conference

TempleStudy.com Liveblogging the FAIR Conference 2008

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[Update 8/6/08: Blair Hodges over at Life on Gold Plates will also be liveblogging the event.]

Anyone who has visited the site yesterday or today may have seen the “UPCOMING LIVE BLOG” banner on the homepage.  It is an email reminder tool that you can use to remind yourself that TempleStudy.com will be liveblogging the entire FAIR Conference ((FAIR = The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research.  www.fairlds.org)), both Thursday and Friday, from Sandy, Utah.  I realize that FAIR officers have also announced some kind of liveblogging that they will be doing, but I don’t know the details.  Since I don’t know their plans, I have set up liveblogging that will occur right here on TempleStudy.com too.  It hope that both our liveblogging efforts (and any others) will be beneficial to those who cannot attend the conference, and that it will extend the reach of those who will be presenting.  [Read more…]

Is TempleStudy.com slowing down?

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You may have wondered where I’ve been lately.  I haven’t posted any substantial posts over the last few days.  But, no need to worry.  I have assigned myself a fairly large side project that I believe will be of worth to researchers, historians, students, and anyone wanting to learn more about the prophet Joseph Smith, and the historical beginnings of the LDS Church and Mormonism.  It will be a small extension of Richard Bushman’s landmark biography of the prophet, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling.  Anyone who has read Bushman’s biography I think will be particularly appreciative of it.  I don’t want to go into too many details now, but just wanted to let you know my posting will probably be minimal until I finish this project, which I hope I’ll be able to do before the FAIR Conference on August 7-8, which I am excited to attend.  That might be an unrealistic goal for its scope, but I’m attempting it.  Once I’m done, the results will be accessible here at TempleStudy.com.  In the meantime, there might be some posts in the archive that you might not have seen yet.

Stay tuned…

Holiness to the Lord

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Plaque on Salt Lake TempleA member of my ward emailed me this quote from Elder Holland’s April 2000 Conference address.  I thought it was a very good story of dedication, hard work, and faith:

One other account from those early, faithful builders of modern Zion. John R. Moyle lived in Alpine, Utah, about 22 miles as the crow flies to the Salt Lake Temple, where he was the chief superintendent of masonry during its construction. To make certain he was always at work by 8 o’clock, Brother Moyle would start walking about 2 a.m. on Monday mornings. He would finish his work week at 5 p.m. on Friday and then start the walk home, arriving there shortly before midnight. Each week he would repeat that schedule for the entire time he served on the construction of the temple.

Once when he was home on the weekend, one of his cows bolted during milking and kicked Brother Moyle in the leg, shattering the bone just below the knee. With no better medical help than they had in such rural circumstances, his family and friends took a door off the hinges and strapped him onto that makeshift operating table. They then took the bucksaw they had been using to cut branches from a nearby tree and amputated his leg just a few inches below the knee. When against all medical likelihood the leg finally started to heal, Brother Moyle took a piece of wood and carved an artificial leg. First he walked in the house. Then he walked around the yard. Finally he ventured out about his property. When he felt he could stand the pain, he strapped on his leg, walked the 22 miles to the Salt Lake Temple, climbed the scaffolding, and with a chisel in his hand hammered out the declaration “Holiness to the Lord.” ((Jeffrey R. Holland, “As Doves to Our Windows,” Ensign, May 2000, 75))