LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Walking the Via Dolorosa & Learning The Language of Heaven: Trina Boice's Story - Latter-Day Lights

• Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley

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How can the ancient Hebrew language unlock a deeper way of listening to Christ with our whole heart, soul, and might?

In this week’s episode of Latter-Day Lights, Scott Brandley and guest co-host Emily Hemmert sit down with Dr. Trina Boice—university professor, longtime author, avid scripture educator, and Hebrew enthusiast—to explore the “Via Dolorosa,” more commonly known as the sorrowful path Christ walked from condemnation to crucifixion. Dr. Trina shares what it’s like to trace the traditional stations through Jerusalem, why this journey can reframe the Atonement as more than a single moment, and how sacred spaces (even outside our own faith tradition) can invite powerful spiritual reflection. Together, these experiences point to a discipleship that is not only believed, but lived through both body and spirit.

And, as we look ahead to the 2026 "Come, Follow Me" study of the Old Testament, Trina introduces a foundational Hebrew word, “Shema,” and how its layers of meaning (to hear, to hearken, to obey) can transform the way we approach scripture study and prayer. Along the way, she shares moving experiences from the Western Wall, insights into Jewish worship and devotion, and a renewed invitation to find Jesus Christ woven throughout the Old Testament.

Ultimately, this conversation invites us to move beyond simply reading the scriptures to truly living them. Through language, history, and lived experience, Dr. Trina reminds us that discipleship is not passive, but a wholehearted response to the Savior’s voice in every season of our lives.

*** Please SHARE Dr. Trina's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/ZsmC_RzdGeg

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To LEARN MORE about Dr. Trina, visit: https://www.TrinaBoice.com

To LEARN MORE about Dr. Trina's author coaching services, visit: https://www.frombook2business.com/

To READ Dr. Trina's book, "The Language of Heaven," visit: https://a.co/d/4j5b4kX

To READ Dr. Trina's book, "Via Dolorosa," visit: https://www.cedarfort.com/products/via-dolorosa-christs-path-to-the-cross?srsltid=AfmBOoriQlGGDu7ngEuLrfu0GN38cg1FUe-z7ovPv7bYXO6i-NCc9pD6

To LISTEN to Dr. Trina's podcast, "Daily Inspirational Quote," visit: https://open.spotify.com/show/17RPUlzByZQVu4zmqktoZ0?si=86c6033495a048f1

To WATCH Dr. Trina's movie reviews, visit: https://www.youtube.com/c/MovieReviewMom 

To READ Scott’s new book “Faith to Stay” for free, visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Scott Brandley:

Hey there, as a Latter Day Lights listener, I want to give you a very special gift today. My brand new book, Faith to Stay. This book is filled with inspiring stories, powerful discoveries, and even fresh insights to help strengthen your faith during the storms of life. So if you're looking to be inspired, uplifted, and spiritually recharged, just visit faithtoy.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Emily Hemmert:

And I'm Emily Hemmert. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth, and inspire others.

Scott Brandley:

On today's episode, we're going to learn some valuable insights into Christ's last day, along with some important Hebrew words that help us to unlock incredible insights into the Bible, especially as we prepare for the 2026 Come Follow Me Study Program. Welcome to Latter Day Lights. Awesome. Welcome to the show.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, thank you for having me. And before I even say anything else, Scott, first of all, I want to say how cool it is that you share your book, Faith to Stay, for free with everybody. And I love, I feel so honored. I love that Emily is here because she's the one that works on the Markovia project that I was reading about on your website and how all of it goes together. And it I'm so impressed, and I feel very honored to be with both of you. You are Saints in Action, which is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. We can, you know, sit and study the scriptures, but that's not the point. It's to drive us to action to bless mankind, and you're doing that. So I'm so honored to be in your presence today, truly. Thank you. Thank you.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah. Well, that's awesome because you're right. Like I well, thanks first of all, personally. Thank you, Emily, for um being my co-host today, which is this is unique, Trina, because um usually Alicia's my co-host, but today you you get the treat of having Emily.

Trina Boice:

I know.

Scott Brandley:

So yeah. Um, so but as and back at you too. I mean, you're a saint in action too, as we're gonna find out here real fast. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Trina Boice:

Well, so I'm Trina. Uh, and uh, let's see, what should I tell you about me? Uh, I am a university professor. I've been teaching online for BYU Idaho for about 15 years now, and I teach for another college in Tennessee. And I'm a film critic, I'm obsessed with movies, and I often randomly refer to movie lines and quotes and things like that in every conversation. So I'm just giving you a forewarning there. Uh, I also have a daily podcast called Daily Inspirational Quote with Trina Boyce. And but it's super short. It's I don't have guests, I just, you know, share a quote and a little bit about the person who wrote it and then how to incorporate it into your daily actions because again, I'm all about actions. Um and I have four sons, and my biggest claim to fame, I think, is my oldest son and I wrote a book. I've written 36 books, and so one of them, a number of years ago, was one that I wrote with my oldest son. My goal is to write a book with each of my four sons, and so he was the first. And I'm currently writing another book with my third, no, what am I saying? My fourth son. But anyway, back to the first son. He was dating and he's very shy, and he's such an amazing guy. I know, like no other mother has ever said that before, right? But he's such a great guy. Anyway, once he wrote the book, it did really well, it was a lot of fun. Then uh he and my brother, who is not a member of the church, were hiking in Guatemala, and my son had just graduated from BYU. And so my brother said, Hey, so how's the dating scene going? I'm giving you way more story than you probably need to know, but um, I think it's pretty cute. So my brother's like, well, you know, have you my brother, by the way, is an attorney for Facebook. So he's like, So, you know, do you use Tinder? And he knows my brother knows a lot about the church, but my son was like, Yeah, no, that's kind of not my vibe, you know. Then to this day, neither one of them really remembers which one of them said, What if Tinder got baptized? What would that look like? And so Mutual was born. Mutual is the popular LDS dating app. And so our little book just blossomed into this really fantastic dating app. And I always feel like despite my efforts to really do amazing things, there's nothing I could ever do that would beat my son's efforts of bringing families together for eternity. I'm so proud of him, and he does even more amazing things.

Emily Hemmert:

I have a life goal to matchmake, and I've never done it in I'm really bad at it, but it is a life goal that I have. I'm like, if I could be the reason that two people got together, like how cool would that be?

Trina Boice:

But yeah. Matchmaking is hard. It is, it is anyway. So, I mean, all of my sons are awesome, but I just love to uh brag about him because he's awesome, and I spent the day with him today.

Scott Brandley:

So anyway, he's so your son started mutual?

Trina Boice:

Yeah, so the two of them, my brother was the angel investor, and uh yeah, so the two of them were trying to think up names, and of course, my brother didn't know the name mutual and what that really means in a latter-day Saint community, you know, back when we used to call the weekly activity nights mutual. But I love double entendres as a writer, I love language, and so of course, mutual is, you know, when you find that you are mutually attracted to each other, you date. Uh, and then hopefully you marry and all of that. Anyway, um, let's see, what else can I tell you? I'm an identical twin, and I love to travel, and uh, I don't know, that's probably enough.

Scott Brandley:

My daughter got married from mutual.

Trina Boice:

So yay! We love those stories about people, and in fact, on the app, they share pictures almost every day of couples that have gotten together on mutual. And anyway, that's what it's all about. It's so awesome. What were you gonna say, Emily? I wanted to know if your son got married. No, yes, he did get married, but he says the biggest regret of his life is that he didn't find his wife on mutual. What happened is he, after he graduated from BYU, we said, All right, what are you gonna do now? And he's like, I'm going to Arizona. And we're like, Okay, but why Arizona? There's we have no family, you don't have a job there. Like, what's the deal? And he's like, that's where I felt prompted to go. And this guy is, he's like Captain Moroni. He actually is in the military as well. He literally is Captain Moroni. So we're like, okay, so Arizona is where he found his wife, and where he also found the the techie guy who built the app, you know, who did all of the coding and all of that kind of stuff.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, that's awesome. That's funny. So this goes back, but I I was playing around in the singles market back. I I bought the domain name ldsinglesonline.com back in the day, and then LDS Singles took off. So I sold that domain name to LDS Singles.com. Oh, I was gonna build, I was gonna build uh LDS Singles app.

Trina Boice:

You were well, what's even funnier is years ago, let me think if I even had kids back then. Maybe, maybe, maybe my oldest son was a baby or something, and I just thought this was before apps, this is how long ago it was. And so I was like, we need a website where we can put singles together, and I was gonna call it latter dates, which is a really stupid name. Anyway, and so I talked to a really good friend of mine who was an attorney. I'm like, what do you think of this idea? And he was LDS, and he's like, Oh, I don't know, that sounds like very problematic. I I don't I don't think you should do that, and I was like, but it's such a good idea, except for the name, anyway, and so I didn't do it, so it makes me even happier that it was my son that did it anyway, and his he's done a way better job than I would have ever done.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, that's a cool story. Small world. Yeah, but well, this has been super fun, and we haven't even got started in the in the actual story yet.

Emily Hemmert:

So, can I ask what where your doctor credentials come from?

Trina Boice:

Oh, sure. Well, so I got a couple of bachelor's degrees from BYU in Provo, and then I got a couple of master's degrees, and they're all in totally different fields. My doctorate degree is in management and leadership with a concentration in higher education. Okay, so I'm a lifelong learner. I would gladly go to school if somebody paid me to do it for the rest of my life. I love learning and I love teaching. The minute I learn something, my first desire is to find somebody to teach it to. So we just moved to Utah. Uh, we raised our kids, or we all of our kids were born in Georgia, and then we moved to San Diego, and so our two oldest became teenagers in San Diego, then we moved to Vegas for various reasons, uh, where my two youngest kids became teenagers, and then we just recently moved to Utah, and so I just got called last week as a gospel doctrine teacher, and I'm so excited because I love to teach, especially teaching stuff about the gospel.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, I can see that.

Trina Boice:

It's so exciting, and if ever anybody's only gonna stay for the first five minutes or however long we've talked, here's my finishing thought. It's all true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We should be just like bouncing off the walls and yelling from the mountaintops. Well, I guess we are now that we're in Utah, aren't we? Um, then it's true.

Scott Brandley:

Awesome. Okay, well, keep keep shouting because I'm gonna turn the time over to you. So let's let's let's talk about where your story begins.

Trina Boice:

Oh, well, you know, uh that would be a very long, boring story. But I will tell you, way back when I was a young girl, I just had a feeling I was gonna be a writer. I knew I was gonna be a writer, I knew I was gonna be an author, but I didn't know what I was gonna write about. And so anyway, here we are. I've just now published my 36th book. This is my 36th one. I don't know if this is gonna look backwards on the screen or not. No, it looks like oh, good. Okay, well, so this one is called The Language of Heaven. And it's the subtitle is Hebrew words every Latter-day Saint Should Know to Better Understand the Bible, covenants, and God. And so today, if we have time, I want to share some really cool Hebrew words that add layers of insight that I just think are so amazing. And yeah, I think members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are so good about studying the scriptures and wanting to dive deeper and dig and pull out more meaning. And uh years ago, I started teaching Old Testament in gospel doctrine many years ago, and I ran to the nearest Judaica store where I could buy swag, Jewish swag and stuff, because I thought it was so fascinating. And I remember being pretty young the very first time I saw anybody at the Western Wall in Israel. And and we can talk about that because I've had some amazing experiences there, but um, I just wanted to know more. And so this is the first time I've written a book that teaches Hebrew words. Um, but another book that I wrote that has to do with Israel and my experiences there is called Via Dolorosa. Now, I hope this doesn't look like a big plug from my books, but um, this particular book cover is a little jolting, I think, to LDS sensitivities. In fact, the original cover was kind of really bloody, which is of course realistic. But this book is called Christ's Path to the Cross. So we can start there. How about that? So have you heard of Via Dolorosa? Either of you, do you know what that is?

Scott Brandley:

I might have heard it in the past, but I didn't know what it was until until you mentioned it in your the thing you sent over. Um, and that that was fascinating to me. That's I asked if you would talk about that on the podcast.

Trina Boice:

So yeah, yeah. Well, I think in typical Latter-day Saint culture, we don't know what it is. We don't talk about it. We talk about Christ's last days or his last hours, and we're familiar with the sequence of events that led him from condemnation with Pontius Pilate all the way to crucifixion on the cross, but we don't call it the Via Dolorosa. And and the word, the term via dolorosa, via means way or path, and dolorosa is painful or sorrowful. So it's the painful path, the the sorrowing path that Christ walked from condemnation to crucifixion. And so, way back in the day, um of Constantine, we'll talk about Emperor Constantine. Um he became a Christian, and his mother was very Christian, and she felt like she wanted to go to the Holy Land, to Israel, to see if she could actually identify the exact location where things took place, specifically the crucifixion. And so she did as much research as she was able. I mean, we're talking centuries and centuries ago, and I just think, bless her heart, she would do if I were, you know, that smart and had that kind of money back then, you know, I would have wanted to do that too. But so she went all the way to Israel, to Jerusalem specifically, and tried to identify all of these various sites. And as best as she knew at the time, she did identify some sites. And they became the beginnings of this Via Dolorosa. The actual path has changed a little bit over the years. And archaeologists and scripture scholars and historians debate about which of these sites are actually legitimate. But ultimately, for me, I think it's fascinating to be able to say I'm standing where Jesus stood on a first century stone on a walkway, right? But ultimately, it's more important, not exactly where he walked, but that we follow in his footsteps in our everyday life. And I would love for all of your listeners to be able to go to Israel. It's amazing. And I always heard, oh, it's life-changing. But it wasn't like I was, you know, a murderer committing crimes and needed to have my life changed, you know, but it really was life-changing. It just brings all of the scriptures to life in new ways. It's it's truly sacred ground and amazing, and the most valuable piece of real estate on this planet, valuable in money, but valuable because there are three major religions that worship there, uh, mainly Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Uh, that there are sacred sites there for each of those three religions. And of course, we share common ancestors in Abraham and whatnot. But so over the centuries, there became this actual path. And they created what they called stations and they mark them. And on the walls and on the ground, you see these markers that say, here's station one, and where they think is Pontius Pilate's praetorium, which is where the condemnation and the accusation came, right, or occurred. And then it winds through where people believe, traditionally, where Christ actually walked through the city. And of course, the city is a little bit different than it was back then, but uh, you can follow this path and you can stop at these stations and learn and read scriptures about what they believe happened at these actual sites. And that alone is just fascinating. A lot of these sites were uh immediately accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. And you see a lot of the cathedrals, the churches, the little buildings, whatever the sites are, are maintained by the Roman Catholic Church today. And it's just the sweetest thing you see as you're walking down this path, you might see a bunch of monks walking the path. You might see a bunch of Christian Protestant groups carrying crosses as they walk the path. You'll see people singing songs and praying and in a multitude of languages. And I just think that is so sweet. I think oftentimes members of our church might go into a Catholic cathedral and which tends to be very dark, lit by candles, and a great symbol of light and truth is brightness. You know, our LDS temples are bright, and and that's significant. And yet I always feel the spirit in Catholic cathedrals or cathedrals of any kind, with those just spires that reach up to heaven and uh that imagery and the lighting that they use and the beautiful paintings. And I think we're missing out on an opportunity to feel the spirit and to learn through this spirit when we're in some of these other religious uh buildings and sacred sites. Um have you been to any places like that where especially maybe outside of Israel, but you know, any place else where you might have traveled in the world, either of you two, where you felt like wow. Tell us about that.

Scott Brandley:

I've been to the Familia de Grata.

Trina Boice:

Oh, Barcelona.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah.

Trina Boice:

That's amazing.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, that that was pretty impressive to go in there. Like it's true. Like some of those cathedrals, the inside are just mind-blowing. There's breathtaking with the stained glass coming through the, you know, and the different colors of light.

Trina Boice:

And that particular cathedral, it's in Barcelona. I served my mission in Madrid, but before I served my mission, I went BYU study abroad. And we went to Barcelona. Barcelona. Everybody makes fun of the Spanish accent, but um, and I just was blown away. It was so unique. And just this last May, I took my husband for the first time, and his jaw just literally dropped. One thing that's interesting about cathedrals and even small Catholic churches around the world is you will see this Via Dolorosa represented inside the cathedrals or the churches on the walls. They're off on plaques, and each station has its own plaque, or they might have a statue or a painting or um a mosaic or something that walks you through each of those stations and they wrap around the churches or the cathedrals. And you might not have noticed that, that that's what that is. So it is now that you say that, yeah.

Scott Brandley:

Now that you say that, I mean they did have different um sections and they had candles in front that you could you could light the candles and you went around. Okay.

Trina Boice:

Yeah.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah.

Trina Boice:

Uh, which is really fun. I've taken pictures around the world of the Via Dolorosa represented in different artistic ways. And I just think that's really cool. And it's so focused on the atoning sacrifice. You know, a lot of times people think the atonement happened on the cross or just in the Garden of Gethsemane, but it was a process for sure that there was both body and spirit uh being sacrificed in, you know, specifically the Garden of Gethsemane and uh on the cross. Um, but anyway, I just think that that's really neat. So the Roman Catholic Church printed out a list of the stations and they numbered them and they came up with the path. And you can find that path all over Jerusalem because tourists want to go there and worship and or even just look out of curiosity to see. Some of them are uh just different buildings that represent, for example, when Christ uh tripped and fell. And Cyrus the Cyrene was ordered by the Roman soldiers to help him. And so they've got a little church to commemorate uh both Jesus Christ, of course, but even the this man who was just pulled out of a crowd, you know, to help Jesus, which I think is true. And now that is scripturally based. Over the time, or over the decades or centuries, even, there were people more recent Protestants and evangelicals that said, wait a second, not everything on this list is actually in the scriptures, which is true. And so then the Pope was like, the Pope at the time was like, okay, let's write a list of the ones that are just in the scriptures. And so some people skip over the other ones, but you have to pass those other ones anyway along the path. And so they're hard to learn about in there. There it gives us a moment of pause to reflect on the many things that happened between the condemnation and crucifixion. For example, we know that uh Jesus saw his mother. Was it that exact spot? I don't know, but she was absolutely in the crowd, and there's a beautiful small church in her honor. And as a mother, I just get all, you know, that's so screen because I can't even imagine what that must have been like for her to see her son, her baby go through all of that. Um, anyway, so there's just all of these amazing uh sights along the way, and then the grand finale, according to Constantine's mother, is uh the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The last five stations are in this massive church building. And again, there are historians and archaeologists that debate and say it's absolutely not this location. And we even have a modern-day prophet who said it might not have been right here, it might have been on the other side of town and where he was buried or crucified at Golgotha and buried there. And of course, I've gone to that site as well, or both of those sites, and felt the spirit there, but I also felt it at the other location. I I can't tell you which one is the actual location, but I felt like both of those locations, I mean, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then the Galgotha with the garden tomb area, which is just right around the corner from it, they both give us a place to reflect on the Savior. And that's the point, is to really think about this sacrifice that he was willing to pay, to pay the debt of justice and mercy that was required eternally for us to be able to be washed clean through the repentance process and be able to return to the presence of God. It's just amazing. And I love this book so much because I just got to relive my experiences walking the path and being in Israel. And um, it's really neat. And the the book, this book, I'll tell you about the other one in a second. And cut me off if you want, need me to stop talking. Fascinating. But anyway, this one it came out right before Easter when the prophet had said we need to find really good ways to honor and celebrate the holiest uh moment ever, which was the atoning sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, right? The point is that he lives. Anyway, so this book came out right before Easter. And so, in that book, the uh uh e in each chapter I talk about the stations, what happened, the scriptures that go with them, quotes from our living uh apostles and prophets, and uh and some fun information. Um, and then some tips for families on how could you celebrate or honor this moment on that Via Dolorosa with your family. And so ideally, you would there are you know a number of stations, and so you would back up before Easter and maybe focus on one station each day and read and uh incorporate some of the ideas and the activities and things as you prepare for Easter. And I love that Russell M. Nelson really wanted us to focus on Easter. It's it's crazy that with Christmas, we start celebrating. I saw Christmas decorations here in Utah, in Costco, in September, and which is great. I mean, inappropriate. Christmas is awesome, and of course, Easter couldn't have happened without Christmas, but Easter, why aren't we just obsessed and go nuts over Easter like we do Christmas? Because that's the whole point of Christmas, right? Anyway, uh, so I love that book. All right, should we talk about the other one? Or you guys want to talk some more about this one?

Emily Hemmert:

Well, one idea that I just had when you're talking about um how to use it use that as a family, I think it would be a cool activity around Easter time to like set up the stations and have people be able to like walk around and have read something in each one or something, you know what I mean? I like that idea, so I'm like, throw that away for the future.

Trina Boice:

Right. And then there are things that you can read together as a family, um and the scriptures that go with it, and all of that. I mean, it's kind of done for you. You know, you can read it as a book, but you can also read it as a workbook, you know, on how to put this thing together. You know, we do so many neat things at Christmas time, like the nativities that stakes and wards set up, you know, nativities from around the world, which I think is super cool. Um, I fit in wards and stakes that did Bethlehem, where they build a whole city of Bethlehem and you know, reenact that whole thing, which is awesome. But I mean, this is you might say this might seem a little more grim than the Christmas stuff because it it ends in a horrible, tortuous crucifixion, but that's not the end of the story, obviously. The the the good part is the resurrection that he lives.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, yeah. I love the artwork on that book, by the way. That's gorgeous.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, thanks. Again, I thought it was gonna be it was a little bloody, so they turned it from red to kind of a softer orange, but it really obviously was that way. Sometimes we kind of whitewash it and and just think of the the nice things about the resurrection, but it was gruesome and horrible, and important that we know that and honor that because that really I think it it gives like meat to this atoning sacrifice, uh right, and rightly so. I mean, I will start to cry if I go into too much more detail about this, but but anyway, um yeah, I I just I love being in Israel, and sadly, I was supposed to be in Israel right now leading a tour group, but with all the stuff going on in the last two, three months, everybody who had signed up and paid a deposit canceled, and rightly so. I mean, it's it's crazy.

Emily Hemmert:

And traffic, the there's a lot of like flights are getting canceled, right?

Trina Boice:

It's it's a very scary place to be. And I was worried what was gonna happen. The like two days before I was supposed to fly this last time that I went, you know, there were gunshots fired on the Temple Mount, no less. And I'm like, oh, or are we gonna cancel? And the tour guide at that time was like, no, this happens all the time, and it does, but it's been extra scary recently, and so everybody canceled. And of course, I was like, safety first, I will never take anybody there if it's not safe. And granted, it's been safe. So I feel so grateful I've been able to go when I have. Uh, there are pockets in time years ago when I was a student at BYU, I was gonna do the study abroad BYU, and it got canceled because of terrorism. This was a long time ago, and then I was like, oh no. So the next year I tried it again with my twin sister and it got canceled again. And I'm like, am I ever gonna get to go? And so this last time that I went, I got to go with my twin sister, and we cried the whole time. It's such an emotional experience. Every day I'm just like, it's it's amazing. So maybe as a little segue into this book, the Hebrew book, let me tell you a little bit about um Israel and Hebrew and Jerusalem in particular. Um, I I love the Jews, I feel such a kinship. I mean, they're my brothers, we're all part of the tribe of Israel, right? And we have different purposes and different personalities, and I just get such a kick out of them. And they there are so many things I admire about the Jewish people. And I'm not gonna get all political, um, because when we talk about the Jews, we're talking about the political, governmental body, the state of Israel, but we're also talking about spiritual Jews that could be living all over the world and the way that they worship God and try to know God. And so the most sacred spot on earth by far is the Western Wall in Jerusalem. And have either of you seen pictures? Do you know what that looks like?

Scott Brandley:

Or have yeah, I mean, you see, you see, there's usually thousands of Jews like praying at the wall, putting their little prayers in the cracks. Yes, I mean it's they're very devout, it's incredible how devout they are.

Trina Boice:

It is incredible, and uh I just think, wow, I I need to be more like them. And the way you'll see them walking all over all over um Israel. Well, even New York, we have a huge um Jewish uh, I was gonna say group, but there are several different sects. I mean, kind of like Christianity has different sects, uh, so does Judaism. But without shame, they're wearing their religious garb. Um, and it's different depending on the different uh sect or organizational structure that they belong to. They wear it just nobody's gonna make fun of them. Nobody, I mean, they do make fun of them, but they don't care. They are very devout. I like that you used that word, and and I love that boldness. You know, as members of the church, we have clothing that is special and unique to us and to our beliefs. And and it's you people can't see it. And sometimes members of the church are still embarrassed. And I'm like, look at the Jews, they're just wearing all of this fun stuff. Um, specifically at the Western Wall, and is so cool because they have so many different kinds of outfits, you know. And my favorite is this like it's seven, eight thousand dollar fur hat, and it's got these little fur things that stick straight up, and it's gorgeous. And they, you know, the men are wearing that. The men have the big showy outfit, I would say, or outfits that they would say. You'll see the ones that wear the ringlets, you'll see the prayer shawls, you'll see you know, some wearing the yarmulke. Um, and it's just it's all it's so fun to see that. Um, and I just admire their faith. They love to debate, and which, you know, I think members of our church are very respectful and very reverent. And we like to talk, but we don't get into it, you know, like they do, which I think is really fun. But anyway, uh so when you go to the Western Wall, it is amazing. And if you do get to go, try to go on their Shabbat, which is Friday night. What's fascinating is Friday morning, all of the Muslims are at the Temple Mount, which is here's this is going to be a terrible illustration. Here's the wall, and then here's the mount, right? So on the top of the mount is where you have uh two of the most holy sites for uh Muslims. So they have the Alaska Mosque, which is a big building and nobody can go in it unless you are a Muslim. And then they also have the Dome of the Mount, which is a huge landmark that you've probably seen, and it it glitters almost with gold. It's round, you know, the building that I'm talking about. Yeah, and that is supposedly the exact spot where uh Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and it could be, I don't know for sure. Like all these other things, there are places all over Israel in the holy land where people, historians and archaeologists and scripture scholars debate about this, but that is a really neat location as well. We can't go in that either, and there's no praying, you can't bring your scriptures up there, you know, as a Christian. Um, but anyway, so that's at the top of the mount. And they believe that that top of the mount, some people believe that that was where Solomon's temple was. And Jews believe that that wall that we call the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, I didn't see anybody wailing, but um that that is the last remaining wall of that original temple. And again, many people debate that as well. But again, it doesn't matter to me if that's the exact temple wall. Um, but it's a place where they do gather. And like you said, tons and tons of these Jews, men and women, and teenagers. So I want to tell you about some of them. So at um they have a divider that divides the men from the women's side, and that's right next to the wall. And then out beyond the actual wall, there's this massive, massive uh concrete, I don't know what you'd call it, just decking. I don't know, that's not even the right word, but just this big area, uh, and it's all made out of concrete. And so we got there. Oh, I was I telling you, yeah. So Friday morning, sorry. Friday morning, all the Muslims are up on the Temple Mount worshiping and the Alaska Mosque and you know, praying and doing stuff around the Dove of the Rock and all of that. And the Jews stay away, and then there's this mass exodus of the Muslims as they're leaving the city because they know they're closing up their shops, and the best shops are the Muslim shops in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem. They have the Christian quarter, the Muslim quarter, the Jewish quarter. Um, and then am I forgetting? Uh that's weird. I'm forgetting from the Armenians. They there's like an Armenian quarter, and they're Christian too. But I'm like, oh, they get their own quarter. But anyway, uh, because of a lot of history, and I won't go into all of the details. But anyway, uh, so I didn't know the first time I went, I didn't know what was happening. We were trying to get in to the what they call the old city, the Jerusalem that's surrounded by the walls. And there's just this horde of people, Muslim, mostly let me think if I saw any women, mostly Muslim men, because they're the ones that are going up into the mosque to worship. Anyway, they're all just pouring out. It was like a Sam, you know, trying to salmon swimming upstream kind of situation. And it was just really interesting. And finally, I stopped somebody, and in English, of course, I don't speak Arabic, um, although I've tried years ago. Uh anyway, you know, I said, What's happening? And he, I felt so sad and embarrassed for myself because he's like, You don't know what this is. And I'm like, No, this is my first time here. And he's like, you know, we are just finished worshiping, and you know, and now we have to leave because the Jews are coming in for their Shabbat service, you know, at the at the wall, which is right there in the same place, you know. And he's like, We Muslims are invisible in Jerusalem. And I said, Oh, no, not at all. I love that you all are sharing this sacred city. And so then he kind of calmed down a little bit. And then we had a really lovely conversation about, you know, all of the all of the people from around the world that that flock to Jerusalem to worship whatever God, you know, they believe is the true God. And and I admire that so much. Are you familiar with the term holy envy?

Scott Brandley:

No.

Trina Boice:

So um I should have brushed up on this. I didn't know I was gonna talk about this, but I think he was a Swedish priest um that that coined this term, and in fact, it had to do with the time. When the church was building a temple over in Europe. And as what often happens, some people in the community say, Hey, what is this? You know, and they're not sure who Mormons are or what is this building, and you know, all of this kind of stuff. And so people were starting to criticize the church. And why are you building this big building here? We don't want this building here. And so this man of faith, not of our faith, but a good, righteous man, said, Hold on a minute. I have holy envy for the Mormons. And we think of the word envy as a negative term, but really envy, meaning he admired so many of the things that Latter-day Saints are known for. We are just an incredible service-oriented church and a family-oriented church. I mean, just to start off. But then he rattled off all of these other things and he said, You people don't understand. They are bringing goodness to our city. Why wouldn't you want that? And I think he wrote a book about it, or certainly at least an article that I read called Talked About Holy Envy. And he went through several different other religions and talked about, you know, like I admire so much. I have holy envy for the Jews and how they worship so boldly and fearlessly and obediently. And I have holy envy for the Muslims for their prayer, their dedication to prayer. I've seen Muslims just here in America go into a store, like in a bathroom, and do their washings before they do their prayer because it's they look at the clock, it's time to pray, you know. That's so admirable. But anyway, I get off onto all of that tangent. What was I saying before I got off onto the holy envy? Anyway, oh, so the Muslims are leaving and the Jews are pouring into the old city of Jerusalem. I mean, Jerusalem is a big city, um, but the old city is you know where Jesus would have hung out, kind of a thing. You know, the original type at this part of the city. And by the way, the BYU Jerusalem Center has a gorgeous view, the best view, in my opinion, of the whole city of Jerusalem. It's up on the Mount of Olives, which is so awesome. But anyway, uh so the Jews start coming into the city to get ready to go to the wall. And so we got there as the sun, it was there, it was sunny by the time we got there. So it wasn't dusk yet when their Sabbath starts, the Shabbat. And so, you know, there were some people at the wall, men, and they have all of their outfits on, which is really cool. And then they have a table set up with their scriptures. So they have what's called the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament, what we call the Pentateuch, and that is their sacred scripture. But they also have something called a Tanakh, which is the rest of the Old Testament, but they really focus on those first five books, which are the laws and the commandments, and they're so uh determined to be obedient. And again, I think that that's amazing. And then uh they have something called the Talmud, and that is writings and writings of ancient rabbis who debate what does the Torah mean when it says this, that, and the other thing, and and what about the rest of the Old Testament? And so it's all of the Jewish writings of you know, how do we interpret what the scriptures say? Anyway, so they can pick up whatever scriptures they want, take it to the wall, and you'll often see Jewish men standing at the wall, and they're holding whichever set of scriptures, you know, they're focused on, usually the Torah. And so they get into this rhythmic motion. Have you ever seen videos of that? Do you know how it up? I haven't, but I need to watch the videos now.

Emily Hemmert:

I'm excited to do it.

Trina Boice:

And I remember seeing it as a young child, and I was like, that's interesting. Why do they do that? And there's a Hebrew word that actually explains that it's kind of partly, I I love the definition that it's partly how they taste the scriptures, and their whole body is experiencing the scriptures. And think if you are an endowed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you go to the temple, think about where you might have seen a motion like that. Remember, they're standing at the wall that they believe is the temple wall, um, maybe even a temple veil. And so when I first had gone to the temple the very first time, I'm like, oh, this looks familiar. And I think that that is a custom, tradition, remnant of a true principle that the Jewish people used to know. Anyway, but part of it is also the modern day experience of tasting the scriptures and really getting into um a meditation type of estate, which I think is really interesting. Um, and then uh you mentioned that you see people putting in little prayers in the cracks. These stones are massive, and so there are these cracks between the stones, and so people put little notes in prayers in between these little cracks. And first time I ever saw that when I was a little girl, I'm like, I want to do that someday. And so my twin sister and I brought little written uh letters to God that we had written and folded them up in little tiny pieces, and we went to the women's side, of course, because we're not allowed on the men's side, and we found some. Well, first before we put them in the cracks, we ran our letters to each other and cried. It was just a cry, you know, every time I'm there, but um put put them in the little cracks, and I just was so excited about that. And what's kind of cool is every six months, you can imagine lots of these little letters, even though they're tiny, they build up. And so every six months there are some special rabbis whose job is to take out all of the little papers, and then I learned that they bury them on the Mount of Olives, and so now my little letter is on the Mount of Olives, which of course is hugely significant for Christians around the world because we know that when Christ comes again, one of his appearances will be on the Mount of Olives. And he's gonna see my letter. Anyway, of course, he knew what was in the letter before he's gonna step on the Mount of Olives and see that. But anyway, I was just like, that's so amazing. But I had such an incredible experience on the women's side. The men um are different from the women. The women, um, they're very sweet. I felt like I was with Sweet Relief Society sisters, and they don't have a certain outfit that they have to wear like the men do, but you'll often see them wearing the scarves. And so we had my twin sister and I brought scarves to make sure we could be respectful, and they wear clothing that is modest below the knee, covers the arms, uh, and often the all the way down the sleeve, you know, to the wrist and that kind of thing. And there's just such a sweet, gentle spirit there. And so after my twin sister and I cried and put the stuff, you know, the letters on the rocks, then we kind of sat back and chairs out for women, which I thought was very thoughtful. And so we were sitting on some chairs, kind of watching what was happening. And pretty soon we saw this young girl, she was maybe 12, 13 years old. And so we called her a beehive, you know, in the church how we used to call 12 and 13 beehives. And so she kind of walked up, and you could tell she was very excited and very nervous. And it might have been her first time because that's kind of the vibe I was getting. And she was busy kind of looking around to see, you know, if she was gonna do it right. And so she kind of looked around and she, of course, saw that people were rocking, the men predominantly, but the women rocked too. And so she kind of started rocking kind of slowly as she was looking around. And then it was really fun to watch her because you could tell she finally got into her groove. And and you could kind of see the moment where the world disappeared and it was her and God talking and communing. And I loved that image. But wait, there's more. So then while she's finally getting into her, you know, her groove, an older teenage girl showed up, and we called her a laurel because she was probably 17, 18 years old. And there was no hesitation. I don't know if that maybe she'd been there many times, or she just had a plan that she knew what she was gonna do. But so she walked over to the area, went straight up to the wall, and leaned her whole body on the wall: hands, face, chest, legs, hips, feet, everything. She was all in. And she was, I couldn't hear what she was saying. Um, and even if I could hear, I wouldn't understand everything she was saying. But she was talking to God and they were having a conversation. And I was, I it was, I was breathless watching that. And I just thought I need to be more like that in when I pray. You know, I I feel so bad for Heavenly Father because as soon as I start to pray, I can already feel his eyes start to roll. Like, okay, this will be about 30 seconds, and then Trina's gonna pass out, you know. We're just gonna do the same old thing, you know. But what I saw on the wall with this young girl was just breathtaking and stunning. Um, okay, so I want to teach you a uh Hebrew word. I don't know how I have no idea how long we've been going.

Scott Brandley:

Should I keep 50 51 minutes? But it's been amazing.

Trina Boice:

Okay, we only have time for one word, but this is a really good one. Let me let me scoot over my notes to make sure I tell you correctly. So in my book, in this Hebrew book, there's um more than one word for a full year. In other words, I forget, I think I ended up with 60 chapters or something like that. And so if you and your family wanted to learn a Hebrew word, you know, one every week, uh, the chapters teach you the word, how to pronounce it, what it means, where we see it in scriptures, uh, specifically in the Old Testament. The Old Testament was predominantly written in Hebrew, that's why it's called the language of heaven. And there are so many small connotations that add tremendous insight into our understanding. And then in each chapter, there are these little fun facts, I call them, fun Jewish facts about Judaism that I think are really cool that also add greater understanding. And then there's quotes from prophets and apostles and whatnot. Um, and then uh questions to ask yourself about that. Oh, then that oh, stories in the scriptures that also talk about it. Okay, I gotta make my notes even larger here so I can read them without wearing the glasses that make me look like I'm a hundred years old. Okay, so this word kind of encapsulates that idea that I am all in, like this girl at the Western Wall. And so the word is Shema. Have you ever heard this word before?

Emily Hemmert:

It kind of sounds I don't know, doesn't it sound like the word um mother in Navajo? Oh, I don't know Navajo, maybe I only I've done like Navajo like once on Dulingo, but maybe I'm totally wrong.

Trina Boice:

Oh maybe what's interesting. I've I've been trying to learn Mandarin because one of my sons married a girl from Hong Kong, and I know they speak Cantonese in Hong Kong, but they also do speak Mandarin, and I have done book tours in China many times and spoken well, not just about my books, but about education and whatnot. But anyway, Shema means what is this? But in Mandarin, but I digress. Okay, so in uh Shema in Hebrew, and I love this one, it means to hear, to listen, right? But you could also say to hearken, but you could also say to obey. It means all of those things. In other words, it's to listen attentively, to perceive something, but more importantly, and this will bring us full circle back to what I said at the beginning, to act upon what is heard, right? Um, it's not just hearing the word, but actually taking action on what you've learned. So in Jewish tradition, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9 is known as the Shema prayer. And so every Jew says it first thing in the morning when they wake up. And last thing they say before they go to bed, and when possible, the last thing they say before they die, which is not always possible because you might just have a heart attack and not have time. But right. Um, so it's the Shema Israel prayer, and uh faithful Jews say this. Now, have either of you watched the chosen, the TV series about Jesus and the disciples? I need to.

Scott Brandley:

Emily, what are you doing?

Trina Boice:

It's so good, it's so powerful. There are some amazing moments that just made make take my breath away. Uh truly. Where is it?

Emily Hemmert:

What is it streamed on? Where can you stream it?

Scott Brandley:

It's on, I think it's it's it has its own app.

Trina Boice:

Well, it has its own app if you look up. You can get it on um BYU TV, you can find it on YouTube, you can find it on uh um Angel Studios website.

Emily Hemmert:

Um I just go find it and watch it. I was like, yeah, yeah.

Trina Boice:

Do you have a Roku device by any chance?

Emily Hemmert:

Uh something similar.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, so like on Roku, you could just say, Where can I watch this thing? Where is it playing? And it'll say, Oh, you can pay for it on Amazon, or you can watch it for free on Netflix, or you can go to, you know, and so that's a really cool feature. But anyway, it the reason I mention it is you see Jesus in The Chosen recite this prayer several times in different episodes. There's a sweet episode where he's with children, they're kind of at a campsite, and so he he gets out of his tent and he sees these children, and and he's like, Oh, have you said your Shema Israel prayer today? Uh, you know, and they're like, Yes, because it's something all Jewish children know by heart. And so, and I've been, you know, trying to memorize it, but and I try to do it first thing in the morning before I even get out of bed, as soon as I'm aware I'm awake and I've lived another day, before my eyes even open, sometimes I'll recite it out loud. Sometimes I'll say, Alexa, play or say Deuteronomy chapter six, verses four through nine, and she'll say it for me. And sometimes, if I'm just so tired, I'll just say Shema. And I know God knows what I'm saying, what I'm referring to. Anyway, it's this prayer that um reveals God's character to us and how he feels about us. So, for example, when um in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and even in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, you will hear in the Old Testament specifically, hearken Israel, or O Israel, hear me, listen to me, right? You've heard that. Um, and then you'll you hear that in all of the scriptures in a different format, basically. Um, but it's talking about you know, hear Israel, hear me, oh my people. And um right anyway, it's very, very sweet.

Emily Hemmert:

Um parents wish that their children would listen.

Trina Boice:

Exactly. Um the first line of the prayer is hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And then it goes on to talk about how to love God with all their heart, their soul, and their might. And so I'll finish up this story by going back to the Western wall. After my sister and I were crying and watching all of this stuff happen at the the at the wall on the women's side, I feel like the women's side, I really felt women worshiping God with their heart, right? And specifically the one girl who had her whole body, that was her soul. But I didn't tell you about the might. So after we did our little women's side moment, we heard a commotion beyond kind of the western wall, immediate wall. And I looked over and on that big concrete area, a bunch of teenage boys showed up. And I was like, oh, what's going on? And they were exuberant and they were laughing and shouting and cheering and they started to sing, they put their arms around each other and they started to dance and chant and they were celebrating. This is the Sabbath day for them, remember? And I'm like, wow, that's pretty different from what we see our young men do on the Sabbath day in our church. And I was in awe. It wasn't like somebody like their teacher said, All right, we're in a sacred place, you know, act all spiritual. These kids were on fire for God, and they're I shouldn't say kids, these Jewish young men were on fire, and they were lifting each other up on their shoulders and like, yay, God, and that's how I feel about God, you know, yay, God. And it was so infectious. And so we walked over there, and the circle grew as more groups came, and they opened up their circle and invited us to, you know, join in. And I didn't know what anybody was saying, but we were doing the yay, God thing, you know, and I was like, that's might loving God with all your might. And it was just, like I said, so invigorating, and the enthusiasm was just off the charts, and they worshiped in song and dance like David, King David. The Jews love King David and they think he was the best ever, and which I find amazing because David had some sins going on, right? And but they believe, and they Jews have debated King David for centuries, and they just said, you know what? God knew his heart, they knew he wanted to be better. He tried to repent, and uh and he felt horrible about what he had done. And the Jews forgave King David. Of course, Jerusalem was built as the city of David, and they just you could just tell they absolutely loved being there and being a part of that, and that made it even more special for me, you know, and all of the other people that were in our group to be able to experience that. And so that's what the Shema prayer is all about is um love. Learning to love God with our heart, might, mind. Wait, what did I just say? Our heart, our soul, and our might. Um, and and that that also embodies Jesus Christ. He gave his heart, his might, and his soul for us on that cross. And that's just stunning and mind-boggling to me and brings me to tears and to my knees. And anyway, I I there's so many other things I wanted to share with you, but I know I've talked a lot. But hopefully you'll maybe that's just enough to whet your appetite so that you'll go on to YouTube and start watching some videos and learn about some of the amazing things that uh that we can learn about the Bible, of course, but more about Jesus Christ. Oh, I have to tell you one last thing. The very first sentence. This is really cool. The very first sentence in the Bible, do you know what it is in Genesis chapter one, verse one? What do we learn?

Scott Brandley:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the earth.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, God created the heavens and the earth, right? And so you're like, Yeah, yeah, I've read that a million times. When you study the that one sentence in Hebrew, it's really cool. Of course, when they say the word God, they use the name Elohim. Oftentimes you'll see him in Hebrew words like seraphim and cherubim. That's plural. The gods created the heavens and the earth. And then there's this little article, um, kind of like an article in English, we would say a and or the, except where it's used right before like an indirect object. And so it the the two letters that make up this article are the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, elephant. And what that and it comes right after the name Elohim. And so when you translate that, it means Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, right? He was the word. And then if you look back before Hebrew became the the letters that we know today, they used something that was like a pictogram, almost like an Egyptian hieroglyphic. And what's super cool is the the those two characters, the first one has to do with the aleph has to do with a covenant, a promise, an anointing. And then the tav, that last uh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, that little character, the picture, was a cross. And so what if you take that apart in Hebrew, it's literally saying in the beginning, in the beginning, gods, the gods, the council of the gods, uh created the heaven and the earth and had a plan that there would be an atoning sacrifice made on the cross to complete this whole process. I mean, I'm kind of I'm not translating that obviously word for word, but the Jesus is in the very first sentence of the Old Testament. I think a lot of members of the church look at the Old Testament and they're like, oh, that's all weird stuff, you know, weird old stories. We want to read the New Testament. But Jesus is all over the Old Testament. And as much as I love Jews, so many of them didn't see that. The Old Testament is filled with signs and symbols that are pointing to Jesus, so that when Jesus came, they would recognize him. And of course, many of them did and they followed Jesus, but many didn't, and they missed the mark. They missed the cross. And so my prayer, I guess, as we end is that we don't miss the mark, that when we study the Old Testament specifically, 2026, that we look for him because he is absolutely in there. Everything testifies of Jesus Christ, and I do too.

Scott Brandley:

Wow. I love your living in your brain for one day would just be mind-boggling.

Trina Boice:

Obviously, I could talk about this a lot. I love it so much. Thank you for allowing me and inviting me to share some of these ideas with you and your audience.

Emily Hemmert:

It's interesting because my mom was able to um backpack in Israel when she was young. And I used to think like that would be so cool. And I don't think that I'll ever be able to do that just because it's like doesn't seem safe. But she actually, she's not a member of the church, but she said at one point she like got picked up by a like a Mormon mom. And I was like, that's crazy. Like one of the chances that ran into like some Mormon that gave you a ride. I know I don't know if I'll ever make it to Israel, but I I told my husband I want to go, and he was like, that is not on it's not on his bucket list of places to visit, just really it's dangerous, I guess.

Trina Boice:

It is, it's scary, and it always has been. I mean, yeah, you know, in the beginning, it's these religious groups are battling for that that land. That's how important it is.

Emily Hemmert:

Well, I I'd love to read some of your other books too, really quick. Do you want to talk about what type of books have you written? Like in addition to these, is it all similar as far as like nonfiction or well, that's really sweet of you to ask.

Trina Boice:

So I've written obviously a lot of LDS books, and then I've turned some of them into more mainstream Christian books. And then I've written just a lot of mainstream stuff. Like, you know what mystery shopping is, for example, when companies pay you to pretend like you're a normal customer, uh, but you get like let's say it's a restaurant and you get a free meal, and then you write up a report about what happened, you know. So I've got a book about bad, and um, I've got books about um dating, obviously, genealogy, and um doing anything. I mean, just stuff that I am fascinated with. I kind of started off writing um idea books. Like, here's a bunch of ideas. Like, if you want to learn about your ancestry, you could do this and you could do that, and here's some resources, and you know, because I'm all about doing, you know.

Emily Hemmert:

Um Scott, I feel like you need to have her on again later for like another topic.

Trina Boice:

The next well, so I went in one of my youngest son and I are writing a book about Rome. I finally got to take him for his first time to Rome back in May, and his mind just was blown. He's a history buff. And so, anyway, I'm like, you want to write a book? And he's a really good writer, and so I'm like, let's do Rome. So we'll talk about it, it'll probably be a supplemental book for the New Testament because Rome played a major role in Christ and his life and death, obviously. But Rome is an amazing city, it's called the Eternal City, so I'm super excited about that one. Uh I have always half a dozen books in the process of being written, and then whichever one a publisher says, we want that one, then I finish that one up next. That's a good way to do it.

Scott Brandley:

How do you find time? Because it took me nine years to write my book, and I like it was a lot of work.

Trina Boice:

It is a lot of work.

Scott Brandley:

36 is off the chart.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, I well, and I'm a professional author coach as well. And I've worked with clients who've spent a lifetime writing a book, uh, which is amazing. I think the more you write, um, the better you know your voice and the easier it is each time, I think. So I I tend to write faster now than I did in the very beginning for sure. But it's cute because I've had many clients that come to me with one book. They're like, this is my book. I'm putting it out there in the world. I'm like, that's awesome. And then as we go through the process, I say, I'll bet you're gonna write another one. They're like, no, it's so much work. And then they always do. So, Scott, are you gonna write another one?

Scott Brandley:

Uh, I don't know. That was a actually, okay. I've actually written several books, but they're business books, they're not religious books.

Emily Hemmert:

Well, that's awesome. Are they published?

Scott Brandley:

So uh self-published.

Emily Hemmert:

No, that's okay. But they're on Amazon, right? I think I saw those on there.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah. Yeah.

Trina Boice:

Oh, tell us about yours. I don't know about your other ones.

Scott Brandley:

They're business books, so I don't talk about them on the podcast, but they um they have to do with they have to do with online reputation and how to how to improve your reputation online. And um that's what that's the business I'm in.

Trina Boice:

So that's awesome.

Scott Brandley:

Software.

Trina Boice:

Well, you should leave links in the description below. I want to check them out.

Emily Hemmert:

I know I should talk to you because um, so my uh mission companion hunter, she's wrote her autobiography and I have it translated, and I want to like make it into a book, but I want to make it more like a novel than anyway. But it's a really amazing story, and I'm like, this is a good reminder. I'm like, I should just do it and make it happen. And I've just been sitting on it.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, you know, is it your sister is it your companion that that was the cause of the Markov?

Emily Hemmert:

Yeah, and so she just has this really amazing story that I think a lot of people would benefit from hearing me, but just a matter of um doing it, right?

Trina Boice:

Like sitting down and taking the time and no published authors aren't always the best writers, they're just the most persistent ones. They just get a done, you know. And like nine years, so be it, you know. Yeah. But yeah, I do you think that everybody has a book in them?

Emily Hemmert:

Yeah, I think everybody, I mean, that's kind of this podcast, right? Is like everybody has the story worth telling.

Trina Boice:

Right. That's true. Yeah, I believe it. You know, and some people have the desire to turn it into a book, and others, you know, don't for yeah, for whatever.

Emily Hemmert:

I think my my friend, you know, she had a lot of mental health things and she wants to share her story in a way that would help others. Like her thought is like if if her sharing these things could help others going through difficult things, you know, that would be her motivation in sharing it.

Trina Boice:

So yeah, yeah, you know, and a lot of times people will come to me and they'll say, I don't know, should I turn this story into a book? You know, it sounds like a lot of work. I don't know, I don't have a lot much time. I'm like, if you want to, absolutely, I'm happy to help you. But you know, maybe starting a blog is hard to figure out how much you have to say, how much you want to say, how you want to say it, and you can learn a lot from your readers, the comments they make or the questions that they make, you know, and maybe then take it from there. Yeah. Uh we're so fortunate to live in a day of Amazon where you can't anybody can self-publish a book. That's good, but you can get it on there, you know, which is amazing. And blogs too. I mean, you you've got a worldwide audience that will read.

Emily Hemmert:

And now, and AI is interesting. Like, I now I feel like hesitant to when you're reading something, you're like, is this AI? You know, like you start to wonder, like, yeah.

Trina Boice:

Anyway, I have a love-hate relationship with AI. As uh as a business woman, I have other little businesses that I do, it's super helpful, it speeds up processes a lot. As a professor, I get very frustrated when my students clearly use AI to just write their assignments. And I'm like, what happened to critical thinking skills? You know, what happened to wanting to actually learn in college? But I I won't get into all of that. It's uh it's a blessing and a curse at the same time, right? What an amazing.

Emily Hemmert:

So do you have a book? Really quick, do you have a book about genealogy? You said I love genealogy.

Trina Boice:

I do. My twin sister and I wrote that early on, maybe um 20 years ago, or I know maybe I don't know, whenever it was. Um, and about that book, um she she fell in love with genealogy when we were both students at BYU. The BYU library used to play, I don't know if they still do this, they used to play the Hawaii 5.0 theme song to the TV show 10 minutes before the library was going to close. And so you'd be getting into your class and studying and reading, all of a sudden you'd hear that Hawaii 5.0 music. Uh, and you're like, okay, I gotta pack up and go home. Anyway, she was like, oh, but I'm right, I'm right in the middle, I'm getting ready to find this name. And she just totally got sucked into it. The music turned off, lights started turning off. She's still sucked into the computer doing this genealogy stuff. And it was probably close to 11 o'clock, and a janitor walked by, and he was like, Whoa, what are you doing here? And she's like, Genealogy? You know, anyway. So she got me really started on genealogy. And so we wrote a book together, and I thought it was so interesting. This was, I mean, again, a long time ago. And we this was before we had cloud capability on the internet, and so I would have my document, she would have yours, we would email it back and forth to each other to make changes and add things, and her computer crashed and she lost everything. Luckily, I had it. So I quickly, when she got her computer fixed, sent it to her, and then my computer crashed. Luckily, she had the latest version. We just thought, well, this book must be important because Satan's trying to prevent us from getting it out there, right? Um, yeah, I think with technology, you know, like AI, but technology in general, uh, I think it's so fascinating that the number one hobby online is genealogy for good. And the number one hobby on the internet is pornography, and that's for obviously for bad, you know, that there's an equal amount of good and evil battling it out online. That is interesting. Yeah.

Emily Hemmert:

Well, yeah, Scott, I think you need to follow up with this and maybe have around here again. And I'm like, I'd love to pick your brain about all sorts of stuff.

Trina Boice:

I would love that. You have been so sweet. I wanted us to have more conversations, but I get carried away and I ended up talking probably too much.

Scott Brandley:

Well, you've got a lot to say. So um, if if somebody wants to get um your most recent book or the one, the other one we talked about via Della Rosa, where would they find those?

Trina Boice:

The easiest way to get them is on Amazon, and you can get them as print books, as ebooks. Neither one of these two are out on audio, but a lot of my other books are out on audio, published by different people, or even I did do some self-publishing stuff. Um, you can go to Cedar Fort uh Books, which is the publisher that did both of these books. Um, and and then you can go to bookstores as well. Awesome.

Scott Brandley:

Well, and we'll make sure to put the links in the footnotes so that people can get access to that. Thank you. Well, any any last thoughts that you'd like to share?

Trina Boice:

Well, you don't even want to get me started on another last thought. But that's kind of you to ask. I want to hear your last thoughts, both of you.

Emily Hemmert:

Um, I'm just really impressed by your enthusiasm to it's motivating to like keep learning about things. I'm like, I need to keep learning things, and I'm fascinated by the Hebrew thing. It's all fascinating.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know that much stuff. There's a whole world and a whole history of stuff that's amazing, and it makes me want to learn more for sure. It's awesome.

Scott Brandley:

Scott, how about yeah, I I would kind of agree with Emily, like you are um somebody that that I I look up to only in the I mean in the sense that you know you have a this vigor for learning and for just sharing your sharing what you learn with other people. That's that's a big deal.

Trina Boice:

Well, thank you for not saying it's obnoxious. I know I can do it that way sometimes. I've been given the loving title of human caffeine when I'm teaching, um, because I I am excited about all this stuff.

Emily Hemmert:

I can't laugh for all coffee.

Trina Boice:

Somebody had once said to me that heaven is like one of the cool things about heaven is you can go into this big library and just touch a book, and all of a sudden, through osmosis or I don't know what form, you know, you all of a sudden get all that knowledge. And I'm like, are you kidding me? That would be heaven to me. Think of the time we would say if you could just touch books and have all of that get into your head.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah. Awesome. Well, we've it's been amazing. Um, thanks for being on the show.

Trina Boice:

Thanks for having me. Truly. You two are amazing, and you're so sweet to let me just go on and on.

Scott Brandley:

I feel like it's been our our treat to us, really.

Trina Boice:

Thank you.

Scott Brandley:

So yeah, thanks for coming on. And anyone that's watching, if you want to help get this out there, hit that share button. Do your five, we call it the five-second missionary work, Trina. So that's go to your five-second missionary work and let's get this out there so people can be enlightened by by these books that that Trina's written. And if you have a story that you'd like to share, come on the show like Trina and go to LatterdayLights.com.

Trina Boice:

Yeah, and I love your show because you have such fascinating guests, and like you say, everybody does have a story, and they're always so uplifting. And I anyway, you all are putting real a lot of good in the world, and we sure need that. So thank you for the light that you put out there.

Scott Brandley:

Thank you. Well, we're all on the same team trying to you know do what we can to get the word out there and make make the world a little bit better, right? So yeah. Cool. Well, thanks. Uh thanks, Emily, for being my co-host too. I really appreciate it.

Emily Hemmert:

Yeah, this was fun.

Scott Brandley:

Awesome. Well, you guys, um, thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next week with another episode of Latter Day Lights. Till then, take care. Bye-bye.

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Scott Brandley

Host
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Alisha Coakley

Co-host