Education Week BYU 2016

Quest For Perfection and Eternal Live

Bob and I attended BYU Education week again this year…one of our favorite things to do.

BYU Education Week 2016

on the BYU Campus

BYU Campus with the mountains

BYU Cougar Front of Stadium

Crowds were large

BYU Marriott Center Education Week 2016

One of my favorite classes this year was a class that presented the top ten items in the Church History Museum. An article appeared in the Deseret News about it.

The Church History Library, located at Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City, is a special place, said the library’s director Keith A. Erekson. The library houses a quarter of a million books and magazines as well as manuscripts, thousands of audio visual materials, two million photographs and many other artifacts that document the history of the Church in the latter days.

The Church goes to great lengths to preserve these treasures. The library retains secure storage vaults and is built to the highest seismic standards. It is climate controlled to reduce fluctuations in temperature for items that are temperature sensitive. It is also secured with cameras and sensors and lasers and “everything we need to keep the records safe,” Brother Erekson explained.

But amid the library’s trove of historical objects and documents are some extra special items. During a session of BYU Campus Education Week, Brother Erekson shared what he considers to be the “Top 10 Treasures of the Church History Library.”

#10 President Hinckley’s sketch of small temples

Gordon B. Hinckley’s drawing plan of small temples

#9 Emmeline B. Wells’ editorial in The Women’s Exponent

Emmeline B. Wells grain storage program Women’s Exponent

#8 The letter from Liberty Jail

Letter dictated by Joseph Smith from Liberty Jail

#7 Joseph Smith’s first journal

Joseph Smith’s personal journal

#6 Wilford Woodruff’s copy of the Book of Commandments

Wilford Woodruff’s Book of Commandments

#5 Fragments of the papyrus scrolls

papyrus

#4 Hyrum’s copy of the Book of Mormon

Hyrum Smith’s copy Book of Mormon

#3 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon

First Edition Book of Mormon

#2 Original manuscript of the Book of Mormon

Original Manuscript Book of Mormon

#1 Patriarchal blessing records

I had to get one more picture of the Gabriel Dawe installation in the Museum of Art on the BYU Campus.

Gabriel Dawe Installation BYU MOA

Other pictures of this installation: here and here.

BYU Women’s Conference

and

LDS Church History Museum

Ellen Riley flew in to meet me to attend Brigham Young University Women’s Conference. Our first stop was to eat lunch in the Nauvoo Cafe, and then a visit to Temple Square and the Church History Museum.

The Nauvoo Cafe is located on the corner of South Temple and Main Street in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, in Downtown Salt Lake City.

Nauvoo Cafe In Joseph Smith Memorial Building

goodies at the Nauvoo Cafe

Visiting Temple Square and the flowers of Temple Square

Salt Lake City Temple

Reflecting pool in front of Salt Lake City Temple.

Assembly Hall at Temple Square, Salt Lake City

The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is one of the buildings owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the southwest corner of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has seating capacity for an audience of approximately 1,400 people.

The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a Victorian Gothic congregation hall. Rough granite walls are laid out in cruciform style making the hall’s exterior look like a small gothic cathedral.

Flowers Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah

Our timing was just a little late to see all the tulips in their prime, but Temple Square was still gorgeous!

Flowers Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah

The L.D.S. Church History Museum

L.D.S. Church History Museum

The museum is located west of Temple Square and north of the Family History Library.

I was excited to see a set this set of coins in the museum.

Old Set of Mormon Coins

I had heard about a set like this one in the news recently. ABC had a story about them, as did KSL in Salt Lake City and LDS Living.

They were the rarest of a seven-piece collection of Mormon coins made in 1849 that brought in nearly $2 million at an auction staged by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

A $10 Mormon gold coin fetched $705,000, and a $20 Mormon gold coin sold for $558,000 at auction this week.

The territorial coins, put up for sale by a collector, went to an undisclosed buyer. Bidding ended Thursday night.

Tyson Emery, a coin expert at All About Coins in Salt Lake City, said coins and currency were scare when Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah in 1847, and the settlers began making their own coins primarily to buy goods from the East.

“The gold that they used to make these Mormon gold coins came from the original California gold strike, probably right from the American River at Sutter’s Mill,” he told the Deseret News (http://bit.ly/1h1t3cv ).

Only 46 of the $10 gold coins were made, and just a few are still around.

I was also excited to see the “originals” of Missouri Church history. This picture by C. C. A. Christensen showing the persecution of the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri is the “one” always used showing the Saints being expelled from Jackson County Missouri.

Painting of Persecution of the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri

Another “original” is Joseph Smith’s letter written in Liberty Jail to the people in Quincy, Illinois after being expelled from Missouri. Parts of this letter would latter become scripture D&C sections 121-123:

Joseph Smith letter written in Liberty Jail

Displayed with the letter were original bars from Liberty Jail.

And lastly, the original cast iron face wheel from Haun’s Mill on display at the Church History Museum. (Article about Haun’s Mill)

Cast Iron Face Wheel from Hauns Mill

Then we were off to Women’s Conference 2014 at Brigham Young University.

BYU’s beautiful campus!

The Theme this year is found in Psalm, 84:11 which reads, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” In this verse we are reminded of the blessing and power of divine grace.

Women’s Conference 2014

Marriott Center Brigham Young University

Thursday Morning Opening Session was a real treat!

Thursday Morning Opening Session was Sheri Dew.

Sheri Dew

Her theme was: “For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield: the Lord will give Grace and Glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
—Psalm 84:11

Thursday Afternoon General Session was Elder Bruce C. Hafen and his wife, Marie.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen

They spoke on the Redeeming and Strengthening Powers of the Atonement.

Friday Morning General Session

Linda K. Burton, Bonnie L. Oscarson, Rosemary M. Wixom

Linda K. Burton, Bonnie L. Oscarson, Rosemary M. Wixom spoke on the Atonement Heals, Comforts, Consoles, and Enables Us to Show Mercy and Grace Unto Ourselves

Friday Afternoon Closing Session was Elder Quentin L. Cook and his wife Mary.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and Mary G. Cook

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and Mary G. Cook spoke on

The Rewards of Righteousness

We stayed for the evening performance which included; Mercy River, Hilary Weeks, Hudson Lights, Sandra Turley (broadway star), and Jenny Oaks Baker (Emmy nominated). All incredible, but the climax of the evening was a video “Evil Did Not Win” about one of the victims of the Sandy Hook Massacre Emilie Parker and a talk by her mother Alissa. I noticed as we left many red, rimmed eyes.

Sandra Turley

(I had to take this picture of Sandra Turley and send it to Becca. Becca is good friends with Sandra’s sister and brother-in-law [also a Duke graduate with Carl]. We sat by Sandra’s mother at graduation.)

Side note: May 1st was the first day of BYU’s new President Kevin Worthen. Kevin grew up in Price and was one of the best friends of my brother Craig. Really exciting to see a kid from Price do so well. The Deseret News and BYU today called Craig to interview him to find out what Kevin was like as a kid. Craig told a couple of “Kevin Stories”.

“Craig Smith became Worthen’s friend in the third grade, the same year Smith remembers running into Worthen one day in the library in Price. Worthen lived in Dragerton, a small town owned by a coal mine several miles away.

Smith was working his way through the Hardy Boys books. Worthen was carrying a stack of novels that included “Advise and Consent,” the 1959 Pulitzer Prize-winning political novel by Allen Drury.

“He was reading as an adult already in those days,” Smith said.”

AND

“Kevin is a very smart guy, but he’s also a very humble guy,” Smith said. “He’s usually the smartest guy in the room, but he doesn’t advertise that and doesn’t care if people know that or don’t know that. Lawyers usually want to let you know.”

His fellow BYU law students figured it out, Smith said. Their nickname for Worthen, who would graduate first in their class, was Zeus.

“Of course,” Smith said, “Zeus was the smartest and strongest of all.”

Congratulations to Kevin…13th President of Brigham Young University.

Education Week BYU 2016 Quest For Perfection and Eternal Live

Education Week BYU 2016

Quest For Perfection and Eternal Live