Day 144-The Visitor’s Center and The Testaments: A Review 8-19-06

This morning we went to the Senior Center for service. We saw L there today (see {day 111}). She wanted me to tell Elder Davis thank you once again for all of the help he was in fixing her computer. It’s been such a big help to her.

Good news! L said that A is recovering from his operation just fine. He’s still confined to his bed, so L’s been doing a lot of things for him. She told me that she’s getting a little fed up with A being so short tempered with her. I told her that he’s just upset because he can’t do things for himself right now.
I told L that if she ever needed any help at all, to just give us a call. We’ll plan on going by to see A some time later next week.

After that we went home, changed into our suit coats and got picked up by Brother B. He took us to J’s house. J was there, but Y was not. J said that something came up and Y would not be able to come with us to the temple today. Oh, well. Maybe that was for the best anyway. We haven’t taught Y much at this point. We’ll meet next week and share the message of the Restoration with him. Then we can take him up to the Visitor’s Center and watch the Joseph movie.

We did go see The Testaments movie with J. He really liked it. “It’s very good,” he said. I have included my review of “The Testaments of One Fold and one Shepherd.” In looking back over my last official review (Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration {Day 20}), I commented on how the mob members stormed in with blackface to kill the prophet, Joseph Smith. The purpose was to hide their identities. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the mob members were better villains than the villains of The Testaments. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

In the September issue of the Ensign, it talks about The Testaments. Quoting from the article, it says, “This film presents the message that Jesus Christ is our Savior and the cornerstone of our theology. In the film, the story of Christ’s mortal ministry and Atonement is told while fictional characters, living in the Americas at the time of Christ, ponder and prophesy about events of His life and ministry in the Holy Land. The story of the resurrected Christ’s visit to the Nephite’s is also told. Though the New World characters and their dialogue are fictional, they capture the essence of the feelings and testimonies of the people described in the Book of Mormon.”

Now the problem I have with this is…well, there are a few things. I don’t care for how they portrayed the Savior in this film. I mean, I’m not trying to be critical. I know it’s a hard role to fill, but Jesus Christ, in my humble opinion, does not have to be portrayed as stiff and monotone. It did not ruin the movie for me, though. One of the best parts was when the Savior comes to visit the people on the American continent. A real spirit was felt then. A spirit of things hoped for; of things not seen.

Another thing…In the movie, Jacob the son of Helem, rebels against his father and his belief in the coming Messiah. A rich young man named Kohor (the villain who looks a lot like Tiny Tim only without the ukulele), convinces Jacob to hang out with him and his ruffian friends. The problem is the actor playing Kohor is pretty bad. I don’t know…maybe if I were to watch it again, I would give a different review, but to me the villain just seems really cheesy. He was so over-the-top vain and evil which if that is what they were going for, then they did a good job. I guess I like my villains to be a little more rounded. Not so evil, but more on the deceitful side. Sneaky. That’s what I like, a sneaky villain.

So, all in all the movie was all right. Not one of my favorite church movies, but still pretty good. I have to admit that the actor they got to play Helem was pretty good. He definitely had some memorable scenes.

Happy Thing for Day 144: Going to the Visitor’s Center with J. One funny thing in particular- When we got there, some Sister Missionaries came up to greet us. One of them was from Nigeria. She talked with J about Africa and things like that. The other Sister was from Arizona. She looked at Elder Pierce and me and then asked, “ which one of you lost your nametag?” “What?” I asked. “Well, you’re both Elder Pierce,” she said. “Yeah, I know. We are both Elder Pierce,” my companion replied. “Oh, wow!” she said. “And they put you both together? How weird.” She called over some other sister missionaries to look at us. It’s kind of funny to think that somewhere out there tonight there are some sister missionaries writing in their journals about meeting two Elder Pierces serving together. Fun day today. Tomorrow’s church!