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Will I see you on Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? Friday?

Will I see you on Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? Friday?

Last updated on: August 13, 2026 at 7:54 pm by Dan Peterson

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Will I see you on Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? Friday? 2026-08-13T19:54:50-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center on the campus of Brigham Young University, shown here in the evening (Brigham Young University photo)

Two members of the Interpreter Foundation’s board of directors will be speaking at BYU Education Week 2026 in Provo on 18-21 August. That’s next week. Please check to be sure that no information changes between now and then, but I want you to be able to begin thinking already about places that you’ll want to avoid and times when you’ll desperately want to be doing something — anything — else:

Peterson, Daniel C.—Professor emeritus, Asian and Near Eastern Languages, BYU; PhD in Arabic and Islamic studies. (19) 12:30–1:25 p.m.

Daniel C. Peterson
After and Before the Apostles: Highlights from British Christian History Between Dispensations
Assembly Hall, Hinckley Center (HC)
T Christianity Comes to the British Isles
W Figures from the History of British Monasticism

Th Stories from the English Reformation

F Dissenters from the Church of England

Frederickson, Kristine W.—Retired adjunct faculty, BYU and UVU; PhD in modern European history.
(26) 3:10–4:05 p.m.

Kristine W. Frederickson
“Sacrifice Brings Forth the Blessings of Heaven”: Early Husband and Wife Missionary Efforts to Great Britain
B190 Joseph F. Smith Building (JFSB)
T Trust in the Lord
W “Led by the Spirit Not Knowing Where I Was to Go”

Th Helping Gather Souls unto Christ
F The Importance of Supporting and Ministering to One Another

I want to publicly thank Tom Pittman and Sofia Bushlaeva for the generous help that they’ve been giving me in preparing images to accompany my four presentations. I owe them more than mere public thanks. Their help may make my lectures bearable to any audience that might show up.

The new Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple is complete and will be dedicated at the end of this month by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Photograph from the Newsroom website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Fair Use)

I’m always happy about the dedication of a new temple, but the pending dedication of a relatively small new temple in Cambodia, the first ever built in that country, seems particularly meaningful to me: “Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple Opens to the Public: Tours will go from August 15 through August 22”

Led by Pol Pot, the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia], also known as the Khmer Rouge, forced millions of people into brutal rural labor camps between 1975 and 1979. An estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million of those people died from brutal executions, starvation, and disease. The population of Cambodia was roughly seven million in 1975, as the era of the “Killing Fields” commenced, which means that approximately twenty-five percent to 31.5 percent of the country’s citizens — and perhaps more — were killed under the Communist regime. (Put that into perspective by comparing it to the current population of the United States, which is approximately 342.6 million people. To kill the same proportion of Americans that the Khmer Rouge murdered in Cambodia would demand the deaths of between roughly 87.7 million and 108 million people. Major efforts were expended by Pol Pot’s Communists to eliminate entire classes of people. Their primary targets included former government officials, intellectuals and professionals, religious figures, ethnic and religious minorities, urban city dwellers, and anyone suspected of political disloyalty or sabotage. People who wore glasses were singled out. Not as individuals but as categories. And their bodies were then shoveled into unmarked mass graves. They were regarded as unpersons and, in death, they were to be erased and completely forgotten.

The doctrine of Latter-day Saint temple work is diametrically opposed to such a vision of humanity: The ideal is to perform ordinances on behalf of every individual who has ever lived. Not in batches, not in classes or by categories, but one by one. Distinctly naming each of them, identifying them specifically in their historical times and places. Why? Because we believe that the individual person, the individual personality, is invaluable, both sacred and eternal.

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; for, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth. (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-13)

For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)

Edward Hicks, “Noah’s Ark” (1846), Philadelphia Museum of Art (a Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

As I write, I’m sitting out on a porch watching the strangest thing: water, literally falling from the sky. In great buckets full. Coming down in sheets. We haven’t been seeing a lot of this around these parts lately, and I’m very pleased at what I’m watching. There are flashes of lightning, too, and great, long, rumbling peals of thunder. And the fragrance is glorious. Altogether, a most satisfying storm.

I’m sure that, somewhere, it’s ruined somebody’s backyard barbecue and is making somebody’s driving difficult — I hope that everybody is safe — but we really need it. I hope, too, that other parts of the region are or have been or will be receiving this gift. I know that it’s raining up in Park City right now, because most of my family have been up there for the past few days and will be staying there tonight, and I’ve just spoken with them. (I have some obligations that have kept me down in the valley.)

The Bogotá Colombia Temple (LDS Media Library)

While contemplating the horrors visited upon innocent humanity by theists and theism and the incomprehensible vastness of the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™, I came across this in a somewhat unexpected location:

Church Providing Assistance and Support Following Earthquake in Colombia

Following the devastating earthquake in Colombia, crews from the Cali Colombia Temple assisted at sites where buildings had collapsed in the city. “The Church is working in coordination with government agencies and other organizations to provide all the assistance and support needed for those affected [by the recent earthquake],” said the South America Northwest Area Presidency in a statement. The temple and its ancillary building were thoroughly inspected following the earthquake, and both structures were found to have sustained no damage.

And, on the same subject, see this: “Church of Jesus Christ expresses love to victims of deadly quake in Colombia: The Church of Jesus Christ is coordinating aid with government agencies and other organizations”

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