I wanted to let you all know a few things that have been going on in our mission. Because our missionaries have valiantly reported on %98 of our referrals we have been chosen as one of nine missions for the Church to launch their pilot campaign for Mormon.org. What this means is that the church has bought several spots an hour to show their wonderful new commercials about wonderful people of all back grounds, interests, and accomplishments, that are also members of the church. They have also put up Many large billboards around the city and on the Bus Stops.The objective is to dispel some of the stereotypes that exist about being a member of the Church, bring the church out of obscurity, and peak the interest of the community. It has created a very positive buzz. The first week that the public news saw all of the commercials they wanted to know what it was all about. They visited briefly with President and then we referred them to the church's public media person. That night they had a spot on the news where they showed some of the commercials and told a little bit about the church. It was very favorable This past weekend there was a two full page article in the main Baton Rouge paper about the campaign and about several of our local members. One of our brothers is a Basketball coach for LSU. They interviewed him and his little family, the offensive coach for the LSU Football team is a member and they highlighted him. They talked about other well known members and talked about the reasons behind the campaign and what the church believes and the values we stand for. MR. Taylor the religious editor got acquainted with us during Reflections of Christ and so he called President and spent about an hour with us asking questions and letting us share our beliefs and perspectives with him. He quoted president several times in the article and reported everything very accurately and respectfully.
The important thing is the opportunity it gives our members to go on the website and make a profile about themselves and then they can have fun sending their friends to the website to see their profile. If you haven't had a chance to visit the site i the past 8 weeks please take the opportunity . It is a wonderful tool. You can view the commercials, watch many wonderful videos on our values of family , humanitarian service, and faith. It is a great place to refer your friends. Teenagers will love it because it is a little like Facebook. We have had a baptism from a young man viewing the commercials, going the site , reading everything there was to read, finding the meeting house and time in the information and being taught by the missionaries. He was baptized , saying everything he has felt was missing in all of the religions he has been part of, he found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so happy and is very involved in the student ward here in Baton Rouge. President and I took a young woman to church yesterday that first went on Mormon.org three months ago and loved it. She loved church yesterday. "Everyone is so happy" was her first comment. AS our friends and family visit Mormon.org, they will see many happy people that are experiencing many of the financial challenges, and adversities in life that they are, but they know that they have a purpose and that they have the channels of prayer and the Gift of the Holy Ghost to "tell them all things what they should do." They understand the Atonement and that the Savior can heal their hearts and magnify their adversities to their good.
What a blessing to have this campaign in the GLBRM. I was in a meeting last week where the administrative director of the MTC commented on some of the logistics behind the campaign. The Lord is truly rolling his work forward. It's an exciting time to be involved in missionary work
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