How to Create Your Own LDS Blog: Church News

A while back, I went to LDS.org and one of the "latest features" articles caught my eye.

How to Create Your Own LDS Blog

Holy smokes! The church has an entire article about why I should be blogging?? Sweet!

Image source

 The very first line says, "Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ by using online tools such as blogs can be fulfilling and effective."

Another quote:

By running your own blog, you have a tremendous opportunity to share your beliefs. LDS.org suggests that bloggers should “talk about your day-to-day life. Remember that some who read your blog may not understand traditional ‘Mormon jargon’; be careful to be clear in your writing. Share what you learn when you go to Church. Share your family home evening experiences. Share how the Lord has blessed you. Bear your testimony where appropriate, and if you are prompted by the Spirit.”

I think most of my readers are fellow Mormon bloggers, so I don't worry too much about being a member missionary in my posts. I like to focus more on building people up by sharing uplifting experiences or analogies I've thought of (see here, here, and especially here). But if anyone out there gets lost when I use "Mormon jargon," don't hesitate to call me out on it! Comment, or email me at hopealwaysandprayconstantly@gmail.com :) Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I didn't know any Mormonspeak at all. I still get super confused by some of it. D'you know how when you're learning a foreign language, it's easier to understand it than it is to speak it? I'm still not totally comfortable speaking Mormonspeak. Anywho, if I say something confusing, call me out on it, 'kay? :)

Dear non-members who I know in real life and have talked into viewing my blog at least once (and also non-members who magically found my blog without me bothering you about it) : you are awesome! I'm planning a new series just for you :) I hope it'll be a way for you to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and why I believe what I believe. It should be good :)
(UPDATE: see the first post in this series here)

I like that the church encourages us to have blogs. In a comment on this post by C. Jane Kendrick, Rachel says:

Gabby Blair once asked why so many bloggers are also Mormon. I've been thinking about it for years. I've decided that aside from a knack for networking, the narratives of The Book of Mormon teach us something about the importance of telling/recording our own personal narrative. I think it's something we absorb as we read the book and learn the stories at church and just, generally, grow up Mormon.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that the narrative we tell ourselves about our own lives might be the most important tool we have: for self preservation, for faith, for truth, for family, for everything. It is the one thing we should fight to truly own and define for ourselves (oneself?). You don't have to write it on a blog, but your narrative *is* who your are. Figure out what it is and own it.

I'm constantly finding new, fun blogs (usually by college-age girls) where I read a bunch of old posts, and one of the posts mentions Heavenly Father or church or something, so I hunt down their "about" page and find out they're Mormon! It's awesome!

Also, some LDS blogging tips :)

So anywho! I have no idea what the point of this post was. I was just excited to find a blogging article on a church website :)

<3 Marie-Rose

PS since this is a blog post about blogging, this is the perfect place to borrow an idea from WhitneySue and tell you that I would like my blog to be less I-post-you-read, and more let's-have-a-conversation. So leave a link to your blog, tell me a bit about yourself, ask me a question, let's get to know each other and have a conversation! What's your favorite song? Scripture? Place in your house? Conference talk? Favorite (insert something here)? I wanna get to know you!