LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories
Popular LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" gives members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the opportunity to share their stories of inspiration and hope to other members throughout the world. Stories that members share on Latter-Day Lights are very entertaining, and cover a wide range of topics, from tragedy, loss, and overcoming difficult challenges, to miracles, humor, and uplifting conversion experiences! If you have an inspirational story that you'd like to share, hosts Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley would love to hear from you! Visit LatterDayLights.com to share your story and be on the show.
LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories
Witnessing Miracles in the Lives of the Youth: Bryce & Jennie Allen's Story - Latter-Day Lights
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In this episode, Bryce and Jennie Allen share their experience of an unforgettable Youth Conference in St. Louis, and some incredible miracles that changed their lives and the lives of those who attended.
Their story shows just how much God loves the youth, and how sometimes, when things look bleak or even impossible to us, He somehow makes it possible.
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To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/Alsic83DdJw
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Couple's Journey to Witness Miracles
Scott BrandleyHi everyone , I'm Scott Brandley .
Alisha CoakleyAnd I'm Alisha Coakley . Every member of the Church has a story to share , one that can instill faith , invite growth and inspire others .
Scott BrandleyOn today's episode , we're going to learn how one couple's willingness to serve the Lord put them in position to witness incredible miracles . Welcome to Latter-day Lights . Hey everyone , welcome to another episode of Latter-day Lights . We're so glad you're here with us today and you are in for a special treat , because we have some really good friends of ours , bryce and Jennie Allen , on the show today . How are you guys doing ?
Jennie AllenWe're doing good .
Alisha CoakleyDoing very well , awesome , are you getting your fill of corn out there in Nebraska ?
Bryce AllenYou have no idea . They're obsessed with it .
Alisha CoakleyReally .
Scott BrandleyAll of your kiddos are eating all that's so funny yeah so Bryce and Jennie they and Alisha we all used to be in the same ward together and Alisha obviously moved to Texas and Bryce and Jennie now live in Nebraska . So we're in different parts of the country but we're still buddies .
Alisha CoakleyYeah , exactly , and it's cool because , bryce , we were just talking about how you stumbled across our show and everything that you just happened to see it on Facebook a few months ago , and then you just went on and on about how amazing I was as a host and how like I just carry the know .
Bryce AllenI'm just joking .
Alisha CoakleyYou're so good ? Yeah , but you are .
Bryce AllenAwkward silence . You know , just looking at the success of your program , you definitely are . I think it is a very , very good compliment for you there , thank you , scott , you're doing great , I'm here , I'm here .
Alisha CoakleyOh no , it is . It is so fun being able to sit down and talk to you guys again and I'm really looking forward to the story that you're going to share today , because I have no idea , like I haven't heard it , like you didn't . I know you mentioned maybe sharing it with Scott before , but it's been a while .
Bryce AllenI've been in all of our you know different camps and tricks that we did while we were there , while you were in Bishopric yeah , and I was just there .
Alisha CoakleySo I always love hearing stories from friends . You know , it just kind of like adds to like that layer of friendship . I'm like , ooh , I know even more about them now . So I'm really excited about that . But for our listeners , why don't you guys tell everyone a little bit about yourselves ?
Bryce AllenYou want to start , I'll start .
Jennie AllenSo Bryce and I are from Utah originally . We met at Snow College and then went to Utah State where we finished up our bachelor's degrees . And then I got a degree in accounting , but Bryce got a degree in technical theater .
Bryce AllenI have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in stage management and theater technology and a master's of fine arts in technical direction and audio design , sound design .
Scott BrandleySo in layman's terms , he gets to blow things up legally .
Jennie AllenBlow things up and make Peter Pan fly .
Bryce AllenI build . Well , I teach my students and I still do on the side as well . I teach students how to build scenery and props and do live special effects and rigging for live theatrical performance . That's what I do . Yeah , I teach kids how to make Peter Pan fly . I guess you can call me Tinkerbell .
Jennie AllenBut that's what I do and I work behind the scenes , for his behind the scenes and I provide background support , helping , and , however , I can have our whole marriage . And yeah , the story we're going to share is one that I actually got to go when I got to participate in witness and because a lot of times he goes and he does all these things and he tells me all these stories , and I'm like that would have been great , but I actually got to participate in this one Nice .
Bryce AllenSo yeah , I'm the guy that works backstage that you never , ever see .
Jennie AllenUnless things go wrong .
Bryce AllenUnless things go wrong . There you go , I'm just going to go wrong in theater . Yeah , we met at Snow , where I was working in the theater there , and then we went to Utah .
Jennie AllenState , and then we .
Bryce AllenI worked at the Utah Festival Opera there and Logan Utah for a number of years .
Jennie AllenAnd then we decided kind of out of well for me it felt like held the blue he went to a theater conference in March . We'd been graduated for almost a year .
Bryce AllenThis was back in what ? 2007 .
Jennie Allen2007 , yeah , and he called me and said I think I'm going to grad school this fall and I'm like what we had talked about possibly sometime in the future . Yeah , he called and said that his portfolio had gotten a lot of people interested in his skills and so we kind of , in the course of about two weeks , decided that we were going to pack up and leave home , leave the home and safety of Utah where we've both grown up , and go to Illinois .
Bryce AllenYeah , went to go to my grad school and Southern Illinois University in Carvindale where I got my MFA there . So this was before we met any of you guys .
Alisha CoakleyAnd then you guys , you guys have kids . Yes , yes .
Jennie AllenWe have four kids ages 15 to four .
Bryce AllenAnd our son is the oldest and we have three girls .
Alisha CoakleyAnd your girls are adorable .
Jennie AllenScott's daughter , clarissa , was kind of our other daughter when we were in Ogden until she left on her mission . She was our . You know I need a babysitter . I'm going to call Clarissa .
Bryce AllenWell , she was literally our trek daughter .
Jennie AllenYeah , she was our one summer on the trek , yeah .
Alisha CoakleyAnd she , she's everybody's favorite , we all love her . Like I know that I've I've coupled up Grace and Jack and you know , like I have already talked about how I've given Scott the cows and all of that stuff to have that arranged marriage happen . But I have a fallback with Clarissa and I'm like you know . I know she's older but maybe my boys will be interested in older women and . I'll take her on as an honor too .
Bryce AllenLike I said , she needs to come join my program here at University of Nebraska , so I'm the Johnny Carson School student .
Alisha CoakleyI love that . That would be so awesome .
Bryce AllenYeah , I think that's where we ended , yeah , and I mean from Illinois .
Alisha Coakleywe went to St Louis , Missouri , for about four years and then back to Ogden .
Jennie AllenWe were there for about seven years and now we're in Lincoln , nebraska . Miss the mountains , yeah , we miss mountains , but we've corn does not replace the mountains , no , but it's really green and beautiful here and the fireflies are beautiful like fireflies at sunset are pretty awesome .
Scott BrandleyYeah , we definitely don't have those here , so yeah cool . So the story you're telling today is from when you were in St Louis .
Bryce AllenYes , when we were , before we moved back to Ogden and met you guys that actually sort of you know , going through for the path of where we ended up when we were in St Louis was actually a little bit of the miracles itself . My last year of graduate school you know it's a crunch time got up on a job . I had a wife to support and the kid , owen , was what ?
Bryce AllenA year and a half Two , two and a half two years old at the time , and me , lynn , hadn't joined us yet , but you know . So I was graduating and you're your . It's crunch time . Got to find a job . Yeah , you can't just go to school for the rest of your life , right ?
Alisha CoakleyAs much as we want to I guess , and some of us .
Bryce AllenBut so I was really heavily looking for jobs . I had signed up to do an internship at a company out in Central California that I had friends that worked there and I had gone out there to do a three week internship , more of a not really an internship , more of a guest artist , artist , residents type thing to do some work out there with them . And you know , we're just trying to get , just trying to get done with school and grades we had applied he'd applied for a couple jobs , job postings , and there is some in in Montana , some in New York , some , you know , ohio .
Bryce AllenI think there is one in in Washington state . Yeah , and I had got lucky and I had someone coming back from St Louis University in St Louis Missouri which is only about two hours from where we lived in Southern . Illinois . Yeah , about two hours , oh , okay .
Jennie AllenThe nearest airport .
Bryce AllenYeah , really it was . The nearest airport was two hours away . Southern Illinois is pretty sparse , there's not a lot down there . But so I had this interview lined up and I was supposed to leave to go up there on a on on a Wednesday night and the interview was a two day interview . So it's going to happen Thursday and Friday and I was going to come back on late Friday night or was it was like early Saturday morning , I can't recall now . And I was excited about it , really excited about this . This job interview because it was really the first one I had is a , you know , as getting my first job out of school , you know , get into getting a career going . And Sunday morning yeah , saturday morning .
Jennie AllenSaturday morning . No , it was Sunday morning . No , it was Saturday morning you were at work . Oh yeah , that's right .
Bryce AllenI was I . They had brought me in to do a . That's why I keep around , to keep me straight . So the water in brought me in at the local roadhouse to do a tour of . I think it was . Hairspray was coming into town , one of the one of the Broadway tours and I'm a rigger .
Bryce AllenSo what that means is if you ever go to a concert or a play or anything like that and you look up and you see all the lights and the speakers and the special effects and the whatever is up hanging from the ceiling , me and my friends put it up there . So that's , that's the , the one of the specialty skills that I have . And so when you're up on a grid up above the theater , you don't carry things with you . So I didn't have my cell phone or my keys or my wallet or any of that stuff in my pockets or and all my tools are tied off to me , so we can't drop anything because there's people working below you . You know that would be dropping a wrench from 60 feet in the air . It's pretty bad deal . So that morning this was very early in the morning- yeah , it was early in the morning .
Jennie AllenOh , when was still ?
Bryce Allenasleep Five o'clock , four or five o'clock in the morning , or something like that . Yeah .
Jennie AllenIt was , yeah , I don't remember exactly what time , but I was , I had just woken up , was starting my day , oh when , was still asleep and I get a phone call .
Bryce AllenI had the car . Good night , yeah , you had the car . You only had the car at the time .
Jennie AllenYeah , I got a phone call from my sister-in-law and Bryce's dad had just had a heart attack and was in the hospital and they weren't sure if he was going to make it . And they she couldn't get a hold of Bryce . And I told her well , leave a message , send him a text , you know , I'll try to get a hold of him as well . And he , he didn't make it . He passed away that morning and so we were trying to figure out how to get home to Utah , but he had this job interview .
Bryce AllenWell , I didn't even know .
Jennie AllenYeah .
Bryce AllenWell , I was . I was up on the grid . You actually had to come to the theater and talk to my boss , yeah .
Jennie AllenSo we got him down and I mean but it , I mean it didn't change the outcome . We were in Southern Illinois . His parents were in Kaysville , utah , not the . You know nothing we could do at that instance . So we started figuring out found flights . The funeral viewing was going to be Friday night . And so , based on flights and what we could find , basically we decided he was going to still interview for the job .
Bryce AllenMy mom and my family encouraged me to do it . Just continue with the interview . I didn't even tell them that what had happened .
Jennie AllenYeah , well , during the interview During the interview .
Bryce AllenI didn't tell the people in St Louis what had gone on , but I drove up there on Wednesday or I and then Jennie met me .
Jennie AllenI met . I picked him up Friday from from the or I drove you up or- .
Bryce AllenSomething like that .
Jennie Allenyeah , Because I had the car , anyway , but I picked him up from campus , we went and caught a flight home to Kaysville , made it in time for the viewing and then the funeral the next day . Um , yeah , but- .
Bryce AllenThe long story in there is I got the job and I was I was floored that I had gotten the job .
Jennie AllenHe doesn't remember a lot of the interview , but we felt afterwards when we were praying whether or not , because he had to tell them whether he accepted the job before he could actually go interview anywhere else . Yeah yeah , and he . He actually had a couple of interviews lined up , so we ended up canceling , but we both felt strongly that he was supposed to go to St Louis and that's Well , we were , we were , yeah , we were supposed to go to St Louis .
Bryce AllenAnd I was supposed to teach at St Louis University .
Jennie AllenAnd , for whatever reason , we also had a feeling that somehow his dad was up up in heaven pulling strings to help make it all happen because it was supposed to happen , right , because I was not supposed , I didn't think it was gonna happen .
Bryce AllenI was a wreck during that interview and you know , I look back at it now and the only thing I actually remember St Louis University is a Jesuit Catholic Jesuit college university and the only thing I remember was I had to have an interview with one of the Jesuit priests that was in our department and that's the only thing I remember was the interview with talking to this Jesuit father and just how kind he was , and I think he knew something was up , but that's the only I just remember . I remember the conversation that I had with him . I actually think I did tell him that my dad had just passed away four days ago and three days ago , and that's the only thing I remember from that entire interview and I , like I said , I was a wreck but they gave me the job . I don't know what that was .
Jennie AllenSo that was in February of 2010 .
Life in St. Louis and Moroni's Challenge
Jennie AllenAnd we moved to St Louis in August .
Bryce AllenAnd things went , life went on .
Jennie AllenLife went on . We , after about a year and a half , we had another kid .
Bryce AllenYep Maylan joined us .
Jennie AllenBryce was enjoying his work . He was . It was a small arts theater program but he was kind of doing most of the backstage stuff .
Bryce AllenAnd St Louis is a great town . It just overall is just a really nice , fun town to be in . We just loved it . We had good people out there , I had good students , I had good colleagues and the theater world in St Louis is just thriving at the time . So I had so much work and Jennie had work .
Jennie AllenI taught piano lessons and we were just enjoying living life . Bryce got called to the Young Men's in our ward . Our ward there in St Louis was an amazing ward .
Bryce AllenIt just Just like you guys were still friends with some of them .
Jennie AllenYes , you pick up friends as you move around .
Bryce AllenYeah , and then in January of 2013, . So we've been there for about three years almost two and a half years at this time and I got a call from the state Young Women's president . At the time , her name was Alyssa and she it was known that I did theater and whenever people ask me , he's like what do you do ? Well , I do theater , and they automatically think I'm an actor .
Alisha CoakleyRight .
Bryce AllenBecause that's all anybody sees and I don't , I don't act . I have been in a grand total of five shows as an actor in my entire career and I have done hundreds and hundreds of shows . But Alyssa called me and she goes brother Allen , we're doing this youth conference . And I was like , okay , what do you need from me ? And she's like , well , you know theater . And I went yeah , I guess you could say that . And she goes well , what we're doing is we're doing this thing that I'm , that we're calling Moroni's challenge . And I was like , whoa , what's that ? I mean , is that Trek ? Is that ? What is this ? I never heard of it before , but what it was , what it is is , it's a Trek through the stories and the life and the characters and the people in the Book of Mormon , and they were sort of a bit of a combination of the old remember the old road shows that we used to always do . Yes , yeah .
Bryce AllenSo they needed some support for that because they were going to reenact 20 or so different key stories within the Book of Mormon using the youth , and they needed somebody that understood how to stage productions , even if it was just a small thing For a youth conference . So so they're like can you , can you help us ? And then I was a bit leery at first it was like , well , you know it's , I'm already really busy in the summers . Summers is what sometimes what we call make hay season , because there's lots of productions that go on and you know you're making trying to make money for the , for the series . But as a teacher , as a university teacher , I didn't have work in the summers . I only worked when I wanted to in the summers . So I had the time and you know I I went into it almost like when we went on our first date . Yes , but Jennie asked me on our first date , so I just tease her about it all the time . Just a minute , but that's a whole , other story . For another time , the and . So I went and met with them at a , at a Princeton scene meeting or something like that , and they had this , they had a whole script for it and they had a script for it , and they had a script for it and they had a script for it . They had this , they had a whole script for it . They'd already done script for it and
Youth Conference and Book of Mormon Challenge
Bryce Allenit was .
Bryce AllenIt was an event , like it was going to be an event . They have a three days , three full days , morning to night . You know we would have , you know , one or two or three reenactments , so like you would do the leaving Jerusalem and then going back for the plates , and then you know that kind of thing , and then we'd stop and the youth were . There was a bit like Trek , where the youth was divided into smaller groups , like these family groups , but we called them cities and each group was had a city that was a city in the book Mormon named after them , and they had a mayor and a mayor's wife instead of a ma on a paw , and so we would do a couple of reenactments and then we would go and play , go and have conversations about it .
Bryce AllenAnd there were activities . You know we were planning on making boats to sail across to the new world . We were , you know they had the whole Tree of Life event at the end of the first day . You know the whole event of Christ visiting the Americas , the end of the second day , you know , and the whole events of Joseph Smith at the end of the third day , you know . So , with Barona and all of that , and so it was a , you know , lots of events . There were wars . Wars were fun Doing the wars .
Bryce AllenWere there rumors of wars . We'd just made some foam swords and plywood shields and let them whack each other to death and it was awesome . So we had a lot of fun .
Bryce AllenI had a lot of fun , but it was like well , okay , what do you want me to do ? What we ended up doing is they needed help with the schedule and understanding how to do these productions and the technology and they needed a set and they needed some props and just some scheduling help and that's what I agreed to do and we had fun in the and then we went on A couple of things that I thought was really cool about this in January . Remember some of this was the stake leadership , like just gave us everything we needed . It was amazing , like not only did they just give us everything we needed , but it was things that they did for us .
Bryce AllenLike we went to a stake meeting at a stake it wasn't a state conference , it was before the state conference . We had that spring and the state president . I remember the state president getting up and I was . They called me as a youth specialist , so I wasn't in any of the presidency meetings but I was there for the youth conference people and I remember he spoke to all of the auxiliaries in the stake . The three society at the time , the high priests , the elders , the missionaries , everybody , and he goes all of your organizations are now need to make sure that anytime you have an activity , or you're doing some planning or you're doing some work . You all have to have involvement from the youth in some way . What services can you do to support the youth ? To the high priests , to the relief society , to the missionaries , to the temple people , everybody ? And it was . And he basically said do the youth . They are the most important thing in this stake . And he was right , you know .
Jennie AllenThen at the next state conference , he got up and he introduced this idea to the whole stake and said okay , we're asking the youth to read the Book of Mormon over the next three months .
Scott BrandleyAnd a 90 day Book of Mormon challenge A 90 day Book of Mormon challenge .
Jennie AllenWe're asking the youth and we're asking all the adults in the ward or in the state to support the youth and do the challenge themselves .
Alisha CoakleyNice .
Jennie AllenSo they had the entire stake trying to do a 90 day Book of Mormon challenge in preparation of the youth going to this conference in early 2021 .
Bryce AllenSo we had . It was amazing . This is the spiritual power was
Planning a Youth Conference
Bryce Allenamazing . And then also at that conference , the state conference that spring , Elder Bednar was coming and our state president asked him if he would be willing to have a special session with just the youth and he agreed and so we had this very special session with just the youth . The only adults that were allowed to be there were the leaders , youth leaders , and I was actually got to be there because I was still in the young men's in our ward at the time and it was absolutely amazing . He just basically got up and Elder Bednar said , okay , okay , everybody , okay , kids , ask me anything you want . And that's what it was . It was absolutely amazing .
Bryce AllenAnd so spirit and the support and the power that was behind this youth conference was almost all encompassing . Like every meeting we were at ward level , state level , the conference was brought up and how we were supporting it and what did we need and what did ? What concerns were the did the units have ? Was there situations that we needed to change ? What you know , the whole thing of all of this .
Jennie AllenAnd what they had done . So they had the script . They assigned the different stories that were going to be acted out to the different wards and branches and the stakes . So each I think our ward and another ward combined together and they had two or three stories that they were going to have to have to have One of the wards .
Bryce Allendidn't have a very large youth program at the time .
Jennie AllenAnd so , and as part of that , to help prevent stage fright , they were having Bryce go around with a audio recorder and record the dialogue . So every so , all the dialogue was pre-recorded so the kids wouldn't get up there and forget their lines . They would just get up there and act out oh gotcha .
Bryce AllenAnd basically lip sync their performances . Just to try to make it easier for the , for the kids Right and things like that .
Jennie AllenAnd we had a . Not only do we have great adult leaders .
Bryce AllenWe had amazing youth leaders that their . Their whole goal for this conference was that they wanted to make sure that everybody felt the spirit of the youth council and that they had fun and that they could show that the filling the spirit didn't have to be the Sunday boring Sunday school lesson . It could be fun too . And so our kids , our youth , were just powerhouses as well , those kids were couldn't have done it without them at all , but you know .
Bryce AllenSo this was .
Bryce AllenI got a call in January from that was .
Bryce AllenThis all started for me in January and it took us about two months to get things going with where we were starting to send out the details to the ward leaders and the youth leaders and the wards and things like that , and about that same time they decided to release me from the young men's and the ward and call me to the young men's and the stake .
Bryce AllenSo that's what . That's where I was then and we ended up doing a ward conference at one of the wards and they had had a state leadership meeting with just the state presidency and the bishops and they had came back with us with lots of concerns . This was a big event . It was gonna be lots of time and lots of energy and lots of leaders . We had about 150 kids or more plus 160 . 160 , something like that in our stake , and so this was a big undertaking to get a campsite big enough for all of these kids and the duty reenactments and plan all the activities in between and food and amenities and bathrooms and all the things that go into planning these large outdoor events .
Bryce AllenAnd the state leaders were having trouble with not only the length of it but Finding the right venue .
Jennie AllenFinding the right venue finding the .
Bryce AllenIt was just too much time for people to take off work In early June . I think it was right around Memorial Weekend Memorial Day Weekend , wasn't ?
Jennie Allenit Memorial Day Weekend . Send it to me .
Bryce AllenNo , yeah , yeah , because we did it May 30th , it was the first day , okay yeah . And so we had some concerns and I remember sitting down with the state presidency , as the guy in charge of the schedule , and they said all right , you have to take this full 3D event and cut it down to two days or a day and a half . And for anyone that understands live production , you know , when I do a play with my students at the university , it takes us between three to six months to plan it and going and to make it happen .
Bryce AllenAnd to ask somebody to get your reschedule an entire event in an afternoon is difficult and I remember I sat through that meeting and I sat through a sacrament meeting after the war we were in and I just had a pencil out with the calendar and schedule and just started trying to figure out what I could do , what I could do , what can I do , what can I do ? And I came up with two plans , what I called a plan A and plan B , that cut it down to a day and a half , two days instead of three full days .
Bryce AllenAnd it was difficult , like really difficult , to do that . I had a hard time and my our leader , Alyssa , she also had a hard time . She's like this isn't working , we can't do this , this isn't gonna meet the goals that we have to get these kids the testimonies that they need , and I went home . We were really discouraged . I remember going home and just saying I don't know , Jennie , what am I gonna do ? I don't know . And you shared a scripture with me that I later shared with the group , but it was about the stripling warriors and their parents , right yeah . And I got a call the next day from Alyssa .
Jennie AllenBasically , the scripture was well . My question for him was okay , in order to get the shripling warriors with the testimonies that they had , in order to be the example that they are to us now who were their parents , who were the people teaching and guiding them and what ?
Bryce Allendo they mean and what were they like ?
Jennie AllenYeah , what were they like ? And we found a scripture that talked about the testimonies of the anti-Niefa Lehi's , the people of Ammon , and yeah , the testimonies that they had and what they were willing to do for their testimonies , and that was the type of those were the parents that raised the 2000s shripling warriors , right .
Bryce AllenAnd there's a lot , a lot about it . It was hard . We had worked so hard for this . We knew that it was just not gonna be what we needed it to be , but we didn't wanna put people out . We wanted to make sure we were following our leadership . We wanted to make sure that people didn't take more time than they could off work so that they could support their families . We wanted to make sure the youth we didn't just turn this into like a two day long Sunday school class .
Alisha CoakleyRight .
Bryce AllenWe wanted to make sure that the kids had time to internalize , to listen to the spirit , to have fun , to play . Kids need to play . Even you know you talk about these older kids . You know these are kids . You know , 14 to 18 years old used to need to play . Heck , I'm 43 years old and I still like to play .
Bryce AllenYeah , but and then , you know , we sat on it for a day or so and then I got a call one morning or actually it was an evening , it was an evening from a sister .
Bryce AllenSister Massey was our leader and she had an inspiration . And then she talked to me about this inspiration that she had had , because she just had the faith , she just had it . And it was this little miracle of I want you to look at it , because the point is that we the biggest point was we couldn't have anyone take off work on Thursday . So this was gonna be a Thursday , friday , saturday event , but we couldn't have anybody take off work on Thursday . So she had this idea and she ran it by me and she goes can you put a schedule together that reflects a two and a half day event where we didn't start anything until Thursday evening ? And I went okay , let me figure that out . Let me look at it . And I sat down at the kitchen table there at our house in St Louis and it had taken me two days to work up those other two plan A's and plan B's . I had plan C done in 15 minutes .
Scott BrandleyWow .
Bryce AllenAnd just because it was right there was no block , it was just right and I called her back and I said I've got it , I'm sending it off to you , I'm gonna send it to the leaders and let's talk about it . And so we ended up we ended up talking about it and another meeting we ended up talking about , we brought it up and it was just with her sheer faith and determination made it happen , and that's where we went through . We went moved forward . That was probably one of the first like obvious miracles that I witnessed from that was just the fact that , having fought it for about two or three days and be able to sit down at a table with a pen and a paper and fix it in 15 minutes , that was one of the first times I went . Oh wow , that usually doesn't happen , yeah .
Jennie AllenAnd then . So at that point they moved forward . They got the set built . They brought in some youth to help paint the scenery . They had found a scout camp .
Bryce AllenYeah that had a nice amphitheater with a concrete pad that we could put the set on . We made props and costumes and I did all the recordings and all the video editing . And I had my colleagues from St Louis that allowed me to borrow some equipment from the theater that I worked at there so we could have some lights and some sounds . So it wasn't just , you know , a set . I put some time into it , the steak and the youth put some time into it . It made it look really nice . We have some pictures that we can send of what it looked like .
Jennie AllenYeah , yeah . So and then the week before actually even just a couple of days before the conference , and we had arranged childcare for our kids so I could go and help them , because we didn't want to pull from the youth helped to build it , but we didn't want to pull from the youth to help run it , because they needed to be able to experience it , and so I went to be his stage hand .
Scott BrandleyTo be his stage hand and to help him out .
Jennie AllenBut anyway . So a couple of days before the weather forecast came in and they were scheduling thunderstorms and rainstorms , fornators , yeah , potential severe , you know , midwest Holy cow Severe weather , and so they happened to have at the Scout camp a large covered pavilion where , instead of sitting out in an outdoor amphitheater , we could actually there was a room for us Set up in this lodge .
Bryce AllenIt was a lodge , yeah .
Jennie AllenThat we could set up our set and there was room for us to make everything happen .
Bryce AllenInside instead of in the amphitheater outside .
Jennie AllenYeah , and they had . They had space down in the basement and anyway .
Miraculous Weather and Divine Intervention
Jennie AllenSo basically they went from having all the youth camp on site to they , because they were planning on camping in their wards , anyway . So what they did is they said okay , bishops , are you willing to open up your homes ? And so the kids were going to go and actually stay at their bishops home every night .
Jennie AllenAnd so instead of camping because of the weather , yeah , yeah , the weather just was not conducive , so that actually meant that when they got there Thursday they didn't have to set up camp . They had more time because they didn't have to set up camp .
Bryce AllenThey could go and they could actually come and go , and the scout camp wasn't too far from most people it was fairly central for our stakes .
Jennie AllenSo I mean it was a little bit of a drive , but not too bad . There was a big grassy field just to the west of the pavilion where they could do their outdoor activities . So it just the venue made it all possible as well , like the venues that they arranged .
Bryce AllenAnd again , this was a change that happened in an hour .
Bryce AllenYeah literally it's like okay we can't do this , and you know I mean luckily , I have spent many many , many years designing scenery that can be transported and set up in many different areas , especially my work with the Utah-Visval Opera and a few other companies that we do that do summer stock and things like that . But yeah , it was again , but it just happened , it just worked . We had all the hands I needed , we got it put together and we got it up and we were running through the first night .
Jennie AllenAnd there had been storms off and on and they had their first battle scheduled to go to happen out on the . Actually , no , it wasn't the battle , it was the ship building . The ship building thing , yeah .
Bryce AllenThey had like a relay race or something with the cardboard ships .
Jennie AllenSo have them come across the grass , and the rain stopped . The rain stopped and they were . The sun came out and they were able to go out , Because the whole time the leaders here , the youth , they have a rough itinerary but they don't really know what's going , where they're going to be in all this , and the rest of us are sitting back there because basically , we were there to just help make the event happen . We weren't assigned to a group . We weren't going anywhere with the youth .
Jennie AllenWe were literally just there to help make the event happen and , yeah , we watched , as OK , they have 10 minutes left before they're supposed to go do this outside and the rain stops , and so they were able to go . And then , when we come back , inside , the rain starts .
Scott BrandleyThey come back inside and they start it again .
Bryce AllenYou know , it was absolutely miraculous .
Jennie AllenHow that worked and the same . The next day was the same . We had to .
Bryce AllenI remember they all went . We had about $10,000 worth of gear there and everybody had left , but I was like I can't leave that there and guard it . So we ended up sleeping on an air mattress .
Jennie AllenYeah , so we camped out right in the middle of the set .
Bryce AllenOh Now we're a mattress Wow , the only people on the entire property . Just .
Jennie AllenBecause we weren't going to leave it , you know on the surprise . But yeah , the next day was the same thing . We had rainstorms off and on throughout the whole day , but every time they had a battle scheduled .
Bryce AllenOr we had any other thing .
Jennie AllenAny outdoor event . The rain would stop , the sun would come out , and this was you know . As he had put together the schedule , he had the times on the schedule , he had no way of knowing when it was going to be raining or not . Right , I mean , heavenly Father did , yeah .
Bryce AllenBut yeah , and yeah , and for me it was just me doing my job and I've done hundreds of shows and it was just me doing my job . But that's one of those things where I look at it in hindsight and I go you know , this , that's , this , couldn't have all been me . I mean , I've done gigantic productions , you know , and this was a very small . As things go , it was one of the smallest productions I've ever done and it's still . You know , we're really complex , but it was . I just looked at and go how could we work this ? That just worked and it just did , and that was nothing I did . It was all up to heavenly father working through the education and the talents that he gave us and Decombination .
Bryce Allenin my , in my opinion , yeah , this is so the first day we ended at the Tree of Life . We had a whole Tree of Life event that that evening , that Thursday evening and then Friday during the day we had a lot of the wars and started with with Aaron and Alma and and and all of that and we ended with the events of third Nephi on on Friday night and I'm gonna let .
Bryce AllenJennie take care of this , because she's the one that that Really saw a lot of this so there were , there were a couple things going .
Jennie AllenWhat , once again from from behind the scenes ? We had problems with their microphones the whole time . Like some of the lighting to the speakers had worked , so the recorded dialogue was great . But anytime we tried to use a microphone for any live sound , it hadn't worked the entire time . We just couldn't figure out the connections . It just wasn't working , and so we had a sound of the weather , I don't know .
Bryce AllenYeah .
Jennie AllenYeah , so we had a microphone issue Also Leading up to third .
Bryce AllenNephi Bryce had actually spent a long time putting together this whole soundscape of , you know , thunderstorms , thunder , you know with , and timed lights for the lightning and we had a gentleman coming in from Arizona who had portrayed Christ in some of the church videos already of the time and he was literally flying in that afternoon Coming to portray Christ in third Nephi for us and he was gonna catch a plane that night and fly home . He wasn't even staying the night like he came and left and we were worried that his plane was gonna get delayed because of the , the storms .
Jennie AllenYeah right right . But and the youth didn't know like any of that ?
Bryce AllenYeah , not even the youth council , yeah , not even the youth council knew .
Jennie AllenThey just knew that someone was coming to portray Christ and and anyway , so it's . As this is coming up , the the sake youth leaders are picking up this gentleman from From the airport and bringing him out to the , to the scout camp . We're doing our thing . The storms are blowing in and Literally as we hit third Nephi , the tornado sirens started going off . There were storms , thunder , lightning , all the youth , literally . It was like , okay , everyone down in the basement , you know of this , one of this this Lawd it was a pretty large basement , but there's a you know , almost 200 people down .
Jennie AllenDuring . You know , while the thunder , lightning , tornado sirens , they take feet down in the basement . Our gentlemen came got here they got here , they got him in costume , we were getting him ready upstairs . Meanwhile , they had already planned on having , during the soundscape , having all the kids . Well , basically , you know , turn off all the lights , have the darkness , have the , have all that , but and then having the kids just be quiet .
Jennie AllenYou know , 160 teenagers asking to be quiet . You know that's always an adventure , but anyway . So they have them down the basement . They did . They sing some songs and hands and stuff to , because there were some literal , you know , scared teenagers down there like there's a tornado coming our way .
Alisha CoakleyIn this .
Bryce AllenWe're still here , but at the last possible minute but yeah .
Jennie AllenSo basically we're getting things ready . Upstairs they have the youth downstairs . I Went up onto the tower of the set because I was gonna be running the spotlight .
Bryce AllenAnd I was running the sound and the rest of the lights .
Jennie AllenMm-hmm , and they get the kids . Well , it calms down it calms down and it the weather clears up again .
Bryce AllenI . Didn't have to use my soundscape that I was gonna create . We had it Push play .
Jennie AllenThe kids come up from the youth and they're silent , they're completely silent . There'd been enough of a feeling already of the spirit that was there of okay , heavenly fathers , in this storm , the storm is here for us . And so they come up and they get some all settled down , sitting down , and Our , our actor comes out portraying Christ and I turn on the microphone and it works .
Jennie AllenWe weren't sure if it was even worth Using , using it , but we're like , oh , we want everyone to hear we'll try . And so they turn on the microphone . It works , works the entire time he was there and then it wouldn't work any of the rest of time , but it worked the whole time he was using it and he , he spoke some of the words the Christ spake in In third Nephi . I had the spotlight shining on him , I was up above , watching it from up above , and Then the plan was for him to go and kind of do a small , you know , walk partially through the crowd , interact with a few of the kids and then leave because you had to go catch a plane .
Bryce AllenMm-hmm on his own on his own completely .
Jennie AllenI'm prompted by anybody he ended up going through and Shaking hands , hugging , speaking , to interacting in some way With every single youth that was there . I was up behind the spotlight , drinched and sweat , because I mean lots of humidity . Midwest Spotlights are not Not cool .
Bryce AllenYeah .
Jennie AllenAnd so I'm showing this light on him the whole time as he's , as he's going through , and he was about two hours little less than two hours , little less than two hours , and he interacted with every single youth and there was just a spirit and a silence and a power and they weren't talking . 160 youths , not a word .
Bryce AllenThey all waited for their turn .
Jennie AllenThey waited their turn , and that whole room . I've never felt the spirit that strong .
Bryce AllenJust the love of Christ .
Alisha CoakleyLike I am literally in .
Bryce AllenIt's all right . I mean , it's one of those things where I was sitting at the control booth and I was watching Jennie , I could tell she was just in tears and you know , from across the stage I was in the back of the room and the people , the leaders sitting around me , were just in tears . Everybody was just in tears just feeling how powerful this was for these kids , for these kids . And you know , he finished his job , we sent home , he made his flight . So he got home and I remember there was this one boy that came up to me as we were wrapping up that night . He said is , is the guy that played Christ still here ? And I said , unfortunately he's not . He had to go .
Bryce AllenAnd and it was one of the hardest things I had to say to that young man was because he , like , he just needed him there and I was like I'm sorry , the man is not here , but the spirit is , you can still be there . And I don't know whatever happened to that . He was from a different unit and I don't know his name . I just remember very vividly the look of despair on his face , that he just wanted that spirit . Again , when I said that man wasn't here , you know , took him aside , helped him out .
Jennie AllenBut yeah , so yeah , we wrapped up the last day . Once again , storms can went on schedule .
Bryce AllenYeah , we took everything down . Nobody got hurt , everybody had a great time , and it was all because of the faith and the sheer determination of Alyssa Massey , or our state Young's president well , I also think it was the focus of the state presidency and the focus the entire state .
Jennie AllenFocused on their kids focused on their youth and getting them ready for this youth conference , allowing them to come . For those that sacrificed the time to be able to come , I Remember .
Bryce AllenI remember saying , before the event happened I was talking to a few people I've done hundreds of shows , even even before this , as was a number years ago . I worked on hundreds and hundreds of productions and it's the . It is the dream of every artist , and that's what I am . I'm an artist that they have their art change somebody's life and .
Bryce AllenAnd that is the only production I have ever done out of the hundreds that I've done . That , I know , changed someone's life and it was also One of the simplest , one of the smallest in scale . It wasn't grand , it wasn't Gigantic , it wasn't pizzazz . It was this simple small set with a simple technology a few lights , a few speakers , a few microphones , a few props , and that was it . And it is the most important production I've ever done out of the hundreds that I've done . And I don't know how that has affected the people that were there , and I don't think I'll ever know , but that's I know it did and that's enough for me .
Jennie AllenAnd we do know that of the youth , from our word that were there , all the young men Surf missions and most of the young , most of the young women .
Alisha CoakleyHow cool is that ? Amazing . So who knows ?
Bryce AllenHow influential that you know they get their testimony of the Book of Mormon at this conference Went on their missions . I have no idea how many people they brought into the gospel because of it . I'm probably never gonna know , but it was , it was . It was that one of the those ? Again , this is all in hindsight . We didn't really see it at the moment , except for the fact that we knew this was gonna be a big thing . All of us in the leadership knew this was gonna Change the lives of the people , the kids that we were working with , but we've never dreamed it would be as big as it was . Don't even think it would be as big as it was .
Jennie AllenThey even come into our minds and just then , soon thereafter , we actually after After doing this , because it was our , our third year in St Louis that fall we ended up applying for an On a on a whim , I applied for the position that Weber State where I came to meet you guys , and I got the job and we left St Louis
Importance of Youth Activities and Miracles
Jennie Allen. We felt like that was . I was there .
Bryce AllenI got the job at slew , we moved to St Louis and we did all of that just because the Lord needed Jennie and I there , with the people that were already there , to do that youth conference . For that's for that youth . Maybe it was that that young man that came up and talked to me afterwards , maybe it was just for him , I Don't know .
Alisha CoakleyWell , I can tell you , just look at all of these amazing miracles .
Bryce Allenthat happens , yeah , when you just do daily life .
Alisha CoakleyI can , I can tell you , guys , you need to give yourself some credit , because I remember , jennie , the girls camp that you were director over , and we had some some crazy stuff happen when Cal and I got stuck on that . That was the rope course thing .
Bryce AllenYou remember that .
Alisha CoakleyAnd it was yeah , bryce , you were there too , actually , and it was terrifying , but it was one of the most spiritually impactful moments that I was able to have with you and I think about that and I think about , like , how needed is that you guys are willing to serve for one , but that you take your , your whatever , whatever capacity of serving you're doing , whether it was calling or if it was even just a volunteer thing for you know , one random activity , you guys take it so seriously , even when you know Jennie , you were sharing scriptures beforehand with Bryce and just kind of trying to give him a perspective of , like , what's the most important thing ? What do we need to focus on ? You know , I really , really love that and and I love how I just feel like the youth activities are so divinely inspired . You know , when we think about youth conferences and FSY and camp and trek and all of these activities , I just think they're .
Alisha CoakleyI know , for me as a teenager , they were , they were some of the things that solidified so much of my testimony you know that I look back , I've I've forgotten a lot of activities that I've had in other areas and Relief Society and things like that , but holy cow , do I remember the youth activities ? I just think it's awesome that you guys were like willing to be there and to give of your time and your talents and your energy and and to work cohesively together and to like , consider everybody else and I don't know Working with the youth is we had .
Jennie AllenI mean , we both got to work with the youth there in Ogden as well and had opportunities .
Bryce AllenYeah you were in the young women's presidency and I was .
Jennie AllenI had councilmen assigned to the young women . I wasn't the young women , because I was just a camp director .
Alisha CoakleyYou were the camp director .
Jennie AllenWe did two girls camp we did two girls camps that summer because that's what Heavenly Father told me to do , yep . But but also , yeah , the summer that we were truck mom paw for Clarissa , we we had been kind of the backup mom paw , like they had other people . They asked us we got the call two weeks before whole truck saying we need you as mom paw , can you do it ? And so we , we did it because that's what Heavenly Father asked us to do and that's kind of been our before we left Utah in the first place . Yeah , when we were praying to know what we were supposed to do , I was terrified to leave home . Bryce had already been on a mission , he'd already left Utah for a couple of years . But I was afraid , like my whole family , my whole life was there .
Jennie AllenAnd as I was praying and I very it's it's the one time that I feel like I felt words as an answer to prayer and I felt I heard Heavenly Father tell me that if you go and you do , if you follow my guidance , if you do what I ask you to do , I will never leave you alone . And he has . I've seen that , whether we were in Illinois , whether we were in Missouri , our time in Ogden , already our two years here . We moved here to Lincoln , nebraska , and we released the society presidency two weeks after we moved here and that was like I don't know anybody . How am I supposed to do this ? But through , through my faith in Heavenly Father , he's made it all possible and he guides me and he helps me fulfill my calling and he helps me to serve and do what I know I , what I know I need to do . But sometimes knowing and knowing that I need to do it and knowing how to do it are two completely different things .
Bryce AllenBut it's just one of those things where , whether you not , you realize it or not , you know if you're living the life that you should . You're trying to do your best , you're , you're using the atonement on a daily basis . You're just trying to be your average Joe , guy or girl or whomever . Those miracles will happen and you may not notice it until years later . But you know just the minor miracles of where , how we met , you know where we went to school after we got married , where , where our careers led us , all of those little bits and pieces . Years and years and years before this state this , you know , youth Conference happened , that led , put us on those , those , those tracks to get there when it needed , when we needed to be there . And Heavenly Father will make sure that you are where you need to be when you need to be there if you're following him .
Scott BrandleyYeah , what an interesting thought , Christ . You know , like when I was the bishop , I always was mindful of the time , because I knew that we were only going to be there . I mean , five years is a long time , but it felt like it was just going to be such a short amount of time when we had to really make it count . Like I always thought that in the back of my mind because the only thing that changes is time , right , like it's never going to stay the same and for all of those people at any point in time in your life , for the people that are around you at that moment , you can do . I mean , sometimes people come together for reasons we don't know , but God knows , right .
Bryce AllenYeah .
Scott BrandleyAnd I feel like if we're always just willing to show up and just be there for God , he's going to make amazing things happen , like he did with you guys in St Louis , right , and I'm sure that's happening throughout the rest of your life and it will continue to happen as long as you continue to show up .
Jennie AllenYeah , well , and have the faith you have to , not you show up and then you put one foot forward , and then it's forward , I mean yeah , I mean . Lee Kiley . Light has been , I feel , like kind of a theme song for my light , where it's like okay , sometimes I have to have faith enough to just be able to move forward . Only seeing that one step ahead , I know that Heavenly Father is guiding me and leading me where I need to go .
Bryce AllenYou may not figure that out until years and years and years later . You know , and a lot of the stuff that you know , even about that youth conference we didn't really figure it out until years later . You know now a lot of those kids I'm still in touch with a lot of them for their social media and stuff A lot of them are now getting married . Most of them are getting married in the temple . You know they're starting their own , their own families and I couldn't be prouder of those kids . Those are awesome kids and the youths in our respective areas right now . They're awesome kids . They are stronger than people ever believe . I've spent most of my church callings working with the youth . To this day I still wear a young men's duty to God badge and when I was serving as a high councilman and a noggin for the young women , they gave me a young women's torch pin to wear my lapel . I wear them both all the time because the youth are the most important .
Jennie AllenPeace , peace .
Bryce AllenThe most important people that we have in our church . We have to teach them , we have to take care of them . And they'll take care of us because they're just that great .
Alisha CoakleyThey're a chosen generation , so yeah , oh , wow , you know , I just I'm I'm all teary-eyed today , but it's great because it's making me think of um . We just had FSY here and so my boys went to it and stuff and um and my oldest he . I love it because when we talk which is not very often , because a lot of times he's just he doesn't want to talk to me .
Bryce AllenWe've got one of them too .
Alisha CoakleyBut usually when we talk , if even if we get into a deep conversation , it's usually not a spiritual conversation . It's very like , like logical . With Jack , you know , and he got back from FSY and he , he was asked to speak in church and to just kind of share about his experiences and stuff . And so as we were talking , he starts telling me about , you know , the testimony meeting and just how everyone was crying , including himself , and then he got up and he and he shared some of the things that he had shared in his testimony with me and it was .
Alisha CoakleyIt was like this , this moment , where I just thought , wow , like my son is so much stronger than I thought he was , you know , and it really showed me that they're they're listening , our youth are listening , they are watching , they are taking things in . We may not see it , we may not feel it all the time and maybe sometimes they don't even understand how much they're learning . But when you get to put them in a position where the focus is their testimony and their growth and their progress , and it's not about what the adults want but it's about how can we better them , you know , how can we help them to build a relationship with Jesus Christ and to know their purpose in this world and and to understand where their testimonies are . I think that , all of a sudden , all those lessons that they've held are , it gives them permission to like , let them out and to look at them and to be like , oh , there's my testimony , this is , this is what , you know , what I've been building my whole life and I didn't realize it until this moment , and I just , I love so much that that the church has all of these amazing opportunities to push our youth outside of their comfort zone , maybe even to irritate them a little bit by by being , like you know , like one of the things they made a rule no , slow dancing at this FSY .
Alisha CoakleyAnd of course , I was like , what Cause ? I was just a big old flirt when I was a teenager and I I , I mean , I empathize . My 14 year old was like mom . He was really upset , but in hearing the feedback and knowing you know what , that's not even what it was about . They still got to have fun , they still got to build relationships and , most importantly , they were able to have an opportunity to to share their testimony and to recognize their own testimony .
Bryce AllenYeah , our , our son , our 15 year old son just got back Saturday yesterday from his youth conference and I I was down there this morning and I asked him a question , it's like cause . I asked him okay , kid , what did you learn ? And he , he stops and he thinks about it for a second and goes you know , it's not necessarily what I learned .
Alisha CoakleyIt was more what I felt .
Bryce AllenAnd I went , good kid .
Alisha CoakleyYou figured it out and he's like yeah yeah that makes sense .
Bryce AllenSo you know , you know , it's just like your , your son , our son is not exactly the most open person in the world , but he's a good kid and all of our kids are good kids and , like I said before , they are the most important people in church by far . And I have lived , we both have lived our lives to try to do whatever we can for them . So you can't , you can't stop as a teacher I'm a teacher you can't stop people from learning they're , they will learn , no matter what you do .
Bryce AllenThe point is , as parents , as teachers , is to guide that guide that learning , so that they're learning what they need to learn .
Alisha CoakleyYeah , yeah .
Scott BrandleyI'm sure . Well , they , they have a lot , of , a lot of crap that they have to deal with that we didn't , we never had to right ? Yeah , oh man , it's hard , but but it is really cool to see them shine through it and you know they are really strong and God really did prepare them for today . Yeah absolutely so . Do you guys have any last thoughts or comments before we wrap things up ?
Jennie AllenI think we've covered just about everything , yeah .
Bryce AllenI mean , it's been an interesting path that you know and you know I always talk about . You know how our our journeys are going , and it's always , it's always a good thing in my heart when we get to cross paths again and it's been great to be able to cross paths with you guys again from from Ogden to wherever we are now . It's it's it's fun to see you guys again and just to get to have another conversation like we did in while we were in Ogden .
Bryce AllenJust crossing our journeys , and then hopefully we'll be able to cross again sometime For sure yeah .
The Power of Service and Family
Scott BrandleySo , alisha , did you want to ? Did you want to say something there ?
Alisha CoakleyWell , I was going to ask you guys because you guys , you guys have always stood out as one of those couples that just really like love and respect each other . And I know that's going to sound crazy , but but like I've always looked at you like , like you guys deserve your own TV show .
Bryce AllenReally ? No , I do not . I am not an actor . It's okay , it'll be all candid .
Alisha CoakleyIt's totally fine , you don't have to prepare any lines or nothing , but no , but I've always thought about that and I thought , oh , I wonder if this is part of the reason why . So I just wanted to ask you , like , how has serving together with the youth even though you know sometimes it's calling , sometimes it's not like how has that helped you guys in your relationship and and as parents ? It's an ?
Bryce Alleninteresting question .
Jennie AllenI think it's helped us focus on I mean , obviously we have good days , we have bad days as parents , but I think being able to try to focus on opportunities for our own kids and help encourage them . Just we before last our activity days group took the senior primary kids up to Omaha to the Temple Grounds , so they went to the Winter Quarters Temple .
Jennie AllenThe Winter Quarters Temple up in Omaha and there's a a visitor center across the street where they talk about the Mormon Trail Center and you know the timing . There in Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters , before starting across the plains , and our 11 year old . We have two girls that are that age , our eight year old . I went with her , but our 11 year old had a a different count that she was scheduled to go to and she was in tears the night before . She was like Mom . I didn't realize what I was saying yes to when I said to go to this camp , because I know that the temple's important and I want to go to the temple tomorrow . And I told her well , sweetheart , we've we committed to this . It was a theater camp and she had to be there to learn her lines , learn her part , to be able to be part of the performance .
Bryce AllenYeah , we're a theater family , huh .
Jennie AllenYeah , and we felt strong . I felt strongly in talking to Bryce . He supported the thought that this time she needs to go to the camp because we made that commitment . But then I also told her I will take you to the temple , like I know you want to go to the temple and your your desire to go . I can see how strong it is . And so yesterday , she and I we had a girl's afternoon . We went up to Omaha and we we took a couple of hours and we went to the visitor center and we went to the temple and afterward , just before we left , she gave me a big hug and said Mom , thank you for bringing me to the temple and thanks for realizing that I needed to come here without all my friends , because I wouldn't have actually felt the spirit with all my friends here .
Jennie AllenI would have been playing with my friends and she's she's so excited and she's like okay , I'll be old enough in January to go to baptism , can I , can I schedule an appointment now ? It's like no , we have to wait a little bit longer .
Scott BrandleyWe have to get the recommend first .
Jennie AllenBut it's just seeing her desire and being able to help guide her and help her find the desire to want to go . And even our teenager , I mean he's it's hard to , it's hard to . I'm trying to sometimes gauge how he's feeling and how he's interacting . Yeah , but we've had early morning seminary here at six o'clock every morning . We live two blocks from the church .
Alisha CoakleySo I wake up . I wake up and he walks we go back to bed and he's , he goes .
Jennie AllenHe gets up every morning . He goes to seminary every morning and that's with me just poking him and saying okay , get up , it's time to go . I don't have to drive , I don't have to sit and wait for him . And not only that , but his friends , the people he invites over on the weekends , are his friends from seminary .
Jennie AllenThose are the people that he he's chatting with on his phone and they come over and but I think and play at our house and developing these relationships , these gospel centered relationships , and desires to make our focus the temple , make our focus , building our testimonies .
Bryce AllenAnd service . That was the . That's another big thing . How do we help ? And I think , to answer another question of yours , alisha , jennie and I , yeah , we're like any other normal couple . We have a reps and a downs and our days where we're , you know , angry at each other and and where , you know , maybe I didn't do something right around the house or Jennie forgot to do something , or you know , whatever we have , like every couple , you know we're going to be , we're going to celebrate our 20th anniversary in December Awesome . But I think the the biggest thing is that we just try to serve each other , just you know . Check in , Are you okay ? What can I do ?
Jennie AllenAnd and we've been , we've been blessed . I actually I'm with my accounting degree . I'm a bookkeeper for a live entertainment crewing company . It's actually located in Boise , but I'm able to work remotely . But we both work in the arts and we both see the ups and downs of that .
Bryce AllenIt's not an easy career .
Jennie AllenOf that industry . It's a hard industry to be in , but we support each other and I know what he does for a living and he knows what I do with for a living .
Alisha CoakleyNot all couples actually know to the same level , but part of it is I know I have no idea what John does , and but it's because I know something , but I don't know yeah .
Jennie AllenWe work together and we help each other in all aspects of our own .
Bryce AllenYou know we're . We're both the oldest in our families . I'm the oldest of five kids and Jennie's the oldest of eight , and so when we got married , you know we were the first kids in both of our families to get married . You know , you know , and so we really there was no besides our own parents , there was no like example of how to do this . You know , we couldn't , we couldn't follow example of our , of our brothers or our sisters or you know , just just our own parents . And then we actually now spending a lot of time away from home . You know , we moved up to Logan and then we moved out to Illinois and and we really had to learn , as newlyweds , to rely on each other and to serve each other and to help each other as best we could , cause it was just us and , and I love my Jennie- I love you , I love you too , sarah , I love you guys too .
Jennie AllenWe love you too , yeah , oh .
Scott BrandleyWe want to be part of that . It's been awesome having you guys on the show . Yeah , and what a cool story . I love that God can make amazing things happen , you know .
Bryce AllenJust on an everyday , minute by minute . It's , it's there . He's planned it all , yeah .
Jennie AllenYeah , he knew when . He knew when it was going to be raining and when it wasn't .
Bryce AllenI didn't . Yeah , I'm not a weathering , I'm an artist , I'm not .
Scott BrandleyBut you can make it rain probably .
Bryce AllenYes , I do how to make it rain indoors . That that is one thing that I do . I actually know how to do . Wow , I know weird things . Yeah , why do I know weird things ?
Alisha CoakleyOh man . Well , thank you guys again for coming out and for sharing your story and you know I really love the fact that in the in like before we started recording . Like you know , it's not it's not like some of the other stories , like the big stories that you've had in here , but but it's such a such a beautiful story and it's something that definitely has just helped my own testimony and I know that it's going to help a lot of the people who are hearing your story on this episode and stuff like that . It'll help them to feel the spirit , and so I just I want to encourage our listeners who are out there .
Alisha CoakleyGuys , if you have a story to share , something that helped build your testimony , don't be afraid that it's not big enough or you know what I mean that it's not tragic enough or funny enough or whatever . Like , your story is enough , and Scott and I would love , love , love to have you guys reach out and to let us know what your story is , to see if we can have you on as a guest on Latter Day Lights and to be able to spread that light . But in regards to Bryce and Jennie , if you guys would just make sure that you leave a little comment for them . Let them know you know what your favorite part was and how it might have inspired you . That would be fantastic . And , of course , do your five second missionary work and hit that share button , because we would definitely love to have more people here all about these experiences and these miracles .
Bryce AllenI have stage fright , so don't don't share too much , too late . No , I have two degrees in theater and I have stage fright . I've been doing this for 20 years , almost almost 20 years .
Jennie AllenWell , thank you so much , Guys , this was great to see you guys again .
Bryce AllenHope your families are doing well . Really do they are so .
Scott BrandleyCool . Well , for those of you that are watching , thanks for tuning in , and we will talk to you next week when we'll have another story to share . So till then , take care and we'll see you then , see ya .
