RELIEF FROM ANXIETY THROUGH REVELATORY EXPERIENCES: Conversation with Jordan Liston

We are living in a world where there is a constant stream of negativity and chaos. Anxiety is the new normal for most. There are a myriad of treatments and opinions about how anxiety should be treated. There is help in the Gathering of Israel that goes unnoticed by most. Jordan Liston testifies that as he gathers Israel and seeks to help those on the other side of the veil through prayer, he has found that his anxiety has lessened and is more manageable as the veil parts in behalf of his ancestors.  The Gathering of Israel is an outward turning of hearts, which shifts the focus from oneself to those who cannot help themselves. This turning allows the power of Jesus Christ to strengthen our own mental and emotional challenges, through the priesthood power of our ancestors. We help them and they in turn help us.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Thinning of the Vell podcast. I'm your host, Tia Smith, and I have a dear friend today. His name is Jordan. We I'm super excited because, Jordan, you are a young single adult. And for me, that is where the bread and butter is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was significantly involved in a young single adult ward and stake and also in Institute. And so for me, this is where I see the growth of the gathering happening. So welcome. Why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself and like how you even got here? Because you you may even know, don't even know why how you got here. So why don't you explain and tell a little bit about who you are?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Absolutely. Well, thank you, Tia, for having me on the podcast. I'm very excited. I'm trying to show my excitement, but obviously there's some nervousness. Yeah. But I'm very, very excited to be here. Um, what I want to start up by saying is much like all of the people here on the podcast, I've got struggles and I've got weaknesses. Um, I've got things that I wish I could do better on. And what I'm going to say today is not this magic five-step process or some sort of witch potion that's going to cure every problem for every person listening to the podcast. But I can tell you one thing, and that's these thinning of the veil experiences that have stemmed as a result of your podcast have taught me a lot about the savior and how to connect with him. Um, I remember for many, many years of my life, I would ask myself questions and convince myself that I didn't need help with anything and that I could do everything on my own. I didn't need someone to tell me what to do. And that translated into my relationship with the savior. And the reality is our Heavenly Father and the Savior know us better than we do. And we're loved. We're loved so much by them. Um I remember as a young kid, I had these aunties, and they did a lot of our family history for us. And as I was beginning to get into the thinning of the veil, I thought to myself, these aunties are spiritual giants. They know so much more than me. And I there's no way I could ever get into family history. Um and what I realized getting into it is that by thinning the veil and receiving revel revelation, it's it's allowed me to get over my struggles. Um, I think we all have this deep yearning of building a relationship with the savior and with other people. And a lot of what I'm gonna talk about today is very personal to me. Um, it's not gonna apply, I would say, to everyone, but I think the way of me receiving a name and kind of breaking that down to what that means for me is gonna help a lot of people out.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

I remember when when I first ran into you, it was that UVU and I'd just given, spoken at a devotional and I met with you afterward. And I remember you talking about how you in the beginning, when you were talking about family history and trying to do the gathering of Israel with revelation, that you just thought it was a crazy, crazy situation. You weren't quite sure if it was gonna work. But what I wanted to go back to was first tell me a little bit about your mission because when we're talking about the gathering of Israel, it happens on both sides of the veil. We speak often about spiritual experiences on our missions. I personally didn't go on a mission here on this side of the veil, but I'm now operating within that capacity. But tell me a little bit about your missionary experience because I with young single adults, because they're either just coming out of it or just maybe thinking about going into a mission experience, you're taught to seek after who needs help, who you can teach, who you can affect when you're on your mission through revelation. Tell me a little bit about how that was for you personally. And then we will get to maybe a little bit how we transfer that then to that gift being enabled for those on the other side of the bill.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Um the the crazy thing is, and I'm sure people who have come back from missions know this. It's you go from being this person, this disciple representing Christ, and always thinking about other people's problems and desires and interests to now coming back, and you're like, well, now what? I don't have anyone to focus on. It's all about me. And what we tend on doing is we tend to think very inwardly of ourselves. We think, man, I don't know what to do with my life. I don't know what direction to take with my life. Um and we start to have these limiting beliefs kind of pop into our head, and it's a struggle. And the thing about a mission is it kind of teaches you how to tap into a higher power, a more heavenly power. Um, I served a mission in the Philippines, it was a blast. I loved every second of it. And I remember we would have investigators who were struggling with certain things pertaining to the word of wisdom, um, maybe marriage. And every day we would pray for them. We'd be like, Heavenly Father, please help us in helping this person get over this struggle. And in turn, they would pray also. And we would begin to to see ways on how we can help these people get over their struggles. Um and I wanted to mention a quote by Elder Bednar, because I think it captures kind of something I was experiencing on my mission that I didn't recognize. Um, because there's a part of the gathering of Israel that I missed personally on my mission that I began to see as I pursued it on the other side of the vale. Um, Elder Bednar, just in this last conference, he said, as we follow love and serve the Savior, we gradually focus less on our own desires and interests and more on understanding and addressing the needs of others. We do not merely per perform benevolent deeds, rather, our state of being is changed and becomes increasingly Christ-like, charity that ultimately possesses us. And then he goes on to quote Moroni, who says that we must pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And on my mission, I was kind of doing that. I was checking off boxes, I was doing benevolent deeds. And I don't want people to think that that's bad, because doing those deeds, it helps people bring or helps people come unto Christ. It helps you be an instrument unto Christ. But there's another layer to the gathering that I saw, and that's it's through these deeds where you can allow it to transform your identity and your state of being. And when you focus outwardly um and have you know focus on these outward expressions, it can change the way that you look at yourself and these beliefs. And and I want to say something quickly, if that's okay, about these inward beliefs.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Um They're here to help us, right? I think a lot of people have these thoughts and they're like, man, I I could do so much better in my life, but we can look at them and go, how grateful I am for this thought that I have that's pushing me and driving me to further myself.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah. If we look at, I love that you're talking about this within the gathering space. I think sometimes we think the gathering is two years of our life. Yes, right. And then we're done. There's nothing before and there's nothing after. In reality, you can start gathering at the age of eight. You are called, it is a mission. And what I have found in the gathering echoes kind of what you're saying. And it was a surprise to me. And I don't know why it was a surprise, but it was the effect of going to do the work for an ancestor that literally could not be freed unless I took the step that day. And it was my love, the love that grew from this complete stranger that was, you know, a relative to me, even though hundreds and thousands of years may have passed. It's in doing the work that I found love for them. And then I went, oh, that's how the savior feels about me. Yes. Because if he is willing to give revelation and to move mountains for one of his children on the other side of the bell. And if we are willing to hear and listen, you suddenly realize that the feeling that you have for that ancestor is the feeling that the savior has for us times a gajillion. I mean, that's not even a number, but the quant of you can't quantify it. And that was the gift that I found in working, because I think all of us struggle with who are we? What is what is our purpose? What are what is our identity? And I think a lot of times we take on labels that the world freely gives us. And we take those as truths to relate to who we are. But if you really take the names of the savior that we every week in our sacrament meetings, you think about the different names, deliverer, redeemer, savior. And when you take those names upon you and you work in that capacity of the gathering, it is extraordinary to me how you can not only gain the powers that come from taking on that specific name of the savior, but also the feelings and the charity that comes. And it's a gift. You don't earn it, but it's a gift. And I love that you bring that up.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Yeah. Um, I love what you said, Tia, about that. Um, I had this thought while you were speaking. Um, and you've brought it up many times before. It's it's one of the teachings of Joseph Smith. Um, because the reality is everyone at any age can get started in the work. It's not something that, you know, you have to wait for like a ticket to get. Um and as I was starting out, um, I was hearing about all these stories. And the first thing that I thought about was there's no way, right? There's all those.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

So tell me, tell me a little bit then about that, because I think our audience wants to know what stories you're hearing and who you were hearing it from. Because my dear friend Soraya, I'm sh I know was a part of that journey for you. So you just tell us a little bit about the stories that you were hearing from her, the testimony that she was bearing.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Um, here's what I'll say about that. Um, we served in the same calling. Um, we still do. Um, and she had this idea where she was gonna hold a thinning of the veil, um, kind of like not a devotional, but like an event um every other Sunday in the Temple Family History Lab. And during that time, I was like, I mean, yeah, I'll go, I'll support her. You know, as it's your calling. I'll go support her. Um and as she was kind of sharing these experiences, the first thought I had, because she had this experience um from one of your classes, and she prayed and she received a name and she ended up finding work for them. And I was like, okay, yeah, first of all, that's crazy, right? That's a little crazy. And then my second thought was it's totally a coincidence, right? I could go to Family Tree and I can search up any name I want and I can find work. It's a total coincidence. Um, but she kept inviting. She's like, just do it, just do it. And I was like, all right, if you say so, like there's nothing I have to lose. And that first week, I was praying and the doubt kept filling in my head. And I was like, Soraya is more spiritual than I am, right? The podcast that she told me, Tia Smith, I wasn't quite sure who you were, like, she's more spiritual than I am. All of the prophets in the scriptures are more spiritual than I am. And I began to look at it as a hierarchy. Um and it wasn't until I began to realize that these people are no different than I am, right? God is not a respecter of persons.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

And if if I believe that these people are holier than I am, then I'm not gonna have these experiences because I'm putting in this doubt, this barrier right in front of me, saying, you know, you can't do that. So I kind of had that realization. And on Friday of February, I believe it was on the 27th, that's when I had my first experience, and it completely changed it. Because I was ready to go to that class and say, Sarai, you're nuts, and so's Tia. I was like, You guys are crazy. But I was like, no, this is totally real after my first experience.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

You know, that's interesting to me because February 27th is my dad's birthday, and he's on the other side of the veil. It's not a connection to you at all, but to me, that just kind of resonated a little bit. I think one of the biggest detractors is unbelief, and we put limits on what God can do for us personally. And really, when we talk about praying to ask who needs help on the other side of the bell, it is no different, absolutely no different than asking, who do I need to minister today on this side of the bell? We accept that as gospel. We accept that we can receive revelation. A name will come to us, and so we end up taking, you know, flowers to someone or food to someone or sit with someone because the Lord, through revelation, has let us know that this is the lamb that was lost today, and that we are called upon to help that person. We do it in, we see it all the time in the mission field. I countless people get up in their homecomings and testify about how the Lord led them to this place and space where they were able, by a miraculous intervention, to help these people. And yet we then say, okay, but it's not possible then for God to give me revelation on the billions of his children who are on the other side of the veil. The crazy thing is, because they are on the other side of the veil, it necessitates revelation. It necessitates it. And when we, and this is what I love about the youth, you don't have layers and layers of traditions of your father's that say this can't happen. You say, Oh, okay, well, let's go. I've just had this experience on my mission or I'm preparing for it. Now let's try it out. And the fact that you knelt and you tried it is evidence that I believe that the strength of the youth that are that are happening today, because a lot of people would have just excused that and said, I'm that's just crazy. I don't even need to try. Tell me then a little bit about your experience that you had then after, and tell me about the prayer, because I think a lot of times people think it has to be a specific special prayer. No, we're just talking about a singular intercessory prayer. There, there's not certain words that need to be said. I think it's more the desires of your heart. So walk me through that process a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Yeah. Um I remember as I was kneeling um for the first couple of nights, the the first couple of nights after she invited, I said, you know, I'm I'm looking for a name. Could you give me a name? You know, and then I would go and all right, get into my other aspects of prayer, and then hit the hay. And I do that again and again. And then over time, as I kept saying it, all this doubt kept kind of filling my mind, as I mentioned before. And what flipped the switch was maybe I'm I gotta pray more of my desires, you know, more more of what I want. So I began and I was like, Heavenly Father, I would love to help gather Israel on the other side of the veil. Is there someone out there who needs my help? And I kept doing that for a couple more nights after that. And that's when I had that revelatory experience. I had a dream, is what I had. Um honestly, I don't quite know, and I don't want to make assumptions, but for my first experience, it would have had to been a dream for me personally, because otherwise I would have just thought they were random names. But by yet starting off as a dream, it allowed me to see that okay, not every experience is going to be this huge dream, but I can receive names and the names that pop in my head, those are also names too that that are are from people from the other side of the veil trying to reach me. Um it's kind of interesting that you mention uh desires. Um yesterday in Elders Quorum, um, we have an amazing teacher, and you brought up this question, and it's it had me thinking for a little bit. Um, he said, Is changing your behavior the same as changing your desires? And as you were saying that, I thought to myself, um I could say a bunch of things, I could make it appear that I want something, but if deep down inside um I don't have that desire, then it's just almost like a symptom of it. Um so through a lot of prayer, I found that desire. And it's through the help of the savior when I brought it to him that I was able to find, okay, this is really something that I want to do. Because at first it's kind of like this cool thing. I can I can receive a name, it's you know, revelation, it's pretty cool. But I was like, but there's no point in doing it, you know, because I'm just receiving names, I can do work in other ways. But what I began to realize is no, it is very important. And it teaches you a lot about yourself and how revelation works with you and how the Holy Ghost communicates with you. So there's all these layers that that you can kind of chip away at as you keep bringing your desires to the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

You know, I one of my favorite studies in the scriptures is to study the three Nephites because it really goes back to desire. They were blessed with, I mean, wonderful spiritual gifts because the their desire was to continue to gather Israel. And when I started looking at the desire of continuing to do that in ways and means that you don't think possible, I started to feel the need. And it was inherent in me. The desire was to help the savior in his work. When I grasped that concept, when I grasped that the work that you do in the temples, somehow sometimes we remove it from the savior. You know, you're being a disciple of Christ when you are ministering on this side of the veil, when you're serving a mission, but we remove him to a certain extent when we are saving our ancestors on the other side of the veil. But when you understand the love and the promises made to the fathers that he promised, the savior promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those promises matter, and every single one of those billions of children matter to him. And I love that when we have that desire, and and I love that you prayed to have the desire. Instead of just it being a cool experience to have, it's this deep desire to save God's children and to understand the savior through that saving. I mean, how do you become a savior with a little S if you don't understand the Savior with the big S, right? So, and that's the journey that I felt and loved. And what I learned similarly to you is that I recognized his voice more clear in my life than I have ever before. And who knew that Templand family history work would be the catalyst to that? It's just extraordinary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

And it's kind of crazy too, because as you start to have these experiences, you look back on your life and you you just you're in awe. You're like, oh my gosh, Heavenly Father is so loving. I didn't recognize how powerful and loving He was in this moment of my life. Um, something I feel inspired to share is my whole life I grew up with social anxiety. Uh everything I would say, uh, everything I would do, I would second guess, I would, you know, worry about talking to people. It was super, super hard. And like I mentioned before, I had all these limiting beliefs telling me I couldn't do it and all these things. And I remember as I was having these revelatory experiences, I said, I have a choice. Um, I can choose to listen to the voices that tell me I can, much like to the thinning of the veil, right? Telling me I can receive names, or I can listen to the voices that tell me I don't. And I'm not able to, the ones from the adversary. I'm always reminded of the story from Moses, because God keeps telling Moses that thou art my son, thou art my son. Three times he says it. And he tries to lock this identity into Moses. And the minute that God goes away, Satan has this opportunity to say, Son of man, you know, worship me. And Moses, in that period of time, has this choice, you know, which voice is he going to listen to? And he attempts to try and cast Satan out, but that doesn't work because he's trying to do it on his own. Um, it's when he taps into that higher power to where he's able to cast out Satan and he locks in that identity and completely refutes to lie from Satan, telling him, telling him that he's not worth anything, he's got this limited capability. And when I was trying to get over my anxiety, that's what helped. It wasn't until I reached out to this higher power and listened to the voices telling me that I was a son of God with limitless potential and listened to the Savior and recognized that he went through these things for me, that I was finally able to get over those, those trials.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I think it's an extraordinary contradiction in young single adults. You have the capacity, you've been sent here at this earth at this time with just so many spiritual gifts. I have not, I mean, I'm a little bit older than you, right? But this is a little bit more. And I have seen, I have seen this progression, especially being around young single adults. I've heard patriarchal blessings, the gifts that you are blessed with. And then you have this contradiction in that there is so much anxiety. Now, opposite always the opposition will always be the law. I mean, it just is a law, right? What I have found though is that as you move forward, and it is not like an end-all beat all, just take away all anxiety. But tell me a little bit then about another, like talk to me as if I was another young single adult. If I was having anxiety, how did the gathering of Israel, and how is it not just past but present, how is it walking you through that? I mean, it's just can be crippling some days.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Yeah. Um I want to show the experience first that I have. Perfect. Yes. And I think it will help kind of better see kind of the layers that it has. Um so that Friday we were talking about the 27th of February. Um, I had this dream, and I remember there was a scroll. It it was almost like a pirate scroll. I could have wrapped it up, put it in a bottle, sent it off into the sea. But on it were a bunch of different names. And all the names were blurry, and I thought that's really weird. Super, super strange. I can't remember how many names were on there, but it was a lot. And at some point in the dream, two names became visible. And I was like, what? It was my father's name, and then it was Peter W.Hyde. And I woke up and I said, Yeah, I said, that's not real. You know, that's the first thing that I had. Um, and then I went to the temple later that evening, and I said, Man, like that has got to be an experience from God. It has to be. And I didn't know how family search worked, I didn't know how to use all the features and things. So I went to the family history lab that Sunday and I talked to Sarai about it, and we looked the name up, and it was exactly how I saw it. It was Peter W.Hyde. It was exactly how I saw it. And there was this work that needed to be done for him and for his family. And and to your point about this anxiety that we feel and to Elder Bednar's point about looking outwardly. As I began to see Peter W. Hyde, I don't know his life story, I don't know what he's gone through, but God is giving him the chance to make a covenant with him. And at the same time, God knows Peter W. Hyde. And as I began to look super outwardly on this, I said, Well, well, heck, that means God knows me. It was very similar to what you said. And there was this individuality part to it where it's like because God knew Peter W. Hyde, he knows me, and he knows everybody listening to this podcast. Um the thing with anxiety is we have this tendency to hide it.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

And to avoid it. And it's it's human. Um, and I might be stretching this just a little bit, but in Moses 4 and 5, after Adam and Eve transgress, their first instinct is to hide. It's to avoid it. And at least with my anxiety, I would sow modern fig leaves and try and hide from God.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

And what I recognized is avoidance, it doesn't solve anything. We think that by avoiding things, it's going to make things better because we won't have to face them, but it just keeps building up and building up. And another part of it too is we tend to turn to what Russell and Nelson refers to as my numbing addictions.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

In an effort to try and cope with our anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

100%. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Um and the thing with these addictions, and the way that Russell and Nelson put it, the word numbing, that put things into perspective. Because when I had anxiety, it was nice to go to these addictions and not feel anything at all. Just feel nothing for a little bit and just relax. But it's temporary, right? 10, 15 minutes go by and we're not having fun anymore. We're just doing it just to do it. Yeah. Right. Um, I think a big one for a lot of people listening is is scrolling. It's reels. And it's it's so nice just to have some time to just keep swiping and swiping and swiping away to forget about the anxiety. But the way that I was able to get over it was very similar to how I received names on the other side of the veil, which was praying and then seeking revelation by tapping into a higher power. And then there's a last part that I haven't touched on too much, which is doing something about it. And that's for the sole purpose of someone else. Because I I think that and I feel and I know that that's what the savior did for us, is he did it for the sole purpose of us. So as we're going through these struggles, we can kind of change our lens and view it as yes, this is hard, right? Um or you can choose to go, man, I'm gonna wallow in this. Or you can look at it as leverage and go, because the savior went through this and he experienced all infirmities, like it says in Alma 7, 12. I can experience this, maybe not to the degree of the savior, but I can experience this to be able to help other people succor through their trials and their tribulations. So it gives this kind of outward view on a trial. And as you seek and you bring these things up to Heavenly Father, um, Russell M. Nelson said to bring all your fears and your desires and your interests to God and pray and listen, and then write things down, and you'll get into the principle of revelation and you'll start to see, okay, this is what I can do. This is what I need to do. And and Heavenly Father will always answer in his time.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

I think um that's the extraordinary th gift that we have in the gathering, and the more extraordinary gift of the amount of temples being built. We are turning very inward as a society. We are less sociable than we used to be. We tend to, we're thinking about ourselves quite a bit more than we used to. The gift of the gathering is that it turns you outward and upward. Because when you are involved in literally helping someone who has the same prayers that you do, who has on the other side of the veil, their prayers are no different. They have the same anxieties. Oh my gosh, am I going to be able to participate in the Lord's work the way that I want to? They have anxieties just as much as we do. The one step that they do not have that we do is they physically cannot do anything about it. Can you imagine those prayers?

unknown 30:41

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Can you imagine that anxiety? They want to be a part, be in the morning of the first resurrection, the first morning, not the latter of the first morning. They have done everything, they've accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, and yet they sit there and they cannot do anything about it. When you understand that and look into the anxieties that are coming from the other side of the world, and you and the Lord can say, look, feel this. I understand you both. Now let me help you with those anxieties by literally helping each other. Because it's not just about us freeing them, it's about them. When we give through power, through a vicarious ordinance, they can then use that power on us in these latter days. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are so many praying for us on the they know what we're facing. They know that Satan is raging, they know that we are losing our children and our friends to whatever philosophy of men is out there currently. So they are praying for us and using their priesthood power to help us. So you helped Peter W. hide. And he now is helping you work through this so that you might continue to save others of his friends and family that may need help. It's quite extraordinary, that gift. It's quite extraordinary when you think about it. So tell me how walking through this has also helped you to understand the savior a little bit more in your role as a little S, looking at him in his role of savior and redeemer. Tell me a little bit about how that has affected your testimony and also the print, there's principles of the gospel that we can learn from no other way. What are some of those things that you have found in your life that as you've walked through this, and has this happened to you again? Is this just a one-off, or are you having more experiences where the Lord is saying, I need you to help this son or daughter of mine?

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Um, well, as I'm thinking about what you said, I've never thought of it like that. And that's really eye-opening to me, right? That these people on the other side of the veil also have problems. I I often think to myself, you know, they're trying to reach me, you know, and it but I've never thought like, oh my gosh, they've got anxieties too. And that's kind of comforting to know, right? That that we've all got different struggles and anxieties, and we're all here to to help each other. Um, to answer your question about the names, I have had, as far as my recollection can serve me right, one other dream that has yielded a name. And it's kind of crazy um how the people on the other side work. Um, and before I get into that, um, I've also received names just randomly. Yeah. I'll be working out or in the shower and a name pops in.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

And at first I'm like, this is random. You know, now that I was like, this is totally random. And I look it up and it feels right. It feels totally right.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Wait, but just a second, how often do you get here's the deal. When you think about randomness, think about in your life, how often does a random name just pop into your head? I mean, it really doesn't, right? Almost never until you start asking. And so when we take it off the shelf of random or coincidence and put it squarely where it should be, which is revelation coming from God. And I'm glad that you're bringing up that you can receive it in many different ways, right? You can have names come to you when you're my husband in the shower just the other day, right? Just randomly. Um, you can also have dreams. I tend to have dreams. You can also have a pull to a certain name that you've already done. There's many different ways that you can receive revelation. And I love that you're bringing this up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

It it's hard at first because you do think it's random, but it's not. And you can convince yourself.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Oh, totally.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

You could totally convince yourself it's random.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

And it keeps popping back up. And it gets to the point where, okay, these names aren't random anymore. Yeah. Yeah. And you go look them up, and there's work to be done. I've I've had countless experiences, and it's kind of hard to work, do work for all of them. Sure. Um, because there's just so many names now on my family tree and family search. Um, and it feels overwhelming, but not like there's a huge weight on my shoulders. It's just like a huge blessing that this is happening to me. Um, I had this weird dream, and it was really weird. Like there was a casket, and there was one of my coworkers in it, and it was it was a double casket. There were two people in the caskets, uh, their feet were facing each other, and it was like really weird. Um, and my family was there, we were talking about who passed away. And the person that passed that wasn't my coworker, um, the name like was super clear in the dream. Like, I heard it. And I was like, oh and I woke up from that and I said, I'll remember it when I wake up in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

And I forgot it that morning.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Um and I was like, oh man, what am I gonna do? So I kept praying, and I remembered um that it was like Lewis or Liberty, Liberty was the name. Liberty, and then something ending in Sun. So I'm just gonna go go ham and family tree. Liberty Hansen, Liberty Richardson, Liberty uh I just kept going and I couldn't figure it out because nothing didn't feel quite right.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Um, and honestly, I wasn't getting any leads either. And I texted one of the ladies that I met at the devotional at um the church that we had, and we were just catching up, and I was telling her about this experience, and she's like, For some reason, I just feel prompted to tell you, have you tried Johnson or Johnston? And I was like, No. And I looked it up and I found a name, and I was like, This feels right. And I went up to the family tree, there was all this work needed to be to be done, and she texts me a couple hours later with that same record and says, I think this is the one you're looking for. And I was like, like, I have to stop believing that these things are random. Yeah, because they are they're very tender, they're very tender mercies for me. Um, and it teaches you a lot because you tend to feel, you know, you you could say it very easily that that God knows you, right? But there's something different when you feel it for the first time. Everything feels different about life. And I felt that every single time I've had these experiences, and it's just kind of like rubbed off as I go throughout life, that God really does know me.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

So, can I ask you a question about that? Yes. Is it you feeling love, and maybe it's a sequential thing, you feeling the love for the person that you're doing from the Savior Jesus Christ, and then that you feel that for you, or is it happening at the same time? Explain that just a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Um, so you're asking about like the love that I feel in these names.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Is it as a result of like my love for the savior?

SPEAKER_01 38:30

What I'm asking is uh do you feel the love that Heavenly Father has for these people and the Savior doing their names? Oh and does that translate then after you feel the way they feel about them, does that then same feeling kind of turn towards you? And then you feel the way the Lord and the and Heavenly Father feel about you as well. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Oh, yes, and that 100%, yes. Okay. Um and I've always thought to myself about love thy neighbor, because the end of it's love thy neighbor as thyself. And my initial belief on that was, and it might be kind of right, but I have to first learn how to love myself before I can go out and love others. But I'm slowly recognizing that as I love other people, both on the other side of the veil and on this one, I begin to love myself more. It's it's just this crazy, crazy paradox.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

I think sometimes we when we think about we've got to love others as we love ourselves, that becomes a problem because most of us don't love ourselves. And so we're always trying to get to the love ourselves first, that part first, and then we'll go and try to feel love for someone else. When in reality, the Lord's plan of salvation says, love them and you will find the love for yourself. And it's again not turning outward instead of inward. And I think sometimes we sit too long in that. How do I feel love for myself? And we try all the different things, right? We go through all of the different ways that the world says, in fact, that's that's echoing right now in the world. Just love yourself. You do you, you make yourself happy.

unknown 40:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

That's a false belief that that's where you should start. So, and I love that.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Yeah, that's great. Um, I had an experience which echoes, I think, almost perfectly what you're describing. Um, last Tuesday, I went to the temple with some friends. And last week was full of opposition. Probably the most I've had in a very long time. Um, which I remember I emailed you about.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Well, it's probably because you're gonna come on and testify on this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Yeah, it was it was rough. It was rough. And I was driving home from work that Tuesday night because the temple was at 6 30. And I said, you know what? It'd be so nice if I could go home, lay in bed, maybe scroll some reels, and just forget about life for a second, right? And I'm like, you know, I've got friends and things like that, um, but they probably don't need me right now, right? They don't need me on the temple trip. And I was like, what am I saying? You know, I caught myself in the moment. What am I saying to myself? Like, this is the exact moment I need the temple, is when I'm experiencing all this opposition. So I had a lot of fear and I had a lot of nervousness going to the temple because I'm like, my friends are gonna see that I'm weak. And as I began to look at them and and focus more outwardly and serve them, things got a lot better. And then I looked down at the name that I brought, and I was reminded of of how I got to this name, and just my love for other people began to flourish, and I felt it for myself. And um, Elder Gong, he didn't release this video, the church released a video, um, but he was in it um last week. It was about AI and technology. Yeah, and he's like, if you yearn the phone, something along the lines of this, not quoting it very well very well, but if you yearn the phone more than human connection, you should desperately seek human connection. And he goes on to say, like, if you're not paying for the product, then you are the product. And the work that we put into relationships is so much better than what we get from devices. Because this device, it's always here for me. It's effortless and it's easier than building relationships with friends, with God, and with people on the other side of the veil. But this doesn't yield any fruit, per se. You know, when compared to to gathering of Israel, that that is such more beneficial and such more joyful than than these technology devices.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

I think to a certain extent, what I love, one of the things that I love about the gathering of Israel is that it can include all your senses. It it includes seeing, feeling, hearing, and we experience it in many different ways, but it becomes the real thing. And you quickly realize that you're living in um a sus in a world and society that everything is fake. Yeah. And we're used to the fake, we're getting more used to the fake. So when you can have an intrinsically powerful connection with someone who isn't even sitting with you, right? Just like you have you think you have a connection with a content creator online, right? That's not technically a real connection. Yeah. If you think about the connection that you can Have with someone that's even further than online, it's on it's in a spirit world, those connections really take you back to the savior because it's in the connecting. The savior is never, ever, ever disconnected, ever. He's always connected in all of the ways. And we've been given so many gifts through the Holy Ghost to be able to connect with him. But his work and his glory, and if you take those two things, if his work is the gathering and his glory is the gathering, then those inherent powers of glory being clothed upon on every time you go to the temple, you're adding glory to your spirit, thus enhancing your capabilities to feel and to see and to hear and to connect. It is a beautiful uh dance that you can do and participate in that we've been invited to. And it's the one thing that Satan will rage. Well, not the one thing, but a thing, one of the big things that he will consistently rage against is you going to the temple and saving your ancestors. Because really, that's all he has are these spirits that have followed him. If you take away the one thing that he does not have, which is a spirit that has been connected to him and connect them to the savior, of course he's gonna come after you.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Of course he hates your guts. But know that going in that the opposition is going to be a part of this journey in all levels. Yeah. So I just appreciate that your testimony of this and your the way that you have processed this in relation to who you are and your connection to the savior has really been immensely helped because of your wanting to connect others to the savior.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Yeah. That's a a beautiful thought. Um, I think almost everyone yearns for a connection with people, with God, with ancestors. And to get that from um gathering Israel, it just brings so much joy. Um I'm thinking right now about Cain. And one of the questions that he asks is, Am I my brother's keeper? You know, and the natural man has this tendency to separate from God. Right? I can do everything on my own. Um, I don't need any help. I don't need to go through these struggles. But covenants, they remind us of our true identity as sons and daughters of God. And it's such a beautiful thing that they remind us that we can help people, we can help make make people greater. And like we've talked about a hundred times, we might sound like broken records, but it's so true, it's gonna affect us you know, in a very, very positive way. Um another thing I wanted to talk about was like these desires that we have to to help people. Because as I think about the savior in this work, um this work is a struggle. You know, it's not easy, it's not pretty all the time. It's not pretty all the time. Yeah, and one of the things that Satan wanted was all the glory without all the work. And the savior was like, I am willing to give all the glory to thee, and I will suffer for us. And it's it's a beautiful concept, and Jeffrey R. Holland uh mentioned this before, but to experience just a little bit of what the savior went through through our struggles is is such a beautiful thing. And we can look at that, and even in the hard moments, even in the good moments, it's a blessing either way, because we're always grateful for the experiences that we've had because they're helping us grow, they're helping us get on our knees and keep us humble. And as a result, we are in a position to help other people. Um the more and more I begin to kind of get more social, and you know, like I said, my social anxiety, I didn't have many friends growing up, at least not this huge pool of people, but like we need each other. And some of the best conversations that I've had with people was when it was about um the gathering of Israel and about struggles and about um desires. There's things that you learn, and as you take those things to prayer, you just learn so much about yourself. Um and as I think about my relationship to my Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ now, um, as opposed or in relation and contrast to to before, it it feels a lot better because I know and I can feel like just how real it is, like the reality behind it. Um sometimes growing up in the church, some certain things feel like you just need to do them. You know, and in a way a mission is like that too. If you kind of feel like this urge, I just need to do it. Um and if you if you think that way, then you know, it might not affect you as powerfully as going, okay, what can I do to better myself with this experience? And and that's what this journey is taking me through. Is it wasn't just about a name, wasn't this this cool experience? Um, it was that God knew me. And it was an outward expression of love for me to serve him, to serve my ancestors, and as a result, it has pulled me out of of struggles and trials in my life.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

It's about becoming.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

When we sometimes I think we relegate the gospel to a checklist, and that's how we decide if we're good saints or not. But why are we all here? We're to become like our heavenly parents. It's about becoming, and you look at the path that the Savior had to take and walk. You look at the disciples, you look at Moses, you look at all of these disciples that we read about in the scriptures. The path always requires sacrifice because it's in the sacrifice that we become sanctified. And the sanctification is what makes us able to stand in their presence and to be like them. You can't skip a skip a step, but we want to. Checking the box won't get us there. It's understanding that the time that we take in serving others in the gathering of Israel on both sides of the bell is really a gift for us because if we want to end up in our familial circumstances that we I personally miss, sometimes I pray, I just miss home. I just miss because this world for me is completely opposite. I'm not comfortable in this world anymore, nor should we be. Sometimes I just want to go home. And then I find home because it's all about family contained within the gathering and in the temple, because that patriarchal order just immerses yourself into son and daughter, king and queen, priest and priestess. And suddenly you become a little bit higher and a little bit holier because of that. So, Jordan, you know, I'm so grateful. I'm excited because Soraya is going to come on. We we've got this young single adult movement happening behind the scenes that we're working on. And I felt a need for you to kind of come out and testify of these things. Saraya is going to bring many because you your ward in particular and your your friends are experiencing this at a rapid rate. And I'm excited to have all of you on and to be a voice to the other young single adults who may be lost, who are struggling, that they are needed and that they are loved, that they are known, and that they have spiritual gifts that the Lord will use in ways that they have never comprehended. This work is moving forward because of the young single adults. And I I have I've been so grateful that I've been on the front lines of that and to see it with my own eyes. I don't have to just hear it, hearsay from someone else. So that meeting that you were that you referred to a little bit earlier, there were eight of you at that meeting that Saraya put together, each testifying of their own thinning of the Vell experience in their own way. And I thought I have never seen eight single, young, young, single adults lined up like that to testify boldly of these things. And it was powerful. So thank you for letting me be a part of your journey. And thank you for testifying to all of our friends out there who um may be thinking it's a little bit weird or, you know, all of those things that we go through. The savior's in the detail, though. And the prophecies say there would be a generation in the last days with the capacities and gifts necessary to bring about Zion. And that's what I see in your generation. And I hope that through the gathering of Israel, you can start to see that role playing out and those gifts being used beyond your comprehension. So thank you, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Well, thank you, Tia.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

There, I'm sure this is not the first time or the last time we're gonna run into each other. There's definitely not. There's gonna be many different, many different experiences, I think, yet to come.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

So Um, that's beautiful. If I could just end on the I just had a thought when you were speaking. Um, because those eight people, it it wasn't necessarily the same, like things that were learned, right? And that's the same for my experience, that's the same for most of everyone's experience, right? There's similarities, but the way that God works through you, because he knows you better than you do, he's gonna teach you things as you seek him and as you seek to serve him on the other side. And it's my testimony that that God knows us, right? He loves us, he understands us, he wants the best for us. And the savior is here to help us in everything that we do. And it's it's when we seek these outward expressions and these desires to help and serve people where we begin to find ourselves, and we end up also finding the savior. So it's just this beautiful paradox that I've come to learn. And I thank you for being a part of this with me.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

Well, uh the word that you used was beautiful, and it it truly is in so many different ways. Thank you so much for joining me. And my friends, as you've joined us today and heard Jordan's testimony about the gathering and working within the gathering and receiving revelation, I hope that you have felt his testimony, as I have. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that these young single adults are like the armies of Helaman in the last days, not only gathering Israel on this side of the veil, but in mass, gathering those who are ready to receive the gospel on the other side of the veil. I hope that you can look at the young single adults in your life a little bit differently and have conversations with them about the gathering to help them to understand who they are and why they were sent here at this time. Thanks for joining me on my podcast, friends. Please keep joining me as I navigate this journey. It's been crazy and continues to um push me out of my comfort zone. But I am grateful for all of you and for your support. Have a great day. Bye.