This is a series of posts about 12 Ways to Share the Gospel online.

Number 4: Edit Mormonwiki.com or Wikipedia.org

I am going to broaden this category a bit as well. Instead of just editing one of these wikis feel free to write a new article as well. I have to admit that writing or editing for a wiki is kind of intimidating for me. But as I spent some time looking around the wiki and reading the many helpful guides, it became less overwhelming.

So my first suggestion is to do just that. From the Mormonwiki homepage you can see a categorized list of all the articles. Browse the articles by categories that interest you. When you find an article that you’d like to add to or edit in some way you’ll need to create an account. If you already have a More Good Foundation log in name and password that will work just fine for Mormonwiki. If you don’t have a log in name and password create one by clicking on ‘log in/create account’ at the top right of the screen. Once you have logged in you are free to add to existing, edit, or create content.

Mormonwiki also has extremely useful information and guidelines that I strongly suggest that you read first. They were very helpful for me! Here are the links for a few of them:

http://www.mormonwiki.com/mormonism/Beginners_Guide

http://www.mormonwiki.com/mormonism/Post_an_Article_on_MormonWiki

http://www.mormonwiki.com/mormonism/Writing_Guide

Remember to keep a respectful and informative tone on the wikis, they’re not blogs (where we get to use all sorts of informal tone and humor) so it’s important to keep them as professional as possible. Happy writing!

Number 12: Volunteer with the More Good Foundation

As I am an employee of the More Good Foundation I haven’t exactly ‘volunteered’ with the Foundation. But because I am an employee I know how much we rely on and desperately need volunteers. This work can not possibly reach its full potential without the help of member missionaries who are willing to let their voice be heard and their light shine online.

To Volunteer:
contact us
call at our main line: 801-705-9385
go to moregoodfoundation.org

Number 10: Share your beliefs in a Facebook Note

Again this option is very easy to do, the only ‘catch’ is that you have to have a Facebook account. Facebook is a great tool for social networking and keeping in contact with friends and family. All you have to have to create an account is an email address. Here are the steps:

1) Go to Facebook.com and click ‘Register’

2) Fill out the registration page to get signed up

3) Once you have signed up there will be an application on the left sidebar that is called ‘Notes’. Yup…click there!

4) Here’s where you can either write a note directly on Facebook or if you share your beliefs regularly on your blog, you can even have your blog imported. After clicking the subheading ‘My Notes’ you will find a setting on the right sidebar that will enable you to import your blog. The blog posts your write will then appear on Facebook as Notes!

Number 8: Post your testimony on mormontestimonies.org

This one is basically the same as number 2. But since there are no language requirements there should be no exceptions to this one…everyone can write their testimony and post it online at mormontestimonies.org! You can even write more than one. For example, you could write your personal conversion story, or a spiritual experience you had during the week, or special testimony building experience from your mission. Write about anything you feel would help the reader feel the spirit and come unto Christ. Here are the basic steps:

1) Go to Mormontestimonies.org and use your name and/or give it a story name to ‘Create article’

2) Write your testimony in the page provided

3) Now here’s the one tricky part. Because mormontestimonies.org is a wiki, each page needs to be classified. There are a few different categories that can be used (and there are instructions on how to classify your testimony on the site) but everyone should at least catagorize their testimony alphabetically. Here’s how: At the end of your testimony, type (or copy and paste) this line [[Category: Alphabetical]] including the brackets.

4) Then save your testimony and repeat!

Number 7: Post mission and wedding photos on Flickr

I found that posting pictures on Flickr was fairly simple but I’ll go through a few of the steps here to avoid as muchconfusion as possible.

) Go to Flickr.com. If you already have a Yahoo! email account or you created one so that you could do number one then you can go ahead and sign in using that. If you don’t already have an account you’ll have to create one. Don’t worry it’s relatively painless! Click the button that says ‘Create your account’, the follow the steps given in the Answer a Question at Yahoo! Answers post.

2) From your Flickr homepage you will be able to upload and and manage any or all your pictures.

3) Create albums for your mission and/or wedding pictures and make sure to label them as such using keywords such as ‘temple’, ‘mission’, ‘mormon’ etc.

**Jeff reminded me that I forgot to include the link to my pics. So here are a few of my wedding pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8216429@N04/
Unfortunately, I don’t have many digital wedding photos but I’ve been hoping to round a few more up from a few family members soon.

Number 5: Link to good websites (not just lds.org)

There are many reasons that placing links in your site is very important. Linking to other sites creates a sense of community. It also helps create exposure for other good, positive LDS sites. While lds.org is of course a fantastic site, there are also many other fantastic sites that provide more specific and/or detailed information on particular gospel principles and topics for those searching for it (particularly non-members).

Here are a few websites that I like to use in my blog posts:
ldsfaq.byu.edu
josephsmith.com
mormontestimonies.org
ldssearch.com (this is a search engine for LDS topics to help you find other good websites to link to)

What are some of the sites you like to link to?

And here is an example of a blog post I did that includes links to many different sites:

http://www.mikelblake.com/2007/03/12/every-member-a-missionaryeven-me/

Number 3: Blog what you learned in Sunday School

I’ve decided to broaden this category a bit. My game plan for this has been to write about something I learned, felt, or experienced during any one of my church meetings each week. I’ve been out of town a bit so I have missed a few weeks but I have been (and will continue) writing about it on my own blog (www.mikelblake.com).

This is a series of posts about 12 Ways to Share the Gospel online.

Number 2: Blog your testimony in your mission language

Since I didn’t serve a full time mission, I don’t have a ‘mission’ language. So for those of you that don’t either this one may not be possible for you (but of course you should still write your testimony in your native language). But there is another possibility for some. I studied French in school for a few years so I wrote a simple, albeit rough, testimony in French.

It can be found at my blog here: http://www.mikelblake.com/2007/06/21/my-testimony-in-french/
It can also be found at mormontestimonies.org: http://www.mormontestimonies.org/Mikel-French

Number 1: Answer a Question at Yahoo! Answers

I actually found Yahoo! Answers to be a pleasant surprise. In much of my experience, sites (i.e. forums and blogs) that let anyone ask and/or answer questions about Mormons/Mormonism usually turn into mudslinging cat fights. While I have run into a few exceptions on their site, Yahoo! Answers is generally a pretty good place for positive, respectful discussion.

Here are the most effective steps that I have found to answer the specific questions about Mormonism:

1) Go to answers.yahoo.com. From there you will have to create an account. (Don’t worry, it’s easy)

2) At the top of the page (next to the Yahoo! Answers logo) there’s a place that gives you the option to either sign in, if you already have an account OR sign up. Yup…go ahead and click on sign up.

3) Fill out the next page and click I agree at the bottom.

4) After you’ve signed up you should be redirected to the Answers home page. At the top-middle of the page is a search bar. Instead of just searching for ‘Mormon’ or ‘Mormonism’ you’ll want to do an advanced search. From that
page type in the keyword you’d like to search for.

*You don’t have to search just for ‘Mormon’. If you’d rather answer questions about more specific issues feel free. For example, type in ‘Joseph Smith’ and answer a question specifically about him.*

Now here’s the important part…in the Question Status area make sure that you mark ‘Open Questions’. This will bring you results for questions that you can still answer. Then go ahead and click search.

5) You’ll get a list of open questions. Answer as many of them as you can!

When answering these questions, please remember to stay respectful. Sometimes people do say hurtful, ignorant things about the Church and its members but we should do everything in our power to maintain a respectful tone and provide as much accurate and inspiring information as possible. Let’s show them what we’re all about!

Hopefully this will help motivate and make it easier for you to start/continue sharing the gospel online!