Two of those who do stop and chat are students from a nearby university. One is a Christian and the other is a Muslim. Eventually, the group exchange numbers and agree to meet up to discuss The Book Of Mormon. As I look up I see Elder Coppin peering at us, sleuth-style, from behind a lamp-post. I ask him about his over-zealous media monitoring later and whether he felt odd lurking in the background.
So where else should I arrange to meet Corrine — a leather-jacket wearing year-old university lecturer, mother of one and Mormon — but at Starbucks? Corrine is not what I expected. I was imagining a conservatively dressed housewife. Is this partly because of the pressure to preserve their chastity? Our talk of chastity gets me thinking about the main thing that haunts the Mormon community and arguably tarnishes their reputation: polygamy.
She was only We love them dearly. We believe that every one of us are spirit children of our heavenly father, that He created the world for the purpose of giving us a place where we can receive a physical body and learn how to walk in His paths. We believe that a person can become a god — but we will never be equal with God. Kathleen Walker's father was a missionary in Britain from to He became the president of the Church when he was 84, serving until his death in That is a form of revelation; there is no question in my mind the prophet is inspired.
But we all have a sense of that in life, when we get thoughts we need to respond to: that is a spirit whispering to us. Hull, 22, came to Chorley from Hyde Park, a city in Utah, to work as a missionary.
Her younger brother is also currently serving as a missionary in Bolivia. But there are people here in the UK who I feel I was supposed to meet in my life, and who God wanted me to be friends with; I'd never have met them if I had stayed in America. I really feel as though I'm supposed to be here. Ashworth, 29, has written a novel about a Mormon family in Chorley, based on her experiences of the Church, which she left at It's supposed to be the pinnacle of our year, but it was scary, odd.
I just felt puzzled, like there was some flaw in me. But I felt a great sense of loss. It was it was my heritage. I missed the music and the community. I don't believe the doctrine and I think there's quite a lot about the Church that has to be challenged, but there are some challenging it from within, which is fantastic. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Already subscribed? In June , another temple was opened in Preston, the site of the first preaching more than years ago. Preston is the home of the oldest continuous branch a small congregation of the Church anywhere in the world, dating back to Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The building was rededicated by Erich W. Jeffrey R. He also met with missionaries and spoke at a devotional to young single adults of the Church. In September , Elder Holland was invited by Baroness Emma Nicholson to participate and speak at a conference at Windsor Castle addressing religious persecution and its role in forced migration.
In June , D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to students, faculty and academics at the University of Oxford about ethical conscience and integrity relating to his experiences as a law clerk during the Watergate trials more than 40 years ago. He attended the second British Pageant which was part of the celebrations.
Although the first Mormon Temple in Britain at Newchapel in Surrey, pictured was not built until , the church has had a foothold in this country almost since it was founded by Joseph Smith in the USA. They preached in Preston in July, and baptised their first nine converts the same month in the river Ribble.
The first convert to be baptised was George D Watt. By they had 50, members. The growth was not destined to continue in England, as the newly converted soon began to emigrate to the USA. The first batch of emigrants set out for the USA in , and organised mass-migration followed.
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