March 23, 2025 • 64 mins
When years of crippling addiction tighten its grip, can a sliver of lasting change still exist?
For carpenter, devoted husband, and former addict Orlando Mora, the path out of darkness was illuminated not just through sobriety and faith, but by a heaven-sent “gift of dreams.” From his first prayer of desperation to the day he opened the door to two unexpected missionaries, Orlando discovered that God’s guidance comes in many forms—sometimes through gentle impressions of the Spirit, and sometimes through vivid dreams that bring clarity, comfort, and renewed purpose.
In this uplifting episode of Latter-day Lights, Orlando recounts the power of divine intervention that guided him from a dark “basement” of hopelessness to the bright promise of a new beginning. From his first steps into a detox center, to the moment he felt Christ’s arms around him at the Mesa Arizona Temple, Orlando’s story testifies that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Even in our deepest struggles, we can find ourselves led by the hand of a loving Savior who has never once left our side.
Orlando’s journey brings hope to anyone seeking to turn their life around. Tune in to discover how, even in the quiet corners of the night, the Lord can reach our hearts, rewrite our stories, and remind each of us that we are never truly alone.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley (00:02):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:11):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
one man's journey to find thegospel showed him that God can
work miracles in anyone.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:32):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and we're really
excited to introduce our specialguest, orlando Mora, to the
show.
Welcome, orlando, thank you.
Alisha Coakley (00:43):
I'm glad to be here.
We're glad to have you.
Scott didn't get the green memotoday.
You and I've got some greengoing on here.
Are you on your wall andScott's throwing us off with his
blue?
I?
Orlando Mora (00:54):
got a plan right.
I got a green plan.
I don't understand until youbring it up.
He does have a green plan.
Alisha Coakley (01:00):
Oh no, that's a.
Really I love when I see likereally there you go, scott.
We just need Scott to, likewhoosh, go through the jungle.
Oh no, I love that wall, thatwall pattern that you have back
there.
Orlando Mora (01:18):
That is really cool so yeah, that's leftover
from our youngest son, danielwho's now in college.
Alisha Coakley (01:26):
Nice Well, I like it, it's very fun.
Thank you, yeah Well, orlando,welcome officially to Latter-day
Lights.
Why don't you tell our guestsjust a little about yourself?
Orlando Mora (01:41):
Well, I'm a 65-year-old Spanish gentleman.
I just turned 65 onThanksgiving.
Carol and I have been married.
We just had our 25th yearanniversary.
Scott Brandley (02:01):
Oh, wow.
Orlando Mora (02:03):
We met in a singles ward in Tempe Arizona.
We have two boys.
One is 25, has been marriedthree years, and his wife is
Isabella, and they have no kidsyet.
Darn it and Daniel is ouryoungest.
(02:30):
He's 23 and he's in second yearof college.
I am a carpenter by trade.
I mostly excel in remodelingbathrooms and kitchens.
I just love to work with myhands and create things, cool
(02:51):
things for people.
Some of my hobbies are I lovephotography.
Recently I got into makingcement planters giant pots for
planters which is really hard,but I enjoy it a lot.
It's very therapeutic and itgives me a sense of
accomplishment Cool.
(03:12):
We also love to garden and Ijust can't wait for spring.
Until it gets warm, thingsstart budding and popping out
and I just get so excited.
I wake up early in the morningand wait for the sun to come up
(03:35):
to greet it so I can go outsideand put my hands in dirt.
I love to cook.
My grandma taught me to cookwhen I was a young kid and a
teenager, and so I love cookingfor us and for visitors or for
(03:55):
anyone.
Mostly we cook for themissionaries.
Now, my calling now in churchis that I run a little Spanish
group, um, in the in uh in ourward, and I've been doing that
for about a year.
Um, it's slower, it's it'sgrowing slower than I would like
(04:21):
, but things don't happen on mytimeline.
They happen on God's timeline.
Alisha Coakley (04:30):
So I guess I just have to learn to be more
patient or just bring more food.
Food brings people in, so youjust cook your food and invite
them in Linger Longers everySunday.
That's what.
Orlando Mora (04:41):
I'm waiting for.
I'm about having a buffet atthe Spanish group so that we can
have one.
But I don't think the churchwould allow it.
So Carol and I are now lonersbecause our kids are gone, and
it was a hard thing, because Ilove having my kids at home.
(05:04):
If I could have them live herewith their spouses I would, but
that's probably not going tohappen.
So we miss them a lot, butthey're doing good, we're proud
of them.
They're good boys and they'redoing good things, and Carolyn
(05:25):
and I are slowly but surelygetting used to being by
ourselves.
Carolyn's a retired teacher,but she still subs because she
gets bored at home doing nothing, and so she had some amazing
experience with kidney gardenersin the last two weeks.
(05:46):
But that's a whole otherpodcast and that's about it.
Scott Brandley (05:52):
I love that.
You guys are busy.
I know, yeah, yeah, sounds likesounds like a lot of fun,
though.
Scott's getting ready to losehalf of his kids to marriage
here in just the next few months, I'm sure I've got two kids
that are getting married withina month apart from each other,
so that's gonna be a littlecrazy, but yeah yeah yeah
(06:20):
congratulations thanks.
Well, we're really excited tohear about your conversion story
, orlando.
So why don't we turn the timeover to you and tell us where
your story begins, my friend?
Orlando Mora (06:33):
Okay, thanks.
So, like I said, I'm a Spanishgentleman.
I was born in the island, inthe Caribbean island of Puerto
Rico.
It was rough back in theCaribbean island of Puerto Rico.
It was rough Back in the 60s.
My family were farmers and somaking a living was extremely
(06:54):
hard.
One of the things that happenedin our farm in Puerto Rico is
that one time when our only cowgave birth and the calf was
stillborn and the mother cowkind of went crazy and killed
(07:17):
herself.
Scott Brandley (07:19):
And my brother and I, we were.
Orlando Mora (07:22):
I think I was about still three or four years
old my brother's four yearsolder, so he's a little older we
ran and hid in the house andsometime later, because we were
afraid of what happened we'venever experienced that as little
children, yeah.
And sometime later mygrandmother found us and showed
(07:46):
us a picture of Christ, and Iguess she saw how scared we were
.
And she showed us a picture ofChrist and she told us that if
we're ever scared or lonely orhurting or discouraged, that we
should pray to him and that hewould always help us.
So I never forgot that and Ioften found my grandmother on
(08:10):
her knees, uh, praying therosary.
And I never forgot that I alwaysremembered that about my
grandma.
And so we weren't big churchgoers we we were.
We lived in the rainforest.
(08:30):
Our nearest neighbor wasprobably five miles away, and so
we moved to New York around1963, to Havistraw, New York,
which is a beautiful countyalong the Hudson River Valley,
(08:52):
30 miles north of Manhattan.
And I remember one of the firstthings I saw on television was
Kennedy's funeral, really, wow,yeah.
Kennedy's funeral, really Wow.
And Martin Luther King whoalways said that he had a dream.
So I just remember MartinLuther King and President
(09:15):
Kennedy.
So when I started school, soonafter we moved to New York, I
started kindergarten and some ofthe kids were mean and they
(09:35):
bullied me on the playground andI had one friend, julio, who
would stick up for me and hewould eventually.
I don't know where he wouldcome from, but he would just
show up and he would get betweenme and the bullies and he would
hold his fist up and he waslike this little angel kid,
(09:58):
julio.
And we're still friends.
We talk to each other onFacebook and we're still friends
.
We talk to each other onFacebook.
I learned later on that hisparents had enrolled him in
karate, and so he was a littlekarate kid and he knew how to
defend himself, and to this dayhe has a really large karate
(10:27):
studio in Dominican Republic,karate International and he does
really well.
That's awesome.
And so I had struggles inschool.
I just could not rememberassignments.
I couldn't remember.
I couldn't remember.
If the teacher gave us spokemore than three sentences, I was
(10:49):
lost.
I was good with one instruction.
If you gave me one instruction,I was okay, but if you gave me
more than one instruction, I waslost, and so I had a hard time
in school.
I had a hard time in school.
Now I've learned why.
(11:11):
It's because I had experiencedsome childhood abuse at home.
So I had PTSD since childhoodbut I've never known that until
a few years ago.
So I've lived with complex PTSDall my life and have never
known it, and so it's kind ofinteresting I think it's a
testimony that God's beenwatching over me since I was a
(11:35):
little child.
Yeah, I had one teacher inelementary school, mrs Weiss,
who was the most kindest teacherthat I've ever known, because I
struggled in class.
She noticed and she would oftencome and just walk behind me
(12:01):
and lean over and whisperinstructions in my ear.
She'd say something likeremember, we did this last week,
orlando, and this is what we doand we do this step and then we
do this step.
And she was so kind that wayand I never forgot her.
So moved on to middle schooland I made some more friends In
(12:31):
sixth grade.
I remember that I couldn't playsports because I got a back
injury.
So I was very close to our PEcoach and he also coached the
football team and so he allowedme to be a manager on the team
(12:57):
and I would carry stuff and dostuff to help the team that way
and do stuff to help the teamthat way.
And so I remember, at the endof our eighth grade year, coach
(13:19):
rewarded us four managers andtook us to an amusement park and
one of the kids we got on on,he gave us a roll of tickets and
told us to meet him back hereand in a couple of hours.
And so I remember that the fourof us ran and, uh, rented a
rowboat and one of the boysrolled up a cigarette and this
(13:41):
is the first time that I've seenthis and so he lit it up and
passed it around.
It is the first time that I'veseen this, and so he lit it up
and passed it around.
It's the first time I smokedpot.
Alisha Coakley (13:48):
Oh my gosh.
Orlando Mora (13:50):
And I was yeah.
You're sixth grade.
Alisha Coakley (13:54):
Wow.
Orlando Mora (13:56):
Yeah, and soon after that we were smoking
cigarettes and drinking beer.
Alisha Coakley (14:02):
Oh man.
Orlando Mora (14:03):
And smoking pot at that age and there was
something about it that was goodfor my brain.
I don't know what it was, but Ithink that it helped me in a
strange way to maybe not feel soanxious or nervous about things
.
Alisha Coakley (14:22):
Right.
Orlando Mora (14:24):
So I went through school.
I got through school with somereally hard struggles and
drinking and smoking pot, Idon't think helped me at all.
You know, maybe I thought thatit did, but it really didn't.
It really didn't.
By the time I graduated highschool I was already drinking
(14:52):
alcohol, smoking cigarettes andpot on a regular basis and had
already experimented with otherdrugs.
Oh gosh, I think the thing thatgot me through high school
because I wasn't a good student,I didn't have any good grades.
My counselor suggested that Ijoin a trade school and so.
(15:13):
I qualified for the carpentryclass and it's something that we
did on our last two years ofhigh school.
I would go in the mornings toanother school to learn
carpentry and I loved workingwith my hands and so I excelled
(15:33):
in the carpentry class and Irepresented our school in a
state competition, which waspretty cool, and I came in like
13th place out of 25 kids.
And I came in like 13th placeout of 25 kids and so that was
kind of fun and I looked forwardto that every day, going to a
(15:54):
carpentry class, and I was a topstudent in the class and I got
an award.
And when I graduated I also gota partially paid scholarship to
go to Dale High UniversityArchitectural School in
Pennsylvania.
Yeah, but I never made it therebecause shortly after high
(16:17):
school a bunch of us gotarrested for having pot on us
and we got in trouble and I wassentenced to four weekends in
jail and five years probationand so that also ruined my
chances for going into the AirForce, which I had signed up for
(16:40):
and qualified to be a jet airor a hydraulic specialist, but
they wouldn't let me go becauseI had that stain on my record.
So I continued to aftergraduation.
(17:01):
I continued to work in thebuilding construction field and
I learned a lot of stuff and Iexcelled and I loved working
with my hands and I lovedrepairing stuff and fixing stuff
(17:22):
.
And I loved repairing stuff andfixing stuff and my drug use
got worse and worse and worse.
I got to, I think, about fiveyears after graduation I got a
job.
I got a job In a very ritzy,plush apartment complex which is
(17:53):
about just a 20-minute drivefrom my house and I remember
being really nervous because Iwas working in apartments now
and oftentimes a homeowner wouldbe there and so I was used to
working in industrial type stuffbefore and not really in homes
(18:16):
when people were home, and sothis was kind of new for me
working in a residential andsometimes, oftentimes with the
housewife or the husband at home.
And so I was really nervous.
And I remember one day I justdrove to a quiet spot in a
(18:39):
parking lot and I prayed for Godto help me because I love the
job.
But I was so nervous I thoughtthat I was going to mess up and
get fired.
And I remember praying,sincerely, praying for God to
help me to excel, to do well,and I was never nervous, ever
(19:01):
again, and I just excelled andpeople learned to love me and I
learned to love the tenants andthey would call the office and
give compliments to my bossabout how Orlando came into our
(19:24):
house and he went our closet andhe fixed the damaged ceiling
and when he was finished he putall my 32 pairs of shoes back in
order.
And that was one of the stories.
She had all her shoes in a bigpile.
And so I just couldn't leavethem in the big pile.
So I just organized them inpairs.
(19:47):
And so that little story gotaround and people learned to
like me, and all along myaddictions were getting worse
and worse and I got into cocaineand cocaine, and it just by the
(20:15):
time I was 35 years old.
I couldn't function withouthaving alcohol or drugs in my
system.
My system was so used to havingthat medication in it that I
couldn't function without it.
And so I think I was 35 yearsold and had worked at this the
(20:43):
name of the place was Bonaire.
I'd worked there 12 years andwas doing really well, but the
addictions were killing me, andso there were times where I just
(21:04):
didn't want to live that wayanymore.
I just wanted to die.
I was too chicken to killmyself, but I just remember
thinking it would be easier todie than to just live like this
because I could not get thethoughts.
I could not go two days withoutdrugs and alcohol.
(21:25):
So I was pretty desperate andit got to the point where I
couldn't function at workanymore because my body needed
the drugs in order to function.
And so I remember, I took aleave of absence, a medical
(21:47):
leave of absence from work, andI had lost all my material
things.
I had several vehicles which Ilost and sold for drugs.
I was starting to sell all mytools for drugs and just about
everything I had I was sellingfor drugs.
(22:08):
I was starting to sell all mytools for drugs and just about
everything I had I was sellingfor drugs and lost my apartment
and just lost everything.
And my mom took me in and I wasliving with my mom and I took a
leave of absence from work andI was just a mess.
I just wanted to die.
(22:31):
And it was winter, January,February 1995.
I was watching the OJ Simpsontrial on television and a
commercial came on about thisbook, the Book of Mormon, and so
(22:56):
somehow I just was attracted tothat for long enough to where I
called the 800 number and Iremember speaking to a girl and
she just sounded like an angeland she said sure, we'll send
(23:19):
you the book, and I just got areally good feeling about it.
I thought that this book couldhelp me and help my family be
normal, and so I thought I wouldget the book over the mail.
But it never came through themail and I forgot about it.
And one day these two guysshowed up at my door with white
(23:44):
shirts and ties.
And these two handsome youngmen and I think I was hungover
that day.
I think they had called firstand made an appointment.
And I actually made anappointment and I was excited.
But then I went out drinkingand by the time they got there I
(24:06):
was hungover that day and Itold Grandma come to the door
and shoo him away.
My grandma went to the door andsaid Orlando Nostaki?
He said Orlando's not here.
And so that happened probablymore times than it should have.
(24:27):
I think I would makeappointments with them and they
drove because there were nochapels or LDS chapels where I
lived.
They came from New Jersey.
These poor guys are making areally big effort and they're
(24:52):
trying over an hour to get hereto to go to hand me the book of
mormon personally, and I wasjust shooing them at the door.
Well, I'd sent my grandmabecause I was too chicken and
shamed and I was messed up andso I think it could have been
the fourth or fifth time, Ican't remember.
But I let them in and Iapologized for the other times.
(25:15):
And I was still watching the OJSimpson trial and they were
about to introduce the glove, aspecial piece of evidence, and I
was so excited about it, andthe missionaries asked me to
shut the TV off so we can have aprayer.
And I was like what?
(25:37):
So I was a little bothered bythat, but I did it, and so my
grandma took off.
Scott Brandley (25:44):
She went and hid in the kitchen.
Orlando Mora (25:46):
We were Roman Catholics and we've never had
missionaries in our house orseen missionaries, we've never
heard of the Mormon church.
And when the elders had theselittle flashcards and they were
showing me pictures, and theyshowed me a picture of Joseph
Smith and told me about JosephSmith, and to me he looked like
(26:07):
the guy on the Quaker Oats box,you know, the old man, yeah, so
I just thought, I just thoughtthat was so funny that this guy
looked like the Quaker Oats guy.
So they were teaching me aboutstuff and had the little
flashcards and I was justthinking, oh my gosh, these poor
(26:27):
guys are so brainwashed, whatare they talking about?
Who is this Joseph Smith?
And it was all crazy, it wasjust, I just thought it was all
crazy, but I was respectful andso I listened and we got through
that lesson, through thatlesson and, um, and I was so
(26:48):
glad when they were leavingbecause I was uh, I was going to
want it to go get high.
So I followed them outside andwe were shaking hands and I said
something like uh, uh, I liketo travel.
How can I do what you guys doand go on a mission?
(27:11):
And they just looked at me andsaid, maybe someday you will.
And I remember looking in theireyes and I don't know why I
felt, and I knew in my insidesthat they were true men of God.
Alisha Coakley (27:29):
I saw that.
Orlando Mora (27:32):
I saw Christ in their eyes and I don't know why
God allowed a drunk and a personas messed up as I was to see
that.
But I never forgot that, and so, about a year later, I OD'd on
(27:57):
a bunch of alcohol and cocaineand I was able to drive myself
to my mom's house from where Iwas, and my mom and her
boyfriend took me to thehospital.
His name is Pat.
His real name is Pasquale, butwe called him Pat.
They drove me to the hospitaland miraculously, I didn't die
(28:29):
but I wanted to.
And I remember the doctors andnurses were talking about
something about detox and I'venever heard of this.
I didn't know that other peoplesuffered with the stuff that I
suffered.
I thought that I was alone inthis, that nobody else goes
through this.
I was just the only one in thisthat nobody else goes through
this.
(28:49):
I was just the only one.
But at the hospital I learnedthat there's doctors and places
that help people like that, andso I begged them to put me into
detox that's what they talkedabout our detox unit and they
said they didn't have a bedavailable.
It was a very popular detox inthe Samaritan Hospital in
(29:14):
Suffern, new York, and so Ioffered to paint all their homes
on the inside and out if theywould find me a bed and detox,
because I was so excited to havea chance to live a normal life
All I ever wanted was to have anormal life and so the nurse
(29:37):
said that she would be rightback to hold tight.
And I think she came back afteran hour and she said we found
you a bed.
And it all happened pretty fastand, like I said, I was 35
years old and I've been doingdrugs since I was in middle
(29:59):
school, drinking and smoking anddoing cocaine, freebasing,
smoking cocaine, and so Iremember saying goodbye to Mom
and Pat and the nurse took mewith a security guard.
(30:20):
I don't know why they had asecurity guard, but they went
through doors that steel doorsthat locked and you could not
once you went into detox, youwere locked in and you couldn't
get out and I thought that was alittle worrisome.
Even though I was excited toget some help, I was worried
(30:41):
that I couldn't get out of thereif.
I wanted to Get out of here if Iwanted to.
So they brought me up and didstuff and then took me to my
room and I remember I found aBible in the nightstand of my
room and I was so scared, I wasterrified and I held the Bible
(31:06):
and I just curled up into thebed like in a fetal position and
I just kept praying to God.
Just please help me to getthrough this.
Just please help me to getthrough this.
I might get a little emotional,it's okay.
And so I fell asleep that wayand I remember waking up.
(31:26):
The nurse woke me up the next,and so I fell asleep that way
and I remember waking up.
The nurse woke me up the nextmorning and said you have to go
to group.
You can't just lay around andsleep all day.
And so I was so mad I thought Icould just rest there as long
as I wanted, but that's not thecase.
As long as I wanted, but that'snot the case.
(31:50):
So a group is you go to a bigroom and you sit around and I
think there were probably 35 ofus in the detox unit at one time
and so you sit around in a bigcircle and you just go around
and sort of like an AA meetingand you just talk about whatever
(32:12):
.
And I just thought to myselfI'm not going to tell these
strangers anything about mypersonal life.
I don't even know who they are,and so that was kind of my
attitude in the beginning.
Scott Brandley (32:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Orlando Mora (32:28):
And I just kind of sat and observed and watched
and after the second or thethird day I just remember being
so happy.
I've never, ever, felthappiness like that in my entire
life because I was actuallyclean and sober for two or three
days and I just never, neverbeen able to do that, ever in 20
(32:53):
years, because I've beendrinking and drugging for 20
years.
All the other, all the otherpeople there, thought that I was
the craziest guy that ever met,because all I did was smile and
I just was so happy to be there.
(33:14):
And so these are people thatare going through detoxing and
going through withdrawals fromheroin and all kinds of stuff
and they were suffering bad withall the withdrawals and I never
felt any of that.
I never went through that.
That was.
(33:34):
One of the miracles that Iexperienced is that.
I never had any withdrawalsymptoms at all.
I went from being addicted tococaine and alcohol and drugs
and in three days I just wentfrom that to being happy without
(33:56):
any withdrawal symptoms.
Alisha Coakley (33:58):
Oh, my goodness, and.
Orlando Mora (33:59):
I didn't realize that.
Then this is stuff that Ilearned.
You know, five, ten years laterI didn't realize what was
happening to me at the time andso, uh it's.
The time in the detox seemed tohave gone by so fast.
(34:22):
I wanted to stay there becauseI know it was the happiest I've
ever felt.
But after 28 days you get movedout and the doctors recommended
that I go to a specialtransitional living center and
(34:46):
halfway house and they hadseveral of them with beds
available at my release date.
But the problem was that Ibought drugs in those
neighborhoods.
And so I felt like if I go there, I'm not going to make it.
(35:09):
And so the and I explained thisto the counselors.
I said, and one of them was inmy mother's block on the corner.
And so one of the othermiracles is that a bed opened up
in Arizona at the time that Iwas talking to the counselor and
(35:32):
she came over.
The nurse came over and saidthere's a bed in Arizona.
If you can get a ticket toArizona, there's a bed there in
a place called the House Inc.
And it's on Center Street andMain Street, just a quarter mile
from the Mesa Temple.
And so I called my mom, she gotme a ticket, I went home, I had
(36:00):
a turkey dinner with my grandma, my mom and Pat.
I slept that night and the nextmorning they took me to the
airport and I had a change ofclothing and about $9 in my
pocket.
I got on the plane to Arizona.
I wasn't afraid.
I was a little nervous, but Iwas so happy to be sober, that's
(36:26):
all I focused on, was so happyto be sober, that that's all I
focused on.
And so, uh, it was december 17th1996 and I arrived at the house
in mesa, arizona, and theyshowed me to my quarters and
they went through all the rules,this whole sheet about 30 rules
(36:49):
that you have to live by orthey throw you out.
And so one of my roommates,bobby he's from Pennsylvania, he
was a heroin addict.
He came into my room as soon asthey followed me in there and
he said hey, you want to go seethis temple lights tonight?
(37:10):
And I was like you know, it wasabout Christmas time and they
just finished setting up all thelights.
And if you're not familiar withthe Mesa temple area, they hang
lights on all the palm treesfor a quarter mile in each
direction and the city of Mesa,quarter mile in each direction,
and the city of Mesa hangs allkinds of lights.
(37:32):
They have a pretty big Christmasspirit and I've never seen
anything like that.
So I met Bobby after dinner andwe started walking toward Main
Street and then we turned andwent towards the temple and the
lights were just.
I've never seen anything likethat, it was just so.
(37:54):
I just thought, wow, thesepeople love Christ a lot, that
they spent all this time andmoney hanging all these lights.
And I remember we got to thepoint where we could see the
little building it was thevisitor center, but I didn't
know what it was at the time andI remember seeing a statue of
(38:20):
Christ from a quarter mile awayand my eyes just became glued to
that statue.
So and I just I was tripping asI walked because I just could
not get my eyes off of thestatue and I just walked and
(38:41):
watched them.
And when I got to the flagpole,bobby said I'm not going in
there.
Bobby was familiar with theMormons and he wouldn't mind
being part of it.
He said I'll meet you back herein a while, bro.
So I said okay.
So I walked into the visitorcenter and I was just staring at
(39:05):
the statue and I remember thesister missionaries walked up
and I didn't know they weremissionaries.
I didn't know where I was.
I kind of knew this is whereall the Mormons live at this
time.
And so the sister said you wantto go on a tour?
(39:29):
And I said sure.
And I was just staring at theChristus and I remember the
curtains closed, closed and thelights dimmed and then a
narration came on and a littlebit into the narration
everything went black.
I couldn't see anything and Ifelt the weight of Christ's arms
(39:54):
on my shoulders and hewhispered in my ear your
journey's over.
And then the lights were backon and the sister missionaries
were asking me all kinds ofquestions.
So how did the tour feel?
(40:16):
And I was like I can't eventalk.
I didn't know what justhappened.
I just kept repeating what hesaid to me over and over and
over in my head, so I wouldnever forget it, because I
wasn't sure what happened and Ididn't know where Bobby was.
(40:38):
I don't know how I got homethat night because I didn't know
where I lived from there, but Igot home and the next morning I
didn't remember that thathappened.
I think Heavenly Father broughtit to my forgetfulness because
(41:01):
he didn't want me sharing thatin a halfway house full of
addicts that were recoveringfrom stuff, and some of them
were mean and just you know notnice people, and so I found
(41:21):
myself going down to the templeon a daily basis, to the visitor
center, sometimes three or fourtimes a day, and the sister
missionaries are so nice At thattime.
You can go in a little room andwatch movies.
They put movies on for you andI remember I watched Lamb of God
(41:44):
.
I don't know how many times, itcould have been a hundred or
more.
It was my favorite Soon after Istarted taking the lessons and
the missionaries were so excitedto teach me because they said
(42:04):
that I was so attentive and Ihad a lot of questions, and it
was just so exciting to have aperson that was so interested
and it was just a really amazingexperience.
One of the things that Iremember is that sometimes the
(42:25):
lessons felt like it wassomething that I already knew
inside and they were bringing itto my memory.
It wasn't like something noteverything, but some of the
stuff.
I felt like I already know that.
So, that was.
That was very interesting.
It's so cool, and so I wasbaptized on May 30th of 1997.
(42:50):
And that's my story and I'msticking to it.
Alisha Coakley (42:55):
Oh my goodness.
So tell me like when.
So when did you meet your wifeand all that you said you?
You met her when you guys werein school.
Orlando Mora (43:06):
So I've never been married and I thought I would
never be married just becauseyou know the life that I lived.
But I had some good neighbors.
I moved out of the halfwayhouse about six months later and
(43:30):
I was working for a guy thatowned the halfway house
buildings who was LDS.
He was a really kooky guy buthe was the nicest guy ever.
He was a member of the churchand he would come often to find
men to help him on his projectsfor the halfway house.
(43:51):
He'd been through a similarhalfway house himself.
He was an alcoholic and sobetween him and his family they
kind of helped me to stay active.
And I had another neighborfriend who took me to my first
(44:14):
fireside and I thought I wasgoing to a campground and they
were going to have a big fire.
I didn't know what a firesidewas Roasting some marshmallows.
Well, yeah, and so, because hesaid you have to wear Sunday
clothes, and I said, well, we'regoing to a fire.
What am I going to wear Sundayclothes for?
He says you'll see.
And so, mitch Johnson, we'regoing to a fire.
(44:34):
What am I going to wear Sundayclothes for?
He says you'll see.
And so, mitch Johnson, we'restill friends, he's just the
best guy.
And he took me to this fireside.
And this is a singles, I thinkit was 35 through 60-year-old
singles thing, 35 through 60year old singles thing, and so
(44:57):
there were probably two thirdswomen and one third men and I
thought, oh my gosh, I've diedand gone to heaven.
I'm going to be married soon.
I was so.
It was so cool.
And so Mitch always looked outfor me and made sure that I was
(45:19):
doing okay and, like I said, hetook me to my first fireside and
other things I remember at theend of the fireside everybody
was folding chairs and puttingthem away and I said don't they
have janitors that do this?
Why are we doing this?
You know, it's just I've neverseen we didn't do service work
(45:41):
the way I grew up like that, andso that was pretty interesting.
And so I was preparing to go tothe temple and I went to the
temple about a year after I wasbaptized and started going to
(46:02):
that singles ward and met Carolone day at a Saturday night
dance.
She was selling tickets and shewas sitting there in a and I
could see a lot of her legs.
She had these most beautifulfreckled legs and she spoke
Spanish.
I said something in Spanish toher, kidding around, and she
(46:25):
spoke Spanish back to me and Ithought, oh my gosh, she speaks
Spanish better than I do, andshe has these beautiful legs
better than I do.
And she has these beautiful legs, and so we started dating and
we married.
Scott Brandley (46:46):
I don't know about eight months later, and so
that's how we met at a singlesdance.
Alisha Coakley (46:48):
That's funny so your life dramatically changed
in just a matter of a couple ofyears.
Orlando Mora (46:53):
My wife is nuts to have even went on a date with
me.
I don't know what she'sthinking.
She's sitting right therelaughing, so but go ahead.
I was going to ask what did yourfamily think with you joining
(47:15):
the church?
I think I was so excited when Iwas taking the lessons and I
was going to be baptized and Iwould call my mom on a regular
basis and give her a report andtell her about the Christ that
lives in Arizona and how amazinghe is, and tell her about the
church, and I would just tellher everything and she, I think
(47:38):
she was happy that I was soberand doing well.
I don't think she was so happythat I joined the church,
because it's kind of like abetrayal type of thing.
You raised Roman Catholics,we're all Roman Catholics, now
you're joining this weird churchand she kind of felt a little
betrayed.
Maybe you raised RomanCatholics, we're all Roman
Catholics, now you're joiningthis weird church and she kind
of felt a little betrayed.
Maybe I don't know, but she hada hard time with it.
(48:00):
It took some years for her tokind of you know be more
accepting.
But she I want to share with youwhen our kids were in high
school.
This is one of the amazingexperiences that I've
(48:26):
experienced as a member of thechurch.
I think God gifted me with thegift of dreams and so I would
have these amazing dreams.
I couldn't always figure themout, but a lot of them I have.
And our boys were still in highschool and we had a tradition
(48:49):
that on spring break we wouldtake the boys somewhere to do
fun stuff for a few days a weekand we were on our way on spring
break and the first night, Ihad this dream and I'm going to
(49:11):
read it because I can't rememberit, I'm sorry.
And I'm going to read it becauseI can't remember it, I'm sorry.
So on the way to Phoenix, wewere listening to this pastor on
the radio.
Because we can't get a lot ofradio stations up here.
We're out in the boondocks andso all we could get was this
(49:32):
pastor and so, and the kids hadtheir ear, their earbuds and
listening to their own music.
So carol and I were listeningto this pastor who was talking
about, uh, our house and our inour house should be a temple and
and, um, just talking about ourbodies and how we should take
care of our bodies.
And that night I had a dreamthat I was in this house, I was
(50:01):
being led by my hand and I'vebeen in this house many times
before, but I didn't rememberwhen or why.
I didn't recognize any of therooms.
I didn't recognize any otherrooms, so we started out in the
top floor and I knew Christ wasin the house and I was looking
(50:27):
forward to meeting him.
And so we started in the topfloor and I was sure he was
going to be in the top floor.
And we went in the top floorand we went from room to room to
room to room, but he wasn'tthere.
And we headed down a hallwaylots of closets, and we opened
(50:52):
up all the doors and we werelooking and I was being led by
my hand.
Room by room, we opened thedoors and he wasn't there.
We finally got to the bottomfloor and I went room by room
and he just wasn't there and Iwas starting to get discouraged.
So, almost on our way out, wecame to a door that caught my
attention.
(51:12):
When I asked what it was, thevoice said the basement.
And the door opened as thoughit was inviting me to come into
the basement.
I didn't like the basement.
I had bad memories of basements, bad memories of basements, and
(51:33):
the reason why that is isbecause as a four-year-old child
, I was led into a basement, meand three other little boys four
or five years old, and we wereled into a dark basement by a
neighbor and he did bad thingsto us, and so I was prompted to
(51:55):
continue thinking it would bedark, damp and scary and full of
bad memories.
And I never imagined that thissavior being in the basement as
I was led, still by my hand, ina dark corner, there he was
sitting, waiting and looking atme in open arms, and I just
couldn't believe that he was inthe basement.
(52:16):
So I think that the dream, themeaning of the dream, is that he
was there in the basement withme when I was four years old,
and it also means that I neverexpected him to be in the
(52:37):
basement.
But regardless of where I am inlife, he is with me Dark, cold
and scary.
Regardless, he has always beenthere.
I was ashamed to know that Ihad dragged him to such ugly
places throughout my life, toknow that I had dragged him to
such ugly places throughout mylife.
(52:59):
Now, knowing that he has, hewas there at my most painful and
shameful moments of my life andthat he experienced it all with
me and for me.
After this was over, I realizedhow much he loves me, forgives
me and wants me to be on the topfloor of the mansion with him.
The basement was only atemporary place of learning and
(53:22):
I had to learn to forgive thatman that did those things.
So it's just been one of thecoolest experiences I had.
That I learned through a dreamand I just wanted to share that
had that I learned through adream.
Scott Brandley (53:37):
And I just wanted to share that with you.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, you look back onyour life to where you are now
and you know, for all thoseyears when you were lost.
I mean, you know, what do youthink, looking back on your life
to where you are now?
Orlando Mora (53:57):
how do you see God in your journey?
I see him as though he's alwaysbeen there, just watching over
me the whole time.
I was never alone and you know,I think it's.
You know, I think it's becauseof my grandma, who taught me how
(54:19):
to pray as a little child.
I never forgot how to pray andand I would always pray and, and
, sadly, I pray.
Most of the times that I prayedis when I was scared or when I
was hurting real bad and I gotmyself into a foxhole, and then
(54:39):
I would do a foxhole prayer, andso I was, you know, but I never
gave up, and so I always prayed, even at some of my worst
(55:05):
moments, that I could live anormal life and be free from the
stuff that I was addicted to.
Alisha Coakley (55:18):
Yeah, wow, you got me.
Your story is so amazing, I loveit so much and it like never in
a million years, just talkingto and looking at you, what I
think, that you had gone throughall of that.
You know, like you just seem tojust emanate Christ light, like
through your, your smile, andit's just, you can just feel
your spirit and your sincerity,and it's such a beautiful thing
and I really appreciate yousharing that dream, especially
(55:39):
because I think that, um, gosh,I think we can all resonate.
You know, like just the, thefeeling of being in a basement.
You know, whether we werephysically there or not, um,
emotionally, spiritually, thereare so many times when that is
the lowest of lows.
You know, and and I it makes methink about in Dr Uncommonance,
(56:00):
where it talks about how, like,like, no one has descended
lower than Christ, like he,always he is the rock, and so
when we hit rock bottom, we knowwe're with him.
You know, and I just thinkthat's such a beautiful,
(56:22):
beautiful dream that you weregiven, and especially an
understanding to that dream.
You know, like gosh, I don'teven.
I don't even have any otherwords other than that, just
thank you so much for sharing astory today with us.
Orlando Mora (56:32):
You're welcome, it's my pleasure.
Scott Brandley (56:35):
Yeah, much for sharing this story today with us
.
You're welcome.
It's my pleasure.
Yeah, there's some good insightthere, because I mean in life,
when we're faced with things wedon't want to confront, that's
kind of like our basement, right, whether it's something we've
done or something somebody'sdone to us.
I mean there's just some thingswe don't want to face in life,
whether it's something we'vedone or something somebody's
done to us.
I mean it's, there's just somethings we don't want to face in
(56:57):
life.
They're too hard, they're toohard to face and those are kind
of like our our basements.
You know the challenges, thedifficult thing that we have to
eventually go through.
Orlando Mora (57:10):
Everybody has stuff, you know, I think one of
the most valuable lessons I'velearned is that everybody has
stuff.
Everybody has a basement thatthey've been in and we all
suffer with stuff.
That's the purpose of comingand experiencing the earth life
(57:30):
and I think we forget that.
We forget to be kind andcompassionate to people when we
think that they're just mean orthey just don't for whatever
reason, and we judge people.
Well, I shouldn't say we, Ijudge people and I forget that
(57:50):
we all have stuff and you don'tknow what they're going through
and sometimes just a smile, akind smile or a compliment can
make somebody's day and make andjust bring happiness to their,
to their day, and so I try andlive my life that way.
I try and be kind to strangersat all times.
(58:10):
I tried to teach my kids that.
Alisha Coakley (58:16):
Well, it shows you just have like the sweetest
spirit.
I love it.
I love this, this whole story,this whole episode.
I love that we got to meet youLike I, you know.
What's funny is I don't evenknow who wrote to us, because
they didn't sign their name andthey sent your email so for our
(58:36):
listeners, we had a friend ofyours email us and say you've
got to talk to Orlando, he's gotan amazing story, and then they
put your email address as abackers.
I couldn't even reply back tothem.
Orlando Mora (58:52):
That little sneaky , I don't even reply back to
them that little sneaky KenIsaacson I don't know who it was
.
Alisha Coakley (58:57):
Do you know who it is?
Orlando Mora (58:59):
I don't.
Would you like to know who itis?
Yeah, who was it?
His name is Ken Isaacson.
Alisha Coakley (59:05):
Okay, yeah.
Orlando Mora (59:08):
He lives here in our town.
He's just the nicest guy.
Alisha Coakley (59:13):
Oh, that's cool.
Well, I thank you, ken, so muchlike and for taking the time to
email us and to, to you know,offer up orlando as our guests,
because it was just so, soawesome.
I love this so much.
Orlando Mora (59:32):
Thank you, it was a pleasure.
Alisha Coakley (59:34):
Oh man, well, Orlando, can I ask real quick,
like before we hop off here,what would you say to listeners
who maybe are in their ownbasements right now, you know
like, who maybe don't feel likethey have a lot of hope, or they
don't feel the Savior by theirside, or they don't think that
they're worthy of a miracle?
What would you say to thoselisteners?
Orlando Mora (59:58):
I'd say that you can't give up on God.
If you, whatever it is thatyou're struggling with, if
you're sincere about wanting tochange your life and about
wanting to be happy and aboutwanting to have all the best
(01:00:23):
things that life has to offer,God can help us do all those
things, and you, just you can't.
You know, I think a lot of ussometimes we're kind of a once a
(01:00:44):
day friend to God on Sunday.
He wants us to be his friend allthe time.
He wants us to be sincere andhe knows our hearts.
And so if you spill your heartand let him know, and talk to
him and let him know what yourneeds are, what you're suffering
with he already knows it, buthe wants to hear it from you.
(01:01:05):
You just tell him and he'llcome through for you, like he
did for me, and he loves all hischildren.
Why wouldn't he do that for you?
He wants to.
So that's what I would say.
Scott Brandley (01:01:19):
Love it.
Your story is amazing, Orlando,and we really appreciate you
coming on to share it with usand with our audience.
Orlando Mora (01:01:33):
It was my pleasure .
Alisha Coakley (01:01:37):
So well, are there any final thoughts that
you want to share?
I feel like you wrapped it uppretty beautifully, but I do
want to give you one lastopportunity to share.
I don't think so.
Orlando Mora (01:01:51):
I just know that there's nothing God can't do.
If he could do, if he couldchange my life the way he did,
he can do that for anyone, andit doesn't matter where you are
or what you're doing or whatsins you think you might have
(01:02:12):
your sins are no greater than mysins and my sins are no greater
than your sins and he can doanything for anyone at any time,
and he's there for us.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:25):
Oh man, Orlando, you're awesome.
You're welcome back anytime.
Orlando Mora (01:02:31):
I would love to tell you the rest of the story I
hey, yes, orlando part two, Ilove it okay, thank you for
having me oh yeah thank you,orlando it's been my pleasure
and I'm honored to be here andto share my story with with
others and hope that it giveshope to somebody.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:54):
I.
I think it definitely will.
I know it did for me for sure.
I got I.
I was able to feel a spirit forsure.
Scott Brandley (01:03:01):
So I appreciate you yeah, okay, well, and if, if
any of our listeners are outthere listening to this and they
feel inspired to share theirstory, maybe you inspired
someone to to come on and sharetheir story, orlando.
So if that's the case, go tolatterdaylightscom and tell us
(01:03:21):
about your story so we can haveyou on, like we did with Orlando
.
Alisha Coakley (01:03:24):
Yeah, absolutely .
Or be a Ken and just tell onsomeone else who has a cool
story.
We'll take that too.
Oh man, yeah.
And to our listeners, guys, asalways, please make sure you do
that.
Five second missionary work.
Share Orlando's story.
Put a comment below.
Let us know what your favoritepart was.
(01:03:45):
And, you know, just help us tobe able to get this episode out
to more people.
We would really reallyappreciate that.
So with that, I think that's awrap for this week.
We hope everyone tunes in nextweek for another episode of
Latter-day Lights.
Until then, we hope you guyshave a great time.
Scott Brandley (01:04:05):
Take care everybody, Bye-bye.
Orlando Mora (01:04:07):
Good night, thank you.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley (00:02):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:11):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
one man's journey to find thegospel showed him that God can
work miracles in anyone.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:32):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and we're really
excited to introduce our specialguest, orlando Mora, to the
show.
Welcome, orlando, thank you.
Alisha Coakley (00:43):
I'm glad to be here.
We're glad to have you.
Scott didn't get the green memotoday.
You and I've got some greengoing on here.
Are you on your wall andScott's throwing us off with his
blue?
I?
Orlando Mora (00:54):
got a plan right.
I got a green plan.
I don't understand until youbring it up.
He does have a green plan.
Alisha Coakley (01:00):
Oh no, that's a.
Really I love when I see likereally there you go, scott.
We just need Scott to, likewhoosh, go through the jungle.
Oh no, I love that wall, thatwall pattern that you have back
there.
Orlando Mora (01:18):
That is really cool so yeah, that's leftover
from our youngest son, danielwho's now in college.
Alisha Coakley (01:26):
Nice Well, I like it, it's very fun.
Thank you, yeah Well, orlando,welcome officially to Latter-day
Lights.
Why don't you tell our guestsjust a little about yourself?
Orlando Mora (01:41):
Well, I'm a 65-year-old Spanish gentleman.
I just turned 65 onThanksgiving.
Carol and I have been married.
We just had our 25th yearanniversary.
Scott Brandley (02:01):
Oh, wow.
Orlando Mora (02:03):
We met in a singles ward in Tempe Arizona.
We have two boys.
One is 25, has been marriedthree years, and his wife is
Isabella, and they have no kidsyet.
Darn it and Daniel is ouryoungest.
(02:30):
He's 23 and he's in second yearof college.
I am a carpenter by trade.
I mostly excel in remodelingbathrooms and kitchens.
I just love to work with myhands and create things, cool
(02:51):
things for people.
Some of my hobbies are I lovephotography.
Recently I got into makingcement planters giant pots for
planters which is really hard,but I enjoy it a lot.
It's very therapeutic and itgives me a sense of
accomplishment Cool.
(03:12):
We also love to garden and Ijust can't wait for spring.
Until it gets warm, thingsstart budding and popping out
and I just get so excited.
I wake up early in the morningand wait for the sun to come up
(03:35):
to greet it so I can go outsideand put my hands in dirt.
I love to cook.
My grandma taught me to cookwhen I was a young kid and a
teenager, and so I love cookingfor us and for visitors or for
(03:55):
anyone.
Mostly we cook for themissionaries.
Now, my calling now in churchis that I run a little Spanish
group, um, in the in uh in ourward, and I've been doing that
for about a year.
Um, it's slower, it's it'sgrowing slower than I would like
(04:21):
, but things don't happen on mytimeline.
They happen on God's timeline.
Alisha Coakley (04:30):
So I guess I just have to learn to be more
patient or just bring more food.
Food brings people in, so youjust cook your food and invite
them in Linger Longers everySunday.
That's what.
Orlando Mora (04:41):
I'm waiting for.
I'm about having a buffet atthe Spanish group so that we can
have one.
But I don't think the churchwould allow it.
So Carol and I are now lonersbecause our kids are gone, and
it was a hard thing, because Ilove having my kids at home.
(05:04):
If I could have them live herewith their spouses I would, but
that's probably not going tohappen.
So we miss them a lot, butthey're doing good, we're proud
of them.
They're good boys and they'redoing good things, and Carolyn
(05:25):
and I are slowly but surelygetting used to being by
ourselves.
Carolyn's a retired teacher,but she still subs because she
gets bored at home doing nothing, and so she had some amazing
experience with kidney gardenersin the last two weeks.
(05:46):
But that's a whole otherpodcast and that's about it.
Scott Brandley (05:52):
I love that.
You guys are busy.
I know, yeah, yeah, sounds likesounds like a lot of fun,
though.
Scott's getting ready to losehalf of his kids to marriage
here in just the next few months, I'm sure I've got two kids
that are getting married withina month apart from each other,
so that's gonna be a littlecrazy, but yeah yeah yeah
(06:20):
congratulations thanks.
Well, we're really excited tohear about your conversion story
, orlando.
So why don't we turn the timeover to you and tell us where
your story begins, my friend?
Orlando Mora (06:33):
Okay, thanks.
So, like I said, I'm a Spanishgentleman.
I was born in the island, inthe Caribbean island of Puerto
Rico.
It was rough back in theCaribbean island of Puerto Rico.
It was rough Back in the 60s.
My family were farmers and somaking a living was extremely
(06:54):
hard.
One of the things that happenedin our farm in Puerto Rico is
that one time when our only cowgave birth and the calf was
stillborn and the mother cowkind of went crazy and killed
(07:17):
herself.
Scott Brandley (07:19):
And my brother and I, we were.
Orlando Mora (07:22):
I think I was about still three or four years
old my brother's four yearsolder, so he's a little older we
ran and hid in the house andsometime later, because we were
afraid of what happened we'venever experienced that as little
children, yeah.
And sometime later mygrandmother found us and showed
(07:46):
us a picture of Christ, and Iguess she saw how scared we were
.
And she showed us a picture ofChrist and she told us that if
we're ever scared or lonely orhurting or discouraged, that we
should pray to him and that hewould always help us.
So I never forgot that and Ioften found my grandmother on
(08:10):
her knees, uh, praying therosary.
And I never forgot that I alwaysremembered that about my
grandma.
And so we weren't big churchgoers we we were.
We lived in the rainforest.
(08:30):
Our nearest neighbor wasprobably five miles away, and so
we moved to New York around1963, to Havistraw, New York,
which is a beautiful countyalong the Hudson River Valley,
(08:52):
30 miles north of Manhattan.
And I remember one of the firstthings I saw on television was
Kennedy's funeral, really, wow,yeah.
Kennedy's funeral, really Wow.
And Martin Luther King whoalways said that he had a dream.
So I just remember MartinLuther King and President
(09:15):
Kennedy.
So when I started school, soonafter we moved to New York, I
started kindergarten and some ofthe kids were mean and they
(09:35):
bullied me on the playground andI had one friend, julio, who
would stick up for me and hewould eventually.
I don't know where he wouldcome from, but he would just
show up and he would get betweenme and the bullies and he would
hold his fist up and he waslike this little angel kid,
(09:58):
julio.
And we're still friends.
We talk to each other onFacebook and we're still friends
.
We talk to each other onFacebook.
I learned later on that hisparents had enrolled him in
karate, and so he was a littlekarate kid and he knew how to
defend himself, and to this dayhe has a really large karate
(10:27):
studio in Dominican Republic,karate International and he does
really well.
That's awesome.
And so I had struggles inschool.
I just could not rememberassignments.
I couldn't remember.
I couldn't remember.
If the teacher gave us spokemore than three sentences, I was
(10:49):
lost.
I was good with one instruction.
If you gave me one instruction,I was okay, but if you gave me
more than one instruction, I waslost, and so I had a hard time
in school.
I had a hard time in school.
Now I've learned why.
(11:11):
It's because I had experiencedsome childhood abuse at home.
So I had PTSD since childhoodbut I've never known that until
a few years ago.
So I've lived with complex PTSDall my life and have never
known it, and so it's kind ofinteresting I think it's a
testimony that God's beenwatching over me since I was a
(11:35):
little child.
Yeah, I had one teacher inelementary school, mrs Weiss,
who was the most kindest teacherthat I've ever known, because I
struggled in class.
She noticed and she would oftencome and just walk behind me
(12:01):
and lean over and whisperinstructions in my ear.
She'd say something likeremember, we did this last week,
orlando, and this is what we doand we do this step and then we
do this step.
And she was so kind that wayand I never forgot her.
So moved on to middle schooland I made some more friends In
(12:31):
sixth grade.
I remember that I couldn't playsports because I got a back
injury.
So I was very close to our PEcoach and he also coached the
football team and so he allowedme to be a manager on the team
(12:57):
and I would carry stuff and dostuff to help the team that way
and do stuff to help the teamthat way.
And so I remember, at the endof our eighth grade year, coach
(13:19):
rewarded us four managers andtook us to an amusement park and
one of the kids we got on on,he gave us a roll of tickets and
told us to meet him back hereand in a couple of hours.
And so I remember that the fourof us ran and, uh, rented a
rowboat and one of the boysrolled up a cigarette and this
(13:41):
is the first time that I've seenthis and so he lit it up and
passed it around.
It is the first time that I'veseen this, and so he lit it up
and passed it around.
It's the first time I smokedpot.
Alisha Coakley (13:48):
Oh my gosh.
Orlando Mora (13:50):
And I was yeah.
You're sixth grade.
Alisha Coakley (13:54):
Wow.
Orlando Mora (13:56):
Yeah, and soon after that we were smoking
cigarettes and drinking beer.
Alisha Coakley (14:02):
Oh man.
Orlando Mora (14:03):
And smoking pot at that age and there was
something about it that was goodfor my brain.
I don't know what it was, but Ithink that it helped me in a
strange way to maybe not feel soanxious or nervous about things
.
Alisha Coakley (14:22):
Right.
Orlando Mora (14:24):
So I went through school.
I got through school with somereally hard struggles and
drinking and smoking pot, Idon't think helped me at all.
You know, maybe I thought thatit did, but it really didn't.
It really didn't.
By the time I graduated highschool I was already drinking
(14:52):
alcohol, smoking cigarettes andpot on a regular basis and had
already experimented with otherdrugs.
Oh gosh, I think the thing thatgot me through high school
because I wasn't a good student,I didn't have any good grades.
My counselor suggested that Ijoin a trade school and so.
(15:13):
I qualified for the carpentryclass and it's something that we
did on our last two years ofhigh school.
I would go in the mornings toanother school to learn
carpentry and I loved workingwith my hands and so I excelled
(15:33):
in the carpentry class and Irepresented our school in a
state competition, which waspretty cool, and I came in like
13th place out of 25 kids.
And I came in like 13th placeout of 25 kids and so that was
kind of fun and I looked forwardto that every day, going to a
(15:54):
carpentry class, and I was a topstudent in the class and I got
an award.
And when I graduated I also gota partially paid scholarship to
go to Dale High UniversityArchitectural School in
Pennsylvania.
Yeah, but I never made it therebecause shortly after high
(16:17):
school a bunch of us gotarrested for having pot on us
and we got in trouble and I wassentenced to four weekends in
jail and five years probationand so that also ruined my
chances for going into the AirForce, which I had signed up for
(16:40):
and qualified to be a jet airor a hydraulic specialist, but
they wouldn't let me go becauseI had that stain on my record.
So I continued to aftergraduation.
(17:01):
I continued to work in thebuilding construction field and
I learned a lot of stuff and Iexcelled and I loved working
with my hands and I lovedrepairing stuff and fixing stuff
(17:22):
.
And I loved repairing stuff andfixing stuff and my drug use
got worse and worse and worse.
I got to, I think, about fiveyears after graduation I got a
job.
I got a job In a very ritzy,plush apartment complex which is
(17:53):
about just a 20-minute drivefrom my house and I remember
being really nervous because Iwas working in apartments now
and oftentimes a homeowner wouldbe there and so I was used to
working in industrial type stuffbefore and not really in homes
(18:16):
when people were home, and sothis was kind of new for me
working in a residential andsometimes, oftentimes with the
housewife or the husband at home.
And so I was really nervous.
And I remember one day I justdrove to a quiet spot in a
(18:39):
parking lot and I prayed for Godto help me because I love the
job.
But I was so nervous I thoughtthat I was going to mess up and
get fired.
And I remember praying,sincerely, praying for God to
help me to excel, to do well,and I was never nervous, ever
(19:01):
again, and I just excelled andpeople learned to love me and I
learned to love the tenants andthey would call the office and
give compliments to my bossabout how Orlando came into our
(19:24):
house and he went our closet andhe fixed the damaged ceiling
and when he was finished he putall my 32 pairs of shoes back in
order.
And that was one of the stories.
She had all her shoes in a bigpile.
And so I just couldn't leavethem in the big pile.
So I just organized them inpairs.
(19:47):
And so that little story gotaround and people learned to
like me, and all along myaddictions were getting worse
and worse and I got into cocaineand cocaine, and it just by the
(20:15):
time I was 35 years old.
I couldn't function withouthaving alcohol or drugs in my
system.
My system was so used to havingthat medication in it that I
couldn't function without it.
And so I think I was 35 yearsold and had worked at this the
(20:43):
name of the place was Bonaire.
I'd worked there 12 years andwas doing really well, but the
addictions were killing me, andso there were times where I just
(21:04):
didn't want to live that wayanymore.
I just wanted to die.
I was too chicken to killmyself, but I just remember
thinking it would be easier todie than to just live like this
because I could not get thethoughts.
I could not go two days withoutdrugs and alcohol.
(21:25):
So I was pretty desperate andit got to the point where I
couldn't function at workanymore because my body needed
the drugs in order to function.
And so I remember, I took aleave of absence, a medical
(21:47):
leave of absence from work, andI had lost all my material
things.
I had several vehicles which Ilost and sold for drugs.
I was starting to sell all mytools for drugs and just about
everything I had I was sellingfor drugs.
(22:08):
I was starting to sell all mytools for drugs and just about
everything I had I was sellingfor drugs and lost my apartment
and just lost everything.
And my mom took me in and I wasliving with my mom and I took a
leave of absence from work andI was just a mess.
I just wanted to die.
(22:31):
And it was winter, January,February 1995.
I was watching the OJ Simpsontrial on television and a
commercial came on about thisbook, the Book of Mormon, and so
(22:56):
somehow I just was attracted tothat for long enough to where I
called the 800 number and Iremember speaking to a girl and
she just sounded like an angeland she said sure, we'll send
(23:19):
you the book, and I just got areally good feeling about it.
I thought that this book couldhelp me and help my family be
normal, and so I thought I wouldget the book over the mail.
But it never came through themail and I forgot about it.
And one day these two guysshowed up at my door with white
(23:44):
shirts and ties.
And these two handsome youngmen and I think I was hungover
that day.
I think they had called firstand made an appointment.
And I actually made anappointment and I was excited.
But then I went out drinkingand by the time they got there I
(24:06):
was hungover that day and Itold Grandma come to the door
and shoo him away.
My grandma went to the door andsaid Orlando Nostaki?
He said Orlando's not here.
And so that happened probablymore times than it should have.
(24:27):
I think I would makeappointments with them and they
drove because there were nochapels or LDS chapels where I
lived.
They came from New Jersey.
These poor guys are making areally big effort and they're
(24:52):
trying over an hour to get hereto to go to hand me the book of
mormon personally, and I wasjust shooing them at the door.
Well, I'd sent my grandmabecause I was too chicken and
shamed and I was messed up andso I think it could have been
the fourth or fifth time, Ican't remember.
But I let them in and Iapologized for the other times.
(25:15):
And I was still watching the OJSimpson trial and they were
about to introduce the glove, aspecial piece of evidence, and I
was so excited about it, andthe missionaries asked me to
shut the TV off so we can have aprayer.
And I was like what?
(25:37):
So I was a little bothered bythat, but I did it, and so my
grandma took off.
Scott Brandley (25:44):
She went and hid in the kitchen.
Orlando Mora (25:46):
We were Roman Catholics and we've never had
missionaries in our house orseen missionaries, we've never
heard of the Mormon church.
And when the elders had theselittle flashcards and they were
showing me pictures, and theyshowed me a picture of Joseph
Smith and told me about JosephSmith, and to me he looked like
(26:07):
the guy on the Quaker Oats box,you know, the old man, yeah, so
I just thought, I just thoughtthat was so funny that this guy
looked like the Quaker Oats guy.
So they were teaching me aboutstuff and had the little
flashcards and I was justthinking, oh my gosh, these poor
(26:27):
guys are so brainwashed, whatare they talking about?
Who is this Joseph Smith?
And it was all crazy, it wasjust, I just thought it was all
crazy, but I was respectful andso I listened and we got through
that lesson, through thatlesson and, um, and I was so
(26:48):
glad when they were leavingbecause I was uh, I was going to
want it to go get high.
So I followed them outside andwe were shaking hands and I said
something like uh, uh, I liketo travel.
How can I do what you guys doand go on a mission?
(27:11):
And they just looked at me andsaid, maybe someday you will.
And I remember looking in theireyes and I don't know why I
felt, and I knew in my insidesthat they were true men of God.
Alisha Coakley (27:29):
I saw that.
Orlando Mora (27:32):
I saw Christ in their eyes and I don't know why
God allowed a drunk and a personas messed up as I was to see
that.
But I never forgot that, and so, about a year later, I OD'd on
(27:57):
a bunch of alcohol and cocaineand I was able to drive myself
to my mom's house from where Iwas, and my mom and her
boyfriend took me to thehospital.
His name is Pat.
His real name is Pasquale, butwe called him Pat.
They drove me to the hospitaland miraculously, I didn't die
(28:29):
but I wanted to.
And I remember the doctors andnurses were talking about
something about detox and I'venever heard of this.
I didn't know that other peoplesuffered with the stuff that I
suffered.
I thought that I was alone inthis, that nobody else goes
through this.
I was just the only one in thisthat nobody else goes through
this.
(28:49):
I was just the only one.
But at the hospital I learnedthat there's doctors and places
that help people like that, andso I begged them to put me into
detox that's what they talkedabout our detox unit and they
said they didn't have a bedavailable.
It was a very popular detox inthe Samaritan Hospital in
(29:14):
Suffern, new York, and so Ioffered to paint all their homes
on the inside and out if theywould find me a bed and detox,
because I was so excited to havea chance to live a normal life
All I ever wanted was to have anormal life and so the nurse
(29:37):
said that she would be rightback to hold tight.
And I think she came back afteran hour and she said we found
you a bed.
And it all happened pretty fastand, like I said, I was 35
years old and I've been doingdrugs since I was in middle
(29:59):
school, drinking and smoking anddoing cocaine, freebasing,
smoking cocaine, and so Iremember saying goodbye to Mom
and Pat and the nurse took mewith a security guard.
(30:20):
I don't know why they had asecurity guard, but they went
through doors that steel doorsthat locked and you could not
once you went into detox, youwere locked in and you couldn't
get out and I thought that was alittle worrisome.
Even though I was excited toget some help, I was worried
(30:41):
that I couldn't get out of thereif.
I wanted to Get out of here if Iwanted to.
So they brought me up and didstuff and then took me to my
room and I remember I found aBible in the nightstand of my
room and I was so scared, I wasterrified and I held the Bible
(31:06):
and I just curled up into thebed like in a fetal position and
I just kept praying to God.
Just please help me to getthrough this.
Just please help me to getthrough this.
I might get a little emotional,it's okay.
And so I fell asleep that wayand I remember waking up.
(31:26):
The nurse woke me up the next,and so I fell asleep that way
and I remember waking up.
The nurse woke me up the nextmorning and said you have to go
to group.
You can't just lay around andsleep all day.
And so I was so mad I thought Icould just rest there as long
as I wanted, but that's not thecase.
As long as I wanted, but that'snot the case.
(31:50):
So a group is you go to a bigroom and you sit around and I
think there were probably 35 ofus in the detox unit at one time
and so you sit around in a bigcircle and you just go around
and sort of like an AA meetingand you just talk about whatever
(32:12):
.
And I just thought to myselfI'm not going to tell these
strangers anything about mypersonal life.
I don't even know who they are,and so that was kind of my
attitude in the beginning.
Scott Brandley (32:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Orlando Mora (32:28):
And I just kind of sat and observed and watched
and after the second or thethird day I just remember being
so happy.
I've never, ever, felthappiness like that in my entire
life because I was actuallyclean and sober for two or three
days and I just never, neverbeen able to do that, ever in 20
(32:53):
years, because I've beendrinking and drugging for 20
years.
All the other, all the otherpeople there, thought that I was
the craziest guy that ever met,because all I did was smile and
I just was so happy to be there.
(33:14):
And so these are people thatare going through detoxing and
going through withdrawals fromheroin and all kinds of stuff
and they were suffering bad withall the withdrawals and I never
felt any of that.
I never went through that.
That was.
(33:34):
One of the miracles that Iexperienced is that.
I never had any withdrawalsymptoms at all.
I went from being addicted tococaine and alcohol and drugs
and in three days I just wentfrom that to being happy without
(33:56):
any withdrawal symptoms.
Alisha Coakley (33:58):
Oh, my goodness, and.
Orlando Mora (33:59):
I didn't realize that.
Then this is stuff that Ilearned.
You know, five, ten years laterI didn't realize what was
happening to me at the time andso, uh it's.
The time in the detox seemed tohave gone by so fast.
(34:22):
I wanted to stay there becauseI know it was the happiest I've
ever felt.
But after 28 days you get movedout and the doctors recommended
that I go to a specialtransitional living center and
(34:46):
halfway house and they hadseveral of them with beds
available at my release date.
But the problem was that Ibought drugs in those
neighborhoods.
And so I felt like if I go there, I'm not going to make it.
(35:09):
And so the and I explained thisto the counselors.
I said, and one of them was inmy mother's block on the corner.
And so one of the othermiracles is that a bed opened up
in Arizona at the time that Iwas talking to the counselor and
(35:32):
she came over.
The nurse came over and saidthere's a bed in Arizona.
If you can get a ticket toArizona, there's a bed there in
a place called the House Inc.
And it's on Center Street andMain Street, just a quarter mile
from the Mesa Temple.
And so I called my mom, she gotme a ticket, I went home, I had
(36:00):
a turkey dinner with my grandma, my mom and Pat.
I slept that night and the nextmorning they took me to the
airport and I had a change ofclothing and about $9 in my
pocket.
I got on the plane to Arizona.
I wasn't afraid.
I was a little nervous, but Iwas so happy to be sober, that's
(36:26):
all I focused on, was so happyto be sober, that that's all I
focused on.
And so, uh, it was december 17th1996 and I arrived at the house
in mesa, arizona, and theyshowed me to my quarters and
they went through all the rules,this whole sheet about 30 rules
(36:49):
that you have to live by orthey throw you out.
And so one of my roommates,bobby he's from Pennsylvania, he
was a heroin addict.
He came into my room as soon asthey followed me in there and
he said hey, you want to go seethis temple lights tonight?
(37:10):
And I was like you know, it wasabout Christmas time and they
just finished setting up all thelights.
And if you're not familiar withthe Mesa temple area, they hang
lights on all the palm treesfor a quarter mile in each
direction and the city of Mesa,quarter mile in each direction,
and the city of Mesa hangs allkinds of lights.
(37:32):
They have a pretty big Christmasspirit and I've never seen
anything like that.
So I met Bobby after dinner andwe started walking toward Main
Street and then we turned andwent towards the temple and the
lights were just.
I've never seen anything likethat, it was just so.
(37:54):
I just thought, wow, thesepeople love Christ a lot, that
they spent all this time andmoney hanging all these lights.
And I remember we got to thepoint where we could see the
little building it was thevisitor center, but I didn't
know what it was at the time andI remember seeing a statue of
(38:20):
Christ from a quarter mile awayand my eyes just became glued to
that statue.
So and I just I was tripping asI walked because I just could
not get my eyes off of thestatue and I just walked and
(38:41):
watched them.
And when I got to the flagpole,bobby said I'm not going in
there.
Bobby was familiar with theMormons and he wouldn't mind
being part of it.
He said I'll meet you back herein a while, bro.
So I said okay.
So I walked into the visitorcenter and I was just staring at
(39:05):
the statue and I remember thesister missionaries walked up
and I didn't know they weremissionaries.
I didn't know where I was.
I kind of knew this is whereall the Mormons live at this
time.
And so the sister said you wantto go on a tour?
(39:29):
And I said sure.
And I was just staring at theChristus and I remember the
curtains closed, closed and thelights dimmed and then a
narration came on and a littlebit into the narration
everything went black.
I couldn't see anything and Ifelt the weight of Christ's arms
(39:54):
on my shoulders and hewhispered in my ear your
journey's over.
And then the lights were backon and the sister missionaries
were asking me all kinds ofquestions.
So how did the tour feel?
(40:16):
And I was like I can't eventalk.
I didn't know what justhappened.
I just kept repeating what hesaid to me over and over and
over in my head, so I wouldnever forget it, because I
wasn't sure what happened and Ididn't know where Bobby was.
(40:38):
I don't know how I got homethat night because I didn't know
where I lived from there, but Igot home and the next morning I
didn't remember that thathappened.
I think Heavenly Father broughtit to my forgetfulness because
(41:01):
he didn't want me sharing thatin a halfway house full of
addicts that were recoveringfrom stuff, and some of them
were mean and just you know notnice people, and so I found
(41:21):
myself going down to the templeon a daily basis, to the visitor
center, sometimes three or fourtimes a day, and the sister
missionaries are so nice At thattime.
You can go in a little room andwatch movies.
They put movies on for you andI remember I watched Lamb of God
(41:44):
.
I don't know how many times, itcould have been a hundred or
more.
It was my favorite Soon after Istarted taking the lessons and
the missionaries were so excitedto teach me because they said
(42:04):
that I was so attentive and Ihad a lot of questions, and it
was just so exciting to have aperson that was so interested
and it was just a really amazingexperience.
One of the things that Iremember is that sometimes the
(42:25):
lessons felt like it wassomething that I already knew
inside and they were bringing itto my memory.
It wasn't like something noteverything, but some of the
stuff.
I felt like I already know that.
So, that was.
That was very interesting.
It's so cool, and so I wasbaptized on May 30th of 1997.
(42:50):
And that's my story and I'msticking to it.
Alisha Coakley (42:55):
Oh my goodness.
So tell me like when.
So when did you meet your wifeand all that you said you?
You met her when you guys werein school.
Orlando Mora (43:06):
So I've never been married and I thought I would
never be married just becauseyou know the life that I lived.
But I had some good neighbors.
I moved out of the halfwayhouse about six months later and
(43:30):
I was working for a guy thatowned the halfway house
buildings who was LDS.
He was a really kooky guy buthe was the nicest guy ever.
He was a member of the churchand he would come often to find
men to help him on his projectsfor the halfway house.
(43:51):
He'd been through a similarhalfway house himself.
He was an alcoholic and sobetween him and his family they
kind of helped me to stay active.
And I had another neighborfriend who took me to my first
(44:14):
fireside and I thought I wasgoing to a campground and they
were going to have a big fire.
I didn't know what a firesidewas Roasting some marshmallows.
Well, yeah, and so, because hesaid you have to wear Sunday
clothes, and I said, well, we'regoing to a fire.
What am I going to wear Sundayclothes for?
He says you'll see.
And so, mitch Johnson, we'regoing to a fire.
(44:34):
What am I going to wear Sundayclothes for?
He says you'll see.
And so, mitch Johnson, we'restill friends, he's just the
best guy.
And he took me to this fireside.
And this is a singles, I thinkit was 35 through 60-year-old
singles thing, 35 through 60year old singles thing, and so
(44:57):
there were probably two thirdswomen and one third men and I
thought, oh my gosh, I've diedand gone to heaven.
I'm going to be married soon.
I was so.
It was so cool.
And so Mitch always looked outfor me and made sure that I was
(45:19):
doing okay and, like I said, hetook me to my first fireside and
other things I remember at theend of the fireside everybody
was folding chairs and puttingthem away and I said don't they
have janitors that do this?
Why are we doing this?
You know, it's just I've neverseen we didn't do service work
(45:41):
the way I grew up like that, andso that was pretty interesting.
And so I was preparing to go tothe temple and I went to the
temple about a year after I wasbaptized and started going to
(46:02):
that singles ward and met Carolone day at a Saturday night
dance.
She was selling tickets and shewas sitting there in a and I
could see a lot of her legs.
She had these most beautifulfreckled legs and she spoke
Spanish.
I said something in Spanish toher, kidding around, and she
(46:25):
spoke Spanish back to me and Ithought, oh my gosh, she speaks
Spanish better than I do, andshe has these beautiful legs
better than I do.
And she has these beautiful legs, and so we started dating and
we married.
Scott Brandley (46:46):
I don't know about eight months later, and so
that's how we met at a singlesdance.
Alisha Coakley (46:48):
That's funny so your life dramatically changed
in just a matter of a couple ofyears.
Orlando Mora (46:53):
My wife is nuts to have even went on a date with
me.
I don't know what she'sthinking.
She's sitting right therelaughing, so but go ahead.
I was going to ask what did yourfamily think with you joining
(47:15):
the church?
I think I was so excited when Iwas taking the lessons and I
was going to be baptized and Iwould call my mom on a regular
basis and give her a report andtell her about the Christ that
lives in Arizona and how amazinghe is, and tell her about the
church, and I would just tellher everything and she, I think
(47:38):
she was happy that I was soberand doing well.
I don't think she was so happythat I joined the church,
because it's kind of like abetrayal type of thing.
You raised Roman Catholics,we're all Roman Catholics, now
you're joining this weird churchand she kind of felt a little
betrayed.
Maybe you raised RomanCatholics, we're all Roman
Catholics, now you're joiningthis weird church and she kind
of felt a little betrayed.
Maybe I don't know, but she hada hard time with it.
(48:00):
It took some years for her tokind of you know be more
accepting.
But she I want to share with youwhen our kids were in high
school.
This is one of the amazingexperiences that I've
(48:26):
experienced as a member of thechurch.
I think God gifted me with thegift of dreams and so I would
have these amazing dreams.
I couldn't always figure themout, but a lot of them I have.
And our boys were still in highschool and we had a tradition
(48:49):
that on spring break we wouldtake the boys somewhere to do
fun stuff for a few days a weekand we were on our way on spring
break and the first night, Ihad this dream and I'm going to
(49:11):
read it because I can't rememberit, I'm sorry.
And I'm going to read it becauseI can't remember it, I'm sorry.
So on the way to Phoenix, wewere listening to this pastor on
the radio.
Because we can't get a lot ofradio stations up here.
We're out in the boondocks andso all we could get was this
(49:32):
pastor and so, and the kids hadtheir ear, their earbuds and
listening to their own music.
So carol and I were listeningto this pastor who was talking
about, uh, our house and our inour house should be a temple and
and, um, just talking about ourbodies and how we should take
care of our bodies.
And that night I had a dreamthat I was in this house, I was
(50:01):
being led by my hand and I'vebeen in this house many times
before, but I didn't rememberwhen or why.
I didn't recognize any of therooms.
I didn't recognize any otherrooms, so we started out in the
top floor and I knew Christ wasin the house and I was looking
(50:27):
forward to meeting him.
And so we started in the topfloor and I was sure he was
going to be in the top floor.
And we went in the top floorand we went from room to room to
room to room, but he wasn'tthere.
And we headed down a hallwaylots of closets, and we opened
(50:52):
up all the doors and we werelooking and I was being led by
my hand.
Room by room, we opened thedoors and he wasn't there.
We finally got to the bottomfloor and I went room by room
and he just wasn't there and Iwas starting to get discouraged.
So, almost on our way out, wecame to a door that caught my
attention.
(51:12):
When I asked what it was, thevoice said the basement.
And the door opened as thoughit was inviting me to come into
the basement.
I didn't like the basement.
I had bad memories of basements, bad memories of basements, and
(51:33):
the reason why that is isbecause as a four-year-old child
, I was led into a basement, meand three other little boys four
or five years old, and we wereled into a dark basement by a
neighbor and he did bad thingsto us, and so I was prompted to
(51:55):
continue thinking it would bedark, damp and scary and full of
bad memories.
And I never imagined that thissavior being in the basement as
I was led, still by my hand, ina dark corner, there he was
sitting, waiting and looking atme in open arms, and I just
couldn't believe that he was inthe basement.
(52:16):
So I think that the dream, themeaning of the dream, is that he
was there in the basement withme when I was four years old,
and it also means that I neverexpected him to be in the
(52:37):
basement.
But regardless of where I am inlife, he is with me Dark, cold
and scary.
Regardless, he has always beenthere.
I was ashamed to know that Ihad dragged him to such ugly
places throughout my life, toknow that I had dragged him to
such ugly places throughout mylife.
(52:59):
Now, knowing that he has, hewas there at my most painful and
shameful moments of my life andthat he experienced it all with
me and for me.
After this was over, I realizedhow much he loves me, forgives
me and wants me to be on the topfloor of the mansion with him.
The basement was only atemporary place of learning and
(53:22):
I had to learn to forgive thatman that did those things.
So it's just been one of thecoolest experiences I had.
That I learned through a dreamand I just wanted to share that
had that I learned through adream.
Scott Brandley (53:37):
And I just wanted to share that with you.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, you look back onyour life to where you are now
and you know, for all thoseyears when you were lost.
I mean, you know, what do youthink, looking back on your life
to where you are now?
Orlando Mora (53:57):
how do you see God in your journey?
I see him as though he's alwaysbeen there, just watching over
me the whole time.
I was never alone and you know,I think it's.
You know, I think it's becauseof my grandma, who taught me how
(54:19):
to pray as a little child.
I never forgot how to pray andand I would always pray and, and
, sadly, I pray.
Most of the times that I prayedis when I was scared or when I
was hurting real bad and I gotmyself into a foxhole, and then
(54:39):
I would do a foxhole prayer, andso I was, you know, but I never
gave up, and so I always prayed, even at some of my worst
(55:05):
moments, that I could live anormal life and be free from the
stuff that I was addicted to.
Alisha Coakley (55:18):
Yeah, wow, you got me.
Your story is so amazing, I loveit so much and it like never in
a million years, just talkingto and looking at you, what I
think, that you had gone throughall of that.
You know, like you just seem tojust emanate Christ light, like
through your, your smile, andit's just, you can just feel
your spirit and your sincerity,and it's such a beautiful thing
and I really appreciate yousharing that dream, especially
(55:39):
because I think that, um, gosh,I think we can all resonate.
You know, like just the, thefeeling of being in a basement.
You know, whether we werephysically there or not, um,
emotionally, spiritually, thereare so many times when that is
the lowest of lows.
You know, and and I it makes methink about in Dr Uncommonance,
(56:00):
where it talks about how, like,like, no one has descended
lower than Christ, like he,always he is the rock, and so
when we hit rock bottom, we knowwe're with him.
You know, and I just thinkthat's such a beautiful,
(56:22):
beautiful dream that you weregiven, and especially an
understanding to that dream.
You know, like gosh, I don'teven.
I don't even have any otherwords other than that, just
thank you so much for sharing astory today with us.
Orlando Mora (56:32):
You're welcome, it's my pleasure.
Scott Brandley (56:35):
Yeah, much for sharing this story today with us
.
You're welcome.
It's my pleasure.
Yeah, there's some good insightthere, because I mean in life,
when we're faced with things wedon't want to confront, that's
kind of like our basement, right, whether it's something we've
done or something somebody'sdone to us.
I mean there's just some thingswe don't want to face in life,
whether it's something we'vedone or something somebody's
done to us.
I mean it's, there's just somethings we don't want to face in
(56:57):
life.
They're too hard, they're toohard to face and those are kind
of like our our basements.
You know the challenges, thedifficult thing that we have to
eventually go through.
Orlando Mora (57:10):
Everybody has stuff, you know, I think one of
the most valuable lessons I'velearned is that everybody has
stuff.
Everybody has a basement thatthey've been in and we all
suffer with stuff.
That's the purpose of comingand experiencing the earth life
(57:30):
and I think we forget that.
We forget to be kind andcompassionate to people when we
think that they're just mean orthey just don't for whatever
reason, and we judge people.
Well, I shouldn't say we, Ijudge people and I forget that
(57:50):
we all have stuff and you don'tknow what they're going through
and sometimes just a smile, akind smile or a compliment can
make somebody's day and make andjust bring happiness to their,
to their day, and so I try andlive my life that way.
I try and be kind to strangersat all times.
(58:10):
I tried to teach my kids that.
Alisha Coakley (58:16):
Well, it shows you just have like the sweetest
spirit.
I love it.
I love this, this whole story,this whole episode.
I love that we got to meet youLike I, you know.
What's funny is I don't evenknow who wrote to us, because
they didn't sign their name andthey sent your email so for our
(58:36):
listeners, we had a friend ofyours email us and say you've
got to talk to Orlando, he's gotan amazing story, and then they
put your email address as abackers.
I couldn't even reply back tothem.
Orlando Mora (58:52):
That little sneaky , I don't even reply back to
them that little sneaky KenIsaacson I don't know who it was
.
Alisha Coakley (58:57):
Do you know who it is?
Orlando Mora (58:59):
I don't.
Would you like to know who itis?
Yeah, who was it?
His name is Ken Isaacson.
Alisha Coakley (59:05):
Okay, yeah.
Orlando Mora (59:08):
He lives here in our town.
He's just the nicest guy.
Alisha Coakley (59:13):
Oh, that's cool.
Well, I thank you, ken, so muchlike and for taking the time to
email us and to, to you know,offer up orlando as our guests,
because it was just so, soawesome.
I love this so much.
Orlando Mora (59:32):
Thank you, it was a pleasure.
Alisha Coakley (59:34):
Oh man, well, Orlando, can I ask real quick,
like before we hop off here,what would you say to listeners
who maybe are in their ownbasements right now, you know
like, who maybe don't feel likethey have a lot of hope, or they
don't feel the Savior by theirside, or they don't think that
they're worthy of a miracle?
What would you say to thoselisteners?
Orlando Mora (59:58):
I'd say that you can't give up on God.
If you, whatever it is thatyou're struggling with, if
you're sincere about wanting tochange your life and about
wanting to be happy and aboutwanting to have all the best
(01:00:23):
things that life has to offer,God can help us do all those
things, and you, just you can't.
You know, I think a lot of ussometimes we're kind of a once a
(01:00:44):
day friend to God on Sunday.
He wants us to be his friend allthe time.
He wants us to be sincere andhe knows our hearts.
And so if you spill your heartand let him know, and talk to
him and let him know what yourneeds are, what you're suffering
with he already knows it, buthe wants to hear it from you.
(01:01:05):
You just tell him and he'llcome through for you, like he
did for me, and he loves all hischildren.
Why wouldn't he do that for you?
He wants to.
So that's what I would say.
Scott Brandley (01:01:19):
Love it.
Your story is amazing, Orlando,and we really appreciate you
coming on to share it with usand with our audience.
Orlando Mora (01:01:33):
It was my pleasure .
Alisha Coakley (01:01:37):
So well, are there any final thoughts that
you want to share?
I feel like you wrapped it uppretty beautifully, but I do
want to give you one lastopportunity to share.
I don't think so.
Orlando Mora (01:01:51):
I just know that there's nothing God can't do.
If he could do, if he couldchange my life the way he did,
he can do that for anyone, andit doesn't matter where you are
or what you're doing or whatsins you think you might have
(01:02:12):
your sins are no greater than mysins and my sins are no greater
than your sins and he can doanything for anyone at any time,
and he's there for us.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:25):
Oh man, Orlando, you're awesome.
You're welcome back anytime.
Orlando Mora (01:02:31):
I would love to tell you the rest of the story I
hey, yes, orlando part two, Ilove it okay, thank you for
having me oh yeah thank you,orlando it's been my pleasure
and I'm honored to be here andto share my story with with
others and hope that it giveshope to somebody.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:54):
I.
I think it definitely will.
I know it did for me for sure.
I got I.
I was able to feel a spirit forsure.
Scott Brandley (01:03:01):
So I appreciate you yeah, okay, well, and if, if
any of our listeners are outthere listening to this and they
feel inspired to share theirstory, maybe you inspired
someone to to come on and sharetheir story, orlando.
So if that's the case, go tolatterdaylightscom and tell us
(01:03:21):
about your story so we can haveyou on, like we did with Orlando
.
Alisha Coakley (01:03:24):
Yeah, absolutely .
Or be a Ken and just tell onsomeone else who has a cool
story.
We'll take that too.
Oh man, yeah.
And to our listeners, guys, asalways, please make sure you do
that.
Five second missionary work.
Share Orlando's story.
Put a comment below.
Let us know what your favoritepart was.
(01:03:45):
And, you know, just help us tobe able to get this episode out
to more people.
We would really reallyappreciate that.
So with that, I think that's awrap for this week.
We hope everyone tunes in nextweek for another episode of
Latter-day Lights.
Until then, we hope you guyshave a great time.
Scott Brandley (01:04:05):
Take care everybody, Bye-bye.
Orlando Mora (01:04:07):
Good night, thank you.
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