So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

At least twice a month, we are honored to have special guests in our home for dinner. These dear guests, our Mormon missionaries, are truly among the best young men I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Mormon missionaries pay for their own missions, including food and lodging. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the areas where they serve are under no obligation to feed missionaries but most of us feel it is a blessing to be able to do so.

As I sit across our dining room table from these young men, I can't help but marvel at their faith and courage. You see, often times, they are met with harsh words and ridicule or worse. Yet, morning after morning, they get up and are back out again preaching and sharing the word of God. These young missionaries understand the importance and sacredness of their work. They know that when Jesus asked Simon Peter to "feed my sheep" he was speaking to all of us. Each night at the end of our meal, these young Mormon missionaries thank us for our kindness to them and offer us a gift. This gift, their testimonies of Jesus Christ, inspires me more than they realize.

This month I want to share a few more Church related sites with you. It was obvious from reviewing the information available that the individuals responsible for these sites desired to share the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone. This is their way of heeding the Lord's commandment to "feed my sheep."

Book Of Mormon Online.net - KC Kern, the creator and webmaster of this exciting new resource is a student at Brigham Young University. He also served a fulltime mission for the Mormon Church in Seoul, Korea. Kern's vision was to present the stories of the Book of Mormon in "reader-friendly segments arranged in primarily chronological format, supplemented with summaries of each segment, divided by headings and pages that reveal the text's full context." I think he has succeeded magnificently in achieving this goal. If you've been given a Book of Mormon and have just not been able to get through it, I strongly urge you to try this resource. While a couple of sections are still under construction, the bulk of the site is ready for use.

About Mormons - This site was started in 1996 by W. John Walsh and Jenny Scoville Walsh and was originally named All About Mormons. This resource is one of the first that responded to the need for information about the Church online. In fact, the site was literally created to fill the void that existed at the time on the Internet. John and Jenny Walsh felt that the best way to answer the many questions they were receiving about the Church was to have a source of LDS teachings available online. The site continues to provide relevant information about the Church. It includes information on Mormon beliefs, Church history, Missionary work, and even a FAQ section.

Mormon Historic Sites Registry - If you've always wanted information on sites and places that are important in the history of the Mormon religion, this is the place to start. The purpose of this site is to "create a comprehensive resource of historic sites located throughout the world with historical information, personal accounts, multimedia, and visitor information." A wealth of information is available here including references for additional reading and study. My favorite feature is the inclusion of personal accounts from people who were witnesses to the events that took place in these sites. New sites are added each week so be sure to check it often. Some links aren't quite ready yet, but should be "coming soon." I'm really looking forward to information about important international sites so I will definitely bookmark this site.

The Mormon Way Of Doing Business - This short video presentation is based on the book of the same title by Jeff Benedict. It highlights the lives and accomplishments of several CEOs of some of America's most successful and high profile companies. These CEOs have one other thing in common - they are all faithful Mormons who practice and live their religion. The video features these individuals talking about their achievements in their respective fields viewed through the unique lens of a Mormon husband, father, and a servant of God.

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads” (D&C 25:12).

Music has always been one of my greatest passions. Whether it was playing in the school Orchestra or singing in school and church choirs, I have always tried to keep music a significant part of my life. This is true of so many teens.

Sadly, dancing was never my forte, though it never stopped me from trying my best. If I wasn’t the best dancer ever seen on the face of this earth it didn’t matter to me. I just enjoyed trying.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nicknamed the Mormon Church, put out a booklet called For the Strength of Youth. One of the topics discussed in this booklet are the standards we need to set for ourselves when it comes to music and dancing. It may sound strange, setting standards for the type of music we listen to or the moves we make while dancing, but you never know what tiny thing might influence us to make one wrong choice.

“Music is an important and powerful part of life. It can be an influence for good…. Choose carefully the music you listen to. Pay attention to how you feel when you are listening. Don’t listen to music that drives away the Spirit, encourages immorality, glorifies violence, uses foul or offensive language, or promotes Satanism or other evil practices” (For the Strength of Youth, p.20).

Have you ever really thought about just how much the music you listen to truly influences you? Leaders of the young women (girls 12-17) in our stake (group of several congregations) decided to try listening to nothing but good, uplifting music for one whole week. One particular woman came back and told us she was amazed at the difference that one change made in her attitude about everything in her life. She found herself happier, more confident, and able to deal with the stresses of life far easier than she had before. It was remarkable.

I’d challenge you to give it a try for yourself. See what happens when you turn off what is considered the most popular music of today and listen to more sacred, more uplifting music. Test the theory and see if it doesn’t truly bless your lives for the better.

The next thing we are cautioned against is our actions while dancing. Dancing is fun. It’s a great way to express ourselves, get a bit of exercise, and meet with friends. Like most everything that can be used as a blessing in our lives, it can also be misused.

“When dancing, avoid full body contact with your partner. Do not use positions or moves that are suggestive of sexual behavior. Plan and attend dances where dress, grooming, lighting, lyrics, and music contribute to a wholesome atmosphere where the Spirit of the Lord may be present” (For the Strength of Youth, p.21).

Have you ever thought about the Spirit of God being with you even when dancing? If dances are put together with the right atmosphere, music, and dress standard the entire experience can be fun without needing to drive away the Holy Spirit.

Once every few months the Latter-day Saint Church puts together a multi-stake dance. That means several congregations, even up to 20 or 30, are brought together for a dance. Good music is selected, a standard of dress and grooming is encouraged, and the dance is held within a church-owned building. Various youth leaders are encouraged to attend in an extra effort to make sure no one crosses a line that might hurt someone else. It might to many of you like it should be pretty lame. I can tell you from experience, both as a former teen and as a leader, that these dances always leave those who attend with the best of feelings.

“Praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing” (D&C 136:28).

Singing, music, dancing. All these things can be misused if we allow it. We must daily make a conscious choice to keep the Spirit of the Lord with us through good music and, when the opportunity comes, dancing.

Today's Conversion Story comes from Charlotte Meyer of Maquoketa, Iowa. Her story is a great example of the journey of faith many people have. It's also a great example of how simply inviting a friend to church can lead to miracles. These are her words:

I grew up in the Methodist Church and went to MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship,) but I never felt comfortable there. I now know that what I was feeling was a lack of the Spirit. My parents quit going to church because they didn't like the minister or something, but I wanted to keep going to church. There was a Christian & Missionary Alliance Church down the street and around the corner from us and some of my friends from high school went there, so I started going to their church. It was nice, but it was still lacking something.

One day Nicky Cruz came to town to conduct a revival-type meeting at that church. He was a gang member from New York City who had been converted to Christ and spent the rest of his life witnessing of Christ. I attended the revival and heard his testimony, but when they called people up to the front to give their lives to Christ I wanted to do it, but it still didn't feel right.

I tried to learn about the Catholic Church because I thought rosaries were really cool, but I knew my parents would have a fit about that. When I started junior college, I drove my best friend to college with me because she didn't have a driver's license yet. She was Mormon and although her family wasn't particularly active, she started taking an Institute class. Since the Institute teacher had to drive once a week from out of town, they only had one Institute class per semester and the teacher chose which one he was going to teach. She was taking LDS Doctrine and Philosophy. She was really excited about the things she was learning and she shared them with me.

I found what she had to say really interesting, so I visited her class one day. That was the day they were teaching "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." (“Chapter 2: God the Eternal Father,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, (2007),36–44) They said that God had a God, who had a God and so forth. Boing!! My head nearly exploded that day! However, it was really interesting and I kept asking questions.

Finally one day she asked me if I wanted to take the missionary discussions. Sounded good to me! I didn't think my parents would like that, so I took the discussions at her house on days when my classes got out earlier. My parents didn't have a clear idea of my schedule and didn't know exactly when I should be home, so I didn't have to explain being later on certain days.

The first thing that struck me was that the missionaries were MY age and they really knew the doctrine of their church! I admit it, I had a crush on one of the missionaries. But it didn't take me very long to get a testimony of my own. By the third discussion I knew the church was true and wanted to be baptized. But I do remember the day I realized I really had a testimony.

My friend's family had started going back to church and her father was called as a Sunday School teacher in the teen class. I visited that class with my friend and one of the teens seemed doubtful and was questioning what was said. I wanted to jump up and shout, "Don't you realize what you HAVE?????" That's when I knew for sure that I had a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.

The time had come to tell my parents I had been studying about the Mormon Church. At that time the legal age was 21 and I had to get my parents' permission because I was only 19. My parents weren't happy that I had done this behind their backs and my dad said I hadn't studied the church long enough to know for sure. I asked him how long I had to wait and he said 6 months. During those 6 months California changed their legal age down to 18 so I no longer needed my parents' permission, but I waited 6 months anyway.

Exactly 6 months to the day, I asked my parents again, only this time I reminded them that I no longer needed their permission, but would like their blessing. My dad disgustedly said I was old enough to do what I wanted and wouldn't talk about it any more. My mother told me that if I got baptized, they didn't want to know about it. I was sad, but determined to do what I knew was right.

I arranged for my baptism to be a week or so later on the night of a youth activity so it wouldn't be so suspicious that I was going to the church that night. I made my own baptismal dress in the secrecy of my room. That evening I went over to my friend's house, put on my dress and had my picture taken. Then it was off to church we went. I was baptized by my bishop because by that time "my" missionary had been transferred to another area. It was a wonderful baptism and when I came home that night, I remember lying in my bed saying to my self, "I'm a Mormon! I'm a Mormon!"

My mother found out about my baptism four days later, but my father didn't find out for sure until several months later. That fall I went to San Diego State University and immediately threw myself into activity at the Institute of Religion, taking classes there, attending the College Branch, and even joining Lambda Delta Sigma. I was in hog heaven! A few years later, after I had finished college and started my career as a television engineer, I decided to go on a mission. My parents flew down to San Diego to talk me out of it, my dad saying that if I was out of the loop for a year and a half I would have a hard time catching up and getting a job again. It took a lot of courage and faith to say, but I said, "Dad, I am doing the Lord's work and he won't let me down when I get back, he'll help me."

Just before my mission in Japan ended, I started sending out resumes and I had a job offer lined up before I even got home.....in Salt Lake City! My faith had been rewarded!