Pacific Aviation Museum

Dad, this one's for you.

A few weeks ago, Manu and I had our first big adventure together, just the two of us.  Saturday, September 24th was Smithsonian Magazine's National Museum Day, so many museums offered free admission.  So Manu and I packed up and headed out to Ford Island in Pearl Harbor to see the Pacific Aviation Museum.

When we finally got in to the museum (after a shuttle ride, a diaper change, a feeding, and another diaper change) we saw some great planes.  Dad, I thought of you a lot while I examined the different planes and Manu examined the inside of his eyelids.  So, here's some of the cool stuff we saw:

I didn't get many pictures of the really old planes in the first building because the light was bad.  This one is a F-4F3 Wildcat from the 1940s.

North American F-86E Sabre from 1947.

This is an ultralight plane.  It was tiny!

Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk I (1942)

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle (1972)

Grumman F-14D Tomcat (1970)

Convair F-102A Delta Dagger (1953)

SH-60-B Seahawk

Some of the planes you could climb up and get into or see up close.  It was a pretty cool museum.  Wish you could have been there, Dad!  Hope you enjoy the photos!  

Mormons and Politics

Yes, that's right.  I'm joining the fray.

First let's take a brief look at the politics side:

There has been a ton of coverage in the news lately about Mitt Romney and how his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints effects his abilities as a potential presidential candidate.  This coverage seems to have exploded in the last few days after Pastor Robert Jeffress declared Mormonism to be a cult.  


There have been some great responses to Pastor Jeffress' ignorant remarks including these articles:


Don't judge candidates by their faith (by CNN's William Bennett.  Thanks for pointing this one out, Katie)


Latter-Day Sins (subtitle: Why don’t we challenge anti-Mormonism? Because it’s the prejudice of our age.)


Anderson Cooper and Robert Jeffress interview (video)

I'm a Mormon.  I may or may not vote for Romney.  If I do, it certainly won't be because we both belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It will be because I like his political stance best.  By the same token, I'm going to give Rick Perry fair judgment based on his politics as well.  I'm not going to discount him as a potential candidate just because he is a member of a different faith.  This is what I'm getting at - it just doesn't matter.

Bennett summed it up well in the first article I linked to by saying, "To the right and left alike, we are in the middle of a grueling presidential campaign season. It behooves us to despise and reject all forms of religious, and racial, bigotry. Politics are about policy and deciding whether a candidate shares your views of the founding principles of this country -- life, liberty, and the rule of law -- which men and women of all different faiths can agree upon."

In the video above, Jeffress is directly confronted about his remarks on Mormons.  Jeffress then explains that by "cult" he meant "theological cult" wherein a church looks to a man instead of a divine figure as the founder of their church.  He also describes the Book of Mormon as a "newer, fresher revelation."

This brings us to the second portion of this post.

I'm a Mormon.  I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Jesus Christ is the founder of my faith.  Joseph Smith is a prophet just like Moses, Noah, and Abraham.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, my Savior and Redeemer.  I believe the Bible is the word of God.  The Book of Mormon  does not replace the Bible, but is a companion to it.  It is "another testament of Jesus Christ" and witnesses powerfully of His divinity.

If you want to know what it's like to live in China, ask someone who lives there, not someone who only once saw a picture of it.  If you want to know what Mormons believe, ask a Mormon.  We're your friends and neighbors and would welcome your questions.  Ask me, I'm a Mormon.  Or visit mormon.org to learn more.