Ablaze with half million lights at Christmas time
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LOS ANGELES — A landmark in Los Angeles for 50 years, Los Angeles Temple Hill is ablaze during the Christmas season with more than a half million festive lights strung by hundreds of volunteers during October and November. Amidst the splendor, the Southern California Public Affairs Council hosted the Los Angeles consular corps, along with interfaith and community leaders, at a recent concert and dinner.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy greeted the crowd of 200 in the Westwood Chapel.
"It's a pleasure to welcome you," he said. "We're honored to have such a distinguished audience of government, interfaith and civic leaders with us this evening. We appreciate the work of the consulates in processing so many of our missionary visas in a timely manner. You may not realize that, although based in the United States, our Church now has more members living outside North America than within the area. We greatly value our international connections.
"We also appreciate the diverse interfaith and cultural aspect of our audience tonight."
Friendship plaques were presented by Elder Rasband and Jim Jacobson, director of the public affairs council, to three consuls general who are returning to their respective countries after serving three to five years in the United States: Shamsul Haque of Bangladesh, Fernando Jose Urrutia of Chile, and Elena Beltran de Forero of Colombia.
Seven newly appointed consuls general were welcomed with plaques: Arnen Lioyan of Armenia, Elin Suleymanov of Azerbaijan, Ante Barbir of Croatia, Daniel Kumermenn of Czech Republic, Celeste Jimenez of the Dominican Republic, Catalin Ghenea of Romania and Jukr Boon-Long of Thailand.
Following a concert by pianist Marvin Goldstein and the Southern California Mormon Choir, guests enjoyed a buffet dinner served in the California Los Angeles Mission home. Ingrid Tate, the public affairs council's director of consular corps relations, orchestrated the event.
The Church maintains a relationship with the 88 foreign consulates in Los Angeles which, besides facilitating missionary visas, benefits Church humanitarian aid throughout the world.
