“In the News,” Liahona, Dec. 2011, 77–78
In the News
Jerusalem Movie Set Dedicated
The Jerusalem Movie Set built by the Church for gospel-themed movie productions has been dedicated and is now being used for filming. It is first being used to create the New Testament Scripture Library Project—a series of vignettes portraying important scenes from the lives of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
The set is located on the LDS Motion Picture Studio South, USA, Campus in Goshen, Utah, fewer than 60 miles (97 km) south of Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. It is not a replica of Jerusalem, but a re-creation of important locations in the city.
The small town of Goshen was chosen because of the surrounding area’s similarity to Jerusalem’s geography—rolling hills, plains, groves of cedar trees, sand dunes, and a stream. Nearby Utah Lake will stand in for the Sea of Galilee.
In some cases, computerized visual effects will fill in details the set does not accommodate.
Senior Missionary Policies Changed
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently approved changes in the policies regarding length of senior missionary service and missionary housing to encourage more couples to serve full-time missions and to improve their experience.
As of September 1, 2011, couples may now serve for 6, 12, 18, or 23 months. In addition, a cap of $1,400 (US) per month has been established for housing costs. Couples will continue to pay for food and other personal expenses.
In the past, the policy has been that couples serving outside their country of residence were called for at least 18 months. Those wishing to serve outside their country of residence for less than 18 months may now do so if they pay for their own transportation to and from the field.
Questions about senior missions can be sent to seniormissionaryservices@ldschurch.org.
Church Expanding Online Offerings in Languages
LDS.org is expanding its language offerings. Recently 48 new language index pages were added to the Church’s official website. By clicking on any language under the “Languages” link in the upper right corner on any page of LDS.org, visitors can see links to Church material currently available online in that language.
Different sections of LDS.org will eventually be available in 10 to 15 languages. At that point, the language page for those languages will be retired. (For example, there is no language page for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish, because those languages already have much of LDS.org in their language.)
Church employees are also working to make magazines and other translated material from LDS.org available for mobile devices.
The Church’s new movie set in Goshen, Utah, will be used to film scenes from Jesus Christ’s life as recorded in the New Testament.
© IRI