Meet the Mormons

Back in August during his address at Campus Education Week at BYU, Elder David A. Bednar extended to members the invitation to “to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth—messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy—and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood” (check out the talk here).  I’ve said in two other posts that I wasn’t sure why I was writing this blog, but, after watching the video replay of Elder Bednar’s address, perhaps I’ve been a part of the “little trickle” he referenced (very little, I suppose).  By continuing with my efforts, I hope my little trickle can join the “big flood.”  One way or another, as I've said before, I’ve decided to hitch my wagon to this horse, so I’ll keep at it. J

Anyway, Elder Bednar offered several examples of ways the Church and its members have used social media as a way to disseminate the gospel message.  The final example he referenced was a feature film, called Meet the Mormons.  Originally, it had been approved to be played in the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and selected visitor’s centers.  Elder Bednar announced that the movie would be released “in select theaters in the United States and then, later, in visitors’ centers and on television, Internet movie channels, and social media channels.”  Yesterday, the movie was released nation-wide in theaters and one of our local movies houses decided to offer it.  Today, we went to see it.

The movie profiles six members of the church.  One of the aspects of the film that made it interesting for me was that only one person actually lived in the Utah area.  The bishop (now the stake president of his stake from what I understand), Jermaine Sullivan, lives in Atlanta, Georgia; the coach, Ken Niumatalolo, who is the head coach for the Navy football team, lives in the Washington D. C. area; the fighter, Carolina Muñoz Marin, lives in Costa Rica; the candy bomber, Gail Halvorsen, now lives in Arizona; the humanitarian, Bishnu Adhikari, lives in Nepal, and the missionary mom, Dawn Armstrong, lives in the greater Salt Lake area.  I liked this aspect because it helps to show that Latter-day Saints not just concentrated in Utah (although they are J).

The first impression I had as I watched the film was that each segment felt like an expanded “I’m a Mormon” spot.  All of them did a good job of showcasing the highlighted person, but in some cases I was left wanting more.  For example, the first segment on the Atlanta bishop was fascinating.  I was very interested in how the film showed him interacting with his ward, his family and his extended family.  It’s hard for me to put my finger on it as I write my reaction, but as we talked about the film afterward, I expressed how I wanted to know more about him.  I suppose this is a testament to how well the filmmakers did with the movie: leave them wanting more, J but I liked the insights into his life and how the movie showed that a “Mormon” bishop is just a normal person trying to do his best in life.

I think my favorite segment was about the man from Nepal, Bishnu Adhikari.  First of all, I found it so amazing to find out there is a branch of the Church in Nepal!  I have to admit, a part of me wanted to know more about the members of that branch and what it is like for them to be members of the church in Nepal.  But, this desire was overshadowed by Bishnu.  What a fascinating person.  To see how he is trying to help the people of Nepal by helping them to build schools and obtain water for their towns was very cool.  One of his daughters and his wife was interviewed, but I would have like to know a little more about his family.  I was interested to see the interaction he had with his father.  But the thing I liked the most was the comment he made at the end of his segment.  He said, “I’m not perfect, but I’m perfect in trying.”  That comment really hit home for me because that sums me up completely.  I am confronted constantly with the fact that I am not perfect, but I’m trying and I know that is what Heavenly Father wants of me.

The film gave me more background on the candy bomber, Gail Halvorsen.  I had heard parts of his story over the last couple of years.  His segment took those parts, along with other unknown details, and wrapped them into a nice package.  It was a reminder to me how small and simple things (what might seem to be tiny acts of service) can make a huge impact (see Alma 37:6).  The lady kick boxer from Costa Rica was a different twist.  The aspect of her story that I liked was that even though she was good enough to be a professional, she wanted her focus to be on her children and helping her husband train other people in the sport.

With Ben’s desire to serve a mission, the final segment about the missionary mom, Dawn Armstrong, was very poignant.  Even without that personal connection, her story was very powerful; another one of those situations to show how involved our Heavenly Father is in our lives whether we realize it or not.

All in all I thought the time was very well spent.  I’ve read a couple of reviews where the reviewer slammed the film for not being some “hard hitting” documentary about the Church, its views, its warts and son on.  These criticisms ignore the fact that this film is designed to be shown in Church visitor centers.  It only became a widely released film because the leadership of the Church felt that it should be released as such to begin.  All that aside, I liked it and we hope to obtain a copy when it is released by the Church for home distribution.