Last week, I checked out Amazon.com for their program called a-store. It is a way a website can feature Amazon.com products and earn a little commission on each sale. I set up a little store for Latter-day Village and started populating it with books. I worked on biographies to begin with. The program lets you hand pick what products will go in each category of your store. So I used two search parameters. First was books. Second I typed in keywords such as Mormon, LDS, latter-day saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each time I got a HUGE list of books - 3,000 - 10,000 that matched that search criteria. I am not sure how they ordered the books, maybe by popularity. They weren’t in alphabetical order, that much I know.
Well, I will tell you, it was a wretched and wearying experience. More than half the books were anti-mormon. Soon I felt as though I was sludging through raw sewage to find the few books I might include in our store. I thought to myself, I would never want any of our visitors to be exposed to this awful experience. I really don’t know if I will ever finish the store - it was so disturbing to go through that.
Now, maybe this is not the least bit news-worthy to you - perhaps you are completely aware of the over arching sentiment in the world toward the church, but I frankly was quite ignorant of how pervasive it was. And I knew that the destructive force of so much hatred had taken it’s toll, and IS and WILL take it’s toll on the souls of many. I have friends who have succumbed to this influence. It is really upsetting.
So what should I do? Not about the bookstore, just about this new realization. I decided that though we are only a small voice, the website is a light in the darkness. I don’t suppose many non-members come to latter-dayvillage.com, but if we somehow help members be stronger, then it is an important work. That is what I hope we do. Feeling you can fill your calling well is an important part of maintaining spiritual health. Also, contributing to a community is important. We have lots of opportunities at LDV for people to do that.
At any rate, I just want to say that I know God lives. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I know the Atonement is real. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet. I belong to the true church of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for faith. I realize not everyone has an easy time with faith. My faith has always come easily. And so I am really thankful for that blessing.
And I am grateful for the work I am able to do each day on this website.
Sincerely,
Debra
