Losing a Parent Two Months Before Her Mission & Finding Light in Christ's Name - Sister Mandi Malm

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This episode features guest Mandy Malm, a recently returned missionary who served in Riverside, California, speaking Spanish. The episode focuses on Principle Number 6: "You Can't Bring Me Down," which explores how developing an identity rooted in Christ enables individuals and Missionaries to overcome life's most challenging experiences. 

Shawn opens the discussion by sharing the origin of the episode's title, recounting a high school hazing experience where he was squeezed into a trash can by seniors. In that moment of humiliation, he chose not to let the experience "bring me down," drawing inspiration from an empowering thrash metal song. He asserts that this choice to respond positively to adversity serves as a life lesson.

The conversation establishes a spectrum of "hard" experiences, ranging from the relatable disappointments of mission life—such as investigators canceling baptisms or companions ghosting appointments—to more profound suffering. Mandy is introduced as someone who dealt with profound hardship: the passing of her mother exactly two months before she left for her mission.

Mandy's Journey and the Power of Identity Mandy shares that her mother fought cancer for many years, beginning when Mandy was 11. Throughout her youth, Mandy identified herself primarily through worldly roles such as "the optimistic one," a singer, a soccer player, or her mother's "nurse". The principle discussed is that while these identities are good, they lack the power to sustain a person through truly heavy, life-shattering events, like the loss of a parent.

The discussion emphasizes the necessity of grounding one's identity in the fact that they are a child of God, citing the example of Moses resisting temptation because he internalized the message, "Moses, my son".

A Near-Death Spiritual Experience Mandy recounts a terrifying experience that happened two weeks after her mother's death:

• While staying at a friend's house, Mandy woke up paralyzed and unable to move or breathe, feeling an overwhelming, intense darkness surrounding her.

• She felt certain she was going to die and offered a desperate prayer.

• Her sister woke up and told her she had to "raise your arm to the square and say, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, like be gone or go away'".

• Upon raising her arm and commanding the presence to leave in Christ's name, Mandy immediately felt a "rush of light and of the spirit" and could move and breathe again.

• Mandy stated this experience taught her that she could overcome anything completely by relying on Jesus Christ, who came for her because he is her brother.

The Virtue of the Word of God and Service Shawn recounts his own harrowing missionary story in Ukraine in 1995, where he and his companion were kidnapped by the Russian mafia. Instead of fighting or jumping out the window, Shawn remembered his identity as a servant of Christ. He applied the principle from Alma 31:5 that the "preaching of the word of God had a more powerful effect to change the hearts and the minds" than any weapon. By non-stop preaching the gospel and eternal families, he filled the vehicle with the Spirit, completely confounding the kidnappers, who abandoned their intent to harm them.

Mandy also shares a story about teaching the Atonement using a visual aid:

• She and her companion taught an investigator named Javier Arias, who had throat and mouth cancer and struggled to speak.

• They used an original nail from Joseph Smith and Emma Smith's house (given to her companion, Sami, while she served as a historic site missionary) to represent the suffering of Christ.

• They also used water to represent blood and a stone to symbolize the resurrection, helping Javier connect deeply with the Aton