More Lectures

Dr. Muhlestein continues to lecture at Education week, speaking on the history of God's covenant with Abraham and covenant people as an example of God's love and patience, and Egyptian elements of the Exodus story as well as how that story demonstrates the power of the Atonement. All of these things are part of the book.

He also lectured on the BYU Egypt Excavation project at a dinner for Emeritus General Authorities and had a wonderful time there.

Great Evening

Tonight Julianne and I were able to attend an annual dinner held for General Authorities Emeritus. What a delight and pleasure. We were able to visit with so many amazing men and women. What power and how many years of serving God and mankind. It was a delightful and impressive group.

The dinner was held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City on the 10th floor.



We sat next to Elder Neuenschwander and had the most fascinating conversations about his work as a Patriarch in Russia and eastern Europe. The work he puts in and the blessings people receive from that service is amazing. Because my oldest son and daughter just received their patriarchal blessings it was all the more interesting to us.

The evening ended with my giving about a 25 minute lecture on the excavation and about 20 minutes of questions and answers.

Overall it was an amazing dinner. We loved it!

Getting the book on the shelves

So yesterday had some interesting elements. My book, The Essential Companion to the Old Testament (see essentialot.blogspot.com), was supposed to be on the shelves of the BYU Bookstore on Monday for the thousands of extra visitors that come there as part of BYU's Education week. Since Monday was the last day before school starts for my kids, and because it was my son Kaleb's birthday, we decided to go to Seven Peak's water slides for one last summer fling. I made everyone stop on the way as I went in to the Bookstore to put some fliers for my other book Return Unto Me (returnuntome.blogspot.com) in these books. But the books weren't out yet. I politely asked both the BYU bookstore and the publisher to look into this, and went on to the waterslides (lots of fun).


On Tuesday, before my lecture on God's love in the Old Testament, I went to see if the books were out. They were not out yet. Happily my cd's with my lectures on the Book of Abraham were there! (see http://bookofabrahamresearch.blogspot.com)

I spoke with some more people. They told me that they didn't think it had arrived, others that it had arrived but was not scheduled to be put on the shelves for a few more weeks, and others told me that they needed to know when it had come in to find it. I emailed the publisher (Covenant Communications) and went and did my lecture.



I felt great about my lecture. Then I went to the bookstore and found the buyer who was in charge of getting these books. Together we went to work. We talked to the person from the publisher who had dropped the books off on Friday, after having them air freighted in the night before. We talked to the person who had received them. We checked all around in the receiving area. I looked and looked. We had a person in receiving who had left for the day come back in. We sleuthed and worked and searched and looked for an hour and a half. Finally we found them tucked away in the receiving area without their invoice in a different box than we were looking for. I helped unpack them and helped create the price stickers for them and put them on and took them up on a hand truck and put them on the selves myself. I am not sure they would have made it there this week if it had not been for Maureen (the BYU buyer) and myself sticking on it for so long. But they are definitely there now. I am so happy to finally see them out. I can hardly wait until the other one comes out!

Dr. Muhlestein does a lecture

Yesterday I did a lecture as part of Education week. The topic was an introduction to the ideas I have in my book Return Unto Me.

The concept, the God loves us and will never stop trying to work with us and help us, and that this is clear in the Old Testament, is one that I feel passionately about. I think it is a life changing topic. I saw several people tearing up during the lecture, and I like to assume that is because they were hearing something they needed to hear, not because the lecture was so terrible. I really, really enjoyed it, and look forward to doing a follow up lecture tomorrow.

Release Date

The book will make its debut at the BYU Bookstore next week during Education Week!!! See you there!

Excerpt

Excerpt from the Introduction: The vast temporal and cultural gap between us and our Israelite ancestors can create a mental block that prevents us from gaining from the rich and life-changing doctrines and stories that God has planted for us in the Old Testament. We cannot let this happen. Not only must we devote our best efforts to studying this book, but when we do so, we will be surprised at the rich rewards that come our way as a result. Further, the more we read the Old Testament, the more adept we
will become at getting it to yield its eternal treasures to us. It is a book that waits for its readers to demonstrate their commitment and then generously gives of its abundant gifts.

Beginning of the Blog

Here I will keep you up to date with news about the book and events associated with it, as well as providing excerpts and things people have to say about it.