Missionary Efforts, Joint RS/Priesthood Lesson, September 18, 2011

Our stake president, President Smith, spoke to a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting about the missionary opportunities we have available to us online.

"Mormon.org is a missionary site intended to provide information about our faith. By creating a profile, you can share your feelings about your faith, shed light on who we are as a people and demystify our most commonly misunderstood beliefs. Mormon.org is not a social media site."

Mormon.org is a wonderful, easy, non-threatening way to share the gospel.  So many of us, and our young people in general, spend a great deal of time online.  Whether it's email, blogging or Facebook, many of us have phones that are connected to the internet, and we already have an online presence.

Creating a profile at mormon.org is very easy.  You can have it as private or as public as you would like.  The website states:
"A profile is your opportunity to share your beliefs and experiences in the gospel with those who are not of our faith. With the help of our profile creation wizard, we will walk you through the steps of creating your own page, uploading your photo, writing about yourself, and answering questions about the gospel that will help others better understand our beliefs."

 Many of you will have seen videos and profiles from mormon.org.  There are ads on television, billboards in Times Square in New York City, links on youtube.  It is an effective way of sharing our beliefs with people and showing them that we are really, truly ordinary people just like they are.

Along with your profile, you have an opportunity to answer gospel questions and share your testimony.

President Smith encouraged each of us to create our own profiles.  Then, he suggested that we link to those profiles from our blogs, from Facebook or even post a signature in our emails that invites people to view our profile on mormon.org.

Missionary Work - RS Lesson, May 22, 2011

This week's lesson was on Missionary Work and was given by Sister Pam Bitsch.

What if you had something you really liked (like the gospel) that was a great blessing in your life. Wouldn't that be really stingy of you to not share it with your neighbor?

We talked about how missionary work has been an essential part of the gospel since the days of Adam, who first taught the gospel to his children and then as they became more numerous, missionary work was necessary. After the Savior established His church, missionary work was necessary to take the gospel first to the Jews and then, after His death, to the Gentiles. When the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith, one of the first things he did, under the direction of Jesus Christ, was to send out missionaries to many parts of the world.

We have been told in the scriptures that the gospel must be taken to all of Father's children in all parts of the world before He comes again. As we see the increased uses of technology in the world and in the Church, we can see how all people, everywhere, are being prepared to receive the gospel. We talked about how we can personally take part in that preparation by sharing our testimonies and personal experiences in the gospel with our friends and also people we don't know via the social media, Mormon Messages, the Church's web sites, etc.

But in the end, the prophets have told us that people list as the number one reason they become interested in the Church is that they have a personal relationship with someone who is a member living their religion. We have something many people in the world are looking for. If they are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it, then it is our responsibility to show them where it is.