Mission Stories
Get insights on having a powerful and successful full-time LDS mission. This podcast shares inspiring stories and practical principles for embracing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, overcoming challenges, and building a strong foundation for lifelong discipleship. Faith-promoting stories and lessons from real full-time LDS mission experiences to inspire and teach. Based on The Mission Prep Series by Shawn Record.
Mission Stories
The Joseph Smith Episode - Preparing For a Mission
This episode, titled "The Joseph Smith Episode," features Shawn and Lauren , aiming to prepare listeners for missions and discuss the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The episode delves into two core principles through the lens of Joseph Smith's First Vision story (specifically the first 15 verses of his history):
• Principle 1: Deliberately choosing how you serve. This highlights the importance of being "hot" or "cold" rather than "lukewarm," drawing on Revelation 3:15-17. Joseph Smith, at 14, exemplified this by actively questioning "Who of all these parties are right?" instead of passively following his family into the Presbyterian faith, demonstrating he "wasn't a sheep". The hosts contrast this with a modern tendency towards "passive acceptance of truth," often influenced by social media.
• Principle 2: Revelation as the only way to sufficient faith. This faith leads to repentance, covenants, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Joseph's experience with James 1:5 ("If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God") illustrates God's "exact formula" or "experiment" for discovering truth. The scripture "entered with great force into every feeling of my heart," which Lauren identifies as the Holy Ghost.
Key takeaways from Joseph's story and its application include:
• Sincere desire and diligent action: The "experiment" involves "feasting upon the words of Christ and praying" with intention and pondering, as mere blind reading is insufficient. Lauren shared a story of an investigator whose "desire was to feel the Holy Ghost," leading her to diligently read and pray until she recognized the Spirit and saw her own journey reflected in Joseph's.
• Opposition to truth: Joseph's encounter with a "thick darkness" that bound his tongue is presented as Satan's direct opposition to his quest for truth. This relates to modern challenges faced by those seeking to draw closer to God.
• The power of the Holy Ghost: While Joseph saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, the episode emphasizes that the "brightness and glory [that] defy all description" which convinced him of the truth was the Holy Ghost. Missionaries must help others discern this spiritual witness, as demonstrated by the tragic story of Baghdan who left the church expecting physical manifestations rather than recognizing the Spirit.
The episode concludes by urging listeners to engage in a "relentless pursuit" of truth, not allowing discomfort or circumstances to dim their desire, and to serve God with "all your heart, might, mind, and strength," just as Joseph Smith did. By following Joseph's process, individuals can receive personal revelation and find joy on the path of conversion to Christ.
It applies to seeking out God. Have you sought out God with the same fervor and energy and passion that Joseph Smith did, that Lauren has, that I have? If you haven't, start. Just start to even desire it a little bit, like Elma says. Give enough room in your heart with humility to plant that seed. And if you will then start to do the things that you're told to do, which are feast upon the words of Christ and pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, that desire will grow and grow and grow and grow until you do have the faith that Joseph had, which called down the powers of heaven to the convincing of the whole world of the truth. Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Mission Stories podcast. This is a wonderful day, Lauren, huh?
SPEAKER_00:Wonderful day. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:because we get to talk about missions and preparing for missions. And really, just in general, we get to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Really, I think, Lauren, this whole podcast is just an excuse for me to get with people I love and have my friends and talk about Jesus Christ and preach about Jesus Christ. This is a very selfish endeavor.
SPEAKER_00:That's cute.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I love being at a table with a bunch of people who have their scriptures open that are all marked up and we just get to talk about the gospel. It's wonderful. It's amazing. But hopefully, hopefully we are... inspiring or helping kids be prepared for their missions that's the point in mission stories podcast and the mission prep series we're trying to just take the experiences that we've had in life that came from our missions share those with others so that they can hopefully have the same kinds of experiences so today we're going to talk about principles one and principles two and just to recap these principles make for they improve our chances for having a wonderful mission experience, a spiritual experience, a marvelous work, and a wonder. Principle one is all about deliberately choosing how you serve, why you serve, and how you serve. And we'll go into that. And principle two is this concept that revelation is the only way that leads us to enough faith to repent, to enter into covenants, and receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost. So what's interesting today, Lauren, is we're going to talk about all of this in the context of of the beloved prophet Joseph Smith. We're really gonna focus on Joseph Smith today. We're gonna tell the story of Joseph Smith, really the first 15 verses in the Joseph Smith history, and we're gonna pinpoint all of the ideas and lessons out of those 15 verses that emphasize these two principles. Because missionaries, because listeners, you listeners, these principles, as taught by and through the Joseph Smith story, are so powerful for you in your own journey and for you to help other people come to Christ. So we're going to get through it. And we're going to see what we can learn from Joseph Smith and his experiences about how to be a good missionary. And that's what we're doing. And it's exciting. Lauren, question for you. Question. What is your favorite part of the Joseph Smith story?
SPEAKER_00:Ooh.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, there's another part to the question? No,
SPEAKER_01:that's it. That's it.
SPEAKER_00:There's a couple of parts that I really love.
SPEAKER_01:I'm talking about just like the first vision story, not like the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I love his discipline to finding the truth. And I think it's really... something that we can learn from to recognize that he didn't let the world affect his desire. He didn't let the world darken his life, if that makes sense. He wanted to know the truth, and it was very clear that he wasn't going to stop until he found it. And I love, I've talked about this with you a couple times, the Saints podcast that talk about Joseph Smith and just the early years of the restoration of the church. And I think there's one part that talks about how Joseph exerted everything that he had. He exerted everything that he had and I admire him so much thinking that there were so many people around him trying to tell him to stop or trying to tell him that he was wrong and not once did he give in to that. I just love that he had the faith that he could find the truth.
SPEAKER_01:Do you mean that he wasn't lukewarm?
SPEAKER_00:He wasn't
SPEAKER_01:lukewarm. Okay, we're going to get into that and I'll ask you a billion questions about it to get your wonderful insight. You mentioned that it's at an interesting time, right? The history of the Restoration. Let's talk about the context of that a little bit. So, have you heard of the Second Great Awakening or the First Great Awakening?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Why? Because I told you five minutes ago?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:No, I'm pretty sure you learn that in history like every year. I
SPEAKER_01:wonder. But the First Great Awakening, I don't remember the dates of it, but there was just this, the world had this really exciting, I think it was just in the, actually the American... colonies really exciting fervor and excitement about religion and then it kind of died down but then in 1795 through about 1835 what is known there's this era known as the great second great awakening and there was just this excitement and this fervor for all things christianity and religion in the world and this is the context in which we find joseph smith and i wonder i mean i'm assuming that god put joseph smith on the on the earth when it was the right time. I think this Great Awakening had something to do with it. If there wasn't this excitement, there wouldn't be all these people looking for answers, truth, and religion. So there was something special about this time period. I do think it would be super fun to have lived in that time period. Hard, not comfortable, kind of dirty, very hard, but it would have been so exciting. Don't you sometimes want that kind of religious fervor? So you certainly did on your mission, right? Wouldn't it have been fun to walk outside every day and just have this like, everyone is looking for truth. Everyone is sincerely looking for truth. We don't have that context today, do we?
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_01:No, we have people who are humbled and broken. are the ones looking for truth, right? It's a humility that is required. Whereas back then in the second great awakening, it was just this like, Oh, everyone is so excited to learn. Now I felt that way a little bit, Lauren, on my mission. Cause when I went to Ukraine in the nineties, communism had just fallen. And for like what, 70 years, communism was the law of the land in that system. They weren't really allowed to believe in God. They weren't allowed to think of God. In fact, here's a quick story that all of my friends in Ukraine would tell me. They says, well, when we were kids, here's this one story. They're like, I remember when we'd be in class, you know, sixth grade or whatever, fourth grade. And a person in a suit and a woman would come in every now and then. And they would say, okay, everybody, here's what we want you to do. All you kids, close your eyes, put your heads on your table and pray to God for candy. Pray to God, this God that your grandparents talk about. Pray to God for candy. And so they would say their little prayer. Okay, put your heads up. No candy, Lauren. No candy. Guess what's going to happen next? No? No guess? You're not going to guess? I thought
SPEAKER_00:you were telling a story.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I know. I was making you guess what was going to happen in the story. I'll just tell you.
SPEAKER_00:They're not going to get candy.
SPEAKER_01:They didn't get candy. But the next thing they do was they pull open this huge poster of Vladimir Lenin, who was the founder of the revolution. He is the communist head. And they said, okay, now everyone close your eyes and pray to Lenin for some candy. And she said, this lady told me the story, she's like, I would always peek and I would watch as someone would walk around and put a piece of candy on my desk.
SPEAKER_00:That's so crazy. And
SPEAKER_01:then they would say, open your eyes, and there was candy on the desk. They literally were taught that Lennon is God, the Savior, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth
SPEAKER_00:Fairy. Tooth
SPEAKER_01:Fairy. everything. And so they would tell them, put your faith in this. So my point is when communism fell and we go in there, everyone's like, oh, I guess communism and Lenin weren't the answer because this is miserable. Well, what else is there out there? So there was a little bit of this kind of excitement and fervor for, oh, some young punk kid from Denver has a message about some religion. So there was kind of this excitement and fervor. So I do think that would have been really fun to live in the in the 1830s while Joseph Smith was doing this, just for context. Okay, so let's start getting into this a little bit. If we read in verse 5, we'll go real quick, and I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions, okay? Sometime in the second year after Joseph's removal from New York, they moved from New York, there was in the place where we lived, he says, an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects of the region of the country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it. And great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir, divisions among the people, some crying,"'Low here!' and others,"'Low there!' Some were contending with the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist. How do you read that situation, Lauren? I love that it says some low here, some low there. That, to me, paints the perfect picture for, I would that your works were hot, I would that they were cold, don't be lukewarm. This is principle one. There really was a lot of choices at this time. What kind of atmosphere do you feel like that was?
SPEAKER_00:Contentious, chaotic.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. Oh, I didn't know you were going to go there. I thought it would be like exciting.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, sorry. No,
SPEAKER_01:no, but that's good. You're reading it the way you read it. Yeah? You think it's like scary and contentious?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, everyone wants to be right. And so, you know, if you're trying to get people to come to the Baptist church or you're trying to get people to come to the Catholic church, you know, you're going to try to make it a point to... to prove that you're right, to prove that you have all the truth. So I feel like it kind of became like a competition.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I guess let's let Scripture prove your point. Because I was like, I think it would have been fun and exciting. But then he talks about how they all started, people would listen to everyone, and then some would choose here, some would choose there, and he says this. Yet, when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real, for a scene of great confusion and bad feelings ensued. That's what you're bringing. So you know the scripture better than I do. Priest contending with priest, convert against convert, so that all their good feelings for one another, if they ever had them, were entirely lost in the strife of words and a contest about opinions. So yeah, okay, you're right. So when he was 15, he says, my father was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith. And four of his family members joined. Now during that time of great excitement, he says, So that's interesting. Like what does that teach you about a 14, 15 year old, a 14 year old Joseph Smith? His whole family just became, was it Presbyterians?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So what does that tell you about him a little bit? That he wouldn't follow and just go with his parents.
SPEAKER_00:He wasn't a sheep.
SPEAKER_01:He wasn't lukewarm. He wasn't a sheep. He wasn't halted, right? He was already starting to make independent, um, deliberate choices. Now that is something listeners that I think this is a great lesson to learn. Um, Are you a 14-year-old Joseph Smith who is looking at the world and questioning and being a skeptic and going, let me do things for the right reasons. I want to do the right things. Or do we get caught up in the, eh, you know, my parents are good people. I'll just do whatever they do. Or my friends I like or I want to be popular or a part of what they do, I'll just do what they do. Big difference, right? And those kinds of decisions affect the rest of our lives, including how you serve on a mission. Okay. So then he says this. He says, there's strife among all the different denominations, and it was impossible for a person young as I was and so unacquainted with men and things to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited. The cry and tumult were so great and incessant. He then goes on in 10 that says this, in the midst of the war of words and tumults of opinions, I often said to myself, what is to be done? Who of all these parties are right or are they all wrong together? If any of them be right, which is it and how should I know it? How common do you think that question is, Lauren, amongst our listeners or amongst your investigators? The question of, wait a minute, there's all these options out there. Is mine right or maybe those are right? Or maybe they're all wrong. How common do you think that question is today?
SPEAKER_00:Very common. Did
SPEAKER_01:you run into it a lot on your mission?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, 100%. Especially with people that grew up in other religions or going to other churches, seeing the similarities and difference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and whatever church they had previously attended, kind of coming to that decision, okay, which one is the full truth? Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it does. Especially because everyone's claiming that they have the full truth. Yeah, that's important, I think, because I think it's a common thing in our church. So you listeners who are preparing for remissions, we often don't come to that challenge, right? Those of you listening who were born in the church, love the church, love your parents, your parents are always in it. There's never really a time where we start questioning things, right? Often, right? right? It's more of a common, so this experience that Joseph is having is somewhat foreign to a lot of us. And I think sometimes we as members of our church, as young kids, we do just kind of follow, right? And we don't deliberately start making choices. Not that I'm suggesting that any of you out there start like rejecting the religion of your family, the religion you believe in, so that you can be deliberate in your choices, but definitely start doing the work to test it, to try it, A few episodes ago, we talked to Ria, and she set out to disprove the Book of Mormon. And in that sincere approach, she found its truth through Revelation and the Holy Ghost. So we do need to do that as members of the church. Just because we're not in a situation like Joseph, where it has constant voices coming at us, doesn't mean that you can't be as deliberate in your choices in questioning things and seeking things as he was.
SPEAKER_00:I think something that is a pretty big issue today now is the easy access that we have to so many opinions, right? Like in Joseph's day, he had people's voices and he had, did they have newspapers back then? Sure. And they had newspapers, okay? So you heard people's opinions through that. Now, most, I'm guessing 99.9% of the listeners are listening on a device, right? Which means they have access to, thousands and thousands and thousands of people's opinions, right? And I think we've kind of become accustomed to a passive way of accepting truth. And so we see something and we kind of just either believe it or we let it change what we believe, but we don't ever act to figure out if it truly is what we want. I love... that in the story of Joseph Smith like in a couple of the passages that you had read he said there was no way for me to know which means he recognized that he needed God's help to be able to know what the truth was I think a lot of times especially this generation growing up with social media we kind of just believe what we see and We don't ever take the action to figure out what the truth is because it's just fed to us and fed to us and fed to us. And we like being comfortable. We don't like having to go out of our way and have questions and act on it and figure things out. And so social media, I think, is a really big tool. Yes, when it's used correctly, but it also can be a kind of like a pacifier where it kind of just makes us quiet and it keeps us from speaking out to God. to try to figure out what the truth actually is.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, I love that you're talking about this. And I love your choice of words. Passive acceptance of truth. Now, I love how you frame that in the context of social media. Because you're right. There's so many, like in one 10-minute period of time, I can have 300 different voices and messages coming at me. And you're right. We are going to passively start believing all these things based on The source based on, do I like the aesthetics of this source? Do I like the voice of this source? Did the music that played, you know, right? Various reasons that we're going to passively accept it. But can we not also apply that to us being grazed in the church? How many of us have passively accepted the truth of these things? And that can be just as dangerous because how often do you find missionaries out in the field who have passively accepted everything, never deliberately choosing to dive into scripture, to pray for answers, to obey because they love God, but just instead they're passively following. And as soon as something challenges their faith, bad news, right? Right? It knocks them down. It does. So I love that you're bringing up the concept of passive acceptance of truth. That is not what the Lord teaches. The scriptures are very clear. I know your works, that they are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. And I would that they were hot or cold and not lukewarm. How long halted? How long do you stand halted before two options, before choices and not making your choices deliberately, but instead passively? This doctrine is preached throughout all of Scripture, and it applies both to members of the church and to those of us who are bombarded by social media. Yeah, great points.
SPEAKER_00:And I think something admirable about the story of Joseph Smith, too, is that while he had this question, he also had habits to back up his path, if that makes sense. What do you mean by habits? He... read the bible he talked about it said he could he went to church as much as he could right he he did these things that that kept him from staying stagnant in one position
SPEAKER_01:okay so let's talk about that because how then like if we stepped back away from the joseph smith story away from mission prep and we just had the bigger question of man in a world of where we are bombarded by so many options and voices how do we know the truth what a great question Okay, well, let's talk about how perhaps the message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the messages is, God has a method that answers that. There is a process, an exact formula that if we will follow, we can know of all the shouting voices which one is true. So let's talk about that method just a little bit, and then Joseph will teach us exactly how to apply it. Clearly, it starts with the tools that God gave us, starting with the Word of God and praying. And when we feast upon the words of Christ, that's the habit that you're talking about, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And when we get the habit of praying with a lot of labor and a lot of diligence and a lot of hard work, I will just preach on the mountaintops and testify. God sends us the Holy Ghost and revelation to give us clarity on what's true and what is not true. Let's see how Joseph applied that, right? This is verse 11. While I was laboring under these extreme difficulties caused by the contest of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. So he says that this passage of scripture came with more power to his heart, And he says even this, more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine than anyone ever. Being pretty bold there saying that this was a special occasion. This was a special instance. God clearly was saying to him, listen to those words of Christ, go pray. Right? Because clearly that started a whole bunch of things. So what do you think, Lauren? What do you think is the significance, I guess, of this verse today? in not just Joseph's life, but the life of our listeners?
SPEAKER_00:I think the fact that it's a promise from God saying, if you lack wisdom, ask, and he'll give it unto us. And I think that implies the fact that we have to act, right? We can't just sit back and wait for an answer to our prayers if we're not doing anything about it.
SPEAKER_01:That's right, right? He did act. So, never did a passage of scripture come with more power in the heart of man than this did into mine at this time. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any man or person needed wisdom from God, I did. What do you think, Lorne, when it says it seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart? What do you think that was?
SPEAKER_00:The Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_01:So I love that this fascinating story starts with the answers that Joseph receives involve revelation and the Holy Ghost. Even before he goes and asks the question, God realizes and sees this kid is sincere. This person has interest and is diligently seeking. He really wants to know with sincerity. And so listeners, that's one element that you've got to develop. You'll find on your mission, Those who are seeking for the truth with sincere diligence, those are the ones that are going to come to Christ. How about you, listeners? Do you have sincere desires to know God, to know Christ? Do you have sincere desires to know if you should serve a mission? If the Bible's true, if the Book of Mormon's true, right? All these things. Joseph had sincere, sincere desire. He really, truly wanted to know these things. And I love the answer that God gives us to that desire. It's revelation in the Holy Ghost. So already before he's even gone and asked, he is filling Joseph with the Holy Ghost, guiding him where he should go. The Holy Ghost says to him, read this passage. He reads the passage. The Holy Ghost tells him, that's what you need to do. I love it.
SPEAKER_00:And I think a part that we skip over a lot just as humans is the... Pondering it. I was thinking of the word in Spanish, but it wouldn't make sense. Pondering, right? It says in Moroni's promise to what you read, ponder in your heart and then ask God, right? There's a scripture in D&C 9, it's verse 8. It says, But behold, I say unto you that you must study it out in your mind, then you must ask me if it be right. And if it is right, I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you, therefore you shall feel that it is right. And so... There's this concept that's echoed all throughout scripture, Bible and Book of Mormon, that you feast upon the word of God and then you ponder it and you truly just think about it. I remember when I was younger, I used to read, I think I read the Book of Mormon once. the year i turned eight so i could get like a little statue of christ or something congratulations thank you it's a big accomplishment but the thing is i didn't get anything from that because i didn't ponder any i mean i was eight i didn't ponder anything and i i just read blindly and i recognize you have to like have a desire to do so you have to have a desire to know if what you're reading is true like you read with a purpose right it's it's necessary to place intention behind your actions. And so it's, I mean, it's echoed all through our scripture and in the story of Joseph Smith. He placed intention, the intention of seeking the truth and wanting to know the truth behind every action, whether it was reading the Bible, whether it was praying to God, whether it was, you know, anything that he did that helped him get to this experience that he had where he found the truth.
SPEAKER_01:So this is something I want to point out is that all of the elements that led to Joseph Smith receiving a revelation and answer to God were All of this is part of this method that God has revealed, or this experiment that God commands us to follow. I love Alma 32, where he talks about it, this process, and he calls it the experiment. Let me read it real quick."'For behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe.'" Let this desire work in you even until you believe in a manner that you can give place for a portion of my words. And this is where he goes on to compare the word of God to a seed. That if you give the seed a place to grow in your heart and then you feed it, it'll grow. But this desire and this sincere desire you're talking about, how often do we plant that seed and our desire's not there? The seed won't take. The seed won't grow. Yeah. And so this experiment is what Joseph did. And by the way, listeners, this experiment is what you must do to start your journey to Christ. And it's what your investigators must do. So what is this experiment? Alma keeps talking about it over and over again in chapter 32. He says, behold, I say unto you, neither must you lay aside your faith for you have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that you might try the experiment to know if the seed was good. So Joseph decides I'm going to actually apply what this seed is, the seed of faith, and I'm going to actually go and pray. I'm going to actually go and do it and go and ask. Go
SPEAKER_00:ahead. I was just going to say I have a small story to share. So near to the end of my mission, I was serving in an area called Keystone, and there was a random member that wasn't even in our– I think he was in our stake. No, maybe not even. He wasn't even in our stake. And he works with this girl, and he said, I've been talking to her for the last two years, and she finally said that she wants to come visit the church. And he said, but– She doesn't want to be forced to anything, so be a little bit chill. Don't be super upfront with her.
SPEAKER_01:Don't be a Lauren.
SPEAKER_00:Don't be a Lauren. Just chill. This is her first time, whatever. Of course, we went up and talked to her. We were just talking to her, and she told us right off the bat, she was like, I want to know what the spirit feels like. I want to feel the Holy Ghost. I don't think I've ever felt it
SPEAKER_01:before. What a dream question to have from someone
SPEAKER_00:as a
SPEAKER_01:missionary.
SPEAKER_00:And so we started meeting with her, I think, like four to five times a week over a video call because she actually had to go on a trip. But we met with her so often and And she just had this question. Her desire was to feel the Holy Ghost, to recognize it. And she told this guy that she was working with who had done missionary work for the last two years, just prepping her. By the time we met with her, she knew what the Area 70 was. She'd watched General Conference. She's been to a state conference. She knew so much. I was like, what the heck? So caught off guard. But she had this desire to feel the Spirit. And by the time, I think we put her on date to be baptized. on like our third lesson with her. Like she was so prepared and the, the week she was, she was going to get baptized. We had been sitting in a lesson with her and the relief society president had joined us and we were saying the closing prayer and she was like, she kind of just stopped and she kind of just sat there and she was like, I know what the spirit feels like. And my, my companion and I kind of just like looked at each other and we kind of looked at her and she just was like, tearing up just so emotional and she was like I came to this question I I came to you guys with this question what is the spirit how do I feel it like why can't I feel it and then every day she was reading the book of Mormon she was praying she was listening to everything that we sent her she was asking for things she was she was talking to the guy she worked with she was reaching out to members just doing everything in her power using every resource that we had given her that God has given her to find this answer to her question and she finally found it she was baptized she was given the gift of the Holy Ghost and she she was just happier and you could tell that she knew why she was happier flash forward two weeks after her baptism there it was near the beginning of the year so we had started studying come follow me in Sunday school and she had volunteered to read just this small part of Joseph Smith history and she read that that part that you read where it said no passage of scripture had touched anything my heart was so strongly or whatever it says and she just started crying during the middle of Sunday school and she like looked at everyone and she was like that's me that's me like that's my story like I had this question I wanted to know what the spirit felt like and And that's my story. Like I read the scriptures and I figured it out. I figured out what the spirit feels like. And after searching and searching and searching, I finally figured it out. And it was the coolest experience ever. And she's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:I love it so much. The Joseph Smith story is the method, the experiment, the process that if we all choose to go through it, we will have his experience. I can honestly say when I read, that's why I love the Joseph Smith story so much. I had the exact same experience. That's me. No, honestly, I think it's such a powerful thing. Here's a quick story. So we were in the city of Mikheyevka on my mission and we were teaching this dude named Baghdan, which means God, God, given from God. And he was this like communist hippie. If there's such a thing, there is. He was a communist hippie. Loved this guy. Super, just kind of, just special dude. Really cool looking too.
SPEAKER_00:Nice.
SPEAKER_01:So he was eating it all up. He was keeping all the commitments and, doing such a great job, wanted to be baptized. So we felt like, okay, he's doing all the right things. He's coming to church. He's reading the scriptures. He's keeping his commitments. He's telling us he's repenting. All this stuff. Gets baptized. Starts coming to church. It's awesome. Keeps going. Everything's going great. And then one day, it's a fasting testimony meeting. We're getting up. We're talking. He's just sitting there and I could tell something's wrong. He's uncomfortable. Everything ends. The sacrament meeting. And he just stands up. And he puts his hands up and says, everyone, listen to me. And he gets angry and he goes, where are all the angels? Where is all the revelation? Where are all the visitations? Like you guys promised me that this would happen. I read your story. I read Joseph Smith. Where is it all? And he left and never came back. So I caught up with them finally after time. And I said, what the heck happened? What is wrong? And he said, well, I read all the stories and I was expecting it to happen just like they said it happened. I needed the proof. I wanted the proof that this was all true. And I sat back and realized my failure and said, well, Bogdan, we taught you that the way to know this is true is not because of what you see and what you hear. It's what you feel in your spirit. Did you not recognize the Holy Ghost? And he's like, I don't know what you're talking about. It's like, what? I failed to understand. help you feel and discern and recognize the Holy Ghost? Because that's the only thing that converts. That's the only thing that will give you the staying power to have faith under repentance, under the covenants. And I learned a huge lesson there. Like, whoa, I got to be careful. I've got to really... When people are experimenting on the Word, the most crucial part is revelation. And I've got to make sure that they do it. Your example was much better than my example. But I wanted to show in the absence of doing... what Joseph Smith did, you don't have conversion. You don't. Bogdan left. He never came back. And it's a tragic thing. I do feel sad about that. Like if I would have just done better at helping him understand what Joseph went through and what he chose and how he got revelation, that I would have done a better job, but I'm not going to beat myself up. Okay. Let's get to the last part of this. Joseph goes and decides I'm going to go to a field and he goes to the grove and he decides to kneel down. And Joseph, When he kneels down and began to offer up the desires of his heart to God, he had just began and immediately was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame him. What do you think about this part of the story? It's always this important part to me. What are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00:On like the darkness or like what
SPEAKER_01:in specific? Yeah, what happened? What do you think this was? This dark power that seized upon him, a power which entirely overcame him and had such astonishing influence over him as to bind his tongue so that he could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around him and seemed for a time as if he were doomed to sudden destruction.
SPEAKER_00:I think it reinforces the fact that Satan wants us as far away from the truth as possible. Joseph Smith was about to find the answer to restore the church of Jesus Christ, and Satan didn't want that to happen, right? I had so many times on the mission where we had friends that were put on day and they wanted to be baptized, and the week of their baptism, they'd have all these doubts. I actually had one friend who... like three days before his baptism called and was like, I can't do it anymore. Like I can't be baptized. I'm sorry. And it happens so many times where they make the decision. And as soon as they make the decision where they want to get closer to the truth, they get attacked.
SPEAKER_01:And I think you listeners, when you make the decision to follow the experiment and to do what Joseph did, you'll be faced with it. The form that I was faced with. I
SPEAKER_00:don't know.
SPEAKER_01:The darkness that I was faced with. Why? Oh no.
SPEAKER_00:Cause I know exactly what you're going to
SPEAKER_01:say.
SPEAKER_00:You do. was girls. No! Oh. Okay, wait, wait. Let me explain this, listeners. Sean told me that he decided to go on a mission and before he went on the mission, all of a sudden... Wait, you told me this, right? I'm not making this up, right?
SPEAKER_01:This was different. When I met my wife and was getting engaged, all of a sudden, I was just bombarded by just amazing girls all over the place who were into me. Yeah.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Different story, but we can bring that up at a later time. Thanks for bringing that up, though. No, the darkness or the temptation that came at me when I was making the decision to start to pray and ask God specific questions of whether I should go on a mission, does God exist, all this stuff. No, what came to me in the form of this dark power was my life was so awesome at that time. Okay, I did have a girlfriend. Okay. But I had a punk band and I had a good job with money and I had a great family. All the things in my life were so good that part of me was like, wait a minute, if I kneel down and start asking God questions and I get answers, that's leading me to go on a mission and I'm going to have to leave all of this. So it wasn't a darkness like the same sense, but we all face temptations to not choose to do the experiment that Alma talked about. I'm grateful for whatever reason that God put into my heart the same thing he put into Joseph's, which is this. He says, Just at this moment of great alarm, pause. before we read what he says, how fascinating is it that God does, we talk about opposition a lot, like we talk about how in the choices of choose hot, choose cold, don't be look warm, this is giving Joseph a contrast to what he's about, not only what he felt the day before, but what he's about to feel. Because the Spirit is described in Scripture as peace, joy, light, brightness, just happiness. thank goodness that Satan didn't understand that by him giving him the opposite contrasting experience of fear and darkness, that it would even more emphasize what was about to happen was from God, because here's what he says. I, uh, In a direct answer to Joseph's diligent prayers and asking, he was delivered in God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ appeared to him. Now, what I love so much about this story is that's a crazy ending to the whole thing. Really? The answer is not, and then I felt like I should go to this church or I felt like there were none right and I should wait. But instead, Joseph's story is, God the Father, the creator of all, appeared to me And next to him was the son, the savior of the world. They appeared to me and they stood above me in the air. That's a crazy, crazy, crazy story. The world thinks we're nuts for proclaiming that that story happened. Yet this is what Joseph claims was the answer to his request. And I do love so very much that he didn't just rely on what he saw and what he heard as the convincing power of that this was God, the Father, and the Savior. But I love that he says the brightness and the glory defied description. Because why did it defy description? Why couldn't he describe what he was experiencing? It
SPEAKER_00:was too glorious.
SPEAKER_01:It's a glorious spiritual experience, right? That's what the Holy Ghost is. So I love that he's testifying here that the thing that convinced him that this is true and happening was that the Holy Ghost was there. His best words he could use to describe it was glory and brightness. Inadequate words to describe what the Spirit is. But whenever I ask someone to describe to me how you feel the Spirit, they're inadequate words. I feel peace. I feel joy. I feel burning. These are all inadequate. They don't really express what we feel. That's what Joseph's doing here. He is testifying that the Holy Ghost is revealing to him the truthfulness. He could have been blind and deaf, and the Spirit would have... convinced him just as powerfully that this was God the Father and Jesus Christ. Now, the reason I point that out is because when you tell people, you listeners, on your mission this story, my favorite part of the mission was to tell them the story and then look at them in the face and say, what do you think? Did that happen? And they'd go, what? That's a crazy, I don't know. And then I would say this, you can tonight kneel down and do exactly what Joseph did. If you have a desire to know as deeply as he did to find out if this is true, then God will reveal it to you the same way that he revealed it to him. You might not be visited by him, but the brightness and glory that defies description will enter your heart in a powerful way. And I love to testify to them and say, I swear to you, because I've done it. I followed the experiment multiple times. And the result was the Holy Ghost entering my heart the same way that it entered Joseph's. I don't know that God lives because I saw and heard him. I know that God lives because of the brightness and glory that came into my heart, which was the Holy Ghost, this revelation. And it grew my faith so much that it led me to start to repent in my life. And when I started to repent, I've had nothing but joy and happiness ever since. because that is the conditions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm so grateful to God for revealing these truths to me as I followed the process that Joseph Smith processed, because it led me on that path of conversion to Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. And now I am happy and I am confident in the presence of the Father, not because of my own faithfulness or righteousness or obedience, because I am weak, but I'm confident in his presence when I kneel down and pray and repent. I feel it. It's there because Jesus Christ saves me. So I think that's the end result of this obvious, amazing, beautiful story is that he's revealing to us the process of how we discover truth and therefore build our faith to come to Christ. What better way? I mean, he's teaching us all the ingredients. Listeners, study this story and it will teach you about the choices you make and not being a sheep. It'll teach you about being Hot or cold, but not lukewarm. And then it'll teach you the principles of revelation and how the Holy Ghost works in our hearts. Study it. It's the most important story we have. It's powerful.
SPEAKER_00:There are two things that I want to point out that I love about specifically this experience that he had in the sacred grove. One, he didn't allow his desire to be dimmed by his circumstance, right? We think about... Joseph Smith, we think of a poor young farm boy with this lowest level of education, right? I mean, in social terms, a kid like that wouldn't be able to go about and find answers to these questions, right? He... When he started praying, he had this darkness seize his throat. He couldn't talk. He felt like he was going to give up. But his desire was so strong that none of that mattered. It didn't matter that he didn't know how to read. It didn't matter that he... you know, was feeling uncomfortable, that he was feeling this darkness that he thought he was going to be overtaken. His desire was so strong that he continued anyways. And I think that's something that's really important to remember as a missionary, because you're going to come on some hard days, right? You're going to go on weeks, maybe months where you feel like there's, you know, somewhere where you're uncomfortable or you feel unqualified, but that desire that you have to serve and lead others to Christ is really what pushes you past.
SPEAKER_01:And that desire is a choice that you make. That's the first principle. He chose to seek after God. He chose those things. No,
SPEAKER_00:I think that's true. Your sincerest desire is reflected in your action. I feel like it's kind of a cycle. As you continue acting in faith and you continue doing the things that strengthen that desire, Your faith will be stronger. Your desire will move forward. You will continue to develop and to progress. Second thing that I love about that, I think a lot of times, I mean, we all have questions, right? There's always something that we'll learn. There's always something that we'll figure out that we have a question about because we're not perfect. We don't understand everything. The entire restoration of the church was commenced because Joseph Smith had a question, right? So many people are afraid to have questions. They are afraid of the unknown. They are afraid to not know everything. Joseph Smith knew nothing. And the entire restoration of the gospel started because this one young boy had a question and he was not afraid to find the answer. And it also wasn't that he wasn't afraid, but he wouldn't stop until he found his answer. And I think that relentless prayer in finding an answer to our question is something that's necessary. As a disciple of Christ, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a missionary especially, we have to be willing to push past those uncomfortable moments or our current circumstances to be able to get that truth, that answer, so then we can have these revelatory experiences to then help us to avoid being lukewarm and staying stagnant.
SPEAKER_01:That's beautiful, Lauren. I love it so much. Oh, I love it so much. Yeah, and it does align with D&C 4, the missionary chapter in the D&C of go at things with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. That's a choice. Once we get past the lukewarm position and we're choosing left or right, hot or cold, go hot, please, and go with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. Go with everything you've got. And that applies to missionary work, but back further, it applies to what you're talking about. It applies to seeking out God. You listeners who have been members of this church your whole life, have you sought out God with the same fervor and energy and passion that Joseph Smith did, that Lauren has, that I have? If you haven't, start. Just start to even desire it a little bit, like Elma says. Give enough room in your heart with humility to plant that seed, and if you will then start to do the things that you're told to do, which are feast upon the words of Christ and pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, That desire will grow and grow and grow and grow until you do have the faith that Joseph had, which called down the powers of heaven to the convincing of the whole world of the truth. Yeah, beautifully said. Wonderfully said. I'm so grateful, Lauren, for Joseph Smith. He is a holy prophet of God. I know it. I've prayed about him. I have sought that knowledge. And the Spirit whispers that truth to me, even when I say it. He is a prophet of God. He was called to restore this gospel of Jesus Christ. And every one of you out there can know it. And if you follow the same things that he did, you'll know it yourself. And then you'll go out and teach others to do it. And that is the best joy on the planet. And that is missionary work. All right. Thanks for joining me for this episode. Come next week. We'll have more.
