There is something wrong with mission stories. At least, that is what you might be led to believe by the way we avoid them and the way we apologize for sharing them. For instance, look at how Ben Huff introduced a mission story that he was posting. He started off with “Can y’all stomach a mission story right now?”

I’ve known Ben for a long time and I always enjoy his posts and comments. I hope he doesn’t mind my using his post as an example. Why did Ben feel obligated to preface his mission experience in this way? Is there some kind of unwritten law of Mormondom that says that, for the most part, mission experiences are undesirable?

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Geoff Johnston’s son had a serious swimming pool accident last night. Geoff is asking for prayers for his son. Click the title of this post to see details.

My prayers are with you and your family, Geoff.

UPDATE: Geoff reports that the doctors believe his son will make a full recovery. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and concern.

Many of you may have seen last year’s movie National Treasure. Despite one rather glaring problem in the plot, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot. It was relatively clean and it was fun to see Sean Bean, who did a great job as Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring, play the villain.

The movie got me thinking about masonry and its alleged connection to the founding of the United States, which plays a big part in the film. It is interesting to me that masonic symbolism is often tied to LDS and Utah symbolism. I’ve done a little research into our national symbols and Utah state symbols that you may find interesting. In the case of LDS and Utah symbolism, it helps to dispel some of the alleged connections to masonry, and in the case of our National symbols, it has some interesting implications for the “separation of church and state.”

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To let everyone know, Hugh Nibley just passed away today. We’ve elected not to discuss the book of his daughter on this blog. Still, I must say that having the book come out the same week that the family will be dealing the funeral is a horrible burden to bear. I can’t imagine what that must be like for the family. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family. Having to spend ones last days going through this is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I can only be thankful that Hugh Nibley is now in a place where his heart can be open and see things as they are.