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
An Open Mouth Finds Listeners - Mission Prep Series Class 3
This episode introduces Principle Number Three: An Open Mouth Finds Listeners. We emphasize that this principle is both practical and spiritual, offering a path to an "amazing, life-changing experience" on your mission and coming home "firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ".
Discover the profound importance of opening your mouth and talking to everyone:
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The Most Valuable Work: The podcast highlights that the "most valuable thing" you can do is to "declare repentance unto this people that ye may bring souls unto me". The most effective way to do this is to "open your mouth and talk to everyone".
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Practical Benefits: You'll learn how to approach people, gain confidence, and quickly learn a foreign language through constant practice and repetition. As the host recalls Elder Holland's advice, missionaries are encouraged to "work so hard that you will be brought home on a stretcher," talking to "every soul that is in earshot".
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Spiritual Power: When you, as a missionary, open your mouth, you are doing so "by the spirit". You are Christ's representative, and the Spirit will confirm the truth to His "sheep" who "hear my voice". This means that the Lord will bless your efforts and "give the increase," regardless of immediate results. Lauren emphasizes that "charity truly has to be the motivation" behind every missionary action, making it easier to talk to people.
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Stories of Impact:
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Hear the inspiring anecdote of Steven Robinson as a bishop, illustrating that true belief in Christ's Atonement leads to faith in His power to save us fully.
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Shawn shares a "true miracle" from his mission where, after four hours of relentless effort, he found one couple who, 28 years later, were revealed to have become foundational members of the Church, bringing "dozens and dozens of people" to Christ.
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Lauren recounts a powerful experience in Carmel, Indiana, where a sincere prayer during a challenging day led directly to finding a family who was literally "looking for this church".
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Learn about Elder Bruce C. Porter's promise that missionaries would become fluent in Russian within six months if they consistently talked to everyone they saw.
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The episode also references President Gordon B. Hinckley's impactful counsel to "forget yourself and get to work," which dramatically changed his mission.
This episode underscores that opening your mouth finds listeners, enabling miracles and leading to both personal conversion and "pure, absolute joy". As Lauren, for whom this principle "changed my mission", puts it: "You're called to serve, not stay quiet".
All right, Mission Threat Series podcast. Or like we said before, Mission Stories podcast. It's one or the other. Yeah, we talk about both because this really is a mission. These are based on our mission prep classes that we teach, but really the podcast itself is just about mission stories that emphasize these lessons. And this is today doing lesson number three, or principle number three. And again, just to give a quick context or background, our missions were amazing.
SPEAKER_00:There is no young woman that loves her mission more than I do.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I'm glad you qualified that by saying young woman, because if you would have said there's no person... than we would have fought right now. Punched you in the face.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and contention is of the devil. So let's sit with that for a second.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it was just a really bold claim. Anyway, you're right. But we loved our missions so, so, so, so, so much. And I just, I'm like, okay, well, how does everyone have this kind of experience? Come home to have life-changing stories. to be built so firmly on the foundation of jesus christ and to have worked with all their heart might mind and strength and leading souls to christ i want everyone to have that experience and not everyone does and that is just a sad sad thing to me so we teach these principles about if you'll do the mission this way and apply these ideas and and principles then you have a better chance of having this amazing amazing life life life changing experience on a mission so We've done the first two principles. Here's principle number three. And this one is super practical, but as well spiritual.
SPEAKER_00:Do
SPEAKER_01:you like this one?
SPEAKER_00:This is my favorite one.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I was going to ask you why, but then that would give away what the principle is. So let's, I'm going to ask you later why it's your favorite one. Okay. Okay. We'll start off with a little anecdote. So you and I, I think I want to take credit for, because I have told everyone that I know who's going on a mission to read the book, Believing Christ by Steven Robinson. And you love that book, right?
SPEAKER_00:I love it. I'm rereading it right now.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you are?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm pretty sure I take credit for having you read that book because back when we were doing mission prep, I told everyone to read that book.
SPEAKER_00:I read it for the first time on my mission. I don't remember you saying that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, I would have definitely told you to read it and you just didn't do it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. Thanks very much.
SPEAKER_00:Active disobedience.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So this book, there's such a, just a great, one of the greatest parable style books at teaching the atonement of Christ in a really understanding way and just a powerful, powerful book. Well, there's an anecdote in there where I think, I think it was Steven Robinson when he was a Bishop, he would do this thing with all of the members of his ward where he would call them in or, or they would have an interview, right? For the temple or whatever, or a calling and, And he says he really enjoyed doing the following thing. And I'm going to ask you a question. He would sit him down and he would say, well, that was, you know, everything's good. And I will sign off on your temple, recommend interview and all that. But he says, but I have a question for you. And I'll ask you the question, Laura. If for whatever reason, randomly, you just killed over and died right now, you're dead. And judgment happens right away, let's say, right? There's no waiting. The question is this. What... kingdom and what glory will you inherit when you're dead like right now
SPEAKER_00:are you asking me personally
SPEAKER_01:no we won't ask you personally because we'll get back to it but he would ask these members and guess what most members would say
SPEAKER_00:probably not the celestial kingdom
SPEAKER_01:yeah you've read it right they'd be like they'd probably and I he draws the picture like they think about their lives and they did almost this you could see in their head this almost like balancing act okay I do these things pretty good and faithfully but here's all the non-perfect things I do. Here's where I don't obey. Here's the mistakes that I make. And most of them would kind of do this balancing act, and then in the end conclude with a little bit of depression, I guess the terrestrial kingdom. And Bishop Stevenson would say, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_00:Robinson.
SPEAKER_01:Robinson, thank you. He would say, oh, well, why? And he says their answer is always the same, somewhere around the area of, I guess I'm just not celestial material.
UNKNOWN:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:None of
SPEAKER_00:us are. Let's be cool
SPEAKER_01:here. But then he'd have this discussion about what it means to be celestial. And if you're trying on your own to get there, yeah, you're not going to be celestial. So he would go through this exercise with him, and here's how he would really drill down the point. He would say, oh, the terrestrial, huh? That's too bad. I'm so sorry. So what you're saying is you just lied to me about all those questions in the temple recommend interview. And they'd get offended. Well, no, I told you all the truth. Oh, well, then. you're dishonest like in your business like are you stealing from your partner like no i'm not stealing what do you mean oh so you're cheating on your spouse and they get upset like no i'm not i i answered question but your question is probably no what do you mean and he says well i i can't imagine then why you're not going to the celestial kingdom oh i know what it is You
SPEAKER_00:don't have faith in Jesus Christ. You don't
SPEAKER_01:believe in Jesus Christ. And then they'd really get upset, right? And be like, of course, what do you mean? Like, I've been a member of my whole life. I served a mission. I do believe. And he had the audacity to look at him and say, I don't think you do. Because he says, and then he'd quote scriptures like in Isaiah that says, though your sins be red as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. And he says, you don't believe that. You don't believe that for you. And they'd be like, well, I believe in Christ. I'm a disciple of Christ. But you don't believe him. You don't believe him when he says, I forgive you of your sins if you come unto me in faith and repentance and the covenants of baptism of the Holy Ghost. And it was what a beautiful teaching moment for him to be able to teach that person. You have to believe in the Savior and believe him when he says, I will save you. Let's go to the scripture, Moses 139. We ask ourselves, like in this anecdote, what really is the purpose of God? For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And so in this interview, he would be able to say to the person, so you believe God is not able with you to bring to pass your immortality or eternal life, right? I mean, that's a great way to phrase it. Yeah, Isaiah 118 says, If God says your sins are red, or they make you red, and unworthy to be in God's presence, and then Christ says, if you come to me through faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost, I will wipe them away. I will have bled and died for you so that you won't have to, so that you will be cleansed and innocent in the presence of God. And you have the audacity to say, no, you can't, not me. It's a great little lesson. I love it. Now, it brings my mind towards something really powerful that I read in D&C 15 the other day. This is when Joseph Smith was at the early parts of the Restoration, and he was restoring the gospel, and he had this burning question to God. What is—like, there's all these things we need to be doing in temple and organizing and— translating and building the church and all this. What is the most important thing that I need to focus on? What is the foundational most important thing? And here's what he answered. He says, For many times you have desired of me to know that which would be of most worth unto you. Behold, blessed are you for this thing and for speaking my words which I have given unto you according to my commandments. And behold, I say unto you that the thing which will be of most worth unto you will be to declare... Repentance unto this people, that ye may bring souls unto me, that they may rest with me in the kingdom of my Father.
SPEAKER_00:Amen.
SPEAKER_01:So what is it? What's the most important, the most valuable thing that could possibly we be doing?
SPEAKER_00:Preaching repentance and helping God bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all men.
SPEAKER_01:And how did you do that? Or how do we do that? Or one way we do that?
SPEAKER_00:By opening our mouths and talking to everyone.
SPEAKER_01:And we can do that at home. We can do that on a mission, but... Most specifically, this principle about when you're serving on a mission, we have to understand how valuable, how special every soul is to the Father. And that's why it's the most important work is for us to go out and lead souls to Christ. And one of the most effective ways of doing that is to open your mouth and talk to everyone. Never shut up. Never stop talking. Not for a year and a half, not for two years, you open your mouth and you talk to everyone. So a little story. So when I was in the MTC, Elder Holland, who was my favorite, he was young and vibrant back then.
SPEAKER_00:Now he's old and vibrant.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he's old and vibrant. So he came to the MTC and they speak very differently in the MTC or in person than they do in general conference, right? So he gets up on the podium and he says, all right, every single missionary in the MTC was in this room. right? Thousands of kids. And he says, all right, I'm going to tell you something, but before I tell it to you, you all have to promise that you will not tell your mothers what I'm about to say to you. And we were like, well, that sounds sketchy. And he's like, I mean it. Unless I see all of you raising your hand that you promise not to tell your mothers what I'm about to say, I'm not going to tell you. So we were all like, okay. So we raised our hands and here's what he said. He said, you go out there and you work so hard hard, that you are so exhausted by the end of your mission that you will be brought home on a stretcher. Skip lunch. Skip dinner. Don't rest. Run. Don't walk. And open your mouths and speak to every soul that is in earshot of you. Stop them in groups. Stop them on the public transport. Everywhere. And we thought, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:What do you think of that, Lauren?
SPEAKER_00:That is awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Why do you think that's awesome?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you have an apostle of the Lord just giving you advice on how you can be the most effective missionary you can be. Like at the beginning of your missionary service too.
SPEAKER_01:Was that not a little irresponsible for him to tell us to come home on a mission? By the way, I looked yesterday at the photo of me coming off the airplane. I get off the airplane and I'm so excited to see my family. I see them in the distance and I first connect eyes with my mom and she looks at me and her face changes like, what the? And she starts bawling. And I'm like, why are you crying? And later on she told me, you look like an emaciated, sick, dirty person. And it's true. I weighed like 110 pounds. Like I was really, and it's because Elder Miles and I at the end, I mean throughout really our whole mission, but at the end we were like, let's go, man. We only have like two months left. Let's just go nuts. Let's just go work and open our mouths and find people to teach and let's just go. Probably unhealthy, but that's okay. We turned out okay. Turned out okay. So what do you think, Lauren? What do you think about this concept or what would you say about this concept of an open mouth finds listeners. What do you think that means? Why do we word it that way?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, in order to help people be converted unto Christ, they have to hear his gospel, right? And the Lord will make miracles out of what you give him, right? He will work miracles with what you have to offer. And I love the saying, I was on exchange with a sister once in this had come up in one of our conversations, but to be in relentless pursuit of the joy of God's children. And when you are in the relentless pursuit of the joy of God's children, you want their salvation, right? You want to share this good news, but you're not going to find listeners if you never open your mouth. And so maybe you go out. I mean, it's like, you know, relating it to sports, right? Like that stupid saying that's like, oh, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. But it's true. Say you go out and you talk to like five people. Okay, maybe you went zero for five. But imagine if you go out and you open your mouth and you talk to 100 people within the span of 30 minutes, an hour. How many more people are you... more likely to find, right? You never know who is waiting to receive you.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so watch this. So we were in, I was in, I told this story before, but I was in Donetsk with Elder Barnes, and I got a call from my mission president saying, hey, Elder Rector, pack your bags. You're going to Hardcove tomorrow, and don't get caught. You're not supposed to be there, but all the missionaries didn't get their visas renewed. And he's like, in the mission there, I don't know what's going on there. They're just not serving like the rest of the mission. There's something wrong with that area, so go clean house. Go find out what's going on. get them straight. I was like, Oh man. Okay. So I packed my bags, get on the Harry Potter train, go to Harkov, get off. And the elders were there and they hated me because they weren't working hard. And I was not willing to not work hard. Like I was in their phase. Like, listen, I was like, guys, I'm not here to make buddies. I'd love to be your buddy, but I'm here to work. So you have to be out here with me. So every day they just sit there and watch. And I told the story before about how these guys got arrested, that whole story. Well, another day they were still kind of grumpy and I could tell all day he was just kind of really upset, this one elder. And he finally at the end of the day goes, look, Elder Record, I don't care anymore, man. I'm just going to tell you straight up and you can, you got nothing to say about this. once a month we all get together with all the missionaries with a couple of districts and we have a party at one of the, one of the, one of the houses. He's like, I know you're going to hate that and be upset, but I don't care. We're doing it. And I just looked at him and went, what the heck did you just say to me? You're telling me that I can't go work tonight because I have to be with you to go to a what? A gathering of missionaries to have a party with And he's like, dude, we don't do anything bad, man. We just play games. We share stories. Like it's nothing. We're like, good. We're doing good. I'm like, this is so, I don't like this at all. Like I came here to work and lead souls to Christ that you wanted. So anyway, he's like, well, we're going. And if you don't come, you're breaking the rules. You got to be with us. I was like, so we get on the train. I'm preaching to people. I'm opening my mouth. I'm talking to people and they're just sitting there. Sure enough, we get to this apartment out of our area. We open the door, and I open it, and there's like 15 missionaries in there. And I'm like, what? And from the get-go, they didn't like me at all. They hated me. And at the get-go, I stop, and I go, hey, you don't know me. I'm sorry to be annoying here, but this is dumb. No one else in the mission is doing this. I got to go out and work, but I can't do it on my own. I need someone to go with me. And they all stopped and looked at me like, who is this punk? Like, what? judging us like I'm like look I'm not judging anyone just I need to go work I don't care to party here with you they hated me and finally this greenie was like I'll go with you I know I missed this part in the story I got so fed up I said look I promise that if any of you will go out with me tonight for the next four hours on this rainy cold like just gross day I promise you in the name of the Lord we will find people to teach and finally this greenie was like alright I'll come with you And so we go. And I'm just preaching to this kid the whole time. I'm like, dude, what are you doing, man? Did you come out here to have parties with buddies? Or did you come out to work? Like, let's do the work to lead souls to Christ. And guess what happened, Lauren? No one was on the freaking street. No one was out because it was so cold and so nasty. But I'm like praying this whole time. Like, I made this kid a promise. Let's work. Like, let's go look. So for four hours, we were out there looking, searching. Hardly anyone was out. You'd go find someone, and they were running off to get cover. And I'm praying, and I'm praying, but we're working. I see someone else. We go open their mouths, and they kind of talked to us. It didn't go so well. Another person. We go across the street. I open my mouth. Not really taking it. We're working, though, and I'm going to keep opening my mouth. Okay, it's time to go back. I'm like, oh, man. We're going back, and I'll never forget this. We look off. And there's a street lamp, it's nighttime, and this rain's coming down, and there's a street lamp. And right underneath that street lamp and the rain coming down, there's one dude just standing there. And I feel the spirit, and I say, let's go. And we go up to this guy, and he's like, He's like, guys, this is great. I've been looking for something like this. I would love for you to come and teach me. So we write down his information on the blue planner. And we turn around, we start walking back to the apartment, and this kid just kind of has his head down on the ground and just kind of thinking, thinking, thinking. And right before we get back to go in, he looks at me and he goes, what am I doing? What am I doing? Like that one soul could be saved and come to Christ. And it took us four hours of nothing, no success, yet we searched and we found this one guy. And if I was stuck up in that room partying, that one soul would never even have been found. He's like, what am I doing? I'm like, good, good, you're getting it. That's it. The spirit of the work of the Lord only happens if we participate and we put the work in and we open our mouth and talk to people. Now, I wish I could have a really great ending to that story and be like, and that dude took the lessons from this kid and this kid baptized him and they went out and worked hard. I don't know what happened because I was called to move on to other areas of my life, but I know that that was an example to that entire area of Harkov. I developed a reputation for being the guy that is kind of a jerk, but he works like crazy. He talks to everyone all day long. And it brings you joy. It really does. Like, it was just so fulfilling.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's funny because, well, first of all, it's an awesome story. But I think it's funny because a lot of experiences that I've had that are similar to that where I'm just praying and praying. I'm like, Heavenly Father, please, I am out here. Oh my gosh. Wait, I have a really cool story. Okay. So once, so there was a transfer when I was serving in an area called Carmel, Indiana, and I had just become a sister training leader and I was on exchange with one of these sisters and my companion and I, at the beginning of the transfer, I'd said, okay, we're going to set a finding goal every day. Cause you know, that's what you do. You set a finding goal every day. And we were like, we're not, stepping in our house until we reach our finding goal. And so we were on exchanges one day and I was leading out the area and I had a sister with me and we had set our finding goal that day to seven people, seven people that day. And it was, you know, we have to be back at home by nine, nine 30, if you have a lesson. And so it's, it's getting pretty close. It's like eight 15. We're probably like 20 minutes away from our house maybe. And we, uh, had only found two people that day. And we went to visit a referral. The referral didn't end up being interested. So we're standing in the middle of this apartment complex, just in the middle of the street, like in the middle of the parking lot. And I look at her, I'm like, Sister Stark, let's say a prayer really quick. And so we say a prayer and I'm just pleading there with Heavenly Father. I said, Heavenly Father, I've talked to so many people today. I've knocked on so many doors and I need to hit this finding goal. Please, please help us. And on the second, I'm not even kidding you, Sean. The second I opened my eyes, I look up and I see this man at his trunk. He's just in his trunk doing something. And the sister I was with runs over to him. And I'm like, yes, go, go, go. And she talks to him and he says, oh, I'm about to leave, but come talk to my family. And so he walks us inside. We go into his house. We sit down and he goes into every single room. He's like, come out here, come out here. There's people sharing a message. Come out here, come out here. And his four kids and wife come out. So that's five people. Wow. And they come out and they're sitting around the table and we're just sitting there and they're like, who are you? And we called up the Book of Mormon and we start talking about we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have a message to share. And The wife, so the husband's from the Bahamas. The wife is from Haiti. And so their kids speak English. The wife doesn't really speak that much English. They mainly speak Haitian Creole in the house. And so we're holding up the Book of Mormon. And you can see like on the back of it. So the mom takes it and she's looking at the back. And it says Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And she said, I'm looking for this church. And she goes onto her phone and she finds a picture. And it's a sign. of the church. It's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but it's the bishop's storehouse, like the food warehouse. And she goes, I went to this church on Sunday, but it was closed. They told me it wasn't open. And I'm like, no, that's just not the right building, but I can help you find one. So she had already been searching for the church. Like she was looking to go there and she just couldn't find it. And so I had so many experiences like that where maybe, I don't know what happened to them because I got transfers out of the area and we had to pass them off to Creole missionaries. But I had so many experiences like that where I just pled with the Lord and I told him, look, I'm going to work like it's all on me, but I have faith like it's all on you. And with that mentality, with that attitude, he was able to bless me so much just because I was willing to do so. I had so many times, especially when I started learning the language where I went up and I made a fool of myself. I'm sitting there like, and they're like, dude, what are you saying to me? Go away, gringa. Like, you don't have anything important to say to me. And I'd mess up and i'd trip over my words and i'd sit there and literally just like conjugate verbs in my head just looking like an idiot but the lord blessed me with what i gave him to work with and i you know it it made me better at the language it made me be able to talk to literally anyone like i could have a conversation with anyone about anything and it's just like The Lord blesses you when he sees that you're consecrated, when he sees that you're willing and just like hungry to just get after it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, there's two, you brought in the most important part of this principle. There's really two aspects of this principle that make it work. So the principle being an open mouth finds listeners, right? So open your mouth and talk to everyone, like be committed to do that. So the two aspects that really make that work, the one is the one we've been talking about. It's the pragmatic part, right? It's a numbers game. Obviously, like you said, if I talk to a hundred people, I could find two that'll be listening. If I talk to 10,000 people, I'm going to find a thousand, right? So it's pragmatic. And the other pragmatic gifts that come from opening your mouth and talk to everyone is if you go foreign speaking, you learn the language, right? We learned on our mission in Ukraine, the very wise and evil Vladimir Lenin said, which
SPEAKER_00:is
SPEAKER_01:repetition is the mother of all learning is what he'd say. And so we'd be like, hey, the more we talk, the better we will learn. So obviously if you open your mouth, so another pragmatic benefit is you'll learn how to approach someone. You'll gain the confidence, right? You'll know what to say, whether it's in English or another language. So there's all these pragmatic reasons why open your mouth and find listeners will, is so effective. But you started introducing the spiritual side of things. So there's a couple of reasons why spiritually this is such a powerful, powerful principle. Here's one, D&C 50. Wherefore, I, the Lord, ask you this question. Unto what are ye ordained as a missionary? Yeah? And he says, you are ordained to preach my gospel, period. No, it doesn't say that. It gives you the exact way that you're supposed to preach the gospel. To preach my gospel by the Spirit. even the comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth. Okay, this is fascinating. Okay, you listeners, understand this. You as a missionary have the mantle and authority of Jesus Christ, which means if you are faithful and obedient, when you open your mouth, it is as if you are speaking and Christ is the one speaking for you. You are his representative. So when you as a disciple of Christ open your mouth, the Spirit will confirm the truth. So it says, to preach, you're called and set apart and ordained to preach my gospel by the Spirit. And then he says this, behold, if you received other spirits you could not understand and receive them to be of God. Sorry, go to 16. Behold, ye shall answer this question yourselves. I will be merciful unto you. No, skip that. 17. He that is ordained of me and set forth to preach the word of truth by the comforter, the spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the spirit of truth or some other way? So in other words, you missionaries listening, when you're out there, you're either going to be effective and be able to teach by the spirit or you're going to do it by some other way. What are some other ways? Like use your charisma. Use your intelligence. I don't know, tell, use, I don't know. What's it called? Object lessons. Draw pictures. There's all these different ways. I think most of us kind of rely on our charisma or, oh, this young kid is really cool or they like me. These are other ways. These are not the ways you're supposed to teach the gospel. So it says this in 18. And if it be by some other way, it is not of God. And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the spirit of truth or some other way? If it be some other way, it is not of God. Therefore, why is it that ye can understand and know that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth? Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth understand one another and both are edified and rejoice together. And that which doth not edify is not of God in his darkness. That which is So many times I've heard missionaries go out and go, I'm a scriptorian. I've studied the scriptures. I'm ready. I'm going to go prove to people the truth of things by that. That is some other way. Yet, if you give someone the scriptures and invite them to read it, what will come into their hearts while they're doing it? The Spirit. The Spirit. And that's how you teach it. So again, I love this principle, the spiritual side of this. If you go out and open your mouth and your intent is you love these people and you want to lead them to Christ, the Spirit will be there, right? It says, before you read what you're going to do, in John 10, it says, what does it say? But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep and I said unto you, and this is Christ. He says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I love that. I got to the point of my mission where I was like, I just know that if I open my mouth and talk about Jesus Christ or Joseph Smith or the Bible or the Book of Mormon, the Spirit will confirm it, not to everyone, because maybe not everyone's looking, but if I talk to 10,000 people, seven of them are looking, and they will recognize the Spirit, just like that lady you did, right? When you walked in and she's like, wait a minute, there's something here. I know it. I recognize it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Now, there's a couple of good points that you just made. Something that I love. Well, the first chapter of Preach My Gospel talks about your purpose as a missionary, and it talks about the authority and power behind your calling. And studying that and putting it into play really helped me realize that, you know, it's a privilege to give everything you have to building the kingdom. And you've been set apart to do so, like it says in Doctrine and Covenants. And you know, it's our job as missionaries to hold ourselves accountable to the responsibility that we have in this work, right? Like we've literally been called and set apart to do it. Let's hold ourselves accountable. Like, let's just go do it. I know so many, and I too, myself, I was so scared of talking to people at the beginning. Were you? I was scared. I remember in my first area, I was biking through the streets with my trainer and she was, She would like fall off of her bike, trying to run to people, just like hop off while it was still going. Be like, hey, hey. And just like shove a Book of Mormon in their face. And I remember my first couple of days, I was like, dude, this girl is nuts. What is she doing? And it was just, it was so good for me to see because she just had no shame. And I remember sometimes I'd be scared to talk to people at the Book of Mormon. Cause I'd be scared about what they say to me or I didn't want to get yelled at or whatever. And then I read John 15 and that, that book, that chapter changed my life. Cause Jesus Christ himself says, you know, if you, If the world hates you, remember that they hated me first. And he just talks about how, you know, he's been in the shoes of his disciples. He's been there. He's felt that. And I came to realize with time that they're not rejecting me. They're just not ready to hear the gospel. It's not our job as missionaries to decide who gets to accept the gospel. It's our job to open our mouth and declare. And then those that are willing and ready will accept it.
SPEAKER_01:One more real quick to confirm that. This is DNC 29. And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect. And mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts. Okay, keep going. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00:No, that's awesome. The other thing that I was going to say is that you talked about having charity. And I spent every day since the day I was set apart praying for charity. And there's a quote that I have hanging up on the mirror of my car. It says, charity is the quickest way to identify a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And there's a section in chapter six, Christ-like attributes of preach my gospel. And there's a section on love and charity. And after studying and after praying for and praying for, I realized that charity truly has to be the motivation you have behind everything you do as a missionary. Not even as a missionary, though, as a disciple, you must have Christ-like love to be able to do anything.
SPEAKER_01:And the only way for you listeners, you missionaries, if you don't feel like you have this changed heart full of charity, the only way for you to get that is to come to Christ through faith, repentance, baptism in the Holy Ghost. Now you will say, you listeners, I've already been baptized. That's right. But the covenant that you entered into, you promised that that you would have faith and you would repent every day of your life. So if you haven't done those things, you must begin. Because once you really truly begin, and again, the way to build your faith is to feast upon the words of Christ every day. Feast for an hour, feast for eight hours. What else you got going on? And pray and ask questions, seek and knock. And in that process, your faith will grow. and lead you to repentance. And once you've done that, you will truly then be keeping your part of the covenant which you entered into in baptism. So once you do that, your heart starts to change and you start to have this charity and love. And then you do, like you just said, you want to go outside and find people so that they'll feel the love that you feel. And you just have this burning desire to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Charity is so influential in the discipleship of others. And to you listening, I promise you, if you strive to be filled with charity, like you will become such a good missionary, but you will help others feel the love of Christ. I think there's so many people just waiting, waiting, waiting for their prayers to be answered. And if you're able to convey a message through the love of Christ, they're in, like they're so in. I just, there's something so special about Truly like that story that you shared a couple episodes ago of that man that you just loved you just felt so much love for him I remember sitting in a Relief Society lesson and there was a lady in our ward who's originally from Argentina and And her English wasn't very good. And she was so nervous because she had to teach the lesson. And I was talking to her and she was like, I'm so nervous. My English is not good. Like, I don't know. And she just put all that behind her and she just got up and started preaching. And I remember getting so emotional during the middle of this. Because you just loved her so much. I just loved her. But to see that a disciple was so willing to face their fears because they love Christ so much is amazing. It just touched me to my core. Like I was just crying in the middle of second hour. It's crazy. But to be able to feel that love for others is the most healing feeling that you can ever experience. And
SPEAKER_01:would you say, Lauren, do you think that this concept of open your mouth and talk to listeners, is that a result of you coming to Christ and being converted and feeling the love? And I just want to share it or... Is the process of helping you come to Christ and be converted and learn to love people a result of you opening your mouth and talking to people?
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, it's like a mix of both, I'd say. But I think the key for missionaries is to be able to meet people where they're at, but to see them for who they can become. Because you open your mouth and maybe you... are knocking a street and you see this guy out on his porch just boozing it up with the cig in his hand just like cussing you out like your first thought isn't like oh this guy's gonna get baptized right but seeing seeing who they can become my mission president always said picture them in white when you see them when they open the door picture them in white when they're walking down the street picture them in white because then you go up to them with this like predetermined love for them
SPEAKER_01:That's powerful. One of my favorite companions of the Barnes would always say to me, you know, we live in finite mortality, right? We have a birth and a death and that's the, that's all we understand. But God, our father lives in eternity and Lauren, God doesn't see you with these limitations. He doesn't see you now with whatever weaknesses or lack of knowledge. He doesn't see that. He sees you as you really truly are in eternity, right? And that is the person that he loves so much. The real you, the eternal you. Like he sees where you become. He sees what you are. Because he's not limited by this birth and death. So that's a fascinating concept. Knock on a door, see some guy that's not exactly temple looking. But if you can picture that person that way because of how much you love them. then you're seeing them truly how God sees them. And all you want to do is just find more and talk more and find more. Yeah, we were halfway through our mission, maybe, not even half, I was four months in, and Elder Bruce D. Porter, I swear this guy was seven foot tall and little kind of interesting looking guy. But, oh man, I loved him. We loved him. He gathered all the missionaries at Dom Kino and he got us all there and he stands there, this towering guy, and he spoke Russian. We were shocked about that. And he says, look, you guys can't find people to teach and teach the gospel of Christ if you don't understand each other, if you can't speak the language. So he says, I'm going to make it real easy for you. He says, I have authority to give you a promise in the name of the Lord. He says, I promise you in the name of the Lord that if you'll do this one thing, all of you will be fluent in the Russian language by your six-month point, and you'll be able to teach and find. We're like, oh, okay. Say
SPEAKER_00:less.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. He's like, it's not studying. It's none of the things that you're doing now. I'll give you the one secret. We're like, yes, tell us. He says, if you will go outside after this meeting and talk to every soul that you see and open your mouth and talk to everyone and never stop, then you will be fluent by your six-month point. And me and other moms looked at each other like, let's do it. Let's do it. And we just went out and we just did it. And again, it's that there's the pragmatic side, then there's the spiritual faithful side. Obviously, the more you talk, the quicker you're going to learn the language, the more success you're going to have. So it's kind of like he was tricking us to just go out and do it more. But the effect that it had on our souls and the souls of people we found was way more profound than just, oh, good job. You're learning how to be confident and talk to people or learn a language. That spirit of working with all your heart, mind, and strength has a Christ-like power in it. Yeah, when we hunger and thirst to bring souls to Christ and not just, okay, I'm here, let's, you know, what are we doing today? No, if you go out and just hunger and thirst and therefore open your mouth and talk to everyone, the Spirit will confirm truth of it all to people and you'll find those. And so we did it, man. When we were in the line for the bread, No, you don't want to talk to me? Okay, next guy. You know, we just go person to person. It was embarrassing and amazing. When we'd be on public transport, it's like shoulder to shoulder packed in there. You turn to one guy, hey, can I talk to you for a minute about, and he'd say, no, get out of my face. No problem. You literally turn your head to the guy next to him. Hey, can I talk to you for a minute? Like this dude just heard what you're saying. It was embarrassing in the greatest way. And we would do that. And we would look at each other. Like, we would purposely stand apart from each other so we could tackle everyone on that bus.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's pure joy, Lauren. It's pure, absolute joy. I
SPEAKER_00:remember being in Little Tiendas. And when I was training, especially, I told my greenie, I'm like, look, I'm not going to be, like, anywhere near you. You got to go and talk to people yourself. You're not coming out until you talk to them. What a good trainer. Seriously,
SPEAKER_01:that is a great trainer.
SPEAKER_00:It was funny, but... I remember just being in these little tiendas and we'd go when it's just like rush hour and it'd be packed. And I'd just go up to someone. I'm like, hey, go on that. Then I'm on my side. And they'd just be like, uh, no, like whatever. And then I'd turn around to the person next to them. Just like you said, like you think it'd be like scary or you'd get afraid of like the rejection. But man, you just find the one at the end of the day and it's so worth it.
SPEAKER_01:So you said at the beginning of this podcast that this is your favorite principle. And to be honest, Lauren, I didn't know what to expect from you kids going out. You never do, right? So you guys go out, but I'm going to take a guess. This is the one thing that you decided to do that made more difference than anything. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because just... You always hear stories of like Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet, was out on his mission in London, I think he was, and he wrote home within a couple of months. He's like, Dad, this is terrible. I'm doing not well.
SPEAKER_00:I want to come home. And
SPEAKER_01:his dad wrote him a letter back and said, Son,
SPEAKER_00:forget
SPEAKER_01:yourself and get to work. Work! And he did, and it changed everything, and he became the prophet. So why do you say this is your favorite principle?
SPEAKER_00:This principle changed my mission. And that's why it's my favorite. Cause I remember learning about it when I was in your class, when I was junior, senior in high school, but I wasn't really listening to what you were saying. And I remember getting out into the field and I was kind of like, this is kind of scary. Like I know I'm supposed to talk to everyone, but I, I don't know why this is hard. Yeah. And you know, missionaries, when you go out there, I'm not downplaying it. Like it is scary to go up, especially when you feel like, Oh, I don't know enough. Oh, I don't know. Whatever excuse you have. But I remember getting switched to Spanish work. And I was like, I'm already four months into my mission. I got to learn how to do this fast. I don't have time to waste. And I remember getting with two certain companions. I was in a trio and they were so good at talking to everyone. And so it took me up until... maybe like seven months to get really, really good at this. But I remember those two companions, man, they just chased after people, like chased down the streets. Like we'd walk into stores. I remember we were walking to a Wendy's and there was people doing construction on the building right next to us. My companion walked over and like climbed the ladder and I was like, Hey boys, whatever. But this like kind of what we were talking about, like the charity that comes is, it comes so much easier when you talk to people. I don't know why, but for some reason it does. And, you know, charity became the motivating factor and the intention that I placed behind every action. And it's so much easier when you get, I don't know, it's so hard to explain, but you just talk to everyone and you kind of just get on fire. You're like, okay, well I got to find this one person. And the only way I'm going to find them is by talking to everyone. And yeah, you know, as a missionary, you should expect miracles in the work because that's what you're ordained to do. You're ordained to preach the gospel and you'll see miracles from it, but you're never going to get that if you don't open your mouth. And there's more people than I can keep count of that I found because I opened my mouth. Like every, well, I guess everybody finds because you open your mouth, but it's such a powerful principle. And it, it taught me a lot just to principle of faith as well. Because when you have faith in your message, when you have confidence in your savior, it doesn't, it's not scary anymore to open your mouth. Like I could go stand on the table at Chick-fil-A and just like yell to everyone. And it, it didn't embarrass me one bit. Like you have the greatest message. I remember telling a couple of missionaries that were telling me they were struggling with, with this principle. And I was like, you don't they were like oh well what do i say to them like that i don't have anything in common with them i'm like you don't need anything you have the world's greatest message to share just go up and share with them it's just it's the principle that changed my mission honestly
SPEAKER_01:well i like what you said too is you were we ordained right we read the scripture that says one to what are you ordained to preach my gospel by the spirit and there's many ways that we can use the Spirit, invite the Spirit, right? That's your purpose is to invite the Spirit, help them feel it because that leads them to faith, which leads them to repentance. The Scriptures, obviously, if you can get them to read the Scriptures, they're going to feel the Spirit. If you can get them to pray, they're going to feel the Spirit. Bring them to the sacrament, it's going to feel the Spirit. One really powerful way, again, is if you have faith that you are a disciple of Christ, a called and separated missionary of Christ, he will not allow you in faith as you open your mouths to not have the spirit present. It will be present. And so the more you open your mouth, the more of his, his sheep will, will feel that spirit and miracles will happen.
SPEAKER_00:Can I share this part? So in chapter one, I preach my gospel, the section that I had mentioned previously, the authority and power of your calling. It talks about this. So it talks about authority and that you need for your calling, but also talks about the spiritual power. And it says, And I remember I was struggling so hard with feeling like I had the spirit with me. And I went to my mission president about it. Smartest man, wisest man, best man I've ever met. Nice. And he said, I started doing this when I was a missionary and I've done it every day since then. He says, I set a timer on my watch for every hour on the hour it goes off and I say a prayer. Oh my goodness. Doesn't have to be a long thing. That's amazing. And I was like, okay, let's see if I'm going to try it. Did you? Yes. For the rest of my mission, every hour on the hour, my timer would go off and I'd look at my companion and I'm like, okay, it's time. And so we'd say a prayer. And it changed so much, even though it was such a simple thing to do. But the Spirit changes everything. And I'm not saying I was the most obedient missionary. I wasn't the perfect missionary.
SPEAKER_01:You're a good missionary.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But I always sought to have the Spirit with me, and that changes the work that makes you a successful missionary.
SPEAKER_01:So this is great, and I love your passion for this. And I watched you do it, and I just had so much joy as you did. I was so happy and so proud because this really is fulfillment of DNC4, right? If you have a desire to serve, I'm going to call you to the work, but see that you serve with all your heart, mind, and strength. So can I share a story where... Really, this is a true miracle to me. Like, this is such a powerful story to me. So... Yes. One day, we were in Dnepropetrovsk, and it was a particularly, for whatever reason, it was a hard time where not a lot was happening. Now, Lauren, I've told this story. You've heard this story. But what you don't know is, I reached out to a kid who sent me photos of these people. And he sent them... Okay, I'm going to show you the photos. Okay. And I haven't had these for 30 years. I'll tell you the story. Okay, so... particularly hard mom or time. We weren't really having a lot of success. We were working very hard, but you don't really, when you're in this habit of working hard, faithful, you don't really ever give up hope. You're just like, I know, I don't care. I'll go another day. Okay. Another two day. Okay. Another week. I know someone's going to be there. So one particular day when it was kind of the hardest, same like your story, we were out there, he was late. We were exhausted. We were a little hard. It was hard. We weren't finding anyone. And we just said, look, We got 10 more minutes. Let's just go as hard as we can. So you go and you open and you talk and you talk and you talk. And at the very end, I see down the road, two people walking. And I go, I'm definitely talking to these people. And as I got closer, now we lived in this city called Dnepropetrovsk, which is on the Dnepr River. And the river at the head, many, many miles away, there's a city at the head of this river called Chernobyl. You ever heard of Chernobyl?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Chernobyl is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. That nuclear contaminant got into the river, got into the water, affected everything. Good. So in this city of Dnepr, at least one time a day, I met someone who was very physically affected by that radiation. Deformed, like pretty bad sicknesses. Kind of, it was a commonplace, really scary. And as I got closer to this couple walking, I kind of realized real quickly, oh, there's something different about that woman, like the way she looks. There's something, something. And I never verified if it was Chernobyl or what. But as I got closer, like it was kind of odd. Like she, it was as if her skin had like wrapped around her bones and she was just like a skeleton woman. And she was this sweet lady who had this like scarf around her head. But I looked and just like, wow, that is not healthy. I hope she's okay. Whatever. I love them. I'm going to open my mouth. So I opened my mouth, and it was a man and this woman. And I have a message about Jesus Christ and the restored gospel. And immediately they were interested. And they were like, yeah, come teach us. This is great. So we set up an appointment for the next day. We come by to these lovely people. We sit down. We teach them. They're so smart. They were so smart and so interested in participating. And they would read. That was the fun thing about Ukraine. They're all ex-Sovjets. And Soviets were very educated, very, very smart, very hardworking. So it was good. They would always engage in such an intriguing way. And I could tell after I left that meeting, the spirit was there, they felt it, and they were really interested. The next day, transfers, I'm out. I never really, I never heard about them or from them ever again. But I knew from the spirit that, all those weeks of me finding with no success, that's who I was supposed to find. Wow. I opened my mouth and I found them. Okay. Now fast forward about two years ago. So this is like 28 years later. I'm in my ward here in California teaching a lesson. And I bring up that story for, to make some point. And I look in the crowd, this new kid, I'd never seen him before. And he's eyes light up and he's like, dude, after this class, he goes, dude, I served in your mission. Like I was in Donetsk. I just got home like three years ago. I'm like, no way, that's awesome. Let's talk, let's talk. So we get, you know, kind of sit aside and we start talking. I said, so tell me, tell me where you served. I served in Dnepropetrovsk. He's like, oh, me too. I said, who'd you know there? Like, what are the names and what was the best time of your mission? And this is what he said. He said, you know, I had a great mission, but the most moving part for me was when I got to Dnepropetrovsk and we got to this ward where the church was so strong. He's like, I've never seen the church before. be so strong. And it's crazy because it was really revolving around this one family who was so faithful and so strong. They had brought dozens and dozens of people into the church to be baptized. I'm like, oh, that sounds so cool. I was like, do you have a picture of them? I'm going to show you the picture that he showed me that caused me to cry because when he showed me this, this is him standing there and the lady on the left and the man on the right are the two people that I found that day. And I looked at that picture and And I said to this kid, I says, are you kidding me? I says, I found them. I, on a long day, exhausted, committed to open my mouth and talk to everyone. I found those people and I taught him a lesson. Then I left and I never saw and heard of him again. He's like, you're kidding me. These are the strongest people in Nepper. They have brought dozens of people to the church of Jesus Christ. Oh my gosh. And look at them. Look how great they are. Look how amazing those people
SPEAKER_00:are. She's so sweet.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she is. So this principle of open your mouth, you'd never know, like you don't measure your success in this labor of trying to lead souls to Christ in how many baptisms you see, right? Paul even said it. His companion for a while was Silas, right? And he said, Paul said one time in the Bible, he says, I watered and Silas watered. planted. No, I planted water or Silas watered, but then the Lord God gives the increase. In other words, we all play a certain role. And in this case, because I opened my mouth, I found some people to teach and then I left. And then other missionaries were able to come in, maybe who are more suited to teach. So I don't know. And they taught them and they helped them to conversion. And now they're here and they've brought dozens. And it's funny because I I'll see them in 200 years from now in the celestial kingdom and go, it's you. Like I opened my mouth one day just to find you and we were exhausted, but I knew we could find you. And I think they're going to be so grateful, right? And then the dozens and dozens and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people who are a result of their work will gather around us and it will be joy, just pure joy. All because one person was willing to open their mouth. And that's the power you can have, you guys, as missionaries. Don't stop. Be exhausted. Come home on a stretcher. Work so hard by talking to everyone, and I promise you, you will have success and lead souls to Christ. And in that process, you yourself will come to Christ. It's a powerful, powerful principle. I'm glad it's your favorite.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I had this sticky note on my door that I looked at every day before I left. It says, you're called to serve, not sit quiet. Okay. And because I just thought of it like one day, actually, while I was studying this principle and it's just the greatest, like the joy that I feel from listening to the story that you just shared. Yeah. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's like the best feeling ever. That has got to be the greatest feeling ever because you know that Heavenly Father is just up there like, yes, yes, yes, keep going, keep going. And you know, there are some days, some weeks where you just feel like you're in a dry spot. You're like, I cannot find anyone that wants to be baptized. But then there's that one person that will change the life of so many people. I'm
SPEAKER_01:so grateful that you are faithful enough and humble enough to and all of it to have done this on your mission and to have watched you do this because I know that that's partially what helped you to conversion yourself. But then I know how effective you were out there. I know how many lives you touched. I know the reputation you have. And missionaries listening or those preparing, it's just such a practical and useful thing. Open your mouth. And talk to everyone, because an open mouth will find the listeners. The Lord's sheep know His voice. You are the representative of the Lord. They will feel the Spirit as you open their mouth. All right. That's a good episode. Please join us next week. Thanks.
