November 8, 2025, 6:00 AM MST
Church News reporters are sometimes asked, “What is your favorite job?”
There have been many rewarding and memorable assignments throughout my career, but covering the Rededication of the Hill Cumorah over the weekend of September 21st ranks among my favorites because of what I learned, what I 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, his keynote address at the Church History Conference provided an insightful perspective on how to explore events in Church history.
Elder Kyle S. McKay, General Authority Seventy, Church Historian/Recorder, and Executive Director of the Church History Department, spoke on the conference theme, “‘I Am in You’: Jesus Christ at the Center of Church History.” He encouraged conference attendees to look for and “see” the Savior in the history of the Church and in our personal lives.
“God is in the midst of His work, and most importantly, He is in the midst of His ongoing restoration,” Elder McKay said.
Prior to the rededication of Hill Cumorah, Elder Bednar visited historic sites in Palmyra, New York. Joseph Smith’s boyhood home and the Smith Farm Home. Grandin Printing Company, where the Book of Mormon was first published. And the sacred forest. In each place he bore an apostolic witness of the Savior and the divine events of the Restoration.
Elder Bednar’s testimony was especially powerful in the Sacred Grove. In the spring of 1820, young Joseph entered the grove with a question that would have eternal consequences. He was anxious to know which of all the churches was the right one, and he believed that God would answer his prayers. In response to Joseph’s questions, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph and ushered in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Elder Bednar testified that what happened in the Sacred Grove was neither imagined nor symbolic. It was real and personal.
“What does this mean to you and to me? Joseph Smith came to understand that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ recognized him as a person, cared for his eternal salvation, and had a mission to fulfill,” Elder Bednar said. “We can take great comfort in knowing that our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ know each of us personally and deeply. If, like Joseph Smith, we sincerely pray and ask our Heavenly Father in faith with a determination to act, our prayers will be heard and answered.”
Like Joseph, we all need to search for truth for ourselves. No matter where we are, we can have our own “sacred grove moment” when we turn to the Lord wholeheartedly. This principle is reflected in the chorus of the new Primary song, “My Own Sacred Grove.”
I will find my own sacred grove.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the world.
I turn to prayer,
‘Cause I know he’s there
I will find my own sacred grove.
Accompanied by his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, and others, Elder Bednar returned to the Sacred Grove on a calm and peaceful Sunday morning, September 21, where a devotional meeting was held with missionaries serving at the New York and Pennsylvania historic sites.
In the very region where Joseph Smith’s question began the Restoration more than 200 years ago, Elder Bednar spoke of “a wonderful season in the history of the restored Church,” with 17.5 million members and 382 houses of the Lord under construction or in operation around the world.
“This work will be accelerated, hastened, and led by the living Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I witness that he lives. I testify that he is our Savior and our Savior. And I testify that the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, and that that was the beginning of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this latter-day dispensation.”
Elder Bednar’s message reminded me of the words of the late President Russell M. Nelson in October 2022 general conference: “Many great things lie ahead. In the coming days, we will see the greatest manifestation of the Savior’s power the world has ever seen. From now until the Savior returns ‘with power and great glory,’ He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon His faithful people.”
Elder Bednar then urged those in attendance to “look to (the Savior) in every thought; do not doubt, and do not be afraid” (D&C 6:36).
Elder Bednar said, “I want to take that verse and burn it into the flesh of your brains and hearts: What will the Lord do? What will He teach? … Make it your goal to remember Him.”
— Trent Thune is a reporter for Church News.
