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"Ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of Hosts." 2 Nephi 13:14 Rich Men North of Richmond

English speaking LDS volunteers desperately needed. Hi. My name is Edward and I live in Ecuador. I have been tasked with teaching English to Church members in Guayaquil Ecuador in the Pathway program, prior to the students attending BYU online. The students ages range from 16 to 30. All of the students are members of the Church. Most have learned some English in schools here in Ecuador. What most lack really is conversational English. They lack pronunciation and communication skills. Most are really very poor and so their access to the internet is via internet cafe's located near their homes. We sincerely hope there might be members of the Church who would be willing to volunteer a couple of hours a week to help some of these wonderful brothers and sisters by conversing with them in English, one on one through Skype, a few hours each week. It is not necessary that you speak Spanish, just good, clear English. Many of these students are return missionaries or are brothers or sisters preparing to serve missions. Some are single or married adults. All are converts to the Church and all are good people, trying to better themselves. Here is your chance to really make a difference in another person's life and to make life long friends along the way. Please, if you can help, contact me and lets get started. Sincerely, Edward [email protected]

OK... I am about to jump on a grenade here... I am a linguist and translator by trade and hobby. In my studies of language and ancient history I have develloped a serious issue with the Bible. First, I do believe the DOCTRINE to be basically good and true. The History therein has been veryfied to a point. My problem is with the descriptions of various events and people in general. There are NO original documents. The oldest documents we have are dated to a few centuries AFTER the New Testament! How do we know that these documents are accurate copies or translations of the original? How can we (christians) put so much creedence in these writings? In essence my question comes to this: How can we as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put our trust in a set of writings that are unverifieable?

One of my friends was just called to serve in Armenia, which is in/near (depending on who you ask) the Middle East. I was under the impression that the Middle East was not available for American missionaries, but apparently there are parts open. I have another friend who is studying in Dubai, but the missionaries there are local or from the Philippines. I was just wondering if it was possible that I could be called to an Arab speaking mission when I am of age (2 more years). If not, are there other missions that speak Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, Kurdu, etc. because I would really love to learn a critical language. Obviously, I will happily serve wherever I am called, but I just hope to learn one of those languages while on my mission. Thanks!

I apologize if this has been posted before, but I have been unable to find a post regarding this topic after searching. English is my first language and I like to think that I am fluent. I am simultaneously studying about seven languages at once because I'm quite fickle due to a very short attention span. Vietnamese is my absolute favorite language; I've been studying a bit and I love it so much. I watch a lot of Vietnamese cooking shows, movies, and listen to music in Vietnamese so I'm picking up some vocabulary in addition to studying. Recently, I decided to learn Khmer/Cambodian. I was intimidated by learning the alphabet at first, but it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I just really like Austro-Asiatic languages, I think. Next on my agenda is Finnish. I have a fascination and love for the language and I have been studying it for the purpose of personal research to do with Finnish composers (finding resources), history, literature, etc. I hope to be fluent one day. I also really love Arabic and have been studying the script lately. I listen to a lot of music in Arabic and I don't trust romanizations, so I'd like to learn the lyrics from reading it properly in its Arabic script. I am starting with Modern Standard Arabic and may move onto a dialect later. I studied French and Spanish in school years ago. I fear that I am losing what I have lost, so I am reading and studying to keep both fresh in my mind. I was never fluent in either, but oh well. Due to my obsession with Korean dramas and Korean pop music, I have picked up a little bit of Korean here and there, but I haven't studied it in-depth. I learned how to read a bit of Hangul so I can learn lyrics properly, rather than relying on romanizations. I might want to study Russian and German eventually, but that is not a priority right now. I have been studying the Cyrillic alphabet, which is quite useful. I am also fond of Mandarin and Cantonese, so I think I may study both before I consider Russian or German. I love languages; I am perhaps a bit overzealous. I am interested in everyone else's language endeavors. What languages do you all speak?