1.
Ogden, Utah
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Ogden /ˈɒɡdɛn/ is a city and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately 10 miles east of the Great Salt Lake and 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. The population was 84,316 in 2014, according to the US Census Bureau, the city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a convenient location for manufacturing and commerce. Ogden is also known for its historic buildings, proximity to the Wasatch Mountains. Ogden is a city of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Weber, Morgan, Davis. The 2010 Census placed the Metro population at 597,159, in 2010, Forbes rated the Ogden-Clearfield MSA as the 6th best place to raise a family. Ogden has had a Sister City relationship to Hof since 1954, originally named Fort Buenaventura, the city of Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in the region that is now Utah. It was established by the trapper Miles Goodyear in 1846 about a mile west of where downtown Ogden is currently located, in November 1847, Fort Buenaventura was purchased by the Mormon settlers for $1,950. There is some confusion in which Ogden was the first to set foot in the Utah city, peters older brother Samuel Ogden traveled though the western United States on an exploration trip in 1818. The site of the original Fort Buenaventura is now a Weber County park, Ogden is the closest sizable city to the Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the First Transcontinental Railroad was joined in 1869. Railroad passengers traveling west to San Francisco from the eastern United States typically passed through Ogden, in 1972, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed construction of and dedicated the Ogden Utah Temple in Ogden. The temple was built to serve the large LDS population in the area, in 2010, the LDS Church announced a major renovation of the Ogden Temple and the adjacent Tabernacle. The Temple was rededicated in 2014, because Ogden has historically been the second largest city in Utah, it is home to a large number of historic buildings. However, by the 1980s, several Salt Lake City suburbs, the Defense Depot Ogden Utah operated in Ogden from 1941 to 1997. Some of its 1,128 acres has since converted into a commercial and industrial park called the Business Depot Ogden. Ogden is located at 41°13′11″N 111°58′16″W, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.6 square miles, all land. Elevations in the city range from about 4,300 to 5,200 feet above sea level, the Ogden and Weber Rivers, which originate in the mountains to the east, flow through the city and meet at a confluence just west of the city limits. Pineview Dam is located in the Ogden River Canyon 7 miles east of Ogden, the reservoir behind the dam provides over 110,000 acre feet of water storage and water recreation for the area. Prominent mountain peaks near Ogden include Mount Ogden to the east, Ogden experiences a dry summer continental climate
2.
Utah
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Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4,1896, Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million, approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast, approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS, which greatly influences Utahn culture and daily life. The LDS Churchs world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. The state is a center of transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, in 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that Utah had the second fastest-growing population of any state. St. George was the metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah also has the 14th highest median income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the best state to live in based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic, lifestyle, the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe. It means people of the mountains in the Ute language, according to other sources Utah is derived from the Apache name Yudah which means Tall. These Native American tribes are subgroups of the Ute-Aztec Native American ethnicity and were sedentary, the Ancestral Pueblo people built their homes through excavations in mountains, and the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century, in the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived, the southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California, the expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature, in 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California. European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada, the city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, in late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the salinity of its waters, Bridger thought he had found the Pacific Ocean
3.
Public university
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A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. Whether a national university is considered public varies from one country to another, in Egypt, Al-Azhar University opened in 975 AD as the second oldest university in the world. In Nigeria Public Universities can be established by both the Federal Government and by State Governments, students are enrolled after completing the 8-4-4 system of education and attaining a mark of C+ or above. They are also eligible for a low interest loan from the Higher Education Loan Board and they are expected to pay back the loan after completing higher education. South Africa has 23 public tertiary institutions, either categorised as a traditional university or a comprehensive university. Almost entire national universities in Brunei are public universities and these are major universities in Brunei, University of Brunei Darussalam Brunei Technological University Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University There are 40 public universities in Bangladesh. The University Grant Commission is the body for all the public universities in Bangladesh. The universities do not deal directly with the government, but with the University Grants Commission, recently many private universities are established under the Private University Act of 1992. In mainland China, nearly all universities and research institutions are public and currently, the public universities are usually run by the provincial governments, there are also circumstances where the municipal governments administer the universities. Some public universities are national, which are administered by the central government. Private undergraduate colleges do exist, which are vocational colleges sponsored by private enterprises. The majority of universities are not entitled to award bachelors degrees. Public universities usually enjoy higher reputation domestically, eight institutions are funded by the University Grants Committee. The Academy for Performing Arts also receives funding from the government, the Open University of Hong Kong is also a public university, but it is largely self-financed. The Shue Yan University is the private institution with the status of a university. There are public and private institutes in Indonesia. The government provide public universities, institutes, high schools and academies in each province, the private educational institution usually provided by religious organizations, public organizations, and some big companies. In India, most universities and nearly all research institutions are public, There are some private undergraduate colleges, mostly engineering schools, but a majority of these are affiliated to public universities
4.
David O. McKay
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David Oman McKay was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1951 until his death in 1970. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was an authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church history. The third child of David McKay and Jennette Eveline Evans McKay, David was born on his father’s farm in Huntsville, Utah Territory, McKays mother was a Welsh immigrant from Merthyr Tydfil, and his father was a Scottish immigrant from Caithness. In 1880, after McKay’s two older sisters died, his father was called on an LDS mission to his native Scotland, in his fathers absence, McKay had additional family responsibilities and helped his mother. McKays grandmother bequeathed $5,000 to McKays mother upon her death, be used for the education of the children. This money allowed McKay, his brother Thomas McKay, and their two sisters to attend the University of Utah, McKay graduated in 1897 as valedictorian and class president. Immediately afterward, he was called on a mission to Great Britain, like his father, he presided over the Scottish district of the church. Early in his mission, he was impressed by a motto he saw inscribed on a building in Stirling, What Eer Thou Art and this message became a source of inspiration throughout his life. Upon his return in fall 1899, McKay taught at the school level at LDS Weber Stake Academy. He married Emma Ray Riggs in the Salt Lake Temple on January 2,1901 and they eventually had seven children, one dying as a young child. For his first three years at Weber, McKay taught mainly religion and literature classes, on April 17,1902, McKay was appointed principal of Weber, succeeding the founding principal, Louis F. Moench, who had resigned after nine years in the position. One of his first actions as principal was to organize a school paper, McKay also oversaw the inauguration of sports programs at Weber, with mens and womens basketball teams organized during McKays tenure. In 1905, they won their game against the University of Utah. With three vacancies, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and McKay were called as apostles in the LDS Churchs April 1906 general conference, McKay was 32 at the time. Prior to this appointment to service, McKay had planned on career in education. Even after his appointment, McKay stayed active in education, continuing as principal of the Weber Stake Academy until 1908, McKay stayed at Weber Stake Academy to see the completion of some new building projects that he had begun. He also served on the Weber schools board of trustees until 1922, McKay enjoyed a long, personal friendship with John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. They met weekly for breakfast to discuss the betterment of Utah, in October 1906, McKay became an assistant to the superintendent of the Deseret Sunday School Union
5.
University of Utah
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The University of Utah is a public coeducational space-grant research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. As the states flagship university, the university more than 100 undergraduate majors. The university is classified in the highest ranking, R-1, Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the Carnegie Classification also considers the university as selective, which is its second most selective admissions category. Quinney College of Law and the School of Medicine, Utahs only medical school, as of Fall 2015, there are 23,909 undergraduate students and 7,764 graduate students, for an enrollment total of 31,673. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret and it received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900. The university ranks among the top 50 U. S. universities by total research expenditures with over $486 million spent in 2014, in addition, the universitys Honors College has been reviewed among 50 leading national Honors Colleges in the U. S. The university has also ranked the 12th most ideologically diverse university in the country. The universitys athletic teams, the Utes, participate in NCAA Division I athletics as a member of the Pac-12 Conference and its football team has received national attention for winning the 2005 Fiesta Bowl and the 2009 Sugar Bowl. A Board of Regents was organized by Brigham Young to establish a university in the Salt Lake Valley, early classes were held in private homes or wherever space could be found. The university closed in 1853 due to lack of funds and lack of feeder schools, the university moved out of the council house into the Union Academy building in 1876 and into Union Square in 1884. Additional Fort Douglas land has granted to the university over the years. Upon his death in 1900, Dr. John R. Park bequeathed his fortune to the university. One third of the faculty resigned in protest of these dismissals, the controversy was largely resolved when Kingsbury resigned in 1916, but university operations were again interrupted by World War I, and later The Great Depression and World War II. Student enrollment dropped to a low of 3,418 during the last year of World War II, ray Olpin made substantial additions to campus following the war, and enrollment reached 12,000 by the time he retired in 1964. Growth continued in the decades as the university developed into a research center for fields such as computer science. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, the university hosted the Olympic Village, the University of Utah Asia Campus opened as an international branch campus in the Incheon Global Campus in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea in 2014. Three other European and American universities are also participating, the Asia Campus was funded by the South Korean government. Campus takes up 1,534 acres, including the Health Sciences complex, Research Park and it is located on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley, close to the Wasatch Range and approximately 2 miles east of downtown Salt Lake City
6.
Purple
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Purple is a color intermediate between blue and red. It is similar to violet, but unlike violet, which is a color with its own wavelength on the visible spectrum of light, purple is a composite color made by combining red. According to surveys In Europe and the U. S. purple is the color most often associated with royalty, magic, mystery, when combined with pink, it is associated with eroticism, femininity and seduction. Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates, it became the color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Similarly in Japan, the color is associated with the Emperor. The complementary color of purple is yellow, the first recorded use of the word purple in the English language was in the year 975 AD. In heraldry, the word purpure is used for purple, in the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue. Purple occupies the space closer to red, between crimson and violet, violet is closer to blue, and is usually less saturated than purple. While the two look similar, from the point of view of optics there are important differences. There is no such thing as the wavelength of purple light, monochromatic violet light cannot be produced by the red-green-blue color system, the method used to create colors on a television screen or computer display. This means that when light strikes the eye, the S-cone should be stimulated strongly. The resulting color has the same hue as pure violet, however, one curious psychophysical difference between purple and violet is their appearance with an increase in luminance. Violet, as it brightens, looks more and more blue, the same effect does not happen with purple. This is the result of what is known as the Bezold–Brücke shift, while the scientific definitions of violet and purple are clear, the cultural definitions are more varied. The color known in antiquity as Tyrian purple ranged from crimson to a deep bluish-purple, in France, purple is defined as a dark red, inclined toward violet. The color called purple by the French, pourpre, contains red and half the amount of blue of the color called purple in the United States. In German, this color is sometimes called Purpurrot to avoid confusion, Purple first appeared in prehistoric art during the Neolithic era. These works have been dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 BC, as early as the 15th century BC the citizens of Sidon and Tyre, two cities on the coast of Ancient Phoenicia, were producing purple dye from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex
7.
White
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White is an achromatic color, a color without hue. An incoming light to the eye that stimulates all its three types of color sensitive cone cells in nearly equal amounts results in white. White is one of the most common colors in nature, the color of sunlight, snow, milk, chalk, limestone, in many cultures white represents or signifies purity, innocence, and light, and is the symbolic opposite of black, or darkness. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, and exactitude. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity, the widows of kings dressed in white rather than black as the color of mourning. It was also used in 20th century modern architecture as a symbol of modernity, simplicity. White is an important color for almost all world religions, the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has worn white since 1566, as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. In Islam, and in the Shinto religion of Japan, it is worn by pilgrims, in Western cultures and in Japan, white is the most common color for wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and virginity. In many Asian cultures, white is also the color of mourning, the white color on television screens and computer monitors is created with the RGB color model by mixing red, green and blue light at equal intensities. The word white continues Old English hwīt, ultimately from a Common Germanic *χwītaz also reflected in OHG wîz, ON hvítr, the root is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language *kwid-, surviving also in Sanskrit śveta to be white or bright and Slavonic světŭ light. The Icelandic word for white, hvítur, is derived from the Old Norse form of the word hvítr. Common Germanic also had the word *blankaz, borrowed into Late Latin as *blancus, the antonym of white is black. Some non-European languages have a variety of terms for white. The Inuit language has seven different words for seven different nuances of white, Japanese has six different words, depending upon brilliance or dullness, or if the color is inert or dynamic. White was one of the first colors used in art, the Lascaux Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by paleolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago. Paleolithic artists used calcite or chalk, they sometimes as a background, sometimes as a highlight, along with charcoal and red, in ancient Egypt, white was connected with the goddess Isis. The priests and priestesses of Isis dressed only in white linen, in Greece and other ancient civilizations, white was often associated with mothers milk. In Greek mythology, the chief god Zeus was nourished at the breast of the nymph Amalthea, in the Talmud, milk was one of four sacred substances, along with wine, honey, and the rose
8.
Bobcat
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The bobcat is a North American cat that appeared during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago. Containing 12 recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to central Mexico, the bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its range, but populations are vulnerable to local extinction by coyotes. With a gray to brown coat, whiskered face, and black-tufted ears and it is smaller on average than the Canada lynx, with which it shares parts of its range, but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby tail, though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance, like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its boundaries, including claw marks. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a period of about two months. Although bobcats have been hunted extensively by humans, both for sport and fur, their population has proven resilient though declining in some areas, the elusive predator features in Native American mythology and the folklore of European settlers. The Lynx genus is now accepted, and the bobcat is listed as Lynx rufus in modern taxonomic sources. Johnson et al. reported Lynx shared a clade with the puma, leopard cat, the first wave moved into the southern portion of North America, which was soon cut off from the north by glaciers. This population evolved into modern bobcats around 20,000 years ago, a second population arrived from Asia and settled in the north, developing into the modern Canada lynx. Hybridization between the bobcat and the Canada lynx may sometimes occur, the bobcat resembles other species of the Lynx genus, but is on average the smallest of the four. Its coat is variable, though generally tan to grayish-brown, with streaks on the body and dark bars on the forelegs. Its spotted patterning acts as camouflage, the ears are black-tipped and pointed, with short, black tufts. Generally, a color is seen on the lips, chin. Bobcats in the regions of the southwest have the lightest-colored coats, while those in the northern. Kittens are born well-furred and already have their spots, a few melanistic bobcats have been sighted and captured in Florida
9.
College football
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It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. No minor league farm organizations exist in American football and it is in college football where a players performance directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will declare for the professional draft after 3 to 4 years of collegiate competition. Those not selected can still attempt to land an NFL roster spot as a free agent. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League, college football remained extremely popular throughout the U. S, in many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests. This allows them to more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium. College athletes, unlike players in the NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries, colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as football, by the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as Rugby football. The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges, the first documented gridiron football match was a game played at University College, a college of the University of Toronto, November 9,1861. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College, also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional mob football played in England. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football, Princeton University students played a game called ballown as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as Bloody Monday began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes, in 1860, both the town police and the college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. The Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a figure called Football Fightum. The authorities held firm and it was a dozen years before football was again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called Old division football, the rules of which were first published in 1871, all of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities
10.
Southern Utah University
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Southern Utah University is a public university located in Cedar City, Utah, United States, founded in 1898. Originally a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,700 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges, SUU offers more than 85 undergraduate degrees and eight graduate programs. There are more than 8,000 students that attend SUU, SUU’s 17 athletic teams compete in Division 1 of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Thunderbirds. SUU joined the Big Sky Conference in September 2012, in the spring of 1897, Cedar City was notified it had been chosen as the site for the Branch Normal School, the region’s first teaching training school in southern Utah. For the next three months, citizens labored to complete Ward Hall on Main Street for the first school year, in September, the school opened its doors. Cedar City residents came together and in January 5,1898 and it took them four days to reach the sawmills, located near present-day Brian Head Ski Resort. Upon arrival, they realized the wagons they brought with them could not carry logs through the heavy snow, the way back was just as hard as the trip up. The snow continued to fall destroying the trail they originally took and it was this phase of their march that an old sorrel horse proved valuable. Placed at the front of the party, the horse would walk into the drifts, then he would pause for a rest and then get up and start over again. “Old Sorrel” was credited with being the savior of the expedition, from January through July they kept up their labors and when September 1898 arrived, Old Main was almost completed. It had a chapel for religious assemblies, a library and reading room. Milton Bennion was first principal for the Branch Normal School, courageous and young, Bennion brought a code of integrity to the students of BNS. He established a student body. Bennion directed 161 students during his time as principal, the BNS started classes with four teachers, now known as the Founding Four. Bennion, who acted as principal, taught history, geography, Howard R. Driggs acted as the first English professor at BNS until 1905. During his career, Dr. Driggs was both a professor of English education and historian of the American West, SUU still honors his name with the Howard R. Driggs Collection located in the Gerald R. Sherratt Library and plays host to a semi-annual lectures by national scholars. The third, George W. Decker was a southern Utah native and was adamant about teaching from the point of view rather from a book. Students loved him so much that a request by the student body to proper authorities was the point to his appointment as the fourth principal of BNS
11.
Utah State Legislature
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The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U. S. state of Utah. It is a body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives. There are no limits for either chamber. The Legislature convenes at the Utah State Capitol in the capital of Salt Lake City on the fourth Monday of January for an annual 45-day session. The Utah State Legislature meets in the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City, the Republicans currently have super-majorities in both the House and Senate. They control the House by a margin of 63-12 and the Senate by 23-5-1, the current Senate President is Wayne Niederhauser, and the Speaker of the House is Greg H. Hughes. The state is divided into 29 Senate districts, each representing approximately 77,000 people, Senate districts overlap House districts allowing two legislators for each constituency in Utah. Senators are elected to a term, and Representatives to a two-year term. All state House districts and half of all state Senate districts are up for every two years. There are no limitations for either the Utah House of Representatives or the Utah Senate. The annual General Session is held for 45 calendar days, convening on the fourth Monday in January, the General Session must conclude by midnight on the 45th day according to the Utah State Constitution. These special sessions, except in the cases of impeachment, cannot exceed 30 calendar days, the House may convene for the purpose of impeachment if two-thirds of the members are in favor of convening for that purpose. The Speaker of the House shall determine by poll whether there is a sufficient number of members to convene for an Impeachment Session outside of the General Session, if the House impeaches an official, the Senate is required to convene to try that impeachment. The creation of the Territory of Utah was part of the Compromise of 1850 seeking to preserve the balance of power between the slave and free states. Following the organization of the territory, Brigham Young was inaugurated as its first governor on Sunday, February 9,1851, the legislative body of the Utah Territory continued to act until 1896 with the successful passage of the Utah Constitution and Utah achieving statehood. The first President of the Utah Territorial Senate was Willard Richards, in 1870, the length of a Representatives term was extended to two years, and in 1896 the Utah Territorial Council became the Utah Senate with a four-year term. The U. S. House of Representatives and Senate rejected the proposed state and it wasnt for another six years before the Fifth Territorial Legislature passed an act on December 10,1855 establishing a constitutional convention to make a second attempt at Statehood. This second constitutional convention was held on March 17,1856 in Salt Lake City and a proposed constitution was created which was subsequently rejected by the U. S. Congress
12.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations, according to the church, it has over 70,000 missionaries and a membership of over 15 million. It is ranked by the National Council of Churches as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States and it is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Adherents, often referred to as Latter-day Saints, or, less formally, Mormons, view faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement as fundamental principles of their religion. The church has a canon which includes four scriptural texts, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants. The current president is Thomas S. Monson, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives. The president heads a hierarchical structure with various levels reaching down to local congregations, Bishops, drawn from the laity, lead local congregations. Male members, after reaching age 12, may be ordained to the priesthood, Women do not hold positions within the priesthood, but do occupy leadership roles in some church auxiliary organizations. Both men and women may serve as missionaries, and the church maintains a large missionary program which proselytizes, faithful members adhere to church laws of sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church in tithing. The LDS Church was formally organized by Joseph Smith on April 6,1830, Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion. In 1831, the moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers brutally expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County, the Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the church in Far West, Missouri. Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be exterminated or driven from the State, in 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the churchs new headquarters. Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo, meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow people to become gods in the afterlife. He also introduced the church to an accounting of his First Vision. This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in history since the resurrection of Jesus
