Welcome to the official website of Kristen Smith Dayley, author of For all the Saints.
No matter where you live and serve, you are not alone. This inspirational collection of stories and experiences shows how the Lord uses the gospel to connect us with others and magnify our works into greatness. Filled with true-to-life moments that will benefit every member and every organization, it’s a moving and memorable read you’ll want to share with family and friends.
Available now! Find out more…
My five-year-old son loves superheroes. He can spend all day reading about Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and anyone else with a super-cool costume. One of the lessons of For All the Saints is that heroes are all around us, although their dress may be less flashy and involve less Spandex.
When I am asked to summarize the messages contained within the book, one of the most potent is as follows: Ordinary men and women can accomplish extraordinary things when they are partnered with the Lord.
For those of you curious to know what some of these superheroes look like, I have attached a photo recently given to me of some of the stallwart members who were the pillars of the Cambridge Branch in the early 1940s.
The other day, my five year was lecturing me on Wonder Woman’s parentage and gifts from the backseat of our minivan. Pausing for a moment, he asked, “Mom, isn’t it cool that we have a real-life superhero in our family?” Before I could respond, he quickly added so that there was no misunderstanding: “And it’s me!”
May we all see our own potential for bringing great things to pass through small and simple things (Alma 37:6) and our commitment to the Lord’s work.
I realize that it may be odd to welcome readers to a site that has been up for nearly five months. But for me, today is my first foray into the world of blogging. Between mothering four children (including infant twins), maintaining my household and law practice, and a few technical difficulties, I have not utilized this site the way I had initially planned.
But that stops today! When I was presented with the thousands of pages of oral histories that became the source material for For All the Saints, I found myself empathizing with Mormon, who could only include “the hundredth part” (3 Nephi 26:6) of the Nephite records within the leaves of the gold plates.
My hope is that this website will become an outlet for sharing many of the stories and lessons that I was not able to include in the book. I also hope it will become a resource for collecting more stories that evidence how the Lord builds his kingdom today. As Saints, we are well-versed in events that took place in Palmyra, Kirtland, Far West, Nauvoo, and the long trek west. But that only captures the smallest slice of our heritage! The Lord’s work did not stop when the Saints reached the Salt Lake Valley. On the contrary, his work rolls forward in all corners of the world today and there is much we can learn from each other as we each labor in our own corner of the vineyard.
As I stated at the end of the introduction to For All the Saints, it does not matter where we live – as we share testimony and insights, we come to recognize the common spiritual legacy and promises we share as men and women who faithfully seek to follow the Lord’s commands and build up his kingdom. I look forward to exploring this legacy with you.
All my best – Kristen