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
Amazing Miracles of Christ on 8 Mile in Detroit - Sister Molly Baxter
This episode of the "Mission Stories Podcast" features a conversation with Sister Molly Baxter, a returned missionary who served in the Michigan Detroit mission, including the "8 Mile" area. Molly highlights her faithful and happy mission experience, noting that not all returned missionaries have such positive experiences.
The central theme of the episode is that miracles and angels are a right for those "set apart as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach his gospel". Molly and Shawn define miracles, suggesting they are not solely large-scale events like parting the Red Sea, but also include:
• Divine meetings where one encounters individuals who profoundly change their life.
• Small, consistent spiritual experiences that build faith, such as waking up with a positive attitude or gaining insight from scripture study.
• The "mighty change of heart" experienced through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which they describe as the greatest miracle.
Molly and Shawn share several personal miracle stories from their missions:
• Tishi's Healing: Molly recounts the story of Tishi, a 65-year-old woman needing knee replacement surgery, who was miraculously healed and able to walk immediately after receiving a priesthood blessing, fulfilling a bold promise made by an elder that she wouldn't need surgery. Tishi was later baptized after six months of teaching and her health remarkably improved.
• The Malakansi Woman: Shawn shares an experience with an elderly Russian woman, one of the last "Malikansi," whose ancestors had sought the true church with authority for generations. She recognized the restored gospel, was baptized, and passed away about a week later.
• Mallerie at the Smoothie Cafe: Molly tells of a young woman working at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe drive-thru who was on the verge of ending her life. Molly, following a prompting, spoke to her about being a missionary for Jesus Christ, which the woman interpreted as an angel sent from God and a direct answer to her prayer for a sign, saving her life.
The episode emphasizes that these are the true miracles that matter most, as they pertain to the eternal salvation and spiritual growth of individuals, which is God's primary work and glory. They encourage listeners to have faith and expect these types of miracles in their own service. Molly also shares a quote by President Hinckley, emphasizing that serving the gospel is not a sacrifice but an investment with eternal dividends.
As soon as they say amen, Tishy looks at us and she jumps, leaps out of her bed and just starts skipping around her apartment. And we were all sitting there in complete awe, just shocked. And we were like, did we just witness like a miracle? Like a healing of the sick and afflicted miracle? Like he promised her in the name of God that she wouldn't need surgery and she's walking on this knee that is like... she needed a knee, like a full knee replacement for. And she's like, I haven't like walked in like three months.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Welcome back to the Mission Stories podcast. Today is an awesome day because we have, well, we have a special guest, but I'm not going to. Yeah, I will. I will do this because it's been six months that I've been begging, pleading. I don't know. All the things that we've done for you. And then six months goes by and And we don't have Lauren with us today, but we do have Molly O.
SPEAKER_00:Hello.
SPEAKER_01:Which is Molly.
SPEAKER_00:Happy to be
SPEAKER_01:here. Or Sister Baxter.
SPEAKER_00:Whatever you want to call me. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. Well, actually, that could be risky.
SPEAKER_01:Maybe not. Molly, I've known for a long time, and we got to see your journey go through elementary school, middle school, high school.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then the mission. Yeah. And now you are the RM.
SPEAKER_00:I am an RM.
SPEAKER_01:And it's just, it's amazing. I love so much when... You know, it's like my dream. When I had my mission experience and it was like, wow, that was so great. There's nothing that could have been better. Nothing will top that. And it was such a spiritual experience. It was so amazing. And I go, do others have that experience? And to come home and learn that some don't is so disheartening and disappointing. But then I see... molly and i see others who you just faithfully did it right you applied a lot of the true principles that make for a good mission and i love seeing you because you're so Happy and strong and converted, and you're a true disciple, and it's just so great to see you. You're just this little punk kid singing in my wife's choir. Okay,
SPEAKER_00:okay. And
SPEAKER_01:now you are this just faithful, amazing. I know, you're uncomfortable with me praising you like this, but I'll let you introduce yourself in a minute. But just for context for the listeners, so missions, to be a minister of the Lord full-time Set apart. Set apart as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach his gospel and to bring souls to him. So few people in the history of the world get to do that. So few. Like what percentage, Molly? What do you think?
SPEAKER_00:I don't even want to throw out a number that's wrong.
SPEAKER_01:There's no way to know it. But it's so mind-boggling to me that we are so blessed to be born in this day where we get to be a part of that small percentage of people who get to be a minister of the Lord, authoritative, full-time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And man, I didn't want to lose or waste a single second of the two years that I was in Ukraine on my mission. And I, you know, faithfully, I can say we did our best. We really did. And the Lord rewarded us and those with whom we worked. And it's just joy. It's just pure joy.
SPEAKER_00:It's pure joy. It is. Yesterday I was at the beach and this random lady walked up to me and my friends and she was like, hey, do you guys go to church? And we were like, yeah, we go to church. And she's like, oh, it's so good seeing some young kids going to church these days. Like I go to mission church. I was going to invite you. And she was like, do you open your mouths and share this with your friends? And we were like, lady, you got no idea. You got no idea.
SPEAKER_01:I guess the question follow-up would be, did you open your mouth and share it with lady?
SPEAKER_00:No. Oh, geez. What? She was kind of walking away. Oh, okay. And yeah, it was just not the, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But even those who are not of our faith, those who believe in Christ, there's a joy. And then we say, come join what has been restored and you will have, we can't have in this life a fullness of joy, but man, sometimes I feel like it's close.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_01:And the mission is a huge part of that. Yeah. Because the mission is truly how we become closer to Christ and how leading other people to Christ is the most joyful thing in the world.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So this podcast for the listeners, we are trying to share with you our experiences that led to a positive, amazing, marvelous mission experience and our path to being built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. We're trying to share with you those things so that you can go out more equipped to have a better chance to have an amazing mission. Because look at the statistics. There's like a 50-50 chance that you'll come home and it'll be eh.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And it has everything to do with these principles we teach. So today, we had a hard time picking which principle to focus on because Molly, you have so many great stories and experiences. We picked the number five. This is miracles and angels are our right when we are set apart ministers of the Lord in the work. And so we've got some cool stories. But, you know, before we do that, why don't we... Do a little introduction. Oh,
SPEAKER_00:brother.
SPEAKER_01:A little intro to explain to the audience who we're about to talk to.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:Molly is from? Molly served and is from?
SPEAKER_00:Detroit. That took a second to get going. That took a long time. And then I heard the intro. I was like, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That took a long time. I might overdub this and make that come in sooner. But what specifically is that? That's from a movie called?
SPEAKER_00:Eight Mile.
SPEAKER_01:Eight Mile. Where did you serve?
SPEAKER_00:I served on Eight Mile.
SPEAKER_01:Molly served on Eight Mile, Detroit. The like crazy, how do you describe Eight Mile?
SPEAKER_00:The place of the Lord. No, no, no, no. Eight Mile.
SPEAKER_01:How would Eminem describe Eight Mile?
SPEAKER_00:Eminem...
SPEAKER_01:That's where he's from.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:8 Mile's a special place. I served in Detroit. I served in the Michigan-Detroit mission, which... Had more than just 8 Mile.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, but let me ask you this. Would you live in 8 Mile ever?
SPEAKER_00:No. Okay, why not? Because it's a scary place. But I
SPEAKER_01:thought it was the place of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00:Let's just say there's a billboard that has to remind you in Detroit that says God has not left Detroit. Because sometimes you have to be reminded that.
SPEAKER_01:So 8 Mile is kind of this ghetto area of Detroit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you can kind of think of like the strip in Vegas. Oh,
SPEAKER_01:interesting.
SPEAKER_00:But like just half of the buildings are just abandoned. Okay, so
SPEAKER_01:I skipped ahead because I wanted to do the intro that took too long and do the music, but give us a little intro of who you are.
SPEAKER_00:So, I'm Molly Baxter. I grew up here in Carlsbad, California. I served in the Michigan-Detroit mission. I go to BYU in Provo, studying business.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. Yeah. And you're a wonderful person. We've known you for a long time. Yeah. Big fan of the record. You've been home for... Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Been home for a year.
SPEAKER_01:Has it been a year?
SPEAKER_00:It'll be a year in, what's today? The third? It'll be a year in four days,
SPEAKER_01:five days. Amazing that it took you 12 months, not six, to get here on my podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Well,
SPEAKER_01:let's dive in because I want to hear your stories, more of your stories. I've loved some of them so much. And there's, we picked this principle. Why do we pick this principle? This principle is, again, listeners, that if you go out and have the faith to that miracles and angels are assisting you, or angels are assisting you and miracles are your right, if you go through with that faith, like if you understand how valuable the souls, the children of our Heavenly Father are, and you have faith in that, then you will see that you have a power to do the work of the Lord, to lead souls to Christ. But only if you tap into it, only if you have faith. So this principle is all about go expect these things because the Lord will give them to you. Why is this one of your favorite? Why did you pick this one?
SPEAKER_00:I think about before I went out on my mission and I'd hear stories and I heard all these miracles that these return missionaries experienced on the mission. And I was like, oh, I just want to go witness all these miracles. And I went out and my testimony of miracles changed changed because how I defined a miracle changed once I started serving the Lord. Because I think we think of these miracles like raising the dead and, you know, healing the blind, which are all real possible miracles through faith. And I believe that because of my mission. But I also believe that there are miracles like, I call them divine meetings, like where you just run into someone who changes your life, changes your day, changes your minute. So that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Let me just interrupt and ask you. So You're saying that before the mission, the only understanding we would all have, I'd say this is true for me too, is a miracle is the world being flooded or the sea being parted or someone being
SPEAKER_00:raised from the dead. Or the lion's mouths being shut. That's right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But you're saying that as soon as you got on your mission, you started to experience something that was, I would argue, is incredible. way more powerful than
SPEAKER_00:if
SPEAKER_01:I saw some water behave unnaturally. Way more powerful because it had to do with, I fell in love with the people of Ukraine. And when I saw people come to Christ and see the joy and the change that occurred in their lives, and the fact that I'm from Podunk City in USA and traveled across the world and would pray every day to find this golden person and did in this miraculous way, that miracle to me, Yeah, it doesn't seem, to the layman, it doesn't seem like such a big, amazing miracle. But to us, those became the miracles, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think, and serving with missionaries and young missionaries who come out and maybe they're struggling to adjust and missions harder than they thought it was going to be, or you're plopped in the middle of Michigan in negative 40 degree weather from Southern California. And you're like, what am I doing here? I think sometimes the miracle is that you wake up in the morning with a positive attitude or you learn something in your scripture study that, you know, boosts you or brings you the spirit that day. And so I think we, think about these miracles as a missionary, like, Oh, what can I do for all these other people? But I think too, we have to remember that the Lord cares about you as a missionary and as a person and wants you to have those small, consistent spiritual experiences that are miracles in and of themselves that help you bring miracles to other people.
SPEAKER_01:Because if those are building our faith, right? If God gives us these amazing miracles to build our faith, to lead us to repentance, to ensure the covenants that we live in, how much more useful are they if, Our goal is to go and lead, find and lead souls to Christ. Of course, he's going to allow these powerful miracles to happen because he's proclaimed throughout scripture. The most important thing we can be engaged in is crying repentance unto the people and gathering Israel and bringing people to the celestial kingdom, leading people to Christ. It's the most important thing we can do. So of course he's going to give us the power. Look at every, almost every missionary in all of scripture, every prophet, the miracles weren't there because wow, look what happened. The miracles were, there to help them lead souls to Christ period
SPEAKER_00:yeah that's it and I think about like when you think about Christ in the New Testament when he's you know calling his apostles and his disciples and he's giving them power and authority and he's sending them off to do an amazing work like they did and be missionaries before he did that he spent time with them and he got to know them and he blessed their own lives their families lives and perform miracles in their lives and then he sent them out and said you know share this and so I think as a missionary I And what I would ask missionaries when I taught missionaries was, what were your touch points with the Savior this week? You shared the gospel, but how did you come to know your Savior more this week too? And how did he come to meet you where you were at? And I think we forget that those are miracles in our own lives. And we have to... In order to appreciate the big miracles, we also have to recognize those tender mercies that the Lord still brings. I
SPEAKER_01:love it. It does all start with the miracle that comes from the atonement of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and the miracle that I've been forgiven, that my heart has been changed, that I'm a different creature because I live in a covenant with Christ. That really is a miracle, right? It is. We've all felt the sadness that comes from sin or the... The guilt or the shame. The shame. And those of us who have come to Christ in faith and repentance and through covenants, having that sadness and shame swept away and replaced with such joy and happiness, that's a miracle. But it's internal. And I agree with you. It does start there. Yeah. And then we want to go out and use other miracles to lead souls to Christ. Yeah. So I want you, Molly, to share with us and the listeners that Some miracle stories. Starting with Tishy.
SPEAKER_00:Tishy.
SPEAKER_01:Tishy. Tishy my queen. We won't say why her nickname is Riri, but her nickname is Riri.
SPEAKER_00:Which is ironic because that was her nickname for us was Riri.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, she called you Riri?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. But. Okay. So Tishy.
SPEAKER_00:It all works out.
SPEAKER_01:You're Riri in this story. She's Tishy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Tell us. Tell us the story.
SPEAKER_00:So I just want you to picture like the craziest Baptist black lady, 65 years old, lives alone. Sick out of her mind. Like, has all the ailments one can imagine.
SPEAKER_01:Please tell me she lives an eight mile.
SPEAKER_00:No. Dang it. That was Betty. Tishy is not an eight miler. But
SPEAKER_01:she
SPEAKER_00:could have been. She could have survived there.
SPEAKER_01:But she's older and sick?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just really struggling physically. And we taught her for about six months before she was baptized.
SPEAKER_01:Six
SPEAKER_00:months? And it was mostly in the hospital that we taught her. Oh,
SPEAKER_01:I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00:She just, like, struggled a lot. But when we first met her, she was getting ready to have a knee replacement. And she lived in like the projects and like government housing, you know, didn't have anything, was on food stamps, all that stuff. And we met her. And at this time of my mission, I was ward sharing. I had, there were eight missionaries in our ward. So just in our area, we had a ton of missionaries and they were all elders. And so... We go over to meet her and she's telling us her life story and it is like one of the most tragic life stories I've ever heard. Genuinely, if I had lived her life, I don't think I would believe in a God, to be honest with you. And I don't know if this is the place to share these deep things that she experienced, but she had five kids before the age of 19. Like she was just... really struggled with abuse and different things in her life. And so we kind of met this woman who was very broken but had a ton of faith in God.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And she was like... She's meeting these 20-year-old girls who are here preaching the gospel to her. She's been going to church every day for 65 years, you know, and every week.
SPEAKER_01:Like Baptist Church?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and she's super active and sings in her choir. I
SPEAKER_01:want to meet this woman
SPEAKER_00:so bad. Oh, she is incredible. We've got to get her on the podcast, honestly. She'll preach to you. She is the best. But we're sitting there listening to this, and I'm like, Tishy, like, I'm just so sorry. And she's like, you don't need to be sorry for me. I know God is real and she's like honestly the hardest thing in my life right now is I need this knee replacement I can't walk and we're realizing at this point we've been over to meet her twice and we'd never seen her stand up she'd always called to us to come get in and she just kind of sits in her bed like can't really move and um we were like Tishy can we give can we um get you a priesthood blessing and we taught her about the priesthood and we called the elders over and and they came right over and we kind of explained the process what it was and how you know jesus christ gave this power to the apostles and she was like yeah yeah and we kind of explained to her we said tishy if the only way this works is if you have faith miracles are wrought by faith it's not the other way around right um so if you have faith that these elders through the power of the priesthood can heal you you will be healed do you believe that and she was like yeah She was like, the scriptures say, out of the mouths of babes will I hear the gospel. And here are two babes sitting right in front of me. And we're like, okay, Tishy, fair enough. And at this point, we'd only known the woman for two weeks. And she just, you know, putting all of her trust in us. And so the elders put their hands on her head. And, you know, these are 18-year-old boys. We're kind of expecting them to say like, hey, we bless you with faith and strength to get through this trial. But the elder who gave her this blessing was like, I bless you that you will not need surgery for this knee. Whoa. And I'm just kind of sitting there listening to this and I'm like, Ooh, like not doubting the Lord, but I was like, you know, elder, that was kind of a bold thing to bless this woman. And, but I was like, I have faith. She has faith. Like, I guess it's going to happen. And I have a video of it on my phone and it is, we played it for the whole mission one time. But as soon as they say, amen, Tishy looks at us and she jumps, leaps out of her bed and and just start skipping around her apartment. And we were all sitting there in complete awe, just shocked. And we were like, did we just witness like a miracle? Like a healing of the sick and afflicted miracle? Like he promised her in the name of God that she wouldn't need surgery. And she's walking on this knee that is like, she needed a knee, like a full knee replacement for. And she's like, I haven't like walked in like three months. And she's like skipping around. And I had this video over and she goes, isn't God good all the time? And we were like, yes, he is. And so it was just so cool to see like that didn't change my testimony in any way. Like it was not that my faith came from that experience, but it strengthened my testimony in the sense that because I had faith, maybe those miracles don't happen, but they can. And the Lord knows. blessed her through the power of the priesthood and through the authority we held as missionaries. And it was just amazing to see.
SPEAKER_01:I have so many questions.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Let's, let's, let's, let's get to the ending of the story before I asked like a bunch of these questions. So did Tishy, did she ever take the spiritual path seriously? Did she ever, she, you know, did you teach her? Did she ever get baptized? Is she a member of the church? Like what happened?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So she was baptized, um, first week of April of 2024. So over a year ago, she was baptized. Um, she's, she wanted to be baptized on Easter. So she was baptized on Easter and which might've been the end of March. I can't remember, but She was baptized. We taught her for about six months because her issue was it was hard for her to get to church because of how sick she was. She had stage four kidney failure. So she really struggled to get to church. And so we had to kind of call my mission president. We were like, can we get an exception? She can't make it. And he was like, yeah, that's okay. And as soon as we got that exception, we were able to get her to church. And... We were like, okay, Heavenly Father. We've been humbled. We get it.
SPEAKER_01:And I've been around when you get texts from her or voice messages or I don't know, you're calling her or something, and it just seems like she's a very faithful, strong person.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and we kind of thought, my companion and I, and this isn't like a morbid thing, but we genuinely believed because we got to know her really well. I taught her with the same companion for six months. We were together for a long time. And we kind of believed that as soon as she got baptized that she would pass away. She was really just not well. And kind of the opposite happened. Like she's not perfectly healed and just, you know, 25 years old, but she's, She goes to church every week. No way. I just got a text last week from a member in the ward saying, hey, Tishy bore a testimony and told anyone that was thinking about that they needed to go serve a mission because they never know the lives they're going to change. Oh,
SPEAKER_01:gosh.
SPEAKER_00:She was like, just want you to know she's doing well. So it was a long process with Tishy and it took a lot of service. We would go over and help her clean her apartment and help feed her and things like that. But she did get baptized.
SPEAKER_01:I just look at this little Molly, who's this little kid. You decide to serve the Lord with her. all your heart, mind, and strength. You go out there with faith and you work your butt off and you work hard. And then I think of this woman named Tishy that I've never met, but you describe her and I just love her so much. I just do. And the fact that you two, God led you two, you were called specifically to go find Tishy and Tishy was seeking or was ready. And God led you two together to perform miracles, which were your right. And because of the faith of this elder and because of your faith and because of Tishy's faith, Miracles happen to lead her to Christ. And now she has come to Christ in the fullness or the restoration of the gospel. And it's such joy. It's so great. Okay, second question. Do you recall, because I've been a part of many blessings and some pretty miraculous ones. I've also been a part of many discussions and lessons and experiences. And I've come to a point in my life where I think I'm getting better at discerning And the mission obviously helps us. How do you discern when the Holy Ghost is present and when that spiritual or holy thing is happening? Do you recall at all what you were experiencing in your spirit during that blessing or when she got up? Do you recall at all? Did you feel the Holy Ghost? I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but...
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm trying to think because I feel like that's the... question of the century, right? Like how do we feel the spirit? What does the spirit feel like? How do we receive revelation? Right. And Elder Bednar has all of his stuff about that. And that's like, everyone's wondering that. And I don't think we ever fully like are perfect at that. But I will say the feeling that I remember is my first thought in that when he said that was, whoa, Elder, that was bold. That's bold. Yeah. And I You know, he's probably given two blessings in his whole life, this elder, right? He's 18, you know? How
SPEAKER_01:faithful is he to make that promise?
SPEAKER_00:And that was the second thought. It was, and I believe that that was the spirit was, hey, are you questioning me? Like, this is my work. This is my power. I've blessed you to use it. And
SPEAKER_01:Tishy is my glory. She's my daughter and she will be exalted. And that is glory.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And he says
SPEAKER_01:that my work and my glory is to bring to pass the immortality of Tishy.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And eternal life of Tishy.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And so that was my second thought. And it wasn't like there was this like burning in my bosom and like this angel came down and I felt like tears. But it was just this kind of quiet like this is my work. I've trusted you to be here and witness this, and you are a vessel for me to bring the gospel to this woman, but I'm going
SPEAKER_01:to do my work. Well, and I bring it up because the scriptures teach us that the Holy Ghost is discernible, right? Yeah. And it does take a long time for us, you listeners, to learn how to experience the Holy Ghost, to feel it, to discern it, to understand it, to recognize it.
SPEAKER_00:And for me, what I've learned, and that experience is an example, is everyone feels the Spirit differently. But for me, I mean, I believe pride is the most damning sin. Pride is the root of any sin that happens. And for me, the way that the Spirit speaks to me is it calls me out, calls me to repentance.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_00:And it's not that I was being prideful in that moment, but the Spirit's like, hey, this is my work. Like, believe. And at this point in my mission, I'd been out for a while. I was a pre-experienced missionary, and I'd seen miracles. This wasn't, like, brand new to me, but it was just this quiet reminder of... Have the faith. Trust in the faith you have. You have more faith than you think you do.
SPEAKER_01:It reminds me of Moroni 9. Let's read it real quick because I was going to save this for the end. And I was going to say that you... if you recognized or discerned the spirit as this calm, peaceful, that is expressed many times. Like it's, it's, it's so hard for us to use mortal terms to express what this spiritual, powerful, eternal God-like experience is. So we fail, right? The words that we try to use, they fail, but we do our best. And the scriptures, they talk about a peace and a comfort and a joy. And we call the Holy Ghost the comforter.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And it sometimes is still and quiet, and other times it is loud, burning
SPEAKER_00:in the bosom. Sometimes it calls you to
SPEAKER_01:repentance. I mean, probably always does, right? But listen to this part. It says in Mormon 10. Despise not, he says, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. For example, a knee fix or... kidney failure fix or conversion, right? Doubt not, but be believing. Begin as in old times and come unto the Lord with all your heart and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Yeah. Doubt not, be believing. Just accept that you are called to minister to these souls. Believe, believe that the power of God can be used to help Tishy feel the spirit and come unto him. Let me share a story now. That was awesome. Thanks for sharing a story about Tishy. Okay. So I was in the city in Upper Petrovsk and we were knocking doors. And one day we knock on a door and this disheveled woman opens the door with an apron on and like, I don't know, food all over her face. She was cooking or something. And she's like, yeah. She's like, well, she's like, oh, you guys. She's like, look, I don't have time for you. Okay. But come on in. You can talk to my family. We're like, oh, sure. So we walk in. She says, they're down the hall. So we go down the hall and we turn and she lied. We weren't talking to her family. Oh no. We were talking to her
SPEAKER_00:pastor,
SPEAKER_01:350 year old mother or grandmother.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Just the oldest woman I've ever seen in my life is just sitting there and we're like, Oh, she, that's lame. Like this woman isn't even coherent. She won't even understand us. She's like, she just, that's lame.
SPEAKER_00:So we'll get baptized in the spirit world at this point. Yeah. Too far from.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So we sit down and she looks up and sees us and we're like, Hello? We're the missionaries. And immediately she just perks up and starts talking like she's 25 years old.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01:We're like, oh, wow, this lady's with it. Oh, my goodness. This lady is like super energetic and charismatic and super old. Just really just old,
SPEAKER_00:old, old, old.
SPEAKER_01:And so we're like, well, we have a message. We've come all the way from, you know, America and we have a message about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And she said, I'll listen to anyone talking about Jesus Christ. Teach me. Let me know if you have something to teach me. I'm going to listen. Cool. So great. So we start teaching, teaching and she's listening. And then she starts asking questions and we start engaging and we're like, wow, this is a very, very spiritual and fruitful discussion that's happening right now. I just got started to get really excited. And as we talked and talked, and then we got to the restoration and Joseph Smith and we tell the story and she gets this serious face on it. She's just listening and listening and listening. Okay. Now we kind of finished that and she puts her hand up like stop. And then she puts both of her hands on the sides of her chair. And what seemed like 13 years, she started to wiggle around and move. We're like, what are you doing? What's happening? And she was just trying to stand up. But because of her age, it took a long time.
SPEAKER_00:About 13 years. 13 years.
SPEAKER_01:She eventually got to her feet, looks me in the eye, and starts walking towards me. And I'm like, what is happening?
SPEAKER_00:I'm about to get murdered by this 350-year-old lady.
SPEAKER_01:Seriously. That took 13 years for her to stand up. She gets to me. She gets so close. And she starts quoting verbatim Isaiah. How beautiful on the mountaintops are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of great joy.
SPEAKER_00:Publish peace.
SPEAKER_01:Publish peace. And she just starts quoting me these Isaiah scriptures. And I'm like, wow, what is going on? And then she sat down and she said, now it's my turn to teach you something. We're like, oh, okay. She's like, I have a story for you. Here's her story. This is amazing. She says, I grew up pre-communism. And during communism, you're not allowed to believe in God. So you'd have people who are underground believers, but nothing public.
SPEAKER_00:Kind of like an Alma situation.
SPEAKER_01:Alma situation. And she says, but I'm so old that my parents and grandparents, we did live in a time where religion was thriving. It was the Russian Orthodox Church. Wow. And she said, there was a time where a group of my grandparents, like years ago, so long ago, they were part of the Russian Orthodox Church, but they had a desire to learn and understand more. So... They kind of secretly, because they weren't really supposed to do this, they would secretly meet kind of in underground meetings with the Bible, and they would study the Bible together to try and understand it better. You know, it had kind of the Russian Orthodox then church had kind of a Catholic tinge. It was like, you don't really need to study the scriptures or no, it's just common
SPEAKER_00:teaching. In fact, you're kind of, yeah, discouraged against it. You
SPEAKER_01:kind of are. And so this was kind of sketchy. They had to do it underground. And after a long time, this grew to a pretty big underground group of these old people who are, or these people who were studying the Bible, and they started to make some really fast, She says, That's cool. Who has authority? They were like, How about we stop going to the Russian Orthodox Church, we continue to study, let's find the one that has authority.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01:And so they get together. That's cool. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. Now listen, this is famous. You can look this up. This is a group. They said, we decided to call ourselves the Molokansi. Now, Moloko is milk, Molokansi, I don't know if it's related. I've never really understood why they call themselves the Molokansi, but you can look it up. Molokansi, Russian Molokansi, it exists. And it was a group of underground people who left the Russian Orthodox Church in order to study it themselves because they weren't satisfied that the truth was there and the authority wasn't there. And so this lady is telling us the story and we're like, oh my goodness. And she says, now listen, guys, if what you're telling me is true, that the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we all discovered hundreds of years ago, isn't on the authority, isn't on the earth. And we made this decision to seek it out. She says, guys, to my knowledge, at least in my family, I'm one of the remaining Malakansi. And if what you just told me is true, then am I the one that have found the restored gospel after the thousands of people and the years of seeking? She says, if this is true, then how beautiful on the mountaintops are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of great joy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wow, that's cool. And we're like, what the heck? So we said, listen. We testify to you that this is the truth. We testify to you that the gospel has been restored and that you guys were wise and knew that the authority wasn't there. Will you continue to learn from us? And we'll teach you these. And if it's true and you find out, will you be baptized with the proper authority? She says, absolutely, I will. Let's talk.
SPEAKER_00:So did she get baptized?
SPEAKER_01:Well, we started teaching her. I don't know if you like the ending. We started teaching her.
SPEAKER_00:She died first.
SPEAKER_01:I'll tell you. I'll tell you. We started teaching her and we had all the lessons and the discussions and she kept every commitment and she started coming to church and she got her daughter involved, the crazy cook lady. She got involved and her grand got her daughter involved and we all started meeting and talking and teaching and spirit was there and they were keeping commitments. And after a few months, she says, guys, the Holy Ghost tells me that this is true. Baptize me. Baptize me immediately. We need to do baptism right away. And I will never, Molly, forget the day. We had to build a font because you couldn't take her on the lake. It's too old. You couldn't take her in like a swimming pool. Too old. We built a structure that had some stairs on it. And I'll never forget the day, man. It took us 30 minutes to get her up those stairs. And when we got in the water, she asked me to baptize her. I'll never forget. I put my hand to the square ready to baptize her. And she says, stop, wait. And she looked out in the crowd and she says, where's my daughter? And she took about 10 minutes and just kind of finished off her repentance she's like I'm so sorry that time that I said this to you and that one time she just started continuing to repent
SPEAKER_00:like it
SPEAKER_01:was so sweet and tender and then she looks at me and goes I'm ready and I'll never forget I got to slowly put her in the water and bring her up this ordinance of baptism and she died like a week later
SPEAKER_00:There you go. That's cool. That's cool.
SPEAKER_01:This passion that I had before my mission, because when I came to Christ and felt the joy and just the power and the love, I wanted so badly to bring it to others. And I knew that God had called me to where I needed to go. I know that I was called to go find her. And it's a miracle to me that because we were working hard and faithful, it's a miracle that we were brought together that I could help play a role in this story of the Malakansi. And I can't believe that someday, 2,000 years from now in this celestial kingdom, I'll be sitting with all those malakansi and being like, you found her.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You brought this.
SPEAKER_00:That's so cool. It's
SPEAKER_01:a miracle, Molly.
SPEAKER_00:That is a miracle. It's
SPEAKER_01:incredible.
SPEAKER_00:It's a miracle.
SPEAKER_01:It really
SPEAKER_00:is a miracle. It's the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, you've got more miracles. You've got...
SPEAKER_00:That's cool.
SPEAKER_01:Some miracle with some smoothies or something.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Okay, so this doesn't have quite the ending that you may expect, but... This kind of goes with your principle, and I don't know if there's been a podcast about this, but the open your mouth principle as well.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. We have a whole bunch.
SPEAKER_00:And this one, I thought about you this day of my mission. I was like, Sean would be proud. But I was training a brand new missionary, and he was actually getting married next week, which is crazy. Congrats. Side note. Anyways, training this brand new missionary, and we had set a goal that we were going to follow every prompting. And we were obedient. We were living worthy. We were purpose-focused. And so we had the Spirit with us, and I believe that as you're obedient as a missionary and as you're focused on your purpose, that you have the Spirit with you. And so we kind of made this goal together that we were going to follow every prompting. And we're leaving this lesson. We have an hour to kill before our next appointment, and we're going to go knock some doors. And as we're driving, my thought is, hey, we need to stop by Tropical Smoothie. And I was like, and then my follow-up thought was, that's not purpose-focused. Like, what? Sister Baxter, get it together. Like, you're training a new missionary. This is not setting a good example.
SPEAKER_01:Wait, but your mission kind of theme or this idea of, wait a minute, trust the, I'm a missionary. I'm called to minister. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:trust that first thought.
SPEAKER_01:Trust the first thought because you feel like that's God's, Like what else? God is going to guide us. He's going to let us again have miracles. Yeah. And so you first questioned the thought and then said, wait a minute, I'm supposed to trust this thought.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And so I kind of looked over to my companion. I was like, hey, how do you feel about this? And she's like, she's like, yeah. Like she didn't necessarily have, it wasn't one of those moments where we both had this really strong feeling to go to Tropical Smoothie. But you
SPEAKER_01:trusted that the Lord was guiding you in faith.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And so we were like, okay, we'll go. And we had... set this other goal as a companionship that we were going to talk to everybody.
SPEAKER_01:Talk to everyone.
SPEAKER_00:Open your mouth. And I was kind of a cruel trainer in the sense that I, you know, made her do some things that made her pretty uncomfortable. That's not cruel. That's a huge
SPEAKER_01:blessing.
SPEAKER_00:It wasn't cruel. We were best friends. But I look back and I'm like, I probably should have eased her in a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:No,
SPEAKER_00:no. But you jump in feet first and that's how it is. So we pull up to this drive-thru and we didn't have time to go in. So I was like, we're just going to go to the drive-thru because we had to be at this appointment. Someone we were really excited to teach. And so we pull up to the window, we order our food and it's like busy inside. And my thought is, should we have gone inside? Like there's a lot of people in there. Like, was that maybe what the prompting was about? Like, but at this point I was like really hyped about my mango smoothie. I was like, well, whatever, it's fine. Like we followed the prompting. That's what matters. So we pulled to the window and I tell my trainee, I was like, my comedian, I'm like, get out and talk to the people behind us in the car. So, and she was great. Like she was bold. Like she was like, really? And I was like, yeah, just knock on their window and tell them, invite them to church. That's
SPEAKER_01:awesome. I love that so much. Open your mouth and talk to everyone.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And so she gets out. So she's not in the car with me and she's, I can still see her from my rear view mirror. All, you know, rules are being followed, but I can like see her talking to these two girls in the back. Um, and yeah, The girl's taking my money, you know, I'm paying for my smoothie and she's giving them to me. She has a headset on. She's also taking the orders for the drive-thru and making the smoothies and like paying. So it's like this one woman operation. She's like probably like 25, like is a college town. So I was like, whatever. And she's sitting there and I just, it just blurts out of my mouth. Like I hand her my credit card and I'm like, hey, like I'm a missionary for Jesus Christ. And... Like, I can't remember exactly what I said. I want to say, like, I think I said, I'm a missionary for Jesus Christ. Would you, like, do you have a faith? I think that's what I said. I was like, I'm a missionary for Jesus Christ. Like, do you have a faith in Jesus Christ? Or something, like, super casual because we were just kind of in this drive-thru. And she kind of just, like, looks at me weird and takes my card and And like shuts the window, like the window shuts back down. And I was like, oh my gosh, like this is so embarrassing. Like just, and as a missionary, you kind of have this idea that you're going to go out and like, and you are, you know, you're so powerful and like, you know, but. it's still awkward. Like you still kind of have to fight this like awkwardness of like
SPEAKER_01:fun, embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And we, I would always say be awkward for Jesus. Like just, it's awkward to knock on someone's window on a drive through and invite him to church, but you do it because you believe that this is there to serve with
SPEAKER_01:all your heart, mind and strength.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And so, and you only have 18 months, two years to do it. So you, every moment. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, like this is a low point for me. And, like, I just got a door slammed on me in a drive-thru. Like, this is terrible. And she opens the window back up, and she takes... And mind you, when I said this to her, I had interrupted her on the headset. So everything was fighting against me. Like, it was terrible. And she comes back. She opens the window. She hands me my card, and she's crying. Like, not, like, teary-eyed, but, like, sobbing. Like, streaming down her face.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:And... I kind of just look at her and I was like, oh no, like this is worse than I thought it was. Like this is terrible. I really offended this girl. And like I served in a place where people were very religious there. So it was like, you know, like they had faith and they had a church and it was like sometimes offensive to like invite them to another one. And so I'm like, oh no, like I really offended her. And she takes off her headset and there's the chaos going on like in this situation. And she hands me my smoothie and she's like, Um, she says, I said a prayer last night to God and I told him that if he, like I wanted a sign and if he didn't send me a sign, I was going to end my life tonight.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:And she looks at me and she's crying and she said, you were an angel sent from God.
SPEAKER_01:Oh geez.
SPEAKER_00:And I just like looked at this girl and I start crying. Like it was like, never, Never loved someone so much that I'd never met, never talked to. Like it was just like, it was one of those surreal moments on the mission where you're kind of like an out-of-body experience where it's just the Lord and you're kind of watching it happen almost. And it's like this interaction between the Lord and this girl and I'm just like watching it go down.
SPEAKER_01:Was it maybe a marvelous work and a wonder? Was it a wonder?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was a wonder. And everything kind of goes quiet and you just can't describe it. And she just said like, She said this to me, and it wasn't me, it was the Lord, obviously, but she's like, you saved my life, and I will never forget you. And she gives me my smoothie, and my companion gets back in the car, and she's crying, and I'm crying, and my companion looks at me, and she's like, what's going on? Like, what happened? Did you guys, like, what's going on? And I just was like, what's your name? And she's like, Mallory. And I was like, Mallory, like... maybe we may never see each other again, but I hope you know that the Lord loves you. And she just was like, thank you for what you're doing here. And just like, she like gets back, someone gets her attention. She like gets back on the headset and we drove away and I never saw her again. Never talked to her again. Um, and we went back, we like tried to go back at different times to kind of like see if we could find her again. Um, but It just like, we never were able to, but it was incredible because yeah, she didn't get baptized. I didn't see her get baptized. I didn't teach her the gospel, but I do believe that because I followed the spirit that the Lord used me and my companion to bring her what she needed. And maybe in that moment when she needed was not a story about Joseph Smith in the book of Mormon, but clearly what she needed was a reminder that the Lord, no matter what denomination she is, is aware of her.
SPEAKER_01:That's so amazing. All of the elements of the story, because in the most loudest way throughout the scriptures, the Lord through his prophets has said, seek me guys, ask, pray, seek me out. And if you will seek, I will send you answers. I will come to you. And this woman, Mallory, she was right. She was at rock bottom and she was seeking and praying. And the Lord says, you know what? I'm sending my servants to answer you, to teach you that you are seen, you are loved, you are known. And you're right. Maybe that's just the seed that gets planted. And in five years, other missionaries knock and she goes, you know what? I remember you guys. Let's talk, right? There's a progress, right? Paul said, and he taught with Silas or whatever. Was it Silas? Silas, right? Some of us plant, some of us water, but God is the one orchestrating and giving the increase on all of it. I brought up that second Nephi 25, 17 during your story on purpose. And the Lord will set his hand again a second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state, wherefore he will proceed to do a marvelous work, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder among his children of men. Now again, those of you listening, you may consider our stories coincidence.
SPEAKER_00:You
SPEAKER_01:may consider them, all right, maybe the Lord had a hand in it, but those aren't miracles compared to, I don't know, the sea being parted or someone raising from the dead. Molly and I are here on our soapbox to stand up loudly and testify. These are the miracles of the Lord because there's nothing more valuable than the individual who is the son or daughter of God.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And God loves them so much. His only work in glory is not to part seas and not to do these big, crazy miracles. The miracles of us finding other souls who are looking, who are hurt, who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are the greatest miracles of all. The changed heart that Mallory someday will have because you faithfully listened to the Holy Ghost and went out to serve a mission. The Malakansi lady, that whole family, they're strong, active members of the church, the children, the grandchildren. And that's a miracle. These are the true miracles that matter.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And the result is, is the evidence of that is the joy that you and I feel because of the power of the Holy ghost.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. As
SPEAKER_01:we talk about these.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I think the greatest miracle of all miracles is one, the atonement of Jesus Christ and the fact that our hearts can be changed because of that. Right. Have you experienced a mighty change of heart? Alma says, right. And, and, I think that's the greatest miracle of all is that we can change. Like the nature of our being can change because we serve and we love and we do what the Savior would do. And so, yeah, it's not the parting of the Red Sea. But if you're a missionary and you're serving with your heart, my mind and strength and you're focused on your purpose to bring the gospel to those that need it, that the Lord loves. you will experience that mighty change of heart and those will become as big to you as the parting of the sea. And if you're not seeing these smaller, and these are even bigger miracles, but if you're not seeing these smaller miracles as these partings of the Red Sea in your personal life, you got to change your attitude. You got to focus more on your purpose. You got to come to understand the Lord better because these are miracles and he is working a change in your heart and that's the greatest miracle of all.
SPEAKER_01:Beautiful. I love it so much. Yeah, and we both could sit here for 10 more hours telling stories about these miracles that happened. Some big, some like more in your face. Most of them are how you sought out to do the will of the Lord and he put things in our paths to find people whose hearts have become a part of that great miracle of change through the atonement of Jesus Christ. And the evidence that it's all true is the joy that we feel.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:That's beautiful. Molly, do you have a commitment? Do we have a commitment from you that you will come back to tell more stories?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, good. Now the whole world will hold you to that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'll be back.
SPEAKER_01:We need more 8 Mile stories, more Riri stories. Tishy, I want to meet Tishy. Bring Tishy back.
SPEAKER_00:I should bring her back.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:I have... Oh, go ahead. Did you have something? No,
SPEAKER_01:no, you go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:I have one quote that... I just thought of maybe it was the Spirit. And I want to read real quick if I can find it. This is what I had taped in the front of my scriptures my whole mission. And this is just my testimony of missionary work right here. Because I think when you're getting ready to go on a mission, Some missionaries go out with this passion and fire already, you know, and some they don't go out with that same passion and fire, but they know they love the Lord and so they want to serve him, but they don't know what that's going to look like. Maybe they're scared. You know, everyone comes from these different backgrounds, but the mission brings us together. And so I served with some incredible missionaries and something that I think we can all agree on, whether or not we came out for different reasons or not, is this quote by President Hinckley. And it says, it is not, and it's talking about living the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I think about serving a mission in place of that. It says, it is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give. It is an investment, a greater investment than any. Its dividends are eternal and everlasting. So I think about this change, we're talking about the miracles we've experienced that have changed our hearts and our minds and our souls in a way that you know, we can't get in any other way is more than I ever sacrificed to go on a mission. More than anything I left behind is the change that I experienced and the love I gained for not just people of Detroit, but the Savior. And so whoever is listening to this and they're like, I'm scared to go on a mission. I'm leaving so much behind. I'm leaving my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my family. It's a lot and it can be overwhelming. It's never a sacrifice when you are sacrificing for the Lord because you're just going to get back more than you could ever give. And so, um, that's what I think about when I think of these miracles is just the changes more than, more than anything we could give up. And so
SPEAKER_01:it's beautiful. I love it. Let's add to that. And then we'll end with the Luke five 20. It says, so the Lord was with the apostles and there's this man who had the palsy and he came and he said, Jesus said to him, and when he saw their faith, because they brought him to be healed, and they said, well, these guys really believe. He says, when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said unto them, what reason ye in your hearts? Which is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, Or to say, rise up and walk. I love this. He's like challenging, like, okay, which do you consider easier? Like, I just said these words. You don't even know if his sins are forgiven or not. So which would be harder for me to say that would actually come to pass? To say your sins are forgiven you or to say, rise up and walk? Clearly, they're like, well, obviously, it'd be much harder for you to say, rise up and walk, and he would actually rise up and walk. And then he says this. But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy. I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. The miracle, I love that Christ is teaching. The miracle, as amazing to us as it is that this man stood up and walked, it's nothing compared to your sins are forgiven. That is the greatest miracle of all.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That we will live in the presence of our Father in heaven in the celestial kingdom for eternity with our families because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. I love him so much for it. It's such a... That is the miracle that matters.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And we can all experience
SPEAKER_00:that. It's the
SPEAKER_01:atonement. It's the atonement.
SPEAKER_00:And it's... It's so simple to say, but I think it's real. That's the miracle. Yeah. We talk about it as this story, as this thing that happened, but it's real. It happened, and it can happen every day in your life if you choose to access
SPEAKER_01:it. You're a perfect example of that, Molly. Thanks for joining us, and you'll be back. So listeners, come back because Molly's amazing, and come listen to us next week, listeners. Thanks.
UNKNOWN:Bye. Bye.
