Talmage interview Tautai Fano. AKA: Eldertiktok. He shares his experience about sharing the gospel through social media. They talk about love, rules, and being yourself while growing into something better. Finally, they talk about NBA Youngboy and the possibility of his conversion. There are so many great lessons that can be learned from Taitau and his take on sharing the gospel and how it has changed his life, regardless of social media.
Taitau
Tiktok: @eldertiktok
IG: @tautai.fano
Talmage
Tiktok: @talmagethayne
IG: @talmagethayne
Remember, God is good and is planning on your success. And though you've been released from your mission, you haven't been released from your ministry.
Talmage interview Tautai Fano. AKA: Eldertiktok. He shares his experience about sharing the gospel through social media. They talk about love, rules, and being yourself while growing into something better. Finally, they talk about NBA Youngboy and the possibility of his conversion. There are so many great lessons that can be learned from Taitau and his take on sharing the gospel and how it has changed his life, regardless of social media.
Taitau
Tiktok: @eldertiktok
IG: @tautai.fano
Talmage
Tiktok: @talmagethayne
IG: @talmagethayne
Remember, God is good and is planning on your success. And though you've been released from your mission, you haven't been released from your ministry.
I got to interview Tao Ty Fano. He is probably better known as elder Tiktok with a Samoan father and a Hawaiian mother. He was raised in Utah County. At the end of his high school career he got into musically which then transformed into Tiktok and he was one of the very first LDS creators on Tik Tok. He has grown as Tiktok audience to over 60,000 followers by focusing on the funny parts of the gospel and church culture. He was later called to the Marshall Islands cannabis mission, and due to COVID he was reassigned to the Seattle Washington mission. Currently he's playing football in Idaho and is about to start his Polynesian podcast. You Taos Hi. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Dude. I'm excited.
Tautai:I've been excited to be honest, dude. I
Talmage:really am. I've been one of your OG fans for like, Oh, stop. For three years. I don't know. How long have you been on tick tock, man.
Tautai:It's been like, almost four years, to be honest.
Talmage:Yeah, I probably started following you when you first got on it. That's love, bro. This is this is elder tick tock. I know you guys already heard that in the intro. But how many? How many followers are you at?
Tautai:Oh, man. I think last time I checked, I was like, 62k. It's all right. I'm trying. You know, that's good. It's not too bad. I'm grateful. Yeah. So have a little bit of a following. And, you know, just trying to grow from here.
Talmage:Yeah. When did you go on your bus? Yep. So
Tautai:I served my mission. I went to the MTC August 2019. I was a COVID. Missionary. So I came to COVID. And I know furrow. I'm one of those. And I got reassigned to the states. And then I came back. So I've been home for about almost two years now.
Talmage:Do nice. Yes. And
Tautai:you're from Utah? Yes, sir. American Fork.
Talmage:Okay. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing, your childhood, what made you want to go on a mission in the first
Tautai:place? Well do well, I'm born as a Polynesian, my dad's from Samoa, and my mom's from Hawaii. And you know, growing up, and my dad is a convert to the church. And so everybody knows, you know, the converts are a little bit more strict when it comes to, you know, because they didn't have it growing up and whatever. So I just grew up in Utah, you know, that sports, all that went to church was, you know, the deacons quorum president is it was that a thing? Dude, I was back in the day, when we had to walk for fast offerings. I remember that. Did I remember that? I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie, especially when you had one AME Church, and then you had to do fast offerings. And it was fast Sunday. Yeah, it was brutal.
Talmage:Dude, sometimes the little old ladies would like bring you candy. When I did it, and at least they'd like be like, I know. It's fast Sunday, but like, fast, those are
Tautai:things that kept us going. Yeah. And I know, those little core memories of how I grew up, you know, in Utah and everything, and why don't want to serve a mission. It was always kind of brought up in my family. You know, I'm the oldest of six. So I wanted to set the example. Right. And but honestly, it wasn't until I grew up, and, you know, kind of gained my own testimony where I could truly tell myself, I wanted to go for myself. Yeah, you know, not just because my parents wanted to not because the Utah culture said it was to go. But, you know, it was an interesting experience for me to kind of gain that home for myself due to how did that how did that happen? To be honest, dude, like, just going to church and seminary, having my own experiences, and really just contemplating pondering praying to Heavenly Father? And honestly, I always knew the answer. It's Yes, go serve a mission, you know, but what ultimately led me to go was the fact that, like, two years, like, that's not a long time, right? And that's all that he asked of young men back in the day, you know, that's all he asks it, just give me two years, give me your best, right? And I just looked back in my life and all the blessings that he's given me. And I'm like, I can't be so selfish to not give him two years because he's his, it's home and covers eternity. So I'm like, I can give you two years on my best effort. So that's ultimately what led me to to go on a mission.
Talmage:That's a good attitude. Because yeah, there's a lot of people that go out, begrudgingly kind of frustrated, and I go, we're doing all this and a lot of times they do it and say, we're doing it for the church. Which, like, in a way, yeah. But it's for God and everything. And so that that attitude that you had, like, admirable and probably really helps, you
Tautai:know, definitely and I loved what you said, you know, it's it's not only you know, for your own personal growth serving a mission, but you're serving God. Yeah, right. You're going for him, and you're going to for his children, right. I'm blanking on the Scripture right now. What is the what you have done unto my children you have done unto me Yeah, and you know, yeah, totally talking about so that's a great motivation. So that to
Talmage:do and the other scripture in the book Mormon just like that, I just read it yesterday. I was I had to something. That's right. Yeah. When you're in the service of your fellow being your service. Perfect. Yep, exactly. Yeah, just so, so true. It's like knocking two birds out with one stone. It's nice. Do that six. So you gained a testimony for yourself. You know what, I want to get out on a mission? Where were you called?
Tautai:So I was called to the Marshall Islands cannabis mission day,
Talmage:where I actually have no idea where that is, to be honest, neither do
Tautai:I. I was about to say, Please don't ask me. So embarrassing. It's literally how I describe it. Some people it's a third world country mission. You know how that goes. In the middle of nowhere. If you Google it, you're gonna have to be zooming in for a minute the nation has called cannabis. And it's I don't even know that nobody knows, bro. Nobody knows where this place is. It's a beautiful island. Have you seen the other side of heaven by chance? Yeah, yeah. So you know, that's those that islands so close. So that's in thermal, right? Oh, yeah. Imagine that. But like, I'm not even kidding. Like three times, like more worse than that day, like the conditions everything. Yeah. So if we flew to California, and then we had to fly to Fiji. And then we had to get on a smaller plane from Fiji to the islands of cannabis day. And so I don't know if you know what an atoll is, do you know the atoll is, so an atoll is like a strip of land, it's not even considered an island, right? It's like, I'm going to try to show you it's in the shape of it's like this. So the island is like this. And then the lagoon of water is here. And there's no elevation. So cannabis is consisted of 32 of these little apples, and that's the country cannabis. Wow, island culture. If you've seen like I said, the other side of heaven. That's pretty much what my mission was like, dude, were you allowed to go in the water? For baptisms? Yes. For showers. Yes. Did I accidentally slip in once or twice? That my companion accidentally pushed me and I'm not gonna lie? Yes. Well for baptisms, and we some of the elders had to carry their bikes through the water just to get to the other side. If that makes sense. That's also Yeah, but the water was was beautiful,
Talmage:dude. Yeah, that sounds so like, scary in one sense, but so picturesque evict. There had a bishopric counselor, and one of my wife's a ward, him and his wife, when they first got married, they went to, I think it was Fiji. And there was this island that was abandoned, nobody lived there. And so we asked one of the chiefs, if him and his wife could go there, and survive for a whole month. And he did, just like, just went on a boat. They didn't pick them up for a month, and he just survived. And he's like, it was heaven. is amazing. That word you used
Tautai:was perfect for my mission survive. Because mind you, I'll try to say this really quick. The island that I served on, like, no electricity, no plumbing, no, nothing. Me and my companion. That was it. And mind you this is during COVID When we had to come back. And where do we get the shipments from China. So China has to come in, give the products to the main island and then distributed out to the rest? When I tell you we were eating rice, and leaves from the trees. That's what we were surviving on, dude. Right. That is crazy. And my companion the you know, the normal mission members feed. You know, normally you have like three meals, three dinners set up as a missionary. Yeah. So me and my companion, we were going around to our few members across the island, and we could sell it. They didn't have nothing. Yeah, because we, if the product didn't come in, then we have to live off the land. Right. But what sucked at that point, it was it was also a winter season or rainy season. So that scares all the fish away in the ocean. And that's the livelihood right
Talmage:there. Dang. So
Tautai:what was interesting, what kind of shaped a part of my testimony of being grateful was, even though we had nothing to eat most of the days, and neither did the members. Every time it was time for church. Spirits seem to be lifted, you know, smiles were still like seen around. And because they know like, as long as we have each other, and the Gospel brings each other together, then that's all we really need. Right? So yes, we were surviving, like, Yes, we had to shower in the rain, like, Yes, we had to eat some things that are, you know, really gross and whatever. But we have what was really important. And that was really something that strengthened my testimony for sure.
Talmage:That's not i Man, I was in South Africa visiting my brother's mission. And they're very, at least the parts we were at. It was very poor, not as poor as probably the Marshall Islands, but kind of the same scenario. They didn't have much of anything. But when they went to church, they were I swear, way happier than we like any Utah ward.
Tautai:Ever, ever, ever. Yeah. And you know me, I love Utah. I rep 801 all the time. Yeah. My mission like you just said like, why is it like some of the poorest people are the most humble? Yeah, and like they don't need much to be happy and we're here with all of our technology advancements. Everything like you said, but
Talmage:it was for you everyone's like in church with the like scowl on their face and like frowning. Not everybody, but but we've seen it. I've seen it. So in general, it's not the level of just like happiness in unity to is not the same as when the people are like, struggling with each other. Correct. It's nice. It's cool.
Tautai:It's like it's really refreshing. It really is. It was eye opening for me for sure.
Talmage:So how long were you there in the Marshall Islands? Seven
Tautai:months, seven months? thing? It was best seven months ever? Yeah. Honestly, it was my perfect mission. And I got the language down. It was seven months. That's yeah, that's, that's really dedicated to good companions, and just good. members helping me out. I did pick it up a little faster, which was a blessing because like we needed to, especially how secluded we were. Yeah, there's no English spoken out there. And then we got the news that we were coming home and I was heartbroken. Yeah, that was probably one of the hardest things I had to do. Sure.
Talmage:Yeah. I bet like we're Did you just hear about COVID And then all the shipments from China being delayed, exactly know, the church was like, we're gonna have to pull you out.
Tautai:So it was such a weird feeling. So the President brought all of us back into the main island, right? And the missionaries like okay, what's going on? So rumors were flying around. And some of our, you know, our zone leaders or whatever would let us know like, Hey, someone was missionaries just They're leaving. Fiji missionaries. They're going home. Oh, well, what do you mean, they're going home? They're like, Oh, they're going home home like COVID. Wow, we're like, we were the last Sonali. What is COVID? What's going on? Because mind you were out there. Yeah. Right. So we have no idea what's going on. We're like, what is happening? And we're just seeing all these missionaries going home, Philippines, Thailand, like everyone's going home. We were the last I guess, Island mission to leave. So that's how we found out about it. Some of us were like, let us stay. And some of us were, you know, at the end of our mission, so they were good with it. But it was just the weirdest feeling ever to know. Like, we never would have thought that would have happened to us on our mission. Yeah,
Talmage:it's so weird. As did you have internet on your little islands
Tautai:on what was funny how we had to get internet on the outer islands, we call them the outer islands is we had to go to like a cafe. Okay, and it was run on a generator and we had an antenna. Wow. But you know how we charge those. We don't have electricity. So how we charge them is solar. Oh, wow. So if there's no sun, there's no internet. No internet. No PD. No PD. No talking to mom. Writing. That's rough. It's rough. I'll tell you this. What's so once it was Yeah, we had the generator, we had the antenna. That's how we connect with the mission phone, right, we had to both share on our you know what the Alcatel is? Have you ever seen an Alcatel?
Talmage:Are those just the brick phone brick,
Tautai:yay big. And we had to share, dude. So finally we get a we, we finally get a hot day. We even when we see the sun, we're like, Ah, it's charging the solar panel. Beautiful. So we go to have PD, right? So we can talk back home, which means email. And we just hear this big crash. And one of the stray pigs on the road had run into the generator. So we couldn't know I'm serious. We couldn't talk. We couldn't call back home anymore on that PD. Because freaking pig ran into the generator. I was like, Are you serious? It's not because you know, you never know when you're going to catch a good signal. Yeah, that's how we stay connected. Well,
Talmage:that's just perfect. Of course, the question of course, a pig, a pig, a stray pig,
Tautai:you know, running around. But when you go on the main island, it's called Tarawa. Oh, yeah, we have better connection. We have certain more service there. Because they have like I said, more antennas more connection. Yeah, we're able to keep updated with like Facebook, stuff like that.
Talmage:Dang. Well, before we go off of the Marshall Islands, and you get transferred to the other mission, was there any one lesson from the Marshall Islands that you're like, this changed me in some way. It could have been like a companion that taught you something or just a moment of realization that you had a
Tautai:moment of realization, we kind of been talking about it a little bit is we have it so good. So be grateful. I, I will never complain about having a peanut butter jelly sandwich. Because those people over there would kill for that. These These people, they have nothing but they give you your everything. Right. The elders when you go you eat first. And then the men and then the children watch you while you eat. And then the women eat last. Right? Wow. Because like they show missionaries, messengers of God. Respect. Yeah, right. And that was just something that I will always take aways be grateful because you know, we're so blessed to be here. Right. So when you when I came back to the states, like no matter what happened, like I have that experience, right where I see people who literally have nothing, but they have what they need and they're happy. Right? With all the stuff Look at all the stuff that we have here in America. And still it we just can't fill that void sometimes. And it's sad. So just showing gratitude and being grateful for what you have. That's probably one of the main things I took away from from cannabis.
Talmage:Dude. That's sick. And then the the mission president's like sending you home, you're not out long enough for me to tell you to let you stay. So yeah, what happened? Where'd you go?
Tautai:Yep. So send us home, right? And then the option came out. So either wait to go back to your original assignment or to get immediately reassigned. So that took a toll on me because I did not want to go nowhere else. Yeah, I loved I fell in love with cannabis. I was like, I'm not going to where else. As I was home for three months during that break my halftime I'll call it right. And then I just knew I had to go back out. I was like, You know what, go back out. And my initial reason for going back out was hopefully by the time I go back out, they'll send me back to cannabis. So I got my call. My reassignment was Seattle, Washington. Oh, nice. Yeah. first instinct. I'm the biggest Seahawks fan. So I was like, Okay, this might not be too bad. Yeah, but mind you this is when I don't know if you remember chop Chas. Oh, my gosh, yeah, that was them. Holy. They were sending me right there. That is all that was not that was not serious. And I was going I know so. So then I go, I go to I go to Washington, I go to Seattle,
Talmage:to to complete opposite of your previous mission.
Tautai:Can 100% complete opposite. You could not have sent me to a more opposite place as cannabis. Right. And that's where my story got interesting. Because I was always an extrovert. I've always you know, fun and happy. And you send me to the most perfect mission for me, right? I was like Heavenly Father, you demand. I was like, you know what you're doing? Yeah, here's, you know, my personality. You're sending me to the islands. I'm an island boy already. So this was perfect. But why? Oh, now you're taking me away from my comfortable spot where I was doing just fine. And you're putting me in Seattle, the lowest rate of Christianity in the United States. COVID pandemic, where it started. I was like, What is going on here?
Talmage:Dude and crazy thing about Washington. I heard a stat that that is where the highest majority of anti Mormon feelings is, is in the US, right? Is it Washington strict?
Tautai:It's Washington State. Yeah. No, that's confirmed. And so I'm like, What is going on here? Right. And I saw quickly as my, my personality changed, how the way I went about my missionary work changed, right. It took a toll on me for sure. It was one of the hardest things I have to do. I was never thought I was going to be introverted. I never thought I was going to be not conversational. Cannabis. Elder Fano, I'd say anybody, anybody? Washington elder funnel. I was so I was so like, reserved I, I didn't want to preach the gospel as much as I used to. It was just a weird dynamic.
Talmage:So the reception from cannabis to Seattle, probably complete opposite. They're probably pretty hostile. That's Little wouldn't surprise me. That's why you kind of were a little bit more reserved, in a way.
Tautai:I think so because, you know, here's happy boy coming into a sad Valley, right? Yeah. And you can't get a wave back in the car. You can't get a smile back. What was sad was if we were happening to get someone who opened the door, they would reject us, obviously. And then we would be like, do you know your would your neighbor be cool? You know, like, Could we talk to somebody around? They're like, I don't know anybody next to me. Yeah, there's this term called the Seattle freeze that they use over there. And how and basically what it means is, people are cold. People just don't care. You know, people just go about their day don't know their neighbor. And it's just a gloomy place to be. Yeah, essentially.
Talmage:Dude, I've had a couple areas like that on my mission, where as soon as you step in there, it's like, you're not depressed. This place is depressed, right? It's weird. And like, everything seems more gray. Like even your vision seems more gray is weird.
Tautai:It was gray like, and that's why it was interesting. We had to have like happy lamps in our apartments. Like, because, you know, we don't get a sign. Yeah. So I forget if it's vitamin C, or D, but you know, that was supposed to help us feel happy. Yeah. D Yeah. So the depression rates amongst missionaries were very, very high. And it was really sad because, you know, we're all just trying to do our best and just the environment we were in was really, it was really hard. It was really hard.
Talmage:Yeah. constantly raining. I was in Scotland and Ireland. So I know for sure just like cloudy and all that stuff. Luckily, I didn't get that seasonal depression, but a lot of missionaries did.
Tautai:Did you have to like, did you have to come up with like creative ideas to like, kind of preach the word I guess let's
Talmage:do Oh, yeah, just tons of like, weird, weird ways to introduce ourselves, we'd like make a game out of it, I'd have like a card. And I'd be like, every person I get to stop, that's one point. Every person's contact, I get That's five. Every appointment, I set up with the contact ID info, that's 10, right. And my companion would be standing kind of like, like 15 feet away from each other, stopping different people. And like, keeping score. And then we had like, go get ice cream, and the person that lost last had to pay that, like we, but we'd come up with tons of different things, because over there, it's pretty cold as well. And so I don't know about it might Washington might be colder than the UK because they probably know more negative things about the church than they do in the UK.
Tautai:I definitely think so. And forgive me, correct me if I'm wrong, but the UK is also not a very Christian friendly area. Right? Um,
Talmage:well, in Scotland, it's very atheist very. Yeah, no, no such thing as God, there are religious people, but not as much in Northern Ireland. It's a battle between the Catholics and the Protestants. And then in the Republic of Ireland, it's like Catholic all the way. Gotcha. And so it was cool, because I got to hit all of those different types. Sure. And so yeah,
Tautai:definitely. And like to that point, too, is, you know, 1920 year old kids coming into big also, Washington is known for big tech, right? You got Boeing, you got Google, you got Microsoft and Amazon, right. So you run into these big tech people fancy cars to like, I started an area once like, it was rare. If you didn't see a Tesla or a Lambo. Wow. Right. And I was like, wow, like these people? Why do they need us? Right? They got money. They got the spot. They got the luxuries? Like, the last thing they need is God. Right? I made it on my own. Yeah. Oh, like, that's why I'm here. You know, like, God didn't help me that kind of thing. Obviously, we know that he did. It's just, it's just a place where they go because, you know, they think they're set.
Talmage:Yeah, totally. Dude, it's so sad to those people. And like, I don't know, I because I have some friends that are like, pretty well off. And they, they no longer believe in God. And they think that they got themselves there. And I'm like, Dude, you need God more than just about anybody else. I know. And so, good luck, man.
Tautai:Effort. Yeah, serious.
Talmage:So you're in Washington. Honestly, doesn't sound like you're having the greatest time. And how did you how did you turn that around? And start loving that mission?
Tautai:Yeah. So similar to you. I, you know, you made it fun. Right for You. Right, you and your companion? For me? I thought to myself, Okay, how can I, one, serve my mission, as you know, my purpose as a missionary. But still, how fun at the same time because I need some fun. something's got to happen.
Talmage:Happy missionaries is successful. Exactly. Yeah.
Tautai:I'm glad you said that. I'll come to that in a second as well. So I just kind of did what I knew best. I loved making videos before the mission. And now that I had, you know, kiddos didn't have the technology for that, but why not make videos on the mission? Yeah, so with my little brief history of Tiktok background, I started to make videos on the mission. Right?
Talmage:And were you able to have that same account?
Tautai:No. So I wasn't on Tik Tok. I was able to just film on my phone and put it on Facebook because Facebook was okay. Yeah, I did push for Tik Tok to be approved. And then that got shut down. Funny enough, it's kind of approved. Now, a couple of missions. I was like, Darn, it was so fun. I just made it fun, man. And I was loose with it. I was myself. And the response I got was great. It was cool. Like, the fact that other missionaries were seeing my videos and showing their investigators. Like, it made me happy again, you know, and I was like, I know Heavenly Father gave us Facebook for a reason for social media for a reason. So might as well use it. Yeah, what I mean? And so that was the kind of things that I did. Um, so. Okay, I hope it's okay that I say this, because I was talking about being happy missionaries, right. So in Washington, I did things to make me happy. But I also wanted to make sure if I was making myself happy, I can't be selfish. I gotta make sure that I'm doing things that the Lord would deem missionary approval worthy, kind of, right. And I know that we have the missionary rules, right? I know we have those. And I know that they're meant there for our protection, and they're meant to keep us safe, and to further their work, right. Sometimes, however, I would, you know, I had some feelings that I should kind of be like Nephi in a sense, and like, just go and do and not have a plan beforehand. There are some things that I did that were definitely I'm not gonna lie, I'm just gonna be straight up that were against mission rules. I would, but I wouldn't blatantly break them just because I wanted to. Yeah, it was always because I put people's needs before the rules. I don't know if that makes sense. You know if that totally makes sense. I We had investigators and what mind you this is in Washington, we have to do things different. Yeah. Like we just have to the environment is different. Some people, they didn't even want to listen. But they wanted somebody to talk to. That was a dub in itself. Like, if we're not going to teach you the gospel at least, can we be your friend first? Yeah. And sometimes that's that people by surprise, right. And so, you know, sometimes we'll be playing pickleball for an hour, when we maybe should have been doing something else. But that relationship we created with that person, it showed them that we cared about them. And our purpose as missionaries is to what, invite others to come into Christ. And so how can I do that to the best of my ability with my personality and my way, you know, and people just needed someone to relate to and know that they cared for them. Sometimes, what people don't need is you to put a Book of Mormon in their face or a pamphlet, or invite them to baptism right away. Sometimes they just need someone to talk to, just to know that they genuinely care, right? People know, when you serve a mission, you teach lessons. And if you're not teaching what you're doing serving, so I was really heavy on the service part. And where I found more success, and being happy is when I served other people. Yeah. And but we were always in our tag, they knew we were the Mormon missionary. Yeah, they were like, I never knew Mormons could do stuff like this, like, I thought you guys were all business. Right? And it's, for me, I was trying to let people know, like, I'm just like you, I'm just a human being to. However, I want to show you why I live the way I do. And that's because of Jesus Christ. You know what I mean?
Talmage:Do that that is so powerful. Knowing why you do things is it will help you in every situation, because the rules are great. The white handbook is great, like you said, but it doesn't tell you everything that you need to do or what you shouldn't do. King Benjamin, again, he's like, there are countless ways for you to sin, I'm not going to list them all. There are countless ways for you to break God's commandment. And there's countless ways to serve and love. And I'm not going to tell you all, you just need to learn the principle, know why you're doing things. And make sure do your very, very best, make sure it's aligned with God. And then then you will win every time, even if it means that it might seem like you're bending the rules in a certain way. But you're not because in the end, it is to serve God's children and get them back to him. And so I think the only way to become an amazing missionary is to of course, understand the rules. But understand the purpose behind them is the the most important thing. And once you do that, that is when the spirit of the law can really bless people's lives. And so yeah, that's totally cool.
Tautai:That's beautiful. Like you said, there's not one way to do missionary work, if there was that it would be boring. Yeah, totally. And that's also a concept that I kind of was thinking about is, you know, we're all different. God made us different on purpose. And he needs your personality for specific people. That's why it's not random where you serve. It's not random, where you get called, God is literally preparing those people who specifically specifically for a Talmud, a TATA or somebody, right, and they need you to be you. Like, I hear this concept sometimes. And you know, I have some feelings about it. They're like, if you don't change on your mission, then your mission was wasted. Right? And for me, I'm kind of like, heavenly father picked me to be me. He chose me to serve there to be myself. So why would I change my personality? You know, because my personality I was, I was meant for the work that I did. Right? Now, I'm not saying you can't completely change on the mission. No, my testimony changed my understanding of the gospel, change the way I view the world change.
Talmage:So that's where you grew a lot. You kept your personality. Exactly.
Tautai:And I'm a firm believer in that. So if you go on a mission, come back and you're still the same person, quote, unquote. I think you did your job well, but if you didn't grow in your spiritual aspect, and that's where the difference comes in, dude, it's true. I left on my mission and goofball, obviously, for my tic tock and I came back a goofball, then I still am because heavenly father made me to be me, man. Don't be me. You know what I mean?
Talmage:That's, that's the only way to go. Yeah, like you said, Heavenly Father made you that way. He loves you that way. So be that way. And it's interesting, like, kind of going back to the whole rule thing. Like, I don't want anybody to get it wrong, like rules are very important. Same, but like, you can't learn how to break rules in the right way until you know how to keep them as well. But like, once you do that, it's like, that is when your personality can really shine. You can like, you can say, hey, you know what, like, I might have gotten home past nine o'clock, but that's because I was helping somebody out, I might have stayed a little too long at this member's house. But that's because their son, who has been struggling with their testimony, needed someone to talk to. And so what you'll learn the times when it's right to break the rules, and in my opinion, at that point, it's not really breaking up. It's keeping God's law.
Tautai:Lily was about to say everything that you just said, Well, you said it better than me. So can I clap on this podcast? Yeah. Just like chefs, kids, they're like, literally everything you said, I am 100% agree with you. Just for the listeners. I'm sorry, don't break the rules don't intentionally break the rule. That's not always yes, for sure. Don't make sure you don't miss an opportunity to serve someone because of a rule, if that makes sense. If a rule is hindering you from sharing the gospel, or serving another person, then that's when you use the gift of discernment. You use the spirit. And that's where you can confidently say in yourself, I'm serving you. I'm want to be here for you. And you know what? That's that's my purpose. If I go to bed at 931, I'm sorry. Yeah, but I pray as a missionary, I'm prioritizing you, because God trusts me to take care of his sheep. And so if I have to bend a ruler to to do so, I'm sure he won't be mad at me at the end of the day.
Talmage:Totally. Totally. Amen. I can't remember. What's that? Thomas S. Monson quote, never let a is it rule to be followed or like something to be done? A task to be done become more important than a person to be loved. Love that. I can't remember how it goes. But it's that's the gist. Yeah. And so that was
Tautai:my, essentially what you just said that the Thomas, that was my motivation. That was my, quote, whatever model?
Talmage:Yeah, dude, that's so good. That is so good. And so you started making these not tiktoks. But these short videos on your mission, as well. And you saw that that really, like had an impact on like, a lot of people, what were what was the audience like? Was it towards, like, other missionaries? Or was it for investigators?
Tautai:Good question. That's so initially, they that's a great question. They started out. We're all on lockdown. We're all in COVID, we can't go out. So I'm kind of sitting there. I'm like, let's give these missionaries a morale boost. You know, like, let me give them some entertainment, you know, might as well we're all locked up. So they started off for just missionaries. So I would make missionary videos that only missionaries would understand and that they could relate to they're like, oh my gosh, that's me. Exactly. Yes. And then I slowly was like, You know what, I can make videos, that my whole agenda behind making videos on the mission was to show the non members in the in the world that we're just normal people, right? We like to have fun. We're just like you. And we just also happen to believe in Jesus, if you want to come find out great. I would always tag the church at the end of my videos, but I wanted to give missionary some personality because I'm sure you know, too. Like, sometimes missionaries, they have a stigma of being, you know, certain kind of,
Talmage:yeah, very people. Very straight, clean cut just nothing surprising.
Tautai:Nothing's Exactly, yeah. I wanted to, you know, kind of break off of that a little bit. Yeah. And just give some flavor to it. So to the viewer is like a missionary, he's supposed to be doing that, like, why is this missionary dancing? Why is he singing kind of thing? You know what I mean? Yeah, anything to like, show and get interest in the church, essentially.
Talmage:So can you tell me a little bit about maybe a revelation or realization that you had in this mission as compared to like your last mission that made you just like, I don't know, it was just something in this mission that woke you up in some way
Tautai:for sure. Well, straight off the bat. It was the fact that I did end up actually falling in love with Seattle, actually, as I lost myself in the work. And as I, you know, met amazing families, amazing people. I love Seattle. Now, you know, my perspective has totally changed. But something that I learned an aha moment I had was, the gospel is the same in cannabis. And it's the same in Seattle. Nothing's changed. It doesn't matter where you serve. It's how you serve. Right? So I had to kind of come to that realization. I'm like, You know what, I'm doing the Lord's work no matter where I am. So it doesn't change. Gospel doesn't change. And then I guess another one would just to be like, obviously, we all know that. Our plans are not God's plans. Because God's plans are better. I will not be the person I am today. I would not be my testimony wouldn't have been as strong. I wouldn't have been well equipped for today's world. Had I not served in Seattle? Yeah, cannabis was easy. Everyone loved you. It was great. Seattle, challenged my testimony. Dude, Seattle King came at me right? So I was like, you have a
Talmage:lot of people like bringing up tons of anti Mormon stuff. Oh,
Tautai:every day. Yeah. Every day. It doesn't matter what it was. The slander the you know, the, you know, the all that kind of thing. It was like, what's next? You know what I mean? The ridicule everything right? And so funny enough, I can make this parallel later too. But serving a mission is way harder. It's not easy compared to the stuff that we have to deal with on social media. Serving a mission gave me thick skin. So the things I see on social media today is like nothing to me. Yeah, right. Yeah. So but yeah, those are those are the two things that I would say, I took away from my Seattle mission,
Talmage:dude, that's sick. And so at the end of your mission, you're getting ready to go home. Yeah, just tell me about like, your released experience coming back home? For sure. Yeah.
Tautai:So I'm a little different. Because I had already came home. Yeah. Right. So it's an interesting dynamic, because I came home once saw my mom, you know, a Chick fil A and everything that I experienced home already. So coming home for me, I was like, it's nothing too special. I'm gonna be honest, it was like, Well, I've done this once I get to see my family again. Great. Oh, it sucked not being a missionary anymore, because that was the best but I was like, Well, I'm used to this. So in a sense, I was actually kind of grateful for that experience. Because when I got released that was like, I didn't like fall into like, any sort of funk or anything like that, that a lot of missionaries do granted. But for me, personally, I was like, Alright, cool. I did my time. I was like, that was great. And now I'm just home. Yeah, yeah.
Talmage:Let's keep going. Yeah, exactly. So what was your next steps? Like what? Yeah, what did you do when you get home?
Tautai:Yep. So I got home. And to be honest, I told my family I was like, You know what? I'm probably going to hang out with you guys for a little bit. Yeah. rent free. Yeah, let's Yeah, that's the way to go. When
Talmage:you first get home, you're like, trying to get your bearings. I served
Tautai:with someone who got released. The next day, classes started was cool. I was like, Do not be me. It could not be me. How do you do it? Good luck, homie. But I cannot be me. So I stayed home for a little bit. I started working, working a little bit and then jumped back on Tiktok Yeah, yep, of course jumped on tick tock started making some you know, more content again. It was fun for me. And then I had an opportunity to come up to further my education and play college football in Idaho. And I prayed about it and yeah, it was cool. It was awesome. was funny enough. One of my companions from cannabis actually got me hooked up over there to and so yeah,
Talmage:what position do you play?
Tautai:I play cornerback on defense. Sick. I'm not the biggest dude. But uh, you know,
Talmage:I like defenses where I would want to be
Tautai:for sure. Defensive I don't want to get hit. I want to hit exactly, exactly my point. And you know, me being Polynesian you know, people hear that you're Polynesian. They're expecting what? 6364 280 something but you're
Talmage:sure you're like,
Tautai:Oh, I appreciate it. Some people call me working but um, but I have nine maybe 510 Oh, I thought
Talmage:you were bigger. You have a big presence. I thought you were like 511 Yeah,
Tautai:five 511 that's confirmed that's the release confirm 511 But um, yep. So I'm down there right now currently as well. So I moved down there I playing football going to school. I was I was kind of lonely moving Idaho. You know what's funny is I never got homesick on my mission never never not once I of course I love that miss my family. Never homesick Yeah, being in Idaho. I'm kind of like oh, it's because I lost that that Juju? I don't have I'm not a missionary. I don't got nothing to do. I'm just school football. Yeah. And so I'm going around I'm looking for awards to go to why I say here why I say there and it was okay. And my you guys know Idaho. It's pretty desolate out there. Yes to do out there. 20 minutes from my house. Long story short, I find a Polynesian branch. Oh, wow. And I was like, in the middle of Idaho, right when I moved here like it was a blessing in disguise for sure. And then they got me a calling in there already and with the young man. And so I definitely think that was designed did that as you know what I mean? I went to these other wards and they were great. But going to this Polynesian branch and Idaho. It gave me a sense of community and belonging just because I had served the island mission. It's
Talmage:Yeah, dude, that is sick. And so how long have you been up at in Idaho?
Tautai:It'll, this month will be a year.
Talmage:We'll be here. Yeah, dude. And Happy anniversary.
Tautai:Thanks. Appreciate it.
Talmage:I want to ask a little bit about your social media presence. Okay, first off, kind of like how it got started, but also, how has how have you seen social media really help in missionary work and specifically your missionary work?
Tautai:For sure. So I'm getting prepared to go on my mission. And I download this app called musically I don't know if no one remembers musically. I do. You do? Yeah. It was first musically and then, you know, I downloaded Tik Tok because it turned into Tik Tok. And I was the only one in my school I swear that had it. And mind you, and I, I know this now because I'm a creator right now. Like, no one wanted to get Tik Tok because it was cringy It was weird. Like,
Talmage:all of your friends probably teased.
Tautai:They still do. But yeah. Especially back in the day, right? Yeah. So I'm doing my thing and then I kid you not? I don't know where I was. One Sunday. I was like, I'm gonna post the church tic tock, right. So I did and that that started getting traction. In views, I started getting followers. I was like, Whoa, what's going on? And then I started just I was like, let me do another church, Tik Tok, right. And then my platform slowly started growing from there, right? And back then the algorithm was when you post on Tik Tok is stays relatively close to your location on your phone. So it was Utah, right? And so I was like, Oh my gosh, like, this is doing really good. And I initially was funny as I initially started as my name being the Mormon tick talker, right. So that was my very first tic tock handle. And then one day, I was like, I'm gonna serve a mission. Let me let me put on this persona. Let me put on this elder Tiktok persona, and strictly do content based on the church. And it took off, and I had no idea it was gonna, like do so. Well. I get to my the MTC people are coming. I know you. Are you out there. But you're the one Yeah, exactly. I'm like, wow, like, this is really cool. Yeah. And of course, is is really cool to see like, you know, how many like how far it's spread and everything. But the comments that I got, and the messages I had and received, like when someone misses you, and they say, Hey, I've been inactive for a while. Your tick tock came up on my for you page. And now I'm going to mutual today. I just wanted to say thank you. I'm like, well, like a video that I made, like being silly making made you go back to mutual for the first time. I was like, that has to be some form of like, Heavenly Father using social media as an outlet. Right? Totally. And I was like, I gotta keep doing this. Right. Yeah. And so fast forward to today. Right? And I'm sure you know, there's when I went to cannabis and came back, I felt like I was the only Mormon creator.
Talmage:Right? Yeah, there was like to
Tautai:come back and I'm like, Whoa, yeah. But you know, it came with Mormon creators, LDS creators,
Talmage:dude, probably 10 times
Tautai:10 times like ex Mormon. Exactly.
Talmage:It's crazy. When I
Tautai:came up on my wall, what's going on here? I'm like, why can't we all just get along and read? So fast forward to today? You know, there's so many awesome creators out there, right. And what's so cool is they each have their own little niche in their own little style. Yeah, like we have creators who will dive into the history of the church or doctrine, you'll have people covering, you know, news that's happening on today, right. And for those who know me, I, my personal content is focused on the lighthearted side, the funny side, I'm trying to,
Talmage:like, making it making fun of some of the culture as well. And like,
Tautai:yeah, exactly. And that's how I've made my presence on social media. Like, I'm not as qualified as these other scripts. Koreans are historians. They're super impressive. And if you want to find out about the church, go to their content, but if you want, like lighthearted stuff, like funny jokes, and whatever, that's what I'm trying to do. Yeah, I'm not a spokesperson, by any means. I'm not this figure of any means. But, you know, once again, trying to carry my mission habits to today, just using that, as you know, yeah, people can view the church in a different light.
Talmage:Dude, it is amazing. Because every, like you said, everybody has has their niche, their niche. And it's just like, it's so cool. Because I could never be the historian guy. I could, I could never be the crazy scriptorium or the honestly, I'm not nearly as funny as you had a couple of like, previous ones that were silly. But
Tautai:the cool thing about the released podcast is like, you bring us what you You are the one who brings people kind of together to highlight different people. You're not saying different vibes, different styles. But like, when I watched the release, I'm like, Okay, this this, like, this tone is a little like, more senemo it's more deep, like, it's more like, you know, centered on Christ. Rather than like, you know, my content is all fun, funny games, but like, if you want to get kind of like into it, and like on a deeper level, like stuff like this, what you've been posting, like, it's like, we have something for everybody. Yeah, that makes sense. It's
Talmage:so true. It's so true. And like we are, we're not just like one dimensional. And that's why that's why we have humor. That's why we have all this stuff. And and I think the way I broke into it, like you're you broke into it, using humor, and I love that I broke into it just like feeling like I was the only one that struggled. And then then I realized I wasn't. And then you realized everybody else had the same little notice the same quirks in the culture or in the Gospel, or whatever it was. And then they really related to that. And so that's so cool. And so I'm like, I'm really glad you came on the podcast, because I know this. This isn't your usual, like content that you create, but like you're just like, you're like, hey, you know what, this is how I got started. This is how I got like into it, and you're just really real, which is I really appreciate
Tautai:Oh, thank you too, for you know, all this like just hearing our stories too, and just having a genuine conversation I think. I hope people will read Late. So some of the things, you know that we've been saying so far. Yeah, I,
Talmage:I honestly think they will. So I guess a lot of your audience, because when you first got started, you were in high school or just getting out of high school. Yeah. And so they were they were a little bit younger. And so what would you tell like your audience, the people that are a little younger, trying to decide whether or not they want to serve a mission? What would you say to
Tautai:oh, oh, okay. Well, that's easy for me to say, because, you know, I'm a little biased, but yeah, the younger generation, the younger generation, you know, I'm just going to be straight up like, you will never regret serving a mission. Never. And I know, there's hard stories. I know, people come home early, I know that stuff happened. But you go out on a mission to gain experiences that will help you later in life. Right. So I will never tell a missionary or a young person trying to serve a mission not to serve, I'll never do that. However, I will tell them to listen to their heart. And so pray to Heavenly Father, and really ask, because I'm gonna be real, I have close ones to me who beautiful people strong in the church testimony. They just don't feel like a mission is meant for them. And you know, that's between them and Heavenly Father, right. And I guess that's where I kind of, I don't know if I want to say advocate, but like, I'm all for agency when it comes to sort of serving a mission. Right? I have a hard time because sometimes the Utah culture that we have it's go serve a mission. Why aren't you serving a mission? What's going on? You know, it's like, leave them alone, dude. Like, they're on their own spiritual journey. So let them be right. And I hate to say this, like, sometimes I'll even tell people go, just go. I don't have a testimony. Just go. I've never read the scriptures. Just go read them to read your scriptures on your machine. Yeah. I don't have a testament. I don't even know if it's true. Go find out if it's true on your machine. And if it's hard, I'm sorry. If it's hard, then come back. We I in my personal opinion, Talmage. I'll tell you, we just got to stop having this. Sing love. If you come home from our mission early on what happened? Oh, it's such a disappointment like no, they went out. They tried. They did their best. Does God hate him for that? No. Is he disappointed? No. They give their best.
Talmage:He loves them. He's like, dang good job.
Tautai:He loves them. They're like you and you decided to go out for that long and you went you serve for that long. I love you. I'm here for you. Yeah, that's,
Talmage:that is amazing that in itself, even if you serve, even if you never make it out of the MTC, you went, you learned you tried. I would I would strongly encourage like, personally, like, Hey, you got this, like, keep going like, but like, again, everybody's path is different. And as you come closer to God and understand revelation for yourself, you'll know whether you need to stay or not. Exactly. And so yeah, that's really great. Yeah,
Tautai:push them to go as far as they can, like, you know, you're doing good. Because it's not easy. And Michelle, I'm not saying admission is easy. Like, every missionary, you know, goes through it. But they don't come home early, because you know, they want to do their best.
Talmage:And it's so interesting when, when they do give it their all. Even people that have left the church still love their missions, I have so many friends that have left the church, and they're like, the mission was the happiest time of my life.
Tautai:So can I ask you, like, you just said people who left the church or whatever, like, Why do you think that those two years 18 months like best the you just said, like, so what are they?
Talmage:Why are they leaving? That is I honestly, I think I've been thinking a lot about it lately, because I've had a lot of friends leave. And I think it's because they stopped doing the little things. And I know that's such a cliche thing to say, but it's true. They stopped doing the little things, they stopped living the gospel. And then when it comes time to vocalize it, and say, I no longer believe it's hard. And I totally get it. That it's really hard to come out to your family and everybody and say, Hey, I no longer believe I get that. But it's only hard because you you lived easy for so long. Not doing the little things not reading your scriptures saying your prayers serving going above and beyond in your calling. I know that that might be kind of harsh and strict, but it's one of the ways I see it. And I know there's a lot of different stories, people have a lot of heartbreaking stories that prompts them to leave in the first place. And so obviously, the way I paint it doesn't match everybody. It just a couple of the people I know. Sure. And so that's my theory.
Tautai:I don't like that. That makes sense, to be honest.
Talmage:Yeah, it's sad because I've had a lot of ex Mormon people reach out to me on Tik Tok and it's on Instagram. And kind of some of them attacked me but some of them are just kind of Just didn't genuinely questioning me. And and that's totally cool and fine. But I've kind of had to like say, hey, that's kind of not what this account is for. There's other great accounts that address that like, bridge Bridgers account. Rich thoughts or whatever. Yeah. Great. And then there's some other ones. I can't remember off the top of my head Jasmine.
Tautai:Scripture plus, like, if you? Yeah, I'm glad you handled it that way. Like, we have people for that. Like, if you want to rebuttal if you want to go to bridge, go to the caveman, go to other people who, you know, have that. Yeah, that's,
Talmage:that's their expertise. That's your forte. Exactly like my mind is talking to return missionaries that have done well coming home and have found success in God's plan for them. Or I've struggled and in need to find that confidence in God's plan. And so I appreciate your question. I appreciate you reaching out, but I'm sorry, I'm just not the not the guy. Yep. Yeah. So you're, you're kind of blowing up on tick tock, you're doing great. But outside of tick tock, pretend tick tock is like, not even a thing in your life. Why has living the gospel? Why do you love it?
Tautai:Man? That's honestly, well, let me think about that one. Just a way I know it's kind of cliche to but the way it makes me feel like, I'm gonna be honest, like, what? I know my truth, I served a mission. I know Preach My Gospel, I know the Scriptures stories. But when it comes to deep doctrine and stuff, like I'm not the most like, versed in that, I just know, the principles that it teaches, right. Not only do they align with my Polynesian culture aspect, because they do Polynesian culture. I'm Polynesian. That's my identity. Yes. respect, honor. Family. Right. What is the church's standards? Or what does the church teach? Respect? Honor family? Right. I think that's why it's resonated so much with me. And I have seen how it's blessed my life, and my family. Right. And just, like I said, back to what I said, how I feel when I do what the Church says, I feel great. Right? And it's what is important to realize is that, you know, the church is one thing, right? And Jesus Christ is another, right? People get them confused. Sometimes I'm sure that you know, this is like, yeah, the things that the Church teaches is what Jesus said, right? So if I can try to be like, Jesus, like the primary song says, when I do I feel good. And yeah, I'm pretty sure this life is meant to, you know, not be sad. It's supposed to be happy. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, the things that teaches me like, I'm grateful that I was born into it, and not like, do you? Do you know who NBA Youngboy is?
Talmage:Dude, I've heard his name. Okay. So he's a rapper.
Tautai:Right? Totally famous rapper. Yeah. So he's here in Utah. And he has been taking lessons from the missionaries, dude, and it's bought, it's been blowing up on Twitter. It's been blowing up everywhere. While he's considering Nazism. Seriously. He's famous rapper. Obviously, his lyrics are a little explicit, because he's a rapper. He's like, he did multimillionaire. Yeah, he's been in Utah for a while. And he's been talking about how being in Utah has been one of the best things for him. He hasn't been on house arrest. So he's forced to be here. But he said it's one of the best things because he realizes, you know, maybe the stuff in his life, were making him happy or aligned with what he wants to be. Yeah. So he started taking the lessons from the missionaries. And supposedly he's considering a baptism MBA MBA young boy says house arrest is best thing to happen to him NBA Youngboy regrets violent lyrics plans to convert some Mormonism? Oh, my God, I know. And I'm not so cool. Isn't that crazy? I don't know him personally, I don't know if it's confirmed or whatever. It might just be rumors, but, you know, I have a hard time believing that someone with you know, like him who's never had the Gospel before. And now you're in Utah, Mormon Central, and you're taking the lessons. That's what the gospel can do to somebody, like someone with that kind of past, you know, like, he's realized through
Talmage:it is so true, because, again, I just read Mozart too. But in the end of it, he's like, King Benjamin is like, consider the blessed and happy state of people that keep the commandments. And I think that's what NBA Youngboy is doing. He's considering the blessed and happy state of the, of the Utah State. And just being like, hey, like, why is that a thing? Why are they happy? Why? And then he's, he's taking the lessons and he was like, seriously, considering it. That's nuts. When I when I heard that Snoop Dogg took the lessons from the sister missionaries. I was like, Yeah, but this guy's actually considering
Tautai:baptism baptized. Yep, exactly. That's amazing. Oh, yeah. MBA young boy, like, it's crazy. Because you think I have a platform. He has a power right like he's known worldwide. Nisha? Probably everywhere.
Talmage:Praying for you, NBA Youngboy
Tautai:NBA Youngboy if you ever watched if you ever come across this, you need Do you brother? Yeah,
Talmage:we'd love to have you man.
Tautai:Yeah, just think about that.
Talmage:That is amazing. That is amazing. And yeah, he is realizing, like, hey, what I used to be like my lifestyle. It's not the happiest. And some of the lessons I've been learning from the missionaries makes me feel happy, serious. And so, dude, it is so true that the blessings of the gospel can be seen in every aspect of your life. And it just permeates your life when you're living the gospel. When you stop living the gospel, that's when things go to crap and you start to question things but like when you're living it like life is it's not perfect, it's still hard. But there's an underlying joy and purpose to it. Definitely do that sick NBA young boy man for real
Tautai:NBA if you watch this we're praying for you good luck on the baptism and sauces some tickets to that next concert, bro. Yeah,
Talmage:so some tickets if you need some witnesses or you baptism we got you who's got for real will stand in the circle at the confirmation. Let me see. Nice to see you at General Conference. You know, buddy, let's make a let's make a rap. I have a I made a plan of salvation rap.
Tautai:No admission. Wait, no shot, dude. Honestly,
Talmage:I thought it was pretty good. Pretty fire. Yeah, I think it's pretty good. It hits every single point in the plan of salvation lace lesson. And so one time we were doing a we were doing a talent show in one of the words and we brought an investigator. And we wrapped that and we're like, we're counting that as a joint teach lesson. 100 That was so funny. Dude, that's not
Tautai:he's not crazy.
Talmage:I'm happy for him.
Tautai:I'm happy for him to like if he goes through with it great. I was thinking on the call right here. I was like, he must be getting so much crap from his community. So some some people because they're like, he's always been trying to find God and he found the wrong one. Like any church, but that one yeah. Oh, come on.
Talmage:Dude. It's interesting, though. Cuz there's, there's quite a few rappers in Utah. We have with Post Malone. Yeah, we have NBA Youngboy. We have logic. He lives in Alpine.
Tautai:Oh, he does not. He does logic. Spider Man logic, suicide, the
Talmage:suicide hotline. That logic with his family. He moved in to a, like, a really nice neighborhood. Obviously, it's Alpine. And he goes and plays pickleball with his bishop. What? Yeah, what's that? I don't think he's taking lessons or anything. But he lives here. He's like, Yeah, it's a it's a good community. And so why not? Why not raise a family?
Tautai:Why not? Right. So church aside, Utah is great. Yeah, because the spot church aside, church just adds it like,
Talmage:church just makes it better. Makes sense. Like, it's a great place for tech businesses right now. Yeah. Any any kind of business actually. Because just the entrepreneurial field is just booming. And then that's really all I know. housings not that
Tautai:great. No, no.
Talmage:It's beautiful. Like the mountain scenery, everything. People are nice here.
Tautai:And so all four seasons in one day.
Talmage:Yeah, it's beautiful. I love it. Serious variety we get. So Dang, that's NBA young boy, man.
Tautai:All right, so we're gonna go NBA Youngboy first, then we're gonna convert Post Malone. Then we're gonna be logic into pickleball games and he'll get baptized. We're like,
Talmage:dude, if we beat you, you and your whole family has to has to get baptized.
Tautai:Those are the rules. Sorry. Sorry about it.
Talmage:I feel like he'd like cave to that. play against his pride a little bit. Yeah, like fine. Okay. I'll do it.
Tautai:Funny, you mentioned that we definitely pulled that up few times in Seattle. Alright, we'll play one pickleball basketball game. If we win, you take the lessons. If we went you take you to church, right? That's such an easy way of contacting. Yeah, yeah. Let's hope if we win this game, you listen to us for 15 minutes. 15 minutes? Yeah, 15 minutes. That's how long and if not, we'll never bother you again. Dude.
Talmage:I would always play on people's pride. Sorry, if I'm like that. People are like, at least the atheist especially, would be like, Dude, there's no God, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, Well, if there was, and there was a test, like, you know, science, like, you verify that you try to find evidence. And so like, if there was evidence and you could test it, would you? And they're like, You know what, like, if there was a way to test it, like, I have a way I have a way I have a way and do like the spiritual lessons we had from that was amazing. Because like, you're playing against their pride, but you're also saying like, remember, you have to be open minded. You have to be willing and like, act on it. And they're like, Okay, and then spiritual lessons. It was amazing. Yeah,
Tautai:that's I have to do it, man. A sweet
Talmage:Dude, that's sick. So you're up in Idaho right now. Utah's missing. Yeah, but like we get it. I miss you. Talk to ya. Yeah. But um, yeah, what are you? What are you up to right now? And like, do you have anything? In your plans in the future?
Tautai:Yep, just right now we're getting into, you know, the offseason for football. So back in Idaho, so I'm about to do that. I'll be back home for summer to hang out. Yep. And then. Yeah, honestly, just schooling football for the near future. You know, what's funny is I actually, first of all, before anything else, thanks again for having me on the release, dude,
Talmage:thanks for coming on
Tautai:you. I don't think I told you this. But after I saw your podcast that kind of inspired me to like wanting to do kind of podcasting, if that makes sense. I always thought about it. But then after I saw you and like the way like this production is set up and how you do I'm like, Okay, that's it. I want to do it. So, yeah, so actually, if you don't mind what me and a couple buddies we're planning on doing are a podcast of our own, usually. And it's going to be centered around Utah culture. What's it called the church culture as well, but mainly a Polynesian. It's going to be a Polynesian podcast. Right? Sick. Yeah. And we've gotten a lot of, you know, buzz around it. Yeah. Because we don't really know a lot of Polynesian podcasts. I'm sure there are, but we just don't know of them, too, especially here in Utah. So we wanted to combine all aspects of our lives and just talk about it. Mainly, we're going to be talking about what goes on in the Polynesian community, if that makes sense. Yeah, like maybe some problems that are controversial and that are uncomfortable to talk about. Because we've had conversation with extreme. We've had conversations with people and they're just too nervous to talk about these things. Because Polynesian community, sometimes we like to suppress some of these topics. So having a podcast that we can, you know, be open about it, and people can talk to and relate to I think that'd be really beneficial,
Talmage:dude, that'd be so sick and the fact that it's so like niche, yes. is gonna make it so much more powerful. Because like, the more niche a podcast is the more someone can identify with it that is that audience? I think so. And so that is sick. I'm not Polynesian, but I'll give it a listen. Yeah.
Tautai:We have a featured guest, maybe can we have dude featured guests? Love to be on the bar? Yes, that'd be sick. Like you said, it's a niche, right? Polynesian, and then Utah. And majority of the time more than yes or no, if you're Polynesian in Utah, you remember? So yeah, that's why we're including those kinds of niches is one So
Talmage:dude, that's sick. What do you have a name for it? Yeah, we do
Tautai:not actually. Okay, in the early stages,
Talmage:shoot me some names. And I'll, I'll shoot you over any ideas I have, please
Tautai:do. And so so that's my plans for the near future. And so I'm just taking it one day at a time, so be honest. So do that
Talmage:sick, dude. Well, I'm really grateful for you for coming on the podcast. Dude, it's like really cool to meet you. Yeah, finally, because like we've been following each other. And everything. Yeah. It's really cool to meet you. And you're just like a really genuine and fun person.
Tautai:I appreciate it. Thanks. Yeah, you can tell my mom that sometimes. She thinks I'm a little off sometimes. But by no thanks for having me on. Like, I know, we've been we've been chatting a little bit back and forth trying to get this set up. And, you know, obviously in person is always better. Yeah. So totally. Thanks for making me feel so welcome. super chill, relaxing. I haven't been able to talk about some of this stuff in a while. So this is actually good for me to share my story with you and your listeners. So hopefully, you know they can relate and take something out of it. Yeah.
Talmage:Dope. Thanks, bro. Yes, sir. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of released the podcast. It was so much fun to have Thai towel on he is just a genuine good guy. And really funny. He's really fun to hang out with. And so I hope that you guys were able to get a lot from his experience and some of the lessons that he learned as a missionary and post mission. Once again, if you guys have a story that you are wanting to share on the podcast, whether that is just by me reading it out loud, anonymous or not anonymous, or if you're wanting to be a podcast guest please reach out. You can fill out a submission form to be considered as a guest. And if you would, please rate and review this podcast let me know what you like what you're wanting to see more of. I am so excited to keep doing this and hear your guys's thoughts. And remember God is good, and is planning on your success. And though you've been released from your mission, you've not been released from your ministry.