The previous Sunday, Elder Martinengo had taken several people interested in the Church to a special conference with Elder Ballard. One of them, Monica (from Brazil) , was particularly thrilled while listening to Elder Ballard. It looks like Elder Martinengo, after the end of the conference, decided to take Monica to meet Elder Ballard for a few moments. Many tears were shed by Monica during that conference, but she still had a problem. She had received her testimony of the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon Church) but she was still struggling about being baptized, because she was afraid of offending her parents, who are good catholics.

At that point Elder Martinengo felt inspired to have her talk to me, since  he obviously know of my experience at the time of my own baptism. I was also raised a catholic and I had to become a member of the Church against the will of almost any relative or friend.

To be honest, initially I thought that it would not make a real difference, but I decided to do what I was asked to do and I called Monica. After explaining her who I was (Elder Martinengo’s dad) and after a few seconds of surprise, I went straight to the point of my phone call, and explained why I was calling. After a few minutes I realized how powerful is to sincerely and openly share what you know to be true, and how powerful is to be able to relate to the specific problem of an investigator of the Church. I was catholic, and I had a similar struggle, therefore it was easy for me to relate to her.

While talking to her, I thought of a couple of powerful recent talks from general authorities of the Church that could help her undertand and make the correct decision.

The first was the powerful talk by President Uchdorf, the Faith of our Fathers, then the one by Elder Holland about Mormons being Christian and a couple of others. That was all I did. I shared my testimony and my story, gave a couple of suggestions, and then gave her the opportunity to listen to general authorities’ talks that could help her.

This last Sunday I received a phone call, actually, she left a message where she was thanking me and saying that she had been baptized and she was happy. Later she send me this email (translated):

Ola Sr. Giuseppe,

Thank you for your email. I am very happy!! Your help in my decision, even with a simple email, made a big difference. Again thank you for everything and that God may bless you and your family.

That made my day, and probably the entire week! I did not really had to do very much in terms of time or effort, but thanks to an inspired Elder missionary, thanks to a good friend of Monica who prepared her for months or even years, thanks to an inspiring conference leaded by an apostle of the Lord, another soul was brought back to the fold.

Again and again I realize the power of our testimony and sincerity, and the blessing of having modern technology, such as good videos, Internet, telephone, Skype, and so on.

We only need to make a sincere effort to live the gospel and not be afraid of sharing our feelings and testimony. Then, the pure in heart will listen and we will be able to help change lives forever.

What a great cause!

There were tweets almost about every topic, but Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s direct and emotional testimony about the veracity of the church’s Book of Mormon was followed by thousands of tweets about how powerful it was.

The article on the Daily Herald ends by stating that

even as the church’s members streamed, tweeted, IM’d, listened and watched conference on every piece of media at their disposal, Elder Russell M. Nelson said the best kind of communication doesn’t come with a cost. ‘Even more amazing that modern technology is our opportunity to access information directly from heaven, without hardware, software or monthly service fees,’ he said.

I recognize that it is a nice way of closing an article, but it may leave us with a false impression about using the Internet to spread the Gospel. Elder Nelson was trying to direct our attention to the importance of prayer, but if prayer is a great form of communication with God, it is someway limited when we try to talk to mortals. In fact, in spite of the fact that missionaries usually prepare themselves for their service through fervent prayer and fasting, and that prayer may open doors, missionaries still need to communicate directly with the people, if they want to make an effect. Angelic visitations as a consequence of prayers, such in the case of Alma praying for his son Alma the Younger, usually only come after the missionaries, or the parents, have done all they could to communicate with the people they were trying to reach.

This is a video of his talk in the previous general conference of the Mormon church

Neil Linden Andersen was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during last General Conference. Elder Andersen has been serving as a General Authority of the Church since 1993 when he became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Andersen was born in Logan, Utah, on 9 August 1951, and was raised in Pocatello, Idaho. As a young man, he served a mission in France. After his mission, he graduated from Brigham Young University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Later he moved to Tampa, Florida where he was the vice president of the Morton Plant Health System.

Between 1989 and 1992, Anderson was president of the France Bordeaux Mission and in 1993, he became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He has been the executive director of the Church’s Audio-visual Department and assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department.  In 2005, Andersen became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. Andersen married Kathy Sue Williams in 1975 and they are the parents of four children.

This video can help to understand what are some of the basic teachings of the prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It includes parts of talks by President Thomas Monson (finding joy in life), Elder L. Tom Perry (simplifying our lives), Elder Dallin H. Oaks (the sacrament meeting), President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (hope), Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (angels), Elder David A. Bednar (prayer), Elder Russell M. Nelson (celestial marriage) and several others.

We have built an entire economy on lies and deceit…It’s like building a home or an entire building on a sinkhole. You have a foundation, supposedly. But a little crack, if something goes wrong — a little earthquake, a tremor — and it starts to open, everything starts to fall down and … that is exactly what has happened in the United States of America.

Suze says the current financial downturn started all the way at the top of banks, mortgage companies and brokerage firms.

There was greed at the top — serious greed…When you have stocks, you have individual companies that want to make money. And CEOs want to make more money because the more money they make, the more their compensation is, the more their stock price goes up.

These companies made money by selling investments like mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them, Suze says (link to full article)

But is there a relationship between faith and church attendance and losing our homes? It probably depends on where we go to church and also how well we listen when we are there. According to an article on Time there may be some connection:

Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That’s what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity’s central promise — that God will “make a way” for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe “God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house.” The results, he says, “were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers.”

I am sure that among Pentecostal and other religious groups not all were “turning parishioners into prey for greedy brokers”, but I am glad that in the Mormon church, Mormon Prophets have always been clear about avoiding debts and living within our means. Those Mormons who did or do otherwise cannot blame their leaders, but only themselves, because this message of frugality has been preached over and over again. However, I believe that most members of the Mormon church have followed the inspired counsels of their leaders and are ready for the troubles. It is a blessing to have leaders that are inspired and that receive revelations for out times.

This is a link to the videos of the last Mormon General Conference

In spite of the importance of the US President Ronald Reagan in the process, I still think that the change was possible mostly because of the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. It was a lot harder for him than for Ronald Reagan to lead the change in his own country, where the opposition against reforms was a lot stronger and dangerous.

Now, the same day of the opening of the Olympics in China, Russia invaded Georgia. I was looking around in the news and I found this recent comment by Gorbachev: US could start new Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of mounting an imperialist conspiracy against Russia that could push the world into a new Cold War.

This is very interesting. We are now in 2008 and we got used to this new situation, post Cold War. However, Russia is still a major world power and even if many changes in Russia happened, it is still a very young democracy and very fluid, I would add.

According to Gorbachev,

“We had 10 years after the Cold War to build a new world order and yet we squandered them.”

“The United States cannot tolerate anyone acting independently.”

“Every US president has to have a war.”

I am not an expert in foreign policies, and I am not sure if I agree completely with Mr. Gorbachev. However, I remember President Gordon B. Hinckley – and before him many others, including President Kimball, warning against putting our trust in the arm of flesh or in the military, while at the same time forgetting that the real protection come from the Lord, who delights himself in protecting a just people, but does not respond to the pleas of an evil nation.

In the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), in October 2002, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” where he said,

Peace is a prime priority that pleads for our pursuit.The commandments to love God and neighbor are interrelated. We cannot fully love God without loving our neighbor. We cannot fully love our neighbor without loving God. Men really are brothers because God really is our Father. Nevertheless, scriptures are studded with stories of contention and combat. They strongly condemn wars of aggression but sustain obligations of citizens to defend their families and their freedoms.

I am not sure what is the right things to do, and I am glad I am not in the position of making very difficult decisions in terms of war and peace, but I know that hatred, aggression, and war only create more hatred and more wars. Russia is now creating a difficult situation, and the day they choose to attack is quite troubling, but the response to their actions may make a big difference.

If people think that there are too many pages about wars in the Book of Mormon, they simply need to realize that that book was written for our generation. It becomes always more evident why.

Speakers at this weekend’s general conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focused on subjects such as faith, strengthening families and fostering righteous traditions.

Among the many great talks these are a few thoughts from my favorites talks.

“Do not try to control your children,” Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged parents. “Instead, listen to them, help them to learn the gospel, inspire them, and lead them toward eternal life.”

President Thomas S. Monson – © 2008 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sister Cheryl C. Lant, Primary General President asked parents, “Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us?” She added, “Are our traditions being created in response to the loud voices of the world, or are they influenced by the still small voice of the Spirit?”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged attendees at conference to have: “more compassion for those who are different from us.” He added that if we were to do that: “it would lighten many of the problems and sorrows in the world today.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency noted that: “Families across the Church are searching for ways to strengthen and protect their children against the evils around them.” He added that he was: “confident that there will be, increasingly, a reward given by God for their efforts. Those who never give up will find that God never gave up and that He will help them.”

Elder Gerald N. Lund of the Seventy said: “The heart is a tender place. It is sensitive to many influences, both positive and negative. It can be hurt by others. It can be deadened by sin. It can be softened by love.” He added: “the condition of our hearts directly affects our sensitivity to spiritual things,” and encouraged attendees to: “make it a part of our everyday striving to open our hearts to the Spirit.”

“If you are currently being abused or have been in the past, find the courage to seek help,” encouraged Apostle Elder Richard G. Scott. “Have the courage to act now. Seek the support of someone you can trust. Get help now. The Lord will help you, but you must reach out for that help.”

Speaking to the young men of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson said: “My young friends, be strong. The philosophies of men surround us. The face of sin today often wears the mask of tolerance.” He added the caution: “Do not be deceived; behind that façade is heartache, unhappiness and pain. You know what is right and what is wrong, and no disguise, however appealing, can change that.”

President Monson continued: “There is no friendship more valuable than your own clear conscience, your own moral cleanliness — and what a glorious feeling it is to know that you stand in your appointed place clean and with confidence that you are worthy to do so.”

President Thomas S. Monson extended an invitation to Latter-day Saints who are not fully engaged in the Church. “Come back,” he offered. “We reach out to you in the pure love of Christ and express our desire to assist you and to welcome you into full fellowship. To those who are wounded in spirit or who are struggling and fearful, we say, let us lift you and cheer you and calm your fears.”

“Take literally the Lord’s invitation,” he continued. “‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’”

In the Sunday afternoon session, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: “Some Christians, in large measure because of their genuine love for the Bible, have declared that there can be no more authorized scripture beyond the Bible.”

He added: “In thus pronouncing the canon of revelation closed, our friends in some other faiths shut the door on divine expression that we in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hold dear — the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and the ongoing guidance received by God’s anointed prophets and apostles.”

Elder W. Craig Zwick of the Seventy said: “It requires courage to make good choices, even when others around us choose differently.” He continued: “As we make righteous choices day by day in little things, the Lord will strengthen us and help us choose the right during more difficult times.”

Apostle Elder M. Russell Ballard said: “While women live in homes under many different circumstances — married, single, widowed, or divorced, some with children and some without — all are beloved of God.” He added: “He has a plan for His righteous daughters to receive the highest blessings of eternity.”

this is the link to the full photo essay called: Tender Moments

This is the first picture and I have posted it here just to give a little taste of what you can find in the full version on Meridian Magazine. There is a lot more. I suppose that this can be considered fair use since I am only promoting their great photo essay.