The other day, I set up an online Facebook fundraiser for the Interpreter Foundation. It’s at https://www.facebook.com/donate/1022507169072678/. I have to confess that, at least so far, it’s not doing as well this year as in previous years, probably (at least in part) because, for the first time, they’re taking a slice out of the donation for processing. That new charge makes me less enthusiastic about it than I have been in the past. Still, Interpreter needs donations to... Read more
Two new articles appeared today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Asymmetry in Chiasms, With a Note About Deuteronomy 8 and Alma 36,” written by Stephen Kent Ehat Abstract: Some students of the Book of Mormon have claimed that chapter 36 of the book of Alma is structured as a chiasm. Some of the proposals depart from perfect symmetry, presenting elements of the suggested chiasm seemingly out of sequence. This has often been pointed to as a... Read more
Today, the most concentrated amount of sheer cuteness in this region spent substantial time in a swimming pool alongside the beach. We were privileged to be there, as well. Newly posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “The Temple: Ancient and Restored: Psalm 24 and the Two YHWHs at the Gate of the Temple,” written by David J. Larsen Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in The Temple: Ancient and... Read more
For a while this afternoon, one of the world’s densest concentrations of sheer cuteness was out on the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California), bobbing on a small boat that was completely made of transparent plexiglass. We were also privileged to be on that boat. We saw lots and lots of fish through its floor. They were clearly Mexican fish, because the folks on the boat would occasionally toss a flour tortilla over the... Read more
Last night, my wife and I attended the open house for the new Orem Utah Temple. When it is dedicated, it will be our temple. So I was pleased to see how pretty it is on the interior. Particularly its carpets and its stained glass windows. I’ve been disappointed at being unable to volunteer for the open house, but our travel schedule of late has made it completely impossible. And, speaking of travel, we’re off again in order... Read more
As Christmas approaches, and as your indecisive tension mounts about what you ought to give to your spouse, your children, your parents, your cousins, your neighbors, your pickle ball partners, the mailman, your ministering brother and sister, those to whom you minister, your congressperson, and random passersby, the Interpreter Foundation can help. Choose one or more of our books for gifting and feel the serenity descend once more upon your troubled soul. Have a look at a list... Read more
In case you haven’t seen or read it yet: “The First Presidency’s 2023 Christmas Message.” And please note that the annual annual First Presidency Christmas devotional broadcast is scheduled for a week from today, on Sunday, 3 December 2023. And then, of course, there’s this: “Temple Square Offering Christmas Experiences for 2023 Season: Lights turn on and most activities begin Friday, November 24” I presume that this will be available on KBYU-FM as well, although I’m not... Read more
While we were in Virginia recently, we not only took the time to visit some Civil War battlefields but to take family members to Jamestown — the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, famously associated with Pocahontas — out by Williamsburg, and, in the other direction, to Carter Mountain, near Charlottesville. In preparation for the Jamestown visit, some of us watched the 1995 Disney film Pocahontas. (Age appropriate, and all that.). And, of course, at Carter Mountain... Read more
I hope that you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (where applicable). Over the past couple of days, the following note was sent out to the Interpreter Foundation’s email lists and went up on the Foundation’s websites: We are approaching Giving Tuesday and the month of December, when the hearts of many (in the United States, at least) turn to charity or, anyway, to tax deductions. We know that there are thousands of worthy causes out there,... Read more
Happy Thanksgiving! Both of these columns appeared in the Deseret News in connection with Thanksgiving 2019. Although I have a few more of these, they are (mercifully) the last of the Thanksgiving-themed columns that I intend to resurrect here this year: As we in the United States approach the national Thanksgiving holiday for 2019, it’s appropriate to consider things for which we should express our gratitude. Obviously, of course, there’s the good food that many of... Read more
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