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Hi. I'm standing in the parlor of the historic Nauvoo House, only yards away
from the Mighty Mississippi. This house was built by the Saints
who were commanded by revelation in 1841. The original plan called for a grandiose project:
A building that was going to be 120 feet wide by 120 feet deep
and five stories high. However, by the time most of the Saints left
the City of Joseph in 1846, only the walls of the first floor had been finished.
Emma Smith and her husband Lewis Bidamon were left with very few options:
One was to leave the building unfinished and abandoned;
the other option was to dismantle some of the walls of the first floor and use
those same bricks to build a smaller house on the same foundation .
That's exactly what they did, and since 1872 this house has fulfilled the purpose described
in Section 124 of Doctrine and Covenants: "And it shall be for a house of boarding,
a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein;
let it be a good house... that the weary traveler may find health and safety" (D&C 124:23).
We LGBT Mormons know a thing or two about what it means to change an important project
in midcourse. In fact, many of us have discovered that we
had to completely rewrite the blueprint of our lives.
I'm standing here today to tell you that you can still build that house on the same foundation,
accomplishing the same divine purpose. I want to invite you to join me, Randall Thacker,
Beth Ellsworth, and many LGBT Mormons, their families, and friends
during the first weekend on May for a retreat here in Nauvoo the City of Joseph.
We will fulfill a prophecy: "And it shall be for a house of boarding,
a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein;
let it be a good house... that the weary traveler may find health and safety" (D&C 124:23).