My paperback copy of the Covenant of Christ arrived 10 days after the conference announcement.

I began reading that evening sitting in my car in the parking lot of the LDS chapel, waiting for my sons while they attended Nephi’s Knights (i.e. Activity Days). Although alone, I realized that I had been unconsciously speaking the words aloud, just quietly and to myself. The thought occurred to me that perhaps I could record the book for others, similar to how the Restoration Edition of the Book of Mormon had been recorded into a podcast.

The next few nights in the space between dreams and awake this idea persisted. I waffled thinking that the work was most likely already underway.  But was it being done with a woman’s voice? 

I’m not sure I’m the best reader….but I have been reading bedtime stories to my children for the last 22 years. And they really love the drama and character voices that I do.

After going back and forth on this, I finally reached out to the email address in the front cover of the book to ask permission. I got up early before my children woke up and recorded some of the introductory chapters while it was still quiet. Four minutes of actual finished recording took me over an hour to edit in the free software I found.

A Restoration Archives representative emailed back fascinated by the idea, asking if I could talk more about it. We spoke for about half hour later that day. He gave me honest feedback on my recordings. Admittedly, the audio quality wasn’t great since I recorded on my phone earbuds, and I still had a groggy sleepiness in my voice from the early morning. He did let me know that there were plans to record the Covenant of Christ, but rather than use multiple men as was done in the Book of Mormon recordings, the plan was to produce the work in one man’s voice.  He was, however, thinking of having the glossary done in a woman’s voice.

While he wasn’t interested in having me participate in the work he was doing, he welcomed the idea and gave permission to proceed on my own. The only caveat requirements to this authorization were to include the copyright and ensure that every word of the text was perfectly accurate. He also let me know that it would likely take me over a year to complete the project.

He gave me good recommendations for the type of microphone I would need and additional equipment and dedicated editing software, beyond the free versions widely available.  He also talked me through some of the recording and editing pitfalls that I should anticipate. 

Not wanting to catch flack from my faithful LDS husband for spending an inordinate amount on professional recording equipment, I found a highly rated, good quality condenser microphone that was reasonable enough not to raise any eyebrows.

I was early into the recording of First Nephi when a friend from the congregation mentioned to me how she too was reading out loud to herself.  I had the impression that I ought to invite her to participate.  But I was so new into the project, I didn’t know myself how I would drive it to completion.  The second time she mentioned reading to herself, she lamented that she would love to record the Covenant of Christ for others. About this time I was getting the recording of Second Nephi finished up and felt more comfortable with both the recording and editing process.   The impression to include her came again, and I finally told her what I had been up to. Additionally, my voice was thrashed due to the amount of daily reading I was doing and then getting a cold on top of it.  I was physically stopped in my recording process.

She has been a force of nature and rallied the troops.  We sent out an invitation to the Restoration Relief Society email group asking as many women as possible to help us record the glossary.  She also found main readers willing to take on entire books.  Although not intentional, the glossary words turned out to be a handy audition to extend additional invitations to strong readers who could articulate, enunciate and carry the pace of the chapters. 

We have burned our candles early in the morning, late at night and everywhere in between.  Personally, I have sat working through initial recordings at midnight in the hospital ER with my ill elderly mother, on the sidelines before my son’s soccer games and in-between work meetings.

After the chapters were recorded, edited and polished, a dedicated QC team went through every recording multiple times to carefully ensure the textual accuracy is word-for-word.

The recording is entirely unique, engaging in delivery, and infinitely valuable in content.