I like serving the Lord, hiking, play volleyball

I now have a keen empathy for what so many of my peers had to experience at just 19 years of age. That is, trying to explain just exactly what you are about to do in a social sphere where nobody is Mormon– and you want so badly to lie and say you're going to build houses and that you already speak pretty good Spanish– but you can't, so you suck it up and give em a grin and say "Preaching the gospel!" and hold it there until they realize you aren't being ironic, and you watch as their eyes widen with the shock they politely try to hide, and you both keep talking about it like you're not some kind of religious fanatic, and this should not be that absurd– it's the South, for crying out loud, but you can do nothing but smile and quip that it's fine, everyone just kind of learns it on the fly, and as they walk away you are silent and remember again that you are not, nor ever will be, normal.

Because it is a year and a half. And you are proselytizing.

(The grammar is correct here; 'proselyting' is not a word. I checked. Actually, it is recognized as a word by freedictionary.com and urbandictionary.com, but that only reinforces my point.)

So yeah. Proselytizing. That's what I'm doing.

Heads Up: I don't actually know how this blog is going to work. I can't promise it's going to be funny, and I can't promise that it's going to be very churchy, either. A lot of introspection (and one lengthy Jane Austen character personality quiz) have taught me I am a deeply private person– which maybe explains my personal distaste for the unbridled zeal of traditional missionary letters. I tend not to put stuff like that on the internet, because it feels a little too cavalier for me.

And because sometimes missionaries tend to say things like "ALL you need is FAITH and if you will JUST BELIEVE with ALL your HEART, you will be BLESSED beyond MEASURE and EVERYTHING in your LIFE is GOING TO WORK OUT!! MIRACLES ARE LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!!!! (I'M SOOO HAPPYYY AND COURAGEOUS!!!)"  
Things like that have always been kind of a turn-off to me. I don't know if that's because I peaked early and now I'm mature– or if I'm prideful and have lost my childlike faith– or if I'm just plain old sadder and wiser.

But in any case, my letters will probably not sound like that, because
1.) I think they are pretty boring to read, and
2.) I like to keep close things close.

So, I guess this is my disclaimer. I have no idea what this blog is going to read like– or even what I'm getting myself into, really. Haha let's be honest. But whatever it is, I'm on board.

As saved on my computer from an old Washington Post article,
If the "cult" of Mormonism means that you raise a solid family, work hard, make money and do good for the greater community of mankind, then by all means pass the Kool-Aid.