No longer MIA!...and what he's teaching

Almost 6 months into his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Santiago, Chile, I have finally seen pictures of my CUTE wittle brother in a suit with a name tag! Not because he sent them, because our family stalked his mission blog. :) Behold:

 My brother is in the front, second from the left!

Dead center, front row

view of Santiago and the Andes

For details on why he is in Chile and what he is doing there, see here. However, as I spent 18 months in Romania teaching the same things, I can tell you the basics. He was called by a prophet of God (President Thomas S. Monson) to tell people that the church established by Jesus Christ when he lived on the earth began to fade away after His death. Members faced severe persecution and all but one of the apostles were martyred. This is a period called the Great Apostasy, when there was a “falling away” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3) from the gospel Christ organized. The authority to bestow priesthood keys and to receive revelation for the Church was lost along with many precious teachings. This website, run by the LDS Church, explains things better than I can.

My brother is telling people about Joseph Smith, a teenage boy in 1820, in upstate New York, during a time of religious excitement. Joseph was confused about which church he should join and asked God through prayer. The answer he received was that none of them were true. He (through the power of God) was instrumental in restoring the true church of Jesus Christ to the earth again.

Recently, there has been a lot of media, political, and other attention focused on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon Church). I am generally happy about the attention regardless of whether it is positive or negative because it means more people with become at least a little familiar with the church I belong to! Once in a while, however, I feel it is necessary to clarify; even if the offender could be classified as psychologically insane and even if no one is listening to me :)

Anderson Cooper interviews Dr. Robert Jeffress (a baptist pastor who believes there should be an evangelical president in the White House and called Mormonism a cult):

Now...even if "cult" can be theologically defined as a religion/religious group with a founder other than Jesus Christ, Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) doesn't qualify. Why? Because Joseph Smith did not found said church. Jesus Christ did. Joseph Smith restored it. If you have questions about that, see my linked websites, comment here, or get in touch with me and I will put you in touch with people like my brother who are in your area. People called of God to explain it.

P.S. Points to Anderson Cooper, he ROCKS!