Savior of the World

Our family enjoyed a magical Christmas Eve watching my son perform in the musical production of Savior of the World. He played one of the disciples who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. 

Red banners outside the Conference Center 

advertise the Savior of the World. 

My son performed with friends we met 

this summer during the Nauvoo Pageant. 

It was beautiful to see them again!

Dakota is a wonderful disciple. 

After the performance, we had dinner in downtown Salt Lake City, 

then saw the lights on Temple Square. 

Utah

My family and I recently took a weekend trip to Utah and made some wonderful re-connections with friends and family. 

For our first stop, we attended a reunion dinner in Salt Lake City for Guatemalans living in the area. Obviously, my family is not Guatemalan, but we were invited by my former mission president Julio Alvarado and his wife Blanca. We enjoyed some great Guatemalan food and a re-kindling of old friendships. Brother and Sister Alvarado looked through my mission book and reminisced about old times. 

Rhonda also re-connected with two of her former mission companions. 

We attended the Saturday afternoon session of the LDS General Conference. 

Ironically, my favorite part of conference is the chaotic environment at Temple Square with protesters and counter-protesters each trying to win the other. 

Counter-protesters. 

Inside the Conference Center. 

A family picture in Salt Lake City. 

On Saturday evening, we attended a live performance of South Pacific at the Hale Theater in Orem, Utah. We were invited by actor and performer Dallin Vail Bayles (pictured below).  

Dakota and Dallin Vail Bayles stood together for this picture outside the Hale Theater in Orem. 

Our family stayed with Rhonda's father in a tiny place called Elberta, Utah. He and his wife were service missionaries at a church camp that does re-enactments of the Mormon handcart pioneers. 

Family picture with Ron and Linda. 

Salt Lake

This last weekend, I made a brief but intense trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. In general terms, I can speak to the purpose of my trip and say that I filmed a series of short biographical interviews, but I do not feel it appropriate to reveal the exact subject matter at this time. Perhaps I will say more after the interviews are released to the public. For now, I will simply address everything that happened between video shoots.

Mormonism resides at the heart of the spiritual, cultural, historical heart of Salt Lake City. It also resides at the center of the city's physical landscape with its temple, conference center, and offices dominating the skyline.

During one of my breaks, I walked downtown hoping to catch a glimpse of the crowds of people attending the fall general conference of the church. Unfortunately for me, the crowds were surprisingly absent. I think perhaps I arrived just after the beginning of the priesthood session, so most everyone had either gone home for the day or had already found their places inside the conference center.



The conference center plaza stood virtually empty under the glow of a magnificent sunset.





My new camera captured some of the finer details of the temple with much better quality than I'm used to getting.



And of course, protesters stood outside Temple Square hoping to sway Mormons from their faith. I always wonder if they ever succeed or if protests end up as a waste of time.



My hosts for this weekend trip put me up in the Anniversary Inn, which is a bed and breakfast that was converted from the old Kahn Mansion. I stayed two nights in a perfectly fabulous room, but I kind of felt that such a beautiful room was partially wasteful. It was like staying in the honeymoon suite without my honey. It got lonely sleeping by myself in those magnificent surroundings.





A view of my bed and the bathroom at the Anniversary Inn.



Early one morning, I got up to photograph Salt Lake City from a non-Mormon perspective. The photograph above was taken from the Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine.



A stained glass window depicting Mary inside the Catholic cathedral.





Various views of the Presbyterian Church including a gargoyle.



The Masonic Temple.



In between meetings and video shoots, I also got to see a few old friends. I met with Candee and Jason McKnight. Back in the early 1990s, they served in the Quetzaltenango Mission at the same time as I did. We had dessert at the Old Spagetti Factory and laughed for hours about the good time we shared back in the day.



Also had a great visit with my friend Percy...



And my friend Nick...