Not too long ago, with a help of a good friend, I found a site where one can volunteer his or her technology knowledge to help the church (The explanation is here). I was already volunteering for the Vineyard Project, and I had heard of volunteer opportunities with technology. I just had never gone around to investigating.

So among the projects is one with the LDS Tech Blog. I am now a writer for the blog. My first article was published just before General Conference,  about interacting online as a member missionary. (If interested, you can find it here.)

To my great surprise, the Deseret News wrote about this very entry on Monday (October 10), linking to the article and recommending it as a good how-to source.

I was floored. I am also happy that I am getting one of the desires of my heart, I hope, and inspiring people around me. The reporter quoted a part of my article (in which I included a link to this blog), to my even greater surprise.

So now, I feel I have to keep writing blog entries - even with it being hard to express these things lately.

This may be a case of being careful about what I [pray] for, as I also wanted more traffic to this blog.

I will do my best though. That's all I can do.
 
Followup to "Malachi 4: 5-6"

I did meet with my bishop on Tuesday. I did tell him I want to help out with the family history program. He was very happy and asked if I'd even be willing to hold a class with the youth soon. He wants them to have names of their ancestors to take to the temple when they do baptisms (and confirmations) for the dead.

There is some irony here though. (And not just the fact that pubic speaking still triggers some level of a panic attack.) I mentioned Elder Ian S. Ardern's talk "A Time to Prepare" wherein he counsels us about the wise use of our time and expressed concern that today's technology is leading too many people to be busy but not productive - having time master us instead as it should be, we mastering our time.

Since "The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn," each time I go to the church websites for family history, I end up spending many hours looking around for my ancestors and seeing what other features there are of the site.  Though I need to do so if I am to help others in my congregation (ward) use the technology, I don' think Elder Ardern meant that it was OK to spend hours upon hours upon hours even on something of worth pursuit as family history.

Yet I am so excited to see these tools and eager to pick up where the younger of my 2 brothers has left off. Speaking of which, I need to ask him for at least copies of the family trees he created back in the days before these things were done via technology, so that I can build my tree and see about getting names ready for submission to the temple. It would be so neat if some of the youth did the baptisms and confirmations for them.

There are other things of that matter more that I need to work on. I am struggling to find out which ones I should focus on first and then fit them into a schedule that I must create so that I don't spend my entire evening internet city building. (I do not do internet farming and I do not fling angry birds into concrete walls to waste my time. It's city building thing that does it.)

Still, the fire remains lit. I want to do my family history and I want to help the youth and adults in my ward (or even stake if need by) do their family history with the wonderful technology the church has for this worthy pursuit.

I just need the Lord's help to know what it is I should do and say in this pursuit.

(Full entries on the "A Time to Prepare" and "It is Better to Look Up" still coming.)