2025 was a year of milestones, mourning and inspiration for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Celebratory stories included President Dallin H. Oaks becoming the 18th President of the Church, the announcement of 55 new missions opening around the world, and the 175th anniversary of the Deseret News (from which the Church News began as a section in 1931). These stories were offset by stories of loss, including the death of President Russell M. Nelson at the age of 101, a deadly attack on a Church meetinghouse in Michigan, and the death of members of the Church in an auto accident in southern Africa.
For Deseret News executive editor Doug Wilks and former Church News editor and current Deseret News editor Sarah Jane Weaver, the gospel of Jesus Christ has helped them find personal comfort as they covered the news for their readers. They join Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen to discuss the events of 2025.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Doug Wilks: In every story that we do, as we describe something that’s happened, we look for a solution: “Is there something else that can happen?” Whether it’s with the environment or with policy. And you just keep trying to do what the Lord wants you to do, in whatever capacity you have, whether it’s being a BYU student and going forth to serve, being a great football player and seeking excellence in whatever you’re doing, or trying to chronicle the events that are taking place currently, whether it’s in a more secular vein or through the eyes of the Church. And we try to do both. So, the lesson that I take away is everything is personal. Every single story is personal.
0:53
Jon Ryan Jensen: This is Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In our final Church News podcast of 2025, we want to take a look back at some of the events of the year as they relate to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other events that happened around the world. And we’re excited to be joined today by the executive editor of Deseret News, Doug Wilks, and the editor of Deseret News, Sarah Jane Weaver.
Thank you both for being here today.
Sarah Jane Weaver: Thanks for having us.
Doug Wilks: Good to be here. Thank you.
1:32
Jon Ryan Jensen: I want to start first by congratulating the two of you for 175 years that was celebrated this year by the Deseret News of journalistic excellence. What a great year to be at the Deseret News.
Doug Wilks: Yeah, it’s — sometimes we feel like we’ve been here for all 175 years, but clearly we haven’t. But it started in 1850. We had a celebration. We had Arthur Brooks here to help us commemorate, really, the efforts and just the many, many changes. But I don’t know if there’s another newspaper that has had the same ownership since its foundation as the Deseret News has.
2:06
Sarah Jane Weaver: And I love contemplating the 175th anniversary of the Deseret News because it helped me understand why we have the Deseret News and what we’re trying to accomplish today. Because in 1847, when Brigham Young and Saints came to this valley, one of the first things Brigham Young did was send W.W. Phelps back to Philadelphia to procure a printing press, because he cared about information, and he wanted people to have information that would allow them to make good decisions.
And they loaded that 3,000-pound Ramage printing press in the back of a wagon, and they hauled it across the plains. And the first issue of the Deseret News was published in 1850. And that date was significant. Another significant date in the Deseret News’ 175-year history is, of course, 1931, when the news of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was separated from the Deseret News, and the Church News was created. And those two products carry on that vision that Brigham Young started so many years ago today.
3:10
Doug Wilks: Much has changed in those years, of course — distribution and reach. What hasn’t changed is to be a source of truth and reliability. And we saw that this year in some of the news events. And I’ve had a lot of feedback both nationally and internationally — as well as in Utah, in the Intermountain West — about what the Deseret News can bring, putting into context and focus sometimes very difficult events and also celebratory events.
3:35
Jon Ryan Jensen: I think that’s an important place for us to start. You kind of joked about having lived through 175 years, but it felt like there was 175 years worth of news all in 2025, and specifically, a 25-day period of challenging news to cover.
Doug Wilks: Yeah. You’re referring to September, and I call it 20 days in September, which is really with September 10th and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which happened in Utah County at Utah Valley University. That had an impact. It had an impact on those who live here, on Latter-day Saints and all who live here.
And then also the change in Church leadership, which happened later, with President Nelson’s passing, and then President Oaks and the Quorum of the Twelve doing the leadership until he was called and set apart as the Prophet and President of the Church. And then finally on that same week, and when President Nelson passed, the shooting in Michigan, which had a great impact and was profoundly sad, but also there were some lights that shined through that experience.
4:35
Sarah Jane Weaver: Yeah, as reporters and editors, we’ve covered many instances where other churches were targeted or where political assassinations occurred in different places. And now you had, in one very short period of time, a political assassination right in our own backyard. It felt personal.
I remember that we had a coworker here whose younger sister called her, and she’d been at the Charlie Kirk event. She’d witnessed the assassination, and she was running with a group of students. And this colleague said, “Where are you running to?” And she said, “I don’t know. I don’t know where to run to.” And our coworker said, “Run to the temple. Run to the temple.” And I think that is such a sweet message in some of this. There is something that people can look to in times of trial.
We saw that again when just a few weeks later, someone who was targeting the Church of Jesus Christ ran his truck right into a Latter-day Saint chapel during services. People lost their lives. Others were injured. The building ended up burning to the ground. And I think we have to say, “Where do we look now?” And yet, we have prophets and apostles on the earth today who have taught us to look to the temple.
And that all happened in the middle of a prophetic transition. And yet, we still knew where to look. We still understood that there is something in this Church that makes us not fear in times of challenge. We mourned the loss of President Nelson. I hope we talk more about that in this podcast. But the minute he was gone, we didn’t fear, we didn’t worry. We knew that that mantle would pass to President Dallin H. Oaks and that he would lead us in the way the Lord wanted us led.
6:27
Doug Wilks: It was interesting during that weekend. First off, we had two reporters and a photographer to hear Charlie Kirk and had looked at Turning Point USA and looked at — there are a lot of Latter-day Saints who, young Latter-day Saints, who worked for that organization. We wanted to understand what that was all about. And so with that understanding there, we were here to see what he would do. And then when the assassination happened, we went to work.
Very traumatic for our reporters, our photographer, Tess Crowley. They were tremendous. They were professionals. A lot of that work’s been recognized, recognized nationally. Tess’ photos are among the New York Times and others, photos of the year. So we’re proud of the staff being able to rise to a moment like that. But really, the moment was to try and help people cope and get through that.
One interesting note about when President Nelson passed, the stake that I’m a part of had a stake conference. And so he passed that night — I can’t remember what time he passed; it was like 10 o’clock or something like that — and so that state conference, talks were rewritten. And then that morning, in the session of stake conference, then you can see people who get alerts on their phones; they’re worshipping, but they still get those alerts. And then the Michigan tragedy happened.
And so not only how are you mourning the loss of a Prophet; now you have a very international, difficult event. And it was incumbent upon people to learn to worship together to help each other, and not just those who are members of the Church but elsewhere as well. So that’s why there was such a dynamic, difficult but yet, in some ways, inspiring 20 days during that time.
8:12
Jon Ryan Jensen: I thought it was really interesting, as we went through the general conference messages, to hear the mention that in the last three years, the Church itself had grown by more than a million members. And so you have President Russell M. Nelson, who’s been President of the Church for more than seven, almost eight years. And more than a million of the Church’s members have never known a President, a Prophet other than him. And so this was their first chance to go through that kind of transition.
Sarah, I know that you covered extensively his global ministry when he first became President of the Church. As you look back at that time and that part of the ministry and what his ministry became over the next few years, what are the things that are going to stand out to you the most from that time?
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, of course, we’ve already mentioned it, but when I think of President Russell M. Nelson, I’m always going to think about temples. And I was in Rome in the year 2019, in March of 2019, when President Nelson dedicated the Rome temple. At that event, he called that dedication “a hinge point in the history of the Church.” And we felt it. We knew that was important, but we didn’t know what it was. And I’m sure that as time goes by, we’ll see many, many things that hastened where the Lord was hastening His work after that event.
But one of the things that happened is President Nelson himself began announcing temples at a very, very quick pace. In his time as President of the Church of Jesus Christ, he announced 200 temples. That is going to change the landscape of the Church. And he didn’t just announce those temples but he promised us that time in the temple would bless our lives like nothing else could. And members have responded to that invitation. They’ve spent more time in the temple. And you’re seeing that sort of ripple.
I think it’s interesting to mention that when we think about all of the trials that the temple becomes a refuge, from all the hard things that happen in the world. You yourself traveled to Africa to cover an event that was so hard not just for members in Lesotho but all over the world. And those young women would have only known President Nelson as a Prophet.
10:29
Doug Wilks: Can you describe that event?
Jon Ryan Jensen: Yeah. So, that was the first tragedy that I got to see and experience the faith of members firsthand. We were participating actually covering the New Mission Leaders Seminar that the Church hosts every single year to train new mission leaders who are going out into the field to teach the Church’s 85,000 missionaries. And on the last day, last full day, of that seminar, we received the news that there had been a car accident down in Lesotho, in southern Africa.
And a few days later, traveled down to Lesotho, met with the survivors of that crash, met with family members of those who died in that crash. And I maintain that for me — just as you were impacted by everything that happened in September — for me, those days in July were the most impactful for me personally, to see these 13- and 14- and 15-year-old young women mourning and to feel the pain that they were going through, but also to feel and see the faith that they have.
There’s a phrase that just keeps coming back to me over and over again, and that is: “God is still God.” And more than one of them said it. It was two and three and four of them who said it in their talks at the memorial service and the funeral, that they still knew that just because there’s a tragedy that happens in their lives, that doesn’t mean that God ceases to be God or that His plan ceases to exist or that the Savior ceases to help us overcome the challenges that we’re in. And that was a really challenging and enlightening few days for me to be down there.
12:04
Doug Wilks: There is — sometimes in the news business, you’re dealing a lot with tragedies. So, years ago, there were the fires in Santa Rosa, California. And then there were the fires in Paradise. President Nelson lost a daughter and then got on a plane and went to minister to those in Paradise. Were you at that? Did you go to that?
Sarah Jane Weaver: Eighteen thousand structures burned. Every home but five and two wards were lost. And the Prophet was right there, despite his own personal family tragedy.
Doug Wilks: But that helped the Saints realize that tragedy hits. It’s a part of life to learn something. To learn empathy, to learn the love of God, to learn that you can overcome difficulty. And then this past year, of course, in Southern California, where you lost whole towns that just burned because fires are happening more regularly now. And that comes on the heels of what happened in Hawaii. And all of these, every one of these things we’ve spoken about has impacted, directly or indirectly, members of the Church. And the Church has been able to rise up and help and do those things that it needs to do.
But I also, in every story that we do, as we describe something that’s happened, we look for a solution: “Is there something else that can happen?” Whether it’s with the environment or with policy. In the Michigan shooting, there was a parishioner who was worshipping and who was a doctor and kept helping people and running back in, into harm’s way. So you do have these heroic things that happened.
And even most recently in Bondi, in Australia, where you had this horrible tragedy with religious hate, but you had acts of heroism that were noted as people sacrificed greatly, even their own lives, to try and stop the shooting that happened in Australia. So, you hate to harp on the negative, because there is so much positive that also happens. But people are able to overcome, and you learn a lot that way.
14:01
Sarah Jane Weaver: And when you think about these things, these young women in Lesotho, they were going to a Young Women activity, they were with their branch president and his wife. They were together on a bus. I’ll never forget in your report where the young woman who was the oldest in that group had actually gone out and encouraged all these other young women to come to this activity. And then some of them did not live through that accident.
And I think of the members in Michigan. They were worshipping together. They were there doing what they were supposed to do, and something horrible happened. And to me, that’s the message of 2025, is that even though we do the things that we’re supposed to do, that doesn’t shield us from certain types of tragedy or sorrow. And yet, because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ, because we have a knowledge, a sure knowledge, of our Savior, that we can rise above that and somehow be OK, not just in spite of it but because of the fact that we worship together.
15:05
Jon Ryan Jensen: I agree. I think that that 2025 theme for me was definitely a better understanding of what it means to mourn with those that mourn, as we saw so many of our fellow Saints mourn in each of these tragedies and, again, the passing of President Russell M. Nelson. There were ample opportunities to support each other, to serve each other and to continue trying to grow in love and sense of community.
15:26
Doug Wilks: I think — this is just a personal observation — but I think the Lord is willing to require a lot of us, and the generation that is here now is able to stand up, mourn with those who mourn, but then also do great, great things. I think about the most recent announcement of the age change for sisters to be able to go out on missions. So young men and young women who can go out at age 18 now. And that’s a confidence in what can be done around the world. New missions — how many new missions were established?
Jon Ryan Jensen: Fifty-five.
Doug Wilks: Fifty-five new missions. That could grow again. Certainly, there’s excitement that builds. But why is there excitement when something seems to be you have to sacrifice? Because you realize through that sacrifice the growth that you do, the experience that you have. And so that’s a really positive, wonderful lesson of: Here, you have an opportunity now to sacrifice earlier. Well, actually, no, I have an opportunity to give of myself to God. And that’s what the Church brings you. It’s a total different way of looking at the world, that you’re able to go do something for someone else, and the growth that comes from that is remarkable.
16:37
Jon Ryan Jensen: I was there with [Young Women General] President Emily Belle Freeman the morning that that announcement came out, and she was there with others of the Young Women advisory council watching the messages come into their phones, the videos of the seminary classes. And it wasn’t just opportunity to give of themselves and to serve, but it was the pure excitement that they felt of, “We get to go do this, and we get to do it sooner than we’ve ever imagined.” And those messages just brought tears to all of their eyes in a very beautiful and sudden way.
17:06
Sarah Jane Weaver: And these are things that are coming at a time when many people think that young people are stepping away from religion. There is a belief that this generation is less religious. And many polls support that. Many pieces of research are saying, “Yes, this generation as a whole may be less religious than past generations.”
Doug Wilks: Regardless of faith.
Sarah Jane Weaver: Regardless of faith. And yet, in this day and age, we have 900,000 young people every single year in seminary and institute around the world. These people are serving missions at higher rates. And they’re also attending Church universities at higher rates than we have. So I think there is something about the commitment level of youth in the Church of Jesus Christ.
17:56
Jon Ryan Jensen: I think there’s another misconception, even within the Church, that, “Well, that institute program, a lot of them are highly concentrated.” The biggest institute programs we have in the Church are at Utah Valley University in Orem, where one of these tragedies happened. The other is a brand-new, newly renovated building up in Logan, Utah, at Utah State University. And both of those come close to 10,000 apiece in enrollment. But that 900,000 is really spread across the entire world.
All of this news happens, and we talked about the tragedies. We haven’t touched, though, on what came after the passing of President Russell M. Nelson. And that is that President Oaks, President Dallin H. Oaks, went from being first counselor in President Nelson’s First Presidency and then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during conference to then becoming President of the Church and naming a new First Presidency.
For the two of you, I know there was a lot of news when President Nelson was named President of the Church that things were going to stay the same and it was going to be calm and he wouldn’t make many changes.
Doug Wilks: The predictions.
Jon Ryan Jensen: The predictions, yeah. And so, if there’s anything that you can learn from what happened with President Nelson, what would you tell members of the Church who are trying to get a feel for what a presidency with President Oaks is going to be like?
19:09
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, I could start because it was late at night when the Church sent out the notice that President Nelson had passed away. And so I’m receiving that just before midnight. And this is a beloved Prophet who had personally influenced my life so very much. And yet, immediately — you kind of scramble when you’re in the news industry, and you focus, and you focus, and you’re putting stories up, and you’re writing headlines, and you’re looking for pictures.
And then somewhere in the middle of the night, there was a little bit of a lull. And I actually had the opportunity to ponder what was coming next. And my mind immediately went to a beautiful portrait that President Oaks keeps in his office. And he did move this portrait to his new office that he now occupies as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
But it’s a painting that’s a copy of a painting by Maynard Dixon that he was first introduced to when he was BYU president. And it’s of a man sitting on the curb during the Great Depression, and people are walking by, and he appears to be forgotten by all of them. You can just see the feet of people who are walking by and paying him no attention. And yet, on one occasion, when I was in President Oaks’ office, I asked him about the painting, and I mistakenly called it the “Invisible Man.” Well, the painting, he corrected me and said, “No, it’s ‘Forgotten Man.’” And then he said, “Nobody is invisible to the Lord. Nobody’s forgotten by the Lord.”
Because if you look closely at that painting, the message that resonated to him was that the sun was shining on that man’s head as he sat distraught on a curb, because the Lord knew he was there. He was not forgotten by the Lord. He was seen by the Lord in all of his trials and all of his tribulations. That’s something that I think everybody who’s been involved in tragedy this year probably also felt, that they were seen and acknowledged by the Lord.
And President Oaks is going to be that kind of leader. He has a constant consciousness to acknowledge people, to make sure that none are forgotten when they’re in his midst. And I think that is a beautiful trait by a leader who is taking the Church into a very, very contentious era.
21:31
Jon Ryan Jensen: Those comments remind me of a time that we had earlier this year to sit with President Oaks and his wife, Sister Kristen Oaks, as they prepared to go to the Philippines to dedicate a new temple — their first visit back there since serving when he was the area president. And what stood out to me when we were in his office is that the two of them could still remember names of individuals who were there at that time. And “Oh, and do you remember when —” And they were playing off of each other about the beautiful, joyful times that they had spent with individuals during those couple of years that they were in the Philippines. And so I think that’s reflected in your belief that it’ll be a ministry to the one as he serves as President of the Church.
22:10
Sarah Jane Weaver: And I believe it’s going to be a ministry to the world. Now, we don’t know why the First Presidency Christmas devotional this year was pretaped. Nobody said that. They just said, “We’re not going to hold a huge event in the Conference Center and bring all these people in.” But I love what that enables, which is it’s taped in advance, the messages that were shared could be translated into multiple languages, and everybody in the world got them at the same time. There wasn’t a Salt Lake City, an international Church. There wasn’t an English version and a few other versions.
Jon Ryan Jensen: Later.
Sarah Jane Weaver: Yeah. It all came together. And I think that’s what we’re going to see. We’re going to see President Oaks being conscious that everybody everywhere sees things. And we actually saw it again in a little different way because President Oaks did not announce new temples at general conference. Now, he was not President of the Church at the time. He was presiding at that conference as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
But just a few weeks ago, on a Sunday night, during a Christmas devotional in Portland, Maine, Elder Allen D. Haynie, who’s the area president for that area of the United States, read a letter from President Oaks and his councilors announcing a new temple for Portland. Now, there is something very, very tender and sweet about the members who are going to serve in that temple being the ones to hear the news that that temple will be built first.
And it wasn’t just any members; it was the most faithful members. There was a snowstorm that night in Portland, and the people who either logged on to the livestream or braved the snowstorm to go hear their area presidency give a Christmas devotional message were the ones who got to hear news about the temple first.
24:00
Jon Ryan Jensen: And they were delighted and surprised and shared their expressions of faith as well, many of them being multigenerational members whose parents or grandparents were among the first to be part of the Church in that area as well. It was beautiful.
Sarah Jane Weaver: Those pictures in the Church News, if your viewers haven’t seen them, they should go. There is just joy in the faces of the people who heard that announcement.
24:25
Jon Ryan Jensen: All of these changes with Church leadership necessitated the calling of a new Apostle as well. And for the first time in the Church’s history, we have a French-born Apostle in Elder Gérald Caussé, who was named a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles just a couple of weeks after President Oaks was announced as President of the Church. And that shows another continuing change of diversification within that quorum.
And I’m interested to know what you hear. As you interface with leaders, you cover leaders of other churches as well, how do you feel this is reflective of the Church as a whole and seen by other Church leaders looking in?
25:06
Doug Wilks: From my perspective, every one of these leaders is prepared year after year, decade after decade, doing work that is not covered by a newspaper, necessarily, not covered by anyone. They quietly go about the work, and the Lord prepares them to do that.
There’s a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that missionaries quote: “If you have a desire to serve God, you are called to the work” (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:3). And it doesn’t say, “You are called to this thing”; it’s a “You are called. And at a certain season of a certain time, you’re called to that work.” Bishop Caussé, now Elder Caussé, and his wife, Valérie, have dedicated themselves. There’s not a consideration of, “Oh, do we accept this calling?” It’s, “We’ve already made that decision to accept the callings that the Lord has for us,” when you consecrate your life to the Lord. And we see that with them. We see the work they do, preparation they do.
Elder [D. Todd] Christofferson, now going into the First Presidency, has so much experience just trying to do the work and move it forward. And you talk about the Maine temple, and I can only imagine how exciting that was for the Saints there and just the continued work. But President Nelson passes, the work of the Lord continues.
And believers, we believe that President Nelson’s got a new calling now, whatever it is, on the other side of the veil. And he was very much prepared for it, and he felt the accountability for it. He said on many occasions, “At some point, I will have to be accountable to the Lord.” And he wanted to have the right answer to say. Well, we’re all in that same spot in the little small things that we do.
We’re representing the Deseret News right now. You’re the editor of the Church News. For whatever season this is, we’re just trying to do a good job. We’re just trying to tell the stories that need to be told. And they’re not all pretty, but we hope they’re necessary and helpful.
27:04
Sarah Jane Weaver: And I actually love the story of the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You think of Elder Caussé being called, and there are other members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve who, in different times in history, have spoken a little French. Elder Neil L. Andersen served his mission in France. He is very proficient at that language. Elder [Ulisses] Soares, Elder [Dieter F.] Uchtdorf, they also speak French.
But to have a native French speaker is going to bless the Church in different ways because it’s not just for the Saints in France or other French-speaking nations, but we have a whole group of French-speaking members in Africa that now have an Apostle who can speak to them in their native language.
27:55
Doug Wilks: Well, clearly the languages are important. And you see the growth of the Church in Africa, where French is spoken, as well as English and other languages. South America, certainly. But again, over and over again, just the daily work to invite souls to Christ, it won’t stop. Even if we mess it up, it won’t stop.
28:12
Jon Ryan Jensen: I want to go back to something that you mentioned just a second ago about each of us working within the spheres where we are and the responsibilities that we gain. Brigham Young University has a big sign when you enter its campus. It says “Enter to learn” and “Go forth to serve.” And so those students, in a way, have a responsibility that they are taking on when they go to that Church school. This year, the university celebrates 150 years of its history as well. And what did we learn about where BYU has been and where it might be headed?
28:41
Sarah Jane Weaver: I love BYU. It changed my life. My husband and I both graduated from BYU. We are huge BYU sports fans. Now, we can talk about a lot of things about BYU, but in this year, it is hard to ignore the influence of BYU sports. The football team just played in the conference championship. We had great success at the national collegiate championship in track and field and in cross-country, the BYU women’s soccer team had some really, really Cinderella wins this year. We’ve had success with the basketball team.
Deseret News did a podcast with President Shane Reese and Keith Vorkink talking about athletics and how they’re building those programs and how they’re not compromising the values of Brigham Young University or the Church of Jesus Christ to accomplish those things. And so this is just an exciting time to be a Cougar fan.
29:39
Doug Wilks: The 150th anniversary is interesting. Deseret News had 175. The University of Utah celebrated its 175th anniversary. University of Utah started by Brigham Young. Brigham Young University started by Brigham Young. So the influence of the Church on these educational institutions, the commitment to education, has been there from the very beginning, since the pioneers first arrived. Even before that.
Media has been a part of it to spread the word. And we want to tell those good stories. The relationship between Taylor Randall at the University of Utah, who’s a Latter-day Saint, and Shane Reese at BYU has been remarkable and tremendous. And the collaborations that are going on there. Collaborations with the medical school, now that BYU is engaging and working very diligently to get the medical school not only accredited but then, soon after, open, and working with an eye toward the next however many years.
But I think about what’s going to happen in Africa by the influence of what’s happening with Latter-day Saints. And it’s really going to be very interesting to tell those stories. And we both want to be here as long as we can to help tell those stories.
30:45
Sarah Jane Weaver: And when you think about the impact of the Church in Africa, BYU–Pathway is playing a huge role in that; 85,000 Pathway students across the world. And we know that our leaders have told us that gaining an education is a spiritual responsibility, that that’s something that the Lord expects us to do to expand our minds and be able to help and contribute to society and to bless our children and our families and to be able to teach and train in the Church.
And when I think of that — we just talked about this amazing sports year BYU has had, and you couple that with tragedy, and that came together in an interesting way with a young Latter-day Saint mother who attended the Cincinnati football game, where BYU was playing at Cincinnati [Ohio]. It was a highly charged game. It was important in conference rankings.
Jon Ryan Jensen: Both schools.
31:35
Sarah Jane Weaver: For both schools, you’re right. And at one point, a regrettable chant broke out from the student body section in Cincinnati that has been heard at other BYU sporting events. And those things are hard, and I don’t think people know exactly what to do. And I was in the stadium that day in Cincinnati. My daughter had served as a missionary in Cincinnati, and we’d gone back to celebrate the members that she loved there and the city that she loved.
And so now we’re in the stadium, and we’re hearing something that is very derogatory about members of our faith. And I remember we were talking about it after the game, but another couple was talking about it, and Brandi Hicken and her husband had driven from Michigan to attend that football game. And he was a medical student doing his residency in Michigan. And her husband and their 5-year-old daughter were shot in that horrible attack on the Church in Michigan.
And because she had the power of education in her life, and she also had this sensibility that was taught by both President Nelson and now President Oaks about bridge building and civility and human dignity. And she knew how to put her thoughts together, and she wrote a letter to the athletic director of Cincinnati and said, “You know what? When people say those things, it actually is hurtful and harmful for those of us who have experienced some sort of religious prejudice or religious violence.” And I think of the bravery of what she did. She shared that on social media. It went viral. And she was later invited to write a piece that was published in Time.
And so, when we have tragedy and then we’re able to use the things that we’ve learned in the Church to help other people contextualize the events that surround our lives, there’s great power in that. And she didn’t just sit back. She rose above the events that happened in Michigan, and she used them as a catalyst to say, “Hey, I think as a society, we should all be more civil. We should all treat each other a little better.”
And I love that for this year. I love that somebody can say, “This happened to me. It was not fair. It was not right.” And that goes back to the students who were at UVU. It goes back to anyone who was in Michigan. It goes back to the young women who are in Lesotho, and they rise above. And that’s what’s beautiful to me about 2025.
34:18
Jon Ryan Jensen: Well, that brings us to a good spot for us to bid farewell to 2025. And as the two of you look back at everything that you experienced and learned, I ask you the same question that we ask all of our guests on the Church News podcast and allow you to have the final word.
So, Sarah, we’ll start with you and then, Doug, conclude with you. Sarah, what do you know now, having been through all of these things in 2025?
Sarah Jane Weaver: Well, what I know after writing about and documenting all the events of 2025, both the hard things and the good things and the Church milestones that we’ve reached, and all the times we mourned together and celebrated together, is that prophets and apostles reign on the earth. This is the Savior’s Church. He lived. He walked the earth. His Church was restored by Joseph Smith. And it’s led today by a Prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks.
And that did not cease. The power, the authority, the keys did not leave the earth when President Nelson passed away, this beloved Prophet who we put so much trust in. We were, as a people, able to just transfer our trust and know that President Oaks would lead us. And as I have prayed, as I have accepted President Oaks’ invitations, I have come to know that he is a Prophet of God. And I am so grateful to live in a Church that is led by prophets.
35:43
Doug Wilks: That’s lovely, Sarah. For me, the lesson that I take away is everything is personal. Every single story is personal. We had reporters at the Charlie Kirk shooting, and it was devastating for them to witness that. And then you’d have to sit, sort of gather themselves and go to work reporting on what happened, and to be credible so that the world could get the right information at the right time. And that’s a pretty big responsibility when you wake up that morning not thinking that’s what your day is going to be.
I recall years ago, my wife and I were traveling through Salt Lake airport, and we had met President Oaks prior, and we saw him standing outside the security gate. He was standing alone, waiting for his other party to come with him. And it was a Friday. And we went up to him and said — reintroduced ourselves — “President Oaks, good to see you.” And it was a random Friday. He was on his way, I believe, to Sacramento [California] to preside over a stake conference. And he was doing the work just one day, nondescript but incredibly important for the people he would meet. Important for the work in Northern California.
But I was just dumbfounded. At that point, he’s in his 80s doing this work. Now he’s 93, called now to have the mantle of leading The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world. And you just keep trying to do what the Lord wants you to do, in whatever capacity you have, whether it’s being a BYU student and going forth to serve, being a great football player and seeking excellence in whatever you’re doing, or trying to chronicle the events that are taking place currently, whether it’s in a more secular vein or through the eyes of the Church. And we try to do both. So, that everything is personal, so we take that seriously.
37:48
Jon Ryan Jensen: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m your host, Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
