August 13, 2025 • 38 mins
This episode features special guest Sister Riley Stone (affectionately known as "Stony"). The core theme revolves around "Revelation and The Spirit" and how divine revelation grows faith, leads to repentance, and ultimately to "pure joy" through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The podcast aims to inspire and provide knowledge for those preparing for missions.
Key insights and Riley's story include:
• A Journey from Faith Crisis to Conversion: Riley, from Utah, experienced a faith crisis with her family around age 12, leading to a five-year hiatus from regular church attendance.
• Subtle Beginnings of Discerning the Spirit: At 14, attending EFY (now FSY), she "loved it" because she was "surrounded by the gospel of Jesus Christ". Though she didn't discern the Holy Ghost at the time, she later realized it was God's love bringing her peace and joy. This experience planted a "seed" for future missionary service.
• The "Rock Bottom" and a Divine Call: At 16 or 17, Riley hit "rock bottom," feeling "miserable," "sad," and "anxious," a period where she was "compelled to be humble". In a moment of desperation, after listening to "cringey" youth albums, she heard an audible voice, not her own, command, "Riley, get on your knees and pray". This happened three times, akin to the experience in 3 Nephi 11:3-4, where people initially didn't understand the voice but eventually opened their "ears to hear it" spiritually. Riley initially resisted due to tiredness and having been distant from God.
• The Transformative Prayer: Driven by a deep hunger to do the right thing and escape unhappiness (similar to Enos 4), Riley finally knelt down and sobbed. In that moment, she "knew that God loved me" for the first time in a tangible way. She felt a "burning in my bosom" and a powerful hug, realizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers more than just sins, but also heals pain and ache. This profound experience convinced her of God's existence, His personal love for her, and the possibility of happiness.
• Acting on Revelation: This revelatory experience marked the beginning of her true conversion, leading her to consistently attend seminary and young women's activities, and begin studying scriptures. Her story illustrates the principle of Revelation 3:20, where God knocks, but individuals must "open the door" through choice and action.
• Missionary Preparation and Impact: Despite her powerful conversion, Riley felt inadequate for her mission due to her long gap in church attendance and lack of basic gospel knowledge. She overcame this by "feasting upon the words of Christ" in the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in the MTC. This intensive study enhanced her understanding of the Atonement and how to access it, directly confirming her personal experiences. Lauren testifies that Riley became an "amazing" missionary, notably helping an investigator named Nicole, who was at "rock bottom," to also recognize that "Revelation is what leads to our conversion," ultimately leading to Nicole's baptism and a greater understanding of repentance and the Atonement.
• Advice for Future Missionaries: Riley advises listeners to prioritize experiences with the Atonement of Jesus Christ, as it provides healing and enabling power, crucial for navigating the challenges of missionary work and gaining a deeper understanding of life's purpose. The episode concludes by reaffirming that everyone has the right to receive divine revelation that will grow their faith and lead to "pure joy" through Christ's Atonement.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
You all have the right to receive a revelation
from God that will grow yourfaith, lead you to repentance
and to the real covenants towhere you can fill the atonement
of Christ in your life andyou'll have pure joy.
It's funny, dude, because for somany years it's been mission
prep series, but really this isthe podcast about mission
stories.
(00:20):
This is the mission storiespodcast.
So listeners, I apologize forevery single time messing that
up.
Welcome to the Mission Storiespodcast.
This is a problem.
And Lauren's here.
Hey, Lauren.
SPEAKER_03 (00:29):
Hey, guys.
SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
How are you?
SPEAKER_03 (00:32):
Great.
Yeah?
Sun's out.
It's warm.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Yeah.
It's great to be alive.
Too warm.
SPEAKER_03 (00:37):
What?
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Oh, I mean, great to be alive.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And we have a super specialguest that we've been waiting
for.
I've been waiting for for a longtime.
It's the Stoney.
SPEAKER_03 (00:47):
Stoney baby.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Which is funny because I've heard so much about
you.
You were mission companions withLauren.
UNKNOWN (00:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (00:54):
That's true.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
And for so long, I've heard so much about you.
And then when I finally got tomeet you, it's been a couple
weeks or so.
And then just today, you weretelling me a story.
And you're like, and then theLord said, hey, Riley.
And I'm like, who's Riley?
What?
And you're like, that's my name.
That is my name.
No, your name is Stoney.
SPEAKER_04 (01:12):
That's true.
That's also my name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
And then I learned your name isn't even Stoney.
It's...
SPEAKER_04 (01:16):
Stone.
Oh, dang.
Sorry.
That's my bad.
Stoney's just...
That's who I am
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
now.
So Riley Stone.
Riley Stoney Stone.
Sure.
Yeah.
Good.
Give us just a briefest of whoare you?
Where are you from?
SPEAKER_04 (01:31):
I'm from Utah.
Born and raised.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
And how are you related to Lauren?
SPEAKER_04 (01:37):
My mommy.
We were companions.
I second half trained Lauren.
And then we just were bestfriends after that.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
And just look at it.
awesome Lauren's face you guyswere just the closest of
companions so close don't youlove when you meet like earlier
today I was doing a podcast adifferent one it's like a
political one I do it with twoof my mission buddies that now
I've known for 35 years they arethe greatest like there's such
joy in looking at their facesMatt and Levi shout out and it's
(02:06):
just so much joy isn't it tojust have companions that you
have this bond with it's just sopowerful
SPEAKER_00 (02:11):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
yeah and you guys you guys have that like I can
tell
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
you.
It's just like the purest oflove, isn't it?
Yeah.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_04 (02:19):
We
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
do love each other.
Yeah.
Very much.
Okay.
And you had some awesomeexperiences together.
So today we're going to focus ona couple of the principles that
we teach.
Again, the whole premise of thispodcast is to, for you listeners
who are preparing for yourmission, who need a little
motivation, a littleinspiration, but also who need
some knowledge on how do I goout and have just an amazing
spiritual experience that willchange my life, set me on a
(02:41):
foundation built on the LordJesus Christ for my whole life.
Well, these are ways to do it.
These are ways to do it.
And we're going to get intoStoney's story because I love,
man, there's one thing that Ilove so much is I just, just
like you, I love the scriptures.
And I think they're perfect.
And I'm so grateful that we havethem.
We live in a day where we haveso much.
(03:02):
And I love learning of thepeople, the prophets, the people
who come to Christ.
And they're specifically thereto show us how one comes to
Christ, the specific steps.
And then I love meeting people.
like Stoney and hearing yourstory and going, what?
Like that literally is how Enosdid it.
That's literally how Nephi didit.
That's literally how every, likethe story that's told over and
(03:24):
over again.
And it just confirms to me twothings.
A, the fullness of the gospel ofJesus Christ is contained in the
canonized scripture of thechurch of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
And it is, what is in there isto show us all how to come to
Christ.
It confirms that.
Number two, it confirms thatthose like Stoney who, who are
so humble and so awesome, whodecide, make a choice at one
(03:47):
point to come to Christ, that'sthe process you have to go
through.
And when you do it, it works.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
Truly, it works.
SPEAKER_01 (03:54):
Does it work for you?
Yeah, still to this day.
I'm looking at Stoney's happy,glowing face, and it's proof
that it works.
The joy that comes from comingto Christ and leading others to
Christ, there's nothing better.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
Okay, so let's get into your story a little bit.
So...
give us the briefest of synopsisof like, you told me yesterday,
I was in a, I have a greatfamily.
You do have a great family,right?
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
You were super active, super active.
Then you weren't active at all.
The whole family.
SPEAKER_00 (04:23):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
Right.
So let's start with that premiseand you tell us, give us details
about how you came to, I guess,came to Christ.
Yeah.
Okay.
Tell us.
SPEAKER_04 (04:32):
I would love to.
Um, my family, you're active.
I mean, we're from Utah, so itfits.
Um, You're active.
And then I'm going to be honest.
There was a lot of familyproblems going on, which then
caused myself and my immediatefamily to have a little bit of a
(04:56):
faith crisis, which then when Iwas about probably 12 years old,
we stopped attending churchregularly.
And I...
I still went to girls camp.
I still went to young women'severy once in
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
a while.
Mostly because that's theculture, right?
All your friends are LDS.
They all go to these camps.
That's just kind of what you do,right?
Yeah.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:17):
And I did love it.
I mean, as a 12 year old havinga faith crisis, it was, you
know, interesting, but I mean, Iwouldn't say I had like a big
faith crisis, but just seeingwhat my parents were going
through.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Yeah.
You're with them, right?
Like you're 12, you're with yourfamily and you're doing what
they do.
SPEAKER_04 (05:31):
Just influenced.
SPEAKER_01 (05:33):
And so for how long, how many years were you guys
done out?
SPEAKER_04 (05:37):
Um, We started going back.
Also, COVID was at the tail endof this.
But I was probably about 17 whenwe started going back to church.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
So five years.
SPEAKER_04 (05:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
Okay.
So about five year gap whereyou're gone.
And living in Utah, you getexposed to that culture, but you
guys are out.
SPEAKER_04 (05:53):
Yeah.
Okay.
We were taking
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
a break.
So you told me about an amazingbeginning of your journey
started at an FSY?
SPEAKER_04 (06:00):
Yeah.
I mean, it was EFY at the time,but...
EFY.
Yeah.
And how old were you?
I went when I was like 14.
I think it was 14.
SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
So what was that about?
You had cool friends.
They were super impressive.
And that was like, okay, thechurch must be true.
No, what was it about?
SPEAKER_04 (06:18):
Yeah, I went with one of my best friends at the
time.
And again, with still going toYoung Women's, going to church
once a year, I still was doingwhat I could to be involved.
Um, and so one of my bestfriends was going out of time.
So we went together to theuniversity of Utah and spent a
week at EFY up there.
(06:38):
And how was it?
I loved it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
Why?
SPEAKER_04 (06:40):
Because I was surrounded by the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
Oh, is that why?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (06:46):
And I mean, it was fun.
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
Did you recognize that at the time that that's
what the reason why you lovedit?
14 right yeah okay so it'sreally looking back that you go
oh whoa that was a reallyactually really important
experience for you
SPEAKER_04 (06:58):
yeah back at the time it was just fun and my
friends were there and i madenew friends and oh cool i get to
read the scriptures for fiveseconds and then i'm done
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
which is interesting lauren like how often um how
often on your mission do youcome across people who just
never had a discerningexperience of the Holy Ghost,
right?
Like, Stoney, you're at thisexperience.
You look back and go, mygoodness, I was feeling the Holy
Ghost that whole time confirmingto me that this is righteous,
this is good.
(07:30):
But not until later did youactually discern that this is
Holy Ghost.
So how often, Lauren, do youmeet investigators who, once you
teach them what the Holy Ghostis and they start to discern it,
they go, oh, this has been apart of my life.
I just didn't recognize it.
SPEAKER_03 (07:46):
Yeah, I think a lot of times when people recognize
that the Holy Ghost is not thesame as Heavenly Father or Jesus
Christ, they recognize that thatfeeling that they felt before
when they talk about things likeJesus Christ or they talk about
God or they talk about thegospel, that's what they're
feeling.
Because a lot of people that Itaught had Catholic backgrounds.
And so they identified the HolyGhost being the same as Jesus
(08:09):
Christ and Heavenly Father.
And so how could you feel that?
Like they'd be like, oh, God iswith me.
Like I know God is with me.
I talk to God.
But when they recognize that Godhas given us a separate gifts to
be able to feel his love and to-
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
And presence, right?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
is totally something totally different that they had
no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
Oh, so that was even a new concept where Stoney, you
knew the concept from primary upto from zero to 12, but you
didn't recognize 14.
Who recognizes or understandsthis stuff at 14?
But looking back, you're able tosay, I discerned it then.
I just didn't know what it was.
Now I discern it knowing what itis.
It was God's love shed forth inyour heart.
(08:47):
It was the Holy ghost that wasgiving you peace and joy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is beautiful.
Okay.
And then fast forward to, as weall do, especially through those
formative years, ups and downsand ups and downs.
And then it was like your junioryear.
So like 16, 17 rock bottom time,
SPEAKER_04 (09:06):
Rocky bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (09:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
All right.
So this is the pivotal point ofthe story.
Yeah.
This is key to your, I asked youbefore, I said, Hey, you know,
it's funny.
Scriptures teach us that youhave to be humble.
And then it says, sometimes ifyou choose not to be humble, God
compels us to be humble.
And you were telling me thatthis is a humbling.
I
SPEAKER_04 (09:28):
was compelled to be humble.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (09:32):
Yeah.
So I, you know, went to EFY forlike a year or two and then it
was great.
Whatever.
That was when I had the thought.
maybe I could serve a mission,which not going to church for a
couple of years at that pointwas like, what the, who said
that?
Like, where did that not comefrom?
Um, but my counselors were verylike outspoken about their
missions.
And so I, you know, and I lookedup to them at the time very
(09:54):
highly.
And my dad served a mission, butthat was the closest thing I had
to anyone serving a mission atthe time.
Um, and also only being 14 and15, I could put a mission on the
back burner and I have noworries.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
But there was a seed planted somewhere at these
experiences, right?
UNKNOWN (10:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (10:12):
Okay.
So junior year, I'm probably,yeah, about 16 or 17.
And I just remember I, like yousaid, was at rock bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
Life just got tough.
SPEAKER_04 (10:23):
And I hate to sound like a negative Nellie, but it
just felt like each day wasgetting worse.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
And you don't have to go into those details.
Yeah.
many of us have experiencedobviously we go through
especially through adolescencethrough the formative years
there's a rock bottom sometimeswe often hit but you you got to
hit this lucky you your junioryear and you're just down and
it's miserable and you'reunhappy there's anxiety in there
yeah right there's lots of itthere's home personal stuff
(10:51):
that's problematic there's allkinds of stuff Don't get into
the details, but the picture ispainted.
We know you're sad.
Sad?
Is that the right word?
What's the word?
Miserable?
Sad?
Depressed?
What's the word?
SPEAKER_04 (11:02):
Just sad.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Just sad.
SPEAKER_04 (11:04):
Very anxious.
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
Sad and anxious.
Okay, perfect.
So then something happened onenight.
SPEAKER_04 (11:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
All right, let's hear it.
SPEAKER_04 (11:15):
Yeah, so it had been at this point a couple months
since, because again, I went tothe occasional...
girls camp or the occasionalyoung woman's activity but it
had been a couple months sinceI'd been putting myself in a
good place and I remember onenight I was literally just
getting ready for bed and like Ihad school the next morning I
(11:35):
think I stayed up late doinghomework and I was getting ready
for bed I'm laying in bed
SPEAKER_01 (11:41):
miserable
SPEAKER_04 (11:43):
miserable super sad anxious as I'll ever get and I
remember just laying there Oh,and every once in a while, I did
listen to the youth albums,which I know is a little kind of
cringy.
Because, like, yeah, it'scringy.
But
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
why?
I just am curious before youtell the story.
Why?
Is it because now your storyreally reminds me of the Book of
Mormon story, Book of Enoch's.
SPEAKER_04 (12:10):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
And how the Enos character, you're welcome, how
the Enos character talked about,he says, look, let me tell you
about the wrestle, the wrestle,the fight that I had before God,
before I was able to come toChrist, receive admission of my
sins.
And the words that I love thathe used were, my soul hungered.
Like, you must have been,Lauren, you confirm this, she
must have been desperatelyhungry to be listening to this
(12:31):
poppy LDS podcast.
music, like that's realdesperation.
It's
SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
like the highest form of desperation, voluntarily
choosing to listen to the youthalbum.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Can I tell you a story?
Yeah.
Okay, that relates to that?
Yeah.
Okay, so I was, she's soembarrassed or angry.
So when I was preparing for mymission, it's so weird how the
temptations hit you differently.
I had just spent three monthswith my best friend Trent in
Denver preparing.
I had spent two months going tothe temple every other day with
Ed Jesperson.
I sent you a photo of Ed,Lauren.
(13:04):
I was on fire, like so fire.
And for some reason, out of thejust wherever, all these girls
started popping up.
I don't know if it wastemptation or what, but all
these girls started popping up.
And this one girl asked me outon a date.
I'm like, of course, of course.
This is equal cheese to whatyour cheese story was.
I'm driving in the car.
Now, you guys are too young, buthas anyone heard of the, dang
(13:26):
it, this is old.
Michael McClain's Greater ThanUs All.
SPEAKER_03 (13:34):
You just dated yourself.
SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
Do you know what that is?
No.
Yeah, okay.
It is cheesy.
Cheesy LDS pop.
But I'm driving and my soul wasso peaceful.
I loved it so much.
I was willing to do that.
And I'm a music person.
I got bands like crazy.
This is cheesy music.
And I'm just listening to it.
And when I got up to the houseto pick the girl up, I looked at
her and I was like, I apologizebeforehand.
(13:57):
I am so in the mode right now ofjust, we're going to listen to
Greater Than Us All.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
And
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
she, I mean, I don't, I didn't, I was going on
a mission like three weeks orso.
She's like, was super impressed.
She was like, whoa, somethingspiritual is happening right
now.
So maybe you used it to youradvantage in dating or maybe you
didn't.
SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
Not in dating, but you know, I...
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
But you're so hungered, and so you're willing
to do things like that to justfeel it a little bit?
Is that what it was?
Why?
Why did you listen?
I never
SPEAKER_04 (14:27):
played the youth albums for a boy, but I was so,
like...
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
You're not married yet.
Try it.
Just try it.
SPEAKER_04 (14:32):
All right.
I'll take note of that.
Thank you, Sean.
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
You're
SPEAKER_04 (14:37):
welcome.
Yeah, I was just getting itwherever I could.
And, I mean, my family at thetime is still not active.
Like, that was not...
I had, like, I...
I mean, I had to do what I knewbest and I was listening to the
youth albums in the car, in theshower, like, and it wasn't
consistently, but it was like, Iknew that that was like a good
(14:58):
thing.
I knew that that spirit feltgood.
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
I love that.
Cause when we're sad and whenour, our, our souls are empty,
we seek and yearn for somethingand you were just clinging onto
whatever you could to feel thatHoly ghost.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that night,
SPEAKER_04 (15:12):
sorry.
That was a little bit of anembarrassing tangent.
But I, yeah, so that night I hadgotten in bed and after just
listening to the youth albums.
SPEAKER_01 (15:22):
I love that part of the story.
I'm glad you told, I didn't knowthat part.
That's great.
SPEAKER_04 (15:25):
I got in bed still.
I mean, the spirit is nowpresent somewhat.
I remember I was laying in bedand I heard a voice that was not
my own.
And it said, Riley, get on yourknees and pray.
And at this point it had beenmonths.
Years since I had said aheartfelt prayer.
(15:45):
Months since I had maybe said aprayer while I was half asleep.
It had been a long time.
I pushed it off.
Kept trying to go to sleep.
And then the voice came to meagain.
Riley, get on your knees andpray.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
Second time.
SPEAKER_04 (15:59):
Second time.
Again, not my voice.
I pushed it off again.
Third time.
It was as audible as someoneelse was in the room.
Riley, get on your knees.
and say a prayer.
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
Now, you told me this before, and the first thing
I immediately thought of was 3Nephi 11.
Best chapter.
It is the best chapter.
Why do you say it's the bestchapter?
Because I agree it's the bestchapter.
SPEAKER_04 (16:25):
My favorite part of the chapter is, well, it took
him three times to hear thevoice.
SPEAKER_01 (16:31):
Let's read it real quick.
Do you have it, Lauren?
3 Nephi 11, 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_03 (16:37):
You can stop there.
SPEAKER_01 (17:04):
That's what the story makes me think of.
Yeah.
Why didn't they, what do youthink?
Why didn't they understand itthe first time?
SPEAKER_03 (17:10):
Oftentimes when, you know, we're not in a spiritual
mindset or we're not in aposition to feel the spirit, we
don't recognize it when it comesto us.
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Yeah.
And then they hear it again andthey still don't follow through
or listen or obey or adhere toit.
I think it's because, and itsays later on, because they had
to get to a point where theycould open their ears.
and open their hearts.
So with you, why did you rejectit the first time, the second
time?
Disbelief, I was really tired.
(17:41):
I
SPEAKER_04 (17:41):
was tired and I didn't, it had been months since
I'd done anything to come closerto God.
Like why, why would I pray now?
Like that's just.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Oh, you questioned it a little bit.
SPEAKER_04 (17:56):
Yeah.
Like what?
SPEAKER_01 (17:58):
Isn't this fascinating?
In our humility, right?
That is a requirement for us toget to a humble place before we
can actually find the presenceof God again.
And you were really humbled atthis point, but there's still
this struggle that exists, thiswrestle.
I like how Anna said it.
There's this wrestle thatexists, and you're wrestling a
little bit.
Like, is this my voice?
Am I just tired manufacturingthis, or is this a real voice?
(18:20):
But by the third time, you wereconvinced?
SPEAKER_03 (18:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
Now, just because you're convinced, do you have
something, Lauren?
SPEAKER_03 (18:26):
I just have a question about when you're done.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Okay, don't forget.
But when you're convincedsometimes, you are now faced
with a choice.
Yeah.
So you were faced with a choice?
Yeah.
What was the choice?
SPEAKER_04 (18:37):
To get on my knees and pray or to go back to bed.
SPEAKER_01 (18:41):
And you fought it three times.
Yeah.
And then made a choice.
Well, before we follow up withthat, what's your...
SPEAKER_03 (18:46):
So you're saying how the story reminds you a lot of
Enos.
And I agree.
And in Enos in verse four, ittalks about how his soul
hungered and he kneeled downbefore his maker.
And on the footnote of hunger,it links to the topical guide of
the topic of motivations.
And I love that because I thinkbehind every hunger that we
have, there's a motivation.
(19:06):
So I wanted to ask Sonny, whatdo you think was like your
motivation to either listen tothe prompting to move forward
with it?
SPEAKER_01 (19:15):
Good question.
SPEAKER_04 (19:16):
Very good question.
Deep down, I knew it was theright thing to do.
And that's what I had yearnedfor for so long.
I wanted to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:24):
And how powerful is that, that you mentioned that
there's these experiencesthroughout your life where maybe
at the time you didn't discernit or recognize it as the Holy
Ghost, but they were peaceful,happy feelings.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
Yeah.
And
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
now you fast forward to this night where you're the
lowest, the opposite of thosepeaceful, happy feelings.
You're sad, you're miserable,right?
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
And great question about motivation because you get
to a point where you make achoice to obey it and get down
on your knees.
The motivation was, it seemslike I don't want to be unhappy.
I don't want to be sad.
I want to go back to feelings ofjoy and peace.
And that drives you to yourknees.
And I love that you brought upthat fourth verse.
And my soul hungered and Ikneeled down before my maker and
I cried unto him in mightyprayer and supplication for my
(20:02):
own soul.
And all the day long did I cryunto him.
And when the night came, I didstill raise my voice high that
it reached the heavens.
That is a sincere prayer.
Now, I kind of went throughsomething similar.
My prayer was not that sincere,but it was the start.
So tell me about your experiencewhen you knelt down.
SPEAKER_04 (20:18):
I got on my knees, which I was never like a knee
prayer before this either, sothis was new for me.
I got on my knees, and I justsobbed.
I mean, and I cried.
I sobbed.
(20:39):
And...
I don't remember any specifictopic that I took to God.
I'm sure there was a lot that Ihad on my mind and on my heart
that I kind of just, within amix of tears and mumbling, I
just kind of let out.
It was the first time in my lifewhere I knew that God loved me.
(21:01):
It was no longer just aprinciple that I learned in
primary 10 years ago.
It wasn't
SPEAKER_01 (21:07):
conceptual at this point.
SPEAKER_04 (21:09):
It was a tangible...
SPEAKER_01 (21:12):
She used the word tangible.
And when we talk about faith andwe read the scriptural
definition of faith, it talksabout faith as the substance,
the tangible substance of thingshoped for, and the tangible
evidence of things not seen.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (21:25):
Now, you kind of skipped over a really important
part.
Because you went from I'mmiserable and then humbled that
I make a choice to kneel downand pray to...
An
SPEAKER_04 (21:34):
overwhelming feeling of God's love.
SPEAKER_01 (21:37):
Okay, tell me about that.
You said it went to...
I knew God knew me at thatmoment.
What happened in between thatproved that to you?
Like what was the evidence, thesubstance, the tangible?
What was it?
What happened?
Was it brain?
Did you see something?
Was it in your soul, in yourheart?
Like what was it?
SPEAKER_04 (21:56):
I knew that the atonement was real, that the
atonement of Jesus Christ, itcovers more than just my sins.
Because even at this time ofbeing, quote unquote, like away
from the church, I wasn'tactively doing anything.
bad things.
I just wasn't choosing the goodthings.
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
Lauren, what does that remind you of?
Lukewarm.
Lukewarm.
Hot, cold, or lukewarm.
So you were lukewarm.
SPEAKER_04 (22:19):
Yeah.
And so I didn't feel like I feltas though in that moment The
atonement covers more than justsins, which glory be to God that
it does because I make mistakesevery day.
But that wasn't what I waslooking for at the time.
(22:41):
I was looking for a source ofhealing the pain, healing the
ache that just threw outdifferent experiences in my
life.
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
So what was the discernible expression of that
love of God?
What did you feel in your heart,in your spirit?
SPEAKER_04 (22:59):
I felt the burning in...
My bosom, as the Book of Mormonwould describe it as.
I felt, and I'm not a hugger,but I felt like I was being
hugged so tightly in that momentby a power beyond any earthly
element.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
I love that so much because what you're describing
is the Holy Ghost.
That is the very nature of howGod expresses his love to us.
It is through the power of theHoly Ghost and And I love how
you've described it better thanmost people I've ever heard, as
far as me trying to comprehendit.
It felt, when I was in the SaltLake Temple, and I felt like I
(23:39):
was finally having thisexperience where I'm communing
with the Savior, it felt like ahug that burned in my soul, that
was convincing, and it was fullof joy and peace and love.
And I felt, at that moment,completely convinced in my soul,
not in my brain, not from whatI'm seeing, but I felt convinced
that God lives, and He knows me,and He loves me, And I can have
(24:00):
happiness, not just in thislife, but eternally.
So that's what you experienced.
Yeah.
I love it so much.
SPEAKER_04 (24:09):
I just had felt a peace that I hadn't felt for a
really long time.
And throughout those five or sixyears of missing out on that, it
felt really good to feel itagain.
And it wasn't just me saying,You know, one night, like, oh,
(24:30):
I'm going to pray.
Kind of like you said earlier,whether I knew it or not, I was
actively looking for that bydoing the little things.
Not as consistently as oneshould, but I was doing the
little things because I neededthat experience later on of that
healing and of that spirit atthe time that I needed it most.
SPEAKER_03 (24:51):
And I love...
I love stories like this.
Like, I love your story, kind ofhow we mentioned earlier.
It's comparable to 3 Nephi 11.
And stories like this reaffirmmy testimony that the Book of
Mormon is truly written for ourday.
First of all, obviously, withhearing that voice three times,
but then you talk about thisoverwhelming sense of peace and
(25:13):
love that you felt as if youwere one of the people that
Jesus Christ came to visit andhe invited you to come feel the
marks in his hands and in hisfeet and in his side and go one
by one.
Cause this obviously was aone-on-one experience that you
had.
And I just, Love that the Bookof Mormon relentlessly testifies
of that, right?
Like in our own way, personally,we all have the opportunity to
(25:36):
one by one come unto Christ.
And this was one of your momentswhere you were able to come unto
Christ.
And let me just say for therecord, Stoney has the strongest
testimony of the Book of Mormonand the Atonement in anyone that
I've ever
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
met.
And we're going to get to that.
Because the question becomes,once you've had that experience
where you've, where you havechosen to be humble or were
compelled, but then you decidedto listen to the voice of God,
kneel down and plead with him toenter your life.
And then you do it and you feelthe spirit.
This is revelation, right?
The second principle we teach isrevelation leads to conversion.
(26:08):
This is the beginning of trueconversion.
What do you do after that?
What did you do with thatafterwards?
SPEAKER_04 (26:15):
I started going to seminary again.
I started going to young womenactivities consistently.
Church was still...
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
It took time to get to that.
A
SPEAKER_04 (26:24):
subject in the house that wasn't ready to be brought
up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
What about scripture study?
Did you start that anytime soon?
SPEAKER_04 (26:30):
Here and there, still not as consistently, but
more than I ever had.
SPEAKER_01 (26:34):
And then this, but this will lead into the later
part of the story.
Okay, so Lauren, I love thisbecause you fast forward now,
you're on your mission.
And your one purpose, as youlisteners are listening, your
one purpose as a missionary isto lead souls to Christ.
And then the question is, well,how do I do that?
How do I lead a soul to Christ?
Oh, well, the scriptures teach.
You have to do it through faithand repentance and baptism in
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Well, how do I lead someone tofaith then?
(26:55):
Well, you just gave us the storyexactly how you are to do it.
And because you went through ityourself- you now know how to
lead others to do it.
You need to help them and invitethem and encourage them to feast
upon Christ's words, kneel down,and start to feel that Holy
Ghost.
And when they do, they need totake a step towards God and do a
little more, come to church,Read the scriptures now
(27:17):
regularly.
Give up this thing or thatthing.
Start repenting, right?
And as you do these things, youare making steps to grow your
faith unto repentance, whichultimately leads to the covenant
of baptism and receiving thegift of the Holy Ghost.
But I love that your whole storystarts with, it reminds me,
Revelation 3.20.
Do you have that one, Lauren?
SPEAKER_03 (27:33):
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice andopen the door, I will come into
him and will sup with him and hewith me.
SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
Okay, cliche verse.
I've heard it a million times,but if we break it down, think
of how powerful it is.
You on your own, Stoney, aremiserable.
You're living a life on yourown, right?
No God, no Savior, and you'rerunning into walls with your
face,
SPEAKER_00 (27:55):
right?
Face
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
on the ground and you're humble.
This concept that God is at thedoor though, like his whole
life, he's not abandoned you.
He's there and he's knocking.
He wants you to be there.
But here's the process.
If you hear the voice, which atthis point you were starting to
listen and listen and listen.
If you hear the voice, it says,and if you open the door, you
have to stand up from thatcouch, that bed, that chair.
(28:18):
You have to walk over to thedoor.
You have to turn the knob.
You have to open it.
And if you will do it, he says,I will come in and we will sup
together together.
Me and you.
That's the personal one-on-one.
He requires of you to make thesteps, to choose to come unto
him, right?
And you were doing that.
So after you had this beautifulrevelatory experience, which
(28:39):
leads to then faith, you starteddoing more and more things that
will grow your faith.
So we'll fast forward becauseultimately it grew so much that
you became active.
You went on a mission.
It's
SPEAKER_00 (28:50):
amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
But then you shared something with me.
You said, one of the things thatworried you the most or you were
focused on the most during yourmission was, Oh my goodness,
there's this huge gap of timewhere I wasn't in primary.
I wasn't even in church.
I don't know a lot of the basicsof the gospel.
And now you find yourselffeeling a little inadequate.
SPEAKER_04 (29:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:09):
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_04 (29:11):
So again, went to primary, all good stuff.
I learned the basic, God lovesyou.
Jesus died for you.
There's a prophet.
All the primary songs are goingthrough my head right now
because that was all I knew.
And I, again, going into the MTCwas like, is this really what
(29:33):
I'm about to do?
Because I don't know anything.
I learned the story of JosephSmith in the MTC.
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
You know that God lives.
Yes.
Because he revealed it to you.
You know he loves you.
Yes.
You know the source ofhappiness, joy, and peace.
Yes.
But you felt like, but I don'tknow anything else.
Yeah.
I don't know the scriptures.
I don't know the stories.
I don't know anything.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (29:51):
Okay.
Okay.
And that...
Hunger, as Enos describes,almost came back, but in a
different way, where it waslike, if I know what I know I
experienced, I know what Iexperienced is true.
I know what I experienced iswhat brought me out of the worst
time of my life.
That enabling, healing power ofthe atonement of Jesus Christ.
(30:13):
I need to know what's behindthis.
I need to know what the purposeof this is, because I knew it
was real.
And so, although I didn't knowMuch about the doctrine of the
restoration of the gospel ofJesus Christ, I knew what the
atonement felt like, and I knewhow to access that in a way that
was personal.
(30:34):
In a way that was intimate andsacred to me.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Which, by the way, is really all that matters.
Yeah.
That's the point of therestoration.
That's the point of all thestories.
That's the point of the law andthe prophets is to get Stoney to
humble herself and kneel downand pray so that the atonement
can apply.
SPEAKER_04 (30:49):
Heavenly Father's like, please, Stoney, please.
SPEAKER_01 (30:52):
That's right.
And you listened.
Yeah.
Okay, but you still felt like,okay, but now if I'm going to go
teach this, I need to know more.
SPEAKER_04 (30:58):
I need
SPEAKER_01 (30:59):
to know what I'm doing.
Okay, so what the heck did youdo, Stoney?
What'd you do?
SPEAKER_04 (31:03):
I studied.
The Book of Mormon.
And I studied, preached mygospel more than I had ever put
my heart and soul into anythingever before.
SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Starting in the MDC?
SPEAKER_04 (31:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
Okay, what was that?
Okay, so you did what thescriptures teach us, which is
feast upon the words of Christ.
Right?
I love 2 Nephi.
Feast upon the words of Christ.
They'll tell you all things weshould do.
And if you don't understand it,it's because you don't have the
spirit.
So ask, and they will show youall things what you should do.
Yes.
So you started a feast.
SPEAKER_04 (31:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:28):
And how was that experience?
SPEAKER_04 (31:30):
Wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (31:31):
Why?
A
SPEAKER_04 (31:31):
little frustrating.
Why?
Because again, I feel like I wasplaying
SPEAKER_01 (31:34):
catch up.
Wonderful or frustrating?
SPEAKER_04 (31:37):
Can it be both?
SPEAKER_01 (31:40):
Yeah, it can be both.
I guess it can be.
SPEAKER_04 (31:43):
Yeah, both.
Yeah, it was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (31:48):
What was it?
Was it like, oh, wow, look atall this knowledge and these
cool stories?
Or were you building upon thisspiritual experience you had?
And was it a spiritualexperience?
What would you say?
SPEAKER_04 (31:59):
It was a spiritual experience that I was building
upon because...
Again, I knew what the drivingforce behind the purpose was.
I knew that the atonement was mypurpose behind the missionary
purpose, and I was going to doanything to figure out how to
best help people find that aswell.
SPEAKER_01 (32:18):
So as you feasted upon the words of Christ for the
first time in your life, didthat enhance this atonement
experience or the knowledge ofthe atonement?
UNKNOWN (32:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
A lot?
A little?
A lot.
Like what I found in the MTCwhen I really started to feast
upon the words of Christ likeyou for the first time, really
feasted, Every page just jumpedout, the atonement of Jesus
Christ.
And not only that, but how do Iaccess it?
And it was faith and repentanceand the baptism and the gift of
the Holy Ghost over and over andover again.
And the peace that comes fromthe atonement of Jesus Christ
(32:48):
and how to get there.
SPEAKER_04 (32:49):
It was no longer just a book I read in primary.
It was now more or less, oh,this is my life.
This is what happened to me.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
I love that.
Lauren, I love that.
Because that is the whole pointof scripture is to teach you how
to come to Christ.
You go through the process ofcoming to Christ using the right
steps.
And now you're reading thescriptures, confirming all of it
and showing all of that.
Now you are perfectly equipped.
Now we'll ask Lauren, perfectlyequipped to go be a missionary,
to go lead souls, to do this.
Cause you came and did it allyourself.
(33:19):
Now you're reading the words ofthe scriptures, God's words that
teach us how to do what you justdid.
So Lauren, you know, what do youthink?
How'd she do?
How'd she do on her mission withall that?
SPEAKER_03 (33:28):
She was amazing.
UNKNOWN (33:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:30):
Truly, we had one friend in specific, and I'll
tell the story fast.
We had a friend named Nicolethat we taught, and this area
that we're in was boonies,notorious for, oh, people don't
really baptize there.
Like, missionaries don't reallydo work there, whatever.
And we had someone referthemselves, and her name's
Nicole, and she called us.
(33:53):
We had our first lesson on thefloor of a member's house, and
she was at her rock bottom.
like totally just like ifdarkness was a person it was her
just so sad so hopeless and iremember our very first lesson
stoney's over here justtestifying of the book of mormon
(34:15):
just like listen to this listento me nicole she's just
testifying of the book of mormonand we started meeting with her
three times a week she juststarts reading and reading and
reading.
And she recognizes thisprinciple that revelation is
what leads to our conversion.
The thing that Stoney recognizedwas that the revelation that she
received from the Book of Mormonled to her personal conversion.
(34:36):
And I love that saying.
It's kind of cheesy, but it'slike, you have to fill your tank
before you fill it or fill yourcup, whatever it is.
But it's true when it comes toconversion.
conversion as well you have tobe yourself converted to be able
to help others become convertedbut it's not necessarily that
you're the one doing theconverting but you're giving
them the tools to be able to doso and you've used those tools
and you've seen that they work
SPEAKER_04 (34:57):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (34:58):
and how did nicole end up
SPEAKER_04 (35:00):
she got baptized
SPEAKER_01 (35:02):
that's a quick jump to the end she got baptized
SPEAKER_04 (35:05):
yeah she she great well she gained a greater for
the principle of repentance inspecific and how it was the
atonement behind that, that notonly should she be shameful of
her sins, but that she can growand everything that she's gone
through has put her to where sheis now.
And that, again, she has achoice whether to have set a
(35:28):
greater light upon those thingsor whether or not to just keep
going the way that she wasgoing.
SPEAKER_01 (35:33):
I love it.
I wish we had hours and hours.
Maybe we'll do another one withyou because we can tell more
about these mission stories andhow this atonement story
applies.
But why don't we end with youtell our listeners, what's your
advice?
These kids want to have anexperience like you did.
They want to come home and haveit be life-changing and
foundational conversion toChrist.
What's your advice?
SPEAKER_04 (35:53):
Prioritize those experiences with the atonement
of Jesus Christ.
Because being a missionary canbe hard.
I'm going to be honest.
As someone who struggles withsome mental health things it can
be hard at times and there'sthings that are out of your
control a lot of the time whereyou can just be brought down and
I know that it is through thatatonement of Jesus Christ that
(36:15):
is that healing power it's thatenabling pure power of Jesus
Christ's love which ultimatelyis God's love for us and through
those experiences you will finda greater understanding of not
only the missionary purpose butgroup is all together.
SPEAKER_01 (36:34):
All together.
Thank you.
And awesome stories andbeautiful message.
And I'll just finish and we'lladd by saying, look, you guys
listening, you all have theright to receive a revelation
from God that will grow yourfaith, lead you to repentance
and to the real covenants towhere you can feel the atonement
of Christ in your life andyou'll have pure joy.
Like I'm a happy person, notbecause of anything I do.
(36:54):
I'm an annoyingly happy personbecause Jesus Christ is in my
life.
I have so much joy from theatonement every day.
I know how to repent.
I know how to feel the spiritall the time because of him, not
because of any worthiness ofmine.
But you listeners, you have theright to do that.
If you will, as you said, takeyour advice, kneel down and
pray, feast upon the words ofChrist.
And you will feel thisrevelation so that you become a
(37:16):
good missionary.
Wonderful, Stoney.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us.
All right, listeners, we'll seeyou next week.
You all have the right to receive a revelation
from God that will grow yourfaith, lead you to repentance
and to the real covenants towhere you can fill the atonement
of Christ in your life andyou'll have pure joy.
It's funny, dude, because for somany years it's been mission
prep series, but really this isthe podcast about mission
stories.
(00:20):
This is the mission storiespodcast.
So listeners, I apologize forevery single time messing that
up.
Welcome to the Mission Storiespodcast.
This is a problem.
And Lauren's here.
Hey, Lauren.
SPEAKER_03 (00:29):
Hey, guys.
SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
How are you?
SPEAKER_03 (00:32):
Great.
Yeah?
Sun's out.
It's warm.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Yeah.
It's great to be alive.
Too warm.
SPEAKER_03 (00:37):
What?
SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
Oh, I mean, great to be alive.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And we have a super specialguest that we've been waiting
for.
I've been waiting for for a longtime.
It's the Stoney.
SPEAKER_03 (00:47):
Stoney baby.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Which is funny because I've heard so much about
you.
You were mission companions withLauren.
UNKNOWN (00:54):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (00:54):
That's true.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
And for so long, I've heard so much about you.
And then when I finally got tomeet you, it's been a couple
weeks or so.
And then just today, you weretelling me a story.
And you're like, and then theLord said, hey, Riley.
And I'm like, who's Riley?
What?
And you're like, that's my name.
That is my name.
No, your name is Stoney.
SPEAKER_04 (01:12):
That's true.
That's also my name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
And then I learned your name isn't even Stoney.
It's...
SPEAKER_04 (01:16):
Stone.
Oh, dang.
Sorry.
That's my bad.
Stoney's just...
That's who I am
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
now.
So Riley Stone.
Riley Stoney Stone.
Sure.
Yeah.
Good.
Give us just a briefest of whoare you?
Where are you from?
SPEAKER_04 (01:31):
I'm from Utah.
Born and raised.
SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
And how are you related to Lauren?
SPEAKER_04 (01:37):
My mommy.
We were companions.
I second half trained Lauren.
And then we just were bestfriends after that.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
And just look at it.
awesome Lauren's face you guyswere just the closest of
companions so close don't youlove when you meet like earlier
today I was doing a podcast adifferent one it's like a
political one I do it with twoof my mission buddies that now
I've known for 35 years they arethe greatest like there's such
joy in looking at their facesMatt and Levi shout out and it's
(02:06):
just so much joy isn't it tojust have companions that you
have this bond with it's just sopowerful
SPEAKER_00 (02:11):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
yeah and you guys you guys have that like I can
tell
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
you.
It's just like the purest oflove, isn't it?
Yeah.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_04 (02:19):
We
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
do love each other.
Yeah.
Very much.
Okay.
And you had some awesomeexperiences together.
So today we're going to focus ona couple of the principles that
we teach.
Again, the whole premise of thispodcast is to, for you listeners
who are preparing for yourmission, who need a little
motivation, a littleinspiration, but also who need
some knowledge on how do I goout and have just an amazing
spiritual experience that willchange my life, set me on a
(02:41):
foundation built on the LordJesus Christ for my whole life.
Well, these are ways to do it.
These are ways to do it.
And we're going to get intoStoney's story because I love,
man, there's one thing that Ilove so much is I just, just
like you, I love the scriptures.
And I think they're perfect.
And I'm so grateful that we havethem.
We live in a day where we haveso much.
(03:02):
And I love learning of thepeople, the prophets, the people
who come to Christ.
And they're specifically thereto show us how one comes to
Christ, the specific steps.
And then I love meeting people.
like Stoney and hearing yourstory and going, what?
Like that literally is how Enosdid it.
That's literally how Nephi didit.
That's literally how every, likethe story that's told over and
(03:24):
over again.
And it just confirms to me twothings.
A, the fullness of the gospel ofJesus Christ is contained in the
canonized scripture of thechurch of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
And it is, what is in there isto show us all how to come to
Christ.
It confirms that.
Number two, it confirms thatthose like Stoney who, who are
so humble and so awesome, whodecide, make a choice at one
(03:47):
point to come to Christ, that'sthe process you have to go
through.
And when you do it, it works.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
Truly, it works.
SPEAKER_01 (03:54):
Does it work for you?
Yeah, still to this day.
I'm looking at Stoney's happy,glowing face, and it's proof
that it works.
The joy that comes from comingto Christ and leading others to
Christ, there's nothing better.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
Okay, so let's get into your story a little bit.
So...
give us the briefest of synopsisof like, you told me yesterday,
I was in a, I have a greatfamily.
You do have a great family,right?
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
You were super active, super active.
Then you weren't active at all.
The whole family.
SPEAKER_00 (04:23):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
Right.
So let's start with that premiseand you tell us, give us details
about how you came to, I guess,came to Christ.
Yeah.
Okay.
Tell us.
SPEAKER_04 (04:32):
I would love to.
Um, my family, you're active.
I mean, we're from Utah, so itfits.
Um, You're active.
And then I'm going to be honest.
There was a lot of familyproblems going on, which then
caused myself and my immediatefamily to have a little bit of a
(04:56):
faith crisis, which then when Iwas about probably 12 years old,
we stopped attending churchregularly.
And I...
I still went to girls camp.
I still went to young women'severy once in
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
a while.
Mostly because that's theculture, right?
All your friends are LDS.
They all go to these camps.
That's just kind of what you do,right?
Yeah.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (05:17):
And I did love it.
I mean, as a 12 year old havinga faith crisis, it was, you
know, interesting, but I mean, Iwouldn't say I had like a big
faith crisis, but just seeingwhat my parents were going
through.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Yeah.
You're with them, right?
Like you're 12, you're with yourfamily and you're doing what
they do.
SPEAKER_04 (05:31):
Just influenced.
SPEAKER_01 (05:33):
And so for how long, how many years were you guys
done out?
SPEAKER_04 (05:37):
Um, We started going back.
Also, COVID was at the tail endof this.
But I was probably about 17 whenwe started going back to church.
SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
So five years.
SPEAKER_04 (05:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
Okay.
So about five year gap whereyou're gone.
And living in Utah, you getexposed to that culture, but you
guys are out.
SPEAKER_04 (05:53):
Yeah.
Okay.
We were taking
SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
a break.
So you told me about an amazingbeginning of your journey
started at an FSY?
SPEAKER_04 (06:00):
Yeah.
I mean, it was EFY at the time,but...
EFY.
Yeah.
And how old were you?
I went when I was like 14.
I think it was 14.
SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
So what was that about?
You had cool friends.
They were super impressive.
And that was like, okay, thechurch must be true.
No, what was it about?
SPEAKER_04 (06:18):
Yeah, I went with one of my best friends at the
time.
And again, with still going toYoung Women's, going to church
once a year, I still was doingwhat I could to be involved.
Um, and so one of my bestfriends was going out of time.
So we went together to theuniversity of Utah and spent a
week at EFY up there.
(06:38):
And how was it?
I loved it.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
Why?
SPEAKER_04 (06:40):
Because I was surrounded by the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
Oh, is that why?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (06:46):
And I mean, it was fun.
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
Did you recognize that at the time that that's
what the reason why you lovedit?
14 right yeah okay so it'sreally looking back that you go
oh whoa that was a reallyactually really important
experience for you
SPEAKER_04 (06:58):
yeah back at the time it was just fun and my
friends were there and i madenew friends and oh cool i get to
read the scriptures for fiveseconds and then i'm done
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
which is interesting lauren like how often um how
often on your mission do youcome across people who just
never had a discerningexperience of the Holy Ghost,
right?
Like, Stoney, you're at thisexperience.
You look back and go, mygoodness, I was feeling the Holy
Ghost that whole time confirmingto me that this is righteous,
this is good.
(07:30):
But not until later did youactually discern that this is
Holy Ghost.
So how often, Lauren, do youmeet investigators who, once you
teach them what the Holy Ghostis and they start to discern it,
they go, oh, this has been apart of my life.
I just didn't recognize it.
SPEAKER_03 (07:46):
Yeah, I think a lot of times when people recognize
that the Holy Ghost is not thesame as Heavenly Father or Jesus
Christ, they recognize that thatfeeling that they felt before
when they talk about things likeJesus Christ or they talk about
God or they talk about thegospel, that's what they're
feeling.
Because a lot of people that Itaught had Catholic backgrounds.
And so they identified the HolyGhost being the same as Jesus
(08:09):
Christ and Heavenly Father.
And so how could you feel that?
Like they'd be like, oh, God iswith me.
Like I know God is with me.
I talk to God.
But when they recognize that Godhas given us a separate gifts to
be able to feel his love and to-
SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
And presence, right?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
is totally something totally different that they had
no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
Oh, so that was even a new concept where Stoney, you
knew the concept from primary upto from zero to 12, but you
didn't recognize 14.
Who recognizes or understandsthis stuff at 14?
But looking back, you're able tosay, I discerned it then.
I just didn't know what it was.
Now I discern it knowing what itis.
It was God's love shed forth inyour heart.
(08:47):
It was the Holy ghost that wasgiving you peace and joy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is beautiful.
Okay.
And then fast forward to, as weall do, especially through those
formative years, ups and downsand ups and downs.
And then it was like your junioryear.
So like 16, 17 rock bottom time,
SPEAKER_04 (09:06):
Rocky bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (09:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
All right.
So this is the pivotal point ofthe story.
Yeah.
This is key to your, I asked youbefore, I said, Hey, you know,
it's funny.
Scriptures teach us that youhave to be humble.
And then it says, sometimes ifyou choose not to be humble, God
compels us to be humble.
And you were telling me thatthis is a humbling.
I
SPEAKER_04 (09:28):
was compelled to be humble.
SPEAKER_01 (09:29):
Okay.
SPEAKER_04 (09:32):
Yeah.
So I, you know, went to EFY forlike a year or two and then it
was great.
Whatever.
That was when I had the thought.
maybe I could serve a mission,which not going to church for a
couple of years at that pointwas like, what the, who said
that?
Like, where did that not comefrom?
Um, but my counselors were verylike outspoken about their
missions.
And so I, you know, and I lookedup to them at the time very
(09:54):
highly.
And my dad served a mission, butthat was the closest thing I had
to anyone serving a mission atthe time.
Um, and also only being 14 and15, I could put a mission on the
back burner and I have noworries.
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
But there was a seed planted somewhere at these
experiences, right?
UNKNOWN (10:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (10:12):
Okay.
So junior year, I'm probably,yeah, about 16 or 17.
And I just remember I, like yousaid, was at rock bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
Life just got tough.
SPEAKER_04 (10:23):
And I hate to sound like a negative Nellie, but it
just felt like each day wasgetting worse.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
And you don't have to go into those details.
Yeah.
many of us have experiencedobviously we go through
especially through adolescencethrough the formative years
there's a rock bottom sometimeswe often hit but you you got to
hit this lucky you your junioryear and you're just down and
it's miserable and you'reunhappy there's anxiety in there
yeah right there's lots of itthere's home personal stuff
(10:51):
that's problematic there's allkinds of stuff Don't get into
the details, but the picture ispainted.
We know you're sad.
Sad?
Is that the right word?
What's the word?
Miserable?
Sad?
Depressed?
What's the word?
SPEAKER_04 (11:02):
Just sad.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Just sad.
SPEAKER_04 (11:04):
Very anxious.
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
Sad and anxious.
Okay, perfect.
So then something happened onenight.
SPEAKER_04 (11:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
All right, let's hear it.
SPEAKER_04 (11:15):
Yeah, so it had been at this point a couple months
since, because again, I went tothe occasional...
girls camp or the occasionalyoung woman's activity but it
had been a couple months sinceI'd been putting myself in a
good place and I remember onenight I was literally just
getting ready for bed and like Ihad school the next morning I
(11:35):
think I stayed up late doinghomework and I was getting ready
for bed I'm laying in bed
SPEAKER_01 (11:41):
miserable
SPEAKER_04 (11:43):
miserable super sad anxious as I'll ever get and I
remember just laying there Oh,and every once in a while, I did
listen to the youth albums,which I know is a little kind of
cringy.
Because, like, yeah, it'scringy.
But
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
why?
I just am curious before youtell the story.
Why?
Is it because now your storyreally reminds me of the Book of
Mormon story, Book of Enoch's.
SPEAKER_04 (12:10):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
And how the Enos character, you're welcome, how
the Enos character talked about,he says, look, let me tell you
about the wrestle, the wrestle,the fight that I had before God,
before I was able to come toChrist, receive admission of my
sins.
And the words that I love thathe used were, my soul hungered.
Like, you must have been,Lauren, you confirm this, she
must have been desperatelyhungry to be listening to this
(12:31):
poppy LDS podcast.
music, like that's realdesperation.
It's
SPEAKER_02 (12:36):
like the highest form of desperation, voluntarily
choosing to listen to the youthalbum.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Can I tell you a story?
Yeah.
Okay, that relates to that?
Yeah.
Okay, so I was, she's soembarrassed or angry.
So when I was preparing for mymission, it's so weird how the
temptations hit you differently.
I had just spent three monthswith my best friend Trent in
Denver preparing.
I had spent two months going tothe temple every other day with
Ed Jesperson.
I sent you a photo of Ed,Lauren.
(13:04):
I was on fire, like so fire.
And for some reason, out of thejust wherever, all these girls
started popping up.
I don't know if it wastemptation or what, but all
these girls started popping up.
And this one girl asked me outon a date.
I'm like, of course, of course.
This is equal cheese to whatyour cheese story was.
I'm driving in the car.
Now, you guys are too young, buthas anyone heard of the, dang
(13:26):
it, this is old.
Michael McClain's Greater ThanUs All.
SPEAKER_03 (13:34):
You just dated yourself.
SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
Do you know what that is?
No.
Yeah, okay.
It is cheesy.
Cheesy LDS pop.
But I'm driving and my soul wasso peaceful.
I loved it so much.
I was willing to do that.
And I'm a music person.
I got bands like crazy.
This is cheesy music.
And I'm just listening to it.
And when I got up to the houseto pick the girl up, I looked at
her and I was like, I apologizebeforehand.
(13:57):
I am so in the mode right now ofjust, we're going to listen to
Greater Than Us All.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
And
SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
she, I mean, I don't, I didn't, I was going on
a mission like three weeks orso.
She's like, was super impressed.
She was like, whoa, somethingspiritual is happening right
now.
So maybe you used it to youradvantage in dating or maybe you
didn't.
SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
Not in dating, but you know, I...
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
But you're so hungered, and so you're willing
to do things like that to justfeel it a little bit?
Is that what it was?
Why?
Why did you listen?
I never
SPEAKER_04 (14:27):
played the youth albums for a boy, but I was so,
like...
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
You're not married yet.
Try it.
Just try it.
SPEAKER_04 (14:32):
All right.
I'll take note of that.
Thank you, Sean.
SPEAKER_01 (14:36):
You're
SPEAKER_04 (14:37):
welcome.
Yeah, I was just getting itwherever I could.
And, I mean, my family at thetime is still not active.
Like, that was not...
I had, like, I...
I mean, I had to do what I knewbest and I was listening to the
youth albums in the car, in theshower, like, and it wasn't
consistently, but it was like, Iknew that that was like a good
(14:58):
thing.
I knew that that spirit feltgood.
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
I love that.
Cause when we're sad and whenour, our, our souls are empty,
we seek and yearn for somethingand you were just clinging onto
whatever you could to feel thatHoly ghost.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that night,
SPEAKER_04 (15:12):
sorry.
That was a little bit of anembarrassing tangent.
But I, yeah, so that night I hadgotten in bed and after just
listening to the youth albums.
SPEAKER_01 (15:22):
I love that part of the story.
I'm glad you told, I didn't knowthat part.
That's great.
SPEAKER_04 (15:25):
I got in bed still.
I mean, the spirit is nowpresent somewhat.
I remember I was laying in bedand I heard a voice that was not
my own.
And it said, Riley, get on yourknees and pray.
And at this point it had beenmonths.
Years since I had said aheartfelt prayer.
(15:45):
Months since I had maybe said aprayer while I was half asleep.
It had been a long time.
I pushed it off.
Kept trying to go to sleep.
And then the voice came to meagain.
Riley, get on your knees andpray.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
Second time.
SPEAKER_04 (15:59):
Second time.
Again, not my voice.
I pushed it off again.
Third time.
It was as audible as someoneelse was in the room.
Riley, get on your knees.
and say a prayer.
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
Now, you told me this before, and the first thing
I immediately thought of was 3Nephi 11.
Best chapter.
It is the best chapter.
Why do you say it's the bestchapter?
Because I agree it's the bestchapter.
SPEAKER_04 (16:25):
My favorite part of the chapter is, well, it took
him three times to hear thevoice.
SPEAKER_01 (16:31):
Let's read it real quick.
Do you have it, Lauren?
3 Nephi 11, 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_03 (16:37):
You can stop there.
SPEAKER_01 (17:04):
That's what the story makes me think of.
Yeah.
Why didn't they, what do youthink?
Why didn't they understand itthe first time?
SPEAKER_03 (17:10):
Oftentimes when, you know, we're not in a spiritual
mindset or we're not in aposition to feel the spirit, we
don't recognize it when it comesto us.
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
Yeah.
And then they hear it again andthey still don't follow through
or listen or obey or adhere toit.
I think it's because, and itsays later on, because they had
to get to a point where theycould open their ears.
and open their hearts.
So with you, why did you rejectit the first time, the second
time?
Disbelief, I was really tired.
(17:41):
I
SPEAKER_04 (17:41):
was tired and I didn't, it had been months since
I'd done anything to come closerto God.
Like why, why would I pray now?
Like that's just.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
Oh, you questioned it a little bit.
SPEAKER_04 (17:56):
Yeah.
Like what?
SPEAKER_01 (17:58):
Isn't this fascinating?
In our humility, right?
That is a requirement for us toget to a humble place before we
can actually find the presenceof God again.
And you were really humbled atthis point, but there's still
this struggle that exists, thiswrestle.
I like how Anna said it.
There's this wrestle thatexists, and you're wrestling a
little bit.
Like, is this my voice?
Am I just tired manufacturingthis, or is this a real voice?
(18:20):
But by the third time, you wereconvinced?
SPEAKER_03 (18:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:22):
Now, just because you're convinced, do you have
something, Lauren?
SPEAKER_03 (18:26):
I just have a question about when you're done.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Okay, don't forget.
But when you're convincedsometimes, you are now faced
with a choice.
Yeah.
So you were faced with a choice?
Yeah.
What was the choice?
SPEAKER_04 (18:37):
To get on my knees and pray or to go back to bed.
SPEAKER_01 (18:41):
And you fought it three times.
Yeah.
And then made a choice.
Well, before we follow up withthat, what's your...
SPEAKER_03 (18:46):
So you're saying how the story reminds you a lot of
Enos.
And I agree.
And in Enos in verse four, ittalks about how his soul
hungered and he kneeled downbefore his maker.
And on the footnote of hunger,it links to the topical guide of
the topic of motivations.
And I love that because I thinkbehind every hunger that we
have, there's a motivation.
(19:06):
So I wanted to ask Sonny, whatdo you think was like your
motivation to either listen tothe prompting to move forward
with it?
SPEAKER_01 (19:15):
Good question.
SPEAKER_04 (19:16):
Very good question.
Deep down, I knew it was theright thing to do.
And that's what I had yearnedfor for so long.
I wanted to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:24):
And how powerful is that, that you mentioned that
there's these experiencesthroughout your life where maybe
at the time you didn't discernit or recognize it as the Holy
Ghost, but they were peaceful,happy feelings.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
Yeah.
And
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
now you fast forward to this night where you're the
lowest, the opposite of thosepeaceful, happy feelings.
You're sad, you're miserable,right?
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
And great question about motivation because you get
to a point where you make achoice to obey it and get down
on your knees.
The motivation was, it seemslike I don't want to be unhappy.
I don't want to be sad.
I want to go back to feelings ofjoy and peace.
And that drives you to yourknees.
And I love that you brought upthat fourth verse.
And my soul hungered and Ikneeled down before my maker and
I cried unto him in mightyprayer and supplication for my
(20:02):
own soul.
And all the day long did I cryunto him.
And when the night came, I didstill raise my voice high that
it reached the heavens.
That is a sincere prayer.
Now, I kind of went throughsomething similar.
My prayer was not that sincere,but it was the start.
So tell me about your experiencewhen you knelt down.
SPEAKER_04 (20:18):
I got on my knees, which I was never like a knee
prayer before this either, sothis was new for me.
I got on my knees, and I justsobbed.
I mean, and I cried.
I sobbed.
(20:39):
And...
I don't remember any specifictopic that I took to God.
I'm sure there was a lot that Ihad on my mind and on my heart
that I kind of just, within amix of tears and mumbling, I
just kind of let out.
It was the first time in my lifewhere I knew that God loved me.
(21:01):
It was no longer just aprinciple that I learned in
primary 10 years ago.
It wasn't
SPEAKER_01 (21:07):
conceptual at this point.
SPEAKER_04 (21:09):
It was a tangible...
SPEAKER_01 (21:12):
She used the word tangible.
And when we talk about faith andwe read the scriptural
definition of faith, it talksabout faith as the substance,
the tangible substance of thingshoped for, and the tangible
evidence of things not seen.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (21:25):
Now, you kind of skipped over a really important
part.
Because you went from I'mmiserable and then humbled that
I make a choice to kneel downand pray to...
An
SPEAKER_04 (21:34):
overwhelming feeling of God's love.
SPEAKER_01 (21:37):
Okay, tell me about that.
You said it went to...
I knew God knew me at thatmoment.
What happened in between thatproved that to you?
Like what was the evidence, thesubstance, the tangible?
What was it?
What happened?
Was it brain?
Did you see something?
Was it in your soul, in yourheart?
Like what was it?
SPEAKER_04 (21:56):
I knew that the atonement was real, that the
atonement of Jesus Christ, itcovers more than just my sins.
Because even at this time ofbeing, quote unquote, like away
from the church, I wasn'tactively doing anything.
bad things.
I just wasn't choosing the goodthings.
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
Lauren, what does that remind you of?
Lukewarm.
Lukewarm.
Hot, cold, or lukewarm.
So you were lukewarm.
SPEAKER_04 (22:19):
Yeah.
And so I didn't feel like I feltas though in that moment The
atonement covers more than justsins, which glory be to God that
it does because I make mistakesevery day.
But that wasn't what I waslooking for at the time.
(22:41):
I was looking for a source ofhealing the pain, healing the
ache that just threw outdifferent experiences in my
life.
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
So what was the discernible expression of that
love of God?
What did you feel in your heart,in your spirit?
SPEAKER_04 (22:59):
I felt the burning in...
My bosom, as the Book of Mormonwould describe it as.
I felt, and I'm not a hugger,but I felt like I was being
hugged so tightly in that momentby a power beyond any earthly
element.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
I love that so much because what you're describing
is the Holy Ghost.
That is the very nature of howGod expresses his love to us.
It is through the power of theHoly Ghost and And I love how
you've described it better thanmost people I've ever heard, as
far as me trying to comprehendit.
It felt, when I was in the SaltLake Temple, and I felt like I
(23:39):
was finally having thisexperience where I'm communing
with the Savior, it felt like ahug that burned in my soul, that
was convincing, and it was fullof joy and peace and love.
And I felt, at that moment,completely convinced in my soul,
not in my brain, not from whatI'm seeing, but I felt convinced
that God lives, and He knows me,and He loves me, And I can have
(24:00):
happiness, not just in thislife, but eternally.
So that's what you experienced.
Yeah.
I love it so much.
SPEAKER_04 (24:09):
I just had felt a peace that I hadn't felt for a
really long time.
And throughout those five or sixyears of missing out on that, it
felt really good to feel itagain.
And it wasn't just me saying,You know, one night, like, oh,
(24:30):
I'm going to pray.
Kind of like you said earlier,whether I knew it or not, I was
actively looking for that bydoing the little things.
Not as consistently as oneshould, but I was doing the
little things because I neededthat experience later on of that
healing and of that spirit atthe time that I needed it most.
SPEAKER_03 (24:51):
And I love...
I love stories like this.
Like, I love your story, kind ofhow we mentioned earlier.
It's comparable to 3 Nephi 11.
And stories like this reaffirmmy testimony that the Book of
Mormon is truly written for ourday.
First of all, obviously, withhearing that voice three times,
but then you talk about thisoverwhelming sense of peace and
(25:13):
love that you felt as if youwere one of the people that
Jesus Christ came to visit andhe invited you to come feel the
marks in his hands and in hisfeet and in his side and go one
by one.
Cause this obviously was aone-on-one experience that you
had.
And I just, Love that the Bookof Mormon relentlessly testifies
of that, right?
Like in our own way, personally,we all have the opportunity to
(25:36):
one by one come unto Christ.
And this was one of your momentswhere you were able to come unto
Christ.
And let me just say for therecord, Stoney has the strongest
testimony of the Book of Mormonand the Atonement in anyone that
I've ever
SPEAKER_01 (25:47):
met.
And we're going to get to that.
Because the question becomes,once you've had that experience
where you've, where you havechosen to be humble or were
compelled, but then you decidedto listen to the voice of God,
kneel down and plead with him toenter your life.
And then you do it and you feelthe spirit.
This is revelation, right?
The second principle we teach isrevelation leads to conversion.
(26:08):
This is the beginning of trueconversion.
What do you do after that?
What did you do with thatafterwards?
SPEAKER_04 (26:15):
I started going to seminary again.
I started going to young womenactivities consistently.
Church was still...
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
It took time to get to that.
A
SPEAKER_04 (26:24):
subject in the house that wasn't ready to be brought
up.
SPEAKER_01 (26:27):
What about scripture study?
Did you start that anytime soon?
SPEAKER_04 (26:30):
Here and there, still not as consistently, but
more than I ever had.
SPEAKER_01 (26:34):
And then this, but this will lead into the later
part of the story.
Okay, so Lauren, I love thisbecause you fast forward now,
you're on your mission.
And your one purpose, as youlisteners are listening, your
one purpose as a missionary isto lead souls to Christ.
And then the question is, well,how do I do that?
How do I lead a soul to Christ?
Oh, well, the scriptures teach.
You have to do it through faithand repentance and baptism in
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Well, how do I lead someone tofaith then?
(26:55):
Well, you just gave us the storyexactly how you are to do it.
And because you went through ityourself- you now know how to
lead others to do it.
You need to help them and invitethem and encourage them to feast
upon Christ's words, kneel down,and start to feel that Holy
Ghost.
And when they do, they need totake a step towards God and do a
little more, come to church,Read the scriptures now
(27:17):
regularly.
Give up this thing or thatthing.
Start repenting, right?
And as you do these things, youare making steps to grow your
faith unto repentance, whichultimately leads to the covenant
of baptism and receiving thegift of the Holy Ghost.
But I love that your whole storystarts with, it reminds me,
Revelation 3.20.
Do you have that one, Lauren?
SPEAKER_03 (27:33):
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice andopen the door, I will come into
him and will sup with him and hewith me.
SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
Okay, cliche verse.
I've heard it a million times,but if we break it down, think
of how powerful it is.
You on your own, Stoney, aremiserable.
You're living a life on yourown, right?
No God, no Savior, and you'rerunning into walls with your
face,
SPEAKER_00 (27:55):
right?
Face
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
on the ground and you're humble.
This concept that God is at thedoor though, like his whole
life, he's not abandoned you.
He's there and he's knocking.
He wants you to be there.
But here's the process.
If you hear the voice, which atthis point you were starting to
listen and listen and listen.
If you hear the voice, it says,and if you open the door, you
have to stand up from thatcouch, that bed, that chair.
(28:18):
You have to walk over to thedoor.
You have to turn the knob.
You have to open it.
And if you will do it, he says,I will come in and we will sup
together together.
Me and you.
That's the personal one-on-one.
He requires of you to make thesteps, to choose to come unto
him, right?
And you were doing that.
So after you had this beautifulrevelatory experience, which
(28:39):
leads to then faith, you starteddoing more and more things that
will grow your faith.
So we'll fast forward becauseultimately it grew so much that
you became active.
You went on a mission.
It's
SPEAKER_00 (28:50):
amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
But then you shared something with me.
You said, one of the things thatworried you the most or you were
focused on the most during yourmission was, Oh my goodness,
there's this huge gap of timewhere I wasn't in primary.
I wasn't even in church.
I don't know a lot of the basicsof the gospel.
And now you find yourselffeeling a little inadequate.
SPEAKER_04 (29:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:09):
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_04 (29:11):
So again, went to primary, all good stuff.
I learned the basic, God lovesyou.
Jesus died for you.
There's a prophet.
All the primary songs are goingthrough my head right now
because that was all I knew.
And I, again, going into the MTCwas like, is this really what
(29:33):
I'm about to do?
Because I don't know anything.
I learned the story of JosephSmith in the MTC.
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
You know that God lives.
Yes.
Because he revealed it to you.
You know he loves you.
Yes.
You know the source ofhappiness, joy, and peace.
Yes.
But you felt like, but I don'tknow anything else.
Yeah.
I don't know the scriptures.
I don't know the stories.
I don't know anything.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (29:51):
Okay.
Okay.
And that...
Hunger, as Enos describes,almost came back, but in a
different way, where it waslike, if I know what I know I
experienced, I know what Iexperienced is true.
I know what I experienced iswhat brought me out of the worst
time of my life.
That enabling, healing power ofthe atonement of Jesus Christ.
(30:13):
I need to know what's behindthis.
I need to know what the purposeof this is, because I knew it
was real.
And so, although I didn't knowMuch about the doctrine of the
restoration of the gospel ofJesus Christ, I knew what the
atonement felt like, and I knewhow to access that in a way that
was personal.
(30:34):
In a way that was intimate andsacred to me.
SPEAKER_01 (30:36):
Which, by the way, is really all that matters.
Yeah.
That's the point of therestoration.
That's the point of all thestories.
That's the point of the law andthe prophets is to get Stoney to
humble herself and kneel downand pray so that the atonement
can apply.
SPEAKER_04 (30:49):
Heavenly Father's like, please, Stoney, please.
SPEAKER_01 (30:52):
That's right.
And you listened.
Yeah.
Okay, but you still felt like,okay, but now if I'm going to go
teach this, I need to know more.
SPEAKER_04 (30:58):
I need
SPEAKER_01 (30:59):
to know what I'm doing.
Okay, so what the heck did youdo, Stoney?
What'd you do?
SPEAKER_04 (31:03):
I studied.
The Book of Mormon.
And I studied, preached mygospel more than I had ever put
my heart and soul into anythingever before.
SPEAKER_01 (31:11):
Starting in the MDC?
SPEAKER_04 (31:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
Okay, what was that?
Okay, so you did what thescriptures teach us, which is
feast upon the words of Christ.
Right?
I love 2 Nephi.
Feast upon the words of Christ.
They'll tell you all things weshould do.
And if you don't understand it,it's because you don't have the
spirit.
So ask, and they will show youall things what you should do.
Yes.
So you started a feast.
SPEAKER_04 (31:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:28):
And how was that experience?
SPEAKER_04 (31:30):
Wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (31:31):
Why?
A
SPEAKER_04 (31:31):
little frustrating.
Why?
Because again, I feel like I wasplaying
SPEAKER_01 (31:34):
catch up.
Wonderful or frustrating?
SPEAKER_04 (31:37):
Can it be both?
SPEAKER_01 (31:40):
Yeah, it can be both.
I guess it can be.
SPEAKER_04 (31:43):
Yeah, both.
Yeah, it was wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (31:48):
What was it?
Was it like, oh, wow, look atall this knowledge and these
cool stories?
Or were you building upon thisspiritual experience you had?
And was it a spiritualexperience?
What would you say?
SPEAKER_04 (31:59):
It was a spiritual experience that I was building
upon because...
Again, I knew what the drivingforce behind the purpose was.
I knew that the atonement was mypurpose behind the missionary
purpose, and I was going to doanything to figure out how to
best help people find that aswell.
SPEAKER_01 (32:18):
So as you feasted upon the words of Christ for the
first time in your life, didthat enhance this atonement
experience or the knowledge ofthe atonement?
UNKNOWN (32:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
A lot?
A little?
A lot.
Like what I found in the MTCwhen I really started to feast
upon the words of Christ likeyou for the first time, really
feasted, Every page just jumpedout, the atonement of Jesus
Christ.
And not only that, but how do Iaccess it?
And it was faith and repentanceand the baptism and the gift of
the Holy Ghost over and over andover again.
And the peace that comes fromthe atonement of Jesus Christ
(32:48):
and how to get there.
SPEAKER_04 (32:49):
It was no longer just a book I read in primary.
It was now more or less, oh,this is my life.
This is what happened to me.
SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
I love that.
Lauren, I love that.
Because that is the whole pointof scripture is to teach you how
to come to Christ.
You go through the process ofcoming to Christ using the right
steps.
And now you're reading thescriptures, confirming all of it
and showing all of that.
Now you are perfectly equipped.
Now we'll ask Lauren, perfectlyequipped to go be a missionary,
to go lead souls, to do this.
Cause you came and did it allyourself.
(33:19):
Now you're reading the words ofthe scriptures, God's words that
teach us how to do what you justdid.
So Lauren, you know, what do youthink?
How'd she do?
How'd she do on her mission withall that?
SPEAKER_03 (33:28):
She was amazing.
UNKNOWN (33:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:30):
Truly, we had one friend in specific, and I'll
tell the story fast.
We had a friend named Nicolethat we taught, and this area
that we're in was boonies,notorious for, oh, people don't
really baptize there.
Like, missionaries don't reallydo work there, whatever.
And we had someone referthemselves, and her name's
Nicole, and she called us.
(33:53):
We had our first lesson on thefloor of a member's house, and
she was at her rock bottom.
like totally just like ifdarkness was a person it was her
just so sad so hopeless and iremember our very first lesson
stoney's over here justtestifying of the book of mormon
(34:15):
just like listen to this listento me nicole she's just
testifying of the book of mormonand we started meeting with her
three times a week she juststarts reading and reading and
reading.
And she recognizes thisprinciple that revelation is
what leads to our conversion.
The thing that Stoney recognizedwas that the revelation that she
received from the Book of Mormonled to her personal conversion.
(34:36):
And I love that saying.
It's kind of cheesy, but it'slike, you have to fill your tank
before you fill it or fill yourcup, whatever it is.
But it's true when it comes toconversion.
conversion as well you have tobe yourself converted to be able
to help others become convertedbut it's not necessarily that
you're the one doing theconverting but you're giving
them the tools to be able to doso and you've used those tools
and you've seen that they work
SPEAKER_04 (34:57):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (34:58):
and how did nicole end up
SPEAKER_04 (35:00):
she got baptized
SPEAKER_01 (35:02):
that's a quick jump to the end she got baptized
SPEAKER_04 (35:05):
yeah she she great well she gained a greater for
the principle of repentance inspecific and how it was the
atonement behind that, that notonly should she be shameful of
her sins, but that she can growand everything that she's gone
through has put her to where sheis now.
And that, again, she has achoice whether to have set a
(35:28):
greater light upon those thingsor whether or not to just keep
going the way that she wasgoing.
SPEAKER_01 (35:33):
I love it.
I wish we had hours and hours.
Maybe we'll do another one withyou because we can tell more
about these mission stories andhow this atonement story
applies.
But why don't we end with youtell our listeners, what's your
advice?
These kids want to have anexperience like you did.
They want to come home and haveit be life-changing and
foundational conversion toChrist.
What's your advice?
SPEAKER_04 (35:53):
Prioritize those experiences with the atonement
of Jesus Christ.
Because being a missionary canbe hard.
I'm going to be honest.
As someone who struggles withsome mental health things it can
be hard at times and there'sthings that are out of your
control a lot of the time whereyou can just be brought down and
I know that it is through thatatonement of Jesus Christ that
(36:15):
is that healing power it's thatenabling pure power of Jesus
Christ's love which ultimatelyis God's love for us and through
those experiences you will finda greater understanding of not
only the missionary purpose butgroup is all together.
SPEAKER_01 (36:34):
All together.
Thank you.
And awesome stories andbeautiful message.
And I'll just finish and we'lladd by saying, look, you guys
listening, you all have theright to receive a revelation
from God that will grow yourfaith, lead you to repentance
and to the real covenants towhere you can feel the atonement
of Christ in your life andyou'll have pure joy.
Like I'm a happy person, notbecause of anything I do.
(36:54):
I'm an annoyingly happy personbecause Jesus Christ is in my
life.
I have so much joy from theatonement every day.
I know how to repent.
I know how to feel the spiritall the time because of him, not
because of any worthiness ofmine.
But you listeners, you have theright to do that.
If you will, as you said, takeyour advice, kneel down and
pray, feast upon the words ofChrist.
And you will feel thisrevelation so that you become a
(37:16):
good missionary.
Wonderful, Stoney.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us.
All right, listeners, we'll seeyou next week.
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