If you're new here, read more about the More Good Foundation. We help members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) share their beliefs on the Internet. Learn more about what Mormons believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recently launched an official Tech Web site,  LDS Tech, at www.tech.lds.org.  With a Wiki, forum, Q/A, and listing of current projects, the aim of the site is to give viewers a glimpse of what the Church is doing globally in technology, and to solicit feedbackand assistance from those in the community whose talents lie in technical areas.

As stated on the site, the site developers hope specifically to:

Share

We want to share with you some of the technologies that we currently employ at the Church and provide you the opportunity to comment and contribute to technical issues, challenges, and problems we encounter.  We want to give you visibility into how we approach and accomplish this important technical work for the Church.  We want to share with you the fulfilling experience of working for the Church as well as showing you different career paths that are available.

Engage

We want to engage you as a technology community in meaningful and helpful dialog around the various technology products that we develop.  We recognize that there is a lot of specialized technical talent within the membership of the Church that can provide needed and valuable input on the various technical challenges that we face.

Enlist

We want to enlist your help in testing the various products and services that we produce.  Your feedback will be critical to the effective deployment of these products, and your support and productive use of them will be our measure of success.

Encourage

We want to encourage you to participate in the discussions around the different solutions, products, and technical documents that we provide.  We want you to share your expertise and ideas about the different technology challenges that we face.  The broad depth of your experience, and the innovation of your ideas will  help us to create better products benefiting the membership of the Church.

Projects already posted on tech.lds.org include maps.lds.org which leverages several different data management technologies; the Internet Mission Office System; and scaling Nagios to span multiple Church servers.

Pass this on to those you know who would like to be involved in the site or in testing products and offering feedback to those involved.

Tags: Church technology, LDSTec

In celebration of its 10 year anniversary, Google has released a tool for searching its oldest search index, from 2001. A search for “Mormon beliefs” or “Mormon missionaries” returned a very different set of results 7 years ago.

Due to the efforts of the Church and many Church members, people looking for information about Mormonism can now expect to find a wide variety of stories, testimonies, and experiences from Mormons living their faith.

And there’s still more to do.

Tags: Google, history

A couple in Texas visited Mormonchurch.com after receiving members’ help in cleaning up in the wake of Hurricane Ike.  Gloria writes:

My husband & I wish to express our heartfelt & deepest appreciation for the help of the Mormon volunteers who helped get our driveway cleared of debris caused by Hurricane IKE.  They did a fantastic job!  They were Heaven Sent!  We live at [  ],  Bacliff, TX.  I did not get to thank them personally but I do hope you can let them know how appreciative we are of their help!

My husband had just gotten out of the hospital & we needed help desperately!  Please pray for all the people in our community & all those affected by Hurricane IKE!  FEMA is doing nothing for us except providing ratty hotel rooms & many people have lost their homes and have no furniture, appliances, etc.!  You just do not know the desperate situation unless you are personally affected!  This place looks like a few bombs were dropped on it!

Please express our sincere appreciation for your volunteers help!  May GOD bless you all!

Gloria

What a great tribute to those Helping Hands and the Savior’s plan to help the poor and the needy worldwide.

We’ve responded to Gloria’s note, including a copy of the World Report in our response, and an offer to connect her with Stake leaders in her area who can assess her further needs and reconnect her with the missionaries or members who assisted her.

Tags: Hurricane Ike, Mormon Helping Hands, Mormon humanitarian service, Texas cleanup

Carlos, a visitor to Mormonismo.net, has been led to the waters of baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes referred to as the “Mormon” Church).  He shares his witness of the truth below:

Quisiera agradecer a la iglesia por permitirme conocer la verdad por medio delos misioneros sud, ya que antes de ceptar a Jesucristo en mi vida y mejorar como individuo y progresaren mi vida espiritual, yo era musulman y tenia un sincero anhelo de conocerla verdad y a pesar de todo no sabia como pensaba de Muhammad ( salalahu alehi wa salam ) ahora se que criterio tiene la iglesia sud de muhammad (saws), agradezco mucho a mi padre Celestial por permitirme conocer la verdad restaurada del evangelio y la plenitud de la verdad por medio de nuestro amadisimo profeta Joseph Smith ya que en una oportunidad el se comparo al profeta ismaelita, sse con todo mi corazon que este evangelio es verdadero y no tengo la menor duda de ello y lo dejo en el sagrado nombre de Jesucristo nuestro salvador AMEN”

Translation: I would like to thank the Church for allowing me to know the truth through the LDS missionaries, because before I accepted Jesus Christ in my life and become a better individual and progress spiritually I was a Muslim and had a sincere desire to know the truth.  Above all I didn’t know what to think about Muhammad. . . . Now I know what criteria the LDS Church has with respect to Muhammad, I thank my Heavenly Father very much for allowing me to know the restored truth and gospel and the fullness of the truth through our beloved prophet Joseph Smith given that in one opportunity he was compared to the Ishmaelite prophet.  I know with all my heart that this gospel is true and I don’t have the slightest doubt, and I leave this in the sacred name of Jesus Christ our Savior, amen.

Tags: baptisms through online missionary work, gospel of Jesus Christ, More Good Foundation, Mormon Church, mormonismo.net, online LDS sites, Online missionary work

In response to a post on the More Good Foundation website, “‘Criticisms Create Interest’” in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” a site visitor, Rick, recorded the following:

As an individual investigating the church over the past few months, I can only encourage Mormons to speak confidently and openly about their faith. Of course, one shouldn’t be too pushy or self-righteous when doing this because that can make others uncomfortable. I, personally, am grateful for the many postings on the various websites and weblogs because they are so personal. It speaks much for your church that it and its members are willing to make available to the general public so much information. When I view the websites of other religions, many are very confusing in their content or organization. Some have little information available online. I admire so much the personal testimonies of the Mormons. In fact, they are what have moved me to accept the missionaries invitation to be baptized in the church (Rick).

Tags: Mormon beliefs online, Mormon testimonies, Mormon weblogs, share beliefs in confidence, sharing faith online, value of sharing gospel online

A Mormon (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) joined LDS.net and shares her positive experience online in a social network opening up the world to Mormons, and Mormons to the world, in discussions of faith:

I have met some great people on LDS.net, it’s nice to be able to find a place where I can talk with other members while staying anonymous.  I was looking for a blogging site that was LDS and found yours.  I had no expectations when I came there so you might say that my expectations have been surpassed.  I love how the people on there support each other.  I can’t think of anything that you could add since it seems to have everything I look for.

I appreciate the fact that there are sites like this on the internet.  Thank you so much for making this possible (Debra).

Tags: community, LDS.net, online forums, place to talk with other LDS members online

A visitor to an LDS social networking site, LDS.net, where Mormons share their voices and faith transparently, explains what she experienced as a result of her associations with other site members:

I stumbled into the LDSTalk chat room 7 1/2 years ago. I had been inactive for over 12 years and did not have any LDS friends. I wanted a place to chat with LDS people, in a non threatening way to try and “ease” back into the church. Ben always gave me great advice and encouragement as I started going back to church. Another person I met in the chat room was Giggles. She has been by my side through the good times, bad times, and every step of the way as I became active and was with me in March when I went through the Temple to receive my endowments. I would certainly consider her friendship and influence in my life a positive and thinking about it now, would say that I owe you a debt of gratitude Heather for providing us a chat room to meet in. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Tags: helping less active Mormons, LDS.net, Online missionary work, online reactivation

Mormonchurch.com is an unofficial interactive question/answer website about Mormon life and beliefs.  The website is called “Mormonchurch.com” since friends of other faiths frequently use those terms when they Google Mormons. (The correct name of the church is actually The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

A Muslim woman, after visiting the website, shared her gratitude for the tenor and approach Mormons maintain on the site. She had read a post by Brian Haiglud on how Mormons view Mohammud:

Thank you so much for that. As a Muslim, it is a beautiful thing when people of one faith acknowledge another’s faith without bashing, but rather, with understanding, and I am very happy that instead of finding in other sites anti-Islamic thoughts, here you depicted a positive image, and I do believe we can all live in brotherhood, with both our similarities and differences. We are all God’s creatures, and to Him we shall all return, and it is best when we show Him that we all did our best to maintain peace with one another. As Islam teaches us, God had said He ‘created you from a single pair of a male and a female and made you unto nations and tribes [not so that you may despise each other but) SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW EACH OTHER.’  (Sally)

Tags: mormon missionary work online, Mormonchurch.com, Mormons and Muslims

Pablo, a visitor to our mormonismo.net website, thanks Mormons for their tolerance and respect for those of other faiths:

Bueno soy cristiano catolico Romano saven ustedes los admiro mucho ya que son la unica iglesia junto con la ortodoxia que no habla mal de la nuestra de hecho nos respetan sin ofenderlos,verdaderamente ustedes son dignos de llamarlos hermanos pues bien si un hermano sud desea Hablar conmigo mi msn es … que Jesus les bendiga amen ¡Ave maria purisima! GLORIA AL PADRE HIJO Y AL EPSIRITU SANTO COMO ERA UNO EN EL PRINCIPO POR LOS SIGLOS DE SiGLOS AMEN”

Translation: Well, I’m a Roman Catholic Christian.  You know, I admire you very much since you’re the only church along with the orthodox that doesn’t speak ill of ours; in fact you respect us without offense.  Truly you are worthy to be called brothers, so if any brother wishes to talk to me my msn is ……may Jesus bless you amen.  Hail Mary! GLORY TO THE FATHER THE SON AND THE HOLY GHOST AS THEY WERE ONE FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME, AMEN. Pablo

Tags: Mormon tolerance, Mormons don't contend, Mormons respect other faiths, online forums LDS

Ceeboo, one of the members of LDS.net–a global social networking community–sent this note to one of the moderators, Pam:

I do sincerely appreciate the ability that we have in this forum to share opposing beliefs while still lending each other the respect, dignity, and Christian tone that seems to be very much alive. I thank you (as well as many others) for that. IMHO, the opportunity that exists to learn, appreciate, and share our different views represent a tremendous platform that WE ALL can gain from as well as be humbled by. I think this forum is filled (you certainly included) with several awesome people who respect and do their very best to contribute under the umbrella of love and Christianity. This is the main reason I have stayed and am now senior member (Ceeboo, LDS.net).

Tags: missionary work online, Mormon forums, Mormon online discussion forums