Happy Easter! Mormon Story Part One!

Hello! It's been a long time since I've posted, yes. My research project has been getting lots of attention these days, which is good. Sometimes, though I get a little too intent and ignore everything else. I can spend several days in a row without even leaving my apartment, just working on my computer simulation, reading books and watching movies. My roommates are probably sick of seeing me every time they come home.

Tomorrow is Easter and my roommates all left to go to their parent's homes to celebrate. They did this yesterday (Friday), but it took me until this morning to realize it. It was so quiet around here yesterday and last night, and then this morning when I didn't hear anyone get up I finally made the connection. See the above paragraph for reasons.

Juan Valdez (aka, anyone who doesn't want to leave their name) asked about the Mormon visit, so here it is:

My visit with the Mormons was not simply a one time event. Nay, it was three visits, topped off by a volleyball game. They're persistent, that's for sure.

The first time we met was at Jakominiplatz, the public transportation hub of Graz. They asked me if I wanted to talk somewhere around there or if I wanted to go to the temple, a 20 minute tram ride away. Having never seen a Mormon temple before, I chose the tram ride.

The temple was located on the Western side of Graz, in what I guess you could call the suburbs. Trams still run out into these areas, but you can see how car transportation slowly becomes more dominant. After getting off the tram, we had to walk another block to the temple, located between houses and looking very much like a Suburban America church/temple built in the 1980's. They gave me a tour of the temple and pointed out some key characteristics of Mormon temples, which had an interesting contrast to Protestant and Catholic churches.

The first area I was shown was the sanctuary, where services were held. It had lots of plain light wood trim, with orangey looking carpet, and pews. It also had an altar area, but I don't remember if it had a pulpit or not. Nothing surprising, really. One of the elders pointed out, and I wouldn't have noticed it unless he had, that there were no crucifixes in the sanctuary. The reason, he said, was that they want to focus on Jesus’ life and teachings and not his death. It sounded like a glass half-full versus half-empty sort of philosophy.

The next room I saw was right behind the sanctuary, one of those all-purpose rooms that many churches have. It had the stage with curtain, the high ceilings, and the sliding wall. A place where you would have pot lucks and other social gatherings. The sliding wall connected this room to the sanctuary to increase capacity, and the elder told me that they had to use it every Sunday because many people came to worship.

The temple had lots of other small rooms like classrooms, with doors and windows so you could see inside. I wasn't shown them because there really wasn't anything to see. What they DID show me, though, was the room where they perform baptisms. This was very cool. It had a special name I've since forgotten, but this room was quite unique. They use full-immersion baptisms in the LDS church, so this room basically had a giant bathtub built into the floor. It was about 1.5 meters wide by 3 meters long (5 foot by 9 foot) and about 1.5 meters (5 foot) deep. The sides and floor were covered in light blue 3 by 3 inch ceramic tiles, as were the steps leading down into it. The side of the bathtub was open from the floor level on up to people could view the baptisms. There was a railing with a glass panel below it so spectators couldn't fall in. Definitely the highlight of the tour for me!

After the tour we went into one of those non-descript rooms, sat on some chairs in a circle, and began to talk religion. They asked me about my beliefs and listened patiently while I described what I was raised to believe and what I believe today. Then they asked me if I knew much about the Mormon church, and were a bit a surprised when I gave them quite a few details about it. From attending a Lutheran High School, I was taught a lot about other religions and how they compare to the Lutheran faith. Also, a good friend of mine from back home is Mormon and she educated me on some of the finer points...

Some Mormon trivia: If you watch the movie "Napoleon Dynamite", you see the main character wearing a Rick's College t-shirt. That school is now called Brigham Young University Idaho.

The main thing I learned from our first conversation was that Mormons believe in continual revelation. Not sure if that is the correct term, but it means that they believe that prophets in the church, as well as individual believers, can still today be spoken to by God. Right now the current Head Prophet (again, my term, not theirs) is Gordon Hinckley. To me this setup sounds similar to Catholicism and the Pope. A central authority figure has a direct connection to God and church members look to him for guidance on doctrine.

This would be a good place to mention that I am not trying to disparage any religious belief. My intent is describe, to the best of my understanding, how these religions function. If I am in error or you disagree, please post a comment. I suggest using Juan Valdez as a name if you prefer anonymity.

For the sake of brevity I am ending this post. More details about my meetings and the volleyball game will follow. Happy Easter!