Discerning the Spirit's Love and Power in an ASL Mission - Sister Emma "Wild Child" Stanford - Mission Stories

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
All right, welcome back, Mission Prep Podcast.
We have some good guests today,but we'll wait to introduce our
really, really powerful, nopressure, great, amazing,
spiritual, articulate, nopressure guest.

(00:20):
Because Lauren, you told mesomething just right before we
started.
Please tell me again, whathappened today?

SPEAKER_02 (00:24):
Friends, I have a cool story for you today.

SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
Sure.

SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
So today I'm sitting in my kitchen.
I get a text from one of myprevious companions and she's
currently serving in a branchthat I spent six months in.
And I see a picture and thelittle text next to it.
I was like, look what we didtoday.
And I look at the picture and Izoom in and it's four of my
recent converts standing infront of the temple just with

(00:50):
her.
And the smile on their faces,I'm just like, oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
When's the last time you saw them?

SPEAKER_02 (00:58):
Eight weeks ago.

SPEAKER_00 (00:59):
Yeah.
So, yeah, I mean, that's a goodinterval.
So then what happened when yousaw them?

SPEAKER_02 (01:06):
I got emotional.
And?
And it made me think of Alma 26.
Wait a

SPEAKER_00 (01:12):
minute.
You said you burst into tears.

SPEAKER_02 (01:15):
I said I had the desire to, but I didn't actually
do it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Okay, but why?
Why?

SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
But I said a prayer of gratitude after, and then I
burst

SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
into tears.
Yeah, explain.
What were you feeling when yousaw that?

SPEAKER_02 (01:25):
Gratitude.

SPEAKER_00 (01:26):
It was

SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
gratitude.

SPEAKER_00 (01:27):
Just joy and happiness.

SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Joy.
I

SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
mean, this is what we talk about all the time on
the podcast is when we come toChrist, right?
And how do we come to Christ?
Again, missionaries listening,your only purpose as a
missionary is to lead souls toChrist.
And the only way to come toChrist is is faith, repentance,
baptism, and the gift of theHoly Ghost.
The faith leads to repentance.
And when you are a repentantsoul, that's the only way to

(01:49):
receive joy in this world.
That's it.
When we learn the brokenhearted,contrite, condition of our souls
and we repent, then and onlythen can we feel joy because
that's the condition Christ hasfor us to come unto him, right?
Then we enter into covenants.
So you are thrilled because notonly did you go through that
process yourself of conversion,but you are working with all
these people that you just fallin love with and you see them

(02:11):
come unto faith and untorepentance and unto the
covenants.
And so you see them at thetemple, which means even more,
right?
Not just salvation, butexaltation, that path.
And how does it make you feel,Lauren?

SPEAKER_02 (02:22):
There's like no words to explain the joy that
you feel when you see someoneelse finding the same joy that
you once found.
And I individually reached outto each of them.
And one of my recent convert,her name's Deanna, she responded
and she sent me a voice memo andshe just said, And I'm going to
Hendricks.
I felt the presence of theperson I was doing baptisms for.

(02:46):
Like I felt their gratitude.
I felt their appreciation.
I felt their love for the gospelwhen I was there.
Oh, so cool.
I'm sitting here like screamingin my car, like, oh my gosh, it
was so awesome.
But I had mentioned earlier, itreminded me of Alma 26.
And this chapter is one that Iread for two weeks every single
day before I came home from themission.
My last two weeks in the field,I read it every day because it

(03:07):
talks about Ammon.
It's basically his reflection onhis mission.
And the very first verse is myfavorite because he says, um, my
brothers and my brother andbehold, I say unto you, how
great reason have we to rejoiceme in this moment.
Okay.
Then it continues saying for,could it, For could we have
supposed when we started fromthe land of Zarahemla that God

(03:30):
would have granted unto us suchgreat blessings?
And it goes on to say that thesuch great blessings that he
received are the people that hewas able to help be converted.
And I can't help but think ofthat every time I see one of the
people that I talk to in thestreet or someone that I saw get
baptized or that I helped taughtjust feel this joy of the gospel
truly be converted throughfaith, repentance, baptism, the

(03:52):
gift of the Holy Ghost.
And it's just, I had no ideaListeners, you have no idea the
blessings that you're about toreceive by serving the Lord.
And the blessings just cometenfold when you serve with all
your heart, mind, and strength.

SPEAKER_00 (04:04):
And I always love, Lauren, how you talk about you
had no idea two years ago or ayear and a half ago what true
joy, what true love of othersand true love of God was like.
And now...
You're this return missionaryand a true disciple of Christ
who's been truly converted.
And the things that bring yousuch, not just joy, but the

(04:27):
deepest joy you can possiblyfeel are based in conversion in
Christ and others coming toChrist and receiving that same
joy.
I'm so happy to see you get thattext, look at that photo,
showing me these pictures.
And it's just, your heart ischanged because of how much joy
you have in other people'ssuccess and joy.
Loads of joy, people.
That's awesome.

(04:49):
Thank you for sharing that.
That's amazing.
All right.
So today we are joined by a veryspecial guest.
Why don't you introduceyourself?

SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Hello.
My name is Emma Stanford.
I served in the Arkansas LittleRock Mission.
Has a couple of states likeMississippi, Tennessee, Alabama,
Arkansas.
It's like the whole South.

SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
So we're a different country than what most of us
know of.

SPEAKER_02 (05:09):
Absolutely.
I loved it.
And I spoke American SignLanguage.
So

SPEAKER_00 (05:14):
wait, were you called to speak American Sign
Language or did you get outthere and they were like, um, we
need you to learn this language?

SPEAKER_02 (05:20):
Yeah, I was called to American Sign Language.

SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Because you, and beforehand you had spoken it or
you knew some of it?

SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Yeah, I studied it in high school and I studied it
in college.

SPEAKER_00 (05:29):
Isn't that amazing?
Okay, so then you got called tospeak ASL.
Yes.
And so just for our listeners tojust, just to get the practical
information out of the way.
So why?
how do you find people?
How do you, it's deaf people,correct?
Right.
How do you find people on amission?
Cause one of the principles,this is interesting, right?
Lauren, one of the principles,our third principle is open your

(05:50):
mouth and talk to everyone.
So how do you,

SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
well,

SPEAKER_00 (05:56):
how do

SPEAKER_02 (05:56):
you,

SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
yeah.
How do you find people on yourmission?

SPEAKER_02 (06:00):
Well, um, in my mission, at least we had two
deaf areas, like we're assignedlike ASL, like in that
specifically in the area becausethere was a deaf school right
next to it.
Cool.
But we didn't really utilizethat as much as we could have.
There's a lot of rules because Iwas on other college campuses
too, like Ole Miss.
And there's so many rules thatyou have to go through to like
proselytize on a college campus.
So we weren't really, andespecially with like deaf kids,

(06:21):
like kids and missionaries, likethere's just like a lot of
different rules.
So we had to get creative overlike social media.
So we would do like signlanguage videos, sign language,
like, music videos.

SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
Oh, cool.
And then you'd get referralsfrom those social media videos?

SPEAKER_02 (06:34):
Yes, or members.
I think a lot of our good,steady friends came from members
being like, oh, there's a deaflady down my street.

SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
That's so cool.
That is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 (06:43):
I mean, it was always fluctuating how you could
find new deaf people to teachbecause it's just such a niche.
Lines in the water, baby.
Oh, yeah.
Fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 (06:53):
We tried everything.
Okay, good.
Well, we're excited to hear someof your stories and experiences.
Real quick, before we start, Iwanted to share, since we have
something in common from ourexperiences.
So when I was in Ukraine, backin the 90s, my first area, I was
learning Russian language, juststumbling through it.
One day, me and my companionwere out working, and it was
real late, not very many peopleout, and I'll set the scene,

(07:16):
because this is a little creepy.
We get on what's called a Atramvai, which is like an
electric...

SPEAKER_02 (07:23):
Tram.

SPEAKER_00 (07:23):
Tram.
Thank you.
But it's a Soviet electric tram.
So it's dark and we're in thisremote area, kind of a little
scary.
We get on this tram.
We're the only ones there.
We're exhausted.
It's kind of hot and sweaty.
We take off ready to go home.
No one to talk to.
We usually talk to people on thetrams, but no one was there.
So we're just driving, going,going, and then all of a sudden

(07:44):
it stops and these two guys geton all the way down to the other
end.
And we look and kind of make eyecontact.
And my attitude at that wasalways like, great, someone to
go talk to.
But when they looked at us, itwas kind of menacing a little
bit because they kind of stared.
They stared and stared, and thenthey started walking our way.
And we're like, uh-oh, uh-oh.

(08:06):
Because that usually eithermeans they're mafia, which means
trouble, or it means they'recops, like 18-year-old cops, and
that's definitely trouble.
Or it means they're drunk.
So we're like, okay, what'sgoing to happen?
So these two guys come up to us.
And before he gets an earshot ofus, he stops, pulls out a piece
of paper and a pen, and hestarts writing something down.
And we're like, oh, man, what isgoing on?

(08:27):
This is not good.
Charades.
Yeah.
So he writes something down,then he comes up and he hands it
to us.
And it says in Russian, I have adevil.
I have a devil.

SPEAKER_02 (08:38):
Oh my gosh.
I feel like you shared one ofthese at Mission Prep before.

SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
Did you remember this story?

SPEAKER_02 (08:43):
I think so.

SPEAKER_00 (08:44):
So he says, I have a devil.
And we were both like, oh, what?
This is creepy and dark andscary.
And so we spoke to him and hejust kind of shook his head.
And we're like, what ishappening?
What is going to happen here?
And then he took it again and hewrote something and he said,
your church tells me that I havea devil because I am deaf.

(09:04):
And we're like, oh, no way.
And then I look at my companion,Elder Melcher, And he shocks the
heck out of me.
He brings his hands up and hestarts sign language, sign
languaging with this guy.
What's the right?
What do I say that?

SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
I guess just using a sign.

SPEAKER_00 (09:18):
He starts using sign and they're communicating back
and forth.
And I'm like, what the heck ishappening?
Like, and I asked him like, whatare you doing?
He's like, I, I didn't tell you.
I, I've, I found some, some deafRussian people.
And I, before I got with you, I,go to their little, so the
Soviets would put them all inthese like crappy houses in this

(09:40):
one area.
And so there's like hundreds ofthese deaf people.

SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 (09:44):
And he's like, so I would just, I've been going
there and teaching them and I'velearned the language.
Like, that's insane.
That's impressive.
That's incredible.
So they started to discuss.
And what this man was simplytelling us was, look, I've been
told my whole life from theRussian Orthodox Church, from
the Orthodox churches, thatbecause I was born the way I was
born with this issue, that meansthere's a devil in me.

SPEAKER_02 (10:06):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
Yeah.
And so he was asking us, do youbelieve that I have a devil?
And what a great time for us tosay, heck no, you don't have a
devil.
You are a beloved son of God.
And in fact, we have a messagefor you.
And so we started teaching him.

SPEAKER_02 (10:22):
You know, what's actually funny is we taught a
Slovakian deaf guy.
So I learned French signlanguage to communicate with
him.
And he was like, it wasn't thatdifferent.
But then he was like, actually,I went to school in America, and
I know American Sign Language.
And so we're like, okay, well,because we were teaching him in
French Sign Language, but youspell out a lot of things like
fingerspelling.
We would spell it out inSlovakian.

SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
Wow.

SPEAKER_02 (10:45):
Yeah.
But then he's like, I actuallyknow ASL.
We're like, okay, well.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 (10:51):
this will be easier.
So today we're going to focus onprinciple number two, revelation
leads to conversion.
And it's a fascinating subjectbecause before we started, I
mean, you and I were talkingabout experiences you've had
throughout your life with theHoly Ghost.
And you shared a story with methat happened a couple of days
ago.
with some friends in the temple.

(11:11):
Would you mind just sharing thatreal quick?
Cause that'll, that kind of gotus on this track that I think
was going to be interesting togo on.

SPEAKER_02 (11:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, uh, me and my friend Marinwere discussing on where we
should go to the temple cause weneeded to go before we both went
back home and we were like, Oh,we should go to, you're in
Provo, BYU in Provo.
And there's so many templeshere.
The temple is like an hour and ahalf away.
It's far.
But, um, so we're like, Oh,let's do the 8am.
And Marin said, no, I, I have todo that.
Let's do the 9am.
So like, okay, just making thesesmall decisions.

(11:38):
And then, um, long story short,we did our temple session and
we're about to leave.
And we saw this like doorclosing of like people going in
to see like what they can do,like what work needs to be done
in the temple.
And it was our other bestfriend, Mandy.
And I didn't even think this islike a big thing at all, but
Marilyn was like, oh mygoodness.
Like, I didn't think I was goingto say bye to her before I left
for the, like for the wholesummer.

(11:58):
And, It was a big deal to Marenbecause we all hugged and
rejoiced in the middle of thetemple.
So it was just kind of fun.
And even she, she was going togo to the Draper Temple.
She wasn't going to be at thattemple at that time.

SPEAKER_00 (12:11):
So the fascinating thing about then the discussion
you and I got into after we toldthat story is this.
And listeners, this is whatwe're going to focus on today.
The principle of revelationleads to conversion.
This discussion is going to,we're going to go deep in
Obviously, Revelation is Godcommunicating to us through the
Holy Ghost.
So we're going to have a deepdiscussion about how do we know
that it's the Holy Ghost or not?

(12:31):
How do we discern the HolyGhost?
And the reason your story becamereally interesting is because I
kind of asked you and says,well, how do you know, right?
You're a faithful person, likeprobably more faithful than
anyone I know.
How do you know Oh, Lauren justgot angry.
You're in that category too.
How do you know that thatexperience wasn't just

(12:53):
coincidence, just luck?
How would we know that the HolyGhost was involved there, like
influencing your brains to say,let's go to the nine o'clock
session instead of the eighto'clock session?
Because that's the miracle youbelieve happened was God's,
what'd you call it?
God's-

SPEAKER_02 (13:09):
A God wink.

SPEAKER_00 (13:10):
A God wink in saying Mandy and Maren- You know, it
means a lot to these people wholove each other to see each
other.
Right.
So that kind of sparked thisdiscussion you and I got into
that we're going to get intoreally deeply here is how do we
know when the Spirit is presentor we're experiencing it?
Because if we can discern it andrecognize it for ourselves...

(13:31):
That's a miracle.
We know God's communicating tome.
And we'll be able to help otherson our mission, help them feel
the Holy Ghost.
Because my experience on mymission was when we helped
someone feel the Holy Ghost andwe helped them recognize it,
this was probably the best timesI've ever had on my mission.
When I saw someone's eyes lightup and recognize that they're

(13:51):
feeling the Holy Ghost, thisrevelation from God, that
started the path to faith, whichthen led to repentance and
baptism and so on, more thananything.
So let's get into it because Ihad a story of a friend who one
day said to me, hey, Sean, I'mmoving out of state.
I'm like, oh, all of a sudden,why?

(14:12):
He's like, well, you know, I'vebeen praying about it.
It's not working out here for meand my family.
So we've been praying about it.
And, you know, I was drivingdown the street the other day
and I was praying about it.
And then I looked up and therewas a billboard on the side of
the freeway.
And it said the state that I wasthinking of moving to right on
that billboard.
And I'm like, that's it.
God answered me.

(14:32):
I was like, oh, whoa, that's afaithful response.
But then I stepped back andsaid, again, like I asked you,
wait, how do you know that thatwas from God as opposed to just
a coincidence?
And it boiled down to Hebrews11.1 that Lauren, you just
showed me.
Hebrews 11.1 describes faith,which is the component of

(14:56):
revelation, obviously it has toexist.
It describes faith as...
the substance of things hopedfor, the evidence of things not
seen.
And so I've kind of beenobsessed my whole scriptural
study pursuit with this ideathat the Holy Ghost, there will
be a substance and an evidencefor us to know and discern what

(15:16):
is the Holy Ghost.
So for example, I just wasreading 1 Corinthians 2.14.
It says, but the natural manreceiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they arefoolishness unto him.
Neither can he know them,Because they are spiritually
discerned.
That's a fascinating thing.
What he's saying is our spiritcan discern when we're feeling

(15:38):
the spirit or when it'srevelation.
Okay, so some questions for thetwo of you.
What do you think?
Do you think that the HolyGhost, if the Holy Ghost is
involved in our lives, will wealways be able to discern it?
Or is it sometimes there and wedon't even recognize it or see
it or understand it, but it'sthere functioning?

(16:00):
What do you all think?

SPEAKER_02 (16:02):
Me, you?
Okay.
I think like I was kind ofsharing some of my other mission
stories with you.
Like there are so manyopportunities and times where
like I kind of just did things.
Like I wasn't like being like,well, that's the spirit
convincing me.
I guess I got to go do it.

SPEAKER_00 (16:15):
You weren't standing in the middle of the street
going, I'm not doing anythinguntil I recognize the spirit
telling me what to do.
You were just, I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02 (16:22):
Yeah, you kind of have to do it.
And then sometimes, I guess youcan have that discernment, you
can recognize it even after ithappens, or you never even see
the results, or you never eventhink about it.
But we also learn from thescriptures that all good things
come from God.
So, I think like in a sense,like there's no such thing as
coincidences because I thinkGod's always in the fabric of

(16:43):
our lives.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (16:45):
See, that's why I said you're one of the most
faithful people I know becauseyour attitude is simply, I just,
when I know that I'm doing theLord's work, like on a mission,
or if my heart is in the rightplace, I'm going to the temple,
the Holy Ghost is going to guideme in every aspect of it.
Right.
For example, to go see one of myfriends that I won't see for a
while.
Right?
Yeah.
And you're saying, I don't needthe discerning people.

(17:07):
recognizable feeling of the HolyGhost, I just know it's there.

SPEAKER_02 (17:10):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (17:11):
Is that kind of what you're

SPEAKER_02 (17:12):
saying?
I think that's always a goodthing too when you feel it kind
of pushing you, but I feel likeit's just also...
I don't know.
I think sometimes I'll mostlyfeel it afterwards when I do
things, being like, oh, that wasa prompting.
I'm glad I acted on it.

SPEAKER_00 (17:25):
Nice.
Good.
And I'm going to ask you a lotabout that in a minute here.
But what do you think, Lauren?

SPEAKER_02 (17:29):
I totally agree with that.
I think almost every experienceI've ever had where I've been
able to recognize that it wasthe Holy Ghost prompting me, it
was always after the fact, likeafter I acted, after I did this,
I was just kind of like, oh,okay.
oh my gosh, funny how thatworked out.
But it reminded me of ascripture in Doctrine and
Covenants.
It's section 84, it's verse 46.

(17:50):
And it says, and the spiritgiveth light to every man that
cometh into the world.
And the spirit enlightenethevery man through the world that
hearkeneth to the voice of thespirit.
And I think of the spirit aslight.
So after those, like, forexample, those experiences I've
had when I felt that light, Iwas like, okay, that has to be
the spirit.
Or I just, now I correlate,light with, with the spirit.

(18:15):
I remember in the very beginningof my mission when I was in
training, my trainer, like Iremember we're biking through
the streets of Shelbyville,Indiana, and we're at this very
like rundown neighborhood, likereally nasty.
Like it was just, I was like,what am I doing here?
And we walk up these in, inIndiana, it's weird.

(18:38):
They'll have like houses, butyou walk into the house and
like, there's four likedifferent doors.
So it's like a house, but theymake it into an apartment
complex.
And so I remember I went to goknock on the door in this random
house and she grabbed my wristand she's like, don't touch that
door.
I was like, what the heck?
And she's like, the spirit'stelling me like, we need to
leave.

(18:58):
And I was like, what the heck?
And I asked her, I'm like, howmany times have you had
instances like that where thespirit like tells you to do or
not do something?
She's like, oh, that happens allthe time.
And I'm kind of sitting therelike, dang, how far along in my
mission do I have to be for thatto start happening to me?
But I remember talking to herabout this.
I was like, Sister Latham, Icannot feel the Spirit.

(19:20):
Like, I cannot recognize thesepromptings.

SPEAKER_00 (19:22):
I remember you emailed me around this time and
says, hey, I'm kind ofstruggling with identifying and
feeling the Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 (19:28):
Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 (19:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (19:29):
Wait, wait.

SPEAKER_00 (19:30):
I can pull up the

SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
email.
No, that's okay.
You don't have to.
But I remember at the end of thetransfer, she had wrote
something in my transferjournal.
She had written a letter to me,and she said, I know that you
carry the Spirit with you, evenif you're not able to feel it.
And not only because I see thelight that you carry with you,
but also you covenanted when youwere baptized that if you did
your part, Heavenly Father wouldbless you with the Holy Ghost.

(19:54):
Heavenly Father would bless youwith the Spirit.
And so that changed myperspective forever.
the rest of my life, it's goingto change that because although
I might not be able to recognizeit, I know that as I'm faithful
and obedient, as I renew mycovenants, when I do mess up, I
have the Holy ghost promised tome.
And I know that heavenly fatherkeeps his promises.

SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
Fascinating.
Okay.
This is leading us into fastingbecause that's exactly what you
and I were talking about beforethe episode, Emma, because you
were saying though, that in yourlife, you often will just act on
faith and And then there'seither a feeling or an
experience or confirmationafterwards.
Or even if you don't, you'relike, look, if I'm doing the
will of God, the Holy Ghost is,I have the right to it.
I've covenanted to have it,right?

(20:34):
But then I asked you somethinginteresting.
I asked you, when on yourmission did you actually
recognize and discern and feelthe Holy Ghost?
And what did you say?

SPEAKER_02 (20:48):
Was that the one where I was like, I think just
testifying to our friends?
Yes.
So I think what I mostly felt itwas when I was testifying to our
friends about what we had taughtthem or when we promised them
blessings.
Because we were very forwardwhen we had promised our friends
blessings because obviously whenyou invite them to do something,
you want them to do it out oflike the goodness.

SPEAKER_00 (21:07):
But also to insert, again, such a faithful person
you are.
You were very bold.
What was your nickname on yourmission?

SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
I was named the wild child in my training.

SPEAKER_00 (21:16):
Because you were so...
Bold.
I

SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
was a bold missionary.

SPEAKER_00 (21:19):
Like you'll tell us a story in a little bit about
how you, what do you do?
You kick down someone's door?
I

SPEAKER_02 (21:23):
just put my foot in the door.

SPEAKER_00 (21:24):
Oh, same thing.
Some old lady's door.
Okay, you'll tell us that story.
But okay, so you have this faithof like just boldness because
you feel like, look, we're doingthe work of the Lord, the
Spirit's with me.
Having

SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
that confidence of, and when we promise people
things, we say, we promise youbecause we're authorized
representatives of Jesus Christ.
Faith.
Amen.
Faithful, like it's so faithful.
That's a pretty, like you can'tsay no to that.
You can't be like, okay, okay,well, I'm not going to go read
my scriptures because you said,you know, I would listen to
them.

SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
But you're saying because you have this faith.

SPEAKER_02 (21:54):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (21:55):
you're saying, look, I don't, yeah, like you were
saying before, I don't need towait and sit around and wait
until I feel the spirit nudge meor push me or confirm something.
I'm just going to go act andbelieve that the Holy Ghost is
going to not make me a liar whenI say I have the authority to
promise you that you will X, Y,and Z.
Yeah, I had an experience too.
We were working with this guy inDnepropetrovsk and he truly

(22:15):
cared about what we were doing.
Like he was interested, but Icould tell he was super stressed
because he's like, look, lookguys, I have a family.
I I was let go from my work.
It's been like two months.
I don't have any work.
Like I can't really focus onthis religion stuff.
I need to figure out how to takecare of my family.
And I got excited.
I was like, oh, hey, this isgoing to help you.
It's going to solve all yourproblems in life.

(22:36):
Come to the Lord and he's goingto bless you.
Well, it got to the point wherehe just wasn't keeping any of
the commitments that lead tofeeling the spirit.
And so one day out offrustration and kind of faith, I
pulled an Emma.
I did.
I pulled an

SPEAKER_02 (22:49):
Emma.
What does that mean?
I'll tell you.
He kicked down the door.

SPEAKER_00 (22:53):
I kicked down the door.
No, I sat there and I just feltthe same kind of faith you did.
Like, look, God, you love thisman.
I love this man.
I want so badly for him to beable to, he needs a job.
How about he needs a job?
So I looked at him and said,look, I am an authorized servant
of the Lord.
So I pulled an Emma.

UNKNOWN (23:09):
Cool.

SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
I have authority to give you a promise right now.
And I says, I promise you thatone week from today, you will
have the job that will take careof your family.
If you will read the scriptures,we ask you to read every single
day for the next seven days.
And my companion looked at meand goes, what are you doing?
And I'm like, pray about it.
Like I feel the Holy ghostconfirming that God won't make
me a liar.

(23:30):
He will cause the miracle tohappen in exchange for this guy
to show his faith and read thescriptures.

SPEAKER_01 (23:35):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (23:36):
Now, Emma, I wish I had a good ending to that story.
because after a week of uscoming back, as soon as we sat
down in that first meeting andhe did his little stress, he put
his hand on his forehead and wasscratching it, I knew that he
didn't do it.
And I was so heartbroken becauseI believe with my whole heart
and the Spirit confirmed hewould have had a job and that
faith of him reading would haveled him down the path that leads

(23:59):
to Christ.
So I'm so sad that he didn't doit.
Okay, so I pulled an Emma.

SPEAKER_02 (24:03):
Awesome, I love it.
Keep saying

SPEAKER_00 (24:06):
it.
So you had this faith.
And you just believe that nomatter where I was going or what
I was doing, I don't needconfirmation of anything.
I'm just going to go and do thework, right?

SPEAKER_01 (24:14):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (24:15):
So then I asked you, though, when did you actually
discern and feel the Holy Ghost?
And you said, well, when Itestified to people.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat.
Because what I think throughoutthis discussion, what we'll
learn is this.
My contention is this, and thisis not doctrine, but as I read
the Scriptures, my belief isthis.
There's one God.
There's one Holy Ghost, right?

(24:36):
Right.
I believe that the way that Godand the Holy Ghost communicates
to all of us, I believe it's thesame.
But I believe we all react to itdifferently, right?
Some of us react with theseemotions.
Some of us react with theseemotions, right?
If I am experiencing the HolyGhost and it makes me cry, it's
not the Holy Ghost that, youknow, when I cry, that doesn't
mean the Holy Ghost.

(24:57):
That's just my reaction to theHoly Ghost.
And I think evidence of this isif you go out there at all the
times of Scripture where peopleare trying to describe Christ,
them feeling the Holy Ghost,it's always different.
Elijah, there was a still smallvoice.
The two disciples on the road toEmmaus, did our hearts not burn
within us?

(25:17):
Now, these are all reallyinadequate ways of describing
something spiritual.
Joseph Smith at his firstvision, brightness and glory,
defying, like I can't describethe brightness and glory I'm
experiencing.
Inadequate ways to experiencewhat he's feeling.
The day of Pentecost, there wasa mighty rushing wind.
That's an inadequate way ofexpressing how I feel the Holy

(25:38):
Ghost.
Yet, I think we all feel it thesame.
This is just everyone tryingtheir best to express how they
feel it or how they experienceit.
So I asked you, Emma, and I'llask you again, how you said that
when you recognize the HolyGhost throughout your mission,
it was when you testified topeople or gave them bold, bold
promises or commitments.
So what is it that confirmed?

(25:58):
What did you feel?

SPEAKER_02 (26:00):
Like how, like my reaction?

SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (26:02):
Okay.
I think that's also sointeresting because everyone
will try and describe itdifferently and that's why it
goes to everyone.
It's like, oh, everyone feelsthe spirit differently.
Yeah.
So that's such an interestingconcept.
I like that.
How I would react to the spiritwould, when I'm like promising
these things, I would just kindof feel like, not feel powerful,
but just like feel like, kind ofthat confirmation of like, yes,
what I'm promising is true oryes, what I'm testifying is

(26:23):
true.
And like, I almost felt like, solike, yeah, the church is true.
Like, I think it was more likethat, like kind of amped about
it, at least in the moment whenI was testifying or have these
tender moments where I'mtestifying to these friends that
I've grown with and cared somuch about that, like I'd be
even brought to tears in some ofthe lessons that we had.
It just kind of depended oneither the person or what I was

(26:45):
testifying about, something thatwas more personal to me or more
personal to that friend that Iknew about.
So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (26:50):
So I love it.
So again, like if we go throughall these scriptures and they're
doing their best to use mortalwords to explain a spiritual
experience and they use wordslike burning or still small
voice in 3 Nephi when Christcomes and they hear his voice,
but they didn't understand.
They heard his voice a secondtime.
They didn't understand.
Third time, didn't understand.
And then it says, then it didpierce them to their very

(27:12):
centers.
Like that's inadequate ofexplaining a spiritual
experience.
You just said two words.
power, truth.
Oh, you three.
Then you said something like I'mamped.
I have energy.
Like those are inadequate words.
Cause I go, I, yeah, I kind of,I kind of connect with that.
Like when I feel the Holy ghost,it's a power, but that's such a,

(27:33):
like I, that doesn't meananything to anybody.
Right.
It's just our inadequate mortalways of expressing this
spiritual experience.
So that's interesting.
So you chose the word power.
So you did, you felt like apower or an authority or a
truth.

SPEAKER_02 (27:47):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (27:47):
Yeah.
Amazing.
Okay.
So then I asked you, Throughoutyour whole life, like growing
up, I asked you, I says, you'reso faithful.
The Holy Ghost had to beinvolved in you getting to a
point where you're so faithfulthat you could just go on your
mission and go, look, I'm justmoving forward.
And I know the Holy Ghost iswith me.
And I said, but so what was itthat grew your faith?

(28:09):
Because again, this principle isrevelation leads to conversion.
You were converted, right?
But what was it that led to yourfaith?
And you had a good answer.
You talked about your family andtell me about that.

SPEAKER_02 (28:18):
All right.
So I was, I was, I grown up inthe church and I'm convinced
that I wouldn't have found thechurch anywhere else unless I
was, or I probably would havebeen a little bit too stubborn
to listen to the spirit, but.

SPEAKER_00 (28:28):
Great.
Wild child.
What was your name?

SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
The wild child.
You were the wild child.
I stand by that.
Um, but I think it was just alittle, like the little seeds,
like when you're planting like atree, it's just a little seeds
and like watering it and slowlyover by time, just like doing
things like family home eveningor prioritize Yeah.
Yeah.

(29:10):
You're praying like five milliontimes a day to feel it.

SPEAKER_00 (29:14):
But then I asked you, I said, okay, well, if you
look back on all theseexperiences, right?
Pick a moment where you're withyour parents, they call you down
to do scripture study.
Wild child, Emma was like, ugh,right?
I don't want to do this.
But you go down and do it.
You get through that with them.
And I asked you like, okay, ifthose are the building blocks,
the seeds that grew into thefaith that you have now, I asked

(29:34):
you like, was it just thecognitive, like were you just
like, My parents are the twocoolest people I know, which, by
the way, they're not that cool.
Just kidding.
They are cool.
I'm just kidding.
They are cool.

SPEAKER_01 (29:46):
I love your mom.

SPEAKER_00 (29:47):
I know.
They're amazing.
But was it cognitive?
Or were you like, oh, okay.
The reason this has built myfaith is because they're really
cool.
If they're reading thescriptures, then it must be a
good thing.
Or was there something else,something that you look back on
and recognize?
Was that different?
You used a really interesting,powerful word when you were
originally telling us.

SPEAKER_02 (30:08):
What?
The love of Christ.

SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
Tell me about that.
So you, so, okay.
So just clarify when you feltall these seeds being planted,
right?
Right.
You, you told me before that youdid feel something and you
described it as the love ofChrist.

SPEAKER_02 (30:25):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
Every time.

SPEAKER_02 (30:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (30:26):
Okay.
Explain that.

SPEAKER_02 (30:27):
So I think like, I think the more, what I also say,
like being familiar with it,just like, like I think the more
I did those things when I wasyounger, um, It's just like
creating a better foundation forme when I was on my mission.
But I just think when I didthose things, like reading the
scriptures, going to church,doing all the good things like
that, I think I just keptgrowing the love I have for

(30:48):
Jesus Christ.
And I kept feeling the love thathe has for me.
I kept like recognizing that.
So I think, yeah, did I hit it?

SPEAKER_00 (30:55):
Well, yeah.
Like the fact that you choose,like, okay.
So if I like, we step back fromthis whole discussion and I say,
Emma, what do you experiencewhen the Holy Ghost is present?
And you've used the word powerand you've used this, but this
time you use the words, I feellove.
I feel the love of God.

(31:15):
And because your mortal self istrying to express spiritual
experience, which is powerful,they're inadequate, right?
Our words are inadequate, right?
That's why Joseph said, theirbrightness and glory defied
description.
Why couldn't he describe it?
Because mortally, we're nothaving mortal experiences when
the Holy Ghost is there.
What do you feel or experiencewhen you say the love of God?

(31:38):
I

SPEAKER_02 (31:41):
don't know, just love.
What do you say?
Love for God, love for JesusChrist, and love for the Spirit,
and then just the love that theyhave for me.
But I think that's so much lovethat we can't even comprehend it
as mortals.

SPEAKER_00 (31:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (31:56):
I won't even be able to explain that to you until
later on.

SPEAKER_00 (31:59):
But that is the Holy Ghost.
That is.
Yes.
That is the power of the Holyghost.
It is the love of Christ shedabroad in the hearts of men,
right?
It is the power of the Holyghost.
So I guess part of the pointhere is, um, if you look
throughout, so for ourlisteners, right?
If, if your goal out there is togo and, and lead people to
revelation, help them recognizeand get revelation so that their

(32:22):
faith will be built underrepentance, under baptism and
get the Holy ghost.
I think one thing to understandfor your own journey, as well as
your investigator, your friend'sjourney is, um, I believe firmly
that in Hebrews 11, 1, faith orrevelation is discernible
because there is a substance andan evidence to it.

(32:43):
It's something there, but youdon't see it, right?
It's not what you see with youreyes or you hear with your ears.
There's a spiritual substance orevidence to it.
And I love hearing you talkabout, it's just love.
Like I just feel loved and Ifeel the love of God and I feel
the love of Christ.
That is substance and evidence.
Do you see that love?

SPEAKER_02 (33:01):
No.

SPEAKER_00 (33:01):
Yeah.
How can you possibly?
Lauren, what are your thoughtson all

SPEAKER_02 (33:07):
this?
I...
I appreciate so greatly thatJesus Christ didn't just teach
about love, but he showed it ineverything that he did, right?
And so when his followers andhis disciples, when the people
that were listening to him heardhis teachings, it wasn't just,
oh, I really appreciate that hejust said that.
That touched me to my core.
They felt his love because itwas tangible.

(33:29):
Obviously, like you said, it'snot something that you can see,
but you can feel it, just likehow Emma is saying.
It's something that just is sooverpowering.
And as a missionary, that samepower that Christ used by
teaching with love is the samelove that we can use to help
others be converted.
Because I will like die on thishill that it's the most powerful

(33:51):
tool in conversion.
If you can get your friends tofeel the love of Christ, and if
you can feel that love for them,holy, you'll change some lives.
Seriously.

SPEAKER_00 (34:02):
Absolutely.
Yeah, so I love it.
Your word, and yeah, because ifyou asked, if you lined up 10
very faithful people and says,describe to me what the Holy
Ghost is, everyone's going tosay it differently, right?
Elijah would say it was a still,small voice, right?
He was on the mountaintop, andthere was this earthquake, and
then it said, but the Lordwasn't in the earthquake, and
there was thunder, and the Lordwasn't in the thunder, and there

(34:23):
was a great fire, and the Lordwasn't in the fire, but then
there was a still, small voice,right?
Elijah expresses it like, thesegreat and mighty things that I
could see and hear and feel,like a you know, with my hands
and my feet.
Tangible.
Tangible things.
The power of God wasn't in thosethings.
It was, though, in thisstillness of my heart, in this

(34:45):
smallness of the voice, yet itwas more powerful than those
big, crazy things.
And that is, so he would expressit that way, whereas you would
say it's just love.
Like, you're like Lehi.
You and Lehi are buddies.
Remember?
Yeah, we are.
Yeah, the vision of the tree oflife.
Yeah, we are.
You confirm it?

SPEAKER_01 (35:03):
Yep.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (35:04):
Because what did he do?
He took the fruit and the bestway he could describe it was
just brightness and light andlove.
And later Nephi confirms, well,that tree, that fruit represents
the love of Christ shed abroadin the hearts of men.
Yeah, so you and

SPEAKER_02 (35:19):
Lehi.
I love this topic because Ithink that charity is so
transformative.
And Elder Uchtdorf in his mostrecent general conference shared
a talk and he gave this storyabout This lady that he knew, he
invited her to church and shecame for the first time.
And he was so focused.
You'll feel this when you're outin the field as missionaries.

(35:40):
When your friends come to churchfor the first time, you want
everything to be perfect.
But We're not perfect people,okay?
So it never will be.
And he's sharing this storyabout how the person that was
speaking didn't do a great joband kids were screaming and
people were irreverent,whatever, all this stuff.
And when they got in the carafterwards, he was just about to

(36:00):
open his mouth to just startapologizing for all the things
that weren't perfect in hiseyes.
And his friend that he invited,she ended up saying...
I love the way that the peopleof your church treat each other.
And he said in his talk that shetold him, I know that this is
how Jesus Christ would have hischurch.
I know that this is JesusChrist's church because of the

(36:21):
way that you guys treat eachother.
And that's the charity, right?
That's that charity aspect.
That's that love of Christ.

SPEAKER_00 (36:27):
I think that the Holy Ghost will always be
present when charity ishappening.
Right?
When that pure love of Christ.
Very good.
The Holy Ghost will alwaysconfirm into those hearts that
feeling of Emma's words, poweror love or let's even go to the
scriptures, right?

(36:47):
What are the fruits of thespirit?
It's long suffering.
It's peace.
It's joy.
It's all these things.
Wherever there is charity andservice, wherever there is
ordinances, right?
In the power of the priesthood,no, in the authority of the, no,
in the ordinances of thepriesthood is the power of
godliness manifest.
Well, what does that mean, powerof godliness manifest?
That means the Holy Ghost.

(37:08):
So if I'm at the sacrament tableand I'm really locked in
faithfully, repentantly, thepower of godliness will be
manifest to my heart every time,and that will be the Holy Ghost.
Um, I just found this.
What do you think of this, Emma?
I think there's a scripture inDNC that speaks about Emma.
Emma's in the DNC.
You're in the DNC.

SPEAKER_02 (37:24):
And it's not Emma

SPEAKER_00 (37:27):
Smith.
The other Emma, you, it saysthis, this reminds me of you,
but a commandment I give untoyou that you shall declare
whatsoever you declare in myname in solemnity of heart and
in the spirit of meekness andall things.
And I give unto you this promisethat in so much as you do this,
the Holy ghost shall be shedforth.
in bearing record unto allthings whatsoever ye shall say.

(37:49):
Tell us about you bearing forththat record.
Tell us about putting your footin the door and being a wild
child.
Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 (37:57):
Oh, boy.
Well, first off, I just want tosay, being as a missionary, you
have to be...
I mean, okay, there's so manythings to be as a missionary,
but you have to be yourself, Iguess, is what you have to do.
Not to say a wild child.
I gained so much confidence overmy mission.

SPEAKER_01 (38:11):
Nice.

SPEAKER_02 (38:12):
But...
Oh boy, where's it going to gowith this?
Okay, so are you guys familiarwith the, I don't even know how
to pronounce it, the Riccardiletter?
The Ricciardi letter?
I

SPEAKER_00 (38:21):
am.
My son loves that letter.

SPEAKER_02 (38:22):
However you would like to say so.
I'm pretty sure he was the onewho shared it with me.
Oh,

SPEAKER_00 (38:26):
was he?
It's a letter about this kid whohad a companion who he was just
such the best missionary, right?
And just worked hard.
Awesome missionary.
Okay, so the letter's all aboutwhat this missionary did.

SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Yes, and I would read it with my trainees too and
make them listen to it and allbecause I just thought he was
like the coolest missionary.
But I remember reading he liketotally like burst himself into
a house and like turns off theTV and makes himself very
welcome.
But I just remember reading thatand kind of passing him I'd be
like, that is crazy.
Who would do that?
Wild.
Um, and I guess like in theSouth, I mean, I don't know if

(38:56):
other Southerns can relate withme on this, but it's already
kind of been like an invasivething.
Like, yeah.
Yeah.
You get it?
The culture?
I mean, you wouldn't go knock ontheir front door.
You'd go around their side andknock on the side door.

SPEAKER_01 (39:07):
Oh.

SPEAKER_02 (39:08):
Yeah.
I carried a golf ball in myprof's sliding bag to knock on
the grates to be, like,obnoxious.
I mean, you would knock thedoors, right?

SPEAKER_00 (39:14):
Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
Interesting, huh?
So, like, if you'd be walkingaround the neighborhood, they'd
invite you to their neighborhoodseafood bowl if you didn't want
to hear the gospel.
Wow.
So, very awesome community.
Love the South.
Yeah, hospitality is 10 out of10.
Love it.
But there's no way stepping yourfoot in the door is socially
accepted either, but I rememberWe're knocking on this lady's
door.
We're trying to find like areferral, like someone put in a
social media request.

(39:36):
And we're looking for this guy,probably her husband.
I think we eventually found himat one point, but we're knocking
on the door.
She's like, no, no, not youMormons.
I don't want to hear from you.
And she's kind of being a littlebit, you know, ruthless to us.
But I was at that point, I was alittle bit used to it.
But I remember like, I don'teven know what happened, but I
think, wait, I have thescripture.
Okay.

(39:56):
In first Nephi.
where Nephi's like, I don't knowwhat to do.
But he's, 1 Nephi 4, 6, it says,And I was led by the Spirit, not
knowing beforehand the thingswhich I should do.
And I remember reading that andbeing like, I feel like this
every day.
There's so many things I do thatI'm just like, I don't know, but
I'm going to trust.
And I do not recommend this toany missionary, but there are so

(40:16):
many things that the Spirit,like, I just did.
But after I realized it wasokay.
I don't think there was ever atime that I did something and it
wasn't okay.

SPEAKER_00 (40:24):
You never regretted your faithful wild child
actions.
Good.

SPEAKER_02 (40:28):
Nope.
No regrets.
But I remember just like puttingmy foot in his door because like

SPEAKER_00 (40:33):
she went to actually close the door.

SPEAKER_02 (40:35):
Yes because we knocked again and I was like hey
I don't know if you heard us thefirst time and then she's going
to close.
She's like I think I told youguys no.
So she closed the door.
I just jammed my foot in thedoor and I say sorry.

SPEAKER_00 (40:48):
Emma you are not a large person.

SPEAKER_02 (40:49):
I'm not.

SPEAKER_00 (40:51):
You're like three foot two.

SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
Probably.

SPEAKER_00 (40:53):
Or five one.
Legally.
So this is a bold thing for thislittle thing to.

SPEAKER_02 (40:58):
Yes and I was not the senior companion for only a
few months in my mission.

SPEAKER_00 (41:03):
So what'd she say or do?

SPEAKER_02 (41:05):
Well, I said, we are authorized representatives of
Jesus Christ, and we have thegospel to share with you.
And I just remember me beinglike, what am I doing?
This is not okay.
But the lady was like, sheimmediately, her face changed
immediately.
And she's like, yes, come on in,girls.
It was so weird.
But it was awesome.

(41:25):
We had an awesome lesson withher about the Book of Mormon and
how it had more to testify ofJesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 (41:31):
Wow.
That's

SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
amazing.
And she's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (41:34):
So this is a good example of, okay, I love your
faith because this concept ofrevelation leads to conversion.
Your idea is, look, if I'mfaithfully doing the work of the
Lord as a missionary, theSpirit's just going to back me
up in everything I do.
And you would make these boldstatements and movements and
promises, and you're just like,I just have faith.

(41:55):
The Lord won't make me a liar.
He won't make me ineffective.
He's going to support thesethings I do, and the Holy Ghost
will be there.

UNKNOWN (42:01):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (42:02):
I kind of was at the point where, like I have
companions like Elder Barnes,like we'd be out working and on
our way to a discussion and he'djust stop and I'd look around
and go, what are you doing?
And he's just standing there inthe middle of the road.
I'm like, what are you doing?
We're late.
He's like, wait a minute.
Elder Records, say a prayer.
I think we're supposed tocontact her for a little bit.
I'm like, oh, okay.
And I'd say a prayer.
Sure enough, there was the HolyGhost.

(42:22):
Yeah, start contacting.
And then it'd be funny becausewe'd do it for like 20 minutes.
We're late to our meeting.
And then Elder Barnes would cometo me and be like, all right, we
can go now.
Oh, all right, let's go.
And so I have no idea why.
I have no idea.
But he was so, that's the waythat he sought the Spirit,
right?
Which is different from the wayyou seek it.
You're just like, no, I move, Igo, I act, I'm bold.

(42:43):
The Lord will be there and theSpirit will be there.
I think both our ways are right.
But I love that we pinpointedthat you only have the faith
that you have because thediscernible power of the Holy
Ghost is It was in your life atage zero and one and two and
three.
All these seeds that wereplanted were the discernible

(43:05):
feelings of the Holy Ghost.
And I'm so grateful that you'rewilling to share those and say,
the way I experience the HolyGhost is love.
I feel the love of Christ.
What a powerful, powerful thing.
So thanks for sharing that.
That's really amazing.
Yeah, what do you got, Lauren?

SPEAKER_02 (43:21):
I just, I love that story because...
I'm a firm believer that, youknow, the Holy Ghost will always
share his voice when we testifywith ours.

SPEAKER_00 (43:30):
Amen.

SPEAKER_02 (43:31):
And there's a scripture that I love.

SPEAKER_00 (43:33):
Because when we testify, we're speaking truth.
Amen.
And the Holy Ghost is promisedto verify truth.

SPEAKER_02 (43:39):
Yeah, well, speaking of that, in 2 Nephi chapter 33,
very first verse says, For whena man speaketh by the power of
the Holy Ghost, the power of theHoly Ghost carryeth it unto the
hearts of the children of men.
And so in instances like inEmma's story or in, you know,
missionaries, you're going tohave moments where where you
have opportunities to testify ofJesus Christ.
You have opportunities totestify of his restored gospel.

(44:00):
And you just have to beconfident that the Holy Ghost
will carry your message,especially for you missionaries
learning a language.
You might think, I don't knowenough vocab.
I don't know how to conjugatethis.
If you're speaking truth, theHoly Ghost is carrying that,
regardless of how well you knowthe language.
It might be choppy, but themessage will get through.
And

SPEAKER_00 (44:18):
if I've learned something from this podcast
episode from Emma, it's be boldin speaking.
Knowing this, right?
Know that the Holy Ghost willcarry that.
It'll carry to the heart, thattruth to the hearts of people.
So if you testify of JosephSmith, the Holy Ghost is there
to carry it and be bold and helpthem recognize it.
Hey, what are you feeling rightnow?
Like we did that so many times.

(44:39):
We've got to the point where wewere like, okay, all we're
doing, I realized like, oh, allwe're doing is helping people
keep commitments to feel theHoly Ghost.
And then their faith will grow,and then they'll repent and get
baptized.
And so we would even get to thepoint like, okay, what can we do
to bring in the Holy Ghost andhelp them recognize it?
And one thing we would always dois, can we sing a song for you?
And we're like, this is going tobe so embarrassing and so weird.

(45:00):
And their faces were like, what?
Like these ex-communistUkrainians were like, who are
these two young kids in myliving room wanting to sing to
me right now?
But every time, Emma, we wouldsing a hymn, and we'd stop and
go, how do you feel?
And every time, they'd kind ofbe shocked and go, oh, actually,
it feels pretty peaceful rightnow.

(45:21):
And we'd go, that's the HolyGhost.
Can we say a prayer?
And we'd pray.
And we'd say, how do you feelnow?
And they'd go, actually, itfeels like something.

SPEAKER_02 (45:29):
Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (45:31):
Yeah.
And so we'd constantly be like,how do you feel?
How do you feel?
Read a scripture.
How does that make you feel?
We knew that if we could helpthem learn to recognize that
love of God, or spirit, or thestill small voice, spirit, or
the burning in the bosom, thespirit, then we knew that that
revelation was leading them tofaith and then to repentance

(45:51):
onto covenants.
Beautiful and powerful.
Yeah.
So how about this?
We'll end with the scripture andyou guys tell me what you think
or how this makes you feel.
This is 3 Nephi.
This is the most, 11, the mostimportant part, in my opinion,
of the Book of Mormon, right?
You agree, Lauren?

SPEAKER_02 (46:06):
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (46:07):
So it came to pass while they, the people, the
Nephites, were thus conversingwith one with another.
They had heard a voice as itcame out from heaven and they
cast their eyes around about,but they understood not the
voice, which they heard withtheir ears, right?
With their ears.
And it was not a harsh voice,neither was it a loud voice.
Now, do you think in thatinstance, the Lord is describing
the audible?

(46:27):
Like when he says it's not aloud or harsh voice, do you
think he, I'm honestly asking, Idon't know the answer to this.
Do you think he's referring tothe audible levels or?
essence of that voice or do youthink at this point he's
starting to describe the spiritI'll read it again when the cash
stars ran about they understoodnot the voice which they heard
and it was not a harsh voiceneither was it a loud voice

SPEAKER_02 (46:50):
I've always thought audible when I read it but
that's just me

SPEAKER_00 (46:53):
you think audible

SPEAKER_02 (46:54):
I think just the spirit and the way he's
reacting.

SPEAKER_00 (46:56):
Okay, we've got a debate going on here.
This is good.
It's not a

SPEAKER_02 (46:58):
debate.

SPEAKER_00 (46:59):
No, I'm just kidding.
No.
Okay, so it could be both.
Okay, I'll go on.
For they understood not thevoice which they heard.
It was not a harsh voice,neither was it a loud voice.
Nevertheless, andnotwithstanding it being a small
voice, it did pierce them thatdid hear to the center, insomuch
that there was no part of theirframe that it did not cause to
quake, and it did pierce them tothe very soul, and it caused

(47:21):
their hearts to burn.
I love the story of the twodisciples on the road to Emmaus.
Christ walked with them and theydidn't discern.
They didn't recognize him as theSavior, as God, until they ended
and they took the sacrament withthe Savior.
And then he left and they went,whoa, whoa, whoa.
They said, did our hearts notburn within us just like their

(47:41):
hearts here in the third Nephiare burning while he walked with
us and opened up the scripturesalong the way.
So what was the thing thatbrought in as a tangent that
brought in the scriptures to thedisciples on the road to Emmaus?
It was the scriptures or brightin the spirit.
It was the scriptures.
And so here now God is appearingand the voice of God is speaking
and it did pierce them and causetheir hearts to burn.

(48:02):
It came to pass that again theyheard the voice and they
understood it not and again athird time they heard the voice
and did not and did open theirears to hear it.
You think this means theirphysical ears?
No.
I don't think so, right?
And their eyes were towards thesound thereof, and they did look
steadfastly towards heaven fromwhence the sound came.
And the third time they didunderstand the voice which they
heard, and it said unto them,Behold, this is my beloved Son,

(48:23):
in whom I am well pleased, inwhom I have glorified my name.
Hear ye him.
Fascinating, right?
That audibly there's this voice,but it doesn't mean anything
until they hear it with theirspirit.
Because the spirit is whatdelivers truth.
And that's what we do as amissionary.
So what do you guys, anythoughts on this?
most powerful experience here?

SPEAKER_02 (48:44):
I love that.
Sorry, wait, did you want to?
No, you go, you go.
I just love the, because in mymind this, what I picture is
Heavenly Father communicatingwith us, right?
Because he's getting his spiritand And it's not something we
hear with our ears.

(49:05):
It's not something we see.
It's not something we can touch.
But it's him communicatingdirectly with what he created.
He's communicating directly withour spirits, right?
And so it's like how if I wantto have a conversation with you,
I'm either talking to you inperson or if I call you over the
phone, I need to be able to haveaccess to those tools to be able
to talk to you.

(49:25):
But Heavenly Father...
the tool that he uses is thespirit to speak directly to
ours.

SPEAKER_00 (49:29):
In a personal way.

SPEAKER_02 (49:30):
In a personal

SPEAKER_00 (49:31):
way.
Right?
So that's what's fascinating ishe's all these thousands of
people and this voice comes.
And so God is communicating withall these people, but that is
not what helped them to discerntruth.
It was a personal one-to-one,what they experienced in their
hearts and in their souls, thelove and the power.
And that's what we're doing asmissionaries.
So listeners, learn how todiscern truth.

(49:53):
the feelings or the experienceof the Holy Ghost.
And there's no better way to dothat than to feast upon the
words of Christ and to pray andask God.
Like I got to a point before themission is like, I would read
the scriptures, but I would askGod, help me actually feel the
Holy Ghost.
Help me know that I'm feelingit.
And it wasn't until I was in theMTC, Emma, so this is
fascinating.
I told this last week, or lastepisode.

(50:14):
My MTC teacher changed my life.
She was so awesome and such agood teacher.
But one day we were studying theBook of Mormon and she just
stopped.
And she says, wait, everyoneclose your eyes.
We all closed our eyes.
And she read these words ofChrist again.
And then she stopped and said,do you feel that?
And she says, oh, the record.
Do you feel that?
That's the Holy Ghost.

(50:36):
And no one had ever done that tome.
And in that moment, it was soclearly power and love and the
Spirit.
And my life flashed back theprior 19 years or 18 years.
And I remembered every time Ifelt this feeling Back then, I
didn't recognize it as the HolyGhost.
But in that moment, I was like,oh my goodness, I've been

(50:58):
feeling it my whole life.
I just didn't discern it.
And at that moment, I discernedit.
And that changed my lifeforever.
So it's a good, it's a powerfulprinciple.
And I'm glad that we can havethis discussion to help future
missionaries learn how todiscern the Spirit.
But also, I think the bestprinciple here is what you
taught us, Emma, which is goforth with boldness and faith In

(51:20):
God.
Faith.
Believe that you are authorizedand that he will not make you a
liar and the spirit will bethere to confirm those things.

SPEAKER_01 (51:28):
Totally.

SPEAKER_00 (51:28):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Okay.
Any other wise words, Emma,before we end this podcast?

SPEAKER_02 (51:34):
Just, I don't know.
Something that was so cool aboutthat scripture was how it was
going to all those people andhow they all felt it
differently.
It was all that love that he wassending to like everyone
personally and like a big group.
I just think that's so cool.
And I think the people thatwe're trying to teach the gospel
to are Like how it said in thatscripture.
I was just studying that onSunday.
But something that struck me washow they looked, but they didn't

(51:54):
see.
Like there's a difference oflooking, but not seeing clearly.
And so I think what we want tohelp our friends do, we want to
help the people learn about thegospel, is we want to help them
see.
We don't want to help them justbe looking around.

SPEAKER_00 (52:04):
Nice.
That's what you got to do.
And the only way to do that isthe way they did it, which was
feel it in your heart, right?
Pierce it to the soul.
And that's the Holy Ghost.
What a great way to end.
Thanks for joining us, Emma.

SPEAKER_01 (52:16):
Thank you.
Thank you.

UNKNOWN (52:20):
Yeah.

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Discerning the Spirit's Love and Power in an ASL Mission - Sister Emma "Wild Child" Stanford

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Discerning the Spirit's Love and Power in an ASL Mission - Sister Emma "Wild Child" Stanford