Book-of-Mormon-App
The Book of Mormon app makes sharing the gospel easy.© 2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Mary Richards, Church News
When meeting with missionaries in the France Paris Mission on Saturday, April 15, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles invited them to take out their phones, open the Gospel Library app and share a digital copy of the Book of Mormon with someone they knew.
“We’re going to flood the Paris mission right now with the Book of Mormon,” he told the missionaries.
In that moment, Sister Clara Fowler, from South Jordan, Utah, thought of a woman named Sophie and sent her a digital copy of the Book of Mormon.
“To be Book of Mormon missionaries and Book of Mormon people is so important, and I want to be like that,” Sister Fowler said.
A few days later in Munich, Germany, Elder Rasband also invited missionaries in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission to help flood their mission with the Book of Mormon by sharing a digital copy in that moment with someone in their phone.
“We need you today as missionaries, but we also need you for the rest of your life,” he said. “You need to be Book of Mormon missionaries.”
Anyone can do the same thing. One way to share a copy of the Book of Mormon from a mobile phone is by opening the Gospel Library app, going to the “Scriptures” collection, and then tapping “Share Now” at the top.
Or from within the Book of Mormon app, a person can tap the “Share” icon, which displays a digital code that a friend can easily scan using his or her phone.
Elder Rasband spoke about this in his October 2022 general conference talk, “This Day,”
“Think of all those who could be blessed by the gospel in their lives and then send to them a copy of the Book of Mormon from your phone. Remember to include your testimony and how this book has blessed your life,” he said.
The Book of Mormon App
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members have used and shared hundreds of millions of physical copies of the Book of Mormon over the past nearly 200 years.
The Book of Mormon app makes it easier to use and share this sacred volume of scriptures digitally.
The “Share” tab provides a quick-response or QR code for smartphones. The code goes to the Book of Mormon app in the language of the user’s phone. And with an additional tap of the code, users can share the link to download the app via text, email or social media.
Justin Lether, a Priesthood and Family Department product manager with the Book of Mormon Videos, has experienced firsthand the ease of sharing the Book of Mormon in conversations.
Sharing the gospel and the Book of Mormon in “normal and natural ways” can happen just about any time or anywhere, Lether told the Church News in August 2022.
He has shared the Book of Mormon digitally with others in their own language on his travels — even on vacation on a cruise ship. Lether was chatting with another passenger while both sat in a hot tub on the deck of the ship. As Lether explained his work, the man asked him how he could get a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Lether found the app in an online app store and shared the link to it. “I got this guy a link to the Book of Mormon in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” he said, “in a hot tub on the back of a cruise ship.”
Now with the updated app, sharing is even easier through the “Share” tab. The Book of Mormon app also includes “Discover” and “Watch” tabs with audio and visual elements to help listeners and viewers better understand the scriptures.
‘Love, Share and Invite’
Many world leaders have been presented with a personalized copy of the Book of Mormon when they visit Church headquarters in Salt Lake City or when they meet Church leaders in their own countries.
Sharing the Book of Mormon with others can be done by following spiritual promptings to love, share and invite.
All the Lord requires of those wanting to share the message of the Church of Jesus Christ is a willing heart and mind, said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf during a special broadcast on missionary work in June 2022.
Quoting Doctrine and Covenants 64:34, Elder Uchtdorf promised, “God will take your willingness and work His miracles.”
Besides sharing the Book of Mormon, members can visit share.ChurchofJesusChrist.org to find resources and ideas about how to invite others to come and see for themselves what the Church is all about.
President Russell M. Nelson has said: “The Book of Mormon provides the fullest and most authoritative understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere. [Jesus Christ] was the promised Messiah, the mortal Messiah and will be the millennial Messiah. I testify with my whole soul that in a most miraculous and singular way, the Book of Mormon teaches us of Jesus Christ and His gospel.”
Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company.