Fall of the Berlin Wall 30 Years Later

Posted on November 9, 2019 by Joyce Anderson

Ten years ago today, I wrote my first post for The Millennial Star as a regular contributor. I wrote about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (see that post HERE). Today is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. As I usually do on November 9th, I’ve spent some time thinking about that momentous event, and its impact on my life. I’ve been thinking about my exchange-family and friends in Berlin. We’ve sent messages this week celebrating, remembering, and giving thanks that, that wretched wall is gone.

As I wrote ten years ago, I served a full time mission behind the Iron Curtain in Bulgaria. When I was there, the dreary grey of communism still stuck on all of the buildings. People struggled to meet their most basic needs of feeding and clothing their family. Sometimes basic food items like bread and meat were scarce. Inflation was rampant, sometimes the exchange rate even changed several times a day. You didn’t change your American Dollars until the minute you needed to buy something it was so out of control. With the rise of socialism’s popularity in this country, I find myself saying to anyone who promotes socialism to talk to me after they’ve waited in a bread line or 14 — believe me, it’s not as fun as you might think. Continue reading →

Oakland Temple Open House

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Joyce Anderson

The public open house for the newly renovated Oakland Temple will start this Saturday, May 11th and run through June 1st. The Church has put together a short video showcasing some of the renovations. I have never been inside the Oakland Temple, but after seeing this video, I’ve put it on my places to visit list. I did have the chance to stop and visit the grounds about 20 years ago. The view out across San Francisco Bay from the hill where the temple sits is stunning. The interior is also stunning and a testimony to the careful attention and detail that goes into each temple. The temple truly is a house of God.

A friend who lives in Northern California related an funny anecdote about this temple to me recently. In the late 1970s and early 80s, the United States was going through an energy crisis, private citizens were encouraged to conserve energy by turning off unneeded lights in their homes. Even public and government buildings, and churches were encouraged to turn off their outside lighting to help the cause. The temple lights on the Oakland Temple were not lit for a time. Then there was a call from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to the church. “Can you please turn the temple lights back on? Pilots are getting lost as they come into the bay area airports.” Turns out the FAA had the Oakland Temple listed as a visual marker for directions. It’s still that way today — the Temple shining as a physical marker for airplanes and ships and spiritual marker for us on the way home.

The Apostles Testify of Jesus Christ

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Joyce Anderson

If you’re on social media (have you liked the Millennial Star Facebook page yet?), you might have noticed a lot of activity surrounding the dedication of the Rome, Italy temple in the last few days. All the members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 were in attendance at the dedication. There was also a new picture of all 15 men taken in the Visitor Center in front of the Christus and 12 apostles statues.

Today, the Church released this video of our apostles and prophet reading passages from “The Living Christ.” The Living Christ was released by the Church in 2000, declaration to the world of our belief in Jesus Christ. Here is the video, I hope you will share it with your friends of all faiths.

Provo City Center Temple Open House Dates Announced

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Joyce Anderson

As a BYU student, I lived right down the street from the Provo Tabernacle, and had many opportunities to attend church services and other events there. It was a beautiful building. I, along with many others, were heart broken in 2010, when it burned down. When the Church decided to rebuild this wonderful building as a temple, I was beyond happy.

Today, the Church announced the open house dates for the new Provo City Center Temple. From the Mormon Newsroom:

The free public open house starts on Friday, January 15, and will go through Saturday, March 5, 2016. It will run every day except for the Sundays of January 17, 24 and 31 and February 7, 14, 21 and 28.

The temple will be dedicated in three sessions on Sunday, March 20, 2016, with the cultural celebration taking place on Saturday, March 19.

The dedicatory sessions will be held at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and will be broadcast to Utah meetinghouses. The three-hour block of meetings will be cancelled for that Sunday.

Church President Thomas S. Monson announced the second Provo temple in October 2011, and ground was broken to begin construction May 12, 2012.

The temple is located on University Avenue between Center Street and 100 South.

The Church’s 112-year-old Provo Tabernacle burned in December 2010 and only the shell of the building was left. After the burned-out structure was gutted, Mormon leaders decided to use the building’s exterior to house the temple.

Temples are everywhere. We’re excited for the people of Provo.

Christ Cleanses the Temple

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Joyce Anderson

Each day this week, as part of the Church’s #BecauseHeLives Easter initiative, there will be a new question, meme, and/or video that members can share with their friends. Today is Monday of the Holy Week and the question that was shared is,

“How can the events of Monday, during the last week of Jesus Christ’s mortal life, give us strength today? To find out, visit http://mor.mn/2pmnr”

Today in our family’s morning “scripture-picture” discussion we talked about how Christ cleansed the temple, and how when we go to the temple we need to prepare to be reverent. My small children had so many questions, “Why were there noisy people at the temple? Why weren’t the people reverent? Was Jesus mad at those people?” I love that my six and three year old sons have these questions. I love the fact that we can sit and discuss them and that they are curious and want to learn about their Savior.

Happy Monday!