The Lord Will Hasten His Work

I'm not one to really wax spiritual in blog posts.  I just have had some interesting discussions with co-workers and with my dad about how the Lord has hastened his work.  In D&C 88:73, the Lord said "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time."  Back when the church first started, the Lord used what technology that was available to spread the word.  There was the printing press, boats, and peoples legs.  Later on He introduced inventions like the train and planes so people could move around even faster.  Later, He introduced computers and the internet.  I was amazed at how powerful of a tool the modern computer is and how quickly information can be transmitted globally through the internet.  Why would the Lord put out such a wondrous invention?  To hasten His work.  Missionaries can now have "face-to-face" conversations with people who would normally feel too scared to let two strangers into their home.  Members can pull up genealogical records and see pictures of tombstones from the comfort of their living rooms.  They can also pull up scriptures on their smart phones and tablets.  It's incredible.

The best part?  We are probably just scratching the service.  What if there were programs/games that could help train new missionaries to preach?  What if there were games for helping new members learn about the church and about doctrine?  I could see ideas like that having a huge impact on the church's growth.  And who knows what marvelous inventions the Lord will be putting out to allow the work to spread even faster?

Keep your eyes open.  Great things are coming.

-Andrew

Finding Family Through Family History

At the beginning of this year, my wife and I started a family history class that my in-laws taught. Because of a few scheduling conflicts, the class finally ended this past week.

I'd like to share with you an experience I had while taking this class.

While the LDS Church geared up for releasing a family tree database online, it asked its members to review records and verify their accuracy. One of our classes was on the review website database.

Well, shortly before this class started, I got the opportunity to meet my friend Daniel at the SLC family history library and go through records. During this, I discovered my great-grandfather (Max) had a brother named Harry. When Harry died (supposedly, Max was told that Harry had gone missing), Max took on Harry's name as a middle name. This was prevalent in Max's 1920 and 1930 census records.

So, imagine my surprise when Max and Harry were combined in this family tree database. I thought, well, Harry's missing. They aren't the same man. The only person I knew who had touched that database was my older brother. After silently accusing him of not checking his facts, I noticed the name of the person who put those in. This person had the same last name as my grandmother's maiden name.

When I looked deeper, I realized this person must have been a member of the LDS church and was definitely not my brother, but somehow a distant relative.

This would be the first time anyone in my family would find a relative of my dad's that was LDS. So I did some googling. I had a last name and first and middle initials based on this site. It's FREAKING scary what you can find out online. Unfortunately, I could not locate an email address to see if this guy I'd "e-stalked" was really my relative.

Well, I did discover where he worked. I told this to my friend Daniel, who had a friend at the same place. An email was then located in this chain of friends and passed on to me. Did I have any idea what to say in such an email? Nope. So I just winged it and hoped the Spirit would guide my thoughts to not sound rude in the email. I felt prompted that I should put my cell phone number in the email.

Less than 15 minutes later I received a phone call. Ordinarily, if I don't know the number, I ignore it. This time, I didn't, and I was glad I didn't. For the following 45 minutes, I had a great conversation with my dad's 2nd cousin. (That makes us 2nd cousins, once removed, for those that are wondering what the term is.)

Honestly, it was such an amazing experience. Not only was I able to locate a semi-distant relative in this process, I discovered I had family in Utah.

This became even cooler as a few weeks ago, I got to bless my new daughter. Since my dad was able to be there, I thought it'd be cool if this 2nd cousin came too, so my wife and I invited him. And guess what, he came. I didn't get to talk to him that much, but he spent most the time chatting with my dad. That was more important for me.

Sorry, no photos today. I could put some random pic up that has absolutely no bearing on this topic, but in the end, I felt that words were more important.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.

Geeky Ways To Build The Kingdom

I'd like to start off this post on a bit of a personal note.  I'm an introverted person (I'm sure some of you can relate).  I generally don't feel comfortable sharing things with complete strangers, especially something as personal and valuable as the gospel.  I've often felt ashamed about the fact that I don't 'share the gospel' or help build up the kingdom by giving out 100 pass along cards or a Book of Mormon a week.  I recently realized that there are ways for an introvert like me to help build up the kingdom.

Indexing

Indexing is something that I started doing about 4 years ago.  With indexing, someone has taken a digital picture of a document, and they want the information from it captured into text form.  For instance, Family Search Indexing is currently indexing the entire 1940 US Census.  They've taken the pictures, and all they need is an army of volunteers to come, read, and enter in the data that they want from the documents.

How does this help build up the kingdom? The information from these documents is then used for genealogical work.  People can use the information from the documents to learn more about their ancestors.  Personally, most of my genealogical work has been done.  Helping with indexing makes me feel like I'm helping other people find their ancestors.

And now for a totally shameless plug, Family Search Indexing needs a lot of help with that 1940 census!  Indexing isn't too terribly difficult nor does it require a super fast computer.  You can learn more about it by clicking here.

Mormon.org profile

Mormon.org is a website dedicated to helping people who aren't members of the LDS church to learn more about the church.  They've added the ability for members to create a profile about themselves, to share how the gospel has influenced their lives, and to answer questions about what they believe in.  Creating a profile can help another person feel like the church is made up of 'real' people rather than a bunch of crazy people.

Social Media

One other way that the gospel can be shared is through social media.  Articles on lds.org can be shared via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.  By sharing about the church and its teachings, more people can be reached.  It also could help out another member who is struggling with their faith.

Blogging

Another option is to start a blog.  A blog can be a great way to share about a person's personal beliefs or their journey through life.  I've found that using Blogger was a rather easy way to start writing a blog.  Chances are that someone could be touched by personal experiences that you have to share.

All in all, helping build up the kingdom through technology is important.  It's also a good idea to balance sharing through technology with sharing in-person with other people.  Sometimes sharing the gospel is as simple as living it.