In 2002 my employer gave me the responsibility of creating a 40-minute video that could be used to help customers become more familiar with our products. After the filming was complete, the next step was to spend a few afternoons in the filmmaker's studio, editing scenes and providing the voice-over. During one of these sessions, I met another client who happened to be in the studio. He was from Sedona and introduced himself as a photographer, world traveler, anthropologist, and "religious pilgrim." He said he traveled the globe photographing what he called "sacred sites" -- places and monuments regarded as sacred by the local residents because of mystical origins, ancient legends, or unexplainable manifestations that had reportedly occurred there.
When he mentioned that he'd traveled extensively in South America I told him I'd spent two years in Argentina. "What were you doing there?" he asked. When I said I'd served as a missionary for my church, he reacted with a smirk, and somehow I knew that he knew which church I meant, for he'd obviously encountered LDS missionaries in his travels.
As the discussion continued I learned that he had a website devoted to the sites he'd photographed along with details about the sacred traditions and legends associated with them. He was especially excited about a proposal he'd just received to do a photo book for National Geographic. It has since been published under the title "Sacred Earth."
The following day I visited his website. There I found an impressive collection of photos from all over the world -- places he decribed as having "the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity, develop psychic abilities, and awaken the soul to a knowing of the true purpose of life." Anxious to see if his website included key locations considered sacred by Latter-day Saints, I entered searchwords like "Palmyra," "Cumorah," and "sacred grove." Each time my search ended with "no results found."
I decided to send him an e-mail in which I informed him of some sites in upstate New York that are regarded as sacred by many millions of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. He replied that the only places he knew of that are sacred to Latter-day Saints were our temples, and since he wasn't a member of the Church he wasn't allowed to enter.
I explained that I had other sites in mind, the most sacred being a wooded grove in the vicinity of Palmyra, for it was there, I said, that God the Father and Jesus Christ had appeared in 1820. I went on to tell him of another sacred site -- a hill known as Cumorah -- where an ancient record was revealed and delivered by the resurrected prophet who compiled that record hundreds of years earlier.
He thanked me for this information and told me he would add these two locations to his website. That was eight years ago. He hasn't added them yet. While I cannot judge his motives, I can still see that smirk on his face. But no matter -- smirks cannot alter the facts. I know through experiences stronger than sight that the events we claim occurred in those sacred locations did occur.
When he mentioned that he'd traveled extensively in South America I told him I'd spent two years in Argentina. "What were you doing there?" he asked. When I said I'd served as a missionary for my church, he reacted with a smirk, and somehow I knew that he knew which church I meant, for he'd obviously encountered LDS missionaries in his travels.
As the discussion continued I learned that he had a website devoted to the sites he'd photographed along with details about the sacred traditions and legends associated with them. He was especially excited about a proposal he'd just received to do a photo book for National Geographic. It has since been published under the title "Sacred Earth."
The following day I visited his website. There I found an impressive collection of photos from all over the world -- places he decribed as having "the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity, develop psychic abilities, and awaken the soul to a knowing of the true purpose of life." Anxious to see if his website included key locations considered sacred by Latter-day Saints, I entered searchwords like "Palmyra," "Cumorah," and "sacred grove." Each time my search ended with "no results found."
I decided to send him an e-mail in which I informed him of some sites in upstate New York that are regarded as sacred by many millions of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. He replied that the only places he knew of that are sacred to Latter-day Saints were our temples, and since he wasn't a member of the Church he wasn't allowed to enter.
I explained that I had other sites in mind, the most sacred being a wooded grove in the vicinity of Palmyra, for it was there, I said, that God the Father and Jesus Christ had appeared in 1820. I went on to tell him of another sacred site -- a hill known as Cumorah -- where an ancient record was revealed and delivered by the resurrected prophet who compiled that record hundreds of years earlier.
He thanked me for this information and told me he would add these two locations to his website. That was eight years ago. He hasn't added them yet. While I cannot judge his motives, I can still see that smirk on his face. But no matter -- smirks cannot alter the facts. I know through experiences stronger than sight that the events we claim occurred in those sacred locations did occur.
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