Welcome to this new email with Tad Walch. As noted by Deseret News Editor Doug Wilks, this email is a new format for the Latter-day Saint Living Weekly (former Mormon Times) newsletter. Let us know what you think! |
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Tad Talk In elementary school, a young Russell Nelson made a goal to circumnavigate the globe. He checked that off his to-do list decades ago, but the 94-year-old continues to circle the world as president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This week I decided I needed some sort of master list of his trips since he assumed church leadership in January 2018. I have only counted the United States once, though he has traveled extensively around the country, from Hawaii on two of his global trips to this past weekend’s visit to Orlando, where he spoke to an arena full of 15,500 people. President Nelson also met with the owner of Pulse, the nightclub where an attacker killed 49 people and wounded 53 in 2016. One of the more remarkable stories about his travels is that he awoke at 2 a.m. one night in August 2018 with an unmistakable impression that he needed to go to the Dominican Republic. On that trip, he also visited Puerto Rico, which as a U.S. territory I did not include on this list as a separate country. By my math, President Nelson will have visited 27 countries in 20 months in nine international trips as church president when he returns to church headquarters on Sept. 2, a week before his 95th birthday. (A birthday concert is set for Sept. 6 at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.) |
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2018 Trip 1: April 10–23 1. England (London) 2. Israel (Jerusalem) 3. Kenya (Nairobi) 4. Zimbabwe (Harare) 5. India (Bengaluru) 6. Thailand (Bangkok) 7. China (Hong Kong, an autonomous territory but special administrative region of China) 8. USA (Honolulu, Hawaii) Trip 2: June 8–10 9. Alberta, Canada (Edmonton, Calgary, Raymond)* Trip 3: Aug. 17–19 9. Manitoba; Quebec; and Ontario, Canada (Winnipeg, Montreal, Hamilton)* Trip 4: Sept. 1–2 10. Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) Trip 5: Sept. 16 9. British Columbia, Canada (Vancouver)* |
Trip 6: Oct. 19–28 11. Peru (Lima) 12. Bolivia (La Paz) 13. Paraguay (Asuncion) 14. Uruguay (Montevideo) 15. Chile (Concepcion) 2019 Trip 7: March 8–11 16. Rome, Italy Trip 8: May 16–24 17. Samoa (Apia) 18. Australia (Sydney) 19. New Zealand (Wellington, Auckland) 20. Fiji (Suva) 21. Tonga (Nuku’alofa) 22. Tahiti (Papeete) Trip 9: Aug. 24–Sept. 2 23. Guatemala (Guatemala City) 24. Colombia (Bogota) 25. Ecuador (Quito) 26. Argentina (Buenos Aires) 27. Brazil (Sao Paolo) *Canada has been counted once although President Nelson visited the country three times. |
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What I’m Reading ... My colleague Kelsey Dallas covered Elder Gerrit W. Gong’s trip to the G20 Interfaith Forum in Japan last week. I appreciated her strong first-person look at how religious leaders can best approach political leaders, a story in which she quoted one religious leader as saying, “We must use our collective voice … and be a moral compass to the world.” I love stories about turning points. Buster Olney’s story for ESPN about the critical turning point that came after the Cora family patriarch died is inspiring. Older brother Joey had to step into a fatherly role to keep his younger brother, Alex, on the right path that eventually led him to become the young manager of the Boston Red Sox last year and lead the team to a World Series championship. I am humbled by the story of a woman who was badly injured during her Latter-day Saint mission to Australia and how she modeled forgiveness in her return to the country to meet the taxi driver who hit and nearly killed her and to visit the caregivers who saved her life. |
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