Bloggernacle Back Bench: Miracles and movies

This week there were fascinating blog posts about upcoming documentaries/videos as well as some beautiful testimonies about miracles. And one that combined them both. So without further ado, here are some miracles and movies.

Miracles: Let’s begin with the newest Mormon Message for Youth video, “Sanctify Yourselves,” that tells the powerful story of when lightning struck a football field during a Little League practice, leaving one Little Leaguer fighting for his life. What happens next, as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quourm of the Twelve describes it, was miraculous as two EMTs were there to administer physical help and a newly conferred Melchizedek Priesthood holder was there to administer spiritual help. You can probably guess the ending, but still watch this marvelous new movie.

On a similar vein, I loved this, “First Person: Faith and the power of prayer save our twin baby,” at Mormonwomen.org. One young mother is told by her doctor that one of the twins she is carrying will likely die. So what does she do? “Our next appointment was two (very long) weeks later. I spent much of those two weeks kneeling in prayer to my Heavenly Father. I believe he has a plan for me and for our family, and I had decided to pray for his will to be done. If this baby did make it, we would love him no matter what.” Again, you can probably guess the ending, but still read this magnificent testimony of a blog post.

Movies: Did you know that one in five Americans polled would not support a Mormon for president? These Mormon filmmakers decided to look deeper at why this is and hope to produce “The Religious Test: A Documentary Film on Mormons and Politics.” Click in for a fascinating interview with the writer behind the project as well as to see a trailer about the film. Here’s a snippet from the interview: “to the writer, the question as to why people would still feel comfortable admitting something so seemingly prejudiced was really interesting to me. If people feel justified in this hesitation, then it can't just be fear of the unknown, I mean some of it is for sure, but for it to have such legitimacy, it just seemed like there was something deeper, something interesting, a lot more interesting than, 'Mormons are good people, forget your fears!' But maybe something we could learn about ourselves, about our culture and ultimately about our country.”

And just a reminder that “The 5,000 Days Project: Two Brothers” documentary is premiering at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2, (right after general conference) on BYU-TV. Bloggers in the Northwest can attend a special advanced screening this Friday. Find all the information here.

Finally, I mentioned a few weeks ago that there is a new version of the "Book of Mormon Stories" online at Mormon Messages (and you can find it here on LDS.org), but I didn’t know the background. But as Fernando Camilo, manager of product awareness in the curriculum department, explains, “ ‘The Book of Mormon Stories’ video series has gone through a major update. A technique called parallax animation, in which two-dimensional figures are cut out and moved around the canvas, was used to give the images a new, animated three-dimensional look. This new version also features sound effects and stunning new visual effects such as lightning, twinkling stars and fire. A new original soundtrack was also added to the videos.” Plus, these videos will be available in 10 additional languages come December, right in time for Sunday School study! Awesome.

Now let me show you other posts from this last week in the Bloggernacle: