This article by Heather Newall was originally published on Meridian Magazine on February 25, 2010.

I’ve been a fan of the Internet for 14 years. More than that, I’ve been a fan of sharing the Gospel online since I joined my first AOL chat room back in 1996. It doesn’t take many steps for questions to go from “Where do you live?” to “Does that mean you’re Mormon?” to “Is it true you believe [this]?”

I didn’t have many resources at that time. LDS.org had yet to be created. It was a simple splash page saying “Information concerning The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will appear on this home page at some time in the future.”

Unlike today, I didn’t have anywhere to refer people. True seekers wanted to talk to me, because just as you will find today, it’s a big leap for someone to go from curious to inviting two strangers into their house to talk about religion. I bought the missionary discussions from the Distribution Center and did my best to answer questions about my faith. One of my greatest experiences was talking at length with someone about the Church who eventually did contact the missionaries and become baptized. The first of such experiences happened in 1997 and there have been several since.

Now with the amount of time I have been online I have come across situations that are terrible. Not only have I participated in chat room and social networks, but I’ve owned and operated them. I’ve seen marriages broken, I’ve seen feelings hurt, and I’ve seen addictions born. I myself have even encountered things that would shake my testimony, except I have found a logical and legitimate response to each one of them. And yet, I am still here. I am still a part of all that is good, in all that is life changing, doing my part to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even though I have seen these things happen online, I’ve seen them happen outside the Internet too. Sin, divorce, and rude people were not born with the invention of the Internet. We all know that if you are looking to sin, you don’t need the Internet to act. The Internet is not a valid excuse to sin. The Internet is just as it is in the real world. Online we need to stay away from evil and the appearance of evil.

That being said, I’d like to talk about Facebook, one of my favorite websites. Facebook for me isn’t like my Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Digg account. My Facebook profile is locked down and I’m only friends with people I know. My friendship circle is small, 234 to be exact, because those are the people I’m interested in what’s going on in their life, and the ones who I don’t mind if they know what’s going on in mine.

Almost half my friends are ward members and about 20% of them are family members. Now being an online fanatic you may be surprised to know I have only been on Facebook for two years. I just didn’t feel like I had time for another network, especially one I thought was like MySpace. I now know Facebook is so much more. Facebook has allowed me to keep in contact with friends and family members who have moved away and also allowed me to share my beliefs with those who are close to me.

Here is a list of 10 things I have recently done on Facebook:

1. Watched the latest Mormon Messages video on Charity via the Official Church’s Facebook Page. Bawled, and shared it as a status update. I was touched by responses from my friends. I was happy that I was able to share such an uplifting message with my non-member friends without encroaching.
2. Became a fan of seven other official LDS Church Facebook Pages.
3. Comforted a friend who lost her pet.
4. Planned a date night with two other couples from our ward. My husband and I are closer to members of our ward and do more with them than any previous ward because of Facebook.
5. Discussed the Gospel Doctrine lesson on the Preexistence
6. Was invited to and went to a girls night and was able to meet some great ladies.
7. Shared an awesome talk I found by Elder Oaks titled “’Judge Not’ and Judging.”
8. Obtained some great insights on my RS lesson before giving it and shared a PDF of my outline with those who requested it afterward.
9. Used The LDS App to share my favorite scriptures and the Temple I was married in.
10. Discussed a recent Meridian Magazine article and how despite the concerns of using Facebook, it has been one of the best websites I have ever participated on.

I don’t use Facebook for much more than status updates. I rarely visit other people’s pages, but I do comment on their status updates as they come through my feed. I will admit I have played Bejeweled while waiting for tasks to finish, but I just don’t have time for all the quizzes, games, and other things I “hide.” That doesn’t mean I think I’m any better or have any right to determine who is or who is not wasting their time. I’m just doing what works for me.

The Internet isn’t an excuse to throw out common sense, our testimonies, or our sensitivities. We know right from wrong. We know what we should be doing with our time. We know what matters most: things of eternal value. If you have temptations, stop, and if you can’t stop, get help. But just because there are some who are struggling, doesn’t mean that I too need to stop. I know that “I am doing a great work and cannot come down” (Nehemiah 6:3). I’m not afraid of climbing the mountain, just because there are drops along the way. I know that just because I can fall, doesn’t give me the excuse to jump. I know that when I go online with good intentions, I’m not tempted to stray. There is just too much good that needs to be done. Go to the Internet with the desire to do good, to share your testimony, and to strengthen your fellow man. Good things come from those who do good, even online, and even on Facebook.

In October 1979 General Conference, Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared, “We are called Mormons.” He went on to list other things of which we are falsely accused which “sow the seeds of prejudice among those who otherwise might learn who we are and what we believe.” Elder McConkie then closed his thought with a request that still stands today, “We feel it is not too much to ask, in this age of enlightenment and open dialogue, to let us be the ones who tell who we are, what we believe, and why our cause is going forward in such a marvelous way.”

Many of us are familiar with the series of talks Elder Ballard gave to graduating students about Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church. Both Elder Ballard and Church Public Affairs have encouraged Latter-day Saints to join the online conversation and use language that friends of other faiths will understand.

Even still I receive emails expressing concern about using the word Mormon, especially using the term Mormon Church. As members of the church, we all know who we are, what we believe, and that this is Jesus Christ’s Church. Many of us understand the style guide set forth by the church to the media. But not everyone else does.

More than 70 years ago, when President Gordon B. Hinckley was a missionary in England he asked an associate, “How can we get people, including our own members, to speak of the Church by its proper name?” To which the associate replied, “You can’t. The word Mormon is too deeply ingrained and too easy to say. . . . I’ve quit trying. While I’m thankful for the privilege of being a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of the Church which bears His name, I am not ashamed of the nickname Mormon.”

Even though I’m an active, daily participant in online conversation about the church, in the past I too have struggled with embracing the word Mormon. I want to share the insights I have gathered which have helped me respectfully say, “I am a Mormon.”

1. In the Book of Mormon, Ammon taught King Lamoni using terms King Lamoni would understand. Ammon used the term “Great Spirit” so he could then connect that term with the concept of God. [Alma 18:26,28]. This has helped me realize that I too should use the term Mormon as it’s the most common word non-Mormons use to find out information about the Church and its members. Once someone finds my site or video, I can then teach them that the correct name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
2. I am well aware that those who would “sow the seeds of prejudice” are more than willing to use terms such as Mormon and Mormon Church. If those who want to learn about our beliefs can find truthful sites about our faith on the Internet, then we don’t have to spend as much time clearing up misconceptions and lies spread by others.
3. The talk Mormon Should Mean “More Good” given by President Hinckley in the October 1990 General Conference is really what got me over that last hurdle, that last remaining stigma. “If there is any name that is totally honorable in its derivation, it is the name Mormon. . . .After all, it is the name of a man who was a great prophet who struggled to save his nation, and also the name of a book which is a mighty testament of eternal truth, a veritable witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Today the word “Mormon” rolls off my fingers as if it were my own name, as it has become a name I use each day. In Gospel Doctrine class it has even rolled off my tongue. I just have to smile at the strange looks and eye brows raised in question that asks, “Doesn’t she know any better?” To which I then remind myself, “Yes, I really do.”

Visit More Good Foundation and LDS.net to learn how to participate in Online Missionary Work.