As my eyes well up with tears, I think about the encounters I’ve been priviledged to have with such an admirable man. His nephew was in our ward, so he came to our ward and visited our little Primary. Just last summer my husband and I had the priviledge and good fortune to attend his birthday celebration during the dedication of the alumni building named in his honor on the campus of Brigham Young University. I’ve shaken his hand and have listened to him on many occasions. As a result, my life has been blessed.

It brings a measure of solace to know that he has gone to the other side of the veil and is re-united with his beloved wife, Marjorie. He has missed her terribly since her passing almost three years ago.

I am only one of the millions of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I love him and will miss him. He has served us, as our Prophet, untiringly and with such love and kindness.

God Be With You…Til We Meet Again.

You can listen to him speak or print out the transcript of his talk to read by going to lds.org. Navigate to it through the link on the current home page or here then click on the videos tab and press the play arrow to listen to the talk or press PRINT under the title and print your copy. You can even email the article to yourself or someone you think would be interested in it.

Also, you can get Elder Ballard’s biography by clicking his name highligted in the summary of the article as well as two related full news stories regarding church information resources.

The first news story, Church Web Sites: Information Resources for the Public explains the evolution of the church’s use of the Internet to disseminate information about the church. It also explains where to go to get official L.D.S. church information is on the following sites:

www.newsroom.lds.org
Resource for news media, opinion leaders and the public containing:
- news stories
- official Church statements on public issues
- official Church responses to news reports about the Church
- background reference material on Church beliefs & practices
- topics
- biographies of senior Church leaders
- identifies Church spokespersons & how to contact them

www.lds.org
Content written for Church-member audience such as:
- lesson manuals
- lay clergy resources
- scriptures
- magazines
- senior leadership talks
- ideas to strengthen families
- chapel locations & meeting times
- local congregation Web pages
- links to all other Church sites

www.familysearch.org
This official genealogy site for the Church containing family history records which include:
- census indexes
- vital records
- user-submitted pedigree charts
Also, this site:
- is connected to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City
- provides locations of family history centers of the Church across the globe

www.mormon.org
Dedicated to helping the general public understand the basic beliefs and practices of the Church
- information is provided in a simple format, avoiding the use of words that may only be familiar to members of the Church
- answers often-asked questions by new Church converts or those seeking to know more about Church beliefs
- the ability to chat live with a Church member

www.providentliving.org
Designed for Church members, but also useful for the wider public, includes information and resourses on such things as:
Information regarding
- self-reliance
- emergency preparedness
- humanitarian efforts
- family budgets
- food storage
- updates on ongoing global initiatives
- emergency disaster response

The second article, Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church, is the transcript of Elder Ballards speech mentioned above.

Nice to know that the Church is interested in using technology to reach out to those who are and aren’t members in getting accurate information into the public realm.

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

While the Lord is speaking about Israel, I believe what he says also apply to children who stray and their faithful parents. Our loving father tells parents to gird up their faith, in a sense, and have faith that one day our work in behalf of our children will be rewarded. He reassures us that our beloved children will one day “come again from the land of the enemy”—who is Satan. Remember there is hope in our bending our knees in prayer and our bending our will to the Lord. As we exercise faith in things hoped for but not seen, we cling to the promise that even our wandering children will “come again to their own border”—the ways of righteousness they were taught in their youth.

-J