Hundreds of angels dressed in white descended on the hills of Rock Canyon Park on Monday, overlooking a nativity scene of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus surrounded by live camels, sheep and donkeys. And if one looked closely, one might have seen various costume-clad Mormon celebrities scattered throughout the scene, including Alex Boyé, BYUtv’s Studio C cast members, and the missionary mother and son from “Meet the Mormons.”
The event was part The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ new Christmas campaign, #ShareTheGift. Although one of the goals of the event was to break the Guinness World Record for the largest live nativity, which those involved succeeded in doing, the main purpose was to film footage for a new music video that will go along with the campaign. “It’s our statement to the world,” said producer Derral Eves. “We need to bring Christ back into Christmas.” The music video, which was funded by the Radiant Foundation and is expected to go live in the coming weeks before Christmas, is a collaboration among many talented Mormons and non-Mormons alike. Stars and collaborators include David Archuleta, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens and various YouTube sensations such as Boyé, Devin Supertramp and Stuart Edge. Producers said each of these YouTubers will share the video on their respective channels, which have a combined reach of around 15 million followers. Volunteers, YouTube personalities and musicians gather in Rock Canyon Park in Provo Monday night to break a Guinness World Record for largest live Nativity scene. Footage from the scene will also be used in the Mormon Church’s #ShareTheGift campaign. (Live Nativity World Record Facebook page/Scott Jarvie) The idea began with a nativity ornament admired by executive creative director Jeff Taylor, who envisioned thousands of people holding flashlights in the shape of the ornament. He decided to present his idea during a meeting discussing the LDS Church’s media campaign. “I floated the idea, and all of the sudden the room just came alive,” he said. Within 24 hours, the concept for a music video involving the Piano Guys, Peter Hollens and “everyone else” was born. The entire production was pulled together in just three weeks. “The message is, ‘It’s okay to believe. It’s okay to believe in Jesus Christ. You’re not weird; you’re not naive,'” Taylor said. While the musicians and many of the main characters in the nativity are well-known actors, musicians or YouTubers, the 1,000 angels needed to break the world record were all local volunteers who braved the cold for hours to be a part of the special event. Alex Boyé, a Mormon singer/songwriter and YouTube sensation, shared his excitement about being involved. “When I heard about this I was like, ‘Oh, oh, pick me,'” said Boyé, an award-winning singer and songwriter known for his African twist. “Anything to do with the Church getting in with social media and getting in with the culture and just breaking through those barriers and helping people realize that we’re just fun, cool, normal people, that gets me really excited.” “Meet the Mormons” star Dawn Armstrong was also present with her children, all dressed in white angel costumes. By her side was her son Anthony, who was the missionary in the film. “I hope people will get out of this video what Christmas is all about: the gifts that God gave us,” he said. “I hope that this shares goodness.” While the campaign is sponsored by the LDS Church, Taylor said it is intended for all believers of Jesus Christ. Featured vocalist in the video Peter Hollens is not a Mormon. According to Taylor, Hollens and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir were looking into working with each other weeks before the idea was born. “The stars just really aligned,” Taylor said. “We thought it would be great to bring people of all different faiths to come together. The Radiant Foundation is really hoping to bring believers of all stripes.” Producer Derral Eves said it was nothing short of a miracle to make schedules work and bring the entire cast together, especially in the short period of three weeks. “Multiple faiths came together to really show our devotion to Jesus Christ,” he said. Argentinian actress Florencia Donelli, who was cast to play the part of Mary, said she was “honored” to be part of such a large production. “Through my role as Mary, (I want to show that) religion isn’t the most important. The most important is to be united as fellow beings. … And remember that it’s the same God and the same goal. We all have the same desire of happiness and peace.” Many local Utahns, including BYU students, had the opportunity to take part in the production. Ally Simpson, a junior from Layton studying civil engineering, and Robyn Whitmer, a junior from Tooele studying elementary education, skipped work, study time and family home evening to volunteer as angels. “We’re excited,” Simpson said. “I think it’s a really cool opportunity, not only to do something fun but to get publicity and get awareness out about Christmas and the Church’s connection with Christ and the focus on that for the season.” Creative director Jeff Taylor said the video will consist of four main scenes, opening with a living-room Christmas party hosted by the Piano Guys, Peter Hollens and David Archuleta and closing with an aerial view of the angelic volunteers lit up in the ornament shape. A camera attached to balloons was used to capture the scene unfolding below. “It’s been an amazing process,” Taylor said. More information on the #ShareTheGfit campaign is available at christmas.mormon.org. Cyber Monday deals are being stretched out this holiday season, crimping sales on the day itself.
Retailers from Target to Amazon have been offering online deals since the beginning of November, and are promising "cyber" deals all week. That seems to have put a dent in Cyber Monday sales. "I asked (our shipping department), 'Did you have a pretty busy day yesterday with Cyber Monday?' And their response was, 'No, not really. It wasn't terribly big,'" said BYU store employee Kent Minson. The BYU Store sent out an email on Dec. 2, the day after Cyber Monday, advertising "The Mother of All Sales." Store employees say that although their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales aren't huge, they focus more on the holiday season as a whole. "I would say we're probably busier...when there's something on campus that brings a lot of people," said BYU employee Jennifer Janis. A group of Utah County residents are proving that playdates aren't just for kids.
The Provo Doggie Bros, a group with almost 200 members on Facebook, facilitate a way for local dog owners to get together. Every night, a different park in Provo turns into a free-for-all doggie playground. Dozens of dogs, from Great Danes to chihuahuas, run, chase each other and wrestle while their owners chat amongst themselves and share parenting tips. BYU student Christine Sellers said she just happened to come across the group last spring when she was at the park with her black lab weimeraner mix, Ella Fitzgerald. She has been coming ever since and said she sees a lot of benefits for her dog. "Well she’s social, which is huge, so she doesn’t have a problem with other dogs or other people," she said. "And she is exhausted for the rest of the night which is super nice for us. She just sleeps, so we love it.” Many members of the group are students living in small apartments, like Sellers, and have to find creative ways to get their dogs enough exercise. For the Allred family from Spanish Fork, Tuesday night was their first time coming to the dog roundup with their 10-month-old Great Dane, Wash. “Just the socialization to meet with other dogs and people (is beneficial)," Brian Allred said. "I think the socialization aspect is the best, because when they’re socialized they’re not stupid, too stupid around other people.” The group posts a schedule on their Facebook page outlining which park they will meet at every day of the week. Although most parks in Provo do not allow unleashed dogs, Sellers said they have only been approached about it once when a police officer told them to "put a leash on their beasts." She said the group hopes to use this as a platform to petition the mayor for a dog park in Provo. "There are a lot of petitions going on, and supposedly we have a meeting with the mayor so we'll see where it goes," she said. BYU came away with two first place awards last week when Spanish-speakers and Chinese-speakers from around the country gathered to compete in the yearly business case competition at the Marriott School of Management.
The business case competition, which was held Friday, Nov. 7, is a yearly competition sponsored by BYU's Global Management Center. Students in teams of three had to analyze and present a Harvard business case to a panel of judges—all in a foreign language. "The whole exchange is done in that language, the feedback is done in that language, you know it really forces the chance for them to be put in an environment that they're going to be in if they go working in that language," said Global Management Center director Jonathon Wood. "It's a great chance for them to hone their skills (and) get some feedback from professionals." This year's competition hosted five teams of college students from around the country for each language. BYU had a team for both Spanish and Chinese. Wood said the program is made possible through a federal CIBER grant that is awarded to the Marriott School each year, with the purpose of furthering international education and outreaching to other communities. "In Utah, we are surrounded by a lot of students who speak a lot of languages, but that's not always the case in some other universities," he said. "In fact, when I meet with other universities one of their statements is, 'Oh, BYU, boy you guys sure have great languages there. A lot of language capabilities.'" Unlike many BYU students, many students from other schools have not had the opportunity to study their language abroad through missions or international study programs. Zachary Arnold, a junior from the University of Rhode Island, and said his team's main reason for coming to the competition was to see how their Chinese compared to other students'. "It was really just to see how much our Chinese has improved, especially to schools that are notably successful in their bilingual programs, like BYU," he said. He and his teammates started studying Chinese their freshman year of college. The students went through two rounds of presentation, with three out of the five teams from each language performing in a final round. Wood said the judges were professional, native speakers usually unrelated to BYU, and included a Hispanic woman from Salt Lake's Mexican Console and a Chinese man from Goldman Sachs. "I felt like it was a great opportunity to improve my Chinese, make new connections and have new experiences," said Kindall Palmer, a BYU sophomore studying Chinese and economics who competed with the winning Chinese team. "And also it's a great outlet to get in front of a group of people to speak Chinese and talk about something that's serious material and that everyone's interested in." Palmer served an LDS mission in Taiwan and has spent several years in China doing business. He hopes to end up there after he graduates and start his own company. But some of the competitors didn't have any sort of business experience beforehand. Adam Long, a BYU student studying statistics, said his two teammates were art history and Latin American studies majors. "I think I've never learned more in a case situation," he said. "Because throughout it you learn (so much) vocabulary, because to be honest what you have on the mission to talking about credit cards and financial statements in Spanish is a whole new animal. As well as being able to present business in Spanish is a crazy beast." The BYU Chinese team has a winning streak of five years since the competition began eight years ago, with the Spanish team taking first multiple times as well. "(Winning) feels great," Long said. "Honestly, we weren't expecting it at all. ...I've never been more proud of winning a case competition because the competition here was intense." In an epic yet unsurprising turn of events, Gryffindor overcame near failure to win the Hogwarts House Cup at The Wall Oct. 28.
"It just feels like we won the House Cup. We won the Quidditch Cup. I won the Triwizard Tournament. I feel like I won everything," said Gryffindor team captain Danica Holdaway. "Couldn't ask for more." The final scores were Gryffindor 655, Hufflepuff 600, Ravenclaw 580 and Slytherin 525. The trivia competition began at 7 p.m. sharp at The Wall, BYU's newest, hippest hangout place. The venue was transformed into something of a house common room, with students lounging and socializing after a long day of studies, sipping house drinks and munching on chocolate frog sundaes. The Boy Who Lived made a special appearance at the Harry Potter trivia night at BYU's The Wall. (Erica Palmer) As 7 p.m. drew nearer the contestants for each house trickled in, clad in their colors, to sit together at their house tables. The Slytherins sat smugly and whispered to each other, the Ravenclaws sat studying their notes, and the Hufflepuffs let their school spirit soar, chanting "Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff" anytime their house was mentioned. The Gryffindor team, the only team comprised of all females, chatted amicably and confidently with each other while snacking on jelly slugs, chocolate frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. And there might have been a sighting of a certain baby with a scar sitting by a mother at the Gryffindor table... Ben Grange, employee at The Wall, said he has always wanted to host a Harry Potter event, but his boss was skeptical. "So I told him, 'Let me do an event, and let me show you that there are people on campus that love Harry Potter,'" Grange said. "So in July we threw a Harry Potter birthday party, and...it was the biggest event we've ever done here. And people asked for more, so we planned a Halloween party." There were 80 questions in the trivia competition, all hand-chosen by Grange himself. One team member from each house stepped up to the table for each question, wrote the answer down, and was awarded points accordingly. Grange said although he didn't know the level of ability of each of the players, he expected that the Gryffindor team would take the cup because Provo's own Harry Potter Book Club booked out the entire Gryffindor team. The club was started by team captain Holdaway, a BYU-grad from Mapleton, Utah. She said she started the club, which has around 50 members on Facebook, after her husband started to get sick of her talking about Harry Potter so much. "It's just people who like to nerd out about Harry Potter and we're just kindred spirits," she said. Host Ben Grange gives the instructions for the Harry Potter trivia contest at The Wall. (Erica Palmer) The trivia contest began with easy five-point questions that only the most ignorant muggle would miss, such as "What color are Harry's eyes?" and "Which character owns a toad?" Gryffindor took an early lead, gaining confidence as the colorful chocolate rubies (known to muggles as M&Ms) began to fill up their goblet, signifying the score. As the game marched on, the easy five-point questions gave way to harder 10-pointers, such as "What is Ron's middle name?" (Billius) and "What percent did Hermione get on her Charms exam in her first year?" (112 percent). Next came the twenty-point questions, such as "How old was Voldemort when he died?" (71). Living up to the phrase inscribed on the Diadem of Ravenclaw, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" (which was also a twenty-point question), Ravenclaw knocked out a streak of right answers, taking the lead and sending Gryffindor into third. Slytherin slyly snuck to the top, battling Ravenclaw for first, and the Hufflepuffs kept up their school spirit regardless of the amount of chocolate rubies in their goblet. The biggest blow to Gryffindor came with the question "In The Chamber of Secrets, what object does Peeves break, at the suggestion of Nearly Headless Nick, to get Harry out of trouble with Filch?" Jessica Walker, the Gryffindor team MVP, answered "banishing cabinet" instead of "vanishing cabinet," and after jeers and shouts from the Slytherin team, Grange was forced to mark the answer wrong. The Slytherin team celebrates after a twenty-point question puts them in the lead. (Ari Davis) It was looking like all was lost for the courageous lions as they fell into fourth place, Slytherin gladly took first, and Ravenclaw got ready to up their game. The last 11 questions of the trivia contest were more than hard; they were "Potterhead" hard. These 50-point questions were not for the faint of heart, and only a muggle that lives and breathes Harry Potter possibly had a chance to answer them correctly. In the face of such peril, the Gryffindors' courage finally emerged. They knew how many staircases there were at Hogwarts (142), Hermione Granger's exact birthday (Sept. 19, 1979) and who all the males in the Weasley family are named after (King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table). No other house could answer. Gryffindor was back in the game. It was time for the second-to-last question, and although Gryffindor was back in the running they couldn't afford to answer incorrectly. One of the less confident members of the Gryffindor team, Haley Carlson, was up. The room listened with baited breath as Grange asked the question, "How many types of fouls are there in Quidditch?" The Gryffindor team burst into cheers and shouts, and Carlson triumphantly scribbled down the answer (700) while the other contestants gazed at their papers as though they had been just been confunded. It turns out that Carlson had seen this question on the Internet in her pre-competition studies and had mentioned it to Holdaway as they were getting out of the car at the venue. By the luck of the draw (or did someone sneak a sip of Felix Felicis?), Carlson was the one to answer the question. Haley Carlson, Gryffindor, and the other three contestants wait with baited breath as the second-to-last question is presented. Carlson knew the difficult question and her points put Gryffindor back in the lead. (Ari Davis) Holdaway said this was the most intense moment of the entire competition, when Gryffindor finally realized that victory was theirs. "We were down, and Slytherin had been giving us a hard time as those Slytherins do, and it came down to questions that were really, really hard," Holdaway said. "We were struggling. We were just at the table like, 'Oh my gosh, what are we doing.' And then one of our members was able to get a clutch question...It was fantastic." The scene was akin to the Gryffindor common room after coming out victorious from a particularly close quidditch match. The Gryffindors celebrated and reminisced of years past, many comparing their victory to the year of the Sorcerer's Stone, when the house came back from fourth place on the last night of the term to take the cup. "Basically, I love Harry Potter more than anything," Walker said. "I listen to it every day and watch it. ...It feels amazing to win, because we all thought we were going to lose. But we came back, and we were awesome. We kicked butt, and we're all just so happy." The trivia contest was the second event in The Wall's week of Harry Potter, which includes a Halloween bash on Friday night with a local wizard rock band coming to play live. Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter's preview of the events can be found here. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a new video showing and explaining the under garments and temple clothing that endowed members of the Church wear.
The video came in the wake of the Church's first feature film, "Meet the Mormons," and seems to be another effort by the church to challenge "the stereotypes that surround the Mormon faith." "We live in a different day and age where information is just a mouse click away," said Alex Baugh, a BYU professor of Church history and doctrine. "The Internet has changed the way people access information, and unfortunately, there’s is a lot of misinformation on the Internet about the Church, and even more unfortunate is the fact that there is a lot of information that is antagonistic and disrespectful toward the Church. Nowhere is that more true than in connection with the sacred aspects of LDS temple worship and temple clothing." Baugh mentioned several papers the LDS Church has released this year explaining difficult topics, including race and the priesthood, translation of the Book of Abraham and whether Mormons are Christians. Just this week two new papers were released, "Plural Marriage in Kirkland and Nauvoo" and "The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage." "The release of such statements and explanations, such as the one released just last week on temple garments, demonstrates that the Church is being very transparent, and that is willing to discuss some of the Church’s most sacred teachings openly, and in a forthright way," Baugh said. "By issuing these statements it is clear that the Church wants to take the lead in explaining our history, religious views, beliefs, and practices, not our critics. In other words, regardless of what presented by others, this is the position or view taken by the Church." Many Latter-day Saints expressed surprise that the video was so outright in showing the garments. "I definitely was surprised," said Zak Kirkpatrick, a BYU student from Juneau, Alaska studying public relations. "In fact seeing the still frame of garments lying on a table, at first I thought it might be some anti-Mormon sentiment on my Facebook page. And then I was surprised to see that it was actually from the Church, official Church stuff." The video, which was posted on Mormon Newsroom under the "Temple Garments" topic, dated temple clothes back to the Old Testament and compared sacred LDS clothing with the religious clothing worn by members of other religions around the world. "The nun’s habit. The priest’s cassock. The Jewish prayer shawl. The Muslim’s skullcap. The saffron robes of the Buddhist monk. All are part of a rich tapestry of human devotion to God," the video said. "I like how they related it to other religions to show that we're not all that strange in what we do," said Liesl Hansen, a BYU student studying communications. "I appreciated what the Church did to be totally open about our garments. I'm also amazed that they showed the robes and other things." A few Latter-day Saints expressed excitement about using the video as a new missionary tool. Brielle Stevens, a member from Washington, said she comes from a small town with a small population of Latter-day Saints, and she often receives questions about her faith. "I get a lot of questions asked and now I have a video that I can refer people to," she said. "I really like the way they detail it without giving (away) too much information, without making it uncomfortable." Although the video will make a good missionary tool and gives specific direction to non-members and media on how to refer to the garments, Baugh said it will also make a great tool for families teaching their children about the temple. He mentioned that he considered showing it in his classes. “I think a lot of young people, they go to the temple baptistry and that’s about all they know about the temple prior to their going through," he said. "But for members or non-members, I think this could be very instructive and informative. “ For Whitney, Bailey and Kylee Keele, three teenaged sisters and Latter-day Saints from Monroe, Utah, the video did just that. "I like how the video pointed out exactly what the clothing is for and not just a reason why we wore it," said Kylee Keele, the oldest of the three. "(Before), I knew my mom wore them, and my dad, but that's all." The LDS General Conference Facebook Page shared the video a few days after it came out, asking for reactions. While most of the comments were extremely positive, a few members expressed uncomfortable feelings with the out-rightness of the video. I have mixed feelings," commented Helen Shirley Bess from Alma, Michigan. "My whole life I never knew about these sacred robes. I just took out my endowment and got married less than two months ago and in that session my impression was that they are too sacred to just be shared, and that's why I had never known about them before. If the prophet released this message I support it, but I find myself sensitive toward the subject. My first impression of the video is that the video explained what they are, and I don't understand why there is a need to explain them to the non-LDS world." "The first time I saw it shared was on the wall of one of my non-member friends," commented Diane Rasmussen Sellers. "I was taken aback to see the picture of the garments just out there for all to see, but I read her explanation of gratefulness to have the video, watched it, then promptly shared it on my wall. It was an unexpected step by the First Presidency in my opinion, but I think it will take away some of the shroud of secrecy in a most respectful manner." While the release of the video wasn't linked to any church announcement or current event, Baugh said there might be an element of timeliness as more and more LDS temple dot the globe. "I'm just absolutely convinced that this one just came out of the blue," he said. "(But) maybe there is a timing factor with all the temples going up. People automatically will begin to say, 'Well what do Mormons do in temples?'" Even for Latter-day Saints who have been endowed and already wear temple clothing and garments, the video provided an opportunity for them to reflect on the reasons they wear garments. "I value them a lot," Hansen said. "I love the symbols on them and the meaning behind them. ...I don't feel like I completely understand why I wear them and the significance they hold, but that's where faith comes in and I wear them to show my devotion to God. I wear them because I love God, not because they're attractive." "I like the thought that every day I wear two reminders of my promises to have a special kind of relationship with the most important people in my life: my garments and my wedding ring," said Jason Crandall, a Latter-day Saint from Texas. PROVO — Natalie grew up in a small farming town in central Utah. Since her family didn't have TV or video games to keep her busy, she spent her time making clothes for her dolls and putting together fashion shows with her sister. And slowly, the small-town girl developed dreams of making it big in the fashion world. “It’s weird because I’m from a little country town where everyone’s like farmers,” said Natalie Workman, a native of Spring City. “We didn’t even have TV or fashion magazines, so I’m not really sure how I got it in my head that I wanted to do fashion design. …(But) it’s always what I thought I would do.” Workman’s career progressed from making clothes from her dolls to graduating from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. And, like many other local designers, she has become involved in Provo Fashion Week as a way to further her career. “When you think of the fashion industry you think of L.A., or especially New York, or foreign places, but you definitely don’t think of Provo,” she said. “…So we want to give an opportunity to all of the people in Utah that kind of don’t have that.” Workman was one of the producers of this fall’s Provo Fashion Week, a semiannual event that started up last spring. She said the first event was so well received that they decided to keep it going. “There are a lot of fashion designers around, but people in the community aren’t aware of them,” she said. “But I think the Provo community especially is very supportive of local talent, so I think we just want to get awareness of the designers and help them get a start.” The event features multiple fashion shows with collections of all kinds, from bridal to ready-to-wear to kids fashion. There is a show for already established designers and a separate one for up-and-coming designers. For Carli Randolf, a BYU student from South Texas studying recreation management, Provo Fashion Week was just what she needed to get started. “I did it as like, when am I ever going to get the opportunity to be in a fashion show?” she said. She said she had always enjoyed making her own clothes, but never thought it was something she could do as a career. After entering the up-and-coming show during spring and being invited back for fall, she decided to continue pursuing fashion after she graduates. “My big dream is to like have a line of clothes and it be in Anthropologie,” she said. “That’s my dream right now. If I get there, that will be awesome. If not, then I’m sure another big dream will come my way before then.” Workman said the main goal of Provo Fashion Week is to get the designers names out and give them an opportunity to build a portfolio. She said most of designers begin by doing custom work, but she hopes to be able to give them an opportunity to create their own line and eventually have it manufactured. “It’s definitely given me at least an outlet. Something to do with my work,” said Kailee Brown, a BYU student from Kaysville who was also presented her collection in the up-and-coming show. “Because before…I was just kind of making clothes for myself. So it’s a really good way to start out, even just to build your portfolio and get work out there and let everybody know what you want to do.” Brown said her mom always tried to get her into sewing as a kid, but she never enjoyed it. It wasn’t until she took a fashion merchandising class in high school for college credit that she fell in love with it and decided to continue pursing it as a career. She hopes to either go on to fashion design school get a job with a company doing designing. Workman and Randolf both said they love fashion design because it gives you a chance to create something from nothing. “I love that you take fabric, and it’s just like a flat piece…it’s not really anything until you make something out of it,” Workman said. “Just like you start with nothing and you can create something completely new that no one’s ever seen before. …I like fashion because it’s a part of you every day. You’re wearing something, and I think it’s the most obvious form of self-expression.” She is currently doing custom work on her website, but she is working on to put together her own clothing line and have it sold in stores. The designers all agreed on advice that they would give to hopeful designers. “I think you just have to try things out,” Randolf said. “…I’m pretty shy, I don’t like to get out in front of people. But if I had never done that I wouldn’t have ever known what I was capable of. There are of course many things that I would change about the things that I did, like this line there’s a lot of stuff I’m unhappy with. But I would never have been happy with any of it if I had never done it. So I think just get out there and try something and see if it works.” Seven women and three men representing the Ordain Women group attended the Priesthood Session at the Marriott Center on the BYU campus Oct. 4.
"We'd explain the principle of there being a Women's Conference, and we have a men's portion of that," said Michael Roberts, a Provo bishop who, along with his wife, met the group at the Marriott Center entrance. "(But if) you want to come in, then come in." The organized group met half an hour before the Saturday-evening Priesthood Session began outside the Marriott Center. They began with a hymn, a prayer, and remarks from members including Jim Kelly, father of Ordain Women leader Kate Kelly, who was excommunicated last summer. "We want to give those women everywhere an opportunity to participate that weren’t able to come to Salt Lake City today," Abby Hansen, organizer of the Ordain Women event in Utah Valley, told The Universe. "Secondly, we want to make our leaders aware worldwide that these are questions we have in the church. This is an international church, and there are women in every country who have this desire and who want…for this revelation, and for these questions to be answered." She said she has been very excited about recent events in the Church, including women praying in General Conference and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf referring to the Women's Meeting as the beginning of General Conference for the first time. Despite being denied entry to priesthood session at Salt Lake's Conference Center the past two General Conference seasons, official Church statements directing this issue, and the recent excommunication of Ordain Women leader Kate Kelly, the small group was hopeful. "First thing is, there are more than twice as many people here than at the first meeting of this Church," said Jim Kelly in his short remarks to the group. "So that’s pretty encouraging.” When the group arrived at the door to the building, they were greeted by Roberts, bishop of the 241st Ward in the Provo YSA 17th Stake, and his wife, Karen. When they approached Hansen said, "I'm sure you know who we are." She promised they would be "reverent" and "respectful" and just wanted to watch the session. A group of 10 Ordain Women activists prepare to enter the Marriott Center to watch the Priesthood Session broadcast. The group included Jim Kelly (far center), father of Kate Kelly, who founded the organization and was excommunicated from the LDS Church over the summer. (Erica Palmer) Karen Roberts asked if they knew they could see it online, but said, "We're not going to stop you." The women and men entered the building. Many hugged Roberts on their way in. Roberts said the couple had been told beforehand the group would be coming. "We were just to meet them and nothing much, not to turn them away if they insisted on coming in," she said. The organization's website posted a map of locations where groups of Ordain Women supporters might gather to view Priesthood Session at local stake centers. |
Archives
December 2014
AuthorHere is a class blog from my backpack journalism class at BYU. It includes some of my multimedia work with audio, video and photos. Categories |