Dear Family and Friends

I want to personally thank you for your thoughts, encouragements, prayers and financial gifts which helped the High School mission team have a successful trip to Salt Lake City, Utah almost one month ago. The team consisted of six students, myself and our contact missionary Russ East who lives in Ogden, Utah year round with his family.  This trip stretched us emotionally and mentally as we learned a great amount of information about the LDS church.

On our first Sunday in Utah, we went to church at another Evangelical Free Church and in the afternoon, we went to a Mormon ward (ward is another name for church) and experienced a Mormon worship service.  It was very different from ours and our student’s eyes were opened when they saw that the LDS service taught only out of the Book of Mormon and not out of the Bible.  As we left the ward that afternoon, one of our students and I had an interesting conversation with a LDS member about the definition of Christianity.

As the week went on, we were able to utilize the talents and abilities of our students by partnering with a local church through VBS activities.  The church was grateful for such mature and responsible students. Other activities included meeting with Bill McKeever.  Bill is a leading researcher in the field of Mormonism and founder of  www.mrm.org.  The team was able to attend a live television taping where a Christian host answers questions from call in listeners about the Mormon faith.  The students also ate at a restaurant called “One World,” where they were able to eat food from all over the world.  We attended a Pioneer Day Parade.  Pioneer Day is when the entire Salt Lake City area practically shuts down to commemorate the pioneers who brought the Mormon faith to Utah. 

The majority of our time was spent downtown in Temple Square.  This is literally the Mecca of Mormonism and is where our students learned and grew the most.  The students were able to take various tours, watch a Joseph Smith movie, and have conversations with Mormon missionaries.  It was amazing to see how timid the students were at the beginning of the week and how their attitude transformed as they actively sought out dialogue on the last day of our trip!

This team would not have been possible without the help of our friends and family.  We genuinely thank you for all your contributions!