Well, I decided a while back that I wanted to share my conversion story in this blog. Now wait, before you quit reading because you’re not in the mood for a gospel lesson at the moment, that isn’t where this is going. 

Contact:

Kersten Swinyard
[email protected]
801.231.9425

or 

Crystal Young-Otterstrom
[email protected]
801.652.0737

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 19, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Democrats caucus of the Utah Democratic Party announced Thursday that it supports Gov. Gary Herbert’s Healthy Utah Plan, the Medicaid expansion alternative for the state.

LDS Dems joins the chorus of moderate voices in both major political parties calling for passage of Herbert’s plan, including Presiding Bishop Gary Stevenson, who joined other community and religious leaders at Herbert’s news conference in December.

After the November 2012 election, Republicans across the country were understandably frustrated. Conservative media outlets had been predicting an easy win for former Governor Mitt Romney. The right-wing media and blogosphere kept telling Republican voters that the polls were biased towards President Obama. Well-renowned conservative pundit George Will famously predicted that Romney would win the Electoral College in a 321-217 landslide. Conservative televangelist Pat Robertson told his followers that God had informed him that Mitt Romney would win and become a two-term president. Instead, Barack Obama was handily reelected and Democrats gained seats in both the Senate and the House. Demographers’ predictions of the expanding importance of minority voters, especially Latinos, in presidential elections were spot-on.

Contact:

Crystal Young-Otterstrom
[email protected]
801.652.0737

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

A couple of weeks ago, the church held a news conference in which Elders Holland and Oaks discussed the church’s support of efforts and legislation to protect the rights of members of the LGBT community while calling for protections for religious liberty (see newsroom article here).

This past week was Ronald Reagan’s 104th birthday. I wish he were alive to celebrate, probably more than most conservatives I know. It would be interesting to see Reagan’s take on today’s political environment. Most likely his opinion would be tossed by the wayside by the same individuals that currently profess his adoration.

The State of the Union is Tuesday night, starting at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific. My preferred way of watching the last few years has been the White House's enhanced feed: it includes infographics and excludes pundits. We'll also be live-tweeting from @MormonPress. But if you want some other ways, C-SPAN has a nice undiluted feed, though it can be slow due to the heavy traffic, and all the major broadcast and cable news channels are also showing it, which means three things:

A fellow ward member who is African-American related to me recently that several years ago he and his wife felt impressed to move their family to Utah County even though they knew they would stick out among the vast majority of residents.  Moreover, repeatedly he has been offered better jobs elsewhere and he and his wife have considered moving, but again have felt impressed to stay where they are.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, and the older I get the more this increases. It’s a time when it just seems a little easier to focus on happy thoughts, family, loving our fellow human beings, and, for those of us who are Christians, the Savior.

Imagine that Mormon missionaries were killed and abused by police on a regular basis.