Deceit, Capitol, Restaurant

On Monday, I received a perplexing email from a nonexistent "Church History Society," with a mailing address at 1 E South Temple in Salt Lake City (a nonexistent address). I learned that many other people received this same email. It uses language that frames the email as a faithful perspective, but then it dives into all the usual anti-Mormon tropes: polygamy, finances, Book of Mormon translation, book of Abraham, First Vision accounts, etc. 

The email implies that the Church lies about various things—so it is extremely baffling to me, then, that the email itself is founded on a series of lies: a fake organization, a claim that people "opted in" through the website, a false address, misleading content. 

This isn't even the first time I've seen something like this happen. Years ago, I was an executive secretary in my YSA ward, and I was in charge of sending mass texts with ward announcements. One day, someone responded asking to be removed from the list, since he had moved from the ward. When I responded with instructions on how to remove himself, he told me I should read the CES Letter, a piece of anti-Mormon propaganda. But here's the kicker: We kept good records, and there was zero indication that he had ever been in our ward. He also joined our ward Facebook page, and as I stalked him, it looked like he was too old to have been in a YSA ward. It appears that he lied about being in our ward just so he could spread his "message" about the Church lying. I have zero respect for such a thing. And I say that as a rather unorthodox member who has a lot of concerns. "Wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive" (D&C 10:28).

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Thursday evening, I attended an event at the Utah State Capitol hosted by the Utah Historical Society (my employer) and America250. It was a panel about Domínguez and Escalante, the Spanish explorers who visited Utah in 1776. As the rest of the country observes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Spanish explorers are where Utah fits in. The speakers included two historians who are women, a Chicano man, a Navajo man, and an archaeologist. Some of the presentations were more interesting than others, but I'm glad I attended. I'm so sad that the 250th anniversary is happening when there's a fascist in the White House. But I just saw this post on Bluesky.

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On Saturday, I completed my bucket list of going to every restaurant in North Salt Lake. I had completed it before (maybe back in 2019, then updating whenever a new restaurant opened). But a few years ago, unincorporated Davis County became part of North Salt Lake. So the last restaurant I had to go to was Thyme and Seasons.

This is a very quirky restaurant inside a former Blockbuster—I've rented movies from the building but never eaten there. Inside, it is very cluttered. And you don't look at a menu. The chef comes and asks what kind of meat you want, and then they prepare something for you.

My mom came with and got chicken curry. I went for a vegetarian option and got stir-fried root vegetables.

My mom really enjoyed her meal. Mine was boring. It was expensive, and I think ours were one of the cheaper options. It was a weird experience.

Anyway, it's nice to have gone to every restaurant! (Actually, I think there's a coffee truck I haven't been to, and the autism school runs a soda truck that I haven't been to. But I don't officially count trucks as restaurants, though I try to go to them too.) Here are ones that stick out to me as especially worthwhile: Z Brothers Pizza, Atlantis Burger, Apollo Burger, Nacho House, JJ Donuts, and Big Bite Breads.