Following is an interesting article written by Ford Motor Company for its employees. It was presented by the ‘Ford Interfaith’ group as a message about the Mormon Church.
The Ford Interfaith group promotes unity by sharing information about all faiths and
features these types of articles about various religions and faiths.

QUICK FACTS & INTERESTING TIDBITS about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Fleeing continued mob attacks 158 years ago, the first Mormon
pioneers desperately started their Westward trek from Illinois in the dead
of winter. Of the 70,000 who began this 1300-mile journey, 6,000 were
buried along the way, including many children. The following are quick
facts and interesting tidbits about this now flourishing church.

OVERVIEW

* Named “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”; informal
nicknames are “LDS” or “Mormon” -named after the prophet-historian

* Believes it is the Lord’s restoration of original Christianity as
foretold to occur before Christ’s Second Coming.

* Core focus is that Christ and His teachings bring happiness in this
life and exaltation in the next.

HISTORY

* In 1820 14-yr-old Joseph Smith told of a vision of God and Christ
foretelling a church restoration.

* Organized in New York in 1830, the Mormon Church moved to near Cleveland, then
near Kansas City, then Illinois .

* Fleeing Illinois , Mormon pioneers founded Salt Lake City in Utah and
over 600 other Western communities.

SALT LAKE CITY

* Temple Square in Salt Lake has over 5 million annual visitors, more
than the Grand Canyon.

* The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is the world’s most famous choir and has the
world’s oldest radio program.

* The Salt Lake Temple is the most famous, but there are 128 other
temples built here and around the world while others are under construction.

*Home of the worlds largest genealogy database; visit it online or through 3,700 free branch libraries.

CHARITY/SERVICE

* Members in need obtain welfare from the Mormon Church (thus Utah
government welfare spending is very low).

* LDS donate time at 220 welfare storehouses or canneries and about 400 farms.

* There are 210 employment centers placing over 175,000 people annually,
and 64 family service centers.

* The Mormon Church operates 46 thrift stores, in part to provide employment for
the disadvantaged.

* The 61,000 missionaries spend half a day each week doing
non-proselytizing community service.

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

* Over 200 million pounds of food, clothing, and medicine were donated
in the last 20 years in 147 countries.

* Almost all of this help is to non-LDS; LDS charities also work with and
donate to many non-LDS charities.

* Very rapid disaster relief has been given by the Mormon Church in 144 major disasters since 1986.

* Almost 3,000 welfare “missionaries” work without pay in 55 countries
(farm instructors, doctors, teachers, etc…).

* LDS charities fund a wide variety of projects like drilling water wells or funding small business startup loans.

* New in 2001, members in poor areas can get low-rate college loans;
10,000 loans have been made to date.

GRAB BAG

* Utah is first in: charitable giving, producing scientists, household computers,
children with two parents, and birth rate.

* Famous Mormons include five senators other dignitaries and, the Osmonds, Gladys Knight, Steve Young, and the inventor of TV -Philo T. Farnsworth.

* The Mormon Church played a key role in the 2002 Winter Olympics; the chair was the former governor of Massachusetts .

* Hawaii ‘s #1 tourist site is the LDS Polynesian Cultural Center ( Tonga
and the Samoas are one-third LDS).

* The Mormon Church has sponsored Boy Scout troops since 1913; 23 percent of all Scout
troops are LDS.

* The BYU Women’s Cross Country were national champions or in second
place each of the last seven years.

DETROIT AREA

* The Detroit metro area has 30 Mormon Church congregations; the Dearborn chapel is on
Rotunda by Ford’s Building #5.

* Detroit has a temple, storehouse, cannery, employment and family
service office, and family history libraries.

* LDS include former Governor Romney, three former Lions quarterbacks,
and hundreds of Ford employees.

A member of Ford’s Interfaith Network,
the author of this note sends out monthly interfaith notes to thousands of Ford employees who have asked to receive them.

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