![\"BY](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/06\/450px-Statue_of_Brigham_Young_in_front_of_Provo_City_Library.jpg\")
<\/a>I\u2019m very excited about the planned medical school at Brigham Young University. \u00a0I have high hopes for it: \u00a0\u201cInterest, support surge for BYU medical school: \u2018It\u2019s as if we have 40 first-round draft picks\u2019:\u00a0Intermountain Health collaboration with new school begins to take shape amid doctor shortage crisis.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n This is a cause, if I had anything of value to offer, that I could happily get behind.<\/p>\n I have no insider information whatever, but I\u2019ve always assumed that the medical school will be built on the plot of ground formerly occupied by Provo High School, which was purchased a few years ago by the University and which sits right between the University campus and Intermountain Health Utah Valley Hospital. \u00a0Time will tell if I\u2019m right. \u00a0I\u2019ll be quite surprised if I\u2019m not. \u00a0I also hope and expect that the school will be named after President Russell M. Nelson.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a cause, though, that I do<\/em> intend to back. \u00a0And, for once, it has nothing to do with the Interpreter Foundation. \u00a0The former home of Dr. Karl G. Maeser (1828-1901), effectively the father of the BYUs, Ensign College, BYU Pathway, and the entire Church Educational System, still stands in Meissen (or Mei\u00dfen), Germany, about sixteen miles to the northwest of Dresden. \u00a0(You\u2019ve maybe heard of Meissen porcelain?) \u00a0It\u2019s evidently still in very good shape, but its current owner wants to sell it, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> has the right of first refusal. \u00a0However, the Church is not interested in acquiring more historical properties at this time, so it is (evidently) encouraging private members to consider buying it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve become peripherally involved, so I\u2019m asking here whether there are any people out there who might be interested in donating to an effort to acquire Brother Maeser\u2019s home. \u00a0The asking price of approximately $150,000 seems to me astoundingly low, and I\u2019m thinking that the house could be used very well to tell not only the story of the Church but of its far-flung educational institutions, not just in Utah but in Idaho and Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific, in Jerusalem and Washington DC and, through Pathways, around the world. \u00a0Educational achievement is a story that plays very well in German-speaking Europe. \u00a0It could also serve as a gathering place for Latter-day Saint youth in eastern Germany and beyond.<\/p>\n My thought is that fans of the BYUs, former German and German-speaking missionaries, local German members, and others might have particular interest in this effort. \u00a0If you do, whether your means are great or small, could you please contact me privately at danielcarlpeterson@gmail.com? \u00a0Thus far, we\u2019re exploring options; we have a window of about two months in which to make an offer, and I\u201dm trying to gauge interest and capacity. \u00a0Can we pull this off? \u00a0A friend, a very experienced former U.S. Attorney with exceptionally strong historical and preservationist interests of his own, is looking into the legal and organizational issues.<\/p>\n Have you watched any of the short-video features about the witnesses of the Book of Mormon that the Interpreter Foundation has made available? \u00a0If you haven\u2019t, you\u2019re missing out. \u00a0And they\u2019re free<\/em>. \u00a0Here\u2019s a link to Episode 29: Women Witnesses\u2014Why and Why Not?<\/a><\/p>\n Witnesses of the Book of Mormon\u2014Insights Episode 29: There are a number of unofficial witnesses of the Book of Mormon who were women\u2014however, of the official witnesses of the Book of Mormon, there are none. Why would this be? This is Episode 29 of a series compiled from the many interviews conducted during the course of the Witnesses film project. . . . \u00a0These additional resources are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox, who played Emma Smith in Witnesses<\/em>, as she introduces and visits with a variety of experts. These individuals answer questions or address accusations against the witnesses, also helping viewers understand the context of the times in which the witnesses lived. This week we feature Daniel C. Peterson, President of the Interpreter Foundation and Executive Producer of Witnesses. For more information, go to <\/span>https:\/\/witnessesofthebookofmormon.org\/<\/a><\/span>. Learn about the documentary movie Undaunted\u2014Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em> at <\/span>https:\/\/witnessesundaunted.com\/<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Incidentally, the window for free streaming of Witnesses<\/em> is about to close. \u00a0Your month-long opportunity to watch it at no charge will end very shortly. \u00a0Undaunted<\/em>, of course, will continue to be available at no charge. \u00a0But Witnesses<\/em> will not. \u00a0So, if you\u2019re at all interested, don\u2019t delay. \u00a0(If you\u2019re not<\/em> interested, look closely at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself \u201cWhy not? \u00a0What\u2019s wrong<\/em> with me?\u201d)<\/p>\n And this offer extends to critics of the Church, as well. \u00a0A surprising number of them have labored under the burden of needing to mock and criticize the two films without having seen them. \u00a0They\u2019ve ridiculed the movies, for example, for our failure to mention sensitive topics in Church history that the movies do, in fact, mention. \u00a0Think how liberating it would be for such critics to mock and criticize the films after having actually watched<\/em> them!<\/p>\n The links to Witnesses<\/em> and Undaunted<\/em>\u00a0are available at The Witnesses Initiative<\/a>. \u00a0Macht schnell!<\/em><\/p>\n What a couple of my monitors at the Obsession Board like to describe as my whiny obsession with the hit Netflix miniseries American Primeval<\/em> continues, which is illustrated by a just-released episode of Religion in the American Experience<\/em>, a podcast of the National Museum of American Religion. \u00a0In this episode, entitled \u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Responds to \u201cAmerican Primeval,\u201d\u201d<\/a> John Turner<\/a> interviews Matthew Godfrey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
(Photograph by James Jordan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a>