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Posted on 04/03/2004 8:21:59 AM PST by restornu
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The current date and time in Salt Lake City is: Saturday, 3 April 2004 9:13 am (12-hour clock) 09:13 (24-hour clock)
*Grins* That's commonly refered to as 'spirit voice', used on the premise that it will help people feel the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit, or at least present a solemn atmosphere. It gets overused sometimes. And I did see some people sleeping in the chapel . . .
LDS time capsule opens window to '49
The magic of time travel in H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" seemed almost real for a few minutes Thursday morning in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
In front of other church leaders and the news media, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley opened a time capsule sealed almost 50 years ago.
The wooden box, about 2 feet by 3 feet by 15 inches, was sealed on Dec. 9, 1949, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the church's Sunday School program.
After the Sunday School General Presidency removed the final three screws, President Hinckley said simply, "Let's lift the lid."
As the lid was raised, he was the first person in almost 49 1/2 years to gaze upon its contents, and the room seemed temporarily transported to 1949.
"There's the issue of the Deseret News . . . Sept. 19, 1949," President Hinckley said, referring to the first item he spotted.
He pulled out various old books, letters and minutes, reading part of a letter aimed at the 1999 Sunday School leaders.
"There's my picture!" President Hinckley said as he found photos of old Sunday School Board members from 1945. "My hair is different. . . . I looked wiser then," he said.
He also discovered an old-time wire recording in the box and played part of an old phonograph recording of then-LDS Church President George Albert Smith speaking on controlling one's thoughts.
The capsule also contained a donated dime, then the mainstay of the Sunday School's financing through a special annual dime program.
"This is a book of memories," President Hinckley said. "This is a wonderful thing."
He said the church will now prepare another 50-year time capsule this fall, to be sealed for opening in 2049.
The 1949 sealed box was opened in April, rather than October or December, because more church leaders could be present in April. Also, LDS leaders wanted to separate the opening of the time capsule from preparations of a new one.
Composed of 39 types of wood from 39 international missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1949, the immaculate-looking box had been on display at the Museum of Church History and Art since July of 1998.
It will be on display at the Joseph Smith Building lobby until Monday. Then it will move back to the museum.
Although there were a few Sunday School groups that met regularly in church communities, Sunday School as a church institution did not begin until more than two years after the 1847 arrival of pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley.
Richard Ballantyne, a convert from Scotland, observed children playing on Sunday and felt they needed a Sunday School. He began plans for a Sunday School during May of 1849 in his home on the northeast corner of 100 West and 300 South.
On Sunday, Dec. 9, 1849, the first Sunday School was held there involving 50 children. A monument on that corner today — now 200 West — commemorates the location of that first Sunday School.
A few descendants of Ballantyne and a few other surviving Sunday School Board members were present at Thursday's time capsule opening. 
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