LDS Sign Language Missionaries Benefit The Most From The LDS Church's New Missionary Program

Today, the LDS Church held a historic broadcast to announce some bold new changes in its missionary program. The best part is the announcement that missionaries would be spending time on social media networks in an effort to improve missionary work.

Elder (L. Tom) Perry also announced changes Sunday in how missionaries will spend their time finding people to teach. Because many people prefer to connect online, missionaries will use the Internet and digital devices in their ministry, Elder Perry said. He noted that missionaries will use “mormon.org, Facebook, blogs, email, … text messages” and other platforms to reach out to people. “The Church must adapt to a changing world,” Elder Perry said.

Speaking earlier in the day to new mission presidents, Church leaders said that missionary use of the Internet and digital devices such as iPads will begin in phases and only in designated missions for the rest of this year. The Church anticipates these tools will be available to missionaries throughout the world sometime next year.

For me, this announcement should have been made a long time ago. I served as a Sign Language Missionary in the New York Rochester Mission from 2000-2002. The reason why this policy would have been helpful to me as a ASL missionary is because Deaf people communicate using different social media sites and other electronic communications devices. Most Deaf people I knew in Rochester communicated via text messages, e-mail, or used a number of social media sites to communicate. They also used videophones to contact one another. But we couldn't use any of these methods of communication which made it difficult to set appointments or get referrals or talk to them about Church related issues.

While many people are excited about this policy, I believe that American Sign Language missionaries will benefit the most from this program. When I got back from my mission, I continued to do missionary work with the ASL missionaries in San Diego and Anaheim. I frequently met with the Mission Presidents to advise them on how to improve the missionary work for Deaf missionaries. I also met with Church leaders in Salt Lake City to discuss way to improve the missionary work nation wide. One of the recommendations that I consistently suggested was allowing ASL missionaries to have access to the Internet and to be allowed to do missionary work online. 

I believe that ASL missionaries are the most creative and innovative missionaries the Church has. We are constantly looking for new ways to share the gospel and for new ways to improve our lessons so that the Deaf people who investigate our religion will truly understand what they are learning. We constantly think out of the box. However, in my experience as an ASL missionary and in working with other ASL missionaries after my mission, other missionaries and Mission Presidents had difficulty in accepting the unique ways we tried to share the gospelrc. Now, with this new policy, I think it will be much easier for ASL missionaries to proselyte among the Deaf and to really let our creativity and passion for the work explode. 

In addition to the new policy in allowing missionaries to use the Internet, the LDS Church is making a renewed efforts to get everyone in on doing missionary work and doing in on a united front. The LDS Church has been working hard to get members involved in the work. The Church has encourage members to join in on the missionary work online and unvieled new pass along cards for members to use that has a QR code that will link them to a website if the person scans the code on their smart phone or tablet. 

I would like members invovled in the missionary work among the Deaf. We need your help. It is just as easy as doing regular missionary work online and you help out with the work internationally. I would like to recommend a few ways you can be invovled in helping share the gospel with Deaf people online. The LDS Church has great websites. Also, many members have already jumped in creating online material that you can suggest the Deaf people you meet to lean about the gospel. Below are some great sites: 

•  A website developed by a member of the LDS Church dedicated to helping Deaf people find their local LDS Church: http://www.deaflds.org/
•  A facebook group for open for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, CODAs or people who communicate in some form of Sign Langague: LDS & ASL!!
• The LDS Church has made it so that Deaf people can attend institute online: https://studentview.ldschurch.org/Home.aspx/Home/64357 

Although there are not too many websites dedicated to sharing the gospel to Deaf people, I think that with the new policy of allowing missionaries to use the Internet, more people will be involved in creating websites and social media sites to reach out to the Deaf. 

LDS Church Unveils New Tech Savvy Pass Along Cards

Recently, I got the Ensign in the mail and I was surprised to find out that the LDS Church has new pass along cards that missionaries and members can use. The LDS Church is integrating technology known as QR Codes into the pass along cards so that people who receive them can scan them with their smart phone and be taken to an official Church website in which people can learn about specific topics about the Mormon Church. 

The LDS Church provided a supplement to the October 2012 issue of the Ensign or English Liahona that contained a page inviting members to join Mormon.org, the new pass along cards, and a page explaining how the new pass along cards work:

The Mormon Church did a trial balloon of pass along cards in 1999 and unveiled it to the entire Church in 2000. It did not contain QR codes or invite people to a social media website. The old pass along cards invited people to receive a free copy of the Book of Mormon, Bible or video by contacting the Church via phone or a website.  With the new pass along cards, its giant leap forward in how the LDS Church shares the gospel. The LDS Church saw how successful and easy it was for missionaries to share a simple message about the Church. With social media sites and technology, its makes it even more easier for us to share the gospel with others. 

I expect that these new pass along cards will be the subject of at least one or more General Conference talks. The Brethren have been been encouraging us to share the gospel online using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and other websites for a few years now. Although these speeches haven't been given yet, I hope we will be open to what they have to say with regards to how we can best share the gospel with others.

The LDS Church is becoming very bold and creative in terms of marketing, advertising and message sharing. A great example of how confident the Church is sharing the gospel is when it placed advertisements inside the Playbill of the theatrical play, The Book of Mormon Musical. See below: 

Personally, I love what the LDS Church is doing in promoting the gospel. They are being bold, brave and tech savvy. It also provides an example of how we, as members of the Church, should go about in sharing the gospel with others.

David Archuletta: I Will Be Serving A Mission For The LDS Church

David Archuletta has announced that he will be serving an LDS Mission soon. Watch the video below:

David has already been a good ambassador for our faith by using his musical talents and serving a mission will add an extra dimension to his experience in helping people become familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

How The Standard of Truth Has Been Erected

US News & World Report has an interesting short little interview with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist, and Adrian Wooldridge who have worked together to write a book. The book, God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World, makes the case that on a global scale, secularism is on the wane and religion is making a strong comeback.

In the interview with US News & World Report, the authors make an interesting observation about America's approach in resolving the tension of modernity and religion and how it has an influence on the revival of religion around the world:

"You've had two sorts of versions of modernity competing with each other, both stepping from the Enlightenment, one stepping from the French Revolution, the other from the American Revolution. The European version is: The more modern a country becomes, the less religious it becomes. The American version is: So long as you separate church and state and create a free market of religion and don't have an official church, the two things can coincide. You get competition between various religious groups, and religion can therefore become a friend of democracy, a friend of technology, a friend of all the things you see in the modern world. What you're beginning to see is the American approach to things becomes quite universalized. It is the slow spread of an American model whereby religion is a choice, not just something that's just inherited, and different religious groups compete for souls."

This is an interesting observation in light of the recent finding that most religious groups in USA are on the decline. Counting the number of adherents in a religion can be a challenge but the drop in church membership is steep enough to prompt the Christian Science Monitor to publish an article about the future collapse of Evangelical faith in the United States.

So, how is it that America can be the principal driving force for reviving religion around the world IF church membership in the United States is on the decline?

The perfect explanation for this is that we're not really reviving religion around the world. We're not reviving anything really because religion has always been around for since time began. Religion can survive, even the most harshest of circumstances, such as in secular countries or oppressive regimes as evidenced throughout history.

What is going on is that we're exporting something new that hasn't been seen since the beginning time or religion. The truth is that we're exporting the democratization of religion around the world. In other words, we're exporting the ability to choose whatever faith you want to belong to.

Its the Internet that is making the ability to learn about other religions easier. Prior to the recent explosion in communications, learning about other religions was pretty limited. You could visit some local churches, visit a library or read some news articles. However, with the Internet, anyone regardless of where they are or what kind of governmental system they live under can read up on just about any religion they want.

What we're witnessing is the fulfillment of Joseph Smith's prophecy that the standard of truth:

"will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Until I read this article, I used to think that the "standard of truth" was referring to the LDS Church. While we're seeing the rapid growth of the LDS Church around the world, I am inclined to believe that that "standard of truth" about something broader, deeper and more profound.

I believe that the "standard of truth" to represent agency, freedom, and choice. Isn't that the "truth" that we fought and defended in the Pre-existence? Isn't this the same battle we fight for on earth?

President Howard W. Hunter explained what the "War in Heaven" was all about:

"Our Father in Heaven wanted our growth to continue in mortality and to be enhanced by our freedom to choose and learn. He also wanted us to exercise our faith and our will, especially with a new physical body to master and control. But we know from both ancient and modern revelation that Satan wished to deny us our independence and agency in that now-forgotten moment long ago, even as he wishes to deny them this very hour. Indeed, Satan violently opposed the freedom of choice offered by the Father, so violently that John in the Revelation described “war in heaven” (Rev. 12:7) over the matter. Satan would have coerced us, and he would have robbed us of that most precious of gifts if he could: our freedom to choose a divine future and the exaltation we all hope to obtain."

President Gordon B. Hinckley explains that the War in Heaven continues here on earth:

"Brethren, the war goes on. It is as it was in the beginning. There may not be the intensity, and I am grateful for that. But the principles at issue are the same."

The principles are indeed the same and it is principle of agency and choice that is going forth boldly, nobly and independently. It is currently penetrating every continent, visiting every clime, sweeping every country, and sounding in every ear!