Final Reactions

I had the opportunity to try to connect with a few people and share my essay with them. I tried to share my essay with my former mission president, my grandpa, friend from home, a convert in my mission, my aunt and my roommate who was a missionary with me.

I emailed my Mission President asking him to read my essay. I know he checks his email regularly and that would probably be the best way to contact him while still letting him take care of his responsibilities as a Mission President. His phone is constantly ringing so calling him didn't seem like such a great idea. He is yet to respond to my email, I am not terribly surprised due to all he has going on.

When I was at my grandparents I asked my Grandpa to read my essay. He was fun to watch as he handled the computer. I had to scroll down for him to continue reading. I found that sharing in person was really the most effective. I shared in person my essay with my roommate and former mission friend. Sharing in person just allowed me to make sure that I knew they read it and then it provided an opportunity for more discussion.

On Facebook I tried to contact and share with my aunt and also a convert from my mission. It went well sharing with the convert. She is fairly regular on Facebook, my aunt is not as regular but is occasionally on their. I am surprised she has not responded.

I got brave and tried to share my essay with my friend through instagram by sending him a picture of our blog post and adding a link to the blog. It notified me that he had looked at the instagram post, but he never responded to me about reading or not reading my essay even though I asked him to. I am not surprised that Instagram was less than productive.

What I have learned front his process is that you have to really know your audience when trying to share with people your essay. If I wanted my grandpa to read it I have to do it in person. Social media and electronic ways are not productive to reach him. Same with others, its important to know who uses what media the most then go that route. The other thing was maybe people need more time for some follow up. We only had a week of follow up. That can be plenty of time but having more time could tell us more about what is productive and what isn't.

From those that read my essay, I feel I received the classic comments of "Great job." "that was fantastic" you know the nice friendly comments. It was a good experience sharing though.