The report of the meeting with Elder Jensen also said he was "sensitive to the letters we had provided and acknowledged that the church will take the lead on the issue of national Historical Landmark Status. He noted the importance of having a single letter from the three organizations.

"He indicated that at some point in the near future efforts would be made to provide information on how the process might take place. He also indicated the church had been working on drawings, to be presented to the three organizations, on concepts for the northern grave sites."

The discussions come six months after hundreds of massacre victim descendants gathered at Mountain Meadows in September for a three-day commemoration of the murders, which took place Sept. 11, 1857, west of Cedar City at the direction of LDS leaders who also served as military officers.

President Henry B. Eyring, then a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve, attended a service at Mountain Meadows on Sept. 11, 2007, and delivered a message expressing "profound regret" for the fact that local church leaders in Cedar City had planned the massacre and ordered LDS militiamen to participate in the slaughter of 120 unarmed men, women and children.

At that meeting, Phil Bolinger, president of the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation, presented then-Elder Eyring with a letter he read from two U.S. senators from Arkansas — Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor — supporting the foundation's quest for National Historic Landmark status for church-owned property at Mountain Meadows.

Bolinger also gave Elder Eyring a packet of additional support letters, which he said included requests from Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and 55 members of the Arkansas State Legislature "requesting that the LDS Church cooperate in securing National Historic Landmark designation."

He said the packet also contained letters from descendants of more than 400 massacre victims, and a signed petition. Bolinger asked Elder Eyring to let then-LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley know that "his cooperation would truly help us close the book of the past and signal the beginning of the honest forgiveness we all seem to want."

Elder Eyring, now first counselor in the church's First Presidency, took the packet but did not offer any further remarks.

At that time, leaders of the three organizations expressed gratitude for the church's public acknowledgement of the fact that local LDS leaders planned and carried out the massacre, but acknowledged mixed feelings among members of their respective organizations regarding future stewardship of the area.

Harley Fancher, a board member with the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation, confirmed the three groups will meet with Elder Jensen and his group on Friday. He told the Deseret Morning News the groups are "hopeful we've developed a dialogue and may be moving forward. We've got our fingers crossed — we don't know the exact details yet."