New Church Website Will Help Chinese Nationals, Church Leaders Around the World

SALT LAKE CITY — 

A new website is being launched that is designed specifically for those from the People’s Republic of China who have joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in other nations of the world.

Church leaders say thousands of persons born in China have encountered the Church and become members while living in other nations, especially the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Chinese language congregations are now found in several countries.

Broadcast-quality, downloadable video of Elder Dallin H. Oaks interview

Many of these Chinese members remain where they have been working or studying, but many also return to China and do not know how to find the Church in their country and may not understand how they should comply with Chinese laws in relation to religious practice.

With the launch of the new website at mormonsandchina.org, the Church is addressing for the first time a number of questions about its members and operations in China. The site acknowledges that, historically, it has made few public statements about the Church in China.

The new website includes the most frequently asked questions by PRC Chinese members outside China and by Church leaders who work around the world with those members. It gives needed basic information for PRC Chinese members returning to China, including whom to contact for information, attending Sunday Church meetings and encouragement to observe relevant Chinese laws.

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A new website is being launched that is designed specifically for those from the People’s Republic of China who have joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in other nations of the world.© 2013 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

“Our more open communication about the Church in China follows our developed relationship of trust with Chinese officials and our concern for the PRC citizens who are joining the Church throughout the world,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks, who has long supervised the Church in the People’s Republic of China under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“We will continue to teach our members to be good citizens. Providing accurate information about the Church will allow them to better contribute to society in China,” he said.

The Church hopes that making information public will counter many unsubstantiated rumors that circulate about the Church in China, including whether the Church is sending missionaries to the PRC.

Eldees for PRC Chinese members, whose branches are directed by their own local priesthood leaders.r Oaks said the Church has no proselytizing missionaries in the PRC, nor does it have any plans to send missionaries or to engage in proselytizing activities in China. Furthermore, this new site is in no way related to the recent Church announcement lowering the age of eligibility for full-time missionary service.

“Over the years, the Church has built a strong relationship of trust with the People’s Republic of China by always respecting the important laws and traditions of that country,” Elder Oaks said. “In order to observe Chinese laws and directions on religious activities, the Church is blocking access to this website so it cannot be viewed in China.”  

The new website explains that Church members should not mail religious materials to China or carry scriptures or other Church materials into China beyond a copy for personal use. Latter-day Saints should not discuss religion or the Church while traveling in China.

In obedience to Chinese law, worship services for foreign-passport holding Latter-day Saints are separate from worship servic

Mormon Women Help Incarcerated Mothers Connect With Their Children

MILTON, ONTARIO — 

Six years ago a group of women from Brampton, Ontario, and the surrounding area were looking for a service project to include in their annual women’s conference held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They hoped to provide service for women incarcerated at the local provincial women’s jail by collecting children’s books and having the women read and record stories for their children.

When the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ontario, was contacted, volunteer and program coordinator Penny MacLean jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with the Latter-day Saint women. The idea has quickly grown into a successful program in which Mormon women assist the incarcerated mothers in making recordings of books for their children.

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Candy Garcia and Jacqueline Schoemaker from Brampton, Ontario, prepare hygiene kits for women at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ontario.© 2013 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

In the beginning, a simple CD recording of the mother’s (or other relative’s) reading was sent to the child. Soon children’s books were gathered from members of the Church, allowing for both the book and the recording to be given to the child. Now local libraries regularly contribute gently used children’s books to the program so that each child can read along while listening to the CD.

Latter-day Saint volunteer Mary Bishun said that at first she was worried about going into the jail, but once she was with the women, she found she had something important in common with them—they all loved their children. The women at the jail were grateful for an opportunity to stay in touch with their children and were happy for the opportunity to read to them. The mothers would accompany their stories with warm messages like “I love you” and “See you soon.”

Every two weeks, women at the jail sign up to make a recording with the help of the Latter-day Saint women. Since the program started, over 300 books and CDs have been sent each year to children as far away as Florida, the East Coast and Alberta. For many women it is the only way they can stay in contact with their children.

One woman in the jail wrote, “In this rough period of my life, where my freedoms are taken away, the group of wonderful ladies who faithfully come in every second Wednesday are not only a ray of sunshine and hope, [but they] are my voice [and] my connection to my most precious possession — my little girl, who can’t be with me.”

Another wrote, “For me, as a mother, it keeps me in contact with my boys and encourages them to read and learn.”

The volunteers have had several memorable experiences at the jail. One mother asked volunteer Vicki De Dios if she could sing lullabies to her 13-week-old baby, who was at home, so De Dios collected the words to lullabies so the mother could sing to her child.

An older woman recorded a story for her first grandson, who was about to be born. She wanted him to know her voice. Each time she started to read, she cried and said, “Stop the recording and start again! I don’t want him to hear me crying.” After several attempts she completed the recording, but as she left the room she told the volunteer, “I’ve been stabbed and I’ve been shot, and I didn’t cry [then]. Now here I am crying for my grandson.”

One woman told a Mormon volunteer that her little boy was terrified to start kindergarten without her being with him. The school was contacted and permission was given for the youngster to bring his portable CD player and earphones to school. A special area to which he could go when he was stressed was provided so that he could listen to the recordings. Hearing his mother’s voice eased his transition into school. His mother said, “Sometimes all he needs to hear is me saying, ‘Hi, Bud. It’s Mom,’ and he’s fine.”

The Latter-day Saint women have found there are many needs at the jail. They have collected winter coats and made hundreds of hygiene kits for women who have been released from jail. When the jail started an aboriginal community support program, local Church members contributed a truckload of diapers, baby formula, clothing, blankets and books for the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation community, located on the shore of Big Trout Lake, Ontario.

Children from a nearby school and from the Primary, the Church's children’s organization, make colourful Christmas cards each year that are hand-delivered by the volunteers to every inmate, including those in solitary confinement. One woman asked, “Do those kids know these cards are going to women in prison?” She burst into tears when the volunteer answered, “Yes, and they made them especially for you.”

During the Christmas season, volunteers take home-baked goods to the inmates and help them record Christmas songs for their children.

The Saviour's words, “I was in prison, and ye came unto me” (Matthew 25:36) now have poignant meaning whenever these Latter-day Saint volunteers read them. One volunteer remarked, “I don’t know when I have done anything that brings me closer to the Saviour. I feel He knows these women and knows of their worth, and He is allowing us to see it too.”

Hoy más que nunca, es noble ser madre y motivo de gran regocijo ser mujer

Las mujeres desempeñan una función integral en la obra de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días.

Dios otorgó a la mujer cualidades divinas de fortaleza, virtud, amor y disposición.Hay una extensa lista de mujeres valerosas y fieles que han luchado en la causa de laverdad y la rectitud desde tiempos inmemoriales, y cuyos nombres están escritos en la historia de la humanidad. Nadie cuestionaría las contribuciones de estas mujeres majestuosas.

Mujeres fieles han trabajado valientemente en la causa de la verdad y la rectitud desde antes de la fundación de este mundo. El incomparable papel de Eva, cuyos actos pusieron en marcha el gran plan de nuestro Padre y María, “un vaso precioso y escogido” (Alma 7:10), que dio a luz al niño Cristo.

Hoy más que nunca, es noble ser madre y motivo de gran regocijo, ser mujer. El distinguido puesto que ocupan como guardianas del hogar y sostén de la sociedad, denominada así por los que saben, a  cada mujer consagrada al fortalecimiento del matrimonio y de la familia, a través de diversos recursos.

Valiosas mujeres honorables y dignas,  optimistas y ejemplares, con plena firmeza  en la devoción del modelo justo  a seguir; mujeres que se deleitan en prestar servicio y en hacer el bien a los demás; en amar  la vida y el aprendizaje; en defender  la verdad y la justicia; alcanzando el merecido lugar que le corresponde en el seno de esta sociedad, en momentos tan cruciales para nuestra patria.

Tenemos presente que “no hay mayor defensor en todo el mundo, de la mujer y el sexo femenino que Jesús el Cristo”. La primera vez que el Señor reconoció ser el Cristo, fue a una mujer samaritana en el pozo de Jacob, donde le enseñó sobre el agua viva y declaró con sencillez: “…Yo soy” (Juan 4:26). Y fue a Marta a quien dijo: “…Yo soy la resurrección y la vida… Y todo aquel que vive y cree en mí, no morirá eternamente” (Juan 11:25–26).

Durante Su más grande agonía, mientras colgaba de la cruz, el Salvador sintió compasión por una persona, Su madre, cuando en aquel terrible pero glorioso momento pidió a Juan el Amado que cuidara de ella como si fuera su propia madre (Juan 19:26–27).

De esto podemos estar seguros: El Señor ama especialmente a las mujeres rectas, mujeres que no sólo son fieles, sino que están llenas de fe, mujeres que son optimistas y vivaces porque saben quiénes son y a dónde van, mujeres que se esfuerzan por vivir y servir como mujeres de Dios.

Top Athletes Head for Next Goal: Missionary Service

SALT LAKE CITY — 

When President Thomas S. Monson announced lower age requirements last October for missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he noted that departing for missionary service at an earlier age (18 for men, 19 for women) is an option, not a requirement.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than with the Lone Peak High School men’s basketball team. Lone Peak, which plays its home games about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, recently attracted nationwide attention from the likes of the New York Times and NBC’s Today show for winning 26 of its 27 games and ending the season as the top-rated high school basketball team in the United States. The team is also unique for another reason: all five seniors have chosen to serve in the coming years as Mormon missionaries, some leaving at 18, and others later on.

Senior Eric Mika had planned to play a year of collegiate basketball at Brigham Young University (BYU) prior to being a missionary. After hearing President Monson’s missionary age announcement, Mika decided to stick with his original plan to serve at 19 because that option best fit his circumstances.

“After a lot of praying and thinking about it, I thought that my original plan was good,” Mika says. “I knew it was right to go after a year. It felt right before the announcement came out, but it’s clear to me now, and so I think that kind of settles my soul.”

Fellow senior Nick Emery had also planned to play one year at BYU before beginning missionary service at age 19. But his plans changed quickly after 6 October 2012.

“When I heard that announcement it was kind of a relief because I really wanted to go straight out on my mission, but that really wasn’t an option at the time,” says Emery, who will be a missionary in Frankfurt, Germany. “It was one of the greatest feelings.”

 

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Fellow seniors Talon Shumway, Braden Miles and Connor Toolson will also serve prior to college: Shumway in Texas and Miles in Washington, D.C. Toolson is planning on serving this summer.

Mormon missionaries voluntarily give of their time (two years for young men, 18 months for young women) to help people across the world come closer to Jesus Christ. It’s an endeavor that requires a work ethic, persistence and determination —traits similar to those required to be a championship high school basketball team.

“I’ve been taught so much, not only from my parents but from my coaches, [about] how to really put myself in that situation where I can work hard,” Emery says, “and I’m going to relate that to my mission in every way possible — just being the best person I can be.”

Marriages Made in Heaven

Most people think of a marriage made in heaven as a rare occurrence in which both parties are deeply in love and highly compatible. We like to think that all our marriages are made in heaven. When a man and woman enters one of our holy temples to be married, they covenant (or promise) they will stay together forever—on earth and in heaven after they die, if they are faithful to each other and their promises to the Lord. A temple marriage doesn’t include phrases like, "Till death do you part" or "So long as you both shall live." If we keep these promises, our children also become part of this heavenly promise—sealed to us forever.