It’s been a little over a week since the last session of LDS General Conference was held in Salt Lake City Utah.  Last night my wife and I talked at length about a few different talks that were given at the the conference and how they have been on our minds lately.  One of the talks we spoke about was the one given by Elder Ballard on the roles of Fathers and Mothers.  I guess this made me think…who else is still thinking about General Conference?

So, that is my question to you…are you still thinking about it?  If so, what talks are you thinking of?  How are they effecting your life currently?  Please post comments to share.

Thanks!

OPPORTUNITY
So here is the opportunity - we have an LDS blog with pretty incredible rankings and we are looking for a few good LDS Bloggers to make use of the DAILY traffic.

As of today, for the very relevant term “lds blog”, www.myldsdirect.com/blog has a #6 ranking with Google and a #5 ranking with MSN.

This past weekend I decided to take a look at the other top-ranked LDS blog sites and found that there are literally dozens of authors posting on these other blogs.  I thought to myself…”I wonder if there are a few LDS voices out there that would like the opportunity to take advantage of our rankings?”

HOW YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY

If you think you might enjoy authoring blog posts which WILL BE READ by the LDS community please do the following:

1. Send an email to info@myldsmissionary.com

2. In the subject line please type lds blog author

3. In the email please provide a short “resume” or at least a short “cover letter” which explains your qualifications and your reasons for wanting to author.

WHAT WE WILL DO

After reviewing your email, if you are chosen as a community blogger, we will send to you instructions for accessing and using the blog.

THE RULES

If chosen as an author here are the rules regarding your MyLDSDirect authorship:

1. You can post on any topic you like provided it is “tasteful” and quasi-related to the LDS community.
2. You can voice your opinion. We are not looking for diplomats.
3. You can recommend products, sites, books, music, and anything else you feel your fellow LDS community member would be interested in learning about.  And yes, it is fine if you refer people to one of our “competitors.”
4. You must post an article at least once a month.

THE GOAL
I hope that together we can create one more excellent resource for the LDS community.  A blog which will stimulate those who read it by providing that little bit of controversy we all love in life, useful tips, insightful messages, and great information and product resources.

We hope to help many of you become MyLDSDirect bloggers and thereby have a real voice in the online LDS community!

This year our company would like to make a significant improvement to our product offering. I have always felt that business is simply giving people an opportunity to get what they want how they want it.

Therefore, I am soliciting your suggestions as to what products or services you would like to see offered on www.myldsdirect.com and www.myldsmissionary.com. So, what would you like to have?

There are so many unique products out there. And, so many ideas not yet explored. For example, I recently heard of a company which will take your patriarchal blessing and have it formatted to look like your scriptures. You can then simply insert the blessing right into your Standard Works. At first, I was a little skeptical of this service. My questions were:

What about individual privacy? They state that every precaution is taken to make sure the blessing information is secure.
What do Church authorities think about this service?

What does the average Church member think about this service?

I am really interested in hearing your feedback. Please let us know about any product, service, or idea that you have an opinion on.

In mid-March LDS leaders cautioned members of the Church against ‘unwise investments’. Unfortunately, the variety and high number of fraud schemes circulating in our communities have forced Church leader’s hands in issuing this statement.

In my opinion this is a sad commentary on an aspect of our present “culture”. Sometimes, “Keeping up with the Jones” can lead to good people doing bad things and generally intelligent people making less-than-intelligent decisions.

You know we have a problem when the Utah Director of Commerce, Frances Giani, is urging LDS bishops to read the caution letter.

The moral of the story is “live within a budget, avoid consumer debt, and save against a time of need.” In order to live within budgets it is probably wise to pass up on most - too good to be true - investment schemes.

Anyway, I was very happy to hear this letter read in Sacrament meeting. I hope that people are listening and that we can all find a way to “heed the message“.

Any guesses for who will be announced as the newest apostle this weekend at the 178th General Conference?  We are just interested in hearing some of your hypotheses.
Some of us here suspect that the new apostle might be of Latino descent. Of course this blogpost is just for fun, and whomever is chosen will be the right individual!

For Mormons and non-mormons alike, Sandy Utah proves to be a great place to live for more reasons than one.  Sandy has over 58 miles of hiking trails in city boundaries.  It’s one of the lowest taxed cities in America.  Sandy has 24 parks in it’s city limits and is considered to have a strong entertainment core, and Sandy Utah was recently named the 26th safest city in America adding the the list of reasons why Sandy is a great place to live.

To create some attention on this matter Sandy has hired Love Communications to handle a $25,000 public relations and marketing campaign to promote living, shopping, and doing in Sandy Utah.  Love Communications is the same PR firm that handles the marketing of Real Salt Lake soccer and Tom Love, Owner of Love Communication, stated “”Sandy has a personality. And it’s got to come through. Sandy is fun, it’s welcoming with open arms,” he added. “And it’s important economic development messages.”

Sandy will begin it’s marketing campaign this year by starting with some local billboards and then adding some local and national radio ads, along with some national print ads featuring Sandy Utah as a great place to live.

For any of you considering a move to Sandy, now might be the time.  Oh yeah, here are a few other reasons to consider it: no property tax increases in 22 years, and Money Magazine ranked Sandy Utah as the 23rd best city to live in in America.

Just wanted to share a picture of the Mesa Arizona Temple I took this week.  I think the Temple is so beautiful year round, but especially during this time of year.  I hope all enjoy these pictures!

I had an interesting conversation with a guy I went to school with, but had not seen for over 10 years the other day (ironically enough during my wifes 10 year reunion).  The thing that surprised me more then anything was he asked me if I was still going to chruch.   I just let it slide at the time, and answered that I was.  He also assumed that I owned a Harley and wore leather pants on the weekend with spikes on my belt.

It was very interesting to say the least.  It got me thinking.  I have a clean cut hair-do, I wear nice clothing, but I have a pretty big (goatie) beard.  Just because of my beard he had assumed that growing up in the church, going on a faithfull mission to Fiji (only two years without a beard) where I returned honorably, married in the temple, all my kids sealed to me, and I attended the temple a few weeks ago … he had assumed wrong.

I usually do not let stuff like this bug me, and honestly this does not bug me that much, I just had to vent for a sec.  My mother for as long as I have been able to grow facial hair has hated it.  She does not get that I am not doing it to “rebel” or anything like that.  I simply like facial hair.  I always have and always will.  It does not make me a bad person!  If my sons want to grow facial hair I won’t care one bit, even if they don’t want it, I still will not care!  I think if we had less people judging others so much in the church, and more people just showing love, the church would grow even faster.

The LDS Church is true, there is no doubt in my heart about that.  Its just the members sometime are not always true.  I guess if we were all perfect we would have been translated right?

I have been tossing around the idea of voicing my support for Mitt Romney for president, but I have been hesitant because of my faith, and is this really the best venue? People would assume that just because I am LDS, and Mitt is LDS that I would just automatically support him. This is not the case by any means.

I live in Arizona and am a strong Join McCain fan, but just feel that we need a change. The kind of change that Romney could bring. Whats so wrong with faith, and having a man of God in the White House?

If you are LDS, and reading this blog, who do you support? I would love to hear. Even if you are not a member of the LDS faith, who are you supporting? Do you have any problems with Mitt Romney as a President? Here is your chance to sound off!

My LDS Direct loves to bring LDS Related (or great sites for LDS members) websites to our users attention. Shade Clothing is a great website to add to your bookmarks if you are an LDS member, or just looking for modest clothing.

Shade Clothing, the first company to infuse modest clothing into today’s hottest fashion trends, announced today the launch of Shade Swim, its new swimsuit brand.

The line debuted with three swim top styles, each custom designed to flatter a woman’s body without being too revealing. Each of the stylish tops can be matched with Shade’s Swim Bottoms, which feature a four-inch slimmer band to complement the midsection.

“I don’t think there is a woman in this world that enjoys shopping for swimsuits because it reminds you of your problem areas. We have made a special effort to design swimsuits that help women feel comfortable,” said Chelsea Rippy, founder and CEO of Shade Clothing. “The specially designed bottoms hold in your tummy and sides, while our swim tops fit loose enough to cover the high bottoms and flatter your midsection. These pieces honestly look great on every body type, which is a first for swimsuits.”

All of the pieces in the Shade Swim modest swim wear collection are made with soft, durable 82 percent nylon/18 percent spandex material. The tops are lined for additional comfort and feature a removable soft cup bra, as well as a discrete pocket hidden in each bra cup to keep extra padding in place.

The Huntington is offered in four colors, and the tube top cut features slim, adjustable shoulder straps. This style retails for $31.50. The Huntington with Graphics is the same top, but features a unique design screen printed on each of four available colors and retails for $39.50. “Because Shade Swim uses the screen printing technique, the Huntington features stylish graphics, which are a huge contrast to the floral prints traditionally available in swimsuits,” said Rippy.

The Laguna top features a loose and relaxed cut around the waist, a halter tie around the neck, and subtle rouching at the chest. Available in four colors, this style retails for $35.50.

The Newport top comes in four colors and features thick, gathered straps for extra chest support. The halter tie modest swim suit also features a loose and relaxed cut around the waist, minimizing attention on the stomach and hips. This style retails for $35.50.

Shade Swim Bottoms are available in eight colors and coordinate perfectly with the Shade Swim top colors. The swim bottoms feature a high-waist, mid-rise cut on the leg and a four-inch slimmer band at the waist, which is covered by each of Shade’s longer swim tops. The slimmer band does extra work by minimizing the tummy and sides. The bottoms retail for $22.50.

Shade Swim pieces are sold separately online, in select retail locations, or through Shade Personal Shoppers. Shade has also added new tops to its clothing line for spring and summer, as well as several new dresses in its Basic Black collection. Visit www.shadeclothing.com to locate a Personal Shopper or retail location near you.