Sharing the Gospel

In China, we had a lot of restrictions on our religion. For our everyday worship (Sunday meetings and any other church activities), we foreigners met together with other foreigners. Chinese members of our church can meet with other Chinese members, but the two groups can't mix. That's the framework that the Chinese government allows us to work in right now. It works. But it does feel restrictive.
Also, we're not allowed to actively or passively share the Gospel. That means that we can't teach people about our church, and if people ask about it, we really can't give more than a brief, vague answer and change the subject. This is a restriction, but as a friend pointed out, it's really not much different than how we usually are.
I know Mormons kind of have a stereotype of being cheery, hand-shaking people who want to invite you to church. Or to read the Book of Mormon. Or to learn more about the church by meeting with the missionaries. But honestly, I've never done any of those things. The only time I invited a friend to church with me was in 4th grade when my friend stayed the night at our house and then went to church with us in the morning. Pretty lame. ;) I once planned to give a friend a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, but every time I thought about it, I got so nervous I eventually gave up the idea. After like two years. Yeah, that's super cool.
But after living in China for two years where I COULDN'T share the Gospel, I'm really trying to enjoy that freedom now that I'm back in America. Nothing like saying I CAN'T do something to make me want to go and do it.
So I'm starting small, not doing anything scary like putting myself on the line with my friends. But I'm doing things. We have the missionaries over to dinner sometimes. We've become friends with the sister missionaries, and I've had the chance to bring some new members and newly-active members to a new member fireside. (And there is nothing like hearing someone newly fired up about the Gospel sharing their conversion experiences! Very inspiring.) And it's easy to share the Gospel with people who have already decided they're interested in learning about it!
Yesterday I got to give a talk at a friend's baptism. It was really fun for me to prepare a talk about baptism, trying to make room in my allotted time for all the cool information I found once I started studying about it. (There's an excellent article in the Bible Dictionary about baptism: thorough, insightful, very informative.) And it was fun having a captive audience to teach. Some people were missionaries and many others were lifelong Gospel experts, I'm sure. But I like to think that some people were learning new things about baptism.
I'm not brave enough to bring up the topic of religion with people. Yet. But at church, I try to make it a welcoming environment by talking to people who are sitting alone. I don't really know anyone yet, and my comfort zone involves sitting by myself and just talking to the people I already know-- even if that means I talk to no one. But the new-and-improved-Chelsea is outgoing, remember? So I talk to people. I love being at church, especially after 2 years of a small group meeting at someone's home. I wish I knew more people, and if I keep up this facade of being outgoing, it's bound to come true soon. And to be fair, it is working already.
So that's what's new. I'm back here in America, breathing the clean air and enjoying my newly restored freedoms.
Anyone want to read the Book of Mormon?