Ah, Youth!

Since I’ve been blogging, I’ve been out searching the web for other LDS church members who blog. It’s been a very fascinating study. I hadn’t found too many until I came across another blogging site called, “ Xanga.com” There I found a number of blog rings for church members.

And what I saw sure took me back.

I found a lot of blogs by LDS teenagers.

More specifically, there were a lot of blogs by LDS teenagers that live outside of LDS population centers. Out in “The Mission Field” as we like to call it.

What’s cool about that to me, is that’s where I grew up. I was raised from 6 to 24 in Terre Haute, Indiana, right in the Midwestern heart of the bible belt. I was one of 7 or so active Mormons in my entire high school. Most of my friends were either atheist or born-again Christians. Both found themselves united in the goal of showing me just how wacko it was to believe in the mission of Joseph Smith, or in the validity and truth of the Book of Mormon. Either I was doomed to the pits of the eternal fiery abyss, or I was to face the same nothingness that was to be the fate of all after death.

The celestial kingdom sounded much better than either of those two options.

As I read, I found myself in their writings. I recalled how it was difficult to find kids with my standards that would be my friends, much less my dates.

I mean, we’re not supposed to date non-members, right? That’s all well and good if you lived in the heart of Mormon suburbia in happy valley, Utah. But out in “The Mission Field”, it was quite the challenge.

First of all, I wasn’t quite the prize of confidence and masculinity that I am today. I was quite the geek back then. I know, some of you will say that some things have never changed, but I truly wasn’t the suave monster of Rock and Roll that writes to you now. Coolness eluded me in my teens.

So, out of 7 Mormons in my high school, I was one, so that leaves 6. Three of those were guys, and I’m not swinging that way, so that left 3. 3 Girls. 3 wholesome, upstanding, pure little Mormon girls for me to date. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the fact that 5 of them didn’t want anything to do with me.

So, what did I do?

I moved to Utah, of course!

Now I’m happily married.

I just find it interesting to see so many members of the church out in the vast world beyond the Rockies out on the web. It’s almost as if they’re reaching out to find others. There are 10+ million members of this church. Why can’t I find one next door? I’ll go look on the web.

But then, if you’re reading this, you know that already. You’re out looking for us.

We’re here.

And it’s not that tough to find us, if you’ll just keep looking.


MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

PS--Check back from time to time. I'll be posting links to other LDS bloggers that I find over on the left.