The influence of the Restoration in Europe, the Congo, Afghanistan, the family, and human hearts

I will go forward. . . .  I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance. . . .  And the ‘testimony of Jesus’ will light up a lamp that will guide my vision through the portals of immortality, and communicate to my understanding the glories of the Celestial kingdom.  (Eliza R. Snow, 1804-1887) 

One of the greatest lights in the first generations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the poet Eliza R. Snow, a native of Becket, Massachusetts, who served from 1866 until her death on the anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith in 1887 as the second president of the Relief Society.  She was a plural wife, first, of  Joseph Smith and then, after his assassination, an open plural wife of his successor, Brigham Young.

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The 4 November 2018 edition of the Interpreter Radio Show is now available for your edification and listening pleasure.  In it, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot discuss the Church’s musical pageants, the recent Joseph Smith Papers Conference and the Book of Abraham, Book of Mormon geography, and anti-Semitism:

Interpreter Radio Show — November 4, 2018

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A new installment on the website of the Interpreter Foundation from the astonishingly prolific and insightful Jeff Bradshaw:

“The Church in the DR Congo: A Personal Perspective: Part 3, The Missionaries”

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Don’t miss this important new contribution from the Interpreter Foundation:

“Come, Follow Me Resource Index”

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And don’t forget our free public symposium this coming Saturday:

“The Temple on Mount Zion”

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From the irreplaceable Jeff Lindsay:

“‘Arise from the Dust’: The Transcript and Slides for My 2018 FAIRMormon Presentation Are Now Available”

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Here’s an item from more than a month ago that I should have noted then:

“Elder Uchtdorf Underscores the “Core Message” of the Gospel to Members in Europe”

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By now, you may have heard that Brent Taylor, a 39-year-old Latter-day Saint husband and father of seven who was on leave from his municipal duties as the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, in order to serve with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, was killed there the other day.  It’s a tragic story that once more illustrates the power and the horror of human evil in this fallen world.

Here are two impressive and moving non-Latter-day Saint and non-Utah responses to Brother Taylor’s death:

“Election day thoughts: New York Times visits Utah, includes crucial faith details in a tragic war story”

“Afghan pilot to slain mayor’s wife: He taught me to love my wife ‘as an equal'”