My son, David, blogged a little about this the other day. My gratitude is a little more specific. In October 2005 General Conference President Hinckley spoke of the challenges of temple work and family history.
"One of the most troublesome aspects of our temple activity is that as we get more and more temples scattered across the earth there is duplication of effort in proxy work. People in various nations simultaneously work on the same family lines and come up with the same names. They do not know that those in other areas are doing the same thing. We, therefore, have been engaged for some time in a very difficult undertaking. To avoid such duplication, the solution lies in complex computer technology. Preliminary indications are that it will work, and if this is so, it will be a truly remarkable thing with worldwide implications."
This week I recieved my call to service as a part time, at home, Church service missionary. I will be serving in "Worldwide Support" under the Family and Church History Mission. Worldwide Support!! Isn't that incredible!! When I talked to my Missionary Leader Elder Martinez this week that is one of the things he stressed to me. We are serving people worldwide. That can only be done with modern technology.
On Friday I had the privilege to attend a "new missionary orientation phone conference meeting". I have never done anything like that before. I went to a specific web page, called a phone number and you see and hear everything along with other new missionaries. People from all over the country. We learned how to access the Church's online training. I was so impressed with everything on there. The Church has an amazing intranet system. I will be in training for two months, then I will use the technology to help people with Family Search, the New Family Search, and with PAF (Personal Ancestral File) programs. I'm extremely excited. I'm so grateful to be a very small part of this program inspired by a Prophet using modern technology!!!
