New Calling in Life

Hello Friends!

Last night I was set apart as a Church Service Missionary (CSM) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Many of my friends are not of my faith, but we share a love for truth and light and I hope that by sharing this blog, I can help my friends understand why I would volunteer my time and talents with no monetary compensation.

    Picture by K. Hintze

As a CSM, I will assist the church in filling the requirements of the many church departments. My work will be submitted as often as I have media to submit. This means I could submit daily, weekly or monthly depending on my ability to capture what is needed.  I will dedicate about 20 hours a week to this calling. What's really great, is you don't have to be called as a missionary to contribute and it means that you can send in photos that are of good report any time you have them.  To learn more about how you can contribute, click here.

The LDS church has an incredible media presence online and in print. We currently have 88,000 full time missionaries who proselyte the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are willing to listen. We focus on Christ, Family and Happiness. I cannot think of a better combination to make this life joyful. If you would like to have the missionaries visit you, click here.

                            Family - It's about time!

As many of you know, I travel around the world quite a bit. This is not of my own choosing, but I married a world traveller who is my best friend my greatest support. This combination of support and travel will lead to some fun and interesting photos, like these from Barcelona Spain.

      Famiglia Sagrada, Barcelona Dec. 2013

                                      Famiglia Sagrada, Barcelona Spain Dec. 2013

The most requested photos are those of families and individuals engaged in good, wholesome activities. Families playing together, spending time together, providing service or praying together...among many other needs.  See a list of all the church photo/video needs here.

    Barcelona Temple, Dec. 2013

I invite you to follow my travels and adventures while I am a Church Service Missionary. There will be lots of stories and I will personally ask for assistance from each of you. I will issue a 'casting call' whereby you will volunteer yourself or your family for a photo shoot.  Don't worry, it's fun and easy! All you need to do is fill out a Participant Release and then be yourself. I will be a fly on the wall taking pictures of you doing what you do.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to keep you informed and to get pictures of many of you for church publication and campaigns.

God Bless!
Shane

For More information about Church Service Missionaries, read these FAQ's

What are Church-service missionaries?

The purpose of the Church-Service Missionary Program is to provide opportunities for members to give their time to the Lord through work-related service missions. Church-service missionaries serve at least 8 hours per week. They normally serve for 6 to 24 months.

What are the qualifications to serve?

All Church-service missionaries must be worthy to hold a temple recommend and should have no minor children living at home. They must be physically, mentally, and emotionally able to fulfill the specific call and its related duties. Prospective missionaries must also provide their own transportation and financial support. Church-service missionaries are responsible for their own medical and dental needs, including eye-care and prescription-drug expenses.

How do members initiate a mission call?

Members become aware of Church-service missionary opportunities through a variety of sources, including priesthood leaders, this website, other members, or through local bulletins that are published in different areas around the Church. Information gained from any source should be confirmed through communication with the operation that is requesting missionaries or through local priesthood leaders.
Members should contact and discuss service opportunities with the contact listed in the posting. This allows potential missionaries and the operation manager to determine if there is a good fit. Members should prayerfully consider the assignment to determine if they should pursue the service opportunity.
If affirmed, members must complete a form entitled Recommendation for Part-Time Church-Service Missionary and give it to their bishop. This form may be printed from this website. Members should carefully complete each section of the recommendation form, including where they are going to serve, how many hours each week, when they are going to start, and how long of a mission they would like to serve.

What is the missionary calling process?

Upon receiving the completed recommendation forms, the bishop certifies the worthiness of the member and concurs with the selected choice for service. He then signs the form and forwards it to the stake president.
The stake president interviews the candidate for worthiness and signs the recommendation form and forwards it to the local Church-service missionary coordinator's office for review, for entry into the database, and for authorization to extend the call.
The coordinator advises the stake president by letter when the processing is complete, and the stake president extends the call to the member. The stake president authorizes the bishop to set the new missionary apart.
Church-service missionaries should then contact the operation where they will be serving. They are supervised and trained under the direction of the operation in which they serve. The stake president and bishop remain the ecclesiastical leaders for the member.

Where do I send the Recommendation for Church-Service Missionary Form?

After the form is completed, including the signatures of the bishop and stake president, where the form is to be sent depends on where you will be serving.

International Areas: Send to the appropriate area administrative office.

United States and Canada: Send to the CSM group coordinators for your stake. Your stake leaders can find this information in the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders (CDOL).

Northern Utah (Payson to the Idaho border):
Send to Church headquarters:
FAX: 801-240-1726 or mail:
Church-Service Missionary Office
50 East North Temple Str Rm 262W
Salt Lake City UT 84150-0302

If you still need assistance, call the Church-Service Missionary Office at 801-240-4914, or e-mail csm-support@ldschurch.org.

How long do they serve?

The length of service may be determined by the needs of the position and the availability of the Church-service missionary. A missionary is generally called to serve from 6 to 24 months. Assignments may be extended if the availability of the missionary and the needs of the operation continue to exist, up to a maximum of 30 months. After a 30-month mission, a new recommendation form should then be submitted for another mission.

What about other Church callings?

Church-service missionaries are encouraged to serve in ward or stake callings at the discretion of their local leaders, as long as their additional duties do not interfere with Church-service missionary assignments.

How do I get started?

Review the service opportunities on this website or any other source available.
Feel free to visit, ask questions about, and evaluate one or more service opportunities through the listed contact name and phone number. This allows you and the operation manager to determine if the assignment is a good fit. Prayerfully consider the assignment to determine if it is consistent with your time, ability, and health.
Carefully complete the recommendation form, indicating your choice or choices of places to serve and the dates and times of service you desire.
Meet with your bishop so that you can give him your completed recommendation form and be interviewed for worthiness to serve.
Meet with your stake president for a worthiness interview to serve a Church-service mission.

Following My Passion

It's time to share my hobby in a way that is fun, educational and beautiful, but also documents some of our time in Europe.

I have always enjoyed photography. Growing up, I would love to ask my mom if I could take the pictures with the Kodak camera and the exploding flash.

Image Credit, Flickr, Reimap

We've come a long way since then and the equipment and technology, love it or hate, has also come a long way. We used to purchase roles of film and insert it into the camera, then when we'd filled the roles of film up with exposures, we'd run down to the drug store and drop off our film. Three of four days later we'd go back to the drug store, pick up our developed pictures along with the strips of negatives and run home to see what pictures we got. We were so bummed if we missed a shot or got a shot of our feet, or the sky and whatever....film cost money and we were limited on how many pictures we could take with one roll of film.

Well, times have changed and most people shoot digitally....no more film, no more drug-store runs, no more worrying about that missed shot. Now-a-days, we simply take as many pictures as we want, keep the keepers and 'delete' everything else.

Canon 5D Mk III with 24-105mm f4 lens.

To kick things off on my first post, I'm going to go back a few months and share some pictures from a trip to Barcelona Spain in December. We flew from London to Barcelona a few days before Christmas with the intent to just "BE"in Spain. It was fantastic and I loved the people and the city.  I first share a couple of panorama shots from my favorite "point & shoot" camera, the Sony RX100.

Street Panorama from Old to New, Sony RX100

The view North from Montjuic

The view West Southwest from Montjuic

One of my favorite buildings that we visited was the Segrada Familia. Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.

External facade of Segrada Familia

More of the external facade 

One more shot of the external facade

More biblical scenes on the external facade

The internal construction of the building is just as beautiful as the external views. The church plan is that of a Latin cross with five aisles. The central nave vaults reach forty-five metres (150 ft) while the side nave vaults reach thirty metres (100 ft). The transept has three aisles. The columns are on a 7.5 metre (25 ft) grid. However, the columns of the apse, resting on del Villar's foundation, do not adhere to the grid, requiring a section of columns of the ambulatory to transition to the grid thus creating a horseshoe pattern to the layout of those columns. The crossing rests on the four central columns of porphyry supporting a great hyperboloid surrounded by two rings of twelve hyperboloids (currently under construction). The central vault reaches sixty metres (200 ft). The apse is capped by a hyperboloid vault reaching seventy-five metres (250 ft). Gaudí intended that a visitor standing at the main entrance be able to see the vaults of the nave, crossing, and apse; thus the graduated increase in vault loft.

Inside Segrada Familia

Lots of light come through the many stained glass scenes

Beautiful columns throughout

The columns of the interior are a unique Gaudí design. Besides branching to support their load, their ever-changing surfaces are the result of the intersection of various geometric forms. The simplest example is that of a square base evolving into an octagon as the column rises, then a sixteen-sided form, and eventually to a circle. This effect is the result of a three-dimensional intersection of helicoidal columns (for example a square cross-section column twisting clockwise and a similar one twisting counter-clockwise).

Rebecca and Katie enjoy a great lunch

Shane and Mike, is it possible for teenage boys to simply smile?

When we were first deciding which city in Spain to visit, my wife took to social media and simply asked, "Madrid or Barcelona?" The response was overwhelming for Barcelona. Having now been to Madrid and Barcelona, I would agree that Barcelona is a sight seeing paradise. When you combine the architecture, food, people and climate, Barcelona is one of my favorite cities I've been to thus far.