Amalgamate Media

Amalgamate [uh-mal-guh-meyt] v. 1. to mix or merge so as to make a combination; blend; unite; combine...3. to combine, unite, merge, or coalesce...

I learned that word yesterday on dictionary.com. I love the intermingling of medias. This week I got onto Facebook and had a notification for a page I follow related to my mission. That in and of itself I find really great, I can keep up with what is going on in my mission simply by keeping tabs on a social media page. But, it gets better. Posted to that page I found not just one, but TWO video clips featuring missionaries in Belgium, and they weren't church produced video clips either! One of the clips features two elders (one of which I served with!) on an ex-pat website for those living in the northern part of Belgium known as Flanders. The video clip is super cool and there are English subtitles for those who don't speak Flemish, but oh, it is so good to hear the familiar and soft dialect of Vlams! The second video clip of sisters has a cool back-story you can read on ldsliving.com. Apparently, the sisters were walking through the city center in Belgium and decided to stop for a cup of hot chocolate. Little did they know that they were about to be filmed for a national news program called "Iedereen Beroemd" (Everybody's Famous)! Just think, of everyone who went for a cup of hot chocolate or coffee that day and were asked to be interviewed, the interview kept and broadcasted across the nation was of LDS sister missionaries! In Dutch an oft-spoken phrase is "toeval bestaat niet" or "coincidences don't exist,"and I think this is an example of just that. The church is true! But, really, how cool is that?! And how cool is it that across the world we can view these clips complete with English translations just a few days/weeks after they are published?! Whether it is a national website, lifestyle news outlet, social media page, or blog post, I am a huge fan of the media's capacity to connect me to the people, lands, cultures, and religion I love most. But even more than that, what cool that the gospel message is proliferated across the realms of global media! Fred, George, and their Gryfinndorian friends capture the sort of big HOORAH I am feeling right now