Episode 93: Search, Ponder, and Pray in Holy Places (Mary Jane Woodger)

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BYU Religious Education

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4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

While most church history sites provide guided tours or historical markers for visitors, some contain little to no information. Yet where might we turn for more insight on these locations? How can we engage with these living sites and gain a witness of the Restoration? Dr. Mary Jane Woodger and her colleagues answer such questions in the book series Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide for Travel and Studies. In this episode, Dr. Woodger discusses the power that comes from being in church history sites. She shares how to use mini devotionals to think, talk, and learn about these locations like a church historian, and she details how such works can complement the resources and activities provided at each of these holy places.

Publications:

· “The London Missionary Society in the Cook Island: Restricting Religious Freedom” (in Religious Liberty and Latter-day Saints: Historical and Global Perspectives, Religious Studies Center, 2023)

· “Time and Intensity: Growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Greece” (Religious Educator, 23.2, 2022)

· “Praying a Mission into Existence: Frantiska ‘Mamousek’ Vesela Brodilova” (Religious Educator, 18.2, 2017)

· “Abraham Lincoln and the Mormons” (in Civil War Saints, Religious Studies Center, 2012)

· “Building the One Hundredth Temple: A Test Case of Religious Freedom in New England” (in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The New England States, Religious Studies Center, 2004)

Click here to learn more about Professor Mary Jane Woodger

Transcript

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0:00.0	In October 2017, 2017, Elder Dieter F. Ukdorf wrote,
0:04.0	this past summer, our family had a wonderful opportunity
0:07.7	to visit some early church history sites
0:10.2	in the eastern United States. In a special way we relived the history of that time.
0:16.6	People I had read so much about, people like Martin Harris, Oliver Calgary, and Thomas B Marsh,
0:22.0	became more real to me as we walked where they walked
0:26.4	and pondered the sacrifices they made to build the kingdom of God.
0:31.6	My own experiences affirm what Elder Ukdorf taught. I vividly
0:36.0	remember as a 15-year-old my parents taking some of my siblings in me to visit
0:40.5	church history sites. When we visited Adam and Den, I felt an incredible spirit of peace.
0:47.2	There's something special about being in the place where sacred events have or will occur.
0:53.0	While not everyone is in a position to do so.
0:56.0	If we are able to visit church history sites,
0:58.0	how can we get the most from the experience?
1:01.0	That's something that Dr. Mary Jane Woodger
1:04.0	and some of her colleagues have explored in their book series,
1:06.6	Search, Ponder, and Pray, a guide for travel and study.
1:11.2	The purpose of this series is to provide background and teachings that can help people better
1:15.4	understand what happened at different historical sites.
1:18.7	After all, we're not all church historians, and it can be hard to understand the meaning of each site without additional guidance.
1:25.8	I remember going to sites and we would just hope there would be someone there who would, you know,
1:31.8	know the background of the site and we kind of you know
	...

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