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 Rock Bottom to Spiritual Confidence - Sister Lauren Hendricks
In this episode we interview Lauren for the first time. Lauren had only been home for a week when we recorded this episode. The episode delves into the transformative nature of a full-time mission, describing it as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" where distractions are set aside to focus solely on the Lord. Lauren emphasizes that there's "literally no other time" in life to dedicate oneself so completely to God's work.
Serving with All Your Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength: Drawing on Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 4, Shawn and Lauren discuss the scriptural imperative to serve God completely. This commitment is not tied to outward results but to one's personal desire and determination. Lauren recounts how success as a missionary is defined by this commitment and determination to press forward despite challenges and "jump from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm".
The Promises of Serving a Mission: The conversation highlights three main scriptural promises that result from serving in the "right way":
A Marvelous and Wonderful Experience: Just as Isaiah foretold a "marvelous work" in the latter days, serving with full commitment leads to a "marvelous and a wonderful experience".
Personal Joy and Conversion to Christ: Alma's experience of "exceeding joy" after repentance is used to illustrate the profound personal conversion to Christ and the "eternal joy" that comes from understanding the gospel and one's relationship with the Lord. Lauren shares her decision to serve based on President Russell M. Nelson's promise of finding "no greater joy than in serving your brothers and sisters in the Lord," a promise she found to be true.
Eternal Joy with Those You Help: Referencing D&C 18, Shawn explains that "how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth". The episode emphasizes the "great... joy" one experiences when helping even "one soul" come to Christ, forming "tightest, closest bonds... for eternity". This joy is described as "addicting," motivating further service.
Lauren shares a powerful personal story about her mission experience, particularly a challenging period when she was switched to Spanish work after only four months, despite limited Spanish skills, and paired with a difficult companion. She describes feeling a loss of control and "miserable".
A pivotal moment came when Lauren, at her "rock bottom," knelt down and pleaded with the Lord "with all the energy of [her] heart," similar to Enos's wrestle before God. This experience led her to align her will with the Lord's, choosing to be molded into an instrument in His hands. From this point, she woke up with a "quiet confidence" and a renewed spirit, believing the Lord would "provide a way" for her to carry out His work.
This spiritual breakthrough led her to apply the practical principle: "Open your mouth and find listeners". Despite her limited Spanish, she began talking to everyone, making a "fool of [herself]," but recognizing that her desire to talk outweighed any embarrassment. Shawn recounts a similar experience from his mission in Ukraine, where an Apostle promised fluency if missionaries spoke to everyone they met. Lauren attests to rapid language acquisition and finding "prepared" individuals like a man in McDonald's who already had a strong testimony of Joseph Smith.
The episode concludes by highlighting the conversion story of Carlos, a man found through Facebook who was at "rock bottom". Lauren describes how the "gift of tongues" was evident as she taught him, helping him to pray and read the Book of Mormon, which brought him joy and led to his baptism and becoming a devoted disciple. The episode reiterates that a mission is a "marvelous and wonderful experience if you do it right" by
Like there's literally no other time where you'd see miracles like the miracles you see on the mission from hearing stories like yours, stories from other people that I've been surrounded by. And just recognizing that it truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity where you put aside every other distraction you have as a human, as an adult, and you just focus solely on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00:All right, here we go. Another episode for Mission Prep series. Hey, Lauren.
SPEAKER_03:Hello.
SPEAKER_00:Here with Lauren today. Today we're going to talk about some really marvelous stuff. Do you even know, Lauren, what the word marvelous means?
SPEAKER_02:Of course.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah? Because I don't think you do because you're a younger person, much younger than I, and I've never heard a young person say the word marvelous.
SPEAKER_03:I'll start using my vocab more.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah? Yeah. What would you use instead of marvelous? I've heard you say the word fire like 20 times already. So maybe that's the word.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. If I want to be... more mature, I'd probably go the breathtaking route. Like breathtaking, amazing, outstanding. And
SPEAKER_00:if you want to be less mature?
SPEAKER_03:Fire lit. No, just
SPEAKER_00:kidding. You're not kidding though.
SPEAKER_03:Not in the podcast. Come on now.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Okay. Well, why don't you introduce yourself real quick?
SPEAKER_03:I am Lauren Hendricks. I, a week ago today, just got done serving in the Indiana Indianapolis mission for 18 months.
UNKNOWN:Oh,
SPEAKER_03:For the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
SPEAKER_00:Of course. And in a couple of words, how would you describe your mission experience?
SPEAKER_03:Life-changing, discipleship-altering.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's cool. And, you know, I'm not going to say I'm, I'm not judgmental about people's missions. I think that serving a mission at whatever level you're at is always good. Yeah. But it always makes me so excited to see people come home from their mission who had the same experience that I did. which was life changing, which was just absolutely joyful. Like I've been home for almost 30 years and I still, sometimes I'm kneeling down and praying and I'll start thinking about my mission and the experiences and the people and go, wait, did that really happen? Like that was so fire. I didn't want to say marvelous. It was, it was just so spiritual and powerful and amazing. And you know, On this podcast, sorry, I can't shut up about it because it really was that great. So you had a good experience, huh?
SPEAKER_03:It was the best thing. It was the best decision I've ever made going on a mission.
SPEAKER_00:Man, okay, I'm going to ask you a million questions and invite you to share a bunch of stories today because we want to hear all about your mission experience. But first, let's start with this. Do you agree that those of us who did have this really amazing experience, do you agree with me that when you look in the broad perspective, it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to serve a full-time mission. Because when you really consider what opportunity we had, A, it's only a limited time that you get to be set apart to fully and full-time commit to one thing, which is be an instrument in God's hands to lead souls to Christ. It's really just this one-time opportunity. And so part of me always felt like, don't waste it. Like you only have a limited time here. Do you feel like that's a true statement or no?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00:Did you feel that during your mission? Like this is a once in a lifetime thing. Like I felt when I read your weekly emails, an urgency in you. So there must've been some element of that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I remember weighing my options, deciding if I even wanted to serve before I submitted my papers. And as I was talking around, asking people and praying about it and, you know, looking to receive revelation, looking to receive an answer. I remember thinking like, There's literally no other time where you'd see miracles like the miracles you see on the mission, from hearing stories like yours, stories from other people that I've been surrounded by, and just recognizing that it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where you put aside every other distraction, every other like responsibility you have as a human, as an adult, and you just focus solely on the Lord. Like there's literally no other time for that. I remember people all the time on the mission asked me like, well, how are you paying to live? Where do you live? Do you just like live on the street? And that's not even a worry in my mind. Like I'm 110% dedicated to the Lord and to his work.
SPEAKER_00:And you get no other chance in life to do that. So it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity that is life-changing if you do it right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I've enjoyed it. I like that there are two or three things in Scripture. Well, first I'll say this. I love D&C 4, and I'll always go back and refer to D&C 4. Let me just read a snippet. It says, What is it? Marvelous? What was the word you said? I
SPEAKER_03:said amazing. An
SPEAKER_00:amazing work.
SPEAKER_03:Outstanding. Breathtaking.
SPEAKER_00:Breathtaking. So that reads, now behold, a breathtaking work is about to come forth among the children of men. Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that you serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if you have desires to serve, you are called to the work. So I love the starting with, if you have a desire to serve, I'm going to set you apart and call you. If you want to do it, I'm going to let you do it. And I'm going to call you to do it. And that's that once in a lifetime opportunity. But I love then in D&C 4, it gives us really good guidance about, okay, there are some right ways to serve and some wrong ways. So I'll read in number two again. If you embark on the service of God, see that you do it with all your heart, all your might, and all your strength, which resonates with me because I tend to be that kind of a personality that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. And if it's not worth doing, then why even bother?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that just reminded me. of Apart and Preach My Gospel in chapter one. It talks, it's your purpose as a missionary. And I think a lot of times missionaries get into this comparison, this game of comparison where they think that their outward results are a reflection of their dedication as a missionary. And I think that's the biggest, most dangerous trap you can fall into as a missionary is comparing yourself with outward results that maybe other missionaries have of stories that you hear but it talks about, there's literally a part in chapter one of PMG that talks about what is the definition of a successful missionary. And it says like the very first paragraph says your success as a missionary is determined primarily by your desire and commitment to find, teach and baptize and confirm converts and to help them become faithful disciples of Christ and members of his church. So just like DNC four, it doesn't say, Serve with all your heart, mind, mind, and strength, and you'll be good if you baptize weekly. You'll be good if you help people in every single area come and stay for the rest of their lives. It talks about your personal commitment and determination to... jump from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm it's your ability to push forward when all your lessons cancel in one day it's your ability to get up out of bed after at 6 30 after you had a long night a long week maybe of of failure and failure and failure but you remember why you're there and your love for the lord and your determination is what pushes you to be a successful missionary. It's not outward results, it's not external factors, but focusing on what you can control to, like it says right here, your success is not determined by how many people you teach or help bring to baptism. I
SPEAKER_00:love it. And I've noticed that when missionaries serve with all their heart, might, mind, and strength, the purpose of the missionary is to lead souls to Christ. There's lots of ways, there's lots of steps to do that. It's not just baptism. In fact, baptism is one-fourth of the real requirement, right?
UNKNOWN:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Faith precedes repentance. Repentance is what precedes baptism. And oftentimes, man, I really did try with all my heart, mind, and strength not to get people baptized. Ultimately, that is a goal, but it's an outward. That's kind of what you're talking about, that outward. But ultimately, I knew that if I testified with my whole heart or I was prepared with scriptures that would answer their questions or if I would open my mouth and just talk to everyone, I was assisting in the process of leading someone hopefully to faith or to repentance and maybe eventually to baptism. So yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_03:And I think too, something that is good to keep in mind is that, you know, you're called to a people that doesn't just mean people you're going to find, teach and baptize. That means members in the ward that you're serving in the branch that you're serving. And it means your companion, other missionaries in your district or zone and just random strangers that maybe you don't end up finding and teaching or But, you know, when you're called to a part of the vineyard, it doesn't mean you just look for one fruit in specific. Obviously, you have a purpose to find, teach, and baptize, but you're there for a reason. And you want to try and touch as many people as you can while you're set apart with this power to do so.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love it. I love it. Along those lines, what I've noticed is this. When you do serve with all your heart, mind, and strength, there's some promised results that come from Scripture. There's three that I really love. The first one is along the lines of what D&C 4 says about being a part of a work that is a marvelous work. Isaiah says, therefore, behold, I will proceed, and he's talking about our day, and you, Lauren, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. And I've always loved that language because what it says to us is, Lauren, if you do this right, serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength to lead souls to Christ, you will have a marvelous and a wonderful experience. And I can say myself, man, my experience was full of wonder, full of marvel. And throughout this podcast, I share my stories. I'm excited to hear your stories. But the second thing that I read from scripture that is the result of serving the mission in the right way and choosing to do so comes from Alma. Remember when he talked about, I think this is 36? Yeah. He says, oh, what joy and what marvelous light I did behold. This is when the angel came to him, right? And he suffered for all those days. And then after, and he cried upon the name of the Lord and it came, forgiveness came. So he says, what joy and what marvelous light I did behold. Yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain. And then he jumped down to 24 and it says, and from that time, even until now, I have labored without ceasing that I might bring souls into repentance, that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste. that they might also be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost. So he's talking about here how he labored without ceasing. If that isn't exactly what D&C 4 says, serve with all your heart, mind, and strength, obviously this, if we do that, he then is just annoyingly talking about how much joy he has. And so the second thing in the promise from Scripture is joy. Joy in ourselves being forgiven, coming to the Lord, understanding the gospel, his teachings, his life. Like what a, I mean, to me, that was the most important thing or result of working really hard on a mission was the personal conversion to Christ that came for me. I
SPEAKER_03:remember talking to you before, I think it's after I'd gotten my call, but I was talking to you about how I made the choice to serve because I didn't have... a type of experience where I just got an answer right away. I actually didn't get an answer at all. I just chose. And I remember listening to a conference talk, and it was President Russell M. Nelson, and he said, you will find no greater joy than in serving your brothers and sisters in the Lord. And I remember hearing that, and you know at that time, leading up to my mission, I was struggling finding joy, finding an eternal joy that was enough to sustain me. And that promise was held true. The mission is... offers you truly a type of joy that you don't experience anywhere else. And
SPEAKER_00:that is so powerful. And I love your story how, yeah, oftentimes people are like, oh, I'm going on a mission because the Lord told me to go on a mission. You went because you chose and you believed in that promise of joy that comes from Christ. What a powerful thing. Like you owned your decision and no other outside influence was making you, compelling you or telling you. You didn't have to do it. but you did it and you're saying that all those promises of just, the Alma promise of pure joy, that talk you listened to, you have the joy,
SPEAKER_03:right?
SPEAKER_00:And I like how you called it. You called it what, eternal joy? Is that what you
SPEAKER_03:said? Yeah, eternal joy.
SPEAKER_00:Which is so different. Like you've never experienced that before is what I read from your emails and from what I know before. Yeah. Right? I
SPEAKER_03:think it's eternal in its offering. Like it's just the gift that keeps on giving, if that's what you can say. And... to still be in contact with like recent converts and members. I actually got a text from a member this morning and she just reached out saying, Oh, like, I just want to congratulate you. Well done on your service. You are awesome. Just saying the nicest things. And it's just
SPEAKER_00:like, how'd that make you feel?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I'm so excited. I love her.
SPEAKER_00:So this leads to the third promise that comes from Scripture when we totally and fully commit to serve with all our heart, mind, and strength, D&C 18. And how great is the Lord's joy, God's joy, in the soul that repenteth. Wherefore ye are called to cry repentance to this people. And if it so be that ye should labor all your days. Once again, a reference to all your heart, mind, mind, and strength. if you should labor all your days in crying repentance to this people and bring, save it, be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of the father for eternity. And that's what you're talking about. You get a little phone call from someone that you worked with or helped at least along that covenant path. I could see your face. You're so happy about that person. You love that person.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. There's a lot of people that I love.
SPEAKER_00:And how does it make you feel that this promise here is that, in the kingdom of our father through eternity, those will be some of the tightest, closest bonds that we'll have.
SPEAKER_03:I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_03:I'm like looking forward to it, honestly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. It's, it's crazy to think about how someone that you didn't know is now someone that found this joy that's promised in the gospel because of your decision to serve. So it makes you think when you get like a tiny taste of that, when you see one person truly be converted, it becomes like addicting almost. You're like, I want to keep doing that because, and not for, you know, to say that you found, taught and baptized 200 people, but to see the true conversion in someone is life-changing, not only for that person that you love so much, but for yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Have you ever heard of a guy named Lehi?
SPEAKER_03:I think a few times. A
SPEAKER_00:few times. Do you remember he had a dream of some kind? Like what you just described to me is literally Lehi at the tree partaking of the fruit. And what's the first thing he does when he says, oh my goodness, this is brighter, sweeter, more joy than I've ever felt in my life. Do you remember the first thing that he did? He calls his family over. Yeah, he looks around and goes, I got to share this with other people because the joy that I'm experiencing... I just have this magical renewed change of heart towards everyone in front of me. I want them to have it too. Yeah. See, that's what you just said. You're freaking Lehigh just right now at the tree. So that's the beautiful thing, right? So the formula, just to recap before we move on and I want to hear some of your stories is the Lord says, if you have a desire to serve, I'm going to set you apart and call you for this opportunity. And if you do it with all your heart, mind, and strength... The promise will be, at least what I found in Scripture, one, you will have marvelous and joyful experiences, which we're about to share. Two, you will come to Christ yourself and partake of the joy that comes from the atonement of Christ, repentance, forgiveness. And three, the joy you'll have with the people that you are helping come to Christ is an eternal joy that you will have. So, I mean... I want all that. I love all that. That makes me so happy. So I'm glad that you did it, dude.
SPEAKER_02:So
SPEAKER_00:I want to hear some of you. So in this podcast, we talk a lot about, well, what are the principles, other principles that we can apply in order to have the great, marvelous, joyful experiences on the mission? And I want you to tell a couple of stories you've told me why don't you start with the one story? And then I think let's talk about how some of these principles and scriptures apply to that. That way, because then I think other people who are listening to this, who are preparing for their missions, who are looking for some motivation and maybe some knowledge on how to do it, these stories are fantastic and they help us teach these principles. So tell me about it. I know you had a time on your mission where it was super tough.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I think also just to preface that, One thing that I had to keep in my mind throughout my entire mission, especially these couple of transfers of the story that I'm about to share, is that Christ is asking for disciples, not admirers. And when he asks us to be a disciple, we have to be willing to swim upstream when needed. So regardless of what circumstances we're facing in our lives, we have to be willing to do that because we love the Lord. And I think the success that I was able to see, the growth I was able to see, was because I placed my confidence in the Savior. I think your success as a missionary really is determined by where you place your confidence. And so I remember, for context, I was called English-speaking to the Indiana-Indianapolis mission and going into my fourth transfer. So after about four-ish months, I got a call from the assistant to the president, and he said that I was getting switched to Spanish work. And... At that point, I was in a really small town, super just you'd have no reason to visit like ever and just middle of nowhere, straight boonies. And I had started meeting some Spanish speakers there. And so I tried to start learning. I had some high school experience, not too much, though. And I tried to start learning because I wanted to be able to teach these people because they were humble and they were genuinely interested to change. And but I didn't know. really anything. I could not teach a lesson to save my life. And so I got this call, and my first thought was kind of just shock. And then I was thinking about it more, and I was like, okay, well, the Lord placed his confidence in me to be here, and he's going to put me in a place where I can touch the lives of the people that I need to meet. So I'll just trust him. Very faithful. Thank you. And I remember getting to that first area in Spanish, And it was so hard. It hit me like a truck. Not only because I had to learn a new language, I went from being confident, semi-confident in teaching to being like, I can't even teach a single principle.
SPEAKER_00:Which is a fast, it doesn't seem like a unique experience that you've been, how long were you out before this happened? Four-ish months. Yeah. So you had already gotten like really comfortable with how do I teach? Yeah. So I'm in a groove and then all of a sudden start from scratch. And most, like I went foreign. So day one, you're feeling like... I don't understand a word. Like, this is crazy. But at the same time that you're learning how to teach, you're learning the language where you uniquely are like, no, I already, I'm a veteran here. Start over.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was quite the humbling experience, honestly. Yeah. And to add on top of that, me and my companion had a really hard time first getting along. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:you said this was not a good mix, right?
SPEAKER_03:Not a great mix. Not a great mix. Yeah. I just remember receiving comments that just hit me to my core, man. It was pretty brutal. But something that I remember that my dad always said is focus on what you can control. And so as I'm out
SPEAKER_00:here. Let me ask you about that real quick.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You did feel at that moment for a while that you had lost control. because of the influence that your companion was having, because your inability to understand and speak the language. Now you can't even teach anything because you don't speak the language. So you were feeling like, I have no control in this situation.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And, you know, when you're in a hard situation, when you are dealing with difficult circumstances, you want everything to get better automatically. But there are some things that are out of your control, like the way that my companion was... treating me or the way that she was working with me. Just things where, you know, you can't control other people. There are some things that are out of your control. So really honing in on, you know, okay, what can I do to still fulfill my purpose as a missionary despite these circumstances that I'm in right now? And so we'd go, you know, doing missionary work. And I remember there was a lot of times there was a lot of reluctance to going out and doing it.
SPEAKER_00:On your end or her
SPEAKER_03:end? Her end. And, you know, I wasn't the most humble either. And so there were things where I'm like, no, no, no, we should do this. And we just were butting heads very often.
SPEAKER_00:Because you had a desire to go do it, even though you didn't speak and you were losing control. You still wanted to work very hard.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And... I don't know if it was her way of training and she was just helping me because it actually turned out to be a blessing. But she really just sat back and let me lead everything. We'd be piecing in tiendas.
SPEAKER_00:Let you or forced you to?
SPEAKER_03:A mix of the both. Really just at that point, I was still a little uncomfortable with awkward silence. And, you know, there's people to teach, so I had to go find them. But I really just got thrown into the deep end and drowned. But then it taught me how to swim. I remember we'd be in PCs, and I'd try to stand next to her and listen to her talk to someone, and she'd just walk straight away from me. But it ended up being such a blessing because I was able to learn the language so fast because
SPEAKER_00:I had no other option. Well, hang on. Before you give the light at the end of the tunnel, the epiphany, the life-changing experience, let's just paint the picture. You were miserable. You were low. The way you explained it to me is you were not... This was really dark times. Yeah. One... because of the companion, two, because of the lack of control with language, with teaching. You explained to me this was really, like, really low.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? So you also explained to me, though, the pivotal moment that started to change everything. You said that one night you knelt down and started to really pray.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, tell us more about that. Because when you told me the story, you talked about how focusing on the things you can control, the advice from your dad.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know if that related to you. Like I remember a story of my mom and dad who served a mission in their later years in England. And my mom, they were like office missionaries. And my mom looks back and maybe she had a cushy life or I don't know what it is, but she said this was literally the hardest thing she's ever done. And she gave up and gave up and gave up. And after months and months and months of crying and misery, she for the first time in her life knelt down and said, I can't do this, Lord. I need you to get me to do this. And she'd never done that before, she said. And she said that that was life-changing because for the first time, turning herself over to the Lord, she received revelation back and received the power to have the best experience that she's had on her mission. You shared with me something similar to that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, thinking back to those principles that you shared in the beginning of this podcast, there is joy in the work, and I wanted to find that. But at this point, I could not even catch a particle of it. And so I remember one night specifically, it was about after two weeks in the beginning of this transition, of this transfer, and I just was pleading with the Lord. I remember reading an Alma, and it talked about praying with all the energy of your heart, and I had no idea how to do that. And there were a couple times in my mission where I had experiences praying with all my heart, and this was the first of many experiences And I remember just, you know, like on my knees, just pleading and pleading and pleading. And about halfway through... Sorry,
SPEAKER_00:I interrupted you at like the most pivotal point. I'm so sorry. That would have been amazing. But since I've already done it, let me just add to that real quick. So before you tell us what happened halfway through... It reminds me of Enos, Enos 1.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right? Behold, I cannot pass, knowing my father was a great and just man. I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before, in his case, I received a remission of my sins. This wrestle relates to D&C 4, this principle of go at it with all your heart, mind, and strength. I think that doesn't just apply to, like you're saying, to missionary work, but it applies to our prayers, our fasting, our repentance, our I think the Lord wants our hearts. He wants us to commit and faithfully dive in. So you're saying that, like, had you done, had you had a need in your life before this point to cry into the Lord, to just plead with the Lord? Had you ever done that up to this point?
SPEAKER_03:I think maybe in the moment there were a couple times where I thought I did, but my kind of, like, breakthrough moment of this was probably in this moment.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so I interrupted you at the, like, crucial time. So you're really, truly... I love how, was it Enos or Elzenus, right? My soul hungered is what he said. My soul hungered. I just love it so much because sometimes that's what it takes for us to truly humble ourselves and turn to God with faith. So at this point, you're so hungered.
SPEAKER_03:And I kind of remember as I was talking to Heavenly Father, I just said, you know, like, why is this my situation right now and how can I come out of it? And it kind of hit me. As I was there, I thought of all of his disciples when he was preaching and how he asked them to leave their nets. And it talks about in the scriptures, it says it so often, they immediately left their nets and followed him. And they dropped everything that they had and they followed him regardless of what was on their path to come as they followed him. And it made me think that, you know, I signed up for this. I signed up to be a missionary and allow the Lord to mold me in ways that would help me become an instrument in his hands. And in that moment, I just pled with him and I said, I just want to align my will with his. I wanted to align my will so that I could become who he needed me to be. And as I thought about that more, I thought about, you know, refiners, fire, there's things to go through that teach us lessons to help us better become the people that Heavenly Father needs us to be, the disciples that Christ needs to serve in his vineyard. And I just basically told Heavenly Father, look, everything that I have is yours. And I just want to align my will with yours because I want to be the best that I can be for the short period of time that I have to fully dedicate myself to thee. Incredible. And it wasn't easy, but from that point on out, I made it a priority in all my prayers just to, you know, just in case you forgot to remind him, just say, you know, every good thing I have comes from me. Every success I see here, every person I find, it all comes from me. And so... Just let me know what I need to do to keep seeing the success because I know it's his. And so, you know, it talks about in the scriptures glorifying God. I just, Ammon talks about in Alma 26, you know, he sees all the success and he wants to boast as God. He wants to glorify him. And truly, I came to find out that the way to do that is by aligning your will and continuing to do the work.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't it amazing that even on a mission, we are being formed and molded by our Father in heaven, by our Savior Jesus Christ, to become that which they put us on this earth to become. They're placing you... So at first, when you were so miserable in this situation, the question is, why? This is terrible. All I want to do is go out and do this. Then you, in humility, face in the dirt, turn to the Lord, plead with him, aligned your will with his, and all of a sudden... things start changing, right? I remember when you initially told me the story, you said almost like the next day you woke up with a renewed spirit. I know you didn't say necessarily that this revelation came all at once, clean and pure, and this is what's going to happen, but I felt like you told me, I woke up the next day with a renewed spirit, a new view on life, and then it started to change, didn't it?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think I woke up with a quiet confidence.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, where else have we heard... Still small voice, quiet confidence. These things that come from God when we humble ourselves and turn to him. Yeah. I mean, the Holy Ghost, right? Uh-huh. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I think once you have that quiet confidence I had came in from my calling, I was literally set apart to do this work. And so just like how Nephi had to go get the plates, the Lord wasn't going to just tell me to do it and then say, figure it out yourself. He's going to provide a way. for me to carry out his work.
SPEAKER_00:So what was that way? What did you do next?
SPEAKER_03:I just put my head down and went to work, honestly. Okay,
SPEAKER_00:so this is where I'd love to introduce principle number three in what we teach. Let's hear
SPEAKER_03:it.
SPEAKER_00:Do you remember what it is?
SPEAKER_03:Open mouths, find listeners.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. Open your mouth and find listeners. So when you say you put your head down and went to work, what kind of things did you do?
SPEAKER_03:Talk to everyone.
SPEAKER_00:But wait a minute. You don't speak Spanish.
SPEAKER_03:And I fumbled and made a fool of myself
SPEAKER_00:while trying to do it. How are you supposed to open your mouth and talk to everyone if you don't even speak the language? You don't understand what they're saying.
SPEAKER_03:Just pray for the gift of tongues.
SPEAKER_00:And you just do it, right?
SPEAKER_03:Truly. You
SPEAKER_00:just do it.
SPEAKER_03:I remember by the last transfer of my mission, I wouldn't consider myself fluent, but I can pretty much understand. 99% of what people say to me, and they'd always ask me, like, how did you learn this language? Like, do you go to a class? I'm like, you literally just open your mouth and talk to people.
SPEAKER_00:So let me give you where this principle kind of came from. So I was in the mid-'90s when I was in Ukraine on our mission in the Donetsk area. We were maybe four months out. I remember me and Miles, Elder Miles, we went to this. So it was Elder Porter, super tall, member of the 70, was visiting. He spoke Russian, this American guy.
UNKNOWN:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:And we were so excited because, oh, a visiting authority. So we all met at the Dom Kino, which was just a big old Russian-Soviet movie theater that we rented as the church there. And all the missionaries were there. Well, it has been to have buildings. This is so early on in the 90s. So we all met in this building and Elder Porter's there and he's preaching. And this guy's just awesome. And he speaks Russian. We're like, oh, this guy's amazing. Elder Porter started to talk about, he says, look, if you guys can't speak the language, you can't. be as effective in teaching and in bringing people to the Lord. So he says, look, I have authority to give you a promise. So this huge guy, and I'm looking up like just, just dumb eyed and just like humble and ready to learn. He says, I'm going to make you a promise and I have authority to do so. So he says, in the name of the Lord, I promise you the following. I promise that all of you will be 100% fluent in the Russian language by your six month point. If you do the following, go outside after this meeting and for the rest of your mission, Open your mouth and not let a single person go by you without opening your mouth and talking to them.
SPEAKER_03:That came from a member of the 70?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Elder Porter, Bruce D. Porter.
SPEAKER_03:Do you know how many times I told that promise to missionaries in my mission? I literally quoted you. I thought it was from you.
SPEAKER_00:You quoted me, gave me credit? Yes. Okay, I'll take it. I'll
SPEAKER_03:take it. I'll take
SPEAKER_00:it. But here's what happened. Elder Miles and I looked at each other like, well, that's easier than studying the language every morning. Let's do that. Like if the Lord is just promising us that if we just open our mouth and go do it, then let's do it. And I swear to you, Lauren, from that moment on, me, Elder Miles, Elder Pack, Elder Barnes, we all committed. If we were in the bread line waiting for bread, we would talk to the people in line, person to person. If we were stuck on a trolley bus, shoulder to shoulder with all these stinky Russians, We would talk to one person. No, you don't want to talk. Okay, next guy. Like so embarrassingly, like just turn to the next guy. Like we would just go from person to person to person. And it was embarrassing and exciting and amazing. If there was a big group of people coming towards us, stop them all. Can I talk to all of you? That faithful stance of applying this principle, just open your mouth and just talk to everyone, really did get us fluent. Now here's the trick. Was it magic? Or was Elder Porter just really smart and said, obviously, the more you talk to people, the better you're going to get at the language? I don't know. It's one of those two. But we were faithful to his promise. And not only did we speak Russian very quickly and learn the language, but we were more effective missionaries. And that's kind of the principle that is based in this Unopened Mouth Finds Listeners is, I truly believe that when you were called to go where you were, there are people there waiting for Lauren to who suits their personalities or their spirits to find them, to teach them, or to help them along the covenant path. I believe that in Ukraine. So I believe all I got to do is open my mouth and talk to everyone. And one out of 10,000 people is waiting for me. It's a powerful, powerful, it is one of these practical principles as you serve a mission that if you'll apply this, you will have a glorious, marvelous experience. So tell me more about it. So you started talking to everyone, right?
SPEAKER_03:Truly. And I definitely made a fool of myself, but.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome, huh?
SPEAKER_03:It didn't matter to me. It's awesome. It didn't matter. And I think my desire to talk to people outweighed the, a lot of Hispanics say like, oh, yo tengo pena. Like, it's just like embarrassment, like shame. But like that just all straight out the window. Like I recognize, you know, Steven Robinson wrote a book called Believe in Christ.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow. That's my favorite book of all time. I think I maybe made you read that.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe. I
SPEAKER_00:would have because I tell everyone that is the best book.
SPEAKER_03:And I just love the principle that he talks about believing Christ, not believing in him, but believing him that he can do what he says he does, what he can do. And, you know, I had that faith. I had that belief that he wants to save his lost sheep. And so I knew that if I opened my mouth and talked to everyone, he'd place people in my path that were ready to be found. And so. You know, I'd see people walk by me and sometimes I'd get a little nervous and whatnot. And I was like, oh, well, they just watched me get rejected by someone else. And then they'd walk by and instantly I just thought, oh my gosh, what if they were the one that Christ needed me to find today? And I'd run after
SPEAKER_00:them. Hey, come back here, come back here. I love it. That's exactly what we did. I love that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but I saw so many miracles come from that, not only with the language, but also I was able to find people that I never would have found. I remember when you serve in the States, well, obviously you're not supposed to be in your apartment during the day. And so in the States, a lot of times you go to fast food restaurants to do studies or daily contact, whatnot. Holy, I cannot tell you how many times I've walked through a door of McDonald's here. But we'd be in there and just everyone in there, just got up and was talking to everyone and I'd get I'd like get behind the counter and talk to the workers I'm like hey and I remember like being able to just find random people that I've never found I remember one day I was I was sitting at McDonald's and in one of my areas in Lafayette Indiana and I was training at that point it's my first time training and I really was trying to dig that principle into my, my greenie that I was training or monetary. And I was like, we, we talked to everyone here because there's people waiting for us. And there was this man walked in that walked in and we were clearly in the middle of something. And I just was like, I, I got to set the example. I got to talk to everyone. I went up and talked to this man and he was filling up his drink. I like the soda machine. And I was like, Oh, and he's like, Oh, like I've met with missionaries before. I was like, really? He's like, yeah, I met with elders before. I love the story of Joseph Smith. Oh, I'm like, hello. And he's like, I have a testimony that he truly is a prophet. Oh, yeah he's like he truly is a prophet he restored the true church of jesus christ i read in the book of mormon very often just all this crazy stuff and we ended up finding him again and started teaching him and he just already had such a strong testimony of these restored truths that we go out preaching to people and if i never went up and talked to him I wouldn't have found that out. We wouldn't have found someone new to start teaching, but he already was so prepared. He just had this belief in Joseph Smith and he had like a powerful conviction of the truth.
SPEAKER_00:And that is the principle. If you wouldn't have opened your mouth and served and done it with all your heart, mind, and strength, you never would have even, the guy wouldn't even thought or known or heard, right? John 10, 26 to 27. But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. He says this, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You are Christ's representative as a full-time missionary. And when you open your mouth and talk to everyone, it is as if the Lord is doing it. And so when you open your mouth and that spirit is there, his sheep recognize that spirit and that voice. And that's what you did. I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank
SPEAKER_00:you. I'm so excited for you. Now, how did then this new, right? You hit rock bottom.
SPEAKER_02:You
SPEAKER_00:gave yourself to the Lord for the first time, like really pleading with him. You woke up with this refreshed spirit confidence. You started to just open your mouth and talk to everyone. How quickly did things change for you and your soul and your happiness and your ability?
SPEAKER_03:Very quickly. And it wasn't necessarily, I saw a ton of outward results. We started finding like 30 people a week, but there was a different, I felt that joy that's promised to us when I was out talking to people. And even though, you know, I wasn't finding 50 people a week. I still knew, like chapter one, I preached my gospel. I was serving with all my heart, mind, and strength. And I was doing everything regardless of the circumstance that I was in.
SPEAKER_00:It's so powerful because that's the first principle of the gospel. Christ's gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This, what you're doing, this open your mouth and talk to everyone, is such an expression of faith. Why did you receive joy? Because you were on the path that moves you on the covenant, right? Faith precedes repentance, which precedes the covenant of baptism to give the Holy Ghost. So as you every day went out, as I every day went out and engaged in this faithful, I'm serving with all my heart, mind, and strength, that faith building process is what leads us to Christ and Christ gives us that joy. I love it, dude. I love it. You did it.
SPEAKER_03:And that transfer actually ended up being one of the most crucial transfers in my entire mission for my personal discipleship. And... That same transfer, we met a guy named Carlos. And Carlos is awesome. Carlos Aleman, he's from Honduras. He now, April 13th, will hit his year mark as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And we worked with that man. We worked with that man. And... He is incredible. He is an incredible disciple of Jesus Christ. And to think that when I was metaphorically at my rock bottom, I found one of the biggest miracles in my mission is just a testament to me that God was truly aware of me. And, you know, there's tender mercies and everything. And faith truly does precede the miracle.
SPEAKER_00:And you told me about this guy and how he was like himself at rock bottom.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:When you met him.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so...
SPEAKER_00:So you open your mouth, you're opening your mouth, you're talking to everyone, you find Carlos, and you realize this guy's at rock bottom.
SPEAKER_03:So he was actually found through Facebook, which is one of the craziest things ever, I
SPEAKER_00:think.
SPEAKER_03:There was maybe four people in one year in our mission that was baptized from Facebook work, and he was one of them, which was crazy. And he saw an ad about the Book of Mormon, and he didn't really know, but he just felt prompted by the Spirit to respond to it. And... He was actually found the week before I got into the area, but we started teaching him consistently when I got there. And I remember there was one lesbian specifically, and he, like you said, he was just at rock bottom. He was sad. He was alone. He didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Didn't even believe that there was one. And he lived... Um,
SPEAKER_00:he was, he was poor, meek and downtrodden.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, pretty much.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And he was at the, um, pretty North up in our area. And so he lived about 30, 35 minutes away from the church building, made it a sacrifice to come to church every Sunday. But during the week when we wanted to meet with him, we just did video calls. And I remember there was one night specific, we're sitting on a call with him and it was like two, three weeks into my, to my first transfer there. And, um, I never have seen the gift of tongues be so prevalent in an experience that I've had. I remember just talking and I just felt the Spirit so strongly. And that's something that I always have struggled with, feeling the Spirit. But I started saying things and it wasn't like someone took over my body and just started spitting out Spanish. But I was able to say things that I wanted to say that I knew were going to help him. And so... I was able to have a lesson. I remember even my companion, who at the time was not a great fan of me, had left me a little note on my desk, and she was like, you did amazing in that lesson. And that was kind of a huge turning point, just a confirmation of my faith type of thing. And as we really just both got to work, because it started having an effect, so we both got to work, and by the end of our second transfer, we... are great friends now. That's incredible. And yeah, but I remember Carlos was just so sad. And this lesson was also a turning point for him. I think something that we overlook as missionaries all the time is people's ability to pray. So that became one of the first things I looked for after our very first lessons with people. I'd be like, do you know how to pray? And they'd kind of be like, oh, well, yeah, kind of. But I made it a priority. Okay, like this is how we pray. This is how it's going to help you do it. And he started praying very frequently. And he started reading from the Book of Mormon. And slowly after time, he struggled a little bit keeping commitments. But we taught him how to pray. And we... We taught him about the promised blessings of the Book of Mormon. We identified his need, this desperation, this loneliness, this isolation, and we testified of the power that the Book of Mormon has, how it helps us feel the love of Jesus Christ, how it's another testament that he loves all his children, including Carlos. And so we told him that that's what it testifies of. We gave him specific chapters to read, lots of 3 Nephi to read, actually. And He started seeing the power in the Book of Mormon. Every day driving to work, he's playing the Book of Mormon in his car. And he was a really shy guy, but he finally accepted the invitation to be baptized. And I remember on his baptism day, he was shaking. He was so nervous. He was just, oh, he was poor soul. He was so nervous. And I sat down next to him right before I started. And I was like, let's say a prayer, Carlos. Like, I can tell that you're nervous. But remember, and I kind of told him to look back. I'm like, everyone's here to support you. And we said a prayer. And it didn't take away all of his nerves, but he definitely felt a lot better. And he has been to the temple countless number of times. He leaves work early and he like answers his phone during work to help missionaries with lessons. He literally sold his car to get a bigger car to drive people to church. Like he is a disciple and the Lord knows him. Like the Lord knows who he is and he knows who the Lord is and he is so willing to serve. He's been able to baptize quite a few people now into, it was a branch, now it's actually a ward in Indianapolis. And it's just crazy to see his joy that he feels from serving and he recognizes where it's coming from. He recognizes that this promise in the scriptures of finding this joy comes from serving the Lord. And he doesn't have any plans on stopping anytime soon.
SPEAKER_00:It's so powerful. And we'll round off with what we started with, D&C 18. Remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. For the Lord, your Redeemer, suffered death in the flesh. Wherefore? He suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth. Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance to this people. And if it so be, you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people. And bring, save it be, one soul unto him. How great shall your joy be with him in the kingdom of my Father. So you went from rock bottom, turning your soul to God. You at the end of that... Oh, and you said that... when transfers came, you were so stoked to get away from this companion. And then the word came through, you're going to stick with his companion, right? Like, so you got two whole transfers with this companion. And in the end, marvelous and wonder.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:As opposed to in the beginning, which was the worst thing of your life, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And I recognize too in that transfer, the Lord calls you to people, including your companion, right? I needed her. I could confidently say kind of maybe that she needed me too.
SPEAKER_00:But that's interesting though from just to end up here now. You needed her, A, so that you would have an opportunity to open your mouth and talk to everybody and learn the language and find people. You needed her, B, to, I guess, not compel you, but to influence you to kneel down with such humility and and turn your life over to the Lord for salvation. She was essential
SPEAKER_03:in my conversion process.
SPEAKER_00:Incredible. I love it so much, dude. It's such a great, perfect story. It really is. And to all those listening, the mission is a marvelous and wonderful experience if you do it right. And I'll just emphasize that the doing it right from this episode is this. A, serve with all your heart, mind, and strength. B, open your mouth and talk to everyone. That practical principle works. is life-changing on your mission. It will be the greatest source of joy. It is how you do the work. You open your mouth and you talk to everyone. Yeah. So those two principles, I think what we'll kind of emphasize and end on with this episode, we're going to have you back because you've got lots more stories. Right?
SPEAKER_03:Lots.
