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I thought that it would be nice to keep a snapshot of when we reached 1,000 articles on our Mormonwiki. If you click on the thumbnail it will be enlarged.

Mormon Testimonies is growing but we need more written and video testimonies, especially conversion stories.

These are a few new ones that you may like:

Susan Easton Black (link to the site)

Valerie Finnegan, a convert from Scotland (link to the site)

Ott Dameron, a convert from the US (link to the site)

Giuseppe.. I know this guy very well. (link to the site)

Francesco Lepore (another convert from Italy) (link to the site)

Jesus was not afraid of mixing with sinners and publicans to do His work on the earth. In fact, He was often criticized by the Pharisees for not being like them (self-righteous and focused on their own interests, I would say).

We read in Matthews 9: 10-13:

“And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Where are the sinners and publicans of our generation? First of all, we are all, at least in part, sinners and publicans, but where are those who are lost in the world and don’t really know where to go or what to do to improve their lives? Probably at least some of them spend some of their time on YouTube watching videos, even those that may not be appropriate. Also, many very good people who are not members of the Mormon Church are constantly on the Internet looking for something.

I had an interesting experience with a very, very good man. I talked with him recently about our site MormonTestimonies and he was impressed and said that he would take a look and perhaps help with something.

However, the next day I received a call from him. He was very alarmed, “You have a major problem with your site” – he said. I got really concerned. He continued, “When a video testimony ends, there are links to several inappropriate videos, even against the Church.”

“This is not good, for sure”, I thought. I knew a little bit about this problem and we were already thinking of fixing it someway, but I didn’t think someone could be so concerned about it. I never watched those bad videos, but apparently my friend watched at least part of them. So, similarly to my friend, other people may think that we sponsor those bad videos. We don’t want to give that impression.

To fix it, we decided to “embed” videos from Google Videos instead than from YouTube, since we don’t have yet our own system for videos. When someone watches a video testimony from our site that is embedded from Google videos, there aren’t links at the bottom, so that there is no way to find negative content from our site, only the good testimony.

I am grateful to my friend for his suggestion.

However, I thought, what about YouTube in general, should we remove all of our videos from there because they can be listed close to a bad video?

Are we afraid of being seen with sinners and publicans?

So, should we avoid posting good content on YouTube or Google videos because we don’t want our name or face to be “seen” close to less positive material? Even more, are we afraid of doing anything on the Internet because – obviously – in some Google search our site can come up close to a bad site? If we go this route we are in serious troubles, since even Church websites show up in Google close to bad ones.

I believe that in order to do missionary work we need to lose some concern with ourselves and we need to be willing to be seen “eating with publicans and sinners” sometimes, because we want to help them find the truth. And the Internet is a very safe place to do it, after all, since we don’t even have to sit close to them physically, we are only sending a short video of ourselves and I don’t think we have anything to be afraid of.

Yesterday I did something that I usually don’t do. I started watching TV at night, skipping through different channels. While I was looking for something interesting, I found Glenn Beck’s show. I was struck by what he was saying and by his tone. This is what he said right in the beginning:

Tonight’s program is deeply personal. For the first time since I’ve been doing this show, I have no idea how it’s going to play out, what’s going to happen. I do know that the show will be honest and, hopefully, include an example of integrity. Here is the point tonight…

Earlier this week Reverend Al Sharpton, who has appeared on this program many times, was involved in a debate about atheism with the author Christopher Hitchens, himself an atheist.

When Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith was introduced into the debate, Sharpton said, quote, “As for the one running—the one Mormon running for office—those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway. So don’t worry about that.

Wow! I thought, this is going to be really interesting! And it was.

I am not interested here to comment on what Al Sharpton said or intended to say about Mormons, but I want to underline something about Glenn Beck. He said, among other things:

I’m a Mormon. I’m a Christian, and I’m not a bigot and I am offended.

He was bold enough and willing to take a risk in his personal career to defend his faith. He gave his testimony of what he knows by defending the Church several times. For example, in response to Al Sharpton’s comment on the status of blacks in Mormonism, he said,

And to go back and say, “Were you a part of this? Are you still a bigot?” is very offensive, especially . . . especially since most of America has no real clue as to the history of the Mormons. We’re the first religion—the only religion —to have an extermination order against us in the United States of America. Until 1978 or ‘79, it was legal, in Missouri, to kill a Mormon. It was removed after 19— the ’70s.

They (the Mormons) left—the reason why they were chased out of Missouri, one of the main reasons, is because they were abolitionists. They were fighting and standing up against slavery. And then to be called bigoted and, “Were you a part of that” is offensive.

I loved this.

However, I am sure that Glenn Beck has not been the only one to stand up for the Mormon faith with Al Sharpton. Others must have talked with Reverend Al Sharpton in the past few days because during the program he admitted,

Now, in the last 48 hours, I’ve heard a lot about Mormons that I didn’t know.

I am sure that Reverend Al Sharpton is learning more about the Mormons in these days. And while I think that his comment was not completely innocent, I also believe that in part his wrong perceptions are due to lack of true knowledge. When I say true knowledge, I mean testimonies coming from members of the Mormon Church, as opposed to misleading information coming from people who don’t really know what they are talking about or that try to mislead on purpose.

I hate commercials on TV, so as soon as the first commercial started I changed the channel. Interestingly enough, Marie Osmond, another famous Mormon, whose brother Alan is by chance my good neighbor, was on Larry King’s show.

She was also great in defending his Church, as when she said that obviously Mormons are Christians, in fact the name of the Church is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Duh!

So now what? I think we should all be bold enough and share our testimonies every time we can, to help people like Al Sharpton (and other, less famous people) to understand what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is and what it really stands for. We need to show the light to dispel darkness.

To help you with this, we have created MormonTestimonies, a site that needs your help. Go now and write your testimony and/or make a short video. Also, share this idea with your family and friends, with your ward mission leader, your bishop, your stake president, and so on.

Here there are a few video testimonies for you to see . . . and you can do even better!

I have found an interesting site with many videos about the Mormon Church and the Mormons: MormonWebTV. Some are very good and others are not, but I haven’t found any really bad. I think it is an interesting source to find videos related to the Church and the Mormons.

There are many videos online about the Mormon Church, some good and some not really good. We think that another way of making our voices heard on the Internet is to share our testimony on a short video.

A week or so ago I decided to use an opportunity in my ward at a high priest social to ask some people to give their testimony on video. We had a dinner and then I showed an inspiring video from the San Jose mission about missionary work. After the presentation I asked the high priests if they would like to give their testimony on a video. Several of them accepted the challenge even if they were not expecting that.

We have posted a few of those videos on YouTube. They are in all in Portuguese but even if you don’t understand Portuguese, you can get an idea. We have then included a link to those videos from the site Mormon Testimonies so that people can not only read your testimonies but also hear them.

I would invite all of you to share your testimonies in writing and / or in video and then point your friends to them from Mormon Testimonies and other websites of your choice.

In the last weekend in Salt Lake City The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had its 177th Annual General Conference.

Many talks were highly inspiring but thinking about MGF and missionary work online this is my take of the Conference (all personal opinion, obviously).

I can’t remember of any specific talk given about missionary work, but several speakers, including the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder Tom Perry, gave straightforward testimonies of the truth of the message of the Church. Perhaps we are approaching the time in which nothing less than a direct testimony will save the world (or at least some of his inhabitants). People need to choose, as Joshua said a long time ago, who they want to serve.

We should follow our leaders in giving more frequently our testimonies to the world, and since very few of us have the opportunity of being broadcasted on television to millions of people, we may consider the easier medium offered by the internet. Our Mormon Testimonies Website can help you in doing it. You can do it individually or you can organize a group of members and have them write their testimonies (and stories) on the website.

President James E. Faust described the great forgiving attitude of the Amish. The Amish obviously don’t use Internet, but I am sure that those people involved in that great forgiving episode, if they were using the Internet, they wouldn’t be involved in criticizing the Mormon Church. They have better things to do, and I am sure that they are getting closer to the Lord because of that.

I have the impression that even more that in the past, what really matters is not the official religious affiliation, but where people’s hearts are. In other words, the ways of the Lord and the ways of the world are diverging always more and good and honest people from all denominations (such as that groups of Amish, for example) will be attracted to the truth soon or later, even if after this life. On the other hand, even some members of the truth Church, who are simply members for other reasons than the love of the truth, will not be able to stand the day and will fall away, eventually.

So, let us be courageous (as President Monson said) and let us help the Church by writing our testimonies, so that the world will read them and some souls will be converted. Don’t worry if your writing is not perfect. Joseph Smith’s writing wasn’t either!

We have recently launched a new website, a wiki, that everybody can edit, called Mormon Testimonies.org. Amy already wrote about it, but I would like to stress a little more the importance of giving our testimonies.

Yesterday, my stake president, in his remarks at the ward conference asked, “What if James had not written his powerful testimony in the Bible? Or what if Joseph Smith had not read it?”. I think that we often underestimate the power of written testimonies and their role in the Retoration of the Gospel.

To spread his work the Lord uses a system of witnesses rather than personal observation. Joseph Smith and his translation of the Book of Mormon stand as the first witness to this generation of the truth of the Restored Gospel and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). But Joseph Smith’s testimony was not to stand alone, in keeping with the law revealed to Moses and also taught by Jesus “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses” (Deut. 17;6; Matt. 18:16), the Lord revealed to Joseph that others would be called to testify, “in addition to your testimony, the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call and ordain” (D&C 5:11).

The Three Witnesses (Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris) were a tremendous blessing to the Prophet. The prophet was released of a great pressure after the Lord has caused the plates to be shown to them.

However, we all know that those testimonies are not enough to move the work to the extreme ends of the earth.

Perhaps the power of a witness can be comprehended more easily in light of the Lord’s promise of a third kind of witness to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of the Church: a personal witness of his Spirit to those who accept the truth of the Book of Mormon and of the Church. The Lord has said, “And behold, whosoever believeth on my words, them will I visit with the manifestation of my Spirit; and they shall be born of me, even of water and of the Spirit” (D&C 5:16). There is no refutation of a testimony borne and accompanied by the Holy Spirit.

This type of pure testimony, accompanied by the Spirit of God, will save those who accept it.

As one receive a witness, one become able to influence others. Think of the power of a website were thousands of testimonies of members of the Church from all over the world are recorded together for the benefit of the members themselves, but especially for those who don’t know yet where to find the truth.

Let us join together and give our testimonies to the world. Let us tell our friends about this Website so that thousands of members will join to give their testimony. Later they will be able to ask their non-members friend to read their and other members’ testimonies and perhaps change the lives of thousands of people around the world.

I hope that this site will become a reference for members, missionaries, and honest truth seekers.

I finally decided to write (and I wrote) my testimony about the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church) and post it online.

I decided to do it in two parts. The first part is mostly the story of what happened in my life that prepared me to accept the Gospel. I was an Italian Catholic and the Mormon Church over there was, and unfortunately still is, not well known. To become a Mormon in Italy still requires a lot of internal and external struggles and perhaps a certain amount of time to prepare. I can say with confidence that the Lord prepared me over many years until I was ready to understand and accept the Restored Gospel. This is the link in case you are interested in reading it: Before my testimony

The second part deals with the period of my conversion and according to a couple of friends, it is the best part, because it is shorter and really contains my testimony. This is the link: My Testimony: Why I do believe

It was a great experience for me to write these two blogs-testimonies. I remembered many important things of my life and it actually was a spiritual experience. I invite all of you to do the same: write your story and testimony and publish it on the Internet. If you don’t have a blog and you don’t know where to post your testimony, just contact us and we will help you with that, but we need your testimonies. In fact, the world needs your testimony! You never know who will read it and be touched by the Spirit!

Mi ricordo che molti anni fa quando vivevo in Italia (e lo stesso succedeva quando vivevo in Brasile) i membri della Chiesa aiutavano i missionari scrivendo le loro testimonianze in copie del libro di Mormon che poi davano ai loro amici e ad altre persone che erano interessate alla Chiesa Mormone.

L’ idea era che una testimonianza personale aiutava i non-membri a capire che i missionari non erano gli unici membri della Chiesa e che molte persone “normali” credevano che il libro di Mormon fosse un libro sacro e cercavano di seguirne gli insegnamenti nella loro vita quotidiana.

Probabilmente molti rami e rioni organizzano ancora questo tipo di attivita’. L’ ascesa dell’ internet nella nostra vita quotidiana ci offre una nuova opportunita’ di condividere i nostri sentimenti e convizioni riguardo il libro di Mormon e la Chiesa di Gesu’ Cristo. In questo caso, pero’ possiamo raggiungere molte piu’ persone. Abbiamo l’ opportunita’ di diventare missionari nell’ Internet. Tutto quello che dobbiamo fare e’ usare un po’ del nostro tempo e desiderare di condividere la nostra testimonianza con altre persone.

Come puoi farlo ? Puoi sederti davanti a una videocamera e registrare la tua testimonianza. Non c’ e’ bisogno che sia lunga, infatti una testimonianza di due o tre minuti e’ sufficiente. Dopodiche’ puoi caricare (upload) la tua testimonianza usando uno dei video servizi online come YouTube cosi’ che altri potranno ascoltarla.

Quando carichi il video hai la possibilita’ di dargli un titolo e di scegliere parole chiave (keywords) per il tuo video. Cerca di includere un titolo e parole chiavi che siano rilevanti, come Libro di Mormon, Tempio Mormone, Gesu’ Cristo, Profeti moderni, o testimonianza della Chiesa Mormone. Pensa in quei termini che possano essere significativi per non-membri, cosi’ loro potranno trovare il tuo video piu’ facilmente quando cercano quelle parole nei motori di ricerca.

Quanto tempo dovrai spendere per fare questo video? Non molto. Probabilmente meno di un’ ora a meno che tu non decida di fare un progetto di ramo o di rione! Questa semplice idea, se attuata, potra’ eventualmente piantare un seme che produrra’ molti frutti.

Se decide di caricare un video con la tua testimonianza, fammelo sapere usando la forma do contatto. Sarei contento di vederlo.