tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post7257568040740023920..comments2024-03-24T03:21:55.744-06:00Comments on Life On Gold Plates: How "American" is the Church?BHodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-56712849113864733942008-04-08T12:39:00.000-06:002008-04-08T12:39:00.000-06:00Thanks for the interesting experiences, Ben. The s...Thanks for the interesting experiences, Ben. <BR/><BR/>The spirit ought to be the same. My wife was sitting in a branch in Russia when the congregation applauded someone on the stand, if I remember correctly, because it was their birthday. For a brief second she thought "wait, applause in Church?" Then she realized how rare it was, and remembered she was in Russia. <BR/><BR/>I had similar experiences in the Milwaukee Branch I served in. It was a predominantly black congregation and sometimes you'd hear someone shout an "amen" here and there.BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-81494579569522227542008-04-08T02:29:00.000-06:002008-04-08T02:29:00.000-06:00I remember the experience of the first person to j...I remember the experience of the first person to join the Church in Spain. It was the late 1960's, and the fascist dictator Francisco Franco had allowed non-Catholic churches to be recognized in Spain. Two missonaries were sent, and eventually found their first convert, Jose Maria Oliveira. He later became became the president of the first stake in Spain. I met him in the street one day when I was tracting with my companion, in Madrid. He said that meeting the missionaries and joining the Church was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. His family and friends criticized him for joining this "American cult", but he said, "I know in my heart that what these men told me in the truth, and I will not leave it." He is today a successful and respected businessman in Madrid.<BR/> In another area I served in, one of the elders in my apartment's was in Europe on business, and they decided to stop and see their son. I can remember most vividly his mother's reaction to how the Church was run in Spain: "I had imagined that sacrament meeting and the other meetings in Spain would be completely different. But it's exactly the same. The words might be in a different language, but the Spirit is the same no matter where the Church is".Nametag Museumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08371939475226569107noreply@blogger.com