see” the Savior in Church history and our personal lives.
“He truly is in the midst of His work and, most relevantly, this ongoing Restoration,” Elder McKay said.
Before the Hill Cumorah rededication, Elder Bednar visited each of the historic sites in Palmyra, New York, including the hill; Joseph Smith’s Boyhood Home and Smith Farm Home; the Grandin Print Shop, where the Book of Mormon was first published; and the Sacred Grove. In each location, he bore his apostolic witness of the Savior and the sacred events of the Restoration.
Elder Bednar’s testimony was especially powerful in the Sacred Grove, where, in the spring of 1820, young Joseph entered the grove of trees with a question that had eternal consequences. He yearned to know which of all the churches was right and trusted that God would answer his prayer. In response to his question, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, ushering in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Elder Bednar testified that what occurred in the Sacred Grove was not imagined or symbolic. It was real and personal.
“What does this mean for you and for me? Joseph Smith came to understand that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew him as an individual, cared about his eternal salvation and had a mission for him to perform,” Elder Bednar said. “We can take great comfort in the truth that our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, know each of us personally and deeply. When we sincerely pray to our Heavenly Father and ask in faith with determination to act, as did Joseph Smith, our prayers will be heard and answered.”
Like Joseph, we all need to seek truth for ourselves. We can have our own “Sacred Grove moments,” no matter where we are, when we sincerely turn to the Lord. The principle is reflected in the chorus of a new Primary song, “My Own Sacred Grove.”
Away from all of the noise in the world.
I will turn to prayer,
For I know He’s there
I will find my own sacred grove.
Elder Bednar, accompanied by his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, and others returned to the Sacred Grove on the serene and peaceful morning of Sunday, Sept. 21, where a devotional was held with missionaries serving at the New York and Pennsylvania Historic Sites.
In the very area where Joseph Smith’s question initiated the Restoration over 200 years ago, Elder Bednar spoke of “a great season in the history of the restored Church,” with 17.5 million members and 382 houses of the Lord announced, under construction or operating worldwide.
“This work is accelerated, it is hastened, it is directed by the living Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I witness He is alive. I witness He is our Savior and our Redeemer. And I witness that the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, and that was the beginning of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this latter-day dispensation.”
Elder Bednar’s message brought to mind the late President Russell M. Nelson’s words from the October 2022 general conference: “So many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns ‘with power and great glory,’ He will bestow countless privileges, blessings and miracles upon the faithful.”
Moving forward, Elder Bednar invited attendees to “Look unto [the Savior] in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36).
Elder Bednar said: “I would take that verse and burn it into the brain and the fleshy tables of your heart. What would He do? What would He teach? ... Set a goal to remember Him.”
— Trent Toone is a reporter for the Church News.
