June 2009
Tabernacle Choir finishes tour at Red Rocks (6-30-9)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir wrapped up its seven-city, 13-day tour with a performance Monday evening at the Red Rocks Amphitheater.
MormonTimes - Ohio temple put LDS church on the map (6-30)
Sites with interesting Mormon structures aren't unique to the West.
MormonTimes - Mormon missionaries seek to teach their faith in New Hampshire (6-30)
Dressed in the familiar uniform of dark pants, white shirt and necktie, two young men walk the streets of Keene and Brattleboro, New Hampshire, to fulfill the two-year mission requirement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MormonTimes - Scouting -- done right -- builds spiritual leaders, says author (6-30)
"Trails to Testimony, Bringing Young Men to Christ Through Scouting," by Bradley D. Harris, BookSurge Publishing, 128 pages, Paperback $8.99
MormonTimes - LDS Church News: 40 years of teaching the gospel in Spain (6-30)
The visit last month of two Spanish government officials to Madrid's Temple Square capped the LDS Church's celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain being dedicated to the preaching of the gospel.
MormonTimes - Choir fills air with music in Norman, Okla. (6-29)
When the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square make a stop in Oklahoma, it's nearly a once-in-a-lifetime event. The only other time the group has come to the state was 42 years ago in Tulsa.
MormonTimes - CTR Club turns lunchtime into bonding time at Calif. school (6-28)
Most of the time, Tatjana Thorson's classroom is a place where kids who attend Steele Canyon Charter High School learn about fractions, story problems and decimal points.
God watches over the universe; he 'is not dead nor doth he sleep' (6-28)
This column is the last in the series I have been writing on the Enlightenment, the rise of modernity and the secularization of modern culture. There have been dozens of comments, e-mails and letters on these columns, many of them thoughtful.
MormonTimes - Church News viewpoint: 'Praise to the Man' (6-28)
As the print edition of this issue of the Church News appears, it is 165 years to the day since the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Ill., on June 27, 1844.
LDS Church News - Education moments: Answer he needed (6-27)
I've been teaching the Book of Mormon course of study at the Monterrey Mexico South Institute. During the first semester, I invited a friend from my ward, Graciela (Chely) Ivonne Arroyo Padron, who had not been attending institute, to enroll. She said she would and she started attending.
MormonTimes - Healing the rift between Brigham and Emma (6-25)
“That their prejudices may be broken up and swept away as with a flood.” — D&C 109:70
MormonTimes - Challenging issues and keeping the faith: Part 8 (6-25)
As discussed in the past issue, when most Mormons encounter anti-Mormon material they typically reject the new information as false or unimportant because they are more likely to rely on their spiritual testimony than on information they don't trust or haven't investigated.
MormonTimes - U.K. travel writers highlight LDS oddity (6-24)
While the Utah travel boosters may like the coverage the state gets when journalists drop in for a holiday, there still a bit of the "weird" factor when travel writers speak about Mormons.
MormonTimes - LDS man to be advisor to Cambodian president (6-24)
Chhay Leang Suy, a high councilor in the church's Phnom Penh Cambodia South District, has been approved by His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni to be an advisor to the president of the National Assembly of Cambodia. Suy is the first member of the church to hold such a distinguished position in the Cambodian government.
MormonTimes - Joseph was prepared for the keys (6-24)
An introductory page of the Doctrine and Covenants contains this statement about Joseph Smith: "He was taught by many angels; ... God had a special work for him to do" ("Explanatory Introduction," fourth paragraph).
LDS Church urged to soften gay stance (6-23)
A group of current and former Mormons who are at odds with the church's position on gay marriage and its political activism to ban it has launched a Web site asking the faith to soften its stance.
MormonTimes - A Mormon branch in Kuwait: Peaceful, once you get there (6-23)
This a day-in-the-life look at the Kuwait Branch, part of the Bahrain Manama Stake. The author, Harriet Petherick Bushman, wrote her observations for the Mormon Artists Group, which just published a collection of observations about the Mormon worship experience around the globe in its new book, "On Sunday," which is published on the group's Web site.
MormonTimes - Mormon missionaries work with Dominicans to help all islanders (6-22)
Installing programs all over the country, what are known as humanitarian missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints work with Dominicans and Dominican companies to help people on the island.
MormonTimes - First LDS meetinghouse dedicated in Croatia (6-22)
During the tour of the five countries of the former Yugoslavia, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated a meetinghouse in Zagreb, Croatia, the first in the country and the second meetinghouse in these South Eastern Europe countries.
MormonTimes--Manti pageant one of many miracles (6-21)
Every summer for four weeks running, Kaylene Yardley loads her boys, a trunk of costumes and sometimes her husband into the car to make the 324-mile round-trip from Clinton, Utah, to Manti so they can be in the Mormon Miracle Pageant.
MormonTimes--Members are good citizens in Albania (6-21)
Elder D. Todd Christofferson's six-country tour included a visit with Albania President Bamir Topi.
MormonTimes--Datelines from Ohio, Zimbabwe, Burma and Pennsylvania (6-20)
News about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a departing mission president, an LDS man in the nexus of an international story and new mission presidents in Pennsylvania all made headlines this week.
MormonTimes--A global family thrives in Eastern Europe (6-20)
Mormons in Moscow had just left the Kosmos Hotel where President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Elder Neil L. Andersen had addressed them in a member meeting that evening and had reassembled in the subway where they continued their socializing when, to their surprise and delight, the two General Authorities suddenly appeared.
MormonTimes--Neil Armstrong, Mormon Tabernacle Choir stirring (6-20)
The sea of people at Riverbend rose in a wave as Neil Armstrong spoke Lincoln’s words firmly and with emotion: “That these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
MormonTimes--BYU professor to edit Hebrew Old Testament (6-19)
Brigham Young University professor Donald W. Parry of Hebrew Bible Studies in the College of Humanities, has been named as an editor for a new edition of Biblia Hebraica Quinta, the fifth edition of the Hebrew Old Testament.
MormonTimes--Treasured materials get tender loving care at new library (6-19)
The new Church History Library has made room for the past -- and the future.
MormonTimes--Brigham Young as a father: 'He healed all the hurt' (6-19)
Brigham Young was a great father, and not just because of the size of his family.
MormonTimes--A different prophet's life (6-19)
"MUHAMMAD, PROPHET OF GOD," by Daniel C. Peterson, with a foreword by Khaleel Mohammed, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 186 pages, Paperback, $15.00
MormonTimes--Lund will not write 10th 'Work and the Glory' novel (6-18)
Author and emeritus LDS Church general authority Gerald N. Lund says he will not write a 10th and concluding novel to his "The Work and the Glory" series.
MormonTimes--Oquirrh Mountain: Visitors may find uncommon features (6-18)
Open-house visitors to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple will view a variety of features similar to those found in many LDS temples. Guests also may see less-familiar items.
Kidnap victim freed in Mexico (6-17)
After family members paid a ransom, kidnappers on Wednesday released a former LDS temple president who played a role in then-church President Gordon B. Hinckley's plan to build smaller temples--a plan that launched an extraordinary construction program to double the number of the faith's holiest buildings in 39 months.
MormonTimes--Joseph Smith's father made time for children (6-17)
Despite limited accounts of Joseph Smith Sr., historians say the father of the Prophet left a legacy of faith, family and kindness.
MormonTimes--Sacrifice and a shining temple (6-17)
The word "sacred" is related to "segregate." The root idea is to separate something into a special category. To be sacred is to be apart from the ordinary -- extraordinary in the highest sense.
MormonTimes--Association with LDS softens negative opinions (6-17)
LDS Church research shows that people tend to view Mormons much more favorably if they know a Latter-day Saint, but more negative impressions are linked to what people have read or seen in the media about Mormons, especially if the coverage is associated with controversies.
ksl.com--Former LDS temple president kidnapped in Mexico (6-16)
The former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' temple in Chihuahua, Mexico, has been kidnapped.
MormonTimes--Why store food anyway? (6-16)
"If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives? ... If you cannot provide for your natural lives, how can you expect to have wisdom to obtain eternal lives?" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 8, p. 68.)
MormonTimes--LDS TV series in the works (6-16)
Creators of a new faith-based television drama plan to begin filming in Heber City in late summer, and market the show worldwide to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MormonTimes--Mormon Tabernacle Choir will be part of Arizona centennial (6-16)
Arizona's state Centennial Commission has unveiled its logo and Web site and also announced that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will perform centennial tribute concerts at US Airways Center in Phoenix on two days in February 2012.
MormonTimes--When you play on Monday night, what else could you be? (6-15)
It's really a no-brainer. When your softball team plays every Monday night, it's logical to call yourselves the "FHE" team.
Lightning hits Oquirrh Mountain Temple (6-15)
Mother Nature added another sight to see at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, Saturday.
MormonTimes--Fast-growing Mormon church looks to laity for its leaders (6-15)
At 54, Milan Kunz seemed destined for an auspicious future in Downingtown. Happily married, the father of five, and a leader in his church, Kunz last year left the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., where he had been a senior vice president, to start a consulting business.
MormonTimes--Handcart statue placed in Norway (6-15)
The "Handcart Pioneers" statue, familiar to most Latter-day Saints and to millions of visitors to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, is now part of a permanent display in a national museum in Norway. The statue is a bronze replica of the original 1926 version (a heroic-size version was later placed on Temple Square), sculpted by Norwegian-born Latter-day Saint sculptor Torleif S. Knaphus (1881-1965). It was donated by his descendants, who wanted to share with people in his native land one of his most acclaimed pieces.
MormonTimes--Defender of the faith (6-14)
Elder Bruce A. Carlson didn't set out to be a fighter pilot. He actually liked accounting. But when he needed financial aid to complete college, he considered the ROTC program and, much to the surprise of his parents, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.
MormonTimes--Writer’s challenge: infusing religion (6-13)
Latter-day Saints may be fielding a lot of questions about their religion this summer, thanks to Shannon Hale's new book "The Actor and the Housewife." This award-winning author is one of the first nationally published novelists to feature a Mormon as the main character.
MormonTimes--Time magazine and the New York Times front page in the same week (6-13)
I guess we Mormons just need to get used it.
MormonTimes--First stake in Mongolia is organized (6-13)
The north Asian nation of Mongolia now has its first stake of Zion. On Sunday, June 7, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy organized the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia West Stake.
MormonTimes--TIME: The storm over the Mormons (6-12)
Last November, Jay Pimentel began hearing that people in his neighborhood were receiving letters about him. Pimentel lives in Alameda, Calif., a small, liberal-leaning community hanging off Oakland into the San Francisco Bay. Pimentel, who is a Mormon, had supported Proposition 8, the ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage. And that made him a target.
Church History Library unveiled (6-11)
With more than a million records and artifacts ranging from an 1830 first-edition copy of the Book of Mormon to this year's edition of its Spanish-language Bible, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now has a singularly dedicated building for housing its historical documents, records, journals, photographs, film and microfiche.
Hackers seize Church News Twitter account (6-11)
Hackers hijacked the Church News Twitter account last weekend, and Twitter staffers took down the site early Thursday because the infiltrators had gained total control over the Web site.
MormonTimes--Temples, furs, shotguns and the saving of Mormon history (6-11)
Wilford C. Wood was frustrated. He had approval from the First Presidency of the LDS Church to buy a portion of the Nauvoo Temple block for $1,000 -- not a small amount in 1937. The Bank of Nauvoo, however, insisted that $1,000 was just the opening bid amount. Although he was an experienced negotiator, he couldn’t make any headway. Then, he felt the spirit of Joseph Smith fill the room.
MormonTimes--Church dances not like they used to be (6-11)
Back when the church was first organized, many pious Christians believed that dancing was wicked. It excited the passions and led men and women to have inappropriate thoughts about each other.
MormonTimes--YSAs 'Gathering in the Grove' and building testimonies (6-11)
What would cause a young man to travel nearly 1,200 miles, not always with a reliable ride and cross an international border?
MormonTimes--Challenging issues and keeping the faith: Part 7 (6-10)
In psychology the theory of cognitive dissonance helps explain how people handle conflicting bits of information. Cognitions are "thoughts" and "dissonance" means disharmony; when thoughts conflict they are out of harmony.
Settlement in FLDS suit offered (6-10)
The key witness in the 2007 criminal trial of polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs is offering to settle the multimillion-dollar lawsuit she filed against a communal church trust.
Welfare efforts bring Jews, LDS together (6-10)
Picture the following possibility, as posed by one of a handful of prominent Jewish rabbis in Salt Lake City this week to visit leaders and operations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
MormonTimes--Faith in an unseen power (6-10)
Kris Belcher lives her life by feel.
MormonTimes--Media the victim of source's spin (6-10)
The media continues to treat a genealogical researcher as a celebrity.
MormonTimes--The 'lick skillet' Saints were quick to obey God (6-10)
As the year 1833 began, the Saints were commanded by revelation: "Organize yourselves" and "prepare every needful thing."
MormonTimes--On This Day: Mormon Handcart Expedition Begins (6-9)
On June 9, 1856, thousands of Mormon pioneers set out in a handcart expedition that would become an historic westward migration, marked by tragedy and many successes.
MormonTimes--LDS Yekaterinburg members welcome Pres. Uchtdorf (6-8)
Six-hundred faithful Saints gathered here from throughout the Ural region of Russia on Sunday, May 31, to hear President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This historic event marked the first time a member of the First Presidency has visited Yekaterinburg. Members traveled from as far away as Surgut, 1,000 miles by train, in order to attend.
MormonTimes--Wearing of the veil -- a modesty lesson Mormons can learn (6-7)
It has been interesting of late to observe the debate over Islamic women and the wearing of the veil (burqa). In many Islamic nations wearing the veil is requisite for women. However, more and more we are seeing governments in Western nations around the world prohibiting women from wearing the veil, often based on the rationale that veiling is a sign of patriarchal oppression.
Provo's progressed over its 160 years (6-7)
"Provo or Hell!" was the rallying cry during the days of the city's founding in 1849, when the first Mormon colony outside of Salt Lake City was founded.
MormonTimes--Mormons in Russia -- a history since the 1800s (6-7)
In 1843, just 13 years after the LDS Church's organization, founder Joseph Smith called two men -- Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and George J. Adams -- as the first two missionaries to Russia.
MormonTimes--'Right place for a temple' (6-6)
KIEV, Ukraine -- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the LDS First Presidency began a long-anticipated visit to Ukraine and Russia on May 28 by visiting important historical areas of Kiev, presenting new imaging equipment to a medical diagnostic center, and touring the construction site of the Kiev temple.
MormonTimes--Apostles recall historic sermon at a Moscow church (6-6)
Amid their meetings with members and missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia and Ukraine this week, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles paused for a tour of a historic Baptist church in Moscow that hosted another senior Church leader nearly 50 years ago.
MormonTimes--History of the LDS Church in Ukraine (6-6)
Elder Boyd K. Packer dedicated Ukraine for the preaching of the gospel from the statue of Prince Vladimir in Kiev. Photo: LDS Church
MormonTimes--What C.S. Lewis thought about Mormons (6-5)
C.S. Lewis was not LDS. He may, in fact, not have even liked The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MormonTimes--J. Golden Kimball folklore (6-5)
"THE J. GOLDEN KIMBALL STORIES," by Eric A. Eliason, University of Illinois Press, 186 pages, $20
Inaugural LDS seminary closes (6-4)
Never again will Granite High School students file across 500 East from the school to the Granite LDS Seminary for release-time religious education, as the final chapter closes on the inaugural seminary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MormonTimes--What our church buildings say about us (6-4)
What if our church buildings could talk? What if our temple walls could speak? What would they tell us about our faith?
MormonTimes--Musical draws from Book of Mormon lessons (6-4)
It's one thing to read the Book of Mormon and recognize truths that pertained to an ancient people.
President Uchtdorf, Elder Andersen visit Russia and Ukraine (6-3)
Anna Chigir's everyday life in Ukraine has never included the opportunity to rub shoulders with the top authorities of her church. But this week, everyday life changed.
David Archuleta: Already serving a mission (6-3)
David Archuleta hasn't let success spoil him.
Family, friends say 'love and blessings' to Madsen (6-3)
Truman G. Madsen liked to say "love and blessings" as his personal way of saying goodbye.
MormonTimes--Mormon Media Observer: Favorite LDS online media (6-3)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is taking the whole new media experience seriously as it offers new formats and channels for uplifting and faith-building messages.
MormonTimes--Homestead ruins tell story of Benmore (6-3)
Most people have never even heard of Benmore, Utah. The tiny town only lasted for a decade. Had members of the Benmore LDS Branch not wanted it to succeed, the community of 20 families in the remote, dry, south end of Rush Valley wouldn't even have survived a couple of years.
MormonTimes--Truman G. Madsen: a poet philosopher in Zion (6-2)
When Truman G. Madsen died on Thursday, May 28, there was an outpouring of gratitude for his life. People spoke of his unassuming personality, his speaking style, his work with interreligious dialogue or his leadership at Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center.
MTC changes missionary drop-off procedures (6-1)
No more long goodbyes. Concerns over the spread of swine flu have prompted The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to accelerate its plans to permanently allow only curbside drop-off of new missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
MormonTimes--The 1857 debate on 'The Mormon Problem' (6-1)
Most Lincoln historians know about the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, but historian William P. MacKinnon focused on the little-known first Lincoln-Douglas debate in Springfield in June 1857. It specifically addresses "what was then called 'The Mormon Problem.'"
Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house begins today (6-1)
"Been there, done that." Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hope that isn't the attitude of its members and community neighbors as the church conducts its second public open house in five months of a new temple in south Salt Lake Valley.
MormonTimes--Neil Armstrong to land with Pops, Tabernacle Choir (6-1)
Maestro Erich Kunzel will get a little help from Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, as well as the Bengals' Ben Utecht, when he conducts the Cincinnati Pops and Mormon Tabernacle Choir on June 18 at Riverbend.