Joseph Smith has been martyred, Brigham Young has been sustained as the next prophet of the church and the saints are working diligently in Nauvoo to finish the temple and live out the teachings of Joseph Smith. Yet local persecution continues to mount, and the Prophet and Apostles decide it would be best for the Saints to disperse across many states and even countries. Each Apostle would lead a group to a new home where they would continue in the teachings of Joseph Smith as well as create bases for missionaries to share the Book of Mormon across the world. While it is to be expected that there would be opposition and persecution, the survival of the church seems more likely if it is found everywhere and gaining converts in all nations. 

So they disperse, Brigham Young takes some of the Saints to Utah while the rest of the Apostles take groups to other far corners of the United States, Mexico, Canada, even traveling back to England and other nations in Europe, Africa, and Asia to form communities. And for a time, it seems to work; the Apostles correspond regularly with the Prophet in Utah, sending emissaries and letters back and forth to receive instruction and teaching, even traveling themselves to convene for Apostolic Councils. Yet eventually, wherever the Saints go, violence and persecution find them. The Apostles are martyred and so are their followers, some escape and flee to other communities taking with them what books and letters written by the Apostles and Prophet they can but sometimes nothing survives.

The Prophet writes letters of encouragement and appoints new Apostles to replace those who had been killed; some of the letters arrive, others are lost, some communities recognize the Prophet’s appointments while others who never receive letters choose from among those who were the most dedicated students of the previous Apostle. Yet other communities are torn apart by persecution and their members killed or fled. Traveling among these communities are men claiming to be the true Prophet and they convince some to leave with them and form new churches – men like Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Strang, William Bickerton, Grandville Hedrick, and others. 

The US Army eventually marches on Salt Lake City and burns it, arresting Brigham Young and imprisoning him for a time before executing him. John Taylor is sustained as the next President of the Church as Saints everywhere continue to be imprisoned, fined, executed, and harassed for their beliefs. The Saints are viewed as a threat to local governments anywhere their numbers become too great and are often blamed for unfortunate events like the failure of crops that year or civil unrest. They are also seen as a threat to the social order through the practice of polygamy, establishment of separate interdependent communities, and tendency to convert women, native, and black members. Then the day comes when President Taylor is martyred, Wilford Woodruff had already died years before when the Saints that he had led to Manitoba were attacked and so had Lorenzo Snow. So Joseph F. Smith becomes President after John Taylor but his time is short lived when the US Army again marches on Salt Lake City and this time executes the Prophet, any Apostles who are there, and either executes or imprisons members of the 70. After this blow a new Prophet is never formally sustained, and no new Apostles are appointed. 

There is no longer a President of the Church, but individual communities survive and many even thrive. Laws are then passed preventing members from obtaining identification, drivers licenses, or even being able to open bank accounts. Bishops are falsely accused of crimes, homes and meeting houses are burned, along with any copy of the Book of Mormon that can be found. Despite all this the church persists. Converts continue to fill the halls where churches are meeting and ordinances are performed in houses, stores, and even tents that are dedicated by the Bishop leading that community for use as a temple.

Communication between the communities is sometimes difficult but there are periods of peace in between waves of persecution where the Church can grow. Finaly in the year 2124 civil unrest across the globe erupts and the “Mormons” are blamed leading to the greatest widespread persecution that leaves 1 in 8 Latter-Day Saints dead. As a result a resolution is passed in the United Nations recognizing the Church and its members as a protected people group and banning further persecution in any member nation. With the ensuing peace and freedom, the Bishops of the now hundreds of churches and communities scattered across the globe are invited to gather at the United Nations Headquarters to convene the first Apostolic Council in over 200 years. It is an olive branch intended to bring unity to the persecuted church by allowing them a safe venue to elect a new President and to resolve important doctrinal disagreements that had developed over time, but the caveat is that the entire proceeding happens under the watchful “guidance” of the UN.