Some Things are Real; Some Things Aren't

President Lara encouraged the office staff to take a road trip to see more of Ecuador than the mile and a half between our apartment and the office. We decided to go to Centro Historico to see the National Cathedral, some of the colonial buildings, the Panecillo, (a hill atop which sits a statue of the Madonna that overlooks Quito) and then to Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the Earth. The National Cathedral is striking—just like the famous cathedrals of Europe. The colonial buildings are quaint. More on them later. This post is about Mitad del Mundo.

North of Quito about 30 minutes is a village called Mitad del Mundo. For $2, you can enter a park that features a large monument shaped like a truncated obelisk with a globe atop. There is a line painted on the ground and a sign that says “Equator” on one side and “Ecuador” on the other. It's kind of cool to straddle the line and have your picture taken while you're in both hemispheres simultaneously, like this.


Surrounding buildings house a planetarium, a museum that explains how a Franco-Spanish expedition originally plotted the equator’s position, and an art gallery. There is a lovely plaza; today there was a trio of men singing quite delightful mariachi-type songs (at least to my untrained ear). The shopkeepers were bustling, as were the restaurateurs. The park was full of busloads of white people like us, only they were getting sunburned to a nice crispy red, and we were wearing sunscreen. Just because it’s pleasantly cool doesn’t change the fact that it’s easier to get burned here.

Elder Hulse told some of us that when he had been to Mitad del Mundo before, he hadn’t come to this park, but had gone to another place that purported to straddle the REAL equator. I was skeptical; he didn’t seem to know for sure where it was, and I wondered how this whole park could grow up around a falsehood. But we had an hour to kill, so some of us walked down the road to a sign that pointed up a dirt road and claimed to be able to prove its legitimacy by virtue of GPS.




This attraction was not nearly as polished, and cost $3 per person. Our group of five was assigned a lovely young lady as a guide; she spoke wonderful English. The attraction was modestly attended compared to the one we just left. A line was painted down the middle of a pathway, purporting to be the Equator, just as before. A young man had a makeshift, portable sink halfway full of water. He placed the sink astraddle the line and pulled the plug. He put some small leaves in the water so we could watch which way the water swirled as it went through the drain into a bucket below. The water went straight down, neither swirling to the left or the right. He then moved the sink five feet away from the line, to the south, and performed the same experiment. The water and leaves rotated clockwise around the drain. He carried the sink across the line five feet to the north, and performed the same experiment. The water and leaves rotated counterclockwise before dropping through the drain. It dawned on me that this verifying demonstration could only be performed here—not in the tourist park we had left. The truth is the real equator passes through the small park, and not through the giant tourist park just three blocks away that welcomes mobs of people every day.



The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is like the small park. The truth runs through it, and that truth is verifiable, but not without experimentation. Each person must be interested enough in finding the truth to be willing to leave the mainstream and look for the path less traveled. By that simple act, they demonstrate the beginnings of faith that there is a true church and it can be found.

In summary, this is what the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe. Our Heavenly Father is exactly that, the literal father of our spirits. We are His children. He loves us; that is what fathers do, they love their children. Because He loves us, He has revealed many times through his servants, the prophets, how we can return to live with Him in His family forever. That methodology is called the gospel. Heavenly Father revealed the same gospel to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, and every other prophet. But, as documented in the Old Testament, people have often chosen to reject the teachings of the prophets.

When Christ came to the earth, he taught the same gospel, organized his church by calling and ordaining apostles and others with priesthood power and accomplished the Atonement. Despite the fact that the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father personally taught the truth and established his church, people nonetheless chose to reject his teachings as well. Following the previously-established pattern, Heavenly Father withdrew His authority from the earth. A great apostasy followed.

Only through divine intervention could Heavenly Father's gospel, organization and authority be restored.

Joseph Smith was puzzled by the same question that puzzles many of us, "Does God have a true church on this earth, and if so, which one is it?" He was led by a verse in the Bible, James 1:5, to ask God through vocal prayer which church was His. In response to his question, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, called him by his name, and talked with him. He was told to join none of the churches. Rather, he was called as a prophet to restore the gospel as taught through the ages and to re-establish the same organization that Christ had created. He was given the authority to act in God’s name; first, the Aaronic priesthood was given to Joseph Smith by John the Baptist, and then Joseph Smith was ordained to the higher, Melchizedek priesthood by Peter, James and John.

By the gift and power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, ancient scriptures written by prophets called by God to serve in the American continents. They too were taught the very same gospel that was revealed to the prophets in the Old and New Testaments. But because the plates upon which the gospel was recorded lay buried for centuries, the writings came to Joseph Smith unaltered. Like every other prophet, these prophets were special witnesses of Christ, and thus the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. In other words, our church stands or falls on its truthfulness.

As President Hinckley said of Joseph Smith's story, “It's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world.”

Every person can verify for themselves if what we believe is true. We don't ask people to believe what we say because we say it. This is what the Book of Mormon says about itself in Moroni 10:4-5:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

You are Heavenly Father's child. He wants you to come home and live with Him when you are done here. He has sent a prophet, scriptures and the Holy Ghost to help you find the way back. Will you read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourself?

Many are drawn away into the larger tourist parks of the world. There are monuments there and lots of people. The mere weight of the investment in time and money seems to argue that This is the Place. But others strike out down the road, looking for another place, perhaps feeling there’s something missing in the large park, or noticing that there is no proof there. And they find in the small park the truth for which they have been seeking, the witness, testimony and verification for which they search. In the smaller, not-so-well-attended park, where the cost is higher, the truth becomes so clear that you smile, and laugh and your heart feels light because you now know the truth.

Just one more allegorical observation. When five of us decided to strike out down the road, we left five more behind in the big tourist park. I regret that decision. We should have invited everyone to come with us to search for the rumored truth. Since we didn’t, I was left with the very lame offer, “When we go back, we’ll take you to the real equator.” It’s like saying, “I thought what we were looking for might be false, but I didn’t care enough about you to take you along on my journey to find the truth.” I won’t make that mistake again.

I have read the Book of Mormon and asked Heavenly Father if it is true. I have felt a sweet assurance that it is true through the power of the Holy Ghost. I know that Christ lives and that through His atoning sacrifice, I can be cleansed of my sins and made worthy to live with Heavenly Father in His family forever. I know that by virtue of covenants I have made with Heavenly Father in the temple, having been sealed to my family by someone holding the priesthood and thus authorized to bind in heaven what is bound on earth, that if I am faithful and obedient, I will be able to live with my family throughout eternity. I can ask for nothing more. I bear this solemn witness in the sacred name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.