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
From Anti-Mormon to Active Disciple: Sister Reha Poulson's Unexpected Journey
In this episode, we feature Reha Poulson, who shares her powerful journey of conversion and preparation for her mission.
Reha's Journey of Honest Seeking and Revelation:
Ria was born a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was active until she was 16, when her family stopped attending. Facing significant life changes and a new ward where she knew no one, she "fizzled out" of church activity, making "pretty bad choices" and living a life that was "not righteous at all".
Her interest in religion reignited when her mom found a non-denominational Christian church that Reha loved and attended religiously for months. However, a turning point came when people at this new church would ask her why she left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Reha found herself giving unsatisfactory answers like "I don't really know" or "Oh, they lie". This lack of an honest, doctrinal answer was deeply bothering to her soul. She felt "stupid" and embarrassed.
This dissatisfaction drove Reha to make a bold decision: she decided to "find a Book of Mormon and prove it wrong". She developed a specific method: she would use a pink colored pencil to mark "all of the horrible, evil, nasty, gross things in the Book of Mormon" and a blue colored pencil to mark the words "Jesus Christ" and things she believed to be true. Her intent was to compile "proof" to show her friends and the Protestant community why she "chose based on doctrine and history" to leave the Church. This felt "more purposeful and meaningful" to her.
The Spiritual Breakthrough and Rapid Conversion:
Reha started reading the Book of Mormon late at night, beginning with the introduction, marking in pink. However, as she got into the actual verses of 1 Nephi, she found herself marking "a lot" in blue, realizing "Okay, crap. I'm already wrong".
Her life-changing moment occurred when she read 1 Nephi Chapter 8, Lehi's vision of the tree of life and the great and spacious building. She "literally saw myself in that building making fun of the people that are in the church on the covenant path". In that moment, she "bursted into tears" and "felt the spirit stronger than I ever had in my entire life". She realized "for the first time in my life" that the Church was true, receiving a powerful "burning in my chest" and a profound sense of "peace and calmness". This personal revelation immediately led her to meet with her bishop the very next Sunday, where she received a temple recommend within days of her powerful experience
Key Scriptural and Spiritual Principles Taught:
Feasting Upon the Words of Christ: Reha's experience is a powerful demonstration of the principle from 2 Nephi 32:3: "feast upon the words of Christ". The episode emphasizes that her diligent study, even with an initial intent to disprove, led to the Holy Ghost confirming truth. It encourages all, especially those preparing for missions, to "just start, like just open the book".
The Power of Honest Intent: Regardless of one's initial question or intention, if there is a true "intention... to find out the truth, you're going to find it". The Lord desires "sincerity".
The Choice to Follow God: Reha's journey illustrates the "hot or cold" principle from Revelation and Elijah's challenge in 1 Kings 18:21, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, then follow him". Her decision to definitively "choose cold" by attempting to disprove the Book of Mormon ultimately led her "back to the hot" truth.
Building on the Rock of Christ: Reha's rapid and deep conversion demonstrates building one's "foundation" upon "the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ" (Helaman 5:12), which provides a foundation that "will never b
I'm going to find a Book of Mormon, and I'm going to mark it up and prove that it's wrong. I found a pink-colored pencil and a blue-colored pencil, and I was going to mark all of the horrible, evil, nasty, gross things in the Book of Mormon in pink. And then I knew that it talked about Jesus Christ, so I was going to mark the words Jesus Christ in blue, because I believed in Jesus Christ. So the things that I believed, I was going to mark in blue.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, welcome back, Mission Prep Series Podcast. Okay, I've been waiting, I feel like my whole life for this one. Seriously. That's a long time, brother. It is, but in fact, I know we kind of go back and forth with calling this the Mission Prep Series Podcast and the Mission Stories Podcast. This is definitely a Mission Story episode. And like I said, I've been waiting a long time for this one. Why don't you say hello first and just do a quick introduction and then I will get into the story.
SPEAKER_00:Hello. Hello. My name is Rhea Paulson. I am from San Diego, and I'm currently a missionary.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, you are. And you're currently serving which mission?
SPEAKER_00:Currently. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:this is a complicated question, but.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. A service mission in San Diego.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's literally this.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know, actually. Yeah. I've only been home a week.
SPEAKER_01:We'll get into your story because, yeah, you were called to serve.
SPEAKER_00:In Maceio, Brazil.
SPEAKER_01:And then some, yeah, some things happen. So it's a different situation now, but that's not the point of the story, but we'll get to that at the end. Right. That's context. And Lauren, how are you?
SPEAKER_00:Very good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. We're happy for you to be here. Wait, I'm just excited. I'm just saying how happy we are that you're here as always.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:So, okay. So let's get into this because, so I've taught this mission prep series for, class for lots and lots of years and i guess it was a year ago no less than a year ago
SPEAKER_00:more like probably eight months ago
SPEAKER_01:okay so like eight months ago so i do it's a seven week course and then we'll take a couple weeks off and then we'll do the seven week course take a couple weeks off and every session new people show up and i don't remember how did you hear about it
SPEAKER_00:um i think just other my friends from the stake
SPEAKER_01:okay so you're in the singles or no whether it's
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. The YSA.
SPEAKER_01:The YSA. They were coming and you're like, I'll check it out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:They were like, Brother Record's the best. Oh. Come meet him. So I did.
SPEAKER_01:I got like five head nods here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's all relative. It's all relative who's the best because we're going to hear your story and we will judge. Yeah. And we'll have a competition at the end, right? I think Lauren's the best, but this story, this story. Okay. We'll just have a competition at the end. Okay. So you show up and just get, not that this is, I mean, thank you for building my ego a little bit, but tell me what was the experience like, the mission prep class? I'm just curious.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it was amazing. I felt old.
SPEAKER_01:Why?
SPEAKER_00:Because it was mostly like high schoolers, you know, and then me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Some juniors, a bunch of seniors. Yeah. There's usually though a number of people who have their calling and are ready to go. I think in your session, it was just like maybe two of you or three of you, right? Well, actually at that time you hadn't decided to go yet.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So I didn't even know that I was going to go on a mission. But I was just coming for fun because my friends were going.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, fun. That's the right word. My class is fun. It was very fun. And it was actually fun,
SPEAKER_00:huh? Yeah. And I actually learned probably more in your class than ever in Sunday school. I'm serious.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Well, what's interesting is as we got into the lessons, I think it was the first one. I didn't know you. I asked questions. And as we do, we get into these discussions. And then you opened your mouth and you started talking. And I was like, wait, what? What you just said? Like there's no way. And at some point after we just got into this conversation, I was like, okay, we're going to talk after this class because I need to learn more about who you are and what your story is. Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Was it the first or second class? And then I made you like sit down at the end and.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then at the end of you being forced to sit down and tell me your story, I literally was like, there's no way. And you said, well, I've got the proof. Here's the book. that we're going to reference and you held it up and I was like, can I take a picture of that? Oh yeah. Like you didn't know me, but I take a picture and I've shown 3000 people since like, yeah, you holding the book up. That's going to be the central part of the story. And I'd like showed a million people that, that photo. I'm sorry. Am I building you up too much?
SPEAKER_00:Probably.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no. Okay. So we're going through the principles in the class and, um, I'm just excited because each week you come back and I'm like, I want to learn more about her story. I want to hear more about what she's done and where she comes from. And it just kept getting better and better and more interesting and more interesting. Okay, so let's start with your story. Let's step back. You were born a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. For how long were you a faithful, active member of the church?
SPEAKER_00:Until I was 16. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Your family as well?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:We were very active in the church. Hmm. Here in San Diego. Yeah, here in San Diego my whole life. And my dad always had big callings in the church. We always had missionaries over for dinner. We were very, very standard Mormon family, I would say.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And then something changed. This was about two, three years ago? No, no,
SPEAKER_00:no. In 2020. Okay. 2019, 2020.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So five, six years ago. And then something changed. You don't have to get into details if you don't want to, but.
SPEAKER_00:I honestly don't even know the whole story. But there was something that changed, and I could tell that something was changing because we kind of stopped going to church. A lot was happening in my life at this time. My uncle had passed away, and we were moving. I didn't have very many friends. The friends that I did have... I had to kind of stop being friends with them because they weren't great influences and stuff like that. And we had just moved to Valley Center in California. And so it's just like middle of nowhere. And so I didn't really know anyone. We had a new ward. I don't think that we ever went to our new ward as a family.
SPEAKER_01:I
SPEAKER_00:knew that, you know, things were things were changing. I didn't really know why. And I still don't really know why. Maybe I do know. I just don't remember.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, so we moved and my older sister and I, we would go to church every Every once in a while by ourselves. Just the two of you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Because your parents stopped going. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They weren't like officially done with the church, but they had stopped going. And it was kind of weird, you know, because it was like there's this new family in the ward and the bishop was like, you know, stand up. And when I say your name and it was like my whole family and then it was just my older sister and I, you know, and so people would come up and be like, where's your family? Okay. And we'd be like, you know, like, yes, they're great, but. They don't want to be here. They're great, and I love them. Anyways, I remember my parents sat us down, and they were like, I don't remember exactly how they said it.
SPEAKER_01:Because you were 16.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I just remember all of us sitting on the couch, and my parents were like, Mom and I are done with the church, but if you guys still want to go to church, we'll bring you to church. They were very supportive. That's good. But none of us... really wanted to. And I, I remember I did really want to, but I was like, I'm not going to make my dad sit through a church that he doesn't like. If I know the whole time that he's like, Oh, I don't believe in this, you know? So I just felt kind of weird. So I was like, whatever. And I had gone to seminary every morning leading up to this day. So I was still very active in the church and I had my own questions and problems with the church, but you know.
SPEAKER_01:And how long from that meeting until kind of the point where you were like, I don't know, I'm not, This isn't... I'm good with... I'm okay with...
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. Probably maybe a couple months that I was just officially done. And I became very not Mormon. Okay,
SPEAKER_01:we'll get into that. But Lauren, what do you think? What would you do in that situation if mom and dad sit you down and are like, hey, we're out. If you want to go, we'll support you, but we're out. At 16 years old, what would you have done? Like if they said, you have a choice at this point.
SPEAKER_00:I honestly... I was pretty lukewarm. So I would say that I'd kind of just fizzle out as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, at 16 years old, most of us would, I would think, right? That's a formative age.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Super formative. And we're still there with our parents, especially like beautiful, wonderful, good parents like you have. We trust them. We love them. Right. We followed them up to 16 years. Why wouldn't we follow them? Right. So I think that's a normal reaction.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:For most people. For most people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Especially because it was a brand new ward too. Like I didn't know anyone in the ward. So it wasn't hard for me to be like, I don't really want to go. Yeah. You don't have like young women's leaders like pulling up to your house like every week. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so did you, do you remember a conscious decision where you're like, I'm fine to kind of transition out of this?
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It just happened.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. All right. Okay. So you're 16 years old. You're going to high school, all that stuff. No longer remember the church, right? Yeah. Okay. When you... So your new lifestyle, did it feel different?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It felt different? Yes. In what sense?
SPEAKER_00:I feel like I always, I dressed very modestly and stuff. And then, you know, I was like, oh, I can wear tank tops now. And like just the little things. And I started working at Starbucks and I love coffee. I still do. I don't drink it anymore, but I love it. You know, I made some pretty bad choices. And my life, I don't know, it was not righteous at all.
SPEAKER_01:Did you find yourself... recognizing, I mean, it's so hard during those formative teenage years to decide if I'm happy because of this or I'm not happy, right? We're all going through this rollercoaster of emotions. Did you at the time or looking back link any of your happiness to the behaviors versus the not behaviors?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You did.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I think it's kind of a hard question because yeah, I don't think I was depressed or I did have very bad anxiety and stuff, but I mean...
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, who knows if you can link that to this situation or not. So then at some point, did you graduate high school? At some point, you had a resurgence of interest in religion.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. So it's actually a funny story that I'll keep short, but my mom ran into one of her best friends from high school at Costco. And she was like, where are you living now? I think this is how it went. And we found out that we were pretty much neighbors.
SPEAKER_01:Oh,
SPEAKER_00:okay. And this friend of my mom's, she has, she goes to a different, just non-denominational Christian church. And my mom's like, I'm not ready for religion and stuff. And my mom's friend was trying to get her to come for a while. And my mom finally decided to go and she loved it. And she was like, Ria, I think you would really love it.
SPEAKER_01:So this is like a Protestant church somewhere local to where you guys live.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so I went and I loved it. I still love it. I'll go sometimes with my mom and It's very, you know, rock band and very, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love Protestant
SPEAKER_00:churches. And so this is when I started. This was probably two years ago. Okay. I started, and I always, I'm someone who needs something to believe in. And so I would, you know, look for like tarot cards or like crystals or like something. You're a seeker.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You're a seeker. Yeah. And that's what has always struck me about you is you have this inquisitive mindset it does seem like you're seeking for purpose, meaning, and, and I don't know if the word is truth. Maybe this one is truth, but yeah, you do. You have always seemed like a seeker.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And so I was kind of excited.
SPEAKER_01:And, and let me just, sorry. And an honest seeker. Yeah. Right. The scriptures talk about an honest seeker of truth is the one that will find truth eventually. Right. We have to be humble and an honest, like be honest about it. And you always, always struck me as that kind of person. So at that, at that time you were, Honestly looking for answers or meaning or group to belong to or whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay. And so when my mom invited me to come to this church, I was very excited. And so I went and I loved it and I went for months and religiously every Sunday I went and I went to their youth groups and stuff and it was great. And then I, I have a best friend that I've had throughout this whole process.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And he was also a member of the church, but he was kind of not
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that best friend. Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00:And he wasn't super, he wasn't happily a member of the church. I'll say, I'm not going to share his story, but at times he would be kind of jealous that I was, I had left the church with my family, you know, cause his family was still very, they're very active members of the church. And so he had to go,
SPEAKER_01:but he's by the way on a mission right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so he was kind of like, you're, I'm jealous because you get to leave this thing that I'm not that into. Was he jealous that you'd found something new? No. Okay. Okay. He was just jealous that you were out. Okay. So at this point, okay, and we're going to jump into like the part where I started to get really excited. At what point, how long into you going to the Protestant church did people start to go, oh, hello, who are you? Oh, hi, my name's Rhea. Hey, where do you come from? Oh, well, I used to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I used to be a Mormon. Mm-hmm. And now I'm not. And then their eyes would get so big and be so excited. Like we did it. We got one. We got one. Well, yes, that, that apostate group over there, we got one. And then they would, so I'll ask you the second question, but how long were you going to this church and building that community before they started to ask that? And then I've got the best question for you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I mean the first day.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, but how long were you going? Okay. So they were constantly asking you that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, well, I mean, I didn't have a community right away, you know, but within a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I guess how long was your tenure there, really?
SPEAKER_00:Less than a year.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, less than a year. Okay, so at some point, there was a common question that these people would ask you. And that common question was, why... would you leave that church to come here?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Which is an, and they would say it with really just joyful excitement. Like, yes, this is awesome. Now, why did you leave? And you expressed to me at one point that you became very dissatisfied and almost embarrassed by the answer that you would give them. Yeah. Okay. Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_00:My answer would be, I don't really know. Um, cause yeah, that's funny that you said that. Cause they would ask, they'd be like, what? So, you know, why are you here now? Why did you leave the church? And, um,
SPEAKER_01:And they're looking for things like preach to us why it's not true and it's a foolishness church over there.
SPEAKER_00:And why we're true, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And why we're true. But your answer always was, what was your answer deep down inside? I followed my mom.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:But your outward answer was, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I would say, oh, they lie. Or just like little things that I didn't even really believe to be true, but I would just, because I felt
SPEAKER_01:stupid. Okay, so let's get down to that. Why did you... because this leads us to a really important part of your story. We established before five minutes ago that you're an honest seeker of truth. And what did it make you feel like when they would ask you, why did you leave that church to come here? And you honestly had what you considered a really weak answer of basically, I'm just a sheep. I just followed my mom. What did that do to your soul? Why did that hurt you? Why did that make you feel like, oh, that's not a good answer. It inspired you to do something. Why was it such a, why were you so bothered by your answer?
SPEAKER_00:Because I think deep down I knew that the LDS church was true, but I did not want to admit it. I wasn't going to.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_00:And so I think when people would try and get that answer from me of like, why did you leave? Tell us
SPEAKER_01:how bad Joseph Smith was or the evidence that he lies or the mistakes you've found in the scriptures or whatever it is.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:yeah, it would tear me out a little bit. Cause I'd be like, I don't know. You know, I felt stupid.
SPEAKER_01:Now, now the other reason you gave me for being kind of like really dissatisfied with your reasons that you would give them for having left that church to go to this church was you were like, I didn't feel like my answers were honest. Like I needed a real good reason. Like if I'm going to do this, I need a good reason. Yeah. Okay. So that led you to, I love this part so much. Okay, listen to this. So she's at this point where she's, I'm going to paraphrase because I just love it so much. She's at the point where she's like, okay, daily people are asking me, tell us why you left the church and came to us. And her answers are, you know, she's just kind of like empty a little bit. And that drove you to do, to make a decision. What was the decision you made? you decided you want to have a better answer, a real answer, like a doctrinal answer. Like you wanted to go and be able to answer these people and say, oh, I didn't follow anyone. I know the doctrine. I know these are wrong. And this is why I left. And that's why I came here because I discovered that this is right. Isn't that kind of what you shared with me?
SPEAKER_00:Kind of. So I didn't start to be interested in the church again because of these other people in this church that I was going to, but because of this friend that I have. Okay. And he was preparing to serve a mission. And he started to become more active in the church. And I was sad for him. Because I was like, and I said some pretty mean things about the church to him. And I don't know how he put up with me for that long. Because I mean, I said some nasty things. But I didn't want to hurt the people in the church. I wanted to help. I wanted to help them. I wanted to be like, this, I want to help you leave, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So by definition, you were at this point, Anti. Yeah, I was. Exmo anti.
SPEAKER_00:And I would post stuff and I was very anti.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so what was your resolute method of now being able to be effective at helping people leave the church?
SPEAKER_00:I don't even know. I think I was too embarrassed to actually confront people to their face and tell them their church was wrong.
SPEAKER_01:No, but you said you did something with some, let's just call them magic coloring pencils.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that thing. Yeah, we're jumping. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00:No, that's good. So I decided I'm going to find a Book of Mormon and I'm going to read it and prove all of you wrong.
SPEAKER_01:Say that all again. Say that all again because this is such a great part of the story.
SPEAKER_00:I'm going to find a Book of Mormon and I'm going to mark it up and prove that it's wrong.
SPEAKER_01:And you had a specific method of how you're going
SPEAKER_00:to do this. What was your method? I found a pink colored pencil and a blue colored pencil and I was going to mark all of the horrible, evil things nasty, gross things in the Book of Mormon in pink. And then I knew that it talked about Jesus Christ. And so I was going to mark the words Jesus Christ in blue because I believe in Jesus Christ. So the things that I believed, I was going to mark in blue.
SPEAKER_01:And were you going to use this? You had mentioned you're going to use this with your... your friend. You're going to use this with other members of the church. You are also going to use this as a reason to now answer the Protestants who are saying, why'd you leave your church? Now you've got, look at all this pink. This is why I left. Right. And did that feel more purposeful and meaningful to you? Which again, I, I really commend you for your honesty. That is the right way to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:that is right. Lauren, if we're ready to like really combat this and question it, let's go study it. Let's prove it wrong. And let's use that as our reasons to go out. Not because, oh, I don't like that commandment or someone offended me or all these other reasons, right? So again, to command you for that honest seeking heart, you're like, let me go prove it. Let's do it. Now, at this point, had you read the Book of Mormon?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think fully, no.
SPEAKER_01:Like as a kid up until 16, like Lauren, had you read the Book of Mormon? I hadn't really read the Book of Mormon. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:The first time I finished it was on my mission.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. There you go. Okay. So this was the first time, honestly, that you were like diving in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I'm just picturing young Rhea in a, I don't know, Starbucks, where the sun is just hitting you through the window just perfectly, and you've got this Book of Mormon laid out on this table. And on the left side, you've got this pink pencil. On the right side, you've got this blue pencil. And you've got a sharpener on the pink one because you're like, I'm ready to prove this wrong.
SPEAKER_00:Literally, I started with the pink pencil in my hand. So it was late at night, and we didn't have any Book of Mormon in the house, and I was looking and searching. We didn't have any. So I got one from a friend. And it's already marked up a little bit, but I...
SPEAKER_01:Luckily, they chose a color other than pink or blue. Okay, good. Because we've got the evidence of here. This Book of Mormon, my favorite Book of Mormon on this planet is sitting in front of us right now. Just show the people in the room. Open the page. Just give them a little bit of a... All right, there's a little bit of pink. There's a little bit... Well, show them the pink first.
SPEAKER_00:So I started reading... The introduction, I literally just started on page one. I'm in the mind of an anti-Mormon. And so I'm like marking, oh no, he didn't have power of God to translate the Book of Mormon.
SPEAKER_01:Pink.
SPEAKER_00:It doesn't show, it doesn't have the full truth of the gospel. Pink. You know, stuff like that. But then when I get to 1 Nephi chapter one and like the actual verses, it's all, see there's.
SPEAKER_01:Someone else's read. Yeah. Okay, we're going through this listeners right now. We're looking at this magical book.
SPEAKER_00:It's all blue.
SPEAKER_01:There's blue there. Okay. So what happens? So you started in pink and then as you found stuff you liked, you started marking. Well, that's not, I agree with that. That's good. Okay. Keep talking. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So I was in my bed and it was probably like midnight and I started reading and I had just gotten home from work. I started reading and the first time I marked blue, I was like, okay, crap, I'm already wrong. You know, cause I, I expected it all to be pink. You know, I started marking in blue and by the time I made it to the eighth chapter, first Nephi chapter eight, this is, This moment is when my life changed, when I read chapter eight.
SPEAKER_01:How much blue had you put up in there up until chapter eight? A lot. So this book is, may I? Yeah. So first Nephi. Yeah, there's a lot of blue in here. So what are you thinking at the time as you're going through here with the intention? I
SPEAKER_00:was so nervous.
SPEAKER_01:And here's what's fascinating, right? What is the promise in Moroni 10, three to five? If you're blessed to have this in front of you, if you search it with real intent, Now, Lauren, let me get your opinion on here. Rhea's real intent, she had real intent. The real intent was to prove it wrong, but she had real intent. Do you think that qualifies as Moroni 10.3-5?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Why do you think?
SPEAKER_00:Because also, verse 5 talks about It says, ask if these things are not true. Yeah. And so regardless of the question you're asking or your intentions behind it, if you have the intention, whether it's positive or negative, to find out the truth, you're going to find it either way. It's a promise from Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01:If, as scriptures say, your heart, your intent of your desires, if you're true and honest and a seeker of truth, if you really care about it, which you did. And so this process, it was just, the Lord wants sincerity, right? And that's what you were giving this, was a sincere attempt. And I love looking through this book. There's so much blue. There's just tons and tons of blue. So when you look back and you're going through and you get to chapter eight and you're looking back at all this blue, what was going on in your mind? I
SPEAKER_00:was so nervous. I was anxious because I knew I was like, you know, none of my family, still to this day, I'm the only member of my family. And I have a lot of All of my, a lot of my extended family that lives in San Diego and everyone, we've all kind of left the church together. Wow. So I'm, you know, I have, I have a couple family members that are members still, but.
SPEAKER_01:But you were getting nervous because you were like, what was in your, in your heart and mind? Were you like, this feels right? Or this sounds right? Like what was going on? I
SPEAKER_00:felt the spirit stronger than I ever had in my entire life.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, say that again. Say
SPEAKER_00:that again. I felt the Spirit stronger than I had in my entire life reading 1 Nephi chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, what happened in 8?
SPEAKER_00:When it talks about Lehi's vision and it talks about the people. So I was reading and it was great and whatever and then it got to the part where it talks about the building, the great and spacious building and it has all the people in it that are mocking the people that are on the covenant path holding to the iron rod and eating of the fruit and And I literally saw myself. I'm very imaginative. And I saw myself in that building making fun of the people that are in the church on the covenant path. And literally in this moment, I bursted into tears. It was late at night. I was by myself, and I was just crying because I felt the Spirit so strongly, but I was also so scared. Because in this moment, I knew that the church was true. For the first time in my life, you know, like when you're young, you don't, I mean, yeah, the church is true, but you don't really know, you know?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. No, there's a process. Yeah. And you, you at this point did what all of us do, which is children. We are kind of just faithfully obeying or following what our parents do, but the scriptures teach us there's a process. And for the first time in your life, you're doing God's pattern or God's plan, the process. And it's striking you to the center of your soul. And explain, just help the listeners understand, what did you feel when you said, I felt the Holy Ghost? What was it? What did you feel? It
SPEAKER_00:was literally like it says, like a burning in my chest. It was just a feeling in my heart. And it was like, although I was so anxious and nervous to, you know, because I didn't know how to move forward.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, big change, or you'd be rejecting something that is really convincing you right now.
SPEAKER_00:Although I was anxious, I... had the most amount of peace and calmness about it. And I don't know, I just was like, okay, let's do this, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:Did you keep reading?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:And did you keep marking in pink and blue?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, for a little bit. So in this book, the markings stop after 1 Nephi chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01:Fascinating.
SPEAKER_00:So after I had read 1 Nephi chapter 8, that's when I stopped reading for the night. And then that Sunday, I met with my bishop. That Sunday? Yeah. And he was actually my seminary teacher at the time when I left the church. Oh, so you don't know. So he was like, I remember the day that you left. And it was a big deal when we left the church because it was kind of unexpected. So he was very excited to meet with me. And I'll forever be grateful for him because he trusted me. And I remember thinking that night that I was reading. I obviously couldn't sleep. And I was thinking about the temple worship. And the priesthood. And those two things are still to this day I have the biggest testimony of. My testimony is strongest in the temple and the priesthood. And even when we weren't actively going to church, I would think about the temple. And I missed the temple. I was never going to say that to anybody. But I did. I missed it. And so I was just like thinking and I was like, if I believe in this, I can go back to the temple someday. Yeah. And that was super exciting. Wow. And so I met with my bishop that Sunday. And, you know, he believed me. And we did a temple recommend interview. And he was like, well, is there anything in your life right now preventing you from entering a temple? And I was like, in this moment, no. He was like, okay, here's a temple
SPEAKER_01:recommend. Well, how did that feel?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, my gosh. I got in my car and I cried. I sobbed. I was so
SPEAKER_01:excited. So let me give context a little bit. So... in this almost like super short period of time, a matter of days, with the intention of going into proving this wrong so that you could justify to your Protestant friends, to your friends everywhere, why it is that I chose, Iria chose, right? This isn't something that happened to me. I chose, based on doctrine and history, I chose and did my research to leave this thing because it's wrong. Like there's reasons behind it. And within a short period of time, you feasted upon the words of Christ and the Holy Ghost confirms to you the truthfulness of it in such a powerful way that you immediately decide, I've got to get back into this.
SPEAKER_00:And
SPEAKER_01:now you're sitting with your bishop and you're getting a temple recommend.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's
SPEAKER_01:crazy. It's so amazing. There's so many principles here. And again, this is a mission prep, right? We're doing this so that listeners at home who are looking for inspiration and for how to have a great experience on their mission and are looking to get some knowledge about how they can be good missionaries, there's no greater principle than these two that you've just taught us all. One, 2 Nephi 32, feast upon the words of Christ. The words of Christ will tell us and show us all things that we should do. Feast upon the words of Christ. Those of you preparing for missions, look, many of us have never even picked up the book and really dived into it. Do it. There's nothing more important for you. Dive into it like Rhea did.
SPEAKER_00:And you don't have to have a big moment of leaving the church or a faith crisis or anything. I don't know. Find a pink and blue colored pencil and try and prove it.
SPEAKER_01:I love that so much. It's so great. Yeah, and do it with real intent. And what you'll find is you'll maybe find some pink. Good. Question it. Challenge it. Do deeper research. And this kind of diligent work is what the scriptures tell us. This is how the mysteries of God through the Holy Ghost get revealed to us. This is how we know God. And you sincerely dove in and you started to rip it apart and then you found in your honest mind, wow, I believe in these things. This is so powerful that it's even... So the second principle that we teach for you listeners at home, revelation is what leads to conversion. And so you triggered... this relationship or this conversation with your father in heaven by feasting on his words first. And that helped you feel the spirit and convinced you of the truthfulness. What better combination, Lauren, what better combination in the, in, in all of missionary work is there than getting our friends and investigators to keep commitments, to feast upon the words of Christ, then pray about it, to feel the Holy ghost. Those things set you on the rock that will never be shaken, right? Right? And that's what happened to you. So this little crazy like three-day event that happened to you, that happened how many months before you and I met?
SPEAKER_00:Maybe like two.
SPEAKER_01:Two months?
SPEAKER_00:Well, so if we met seven months ago, this all happened exactly a year ago.
SPEAKER_01:So when you told me this story, I was like, oh my goodness, this happened five, six years ago because- I could feel the testimony of you, the discipleship of Christ, the faith that you had, the repentance and the faith, all those principles of the gospel. It just was about you. That was your aura. And I was like, she told me the story that happened five years ago. And you're like, this was three months ago. I'm like, no way. And then you fast forward another how many months in a year, have a mission call to Brazil, going on a mission.
SPEAKER_00:Not a long time. Less than a year.
SPEAKER_01:Talk about a dramatic, amazing spiritual experience that takes you from one path to the other one. Now, I guess, Lauren, this brings in principle number one too, right? Choose you this day. We talk about the scriptural principles of, well, God says in Revelation, I know your works that they're hot, neither hot nor cold. I would that you're hot or cold, but not lukewarm. And if you're lukewarm, I spew the out of my mouth. Like you did choose a hot and a cold, or at least you... how about this? We'll frame it like this. When you're talking to your friends in the Protestant church, your answer was, I'm lukewarm. I'm only here because I don't know. I didn't really choose any of this, but that drove you to be like, I'm going to choose. I'm going to choose. And you chose cold, right? Which took you down the path, which brought you back to the hot, which I think is another reason why in Elijah or in Revelation, that principle is so true, right? Elijah said it this way. How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, then follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. But go find out. No longer stand there indifferent. And you were a little bit indifferent in that Protestant situation. And so you did all the work to go, I'm out of this. You chose the cold, but then it brought you back. Super powerful. I love it so much. It's so great. Okay, so then... I meet you and we're doing mission prep class and I could just see that the testimony was real and deep and your faith and all of it was there. And you had this desire to go and serve, go lead other souls to Christ. And so fast forward and you get your mission call to Brazil
SPEAKER_00:and
SPEAKER_01:you go out for two months. Oh wait, you're here now.
SPEAKER_00:Three months.
SPEAKER_01:Three months. So tell us briefly what happened.
SPEAKER_00:In Brazil?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So in the, I was totally fine in the MTC and, And there were a couple of days that I felt weird physically, but I was like, I'm in a different country and the food's different and stuff. So this is normal. Um, the second I got to the field, I knew something was wrong with my body. Um, but again, different country, I'm walking 10 miles a day on the equator. Like it was really fricking hot. And, um, I don't know. I just kind of, I kept brushing it off. And then I started to realize that the other, you know, girls that I lived with, they weren't struggling physically as much as I was. And I know that I'm, I'm always been active and, you know, played sports and stuff. And so I'm not like, I don't know. And every day just started to get worse and I became weaker and my body just finally decided to stop working. And so president was kind of like, you'll adjust to the heat, you know? But I was like, I mean, I live in San, it doesn't get that hot, this hot in San Diego, but I know what it's like to be dehydrated and hot. And this is not that, but he was like, it is, you'll be fine, you know? Um, and so we tried all these things and I was just getting worse. And so I went to the hospital and In Brazil? Quite a few times. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, how was that experience?
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh. Horrible.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy. I thought Ukrainian hospitals were nuts, but my son tells me about Brazil hospitals. Not good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so you got to the point where the decision was made. We better get home for safety.
SPEAKER_00:And it was very fast. It was like, if you still feel this way by the end of the transfer, we'll talk about what maybe it would look like to go home. And I was like, okay. And that made me really sad. And then it was, that week that we had first talked about that was my worst week physically. And I was getting really, I couldn't get out. My companion had to walk me to the bathroom. I couldn't move. And so he was like, okay, it looks like we can get you out of here within the next couple weeks. And I was like, oh, so sad. And I was like, okay. And they were like, just keep, just work on, we had been working online. for a long time because I couldn't get out of bed. Um, he's like, just keep working online until we can figure it out. And that night I got a phone call from president's assistance that I was leaving the next morning. Oh, so there was lots of tears. Yeah. And I stayed up all night and packed my bags and made a 52 hour travel home. And now you're home. And it, yeah, it's crazy. I was the first few days. I was like, felt like I was on drugs. I was like, didn't actually feel like I was actually home. So weird. It's a huge shock. It still feels that way.
SPEAKER_01:So now you're home and you're going to figure out what to do. It could be service mission. It could go stateside. It could be a number of other things. You don't know. And you don't know what the physical sickness is. You're still talking to doctors and trying to figure that out.
SPEAKER_00:Still really sick and still have no idea.
SPEAKER_01:Weird. Like so weird. But as we end here, I wanted to step back and just give you the chance, not to put you on the spot, but let's say the 10 trillion people that are listening to this podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, geez.
SPEAKER_01:What message would you have for them, both about your story and about your current situation that you're in?
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm. Oh, man. Mm-hmm. That's a big question.
SPEAKER_01:Let's start with the story. For those out there, like, I think the biggest, the most realistic situation is most kids preparing for missions are going to run into problems or not have the greatest of experiences because they're indifferent.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:about the scriptures and prayer. They're indifferent. They just don't care enough to really dive in. And you cross your fingers and hope that at some point on their mission, they'll learn that. They'll figure it out,
SPEAKER_00:yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I think a lot do. But what would your message be about that and your own experience to kids right now? Let's say you've got this audience of kids listening and they want to learn from you. What advice would you give them about how to get ready for their mission so that their mission is an awesome experience?
SPEAKER_00:Just start. Like just open the book. This is the book is why we go on missions. You know, the, the book is the main thing that's different about our religion. Um, and I mean, when I, for the short time that I was in Brazil, my favorite thing to talk about would be just try, even if you're just curious, just read the book of Mormon. Like even if you're anti, just read it. Cause like, why, why are you anti read it? You know?
SPEAKER_01:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:So, um,
SPEAKER_01:And why do you like that advice? Because what would happen if the most people who are honest seekers would read it? What would happen?
SPEAKER_00:You'll find out. You'll find the truth. The biggest thing that I've learned on my mission is communication with God. It's okay to be frustrated with Heavenly Father. I have been so frustrated because through my experience, I've been like, I have done everything wrong. I feel like I've done everything that I could and on my mission I was obedient and I you know woke up on time and I did my scripture study and I you know followed all the rules I wore my garments I did literally everything I took all my vitamins like I was doing everything that I could think of to be obedient and for some reason Heavenly Father still had me go down this path of that's been physically and emotionally painful and that's been really frustrating but Through this experience, I've learned it's okay to be frustrated with God, but it's not okay to shut him out. It's okay to, and I kind of was thinking about it the other day is like, anytime in my friendships or relationships that I've, we've like bickered about something or we've not agreed on something. And every time that we've actually talked about it in like a respectful way, I've always left the conversation with more respect for them and more love for them. So I've been kind of thinking of that a lot when I think of communicating with Heavenly Father about this.
SPEAKER_01:So I love this advice, especially coming from you. Because in the beginning we established that when I met you, I could just tell you were a sincere person. You're a serious and sincere person. The things that you do in life are purposeful and meaningful. And what's more meaningful than... seeking a true, like, real relationship with what many of us look at as this, we hope there's a God out there. But you look at it like, no, there is a God out there, and I believe in this God as a person, and I'm going to have a relationship with him. And there are different levels and all kinds of different aspects of relationship, and it's okay for me to not understand or to be frustrated about something, but I'm going to keep working on that relationship. Like, that's kind of like... It aligns with what I know about you. You are sincerely in a relationship with the God who created us. Yeah. And you are trying to have that real relationship. You shared with me, I said, how are you getting through this? And before we started recording and you shared the one thing, then we'll end on this because this is a powerful thing. You shared one thing. How are you? Like, I'm like, how are you spending your days? Like, how are you coping with this? How are you doing this? And your answer was?
SPEAKER_00:Reading.
SPEAKER_01:Reading what? The Book of Mormon. The blue parts? Yes. And the pink parts? Yeah. So thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this. I've been dying to share this story. I love this story so much. And we'll take some pictures and try and post some photos of this book with all the blue and a little bit of pink in it.
SPEAKER_00:Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:As a memory for this. But thanks for joining us. And honestly, this idea of feasting upon the words of Christ is life-changing if we do it with a sincere heart. He says, do it diligently, which you did. And he says, the mysteries of God will be unfolded to you. And those things that get unfolded to us come in a spiritual way. And I love your story about, first Nephi 8 just landed and the spirit came into my heart. And now you know, you have that anchor and that foundation. You know, God lives and you know that these scriptures are his words, not by some logical explanation, but but by the power of the Holy Ghost, right? Paul said, I didn't come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom to convince you of these things, but I came to you by the power of the Holy Ghost. I preached, my preaching was with the power of the Holy Ghost. We know that's the definition of faith, right? It's the evidence and substance of things that we don't see with our eyes, but that we feel deeply within our souls. And that is God convincing us. That's revelation. You had it. I love it so much.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for coming. Okay. Join us next time.
