New Name, New Place, Same Game

This might be weird to be hearing from me.  Many of you probably are more familiar with Elder Hall than with me, Shawn.  I haven't been much of a blogger but something recently convinced me to pick up my keyboard again.  You might have read before about my time as a LDS missionary in Japan telling everyone I met about how the teachings of Christ have improved my life and given me a sense of direction and peace that they too could have if they just decide to follow him.  I have since put down my name tag for good and am at Brigham Young University, navigating life as a single, 21 year-old college student.  So why I am writing this then?

Well, I have been called again to be a missionary and not the kind that rides bikes and can only do laundry on Monday.  Instead, I have been called as an online missionary.  Now you are beginning to see the dots connecting.  I never really talked about my beliefs with my friends or on social media before so I turned to my mission for how I can best fulfill my new calling.  I didn't have Facebook or social media as a missionary but I realized I did have my weekly emails that appeared on this very blog.  Before I left on my mission, my stake president told me to not forget about the ones I was leaving behind in America.  I thought about that a lot in the Missionary Training Center and then tried to make my emails spiritually uplifting and entertaining.  I soon found it enjoyable and once as a younger missionary, I told my companion,  "Maybe I will just continue writing weekly emails after my mission!  It is just so fun!"  "Well, Elder Hall," my wise senior companion said, "I think they call that blogging."

So here it is, my very own blog The Everyday Mormon.  Many people talk about doctrine when they introduce the church to people but I hope to show it in a more unconventional way.  I hope to show everybody how a normal kid from Vegas tries to apply the teachings of Christ in his everyday life and how that positively affects me.  I'm not shy so please share this with others online, comment on and like my blog posts and give me any ideas on how to improve it or tell me the things you like about it.  I hope that it can be a useful tool in increasing others' understanding of the LDS church and of others' testimonies.  I hope to see a lot of miracles with this and please join me in sharing the gospel online!

-Shawn Hall