With the 2002 Winter Olympic Games came the attention of the world to Salt Lake City. Numerous journalists have written articles about the area, the Church and its members, and the things that make them unique. Following is a notebook sketch, listing excerpts from articles written in past weeks about Salt Lake City and the Church:

"Whether you agree or you don't agree with them you have to admire them. They dedicate the best two years of their lives in a rugged proselyting work thousands of miles away from their country, the United States. They aren't even allowed to talk to their relatives by telephone or Internet other than two times a year. They can't even drink tea or coffee. When there's a need, they only use public transport. Publicly, they can only wear dark clothes. They are called the "Men in Black."

They speak in a relaxed way and with a smile. They are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better know as the Church of the Mormons. A lot come from Salt Lake City where the church originated more than 200 years ago. In the city yesterday the winter Olympic games were inaugurated."

— "The Mormons in Malta," Valletta, Malta, newspaper, Feb. 8, 2002.

"A memorial service [for those who died on Sept. 11] was openly included in the [opening] ceremony. Soldiers with slow, solemn steps carried the stars and stripes into the stadium and the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir (360 persons) sang the national anthem. The first verse, in memory of those who had fallen, was sung softly, almost in a whisper, the second, powerfully, inspiring manner. It was as though the choir said, "We've taken losses, but it will not break us." With the final chords of the hymn, a small Italian-American man standing next to me sniffled. Others shed tears."

— "Triumph after Tragedy," Uralsk Courier (Russia), Feb. 12, 2002.

"For this fortnight will provide a heaven-sent opportunity for the booming but misunderstood Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which wields the dominant influence here in its 150-year-old Utah home, to create a modern, positive image of itself in the eyes of the world. Indeed, the French newspaper Le Mode has been so impressed by its efforts that it has already awarded 'the Mormons the gold medal for public relations.' "

That is because, for a church renowned for its aggressive proselytising, with 60,000 of its missionaries doorstepping the world two-by-two in search of converts, the LDS have taken a remarkably low-key approach to the Games here."

— London Evening Standard, "Salt Lake's heavenly hosts," Feb. 7, 2002.