Heather

Today Elder Ballard spoke at BYU Hawaii and told graduates to "use the Internet -- including blogs and other forms of 'new media' -- to contribute to a national conversation about the Church." Church leaders "can't answer every question, satisfy every inquiry and respond to every inaccuracy that exists." "Students should consider sharing their views on blogs, responding to online news reports and using the 'new media' in other ways." He mentions blogging, podcasts, and social networking including Facebook. He gives the example of a blogger who does missionary work every day and talks about it on his blog. He talks about members who have "recorded and posted their testimonies of the Restoration, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and other gospel subjects on popular video-sharing sites." He said we should share our stories with non-members and use "words that they will understand." Sound familiar? :) "Now, to you who are graduating today, along with the other students at this wonderful university, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. " Elder Ballard's Talk

LOL Thanks!

Anthony, I think that's great that you were taken to different churches as a child, and that's something you are thinking of doing with your own sons. That's a wonderful way for anyone to make friends with similar moral convictions, establish your own belief system, and to establish religious tolerance towards members of all faiths. Personally, I grew up LDS and never attended any other church, other than a few events for my friends of other faiths. So I can only speak for the Youth Program in the LDS Church, which was really important to me growing up. For me it was great way to have fun, weekly activities that I could go to with my friends. It gave us something we enjoyed doing and kept us out of trouble (somewhat ). It was nice to be able to do things with friends who had the same religious beliefs I did, and know that I wouldn't be pressured to do things that I didn't want to do, like drugs, sex, drink, smoke, etc. I had a really good friend who hung out with us who wasn't LDS, yet she liked being a part of our group of friends, because she shared the same moral convictions we did, and knew she'd have support in her beliefs too. Thanks for the suggestion on the description change for this board. I changed it, but I think I'm going to tweak it again. :)

The person below me eats one piece of a chocolate a day (For health reasons, of course!)

Wow, what a great site!

Quotes from the recent Church Newsroom podcast about the Internet being used to find people for the full-time missionaries to teach. Link to pondcast is at the bottom of the article. http://blog.moregoodfoundation.org/2007/11...aries-to-teach/

Question answered, topic closed.

Congrats Douglas! We wish you the very best!

Text/audio/video - http://www.lds.org/conference/sessions/dis...9-1-775,00.html

Hey Everyone, I think the introduction thread has become pretty full, so I thought it might be better to start a new forum, and allow each member to make their own topic. This will make it nice to welcome each new person to the forum, and also easier to search. So a little about me... I'm the original owner of the site, which I start back in 1998. I recently turned ownership over to The More Good Foundation, and also joined their team. I still admin LDS Talk, but I also admin a few other sites for them as well. I just turned 30, and I have been married for 7 years. We have two amazing boys. Elijah just turned 3, and Declan is 8 months. My greatest joy in life comes from being a mom. I studied English at BYU, and have been working in web design and graphic arts for about 10 years now. I also enjoy video editing and DVD creation. Most of my hobbies that I get into, I usually end up doing them for other people. I've created some short documentaries to be used as personal histories, and I really want to get into that a bit more, time allowing. I enjoy going to "mommy and me" classes and teaching my boys new things. Declan can now give "5" (well some of the time) and Elijah can do a backward walk-over using an arched mat, without any help! I love board games, but probably not as much as my husband John. He collects them like a woman collects shoes. I enjoy cooking and I like to host get-togethers to eat good food and play fun games. I love The Church and the difference I feel in my life when I follow Christ's example. Back when I first started going on the internet in 1996, I talked in a general chat room and actually ended up speaking to someone about the Church. Back then the internet resources were so limited. I bought copies of the discussions so I had some kind of guide to know what I should be talking to him about. Eventually I convinced him that he really needed to contact the missionaries in his area. He finally did and later was baptized. We haven't spoken in years, but it's so amazing now to see the amount of resources that are now available online for those who are seeking answers. I love being a part of something where the goal is to help others see the blessings that comes from living a Christ-like life. Heather

Probably a similar business. Google picks up on the words in the thread and puts up banners that relate. Back to the topic...have you seen the food that you will get? Will actually even use this stuff? I'm not going to eat 13 pounds of cream of wheat. Even if you were going to use all this, don't you think a better option would be to put $100 a month in a safe investment, and then at the end of the year, go to a supermarket case-lot sale or Costco and buy all this stuff yourself? $1200 is way too much money for what you're getting, in my opinion. Nothing is free. The company is probably getting the food at a great discount, since they are buying so much of it, yet they have to add in their overhead, shipping costs, manpower, etc. Why pay for something that you could easily do yourself? I do like that they will give you credit for food that has expired, if you donate it to charity, although they also say the shelf life is 10-40 years. In my opinion, the best way to do it is stock up on food when it goes on sale, and only buy food that you use and are accustomed to cooking with and will actually use. Get a can rotator, or setup a method of rotating through the food yourself. Have your 72 hour kits ready for every member of your family, as those are the ones that are important in case of a real disaster. But the food storage I think is important to have in times of financial struggles. I knew of a family whose dad/mom were out of real work for over a year, but they managed to stay afloat and keep their house, because they could live off their food storage. That to me is pretty impressive.

Douglas, thank you so much for sharing your missionary experience with the rest of us. I am really excited for you. You articulate your feelings so well, you really should consider starting a blog about your meetings with the missionaries, your feelings, and how it has affected your life.

I made it, and I still need to hold back the tears on that part as well.

I was so touched by this, I set it to music and uploaded it to YouTube: My parents served in Johannesburg from 2000-2002, and I was able to visit them and spend some time with the wonderful Saints in Africa. I was truly moved by the sacrifices they made and the strength of their unwavering faith.

http://www.bsmarkham.com/mission/Africa/Aug%2005/aba.html

I haven't laughed that hard at a post in a long time. I was just briefly skimming, until I read the line "Did Spencer Kimball belong to the Illuminati," and I about choked on the crystal light I had just sipped, in an attempt not to spray it at my monitor in a fit of laughter. I had to go back and read the whole thing.

Thanks Elphaba! That gave me some great ideas on using layered video.

I'm so glad to hear that everything went well!

Hey Everyone. I wanted to thank those of you who donated for site improvements and for those of you who support the site by visiting the sponsors. I just heard back from invision board, and unfortunately my board license expired when it was the old Yearly license. As this no longer exists, I need to purchase a new license now ($150) and then the gallery for $65. So this is definitely something I will be looking into in the short future when I have the funds for it. Thanks again! Also, I'm always interested in hearing new ideas on how to improve the site. Send me a PM if you have any ideas you'd like to see on LDS Talk.

By a raise of hands, how many "guys" out there have a favorite white slip?

Stop it! It tickles!

I think you're completely right. My oldest is only 2 and a half, but already my husband and I have said that there will be a rule that our kids will not have sleep-overs. The main reason of course is the fear of something happening to one of our kids. But also, they don't sleep as well when they're not in their own beds, and they don't get much sleep anyway when they spend the whole night playing and talking with their friends. There isn't a point to sleep-overs in my opinion. Play with friends during the day, and come home and sleep in your own bed. I am also very leery of who I let babysit. So far we had a few adults, like my parents and my sister-in-law. I really don't like the idea of teenage babysitters, especially when my kids aren't old enough to keep me informed on what is really going on. I just want to protect my children at all cost. If that means we don't go out that much, that's fine. There are just too many sick people in the world.

LOL too true! Didn't think of it that way.

I'm thinking of creating a supporter icon or something for those who contribute. Still looking into what would work best. Thanks for the idea :)

It never costs you to send money. If you have a basic account, and only accept money from a buyer's bank account, you don't pay any fees to accept money either. But, if you want to accept credit cards, then it does charge you a fee, no matter where the money comes from. I setup the donation button with an account that accepts credit cards, so there is a small transaction fee, but nothing too major.