The following is the article “Adding MLS Functionality to LDS.org:”

Historically, clerks and other Church leaders have been required to be at their respective meetinghouse to perform administrative work because the Member and Leader Services (MLS) software could only be accessed from the clerk’s PC located at the meetinghouse. As a result, many clerks and leaders complete their administrative work on Sunday to avoid travelling to the meetinghouse during the week. Simple reports like the New Member Report can only be viewed or printed at the meetinghouse.

In order to ease the administrative burden of Church leaders, MLS functions are being added to LDS.org. Church leaders and clerks can now access records, reports, and other helpful resources from any computer connected to the Internet. This effort supports access from home or other locations, decreasing travel costs and time commitments.  Making it easier for leaders and clerks to perform their administrative responsibilities will allow them to spend more time ministering to members.

Access to these MLS functions is through the Leader Resources and Clerk Resources pages on LDS.org and is dependent on members having an LDS Account and being assigned the correct Church calling in MLS. For example, a bishop will be able to access confidential membership information and reports whereas his counselor will not.

Adding all MLS functions to LDS.org will take time, with the initial focus being on those that are membership record-keeping related. During this transition, MLS can still be used at the local unit and the two systems will be synchronized. In the future, quorum and auxiliary leaders will also be able to access on LDS.org the MLS functions that relate to their callings.

Leaders are encouraged to explore LDS.org > Tools > Leader Resources or Clerk Resources for a complete list of what is available.  Four examples are shared below.

• Quarterly Report: Quarterly report information can now be recorded and submitted.  Past Quarterly Reports can also be viewed.
• Key Indicators: A chart of key statistics, such as sacrament meeting attendance, home teaching, and endowed adults with temple recommends is now available.  The Quarterly Report is the source of this Key Indicators information.
• Action and Interview List: The list identifies actions that need to be taken by priesthood leaders, such as interview those coming of age for baptism and confirmation or Aaronic priesthood ordinations.
• New Member Report: This report provides details about members assigned to a unit who were baptized and confirmed within the last 24 months and used to help nurture these new members.

For those interested in more information about MLS functionality being added to LDS.org, a series of training webinars will be offered in February. In addition, Church leaders can learn more by visiting the Clerk Wiki or the Leader Portal article on LDSTech. Additional support, including questions and interactive discussions, on clerk’s responsibilities and MLS can be found on the Clerk and Technology Support Forum. Leaders can also contact their Local Unit Support.

For more information, you are invited to attend an online training on this topic. The first broadcast will take place on February 3, 2012. For more information on training broadcast times, see Training Sessions for MLS Functionality on LDS.org.

Many people have submitted photos to create.lds.org. Now you can help them become searchable by adding keywords. The tools at create.lds.org makes it easy and only take a few minutes.

To volunteer for this activity, visit vineyard.lds.org, log in, then select Add Image Search Words Activity.

Learn more about helping photos become findable on create.lds.org.

I have suggested before that free will may be the desire to take action in spite of a lack of an objective evaluation of what course is best.  If we objectively know what was best, we would surely do it.  Yet, how often do we really know what action is objectively best?  Ever?  Even deciding on what criteria to use in our evaluation seems difficult, and then to accurately measure all alternatives seems speculative if not impossible.  Yet, we desire to act anyway.  So, perhaps we arbitrarily pick some criteria, assume some measures, assign some weights, fake analysis, and act.  This may not be much better than randomness or chance, but it appears to be what we do most of the time.  We act on partial information based on arbitrary criteria.

Is faith so different?  Faith is somewhat subjective.  If faith were fully objective it would no longer be faith.  A desire to act based on partial information seems like a possible definition for either faith or free will.  Are the two so different?

Curious about indexing? This infographic from FamilySearch explains the process and how you can help.

FamilySearch has also released smartphone apps for Apple iOS and Android. They are in beta, so if you see bugs, let them know so they can fix them.

Each week, FAIR volunteers will look at the Sunday School lesson and identify relevant apologetic issues and other related insights, and then compile them into a single, easy to use quick-reference guide with links to additional information. Organization will follow the same structure found in Gospel Doctrine manual, with main headings that correspond with the main sections on the lesson. This should make it easy to identify how any particular item relates to the lesson material. Additional information related to the chapters in the Book of Mormon being covered by the lesson, but which do not fit neatly into the lesson’s structure, will be placed at the bottom of the page. Main sections will be broken down into three sub-sections:

• Helpful Insights: These include various tidbits of information that might be helpful or interesting to discuss as a part of your lesson. They will come from scholarly studies and other sources.
• Potential Criticisms and Faithful Information: These include potential criticisms that may arise during the lesson, or that are relevant to the topics and themes being discussed, along with information on how to respond with faith supporting information. These are made available so that teachers and students can gain some familiarity with these issues and be prepared should these or similar concerns arise in class.
• Faith Affirmations: Here we will make note of various items of evidence for the Book of Mormon along with other information that supports the authenticity of the Book of Mormon and promotes faith in its teachings.

An updated version of the Duty to God website (DutyToGod.lds.org) is now available for the young men of the Church.

Through this website, young men can create and save Duty to God plans, record journal entries, and watch videos. It also provides instructions to quorum presidencies, leaders, and parents.

Log in with your LDS Account. Over 6,000 young men have already used these new features.

LDS Tech has published an article that explains how to get the LDS mobile applications onto a Kindle Fire, Nook Color, Nook Tablet, or a generic Android tablet.

The Android applications will work on these devices, but it takes a few steps to get them loaded, since they are only available in the Google Android Market and these devices can’t access the market place directly.

Until the Church is able to distribute the applications through alternative markets, you can install them through a process called Sideloading. The article “Android sideloading” explains how to do this.

Create.lds.org has announced a video contest. The challenge is to create a 1-minute or shorter video to introduce the site. For complete details, visit create.lds.org. Contest ends February 20.

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