Latter Day Saint movement

I want to speak to you today about the role of community in the miracles of Jesus Christ and what that means for us here at BYU.

BYU's roots stretch back to a very humble community of early Saints in Kirtland, Ohio.

As many of you know, perhaps from your University 101 class, Kirtland was the site of revelations that form the basic constitution of Church education.

It is where the Prophet Joseph Smith received revelations like the olive leaf in Doctrine and Covenants 88, established the school of the prophets, and where the Saints built the first Latter-day Temple.

Kirtland was a place of an outpouring of revelations in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I visited Kirtland for the first time at a deeply personal moment in my life.

To stand in Kirtland and feel the weight of what happened there, the miraculous outpouring of light and revelation alongside heartache, betrayal, and sacrifice felt intensely personal.

Wondrous miracles and intense suffering coexisted in Kirtland.