Hi. I'm on the second floor of the Nauvoo House.
Even though the house is not open for public tours,
I have been given permission to give 
you this video tour of the house.
Behind me you can see the Mississippi river,
only yards away from the house,
which today happens to be frozen.
From this window you can also see
the Smith Homestead, which is the first house in Nauvoo
in which Joseph Smith and Emma Smith lived.
Behind the Homestead, you can see
one of the most important buildings in Nauvoo: The Red Brick Store.
On the upper room of the store,
some of the first endowments were performed
and the Relief Society was organized.
Let me give you now a tour of the second level of the House.
Here there are three rooms that, as you can see, 
have been converted into very simple dorm rooms.
The one we just walked through is Emma's bedroom.
Let me show you the first level of the house.
This is the main entrance.
This is Emma's Parlor, where we are going to have most of our meals.
This is Emma's kitchen, where we are going
to cook most of our meals.
There's a reason why I wanted to finish the
tour in this room:
Kitchens are the place where people congregate.
Historically, some scholars claim that Christianity
started as the sharing of a communal meal.
Kitchens are also the place where typically
women and gay men are doing the cooking.
Kitchens are the place where elements are transformed
and meals are prepared.
Kitchens are the place where people are nourished.
I want to invite you on the first weekend of May
to join me, and many other LGBT 
Mormons, their families and friends
for a retreat in Nauvoo, the City of Joseph,
where we are going to congregate,
where we are going to cook meals,
and where we are going to nourish each other.
