Save The Date!

Professor Nibley — Hugh Nibley (1910-2005), pretty much as he looked when I studied Middle Egyptian with him.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This item was posted today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 28: They “Never Did Fall Away” Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 28: They “Never Did Fall Away”: Alma 23-29″:

This week for Come, Follow Me lesson 28 covering Alma 23-29, we only have lecture 53 from Hugh Nibley’s Book of Mormon classes at Brigham Young University, covering Alma 23-27.

During 1988, 1989, and 1990, Hugh Nibley taught Honors Book of Mormon classes for four semesters at Brigham Young University. The lectures were video-taped and audio cassettes and printed transcripts were made of the lectures. We believe these recordings will be interesting to listen to and valuable to your Come, Follow Me study program this year. Each week, we will include the lectures covering the Book of Mormon chapters being studied that week.

mklkmflmklsmls — A political map of Africa (public domain, Central Intelligence Agency), showing the tiny nation of Benin (directly west of Nigeria) and the tiny nation of Rwanda (just east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)

I’ve fallen very badly behind in sharing with you the photographs and captions that Jeff Bradshaw, one of the Interpreter Foundation’s vice presidents, sent to me during the time that he and his team were traveling in Africa. They were there working on the Interpreter Foundation’s film project Not by Bread Alone; they’re back now. Here, below, are just five of the images that he sent. I hope that you enjoy them and/or that you will find them of interest:

Kigali nights! — Last night late Chris and I flew from Benin to Kigali, Rwanda. Though we were glad to have arrived and to get through customs and to our apartment with only minor glitches, it was a bit lonely to me as I thought of who we’d left behind in Benin. What a once-in-a-lifetime joy it was to be together with Robert and with Spencer and Alyssa’s family, who made the trip to Benin joyful and productive.
None of this would have been possible without the Lord’s help, and the fact that Camille and hers and Spencer’s parents, Don and LInda, raised such great kids and grandkids. That Angie gave her full backing to Chris. And that Camille and Kathleen supported Robert and me having this unique chance to get away together during such a busy time for them personally.

n f u huh — Mostly thanks to Chris, we have some photos behind the scenes of all the tripods, and phone cameras, and chairs, and microphones and receivers, and voltage regulators we had to set up and take down each time we visited a family. Thanks to Spencer and Robert we got all this stuff set up and taken down in record time on each visit and didn’t lose anything. Well, one time we almost lost a small microphone magnet but, thanks to Chris’s prayer and continued diligent searching, our driver found it stuck to his keys the next morning. (This photo was behind the scenes at the home of Victor and Sabine Hounhouhin in Parakou, Benin).

4bhtnjhv ujhv4unrjhv4unjrm — I am glad that Spencer was the driver, not one of the rest of us, when we got to the end of the week. We were so exhausted, and he kept going till the last hour. (This is a behind the scenes shot at the home of Donatien Iwoktan in Calavi, Benin).

And during the last few days we can’t forget sweet Saide, who helped to entertain the Iwoktans’ children so we could record the inspiring stories of their parents.

Thanks to the comfort of the Jameses home in Parakou and the comfort and support from our beloved family, every night Chris and I could sleep as soundly as the baby in Jonas’s arms.

I’m pleased to report that it is now pretty much established and set in stone that the Interpreter Foundation’s dramatic film Six Days in August will be released into theaters on Thursday, 10 October 2024. That’s the week following the 2024 semiannual general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you’re interested, you can now circle that date on your calendar.

We’re hoping to set up one or two “sneak preview nights” and a formal premiere prior to the official opening on Thursday, 10 October 2024, but I don’t feel that I can announce dates for those yet. They’re not yet nailed down.

gef8chndxmskg4vghcjmidx — Ted Bushman playing Wilford Woodruff — as sound, grip, electric, production, and camera teams prep a stagecoach on the process trailer for shooting the opening scenes of “Six Days in August.”

And now, notwithstanding my famous aversion to controversy, I share a few items that have recently caught my interest and that might conceivably generate disagreements:

Here, for instance, is an interesting article from Jacob Hess:, who is always interesting: “Latter-day Saints in the U.S. disagree about Trump vs. Biden, but enjoy worship together on Sunday: In an age when political hostilities are eating through community bonds of all kinds like battery acid, faith communities are proving to be remarkably resilient — perhaps especially among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

And this comes from someone who, I think, may suffer from a death-wish: “Why Male Rule is Godly: A Review of Zachary Garris’s Honor Thy Fathers.”’ I share it here, though, not merely in order to get a possible rise out of some of my readers, and certainly not because I’m a closet Calvinist. Here’s one reason: Latter-day Saints are often attacked for having a patriarchal view of things . . . and a male-only priesthood. I thought it might be interesting for readers here to see an attempt at a biblically-based defense of a worldview that — very much mutatis mutandis! — bears certain similarities to certain teachings or practices of the Restored Church. Let me state, however, as clearly as I am able, that I strongly favor efforts to involve women in church matters to the greatest extent that is allowed by revelation.

And, finally, just in case I haven’t managed to post anything here yet that has inflamed the indignation of at least one of my readers, here’s a last attempt for today: “The Consequences of Ideology-Driven Medicine for Transgender Teens: What do leaked WPATH files and the Cass Review reveal? Youth gender medicine practices are unethical and harmful.”

Posted from Newport Beach, California