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Elder Caleb Peterson, right, and Elder David Antillon, missionaries in the Orem Utah Mission, use their phones while teaching a lesson. Missionaries can reach many more people “multiple times over” using technology, according to Elder Petersen, of Idaho.

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Harriet, speak from a recording studio on Temple Square to missionaries around the world during a devotional in February 2021.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Technology has furthered the gathering of Israel, Elder David Antillon, of Vermont, said, allowing missionaries to connect with people worldwide using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media.

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Caleb Peterson, left, and Elder David Antillon serve in the Utah Orem Mission. Technology has furthered the gathering of Israel, Elder Antillon said, allowing missionaries to connect with people worldwide using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media.

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Caleb Peterson, right, and Elder David Antillon. Technology has furthered the gathering of Israel, Elder Antillon said, allowing missionaries to connect with people worldwide using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media.

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Caleb Peterson, right, and Elder David Antillon use their phones while teaching. 

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Durval Canaviri

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Elder Durval Canaviri studies his phone during a lesson.

Courtesy The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Editor’s note: The following story appeared in our special LDS Conference magazine, which offers a preview of the upcoming 191st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was delivered as part of Saturday’s weekend edition of the Daily Herald. The theme of this magazine edition is “Gathering Israel.” We will be running the magazine stories online this week in the leadup to conference.

It’s amazing what missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been able to do with technology, according to Elder David Antillon, of Vermont, who serves in the Utah Orem Mission.

Technology has furthered the gathering of Israel, Elder Antillon said, allowing missionaries to connect with people worldwide using Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social media.

“We’re able to reach out to them and share the restored gospel with them and show them the love that Jesus has for them,” Elder Antillon said.

Missionaries can reach many more people “multiple times over” using technology, according to Elder Caleb Petersen, of Idaho, who also serves in the Utah Orem Mission.

“With technology, I really feel like we’re able to share a message in such a positive way,” Elder Petersen said. “They can be shared not only by the missionaries who are creating content or doing things like that, but members of the church can do it too.”

‘The Road to Hope and Peace’

More than 30,000 people follow the Utah Orem Mission’s Facebook page “The Road to Hope and Peace,” which shares Christ-centered content daily on a global scale.

“Missionaries and friends and people that are following the page can invite their friends to see that content and to be able to invite the Spirit into their day, into their lives right then to give them that first glimpse into really the gospel and how Christ can impact their lives,” Elder Petersen said.

Pages like “The Road to Hope and Peace” allow missionaries to reach out to people “in a place where they are comfortable seeking their faith and building on their faith,” according to Elder Antillon.

“There are people out there, for example, from other countries, where they may not have those opportunities, and we can provide that through social media,” Elder Antillon said.

Missionaries encourage church members, especially youth who have grown up with technology, to share the Facebook page’s message.

“It’s so Christ-centered, it’s so simple, and it’s so plain and short that they can just share it with friends feeling down if they’re going through a rough time,” Elder Petersen said.

Learning to adapt

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counseled missionaries in a recent devotional to “learn, add and adapt technological advances that the Lord has provided to accomplish his work in your time and in your season.”

“Don’t just go back to the old ways. Go back to the future,” Elder Uchtdorf said, according to a church news release. “Move forward and upward as you apply what you have learned during the pandemic.”

Technology has taken on an even greater role in gathering Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Missionaries have relied on Zoom and other tools to contact those they teach amid restrictions on meeting in person.

“There’s been times here in the Utah Orem Mission where we teach a friend these gospel principles, and we don’t actually meet them until their baptismal day,” Elder Antillon said.

Zoom also allows missionaries to include church members in their lessons remotely, according to Elder Petersen.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to stay connected,” Elder Petersen said.

Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, Elder Uchtdorf’s wife, encouraged missionaries in the devotional to “use the wonders of modern technology to find and teach the gospel with creativity and guided by the Spirit.”

“Use them wisely, counsel together, be grateful, let the Spirit guide you in everything you do,” Sister Uchtdorf said.

Elder Petersen recalled an experience making a 15-minute video lesson using visual tools, music and other media while in quarantine.

“They can watch it, and so they’re still able to have that spirit invited into their home,” Elder Petersen said. “If we can’t be with them, we can still teach them.”

The work of the Lord didn’t stop even in the heart of the pandemic, continuing to go forward with technology, according to Elder Antillon.

“This won’t be stopped,” Elder Antillon said. “There’s always going to be opportunities to adapt, to improve constantly, and this has proved to us that.”

Future generations will remember today’s missionaries “as those who served during the great pandemic,” Elder Uchtdorf said, “the ones who learned to use technology and social media in new and effective ways to proclaim the gospel to every nation and language, and in any circumstance.”

“We’ve grown up using technology, so I think if there’s a generation that is built for using technology for missionary work, it’s our generation right now,” Elder Antillon said.

‘Gather the seekers’

Elder Uchtdorf told missionaries they will “gather the seekers” if they trust God.

“You will find people of any nation or language, of any religious or socioeconomic background — everyone,” Elder Uchtdorf said. “With the help of technology, people might even find you.”

Elder Petersen feels technology “has been harnessed for what its real purpose was, to be able to share the gospel in meaningful ways and in ways that are able to touch so many more lives than it could have done otherwise.”

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have prepared tools everyone can use in ways that are focused on the gathering of Israel, according to Elder Petersen.

“When we use these tools for a wise purpose and we really use them for the purpose Heavenly Father intended, we can just do so much good,” Elder Petersen said. “We can really change people’s lives, maybe change their eternities.”