Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Meet the Mormons

My wife and I saw "Meet the Mormons" for the 4th time last night. Our first viewing was an Internet stream sent out to LDS Bishops. Our next experience was with 25 family members on October 10th, opening night. On Saturday, October 11th we bought out the theater and hosted 270 ward members. Then last night, we invited a couple in our ward to come with us for family home evening because the husband was unable to attend on the 11th. All four times we laughed and we cried. After all three theatrical showings the packed house erupted in spontaneous applause. We highly recommend this movie. It may be the finest film the Church has ever produced.

An indirect Book of Mormon connection is in the segment featuring Ken Niumatalolo, head football coach of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. The first settlers in Annapolis surveyed their land in 1651 at the place called "Annapolis Neck." This neck of land, bounded by Crab Creek, Annapolis Harbor and Chesapeake Bay, is 1.71 kilometers wide at its base.
Base of Annapolis Neck, Maryland
U.S. Zip Code 21403 is called Annapolis Neck, Maryland. There are literally hundreds of similar necks of land along the Atlantic seaboard of the U.S., most named during the 1600's. We analyzed over 100 of them in the article "Necks of Land." Annapolis Neck is yet another example demonstrating that during the Early Modern English era a small peninsula was routinely called a "neck."

Additional examples not documented in the aforementioned article include Horseneck near Westport, Bristol County, MA; Haddam Neck near East Hampton, Middlesex County, CT; Colts Neck in Monmouth County, NJ; Throggs Neck in Bronx County, NY; Mason Neck near Lorton, Fairfax County, VA and Durants Neck in Perquimans County, NC.