Blake, Brent, Joey, Milo, and I were able to visit the Switzerland LDS Temple. At the temple we were able to speak with an LDS man from northern Italy. I took this opportunity to talk about the role of religion and spirituality. From his comments and myobservations, I was able to see that religion is very different in each country and respect for another's beliefs is necessary for cultural understanding. Living in Utah, one becomes accustomed to frequently discussing religion, but this is not the case here in Switzerland. I asked this gentleman what he thought of religion in public life and he expressed the need to understand others beliefs and respect their traditions. He served an LDS mission in Rome and had a fascinating outlook on sticking to your values while serving others without forcing beliefs on them. The temple in Switzerland was the first temple built by the LDS religion outside of the United States. This was amazing to discover. Inside the temple, headphones were necessary to translate and almost everyone had them. Milo was using them for Portugese, Blake and I were listening in Spanish/English, and Brent was flipping through all the languages :) I might add, Blake and I have heard and I need to confirm it, but one of our ancestors was the first Temple President of the Switzerland Temple.
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