Meet John Chen

This story is really inspiring. Please check it out here. The new Mormon.org website is full of amazing stories of people who are examples of strength and faith.

Church in Jamaica

The Church is growing in Jamaica and has attracted attention of the Jamaica Gleaner News. 

Taken from the article:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is also known as the Mormon Church, has congregations in every parish in Jamaica, and there is the prospect that two more congregations will be established by 2010 - one in Port Antonio and the other in Old Harbour.

Mormon scholar receives honor for work on international religious freedom and human rights

Professor Cole Durham, of the BYU Law School, was in Richmond, Virginia, earlier this month to receive the First Freedom Award.  

Professor Durham's work in promoting international religious freedom has gained him much attention around the world.  He has worked to improve religious liberties throughout the world in places such as Russia, Peru, and Iraq.  

Durham also organizes the annual International Law and Religion Symposium, held each October in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah.  The event attracts government officials, religious leaders, clergy, scholars, and others from over 50 countries, including China, Spain, and India.

Mormons leading Beijing Olympic Committee's legal team

Two LDS attorneys are heading legal operations on behalf of the BOC (Beijing Olympic Committee).    

They are based out of both Beijing and Los Angeles.

The full article here.

Mormon humanitarian efforts: $4 million in 2007 in 85 countries

The LDS Church has offered over $4 million in humanitarian aid in 85 countries around the world.  This article from a California newspaper covers this here.

"In Ethiopia, the Church helped communities access clean drinking water. The Church drilled wells and constructed storage tanks. Communities organized a water committee and dug the trenches needed to pipe the water from the storage tanks to each village. In some cases this was a distance of over 5 kilometers," said Bishop Burton.

For more info about the Church's humanitarian efforts, please visit here.

Consul General of Bangladesh visits LDS Church HQ

Yesterday, the Consul General of Bangladesh visited the office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City.  He was visiting on official diplomatic business from Los Angeles, where the Consulate is located.

British Journal of Mormon Studies

The first edition of the new British Journal of Mormon Studies is now available online as a free download.  You can also purchase the print form of the journal.  Click here to download the pdf form of the journal.

The journal is international in focus, and as you may tell by its name, the journal's staff is based in England.  

More than 13 million Mormons!

The Church's membership has grown significantly in recent years and has now surpassed the 13,000,000 mark.  The official data is available here.  Some interesting statistical information about the LDS Church:

• In Nigeria, there are nearly 80,000 Mormons.
• Almost 15,000 LDS chapels dots the planet.
• Just under 80,000 Mormons live in South Korea.
• Japanese Mormons number over 121,000.