Elder Neubert's Favorite Videos

On his blog "The Missionary Talk," Elder Matt Neubert has posted his three favorite videos from the quickly growing list of profile videos on Mormon.org.  Check out what he's posted, and then look through some of the other profile videos.  Comment below and share your favorites.

Random Thursday post!

I was listening to a talk by an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Bruce R. McConkie today, and it led me to finding this slideshow about our Savior. The talk I listened to is called "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane". It is a powerful witness by a SPECIAL witness of Christ. I would highly recommend it for anybody who wants to know just a little more about the story of Christ's last 24 hours in mortality. For now, here is the slideshow. Comment and give YOUR testimony of Jesus Christ!

The missionary social media experiment on the Bloggernacle | Mormon Times

To our surprise today, Missionary Media was featured on 'the Bloggernacle' of Mormon Times:

And did you know that there is a new community blog that features 20 current contributing missionaries? Wow! It’s called Missionary Media: A new way to display the gospel and features online testimonies from these missionaries, essays, video features, links to other missionary resources and one of my favorite features: some Prezi powerpoint interactive slideshow creations that simply explain such gospel topics as “The Plan of Happiness” and “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” and more! I’d love to see more blogs that utilize missionaries in this collaborative and creative way! 

We're glad to hear such high praise of our handiwork and for the help in spreading the word about these resources.   I hope you'll check out that full article if you haven't seen it already, and take a look at the missionary Prezis that we've made or navigate to the missionaries' blogs to get to know us more personally.  Please share them with friends, family, or use them in a lesson or ward activity if you've got the setup.

Movie Monday- Continuing our Savior Jesus Christ

As I was making my blog post yesterday I thought of this short video that condenses a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It's one of my favorites about the Savior.

Movie Monday- Christmas time is here again!

In honor of the holiday season I thought I would start off with one man's musical tribute to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Handel was a composer who lived in the 1700s. He was a talented musician who was able to master the violin and organ at a young age. He started writing operas in Italy and later moved to England where he enjoyed early success. However, as he grew older his audience became less and less interested in his works. For the majority of his life he spent his time fighting off creditors. It was only after he suffered, and recovered from, a stroke that left his right arm temporarily paralyzed that he wrote a piece that is world renowned today and one of the best pieces of music ever written. Handel's Messiah.



May we all remember this holiday season the wonderful gift of having Christ live on this earth, and may we also use Handel as an example of perseverance that we might also be able to glorify God in our own individual ways as we strive to follow Him.

"Make Your Own Mormon Message"

The call for members to share the gospel on the internet by creating their own videos that explain our beliefs has been brought to a higher level.  Most members have seen the variety of entertaining Mormon Messages that have been produced through official media. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is calling out to members to create their own Mormon Messages and post them on YouTube.  As an additional incentive, the Church has started an international video contest that will pick finalists and award prizes to the members with the best videos.  The Church looking for submissions from individual members, auxiliary groups, or whole wards and branches.
Here is a great example by the Palmhurst Ward in the Las Vegas Nevada Sandstone Stake.

We shouldn't be worried if we feel our videos are amateur or we don't feel that they are the same production quality as the official Mormon Messages.  There's actually and amateur category.  I know mine will fall in it.  "The power of personal" is exactly what we're looking for and the Mormon Messages should reflect who we are.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to keep them from being sloppy either.
For mine, I've started working on a message about what my parents have taught me about the resurrection.
Also, the Church has given specific guidelines for using approved music and use of copyrighted materials.
Before you begin, I'd recommend looking through the Church's existing Mormon Messages and videos already posted on YouTube for ideas.  You'll also want to become familiar with the guidelines the Church's audiovisual department has given to be eligible.  If you have an idea that does not meet these requirements you can still make it to share if it doesn't break any copyright laws.

It doesn't take much equipment to get started either.  If you have a digital camera or webcam, most have a record feature or you can make a slideshow of still photos.  There's lots of free software out there like  Windows Movie Maker or One True Media that you can use to sharpen it up, add simple effects, and make it more professional.

When you're all finished with your Mormon Message, you'll need to post it publicly on YouTube and fill out the Entry Form to submit your video for the contest.  Be sure to invite everyone to see it.
Let's see what we can make!

The Lessons

Are you just looking to learn what the missionaries will teach before committing to meet them in person?  Currently meeting with the missionaries and want to review?  Preparing for a mission and want to see how to prepare, or learn how to teach?