Teancum Mail's - LDS Global Directory
by George R. New

Alma and the sons of Mosiah were great friends who grew up together, experienced a mighty conversion to the Lord, and later went their separate ways to serve Him by ministering to the Lamanite people. Alma recounts their great reunion after many years of separation: “Now these sons of Mosiah

were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God. And they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites, having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the altar of God, to call on his name and confess their sins before him.” (Alma 17:2-4)

We tend to be a very mobile society with many people moving on the average of once every five years. Have you developed strong friendships only to move and loose contact? The world is increasingly becoming a smaller place; we run into friends in our travels and experience great joy at the chance encounter.

A few years ago, my wife and I were visiting a small ward in California. As Sacrament Meeting started, the chorister stood up to lead the opening hymn. She looked our way and noticed my wife in the congregation. At the same time my wife also noticed her and the two of them expressed a big smile of gratitude. After the meeting, they embraced and exchanged warm feelings of friendship and excitement upon seeing one another again, after over 12-years of separation.

Experiences like the reunion of Alma and his friends or my wife and her friend can now happen with ease through Teancum Mail. The goal of Teancum Mail is to enable Latter-day Saints to more effectively communicate with one another. The Project provides a Latter-day Saint email service that connects friends and loved ones through a centralized LDS Global Directory. Through this secure and easily accessible Directory, family and friends can communicate anywhere in the world. In addition, Teancum Mail offers its email service and the LDS Global Directory as a compliment and enhancement for existing LDS websites.

Missionary Communication - The LDS Global Directory enables missionaries and their family and friends to communicate in a more effective and timely manner, while serving a mission. As missionaries transfer to new areas, they simply update their LDS Global Directory account and their family and friends have immediate access to their current information. Testimonies are shared as they happen. This allows family and friends to feel a part of the missionary’s spiritual growth, as it unfolds.

Member Communication - Stake, Ward, and Individual members can conveniently contact one another by searching the LDS Global Directory for personal information. They can then email one another, contact each other by phone, or write to their postal address. Bishoprics, High Priest Groups, Elders Quorums, Relief Societies, and other Church organizations can contact members to share important information—calendars, action items, social event reminders, etc.

Family Communication - The LDS Global Directory enables Latter-day Saint families to more conveniently stay in touch with one another by maintaining a central address list. At any time, a family member is able to change their email address information in the LDS Global Directory. Family members then have immediate access to the new address information. This saves them the time and effort, normally required, to send a mass email announcing that their email address has changed.

The LDS Global Directory was founded on three principles—ease of communication, global availability, and security. Identity theft, personal information theft, and the like threaten our everyday communication security. The Teancum Project uses several state-of-the-art practices to protect the security of communications and personal information. These practices include: Human Edited Accounts; Authenticated Access; Protective Access Rights; Hidden Details; Disposable Email Addresses; Text-Image Validation, etc.

Teancum Mail with the LDS Global Directory enables Latter-day Saint families, friends, and missionaries to maintain and nourish their treasured relationships, anywhere around the world. It accomplishes this activity effectively and efficiently through powerful communication tools and techniques. This can be achieved through two options. The preferred method is to create a “Teancum Mail Account” which gives direct access to the LDS Global Directory. The second method is to create an “Address Listing Only” of a non-Teancum email address. This second method does not allow access to the LDS Global Directory, but does make that information available to LDS Global Directory subscribers.