Bringing Others Closer to Christ

This week we have done a lot of filming for the Oma and Opa Show.  This is an hour long show we make each year for the grandkids for Christmas.  Last night we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and included them in our show.  During the course of the evening we did several video clips.  Here they are watching themselves on the video camera.

Work this week was extremely fulfilling.  Before I tell you what happened, it is necessary to tell you what our missionary assignment really entails.  We are responsible for encouraging each Stake or District in Europe (over 100) to call a Melchizedek priesthood member to be the Stake or District Technology Specialist (STS or DTs) for their area.  Many of those STSs who are called already have technical skills.  At that point, it is our job to train them with the equipment and software the Church provides them. 

These individuals are so important.  This is not only because technology is becoming so imperative to communicate and function quickly in this fast-paced world, but, here in Europe, there are so many areas where members live extremely distant from one another.  In order for leaders to meet together and discuss sensitive and important issues or for training, or for people to travel to conferences to hear the word of God and be uplifted, it becomes quite a sacrifice on members--monetarily, let alone time away from home.  Webcasting and Personal Video Conferencing (PVC) turn out to be wonderful blessing for those areas of Europe.

Currently 85% of the Stakes and Districts in Europe have an STS or DTS to oversee the technology issues in their area.  We sent letters out to those Stakes and Districts who do not have any STS or DTS.  We have learned that many struggle with who to call to such a position.  There just are not enough men to call from.  We were successful in telling them that there is another alternative.  They could call an Assistant Technology Specialist (aTS).  An aTS can be any youth from age 12 and older or an adult sister.  We have received several responses back thanking us for that information and that there was hope now in finding someone to oversee the technology in their area.  This was especially helpful to a District in Slovakia, another in Moldova, and another in Portugal.

As mentioned earlier, it is our assignment to help train and to be a technical resource for the STSs.  We received an email from an STS in England.  He told a sad story of a woman who signed for her deaf husband.   During General Conferences, she would sign for him during each 2-hour session.  Her arms would ache with pain.  She also had to sign for him during church, even when video clips were shown.  The STS said he did some research and could not find Closed Captioning on many of the church's films or on conferences.

We were able to research this and found out that this is true on mobile devices, but not so true with PCs.  When General Conference is broadcast from Salt Lake City, a special channel is set up for American Sign Language (ASL) during the broadcast.  This is only through satellite broadcasting and not webcasting.  We believe that this information will be invaluable to the sister.

What made this week especially great for us was not only successfully helping to make a difference for members in other areas of Europe, but also helping the one member as well.

It is wonderful to have the opportunity to serve the Lord and our brothers and sisters here in Europe.  We pray every day for our families and for many of you, our friends.

By the way, Sister Griffen is transferring in a couple of days.  We will really miss her and her accent.  She is originally from Scotland and moved with her parents to New Zealand.

Sister Griffen, Sister Schulz, and us!