Many LDS members shared their testimony and responded to questions as part of the nearly 500 comments on Elder Holland’s Youtube video posted last week. I thought you might be interested in some of the comments left by non-members, especially the first one. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3rggCnhxQ

“I must say, what Holland is saying her makes incredible sense and something about this video really strikes a cord with me in a way that nothing else ever has. I’ve been to many churches and have heard many sermons, and if they all use the Bible I can’t see how they all come out so different. If this Book of Mormon is indeed an addition to his word, then God sure knows what he’s doing to correct where we’ve been going wrong with Christianity.”

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On Thursday, June 26 (2008), I drove from my home in Arizona the several hours it took to arrive at 5:00 p.m. at Sandy, Utah’s Southe Towne Center. I was just in time for dinner at the Olive Garden.

You know hanne_line? She is from Norway. She was visiting the United States. Since she was coming so far, she wanted to meet as many LDS.net members that could make it to the gathering.

I sat across from HiJolly (and I found out that he and I are shirttail relatives!). Honor was on my right hand, and skalenfehl’s lovely wife was on my left. pam was diagonally across from me. The rest of the friends at the table were VisionofLehi, Fernni, hanne_linne, skalenfehl, Elphaba, Strawberry Fields, Nyal (and Nyal’s brother – not an LDS.net member – yet!), AND prisonchaplain (who was vacationing in Utah with his family and seeing Temple Square for the first time; prisonchaplain is from Washington). Honor even had checkerboy on the cell phone for a minute or two for a shout out. Jonathan, Karen and Richard from More Good Foundation were also there. (I’m sorry if I missed noting anyone’s presence – let me know!)

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When I first started chatting online in 1996, there wasn’t an LDS.org website. I was also a bit naive, not realizing most people I encountered online had no idea who Mormons were. When the question of where I was from was asked, there would always be one person in the room who would say, “Utah eh? Are you a Mormon?” When I responded “Yes,” the conversation in the room would always turn into a Q&A session about Mormons. It didn’t take me long to realize that most people just wanted to find out more about what I believed. They didn’t want to talk to the Missionaries, at least not at first. One person in that I was talking with in 1997 did contact the missionaries and was baptized. But, there are many others that only wanted a few curiosities resolved. It was then that I learned the most important thing I could do is set a good example for my religion, because I may be the only Mormon these people would ever talk to.I would be the one who would determine their perspective of all Mormons.

That has been my viewpoint for the past 12 years. I started my first Mormon chat site in 1997, which became LDSTalk.com. LDSTalk.com was acquired by More Good Foundation in October 2007.I also became a part of the More Good Foundation at the same time and used LDSTalk.com as the launching pad for LDS.net.

I fondly refer to my position at More Good Foundation as “The best job, ever.” Never before in my life have I grown so much spiritually and gained so much knowledge.Each day is different, each project takes me to a new level, and those special moments when I see the work I’m doing help change someone’s life for the better, surpasses any other job I could be doing right now.

What happens when you bring together a Latter-day Saint whose commitment to the gospel is unwavering, and an atheist who does not believe in God?

What happens when you bring together a Latter-day Saint whose politics are far to the right, and an atheist whose politics are as equally far to the left?

What happens is the Latter-day Saint and the atheist develop a friendship that rises above their differing beliefs, polarized as they may be. A friendship that defies the odds, and demonstrates it is possible to come to respect each other, for who we are as well as who we aren’t.

I am the atheist, and my dear friend PaleRider is the Latter-day Saint, and we have become great pals, which would have been unbelievable ten months ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Tytto_19 will be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) on March 17, 2008. We are so happy for her. I’m so thankful for Mailis and all she does to fellowship the LDS.net members and the missionary work she is doing in Finland.

Tytto was curious about the Mormon Faith and was doing some internet research on the subject. Her research led her to an anti-Mormon forum. However, she felt mislead by the information she was receiving and sought out other Mormon sites, which led her to LDS.net. Through the friends she made on LDS.net site, she decided to contact the Missionaries. She gained a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and has decided to be baptized.

“Reaching towards Heaven” is the title that MormonSoprano gave her photo of the Salt Lake Temple. This is what she had to say about her photo:

“I took this shot during April Conference Weekend. As we walked through Temple Square I happened to glance up right as the angel Moroni was peeking through the trees, and I loved the image. Later, as I studied it, I found myself thinking there is a lot of symbolism here. I hope you enjoy it!”

There are 88 (or more!) pictures of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are being shared in the Gallery of LDS.net. Many of these pictures are photos that you may not see anywhere else on the Internet because they are photos that site members took themselves. You can a see a photo of the Mt. Timpanogos temple that my son took when we were there in March 2008 for my sister’s wedding.

Visit the LDS.net Gallery by selecting the green, square link near the top of any page on the LDS.net site. On the Main page of the Gallery, near the top on the left-hand, is a Category drop down. You can select “Temples” from the drop down choices.

Enjoy! Even better — share your own temple photos by using the Upload Your Images page in the Gallery, or the Upload Picture option at your My Account page.

It would be wonderful to be able to travel the world to see each temple in person. But we have the next best thing on LDS.net — we can see the temples through the eyes of our brothers and sisters in the Lord as we share, through photos, our own experiences with temples.

A few months ago I was asked by Mailis and Hanne_Line if there could be a site created for LDS members from Finland and Norway, respectfully. I created a Finnish and Norwegian forum and chat room for them on LDS.net, and Mailis and Hanne_Line agreed to be the moderators. Mailis and Hanne are such wonderful women, and it has been so amazing to have them be a part of the site. I really appreciate all their dedication and effort they have done to build up the information for the Church in their native language. It’s been such a wonderful experience to see the feedback from having these forums available to members and investigators of those countries.

Because of the Finnish and Norwegian sections of the website, I regularly get messages from people in those countries wondering where a Church is located and how to find out more. Mailis has currently been talking to two investigators from Finland, TMS1 and Tytto_19.  TMS1 really wants to be baptized, and Tytto_19 went to Church with Mailis last Sunday.  It is so neat to see the missionary work that is happening everyday on LDS.net.

On LDS.net, Andrew and HoosierGuy were both baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (sometimes called Mormons or Mormon Church) in March. Both have told said that their baptism was a direct result from having come to LDS.net to have some of their question answered as well as having received support from the members. I’m so happy for both of them. Here is a little about each one.

Andrew (32 from Calgary, Canada) – Joined the site on Feb 12, 2008. He talked a lot in the chat room with members, but also posted in the forums. This is one of his first posts: When I pray I don’t feel any sort of emotional response or excited, just peaceful and calm. No sort of discernment if anything is true or not, it’s good to see Hoosier so excited though, good for you. I’m not sure I could make it to the point where I could stop sinning to get baptized. Been reading your experiences Hoosier and it’s really uplifting. I’ve changed a lot over the last couple years going to church, not a Mormon church but I think I couldn’t do everything that is required of me.

HoosierGuy (36 from Indiana) Joined the site on Dec 15, 2007. He came to the site because was curious about Mormonism and had a lot of questions. This is his first post. After a few days of having his questions answered by the members of the site, he asked which book he should start reading, and was given all the information by members of the site that he should read The Book of Mormon, where to call to request a free one, and also let him know where to find it online. He started reading The Book of Mormon online, and frequently asked questions in the forums. He was a good way through The Book of Mormon, as well as the Gospel Principle Units before he called to request a copy of The Book of Mormon on Jan 9th. While anxiously waiting for his copy to arrive, he called the local missionaries on Jan. 22nd and then was baptized on March 8th. He received the Aaronic Priesthood on March 16th.

There were two members of LDS.net who were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes known as the Mormons or Mormon Church) on February 16, 2008. I wanted share a little information about each one. It’s always such a neat experience to witness such life changing events in another person’s life.


Pushka - Was baptized on Feb. 16th. She is 44 years old from England. She attended the LDS Church in her teens for about 5 years, but was never baptized. She has been a member of ldstalk.com since March 2003, after deciding that her life was not heading in the direction she wanted it to be. Her purpose was to make friends with people who had the high standards she would like in her life. Just after LDS.Net launched, she started talking with the missionaries with a desire to become a member. Here is Pushka’s gallery.


ex19k – Was baptized on Feb. 16th. He is 36 years old from Cincinnati. He use to rodeo and was raised southern baptist. He joined LDS Forums on Dec 9, 2007. He had been meeting with the missionaries, but was using the Internet to find out answers to his questions about the Church. He used the forums to talk about his concerns and ask questions of the members on the site about certain aspects of the Church.  Here is ex19k’s gallery.

This blog will be used to give updates on new features at LDS.net and report on exciting events that are happening. I’m the admin and developer for LDS.net. This blog will be maintained by me, but will also have contributions from a few of the moderating staff.