Purpose for Our Trials

I love this quote -- it's been something that I've been thinking about and experiencing myself. I really believe that the Lord loves us enough to allow us to suffer, so that we may turn to Him and become more like Him. So, I thought I'd share.

"Sometime in the eternities to come, we will see that our trials were calculated to cause us to turn to our Heavenly Father for strength and support. Any affliction or suffering we are called upon to bear may be directed to give us experience, refinement, and perfection." -- Delbert L. Stapley, "The Blessings of Righteous Obedience", Ensign, Nov. 1977

Thought for Today - from Oprah

"Life isn't just about what you can have; it's about what you have to give." -- Oprah

New Social Network - FamilyLink

FamilyLink, the newest social genealogy networking Web site created to rapidly link people across the world, launched on Wednesday, April 18. With FamilyLink, geographic and language barriers are minimized to improve genealogy research.

Provo, UT, April 18, 2007 --(PR.com)-- FamilyLink, the newest social genealogy networking Web site created to rapidly link people across the world launched today.

"The recent surge in social networking sites demonstrates the need for people to connect around diverse types of interests" said Michael Tanne, Founder and CEO of Wink, a People Search Engine, FamilyLink provides a perfect venue for families, genealogists and family historians to share their common interests and heritage as they connect with one another and upload their photos, family tree, and family history."

FamilyLink has been created to facilitate genealogists in working together in ways that have never been attempted before in the genealogy world with a tool that is easy to use and understand.

"During the early years of Ancestry and MyFamily, I could hardly sleep. I was so excited about what we were building. I feel the same way about FamilyLink,” said Paul Allen, CEO, WorldVitalRecords.com.

Using FamilyLink, geographic and language barriers are minimized as individuals connect with their loved ones, research their family history, and preserve memories.

"For the first time ever, if I'm looking for an ancestor in a particular part of the world, I'll be a click away from the expert researchers who live there, and from others who have done research there," Allen said.

FamilyLink users can view the profiles of other individuals, communicate with individuals who have researched or are currently researching in their area of interest through the City Link feature, meet new individuals who also participate in the service, share photos, genealogical information, and post comments.

“One thing that is really interesting right now is that there really is nothing out there on the Web to help someone who lived in a certain city gather information from another city, unless they fly there. The need for this type of social networking definitely exists. FamilyLink allows people who are in different cities to connect with each other in an amazing way,” said Jason McGowan, Product Manager, FamilyLink.com.

Additional features include a news feed system, Ancestor Pages, announcements pages, email features, shared connections between WorldVitalRecords.com and FamilyLink.com, and will soon include a family tree. “Putting FamilyLink.com and WorldVitalRecords.com together is a great way to preserve, share, and grow your family tree,” said Barbara Renick, professional genealogist, nationally known lecturer, and author.

In the past genealogists were able to make connections with other genealogists. However to do so required a lot of time, and effort, two scarce resources for genealogists. FamilyLink is a tool that connects people in such a way that it makes everyone and everything more efficient, and will become even better as people join the site.

"As with other social networks, the more people that use FamilyLink, the more useful it will become to everyone else. So we invite you to join and encourage others to join as well, so that we will soon have members in all of the cities of the world--all helping each other to find and preserve their heritage,” Allen said.

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Media Contact
Whitney Ransom
Media Relations
FamilyLink.com
http://www.familylink.com
whitney@familylink.com

About FamilyLink.com
FamilyLink.com is a social networking site that provides an innovative platform for individuals to connect, research family history, and preserve memories. FamilyLink.com has been created in a response to help genealogists from all over the world gather the information they need in a vibrantly efficient, fun, and easy way. Founded by Paul Allen in 2007, FamilyLink.com is a worldwide effort to help individuals collaborate on a global scale.

Free Business Cards

If you are starting up a business, chances are that finances are tight. There are great resources available for you -- you can even get free business cards online. Just check around for deals and you don't have to spend a ton of money to get into business.

Shooting in Virginia

I just wanted to tell all of the families of those who have been affected by the shooting at Virginia Tech that our thoughts and prayers are going out to you. What a terrible tragedy! I pray you will each feel a sense of comfort and the support of those around you.

vSpring Top 100 Entrepreneurs for 2007

Congratulations to two of my brothers - Curt Allen and Paul Allen for being included in the 2007 vSpring Top 100 Entrepreneurs. I think this is the 3rd year they have been on the list. Very Cool! Read the vSpring Press Release

Seth Godin in Utah?

Here's a post by Paul Allen about the possibility for Seth Godin to come to Utah.

Utah blogs are buzzing about the chance we have to get the legendary Seth Godin to visit Utah as part of his new book tour. We just need 500 people to each pay $50 (and get 5 copies of his new book) so that he will stop here on his tour.

I took a trip to NYC two years ago to hear Seth speak, so I paid a lot more than $50. He was the keynote speaker at an advertising conference, and he slammed traditional advertising and explained in a powerful way how the internet changes everything. To hear him speak in Utah would be incredible.

I still think his “Permission Marketing” is the best book ever written on appropriate email marketing. I refer people to it all the time.

So please check out this message from Phil Burns, and jump on the bandwagon. We’re running out of time:

He started one of the first internet companies, yoyodyne, which was acquired by Yahoo, he then became a VP at Yahoo. He more recently started a Web2.0 company, squidoo. He is always talking about internet marketing – he’s one of the experts on it, and he has one of the most popular blogs on the internet.

…. We have a HUGE opportunity to get Seth to come speak to us here in Utah! People have tried to get him to come speak here in the past but to no avail. Now, it will take the efforts of us all in order to bring him here on May 24th of this year!

To get him here, we need to get 500 people willing to pay $50.00 to hear him. Not only will you have an opportunity to hear him speak, you’ll get 5 copies of his new book, The Dip. We are gathering pledges to pay to hear him to see if we can get 500 people to pledge (instead of gathering money up front).

If you’re interested in hearing Seth speak, there are a few things you need to do.

· First, pledge to pay $50.00 at http://www.pledgebank.com/SethGodinUtah

· Next, blog about it! We’re trying to create a blog storm about this, even a quick simple post advertising this will help a lot

· Third, tell everyone at work or who you think will be interested about it!

· Finally, all the details and updates are being managed at a new site, http://www.wordmob.com keep an eye on the site for details

Here’s Seth’s blog post announcing this opportunity: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/03/the_dip_tour.html

There’s a big catch here, we have to have evidence of a large motivation to do this my Monday (like, in 3 days)! We have a tentative date from Seth that he’s been kind enough to hold for us, but we have to show we’re going to be able to make it so, please, if you’re interested, stop what you’re doing and go sign up here: http://www.pledgebank.com/SethGodinUtah RIGHT NOW! Then blog about it asap, encourage other to blog about it and talk about it all day!

This is a pure grass roots effort, it will only work if those who are interested (YOU?) take 5 minutes and actually do something about it – so please help out!

Thanks!

Phil Burns

CEO TagJungle.com

This is a brilliant way for an innovative author to start a new book tour. If he gets 5 cities to get 500 pledges at $50 each, he’ll sell 12,500 copies of his book, generate $125,000 in revenue, visit 5 cities with an energized audience, and generate a ton of publicity for once again, being so innovative.

Let’s hope that Utah will pull this off and make it on his list of cities to visit.

Apple - Excellence in Advertising

I don't know the advertising company who came up with the MAC vs PC advertisements -- but whomever is responsible is brilliant! I really look forward to each and every ad -- and don't mind watching them again and again. That is a rare thing in the marketing industry. I just saw a new ad tonight and thought it was very creative. The casting for the MAC and PC were also brilliantly done! Great job! (I wish all marketing was that creative and fun.)

Super Size Me?

Okay, so the movie "Super Size Me" was on TV a few weeks ago -- and I saved it on my TiVo. I just watched it the other night finally -- it was really eye-opening. I don't eat fast food very often, and try to keep my diet full of organic and fresh foods rather than processed.

I have to say I was shocked at the "choices" children get in school. In most of the schools there were no vegetables, no fruit, nothing "live" -- but all processed junk foods. And the lunch ladies said they figured the kids were educated enough to make good choices. There were no healthy choices available!

I will also never ever eat chicken nuggets again. How gross! To show that they were made from misshapen chickens (probably full of hormones), ground up parts that would never be edible elsewhere, and tons of preservatives and chemicals added -- sick! How can we be eating this stuff -- or feeding it to our children?

I was also a bit surprised that it took about 9 months to recover from the one month binge of eating McDonald's food. Wow.

If you haven't seen Super Size Me -- it's well worth the time -- and may change the way you eat forever.

The Testaments - Fireside Available

The new LDS Church movie -- The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd is now available on DVD. There is a fireside that was done by Ane Marie and Tomas Kofod (the man who portrayed the Savior in the film). The fireside entitled "Of One Fold and One Shepherd" contains the powerful conversion stories and experiences that Tomas had behind the scenes of The Testaments. He shares how the Lord tutored him and prepared him to play the role.

A great gift for anyone -- it's available now as a download exclusively through LDS Audio. If you would like to pre-order a CD, you can purchase through Latter-day Light Books. If you have seen The Testaments -- you're going to want to hear this fireside!

Tomas and Ane Marie are very good friends of mine -- and each time I have listened to this fireside, I am touched by the way the Lord is in charge -- and how He has a role for each of us. Both Tomas and Ane Marie have powerful testimonies and you will feel the Spirit as you hear about their conversions to the LDS Church, their experiences and miracles the Lord performed during the making of The Testaments.