In a soothing, gentle voice, she informs us that a relative is in town and has been craving bubble gum.

Rather than doing what nine out of 10 people would do, which is to fish out an ossified stick of gum from the bottom of a bag and hope there's no such thing as a purse-borne disease, Nara Smith begins making bubble gum from scratch.

She starts with some "gum base" she just happens to have on hand in her gleaming, spacious kitchen. In the space of a 70-second TikTok video, two innovative bubble gum flavors are ready to try.

I suspect most of Smith's 9.4 million TikTok followers realize that her videos are staged and that she's a professional model.

What purport to be spur-of-the-moment decisions to satisfy the cravings of her gorgeous husband or their three young children have all the spontaneity of a military operation.

And yet we keep watching, fascinated by this woman who also makes her toddlers' morning cereal from scratch and softly gushes that cooking natural foods is her "love language".

Religion and the online persona

Religion isn't discussed, but it informs Smith's online persona as surely as the cucumber and watermelon she uses to infuse her midday mocktail. Smith and her husband are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons.

This identity isn't obvious from her videos — she more often than not sports sleeveless and backless clothing that LDS leaders long designated as off-limits for young women of the faith — but the religion subtly undergirds the lifestyle she is selling.

As a scholar who studies Mormonism in the United States, and a Latter-day Saint myself, I know why I watch Smith's videos:

She is part of my tribe and I'm proud of her success, even as I roll my eyes at the idea that we Mormons routinely make our own ketchup instead of fetching it from Costco.

Why do we watch?

My question is why so many other people keep tuning in to watch Smith and a host of other LDS influencers whose religion flies equally under the radar.

For example, Shea McGee, the interior designer behind Studio McGee, deployed her Instagram and YouTube popularity to help launch the Netflix series "Dream Home Makeover."

McGee and her husband met while she was studying at Brigham Young University, where 99 percent of students are Mormon, so it's a safe bet she is or was a church member.

Other clues: They live in Utah, have a growing young family and seem to share the Mormon obsession with cookies and sweets.

But I haven't seen any overt confirmation of a religious identity in their social media or on Netflix's show.

That omission is a smart decision, because Americans like Latter-day Saints' lifestyle a good deal more than they like the religion itself.

Despite the astonishing popularity of these LDS personalities, the Pew Research Center finds that Mormons rank dead last among religious groups in popular approval.

Just 15 percent of Americans hold a "very" or "somewhat" favourable view of us. Our negative-10 favourability rating places us below atheists and Muslims, the only other groups to achieve negative territory.

So if non-Mormons aren't keen on Latter-day Saints' religion, what are they looking for when they follow LDS influencers?

I think they're craving a blend of the traditional and the modern. Mormon women influencers, for example, are supposed to have it all: fam and glam, trad wife and boss-woman.

Social media backlash

But bend too far in either direction and the social media backlash can be intense. Consider the hostility directed at "Ballerina Farm" personality Hannah Neeleman (pictured).

She's a Juilliard-trained dancer who runs a Utah farm with her affluent husband and their eight children.

The rail-thin and conspicuously blond Neeleman embodies the Barbie beauty stereotype.

Fans love the scrubbed pine tables where she dishes up homemade pies, and the prairie dresses she and her daughters wear, skirts swaying gently in the mountain breeze.

Many of those same fans balked, however, when, less than two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child in January, a svelte Neeleman represented the United States in the Mrs. World pageant.

How was she able to lose her baby weight so quickly and parade in a swimsuit and evening gown? What's more, why did she?

Glamour magazine said many people felt that "by posting videos of her home births, skinny waist, obvious bliss and serene nature, she is actively harming other women.

She's making postpartum look like a breeze … and is giving an unrealistic ideal for what motherhood is actually like."

The criticisms intensified last month after The Times of London did an in-depth profile of Neeleman.

Or an attempted profile: According to interviewer Megan Agnew, Neeleman's husband often spoke for his wife, and he left Agnew alone with her interview subject for only a few minutes.

I can't, it seems, get an answer out of Neeleman without her being corrected, interrupted or answered for by either her husband or a child.

Usually I am doing battle with steely Hollywood publicists; today I am up against an army of toddlers who all want their mum and a husband who thinks he knows better.

Her husband also revealed the alarming tidbit that sometimes Neeleman is so exhausted from her farm and child-care duties that she has to take to bed for an entire week.

This revelation generated a firestorm on social media, with critique far outweighing compassion.

For a 35-year-old woman to require that much bed rest isn't normal, the internet said.

And since Neeleman hinted (when her husband briefly left the room) that she once had an epidural during a childbirth when he was out of town, the internet assumed he had otherwise prevented her from accessing pain relief for all of her other births.

What viewers want

The backlash shows that viewers want the Neelemans to be a traditional family, but not too traditional. Neeleman should be beautiful, but not impossibly so.

They want to believe the fantasy that she runs her family by herself and feel betrayed to learn that the "homeschooled" children are actually tutored by a paid employee.

They also want religion to be muted and the Neelemans mostly succeed at this, keeping their faith out of the foreground.

That approach also characterises the Bucket List Family, who spent years as global wanderers, exploring the planet with three kids in tow, including a baby. (They've since bought a home in Nevada and settled in, at least for the time being.)

Their travels, chronicled in the lovely book "National Geographic Bucket List Family Travel," are filled with gorgeous water adventures, culinary delights and beautiful photos of them in swimsuits, as befits any travel fantasy worth its salt.

Though they don't discuss religion openly, they do talk about "values" and "living authentically," 21st-century buzzwords that, from their mouths, feel fresh and moving.

Those values are ones that many Americans fear we are losing.

Once a month, for instance, the family paused their travels for a service project, in part to teach their kids how privileged they are.

(And they are privileged. In the NatGeo book, Jessica Gee matter-of-factly explains they can afford their life because her husband, Garrett, co-developed a barcode-scanning app as an undergraduate, before selling it to Snapchat in 2014 for $54 million. Oh.)

These families are traditional, with a heterosexual married couple at their core who seem to love and enjoy each other.

Importantly, though, they're not winding the clock back too far. It's Nara Smith, not her husband, who is the bigger star, and Shea McGee, not Syd, who heads the family's design firm.

Both husbands are clearly supportive and proud of their wives, which only adds to the fantasy. So, too, is Garrett Gee, who pens the foreword to Jessica's travel book and credits her with being "the one who makes it all happen."

These egalitarian-seeming gender dynamics appeal more to contemporary Americans than the actual patriarchy that the LDS church has long upheld as divinely ordained.

LDS women cannot hold the priesthood or any of the positions of authority for which the priesthood is the essential calling card.

Women cannot run a congregation or preside over men in church organisations, but in influencer-land they can run a company, rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (or more) and still have the bandwidth to make breakfast cereal from scratch.

I don't envy these women.

It must be exhausting to curate their lives and children for public consumption — to say nothing of preserving those beautiful bodies that society reviles and reveres in equal measure.

It's not a sustainable lifestyle. But oh, how America loves to keep watching.

• First published by Religion News Service
• Jana Riess is a senior columnist for Religion News Service

The company believed it to be a general image of an angel.

The artist - a Catholic who abandoned the faith for Mormonism - had listed the image as of Moroni on his own social media account. Read more

Jacob Lowenstein, 28, who plays for metal band Igni, appeared from custody via an audio-visual link at Christchurch District Court today on two charges of arson - and one of unlawfully taking a vehicle. Read more

Firefighters were called about 2.15am to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Main South Rd, Greymouth, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) spokesman Mau Barbara said. Read more

President Russell Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the build during the church's general conference in Utah in the United States. Continue reading

The award was one of a number made by the LDS to organisations, church members and government ministries in recognition of community services they have provided.

"On behalf of the Caritas Samoa, we give our sincere and humble thanks to President Jason Joseph and the Apia Samoa Central Stake for this Special Award for Caritas Samoa," said Ah Wai.

She said receiving the award provided an amazing opportunity to create more awareness and advocacy programmes not only for disaster but for health, education and youth.

"This will create a strong networking with our lead Government Ministries through our programmes," Ah Wai said.

Caritas Samoa was founded in February 2008 and became a fully-fledged member of Caritas Internationalis in 2011.

The organisation has been working to strengthen the communities' disaster risk awareness, with joint training being held with Red Cross across the country.

It has also worked with communities in urban Apia and in a coastal village to relocate them away from areas where there are regular flooding or erosion issues.

As part of their efforts to resolve the issues for people in these communities, they are raising awareness, helping people develop options and working out long-term plans for a sustainable way of life in their new homes.

Caritas Samoa works in close partnership with international relief organisations, as well as the Samoan government's National Disaster Management Office to provide assistance and training where needed.

Apart from its work on emergency response, Caritas Samoa also assists low-income families by providing food and clothing, by promoting capacity building initiatives for women and helping with the improvement of rural waters supplies.

Caritas Samoa also takes part in peace and reconciliation at a grassroots level by improving relations between students in schools where there is unrest.

There are more than 200 volunteers who are registered to be part of Caritas Samoa.

Source

• Samoa Observer
• Tui Motu
• Caritas
• Image: Samoa Observer

The food will be distributed to individuals and families who are going through difficult times.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the presentation to Catholic leaders in French Polynesia on Friday 25 August.

Stevenson affirmed support of the Catholic Church in French Polynesia in its efforts of the to feed the poor and support them in other humanitarian ways.

He was accompanied during his visit by Elder O. Vincent Haleck, president of the Pacific Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Elder Benjamin Sinjoux, Area Seventy.

Stevenson, Haleck and Sinjoux were warmly welcomed by the archbishop of Papeete, Jean-Pierre Cottanceau, and some of his colleagues.

They discussed issues relating to homelessness in Tahiti and the need to provide food to those in desperate circumstances.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the second-highest presiding body in the government of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church.

Its members serve under the direction of the First Presidency, a governing unit of three men — the president and two counselors.

Stevenson, 56, was named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015.

Source

• Mormon Newsroom
• Mormon Newsroom
• Image: Mormon Newsroom

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) forbids the broadcasting of a funeral service on the internet or "in any other way."

The LDS announced details today for Tuesday's funeral services for Jonah Lomu.

The services will take place from 10am on Tuesday 1 December at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' meetinghouse at 15 Robertson Road, Mangere, Auckland.

Family members and friends have been invited to attend at the Robertson Road meetinghouse.

Others who wish to pay their respects are welcome to attend gatherings in four other locations around Auckland where a video feed will be broadcast.

Video recordings and "computer or other electronic presentations" should not be used as part of a funeral service.

Taking photographs, videos or sound recordings are not permitted in any of the five locations during the service.

"Funeral services are some of the most solemn and sacred meetings of the Church," said former president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Boyd K. Packer (1924—2015).

"It is a time of caring and support when families gather in a spirit of tender regard for one another. It is a time to soberly contemplate doctrines of the gospel and the purposes for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ."

According to the LDS Church handbook members are counselled to avoid practices or traditions that are so expensive or prolonged that they impose a hardship on the living or impair them from proceeding with their lives.

Church leaders and members must seek to make services associated with a person's death "a dignified, solemn and spiritual experience for all who participate".

Services are generally held under the direction of a bishop and may vary between countries but the underlying principles remain universal. According to the handbook "teaching and testifying about the plan of salvation is essential".

The church handbook also gives direction on burials. "Where possible, deceased members who were endowed should be buried in temple clothing.

Where cultural traditions or burial practices make this inappropriate or difficult, the clothing may be folded and placed next to the body in the casket," it said.

"The church does not normally encourage cremation."

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• mormonnewsroom.org.nz
• Image: mormonsinsports.blogs.deseretnews.com

Theatres in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, Tokoroa, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch screened the movie which was produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and directed by Blair Treu.

The Latter-day Saints' Pacific Area Director of Public Affairs, Richard Hunter, says the movie's release is "a great way for members and guests of the Church to celebrate this year's 175th anniversary of the first Latter-day Saint to arrive in the region."

But, "Meet the Mormons" is not a documentary but an informercial, "meant less to inform than to introduce a sales pitch." says Sean Deans writing in the Salt Lake Tribune.

He says it does not tackle any of the issues faced by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, (LDS) or answer any of the questions about the church raised by those who are not true believers.

" The movie is simply a string of vignettes, all nicely told by director Blair Treu, telling the stories of six members of the LDS Church whose lives and work are influenced by their Mormon faith."

"The movie, like the church's 'I'm a Mormon' ad campaign that it resembles, is great at presenting its six subjects as just regular folks who credit their faith for giving their lives foundation."

"Nothing wrong with that, except there's little that differentiates Mormonism from other denominations."

"There are fleeting mentions of doctrine in Jones' narration — like the Book of Mormon or the fact that Mormons don't drink."

"But there's nothing in the movie about Mormon history, and no discussion of the unique aspects of LDS doctrine about which non-Mormons tend to be the most curious."

Traditional Mormon missionaries are familiar to most New Zealanders. They dress in distinctive way and go from house house in pairs knocking on doors, explaining why their Lord was the one true Lord.

Now the LDS successfully embraced the new media.

The Mormon church's unprecedented experiment in Internet-based proselytizing, has become a wildly successful undertaking and is the subject of a feature story in The Huffington Post.

Last June, thanks in large part to the wave a converts added by internet missionaries, the church announced it would put previously banned tools like Facebook and text messaging into the hands of all its missionaries.

Source

• Scoop
• Scoop
• sltrib.com
• Huffington Post
• Image: byu.edu

They will meet with Prime Minister John Key and a number of Members of Parliament on 25 June.

The visit is being jointly organised by Catholics and Mormons to expose some of the churches' young adults to the leaders of the nation, and also to introduce Mr Key and MPs to the group.

On the day before the visit to parliament, Tuesday 24 June, the group will assemble personal care kits for men at the Wellington Night Shelter, visit the Wellington Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, learn about Caritas, and attend a devotional service in Porirua with leaders from both churches.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a member of the Latter-day Saints' Pacific Area Presidency, will speak to the young adults on Tuesday evening, and also participate in the visit to Parliament.

Sister Catherine Jones smsm, Chair of the NZ Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations, will also attend the two-day activity and speak to the young people on Tuesday evening.

Source

• The Human Rights Commission
• Mormonnewsroom.org.nz
• Image: Mormonnewsroom.org

If the text is read literally Kolob is a planet geographically close to God or where Mormons go in the afterlife.

In a post on the LDS Church's official website, "Becoming Like God," say that the Latter-day Saints' doctrine of exaltation is reduced in media to a cartoonish image of people receiving their own planets

The writer says few Latter-day Saints would identify with caricatures of having their own planet.

Continue reading

He said that news of the ban came from a small group of Samoan church members who were unhappy about a 2007 decision to re-organise their congregations in Brisbane.

However lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, who is representing a group of Samoans from five Mormon wards in Brisbane, says the church does not allow its members to use anything other than English during worship.

She says a 2007 court decision proves that.

"Is he not aware of the decision of the Federal Magistrate Courts in Australia where no one of the Mormon church denied to the court that they stopped the people from continuing their worship in Samoan?"

Woodroffe says the judge found members' ability to worship in Samoan had been removed by the church, but doing so did not undermine their human rights.

After consulting with both groups, the prime minister of Samoa, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, has emphasised the importance of ensuring that the dispute resolution process now be allowed to progress without further Government intervention, and that justice be allowed to take its course.

The Government will not comment further on the case until the matter has been resolved.

Hamula is due to meet with Samoan prime minister.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Radio New Zealand International
• Talamua Online
• Image: Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saint

Missionary Gina Colvin, in a blog on a major Mormon website, also took shots at her own Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints and the way Americans see the world.

She said New Zealand was a secular and morally liberal nation.

This didn't mean we were "going to hell in a hand-basket", she said.

"Few people will bat an eye-lid at gay marriage, many will swear like troopers, wine-drinking is an important cultural institution, and pre-marital cohabitation is the norm," she said.

Colvin, who is a Kiwi but is in Utah teaching missionaries, said they shouldn't freak out because she would rather be with a "group of cursing, wine-swilling, gay-loving, cohabiting New Zealanders than any other people in the world - because, in my decades of experience, New Zealand has a habit of producing the real deal".

She said American missionaries should get used to the fact that New Zealanders did not live in "McMansions".

"On the contrary, that modest bungalow that doesn't sport a 'rest-room' for every bedroom in the house and a basement the size of a football field probably cost more than your McMansion - even with the exchange rate," she said.

"New Zealand is an expensive place to live - period!"

Colvin said missionaries should eat the food they are served in homes and be grateful.

"Food doesn't come in bucket-sized portions for the price of small change."

"It's expensive - so eat that meal that has been prepared for you by that large humble Mormon family in their three-bedroom bungalow - because it represents more than food, it also represents sacrifice."

And after the meal help clean up.

Learn some Maori, she added. Continue reading

Sources

• Stuff
• Image: LDS Church Temples

The site, called ‘Salle de Presse Pacifique,' will provide media professionals, bloggers, opinion leaders and the public with news and other resources about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific region.

This website the latest of over 50 that the Mormons have set up around the world.

Elder James J. Hamula says their goal is to help media and others who are not Mormons to understand the Church for what it really is.

"There are close to half a million Latter-day Saints in the Pacific region, who are part of a worldwide membership of over 14 million. Our members work in cities, towns and villages as police officers, teachers, doctors, builders and in many other occupations. We are happy to be part of the fabric of communities throughout the Pacific."

Source

• The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
• The Church of Jesus Christ of the latter Day Saints