Rome Mormon temple annonced
During the opening Saturday session of the 178th Semiannual General Conference, convened in the Conference Center, Mormon Church President Thomas S. Monson announced five new temples will be built in coming years.
Currently, 128 temples are in operation, and today’s announcement brings the number of announced temples to 17. Once completed, the new temples will bring the worldwide total to 145.
The Rome Italy Temple will be the first to be constructed in the region where historic Christianity originated. It will serve church members from a variety of countries and greatly reduce travel time and expense to the Latter-day Saints living in the area, the release states.
The announcement of a mormon temple in Rome brought an audible gasp and smiles to more than 20,000 church members assembled in the Conference Center.
As an Italian who was baptized more than 20 years ago in Italy I cannot avoid feeling extremely happy and excited for this new development.
Glenn Beck and the future of the US
Filed under: Famous Mormons, Mormon Church, News & Politics
I like Glenn Beck and his style on TV. He is a Mormon, and he does not conceal it. Not all Mormons act and talk like him and he is a relatively new convert to the Mormon Church. Once in a while he even use words that probably would not fit well a Mormon missionary, but overall I think he is doing a good job on TV.
This is an excerpt from his commentary on CNN, about America’s chilling future (he is writing as if he was in the future, but his comments are to be applied to the present).
Looking back now, it’s pretty obvious that our trust in government declined at about the same rate as our partisanship increased. People became so concerned about getting their party into power at any cost that the truth didn’t even seem to matter anymore.
That’s probably one of the reasons why George Washington hated the idea of political parties so much. Here’s what he said about them in his 1796 farewell speech:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”
I know that George had a habit for using big words, so allow me to translate into 2008 English: Political parties that put their own success over that of the country’s will be the death of America…..
The best advice I can give you is to stop thinking in terms of left and right and start thinking in terms of right and wrong. Demand the best leaders possible, and then demand the best out of them.
This is what the American people should really do. I hope it is not too late. The way the Americans will respond to this crisis will have consequences globally. In Brazil they use to say that if in the US people sneeze, they get a flu.
Luca’s new email from the mission
Filed under: Luca Martinengo's mission, Martinengo's Family, Mormon Missionaries
We have received another email this week from our missionary. It was in Portuguese, since Luca is working with many Brazilians at Martha’s Vineyard and he is practicing his Portuguese more and more.
Luca
This is a little excerpt from his email,
This week was good, but a little slow, it rained a lot, no hurricanes, but strong winds.
This week we had a wonderful lesson with the Brazilian who will be baptized in few weeks. He told me that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet but he already changes church once and he want to make sure that this is going to be the last time. He really wants an answer from Heavenly Father. Therefore at this point we can only wait and pray for him…
Yesterday I taught in Sunday School for the first time in Portuguese. Was very good, I loved it, I like to teach.We are teaching several people and I am improving my Portuguese every day…
Martha's Vineyard