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
You Can't Bring Me Down - Mission Prep Series Class 6
In the Mission Prep Series Class 6: "You Can't Bring Me Down," we tackle the universal topic of mental health and coping with hard things, offering insights for aspiring missionaries. This episode emphasizes two core principles for navigating life's challenges, with a strong focus on the powerful spiritual solution.
While acknowledging the pragmatic need to advocate for oneself and address personal challenges before a mission, as demonstrated by Lauren's experience of delaying her mission to become "mentally solid", the episode truly shines a light on the profound spiritual principles that underpin resilience.
The Spiritual Solution: Understanding Your Divine Identity
The most powerful principle for coping with any hardship, from anxiety and depression to difficult circumstances, lies in understanding your true identity:
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Divine Identity as a Son or Daughter of God: Elder Christofferson suggests that "spiritual rebirth" can make "depression... evaporate and any anxiety... quite manageable". Elder Boyd K. Packer adds that "principles of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve". The foundation of this spiritual strength is the knowledge that you are a child of God.
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Moses 1:1-22 provides a powerful example: God repeatedly emphasizes to Moses, "thou art my son," highlighting his true identity before all else. Immediately afterward, Satan attacks Moses's identity, calling him "son of man," but Moses, grounded in his divine sonship, rebukes Satan "in the name of Christ". This teaches that knowing "who you are" is the most potent tool against challenges.
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Your worth is constant: Drawing from Sister Rooney's General Conference talk, the episode clarifies that "Your worth is not tied to your obedience. Your worth is constant. It never changes. It was given to you by God, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to change it." While obedience brings blessings, your inherent worth is always great in God's sight.
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The Atonement of Jesus Christ: Internalizing this divine identity is deeply connected to understanding Christ's Atonement.
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1 Nephi 21:16 states, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands," signifying that Christ thought of us and our potential even during His suffering. This powerful truth helps missionaries understand that the gospel's very first principle, "God is our loving Heavenly Father," is built upon love.
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D&C 6:33-37 reinforces this: Christ invites us to "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the print of the nails in my hands and feet." This scripture underscores Christ's personal suffering and boundless love for us, cementing our identity as etched into His very being.
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Feasting on the Words of Christ: To build this deep understanding of your divine identity, it's essential to "feast on the words of Christ" through diligent scripture study, prayer, and allowing the Holy Ghost to teach you. This personal knowledge, combined with your agency, is key to navigating anxiety and depression.
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Elder Holland's BYU speech, "Lessons from Liberty Jail," is recommended for gaining "more ammo" to cope with struggles by understanding how to turn personal "Liberty Jails" into "temples" through the gospel.
The episode culminates with a powerful invitation to read 3 Nephi 11, described as the "pinnacle of the Book of Mormon". In this chapter, the resurrected Christ invites the multitude to come forth "one by one" to feel the prints of the nails in His hands and feet. This deeply personal interaction emphasizes Christ's individual relationship with each of us, teaching that despite our unworthiness, through Him, we become worthy and can proudly embrace our identity as a "son of God" o
All right, welcome back to Mission Prep Series Podcast, or we'll call it Mission Stories Podcast. Lauren, sometimes we refer to it as Mission Stories Podcast, and sometimes Mission Prep Series Podcast. It's one and the same. It's the same. It's the same. You good with that? Yep. Yeah, okay, you're good with that. Okay, Lauren, I'm super excited for this episode because this is one of those episodes where we're delayed in starting our recording because you and I are just sitting at this table talking about these principles and we can't shut up because there's so much good stuff. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And we just keep like, oh, but we could do this, but what about this talk from this apostle or what about this scripture? And we just, okay, stop and let's just record and hopefully we can get out what we're feeling, right? This is such an important topic.
SPEAKER_00:Spirit-led.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, for sure. Okay, so just a reminder to our listeners. The point of this podcast is... I had such a great mission experience. It was a marvelous work and a wonder. You had such a great experience. And the same way that Lehi partook of the fruit and the tree of, and the vision of the tree of life and all he wanted was he just felt peace and joy. And it was just so, all he wanted was to go and share it with others. That's how I feel. That's how you feel, right? Yeah. About missions. And so for those of you listening who are preparing for your mission, we just want you to have that experience. We're so blessed with this opportunity. So we're trying to share ideas and thoughts and topics and principles that equip you to have the best experience you can possibly have. And this is one of those principles. We call it the sixth one in our class that we teach. This is one of those principles that is common among us. I love the scripture that says it talking about temptation. And it says, I don't remember where it's at, but it says, there's no temptation that is not common among us. I love that. It sounds like, okay, we are all in the same boat. We're all dealing with the same things. And today's topic is we're going to tackle mental health. how to cope with mental health, how to deal with mental health, how to deal with hard things, hard situations, scary situations. This is a common thing amongst all of us. We all run into it at some point or some level or another. But it's really this principle is all about some really good tools on how to deal with this as a missionary. I wanted a quick, before we get into some of your stories, I wanted a quick start off with a quote from Elder Christofferson. He said this, And you tell me what you think about this, because this is a little controversial. He says, if we can lead our youth and young adults to spiritual rebirth, depression will evaporate, and any anxiety in their lives will be quite manageable. Even death itself cannot threaten their peace once they have been born of the Spirit and have learned to trust in God. What do you think of that?
SPEAKER_00:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, just amen to it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I understand that. Well, my understanding of this quote is not necessarily that he's aiming at, oh, mental health is not real and it can be fixed just by this one thing. Obviously, there's multiple resources that we've been blessed with, especially here in today's age. I feel like in the last 50 years, just the stigma kind of behind mental health has decreased like by so much. And so now it's more widely talked about. But the fact that apostles are addressing other ways to be able to manage these things and to overcome them through the gospel is one of the ways that we can apply it to our life. So he's not here to say, oh, it's not real. Oh, whatever, this or that, but here's a way to overcome it.
SPEAKER_03:Let me dig in a little more. The apostle Boyd K. Packer said this, the principles of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. That's in Preach My Gospel. Is it really? So this is interesting because we're starting this whole discussion about mental health and coping with hard things on your mission. We're starting it. I just dove in with the spiritual solution to it, but I don't, I know we can't, that's not the only message, right? So let's take a step back and understand, and we're going to focus on two principles that we can give our listeners that, that really are very, very effective. The first, so the first principle is going to be all about this spiritual solution to hard things, dealing with hard things in mental health. And we're going to get in some deep, fun, amazing, powerful stories with that. But the other side is more of a pragmatic practical. We live on this earth and we have to understand not our limitations, but the context of the human experience. There are some, yeah, real, real needs. So why don't we, why don't we talk? I want to call this principle advocating. Well, let's just advocating for ourselves. Tell the story you told me a little bit about your mission president's wife. Is that who it
SPEAKER_00:was? Is the, um, first counselor of the mission presidency, him and his wife. His wife was actually the mission nurse. So I was in good contact with her, just precautionary things. They decided to come to one of our baptisms. I think I was in like my second transfer maybe. So I was still very new in the mission. And they were at the baptism, very small town. And they made the journey all the way out there. So they're like, we might as well spend some time here. So they invited us out to lunch after. And we went out and had lunch with them, and, you know, we're kind of just sitting there. We didn't really know them too well, but they asked, you know, they kind of wanted to know about our story, my trainer and I. They wanted to know about our story, so I decided to serve, and we ended up talking. She already knew some of my background, so... It was kind of like no elephant in the room, like I could just go. And we started talking, and I told her my story, just kind of told her what the hoops that I had to jump through to get out to the field. She ended up saying, you know, that she was so amazed. And this is not told to be in a prideful way, but she had asked if I had her, or if she had my permission to share my story at a conference that she was going to speak at. And this conference was catered towards, it was held in Utah, it was catered towards members of the church, specifically parents who had kids that were either out on missions or preparing to go on missions. She wanted to really drill in the principle to get the help and figure your stuff out before you went out into the mission field. Because for me, I mean, you know, my papers got pushed back a lot by a lot of time. You know, my timeline that I thought was going to happen was not my timeline at all. But, you know, in those six months where I had to figure stuff out, I was solid. I was mentally stable. I was able to be at a point where I could go serve and really dedicate my all. There's a lot of people that don't do that. And so whereas I got to be able to go to the mission, I hit the ground running. A lot of people hit the ground and fall flat on their foot.
SPEAKER_03:That they do.
SPEAKER_00:Flat on their face. And
SPEAKER_03:then they have to start a process of trying to learn how to cope with. And it's okay, right? Because sometimes the mission, the experiences on the mission can trigger this or trigger that. And as young people are developing, they can deal with it at various ages. But I love that this sister who loved your story, which I do too, said, went and taught to parents of kids going on a mission, advocate for them or better yet, teach the kids to advocate for themselves. And that's what was so, so, so impressive knowing you in high school and about your story was that in such a short period of time, you in, in such humility and with such drive listened to the council that we were, everyone has given you or your friends, your family, and you advocated for yourself and you just went forth and said, okay, If I'm concerned about any element of my physical health, mental health, spiritual health, I will choose to take action and deal with it in a humble way. And you did. And it was so amazing to watch. And it was so powerful to see how you did progress. And it wasn't perfect, right? There was times where, okay, we'll try this. Oh, that didn't work. Okay, whatever. I'll try this. Okay, now this works. Right? And you eventually got to the perfect formula of I'm solid. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And it was so impressive to watch you go through that and to advocate for yourself. So obviously principle number one to missionaries dealing with this is advocate for yourself. Don't be ashamed. There's no temptation or mental health issue that's not common among us. We all deal with it. And learning to cope with these things or treat these things is obviously a process. And so I love your advice. Deal with it beforehand. Like the same way that we preach, look, how can you possibly go out to a mission field, lead souls to Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, if you've never done that yourself? If you yourself have not built your faith and you've never repented and you don't understand your covenants, how are you going to lead other people to do that? So the same applies here to mental health, right? If you're going to be out there, go through the process, the humility process of repenting, looking in the mirror and saying, maybe I need some help and let's talk to some professionals, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And even, I mean, the mission is no easy task. Everyone knows that. But sometimes you will feel like you'll hit a wall while you're out serving. And it's very different being able to deal with it in the mission field versus out serving. And I'm so eternally grateful that I took the time, the extra six, seven months to be able to figure out all my stuff and figure out what was working for me and what wasn't before I got out. So then when I did hit Roblox, I didn't hit that many, thank the heavens, but I was able to figure it out because I knew what worked for me and I knew what didn't. Whereas some people, you know, they can't hit the ground running. And then finally, after six months, they're kind of starting to go and And then they hit a wall maybe a couple months later. And it's so different just, you know, being in the mission field and trying to figure that out. Because partially you feel like, okay, well, I'm taking time for myself, but my mission's not about me. Like I need to be out serving people. And then you feel guilt. Yeah, you get hit with this wave of guilt and you kind of just stuck. Like you just keep digging the hole, digging the hole, like quicksand type of thing. I remember I had one companion and when we were together near the end of our time together she had started struggling just with some circumstances in her life and it was starting to affect her mental health. Me being like oh well I kind of been through a process like this like I know how to help her I can give her some advice. Me in the moment thought that I was helping her but it turned out that there's a lot of things I could have done differently. And I recognize that now, but it's so different being in the missionary environment than in the environment before. And from personal experience, it's so much better to figure it out before you go. Like DNC4, you serve with all your heart, mind, mind, and strength, right? It's hard to do that when you start finding all these problems for the first time that have gone swept under the rug for the last... X amount of years. Whereas you figure it out before and then these problems start to arise and you're like, okay, I know my missionary purpose. I know what I can do to fix this. What am I going to do so I can get back to a hundred percent on my missionary purpose?
SPEAKER_03:So a couple of years ago when the church came out with their new youth theme, it was based on Luke 2 52. And I'd never looked at that verse and had any understanding of it. It was like, we always talked about that versus being like, oh, that's the only thing we know about our savior before he turned 30. Because it says, and Jesus grew in, what was it, stature in, oh, I forget. I'll pull it up. Yeah, pull it up. Luke 2.52. So this campaign that the church put out for the youth campaign was based on this idea that what we know about Christ in growing up is that he focused on four areas of his life to be prepared for his mortal ministry. The first area he focused on was spiritual. The second was physical. The third was mental. And the fourth was social. Do you have it?
SPEAKER_00:And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature.
SPEAKER_03:Increased in wisdom, which is mental.
SPEAKER_00:And stature.
SPEAKER_03:Stature is physical.
SPEAKER_00:And in favor with God.
SPEAKER_03:Spiritual.
SPEAKER_00:And man.
SPEAKER_03:Social.
SPEAKER_00:Oh. Read
SPEAKER_03:it again. Read it again.
SPEAKER_00:And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
SPEAKER_03:Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_00:Amazing. And so
SPEAKER_03:this campaign a couple years ago, you were on your mission, was basically, look, youth, let's focus on those four areas of your life and make preparations for So Christ focused on those four areas to make preparations for his mortal ministry. The same way, I love how you're saying it, Lauren, you're teaching such a powerful principle. And honestly, I feel the spirit when you preach it. The same way that spiritually you had to do preparations, we all do, we have to prepare by reading the scriptures and really reading them and praying and going to the temple. All that preparation is towards being a better missionary and being a better person. Same goes for physical, mental, and social. Same goes. right? We have to do these things. So I love this story of prepare before, do everything you can, advocate for yourself, tell your parent, tell your bishop, hey, I have these thoughts or I feel these things. Well, good, let's try and take care of them. There's nothing to be ashamed of. There's no temptation or problem that's not common among us. So before we get into what I can't wait to talk about, which is the spiritual side of how to solve this, let me give you my background story. So I remember when I was I don't know how old I was. I was in my basement, vivid memory, and my parents had just left us on their first vacation. They went to Hawaii, and my grandparents were staying with us. And I'm down in my basement doing whatever, playing G.I. Joe, He-Man, whatever. And I just casually went, I'm going upstairs. So I started going up the stairs, and I remember I hit the middle of the stairs and just stopped, and this thought came into my head, your parents are dead.
SPEAKER_00:Whoa.
SPEAKER_03:They're not coming back. And I immediately, my throat seized, my chest got real painful, and I just started freaking out. Just because the thought came in. They're not coming back. They've left you and they're not coming back. This thought came into my brain. So I gathered myself and I remember just kind of going on with the day and trying to deal with this, but I kept feeling the shakiness, the scariness, this fear. Well, five days later, mom and dad come back. No problem. That's good. Great. Within the next month, there were five or six episodes that I had where I would go to my parents and say, mom, I don't know what's going on. I don't know. I don't feel good. I feel like I'm dying. And they're like, oh, no, they put me in bed or they lay me down or they'd sit with me. But this kept happening. And so the next part of this story, I feel so blessed that my parents took me to a professional who was so good at dealing with this, at least for me. Because here's what we did. They didn't know what to do. So they took me to a doctor and I don't remember the name of this guy, but I love him forever because here's what he did. Did a bunch of tests, did this, asked me this, did this. And finally he kind of sits down. He looks me in the eye. He goes, oh, Sean, good news. I know exactly what's happening to you. Which immediately gave me this like confidence. And he says, Sean, you're having anxiety attacks. And I was like, oh, I don't know what that is. He says, well, the good news is this. I'm going to give you the tool on how to deal with them and it'll overcome them. Here's what you do. every time you start feeling this anxiety attack, run to the fridge, get out a big glass of milk or water, drink it, just drink it big. And then immediately go lay down on a couch or a bed and just breathe in and out for 10 minutes. And Sean, when you stand up, it'll be gone. And I was like nine. So of course I'm like, great. And I look at my parents and they're like, like sweet parents. Do I do? Okay, let's do this. So I remember maybe a week later, I'm supposed to go to Scouts and ride my bike, and I have this panic attack. I go get a drink. I lay down. I breathe in and out. I stand up, and guess what? Gone. Gone. I go ride my bike in confidence. About a week later, it happened again. Went through the process. Done. Gone. And guess what? Never did I have an anxiety attack ever again until I was in my mid-30s. So fast forward, like, I'm in my mid-30s. I had just started my own business. That is not easy. I had partners. I had all kinds. I had new babies that had just been born. Like the pressures of the world were on me, and I'll never forget. And driving my car in San Diego, and I look up in the sky, and all of a sudden I go, oh, my neck seizes, my throat seizes, my chest starts to hurt, and I just start going, I think I have a cancer. I'm having a heart attack. I'm about to die. Like just panic, panic, panic. And after a few minutes, I sat there and went, oh, I know what this is. I know exactly what this is. Someone give me a fridge. And I didn't have a fridge. So I was like, I literally in my mind, like put my hand up holding a pretend cup, drank it out, drove in the car I was driving. So I just breathed in and out for 10 minutes. And guess what happened? Gone. It was gone. Okay. So question, Lauren, about my experience. Is milk magic?
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_03:What? No? Milk saved me. Milk. Milk didn't save you. No, this is the moral of the story. Milk has a magic element.
SPEAKER_00:You picked milk over water?
SPEAKER_03:They told me milk. I picked milk. Okay, so you don't think the milk is magic?
SPEAKER_00:No, neither is the water.
SPEAKER_03:So why did that work for me, do you think?
SPEAKER_00:The mind is a powerful thing.
SPEAKER_03:So what was the whole milk and the breathing and the bed thing and the laying down thing? What do you think that was? If there's no magic in that thing and that stuff, if that's not what solved my anxiety, what was it for?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, imagine this. You're nine years old and you're so focused on this one thing that you feel like is consuming your entire life. And then... For 10 minutes, you're just focused on breathing. For one or two minutes, you're focused on drinking your water.
SPEAKER_03:You're so smart, Lauren. These things were placebos, right? Placebo effect. And the doctor knew that if I can shot, he knew and understood a little bit about anxiety. And he knew that my brain is so powerful, it can invite in the thought, your parents are dead, not coming back. You better get scared. But if my brain brought that in, guess what can take it out?
SPEAKER_00:Your brain. My
SPEAKER_03:brain. And so his method was use a placebo to focus your brain on other things and you can start to control your thoughts. And then what follows is your body responds. Man, I was so thankful because I've used that the rest of my life. Whenever I have depression or anxiety, temptations, whatever, I immediately follow that process and it works. And I've taught that to my kids. And when he gets back from his mission, I'll have him share some stories because it's powerful. It really, really works. Now, obviously, like in your case, for example, a placebo might not work all the time, right? Like I look at your case and I go, I remember when both of my kids were born, they both had something physically was happening. Like one kid, his eye started to die. Evan's eye started to die. Like one day I look back in the car, the rear view mirror, and my little baby boy is sitting there staring at something. And one of his eyes just started like floating to the middle. And I was like, what is going on? And so the doctor said, that eye is shutting off. It's turning off. Something's weak in it. So it's just, the brain says, I'm not going to use you anymore. I'm going to go to this other eye. And so we put him through treatment and it fixed it. Now, my other son, I showed you a video yesterday. He had a thing called a proxia, which was a brain disorder that doesn't allow you to articulate the words. So he understood the words that he was trying to say, but it only came out in syllables, like da, da, ba, ba, da, da, da, da, da. And he would have talked like that the rest of his life had he not gone through some therapy to help it and improve it. So I kind of developed this idea like, oh my goodness, man, these little bodies are like a toaster, right? A toaster is just made up of 300 little parts that all work with each other. And sometimes one of those parts just doesn't quite function the way it's supposed to. And then problems happen. But there's a way to deal with that. And once I learned that, I was like, it's okay. It is okay. Now let's just go deal with it, right? Let's get someone who knows how to deal with it. So when I learned your story, I was like, sometimes the brain has an imbalance of chemicals that causes certain feelings or thoughts, right? And it's okay. That's normal. And there are ways to fix it. And sometimes there are drugs and medicines and sometimes there's therapy and all these coping mechanisms, right? But the point is to be deliberate and advocate for yourself to tackle those things, right?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Was your experience hard?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Was it?
SPEAKER_00:100%. But, you know, looking back on it now, there's a lot of valuable lessons that I learned. In the moment, you know, everyone has their Liberty Jail moment where they're like, come on, Heavenly Father, pull through, man. Before your mission? Yeah, before my mission. But then you look back on it and, you know, you're always going to have a Liberty Jail type of moment. Yeah. but there's always going to be a way that you come out of it stronger or you come out of it learning something. And that sounds a little cliche, but it is true.
SPEAKER_01:It is true.
SPEAKER_00:And I remember, cause I mean, you were, how old was I when you met me? 15? Yeah, you were 15. 15. Now I'm 20. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm also 20.
SPEAKER_00:Keep telling yourself that. I'm just kidding. No, but anyways, I feel like when I first met you, it wasn't, super prominent you know it wasn't something I was consuming my life my mental health issues but when I you know went out into the world when I went to my freshman year of college is kind of when I hit a wall and started sinking but I recognized that I had gone kind of untouched and so you know it's kind of building up throughout my years in high school but it's kind of like oh well I It's not that big of a deal, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. And then I got on my own like, oh crap. And then there's external things happening that I couldn't control either. And it just did not help it at all. And there's actually a really cool story that I haven't shared with many people, but I feel like I want to share it. So right before I came home after my first semester of college, I was going through a man, like if there's a rock bottom, I was past that. It was such a difficult time for me. And I remember this is back kind of in my prideful era where I was reluctant to get help. I was reluctant to talk about what was going on. And in my mind, I remember we had this conversation in your kitchen one night, but in my mind, I was protecting other people because I didn't want to burden other people. I didn't want to make my problems their problems. They had their own stuff to do. And I was reluctant to telling people that has changed now. But I remember I just kept this all bottled in. I had family all around me in Utah and still I chose to isolate myself. And my roommate, who I love so dearly, was talking to me and she was like, hey, Lo, just letting you know, like this weekend I'm going up to Salt Lake, like I won't be here. I'll come back on Monday, whatever. It's like a Friday. She's like, I'm going to be out of town, whatever. And I remember she left on a Friday night and I remember sitting there. I read through my patriarchal blessing, which is actually something that I did. And I was just kind of sitting there, stuck in my thoughts, still reluctant to get help. And about 10 minutes after I hear a key open the door and my roommate walks in, I kind of pause there and I kind of start freaking out. I'm like, what are you doing? You can't be here. Like, you're not supposed to be here. At this point, I'm kind of just like melting in a pool on the floor. But she comes in and sits down next to me. And she's like, I don't know. I just felt like I needed to be here tonight. She's like, we got a flat tire and they were trying to figure it out. And I just thought I should just go back. I feel like I need to be here tonight. She actually ended up like saving me that night. And... I will forever be grateful for people that are in tune with the spirit to be able to receive those promptings to be angels in the lives of others. That being said, that experience was hard for me, but it also taught me a lot. It was kind of like my spiritual rebirth as like what you shared in the quote earlier. It was a moment where I recognized with 100% certainty that God was aware of me.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Cause I remember sitting on the floor and I'm gonna be honest. I did not really pray. I, I didn't wake up, say my morning prayer. I didn't bless my food. I didn't say prayer going to bed. But I remember sitting on the floor and pleading with Heavenly Father. I'm like, please, I need to know that you can see me right now. I need to know that there's something out there that I'm meant for, that I'm made for. Because I didn't understand. I was too deep under a pile of all this stuff. I couldn't understand what my worth was. I didn't really know and understand that I was a child of God. And there was nothing I felt. regarding the gospel, regarding anything that could pull me out from under that pile. And I just kind of, you know, you sing as a child, like in primary, like a child's prayer. It's heavenly father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child's prayer? And those lyrics were going through my head. And so I just decided to pray. And then not even 10 minutes later, my roommate walks through the door and I'm like, okay, He's aware of me. And it's kind of when I hit that I went home for the semester and I was talking to my mom and I was like, OK, I'm tired of this. Like, I can't feel like this anymore. I'm not going to go anywhere. I'm not going to progress. I'm literally just going to stay where I am and I can't keep living like this. So then I decided, okay, it's time to get help. And so I really tried all of my options. I stepped out. I started going to therapy. I started getting on meds. Those meds didn't work. I got new ones. I got new ones. I got new ones. I tweaked the dosage. I tweaked that dosage. I took this one off, put this one on. And finally, after like six months, I got the right combination for me. That started working for me. And I had to reach a point. I remember on the mission, he'd be like, okay, you got to look for the humble because they're ready. I remember being like, okay, I'm really at the humblest that I'll ever be right now. So I'm going to go find help. And the gospel has a huge role in it. There's a talk actually by Alan T. Phillips that was given in the October conference, I think of 2023. Holy, this man is incredible. But he just talks so... strongly about or so powerfully about our identity as children of God and that when you really understand it your life changes and I think when I started to truly understand oh my goodness like He compares, he tells a story about his son and how they left him at a gas station on accident and they come back to find him and he's like perfectly good. But he was talking about, he's like, I love my son so much. I love him so much. And I'm an imperfect father. And he said, I can't even begin to imagine how much a perfect loving father in heaven loves us as his children. Yeah. And I just love that because once you feel that love, it's kind of like a little boost up. So you're like, okay, I have a perfect father that's cheering me on. I have a perfect father with a plan for me. Okay, let's go.
SPEAKER_03:And that journey, that understanding, that spiritual understanding for you started that night when you were on your knees begging and the answer was, yeah, I've just sent this angel to come in and show you as a direct answer to your prayer. I am aware of you and I love you. I'm here.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I'm
SPEAKER_03:here through her at this moment, but I'm here. Wow. And then how much, okay, so then let's, let's, okay, so let's transition from the, I guess, pragmatic kind of, we live in this world, we have to follow certain, you know, let's get professional help. Now let's move to the spiritual side of things and really, really dial down because this is where it's exciting. And you've mentioned it a few times, especially the idea about, now this is the drum roll. Listeners, Preparing for a mission. This to me is the most important and powerful principle for how we can cope with anything hard. And it has everything to do, Lauren, with what you're talking about, how God taught you your, first and foremost, taught you your identity. And when you started to understand your identity, And I watched you through high school. I watched all you kids through high school. Your identities all went from I'm a basketball player to I'm the coolest person in school to look how I look to I'm cool within my social group to like, you know what I mean? Like normal, like all of us go through that. But our identities through our teenage years are, they're going all over the place. And not until you can get to the one true identity can we actually get on top of our self-worth and and our mental health. And I mean, it's such a powerful principle. So can I read this? So watch this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:One of my favorite stories. I'm going to read it really fast because it's a lot. This is in Moses 1, 1 through 22. I'm going to go super fast. And usually in my class, here's what I say. When the Lord gives us these scriptures and when he starts repeating something, pay attention. That's the doctrine he wants us to know. And so I tell my class, I'm just going to read through it really fast. You tell me what is the thing he repeats more often than anything in this story.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. This is Moses, the prophet Moses up on the mountaintop seeing God face to face. And it says this, the words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain and he saw God face to face and he talked with him and the glory of God was upon Moses. Therefore, Moses could endure his presence and God spake unto Moses saying, behold, I am the Lord God almighty and endless is my name for I am without beginning of days or years and this is not endless. And behold, thou art my son. Wherefore, I And behold, now... This one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee. And then it goes on and talks about how God showed Moses from the beginning to the end, and he saw every human being that has ever come to this earth, and he goes and goes and goes, and then God leaves him, and he kind of falls to the earth and goes into this state of stupor. Now, Lauren, did you pick up on anything that was repeated over and over and over again?
SPEAKER_00:My son.
SPEAKER_03:How... Of all the crazy miraculous things in a story that we proclaim is true, where we're saying that God, this person saw God face to face, spoke with God. The fact that God's main lesson he wants to teach this person and all of us is his identity. And the most powerful identity is he's a son or a daughter of God. He was just pushing into the soul of Moses who he is. It's not that he's a basketball player, although he was, I've heard, a pretty good hooper. Outside shooter.
SPEAKER_00:Comparable to LeBron James.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, pretty much. Moses was the LeBron James of his day, for sure. But whatever other, right? Moses had identities that were pretty fascinating, his whole story. His first conscious identity was, I'm a son of Pharaoh. Like, I'm royalty. Then he learns later that he's a Hebrew. oh man, I'm not this, right? His whole journey and life had to do with identity. And then it comes to this peak where God teaches him his true, and from this moment is where Moses really goes and becomes who he is and does what he does. God was teaching him identity. So further, Moses wakes up and he gets visited by someone. Who does he get visited by? You remember? You don't remember? In the story? Look at Lauren's
SPEAKER_00:face. Oh, see? Right? Satan. Satan? Yeah. Okay, yeah. So I'll read it
SPEAKER_03:real quick.
SPEAKER_00:Later, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Came to pass, and Moses, let's see, no, no, no. Presence of God withdrew from Moses, and the glory is not upon Moses, and he was left unto himself, and he was left unto himself, he fell to the earth. Now mine own eyes, he says this, he says, mine own eyes have beheld God, but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes. For my natural eyes, okay, it says, okay, okay, okay. Came to pass, and when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came tempting him, saying, Moses, son of man, worship me.
SPEAKER_00:Wrong.
SPEAKER_03:What was the first thing that Satan decided to attack?
SPEAKER_00:His identity. His
SPEAKER_03:identity. Because he knows if he can... All you listeners, Satan knows that if he can get you to believe that you are of any lesser value than a son or daughter of God, than a disciple of Christ, he can start working with that to get you down, down, down, down, down. So... Satan tries us with Moses first. Satan, son of man, not son of God, son of man, worship me. And can it pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said, who art thou? For behold, I am the son of God in the similitude of his only begotten. And where is thy glory that I should worship thee? Behold, I could not look upon God except his glory should come upon me. And I were transfigured before him, but I can look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so? And he praises God in Christ. And then he says to Satan, deceive me not, get out of here. And then he says, in the name of Christ, leave, and Satan leaves. How powerful is this story for all of you preparing missionaries who are one day going to face a companion who is trash, really hard companion, or you're going to be in some dangerous or scary situations, right? My scariest one of them was I was in a car kidnapped by a bunch of mafia, Russian mafia, scared to death. You're going to be in hard situations, scary situations. Sometimes you'll be in a situation where you think you're going crazy. Like there's just issues that you have. And God gave us in this scripture the most powerful principle on how we can deal and cope with those. But it must start with an understanding of your identity. It must. Our favorite talk from this past general conference was Sister Runia.
SPEAKER_00:So good.
SPEAKER_03:And do you remember when she put her hand up in the air?
SPEAKER_00:The worthiness comparison. The worthiness parable.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. She goes off on this idea that oftentimes in the church, we feel that our identity is based and locked to obedience and worthiness, right? Like I'm only worthy if I'm obedient. I'm only worthy and good if I'm not sinning or if I don't give in to temptation, right? And she just crushed that and says, that's not at all what scripture and God teach us about your identity. She says this, your worth is not tied to your obedience. Your worth is constant. It never changes. It was given to you by God and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to change it. Obedience brings blessings. That's true. But your worth isn't one of them. Your worth is always great in the sight of God, no matter where your decisions have taken you. It's so powerful. It's so, so, so powerful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I love that. And I feel like it's the scriptures, but modern day prophets and apostles too, that just preach over and over again, you are not your decisions. You are a child of God. And I think what really changed my perspective on my identity, what made me start to believe it, is understanding the atonement of Jesus Christ. Thank
SPEAKER_03:you, Lauren, for going there. This is so powerful.
SPEAKER_00:There is a... scripture in 1st Nephi 21 that my trainer showed me and the second I heard it I'm like wow that is good it's verse 16 it says behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands and so you read that and you think about oh my goodness there is a perfect man a perfect savior and when he was being tortured when he was being mocked when he was being spit on when he was getting crucified he he was thinking of me. And not only was he thinking of me, he was thinking of who I can become through him. And that's the most powerful thing that I recognize as a missionary, is that you help people learn who they can become. But it all starts with the foundation of knowing who they are. Because once you understand who you are, you can kind of build a trajectory of where you're going. And without the knowledge of your divine identity as a child of God, you're not going anywhere. But as a missionary, you have literally been set apart with the power to preach the gospel. And the very first, the very first principle that you teach in chronological order, in lesson one, first principle is that God is our loving heavenly father. That's the very first thing you teach. And, you know, the brethren were very intentional with that, setting it up like that, I think. Because once you, you know, think about Jesus Christ. Everything he did, he was moved with compassion to do so, right? A person is always more important than a number. Everything that Jesus Christ did, he made sure that the people he was serving could feel his love. And then he told everyone, okay, two great commandments, love God, love thy neighbor. Everything that Jesus Christ invites us to do is out of love for either ourselves, our father in heaven, or for our brothers and sisters. And so I think that it's important to remember that the gospel is built upon love. The plan that Heavenly Father made for us was made out of love. And so when we think of ourselves, we have to think of ourselves with that same love. When we serve other people, when we're teaching our friends, when we're helping people prepare for baptism, when we're helping them learn how to repent, how to study the scriptures, do it in a loving way.
SPEAKER_03:But I think that you nailed, in order to do that, right? Because I agree with you. When you listeners, when you go out there and learn how to love other people and serve them, you're actually living what Christ taught. You are finding joy. You're forgetting yourself and finding joy. But the step before that, in order to get to that point where you just love others, Lauren, you nailed it. It is coming unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and being converted to him. having your heart changed, having that mighty change of heart. And so the only really way to do that is, and that's how you grow this identity of being a son or daughter of God, as being a forgiven, loved partner and companion in the covenant with Christ, is to start by feasting on the words of Christ. Read your scripture, study, study, study, because every word is going to teach you about Jesus Christ and teach you about who your identity as a daughter or son of God. And then you start praying and you spend time with the Father and in the name of Christ, and you will be filled with the Holy Ghost, which teaches you who you are. It builds you that identity. And you will stand up with confidence, reading and praying and going, I am a son or daughter of God.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes. And honestly, the reality is that Christ already completed his atonement. Heavenly Father already made this plan. You were already born. You already, for most of us listening, have entered into a covenant with Jesus Christ. So what are you going to do about it? The gospel is really predicated upon our agency. Our success in the gospel, our success in life, our success in understanding this divine identity is predicated upon our own agency and action. I mean, you teach as a missionary, faith is a principle of action and power. So you have to act to understand this identity. The most effective way, like you said, praying, renewing your covenants, going to church, reading the scriptures, doing all these things to truly help you understand what you mean to Heavenly Father. When somebody understands what they mean to a loving Father in heaven, their life changes.
SPEAKER_03:And like the Apostle Christophers has said, when you understand that, you're able to more fully and better deal with things like anxiety or depression. You can deal with it. I love your theme of the scripture that says, you are engraven on the palms of my hand. Let me show you another one. So I was in the city of Mikheyevka, and we had a small branch there. And I'll never forget, Brat Zagreyev. was his name, Brat Zagreyev. And Brother Zagreyev was the branch president. And this guy was so new in the gospel, and he was such a kind of a timid, just kind man. Man, these strong Ukrainski people, they just kind of ran over him. And I don't know that they were that kind to him, but it got to a point where he called us over one day. He's like, guys, I don't think I can do this. I'm done, man. They're just mean to me. Or they bully me. I'm not doing this. Well, what had just happened is we got to deliver to him that day Doctrine and Covenants that had just been translated into Russian. They didn't have it yet. All they had was the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We got to introduce to these guys the DNC. So he was just saying, guys, I really am broken down. Like, this is hard. I'm not dealing very well mentally with this. Like, I can't do this anymore. Like, I'm quitting. Like, I'm out of this. And we felt so bad for him, but then this happened. I felt inspired to read, say, look, here is the Doctrine and Covenants. More revelation. Like, you've not seen this ever. Right? We opened up, and I says, please read D&C 633-37, and this is what it said. And he read this and just looked up and went, wow, okay, I'm not going. I'm in. Here, listen to this. God's Christ says to Joseph Smith as he's in prison, fear not to do good, my sons. Again, my sons. Look at this. Look at this. Whenever things are hard, he focuses on, listen, remember who you are. So fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap. Therefore, if ye sow good, ye shall also reap good for your reward. Then this. Therefore, fear not, little flock. Do good. Let earth and hell combine against you. Let it. Let it be hard. Let it be dark. Let it be a struggle. For if ye are built upon my rock, they can't prevail. Behold, I do not condemn you. Go your ways and sin no more. Perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you. Now listen to this, Lauren. This is so powerful. Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not. Behold the wounds which pierced my side and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet. And that is what you said. We, I, Sean, am etched on his hands through the suffering that he, through love, was willing to endure. It was for me. It was for you. And he loves me so much that that is my identity. It is so powerful. Man, it is powerful. Okay, so the principle here, you guys, in listening is you're going to deal with hard things. And it'll range from mental health to a bad companion or someone you just don't get along with to people spitting on you or the Russian mafia kidnapping you or whatever. I
SPEAKER_00:hear when that happens.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. But you, if you know who you are, if you do the work to build your identity that is your true identity, you can cope with it. You can deal with it. Okay. I want to read a scripture last. Do you have anything else you want to add?
SPEAKER_00:A little plug really quick. There's a BYU speech from Elder Holland from 2008. I was like four when he said this. But it's called Lessons from Liberty Jew. Oh. And it talks about how every one of us, in one way or another, is going to spend a little time in a liberty jail, spiritually speaking. And this Elder Holland, I think, is phenomenal at relating our worth and struggles mentally with the gospel and how to find a solution. But for those of you that want to have a little more ammo up your sleeve for when you hit problems like this that you'll have in life, this speech is really, really good talking about how you can turn a Liberty jail into a temple.
SPEAKER_03:Nice. And that's more of the word of God, right? That's an apostle. So again, feast on the word of Christ on the words through his prof of his prophets. That'll help build your identity as a son of God, a daughter of God, a disciple of Christ. And that is going to give you the more of a coping ability to deal with hard things and mental health struggles.
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, when I chalk, sorry, my last thought, when I chalk it up to one thing, like my progression in, you know, my mental health or as a disciple, I chalk it up to knowledge. You know, it's a Christ-like attribute that I did not have. I went out on the mission and I, looking back, I'm like, how did I do that? I knew nothing, like literally nothing, literally nothing. But that being said, I didn't know all this thing, all these things. I didn't know why I was a child of God. I didn't know how the atonement applied to me. I didn't know why I had the book of Mormon. I didn't know why I should read it after having read it a couple of times, after having listened to words of living prophets and apostles, after having studied the atonement. I mean, it's not like a one and done type thing. It's a lifelong process to obtain knowledge and to build your testimony. But yeah, it's like learning a language. Like the spirit's not just going to put words in your mouth. You got to study and give it something to work with. When we build our faith, we got to give the spirit something to work with or else we're going to keep hitting the wall head first.
SPEAKER_02:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:You got to be nourishing yourself. I mean, just like Alma 32, you got to like nourish that seed. Heavenly father will take care of the rest. The spirit will take care of the rest and confirm it to you, but you got to give it something to work with. And so I, Future missionaries preparing to go out. Start now. I'm not saying you have to finish the Book of Mormon. I'm not saying rush through it. But genuinely seek to have meaningful studies. Does it mean that you... Maybe you don't have time for an hour every day. Maybe you only have 15 minutes. The Lord loves effort.
SPEAKER_03:No, go an hour. Go an hour. Just kidding. Do everything you can. Do what you can.
SPEAKER_00:But...
SPEAKER_03:Go an
SPEAKER_00:hour. Truly dedicate time.
SPEAKER_03:Go an hour. Remember a few episodes ago, Carter, Carter Burrup, the elder who's out serving and killing it right now, he read eight hours straight
SPEAKER_02:for days in a row.
SPEAKER_03:Like, do it. Feast, feast, feast, feast. Don't just nibble. Feast. Now, if I get your point, do what you can. But seek...
SPEAKER_00:Literally pray. I told this to so many of my friends that I was teaching. They're like, I don't understand what's going on. My girl, I didn't either. You got to say a prayer. Ask Heavenly Father to help you understand what you're about to read. And he will give you revelation. It also helps a lot to seek with a question in mind. Like, for example, my mission president gave me the invitation. Well, he gave everyone in the mission an invitation. Search for the doctrine of Christ and highlight it. Highlight in one color of faith, one in repentance, one baptism. And so when I'm looking for these things, I'm looking for things in the scriptures. I'm not just reading. Yeah. Yeah. Not just blank minds, you know, just go through the motions.
SPEAKER_03:To end this episode, which has been powerful. Let's give our listeners one very specific and pragmatic thing to do. So again, you'll build your identity the more you feast. I want you all to go out and read 3 Nephi 11. 3 Nephi 11 is the pinnacle of the Book of Mormon, the most important chapter. We're both holding our hands at like a rooftop.
SPEAKER_00:It's like the Sermon on the Mount of
SPEAKER_03:the Book of Mormon. It's like the most important thing. It is what it all builds up to. And that's when Christ is resurrected and appears to the people on the American continent. and reveals himself and comes down from heaven and they've heard his voice and they recognize him. And it gets to a point where he's teaching them and this big mass of people are on their knees, humbly going, oh my goodness, God is here. Jesus Christ is here. Then this happens. This is 13. Came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying, arise and come forth unto me that ye may thrust your hands in my side and also that you may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet. that you may know that I am the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth and have been slain for the sins of the world. And it came to pass that the multiple did go forth and thrust their hands into his side and did fill the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. You got to say something. Go. No,
SPEAKER_00:keep going. Keep going.
SPEAKER_03:Did fill the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. And this they did do going forth one by one. That's what you wanted to emphasize. Until they had all gone forth and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands and did know of a surety and did bear record that it was he of whom should be written by the prophets that should come.
SPEAKER_00:One by one.
SPEAKER_03:And that must have taken hours or days.
SPEAKER_00:Wasn't there like 3,000 people? I
SPEAKER_03:don't know how many, but it must have taken so long. But listen, Lauren, often I've asked myself this. What would it be like if that was a three-day process and you were in line? What would go through your mind as you are waiting and you can see so far above, you're like, I can't see his face, but I see that there's someone up on that podium or on that stand or wherever he was. And in X amount of time, it'll be my turn to be kneeling at his feet and to see the holes in his feet and hands that I caused and with gratitude and love, Say, I'm thankful. Thank you. Like, I've often thought, what would go through my mind for those hours or days that I'm in line until I got to that point? And I'm telling you, the one thing at this point in my life that I would be thinking of, I'm so grateful for him. I love him so much. Despite my sins, my weaknesses, everything that I am, I am so unworthy to be in God's presence. But not because, but because of him, I am worthy. And my identity is I am a son of God, proudly. He loves me despite the things that I do. And I am saved and exalted because I'm in a covenant with Jesus Christ. I am his disciple. Now that identity can overcome everything. Everything.
SPEAKER_00:I honestly think I would feel so, like you said, so much gratitude, but I'd be thinking to myself like, how lucky am I to be this man's disciple? Like after, especially like for yourself, I love that scripture with everyone, everyone. I mean, there's no question why president Nelson invites people to read that chapter when he hands them a book of Mormon. He said it himself.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:To everyone he hands it to. He mentioned that in a conference talk. And I just think that one scripture, one by one, Christ wants a personal relationship with each of us. He died for it. He died for the opportunity to have a personal relationship with every single one of us. And then you think about all that he did, and then you think, oh my gosh, I can... share his love. I can share his message. I get to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It's not an I have to type of situation. I have to read my scriptures. I have to do this. I have to go on a mission. I get to serve a mission.
SPEAKER_03:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:There's people that don't ever have that opportunity.
SPEAKER_03:That's right. In the whole history of the world, we are so blessed at this opportunity to go be that and do that. You missionaries listening or pre-missionaries, once in a lifetime opportunity Do it with your whole heart, all your heart, mind, and strength. Come unto Christ. Be converted in him. And you will find that identity and you'll be able to deal with anything hard. Anything. Wow. Amazing. Last words, Lauren?
SPEAKER_00:Christ will heal you.
SPEAKER_03:Beautiful, beautiful. So come on to him. Great. What a great, powerful episode. Thanks for sharing some personal things. Thanks for bringing in the spirit. I have felt it today. What a great, great, great episode. See you next week.
UNKNOWN:Bye.
