August 12, 2024 • 28 mins
I beg you to take the time to listen to this episode. Sister Kristi Rudolph is INCREDIBLE and is so engaging. I loved listening to her teach at FSY, I loved getting to know her better after class, and I loved recording this podcast with her.
The name of this episode comes from her class’s title all about friends, and I’m telling you, like seriously and actually, it’s not one to miss. Part two will be out on Wednesday, so don’t miss that one either!
If you want to be a better friend, make sure to listen. If you want help finding better friends, make sure to listen. If you want to learn about what it takes to be a good friend, make sure to listen. If you wish you had more friends, make sure you listen. If you have a ton of friends but want to hear more on the topic, make sure to listen. If you sometimes feel alone and feel like you don’t have any friends, make sure to listen.
I hope you get the drift … it’s seriously not one to miss!
Don’t forget to sign up for Remind! Text @kmpodcast to 81010 for little blurbs about each episode.
The name of this episode comes from her class’s title all about friends, and I’m telling you, like seriously and actually, it’s not one to miss. Part two will be out on Wednesday, so don’t miss that one either!
If you want to be a better friend, make sure to listen. If you want help finding better friends, make sure to listen. If you want to learn about what it takes to be a good friend, make sure to listen. If you wish you had more friends, make sure you listen. If you have a ton of friends but want to hear more on the topic, make sure to listen. If you sometimes feel alone and feel like you don’t have any friends, make sure to listen.
I hope you get the drift … it’s seriously not one to miss!
Don’t forget to sign up for Remind! Text @kmpodcast to 81010 for little blurbs about each episode.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to my podcast. I was
at fs Y and organ this past month, and I
went to one of the best classes I have ever
been to, and so I just felt really prompted to
go talk to her and ask her if she'd be
willing to record a podcast. So, Sister Rudolph, do you
mind introducing yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, Hi, my name is Christy Rudolph, and yeah, I
was at FSY this past month in Oregon. I am
a release time seminary teacher in Salem. And yeah, I've
lived here for about eighteen years and I have three
sons who are the cutest, best, most adorable, honky cute
(00:57):
men ever, and my husband and yeah, that's just that's
their life. Pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I love it. That is pretty exciting. So I asked
Sister Rudolph if she'd be willing to record an episode
on friendship. She had a class called Faithful Fearless Friends.
Is that what it was? Yeah, fearless, fearless, fearless, faithful friends.
I don't know which one it was.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's all it's it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That sounds great, but it was so good, and so
I was curious if we could talk about that today.
So is there anywhere you want to start and then
we can kind of go from there. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
One of the things that I just wanted to bring
back at the very beginning. Well actually it was so cute.
This actually happened last week, and you weren't there last week.
But I just was so in awe of this when
I started off, and I just thought it'd be funny
to get them up and away, can you know, get
them paying attention, because after they come back from lunch,
you know, you know, they're just half asleep, half a sleep,
(01:51):
stomachs are stomachs are full, and you're like, oh, you
hit that sweet spot, and you're like, I'm gonna go
to bed right now. But so I put up like
Disney pictures of friends and I have them vote like
who they think are the closest friends, like Mad and
Lightning McQueen or Timon and Pumba and anyways, this past
week they were so passionate about it. I mean they
were just like hands were shooting up and why they
(02:14):
felt like this is why they're so good friends, and
they all had really good legit reasons, and I just
like had a moment. And that was the third week
teaching that class, and that was the most passionate they
had gotten. I just had a moment standing there watching
all of these youths have very strong opinions on what
a friend looks like and what a friend is, and
(02:35):
I was like wow. And some of them, to be honest,
were really deep and just were really profound, and I
was like, I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Were you sharing of them just out of curiosity?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, okay, So one of them, they were talking about
Lightning McQueen and Mader and I think they said something
to the extent of, like, listen, they were different and
they didn't always see eye to eye, and they kind
of clashed at the beginning, but at the end, like
they would like they had each other's back and they
would go to bat for each other and at the
end they would do anything for each other because they
had the other person's best interest at heart. And I
(03:05):
was like yeah, and you know, and like a lot
of times people are Timon and Puma because they're buddies
and they do everything together, and they were willing to
die for each other. I'm like, well, like, hey, this
might be like hot take, hot take, but like I
could be willing to die for a stranger, but that
doesn't mean we're friends.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know what I mean, It's true. So it was
just it was so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It was so pass me and I loved hearing all
their responses, but some of them I was like, yeah,
that these are great, these are great insights, but sometimes
that isn't what makes a friend. So we were talking
about the propinquity effect. And if anyone on your podcast
is like, oh yeah, the propinkity effect, well good for you.
You're smarter than me. But I actually learned this years ago.
And the propinquity effect basically is the stadium being close
(03:49):
to someone or something, basically just nearness. And this the
American Psychological Association basically said, it's the tendency of individuals
to form close relationships or even like deep romantic relationships
with people they repeatedly encounter. So the whole point of
it was they're like, listen, you are going to form relationships,
and you're going to form deep relationships with people you like,
(04:12):
continually have interactions with, and it is a psychological fact.
It's going to happen. So it made me step back
and think, Okay, so who are you spending your time
with who are you spending your time with? And I
have to put out there sometimes we don't have any
controller of that. Like I don't know if you did music.
I don't know if you did theater. I don't know
(04:33):
if you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Did sports choir.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But like choir, okay, choir, So did you get to
pick the people you sing in choir with?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No? So like sometimes we don't have a choice on that,
who were on our football team with? Or basketball team?
Was like, we don't actually get to choose that, but
other times we do. And so one of the stories
that I just love in the scriptures is Mosiah chapter
twenty seven. And I think you and I were kind
of talking about this, so you brought up it up,
(05:00):
and I think most of the listeners will probably be
pretty familiar with it, but they've never heard.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
You tell it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well that's the thing, Sorry, listeners, I get a little irreverent,
But I just love the stories when you actually can
get in them and see I that I disagree.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Ir reverent means profound love and respect for God, And
I think in your teaching of this story, you want
the youth to relate to it, and so you have
a profound love and respect for God as you share
this story. So I disagree. I don't think it's a reverend.
I think it's engaging.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, So then I'm going to be having reverence for
you because I have a found respect and love for you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We talked for like what thirty seconds at fs Y
and we were like, we need to be friends.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh absolutely. I was just so grateful because I have
weird thoughts sometimes of like hey, you should get that
person's number, and I'm like they might be weirded out
by that, but okay.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's totally okay. That makes the best kind of friends,
you guys, the people you can be weirded out with.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
It's so true.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay. So in Mosiah twenty seven, this is the chapter
that I think most people associate with Alma the Younger
having basically his change of heart and his complete one
eighty and the gospel becomes a totally new creature, which
is really awesome, and it's this beautiful experience and he
has wow, well, just we'll dissect it. He's on the
road right and at the very beginning we're reading it,
(06:23):
and all these people are coming to Alma the Elder
in Mosiah King Mosiah, and they're complaining. They're like, listen,
there are tons of unbelievers who are just being the worst.
They are causing a lot of problems, a lot of issues.
They're persecuting us. You've got to put a stop to this.
So they set out this proclamation and like, hey, you
can't do this anymore. This is we got to be
nice to everyone, love everyone. You can't do this. And
(06:45):
the problem was is that as we read on, and
as we go on through verses like eight nine, we
find out in verse eight says now the sons of
Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers, and also one of
the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being
called Alma after this father. Nevertheless, he became a very
wicked and idolatrous man. And I, oh, this part is
also tricky. Look at this. He says he was a
(07:06):
man of many words and did speak much flattery to people.
We'll circle back to that, we'll unpact that in a
little bit. But I think it's fascinating that just right
out of the gate, I feel bad for these dads
because you know that they're like having fag and you
know that they're doing follow me, and you know that
they're like, you know, taking their kids to primary and
(07:27):
at some point one of them, I don't I don't know.
I would love your thoughts on this, but one of
them or two of them, was like, no, I'm not
in I'm not in this, Like I'm not picking up
what you're putting down, I'm not saying eye to eye.
But it made me wonder if, like the other ones,
because they had grown up together, that they all followed
suit as well. So it's not like all of the
(07:48):
sons of Mosaia and Alma one day were just like, yeah,
we don't believe in the church. I just wonder if
one of them may be Alma because he was flattery, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Probably gonna be Alma.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, he's probably the ring leader, right, And then like,
how soon was it propinquity effect that the most sens
of mozit and this is all speculation, like we can
unravel this, but it just makes me think about it. Right,
So they all become these guys that are causing a
lot of problems for the church, and I think, man,
those poor dads are just like, oh this is awkward.
(08:16):
This is so awkward, right, I mean, you probably never
had anyone say anything bad about you to your parents,
so your parents can't relate. But it's probably awkward. Right.
So they're out hanging out and I just we go.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
But like later on in the chapter.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And they're like, all right, Dad, we're gonna head out.
We're gonna go hang out with the sense of Asia
and he said, it's like, all right, I have fun.
Where are you going? He's like, oh, we're gonna go
Purtecute the church And he's like, all right, have a
good time. Wait, wait, what what do you doing?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And they're like, yeah, we're go.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm poor Like Alma King like Mosaia are just probably
sitting at home, like what what are we going to do?
So they're out, and then this is what I think
most of our members are familiar with. We have an
angel come down. He's like, knock it off. You've got
to stop this. You gotta knock it off. And he
is just drop uck dumb, basically in verse nineteen to
twenty one. I love it, he says. And now the
(09:05):
astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb
that he could not open his mouth at yeate, and
he became weak even that he could not move his hands. Therefore,
he was taken by those who were with him, and
carried helpless even until he was laid before his father.
And then verse twenty says they rehearse into his father
all that happened into them. His father rejoices, for he
knew it was the power of God. And then verse
(09:25):
twenty one it says, and he caused that the multitude
should be gathered together, that he might witness that the
Lord had done for her son, and also those that
were with him. And this is the part I just
crack up, because let's just put ourselves in the scriptures.
Hey rewind And number one, have you ever thought about
like what the sons of Mosiah must have been thinking
in this moment where they're like, oh my gosh, what
(09:46):
are we going to do, Like he's paralyzed. We don't
we don't know. And I wonder if at one point
they were like, we can't take him back. His dad
is going to blame us. He's going to get mad
at us. We don't see eye to eye. We know,
he's going to think it's like our fault that we
were doing something. We were out partying, we were out,
Like is he going to to believe us when we
say it's an angel, Like I wonder if they had
questions and fears and just like put that in your
back pocket. I wonder if they had questions and fears
(10:10):
on bringing Alma back to the dead, but they bring
him back.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Can I really quick? I just want to go. Yeah,
when we were in class, you said propinquity effect, they
were hanging out together. But it says something about these friends,
these sons and Massiah that they pick him up and
they take him home. Because you're like, they could have
just left him. They could have been like, eh, whatever,
like I don't know what to do. Eh, And honestly
(10:33):
you were like who really would have blamed them, like
what are you gonna do? But no, they they pick
him up. So really they aren't pretty good friends even
if they weren't doing great things together.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And Matt's I love that, Kia, because you're absolutely right, Like,
and we might have those friends that just bail, or
we might have those friends that make excuses, or we
might have those friends that say they're going to be
there for us, but then when push comes, you know
that they're like they're not there. And I love how
you though there might have been like fears and doubts,
and this was like the main the main thing that
(11:05):
I wanted to hammer home with the kids is like,
at the end of the day, you surround yourself with
friends that are going to bring you home to your father,
and that's it. So good, And I yeah, and you
just like you have to like be in a position
where you can trust that the people you're around are
gonna be the ones that you can rely on to
help you get back home to your father when you
(11:28):
are helpless. And maybe there are times you feel like
you cannot do it by yourself and you are in
a position where you can't, and they might have fears
and doubts. They might. And I think this has a
lot even too about repentance. I don't want to go
off on a tangent too, but we might have fears
and doubts on coming back home to our heavenly father.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
But you are so good.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So no, no, but I mean, like think about it.
But look at this, And I love this so much
because you look at in verse twenty, they go and
they rehearse into the father all that happen. And I
wonder if for Alma's moms in the corner. She's like,
and she's like, what I'm going to my baby? Oh
my gosh, You're like putting him on the couch and
he's like, limbs are all falling, you know. And he's
like drooling out of the side of his mouth. And
his dad says, he rejoices. So we're going to unpack
(12:10):
that in our words. He's like, let's go, and he's
like hopping up and down, and he says, and he
caused a multitude should be gathered. So he's like opening
the door and going out on the streets and he's like,
call John, call Fred, call Bob down the street, get
the bishop here, let's get everyone together, gather him in
our house. He's taking selfies with him. He's just like
pumped out of his mind. He's like, yes, don let's go,
(12:33):
because he knows it's the power of God. And again,
not to go off on a tangent, but I think
sometimes we're so afraid to repent, and I just I
just want to put a plug in there. If we
have our twenty twenty four minds and we apply other
people's personality or character traits, human traits to our heavenly Father,
that they're going to get mad at us or you
(12:54):
know they're going to be upset with us. This is
such a beautiful verse that like, oh no, Heavenly Father rejoices,
is like, let's go anytime we come back to him.
So anyway, at the end of this whole story, I'm like, oh,
it's such a cool story. A'm of the younger, but
if you look at it, it's a story about friends,
well you can trust to take you back home to
(13:15):
your father.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So it's amazing Scots. What are you thinking, Well, I
was just thinking I admire you so much from making
it so applicable to the youth and their language. Because
if you were to tell this story the way the
scriptures tells it, it's it's good for sure, one hundred percent.
But the fact that you're like taking selfies zero point five,
he's probably like, like I just was engaged, Like I
(13:37):
could barely breathe because I was so enraptured in this
story that you were telling. And I wish that more
people knew, and I wish that the youth knew that
the scriptures can be like that, like if we make
them applicable to our day. The scriptures are so important,
and if we liken them unto ourselves. There's so many
things we can learn. But yeah, I was also just
thinking about the prodigal son that you know, his father
(14:00):
falls on his neck rejoicing and he you know, he
goes to his father and he's like, Dad, like, I'll
eat pig food, like I don't care, like treat me
like your servant. That's fine, like please anything. And his
father's like, no, I'm so glad you're back. And so
you're so right. This is about friends bringing their friend
(14:21):
to this father, and obviously we can relate that to
heavenly father. And it was just kind of making me
think about, like you've probably heard, like the five people
you spend the most time with, they're kind of who
you become. And I was actually talking to a friend
about that and she's like, technically, it's like the twenty
five people, because it's the five people you spend time with,
but then they have five people, and then they have
five people. Surreally, twenty five people are influencing each other
(14:44):
back and forth, right, And so I kind of like
that idea though, who are my five people? Who are
they influencing me to become? And how am I influencing
others being there five if I am, and then obviously
if we make Jesus Christ one of those people, which
we can't spend time with him in person, but temple, scripture,
(15:05):
study church, I mean, the primary answers, the seminary answers.
But if we really do spend time with Jesus Christ
trying to get to know him as a person, studying
his attribute, studying what he said, studying his teachings, then
he will become one of our five people, which means
will become more like him. And so that's kind of
what I was thinking about too, that that friendship really
(15:27):
does have so much of an influence on you. And
in relation to what you were saying about how you
can't really pick who you spend time with, I think
that's so applicable in high school and it makes it
so hard because there's only so many friend groups around.
There's only so many people. But I also feel like
letting people know that when you get to college, it's
this wonderful, beautiful thing because you get to decide exactly
(15:49):
who you want to spend time with, Like you get
to pick this isn't this isn't like where you're stuck
in sports or high school or you know what, our choir,
but you can you could go out and make friends
and be friends with the people that you want to
be friends with. And it's like revolutionary. And so I
feel like, as a girl thinking about, you know, her
high school and her middle school experience, it's hard sometimes
(16:12):
to find good friends. So actually I was curious if
we could go to that topic, how would you One
of my young ones ask me like, how do I
find love and faith and friends? And how do I
pick good friends? What would you say, especially with the
propinquity effect, was sometimes we don't have control over that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Gosh, hey, I think you just hit it out of
the park. And honestly, I think this is such a
huge question. I have had my seminary kids ask me
the same thing. And I had two guys come up
after class this week and ask me the same thing,
and they're like, how would you do this? And one
even said, well, how do you break off a friend
(16:49):
that you know isn't And I'm like, that is such
a loaded question.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I love will they come and ask you that, because
it means they were listening.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right, and like, okay, even if you can just get
through to one I love it. But go back to
what you said, Like your young woman asked you that
what would how do you find love and faith and
good friends? Like, what would you say? And with the
propinquity effects, and I think you hit the nail on
the head. In high school, there's a lot of times
you can't choose, which I think makes it so much
(17:16):
more vital important that when you do have the space
to choose, and you do, you have to be picky.
And so if you are constantly having to be around
other people on your soccer team or in your choir,
or in your theater or you know, on your swim team.
And there are some people living a lifestyle that is
not in line with a Covenant Path person, let's just
(17:39):
say that. Or maybe they're not lining with the Covenant
Path person. That's fine. I grew up in Eugene. I
had tons of friends that were not members. In fact,
almost all of them were not members because I was
in Eugene. But are good people and respect you and
like uplift you and uphold you and may not agree
but are like, oh I'm here for that, and still
have your back, then you know you can got to
(18:01):
be picky and find those friends. But what I would
tell your young woman. The first thing I thought was
James one to five. I know people are gonna be like,
what that doesn't make sense, Christy, You've lost it because
it says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, who giveth all men liberally in the
brain is not And I was like, if he can
give wisdom, then why in the world can you not
(18:22):
pray and say, if any of you like friends, let
him ask of God. And so I just think the
number one thing we can do is go to our
heavenly Father and be like, Heavenly Father, I don't know
where to begin looking. I don't know even where to
begin to start, but you do help me to find
good friends, and he will give.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It because weally know that other people around this person
who's praying are also having this question.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh my gosh. That's the other thing is that if
you feel like you're the only person having friend issues,
I hope if no one gets anything, yes, let's just
circle back here and unpack that, because if this is
the only thing anyone gets out of this podcast, is like,
you are absolutely not alone. There's so many people out there,
even adults who are struggling for friends, and so I
(19:09):
just and isn't that isn't that just crazy too? How
you know, age doesn't it doesn't matter, like choosing good
friends important. And then the other thing I thought was
when Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments,
and he's like, you are my friends if you do
whatever I say, keep my commandments. So I would look
for people who are keeping the commandments.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I mean really absolutely so. I actually, you know how
sometimes there's something that's really popular, and so because it's popular,
you kind of find it and you don't want to
like read it or watch it or whatever because you're like,
what if it doesn't look to the hype or what
if I don't like it or whatever. That was the
chosen for me, and I was like, I don't know,
it's too popular. I just don't. I just kind of
fought for stupid reasons. Okay, it was stupid, And my
(19:52):
dad was like the biggest proponent of like watching I
never know the spirit more. And so finally, finally I
watched it for the first time last week. I'm on
season three now. But when Jesus is talking to Matthew
about the sermon on the mount and he's like preparing
for it. Matthew's like, I don't feel like you have
a good introduction, and he was like, hmm, okay, I'll
(20:12):
think about this, and so Jesus tells him I've come
up with an introduction. It's a map, and Matthew's like,
a map, okay, you know, tell me more. And so
he starts talking about blessed are they here? I'll pull
it up some it's in Matthew five. He starts naming
these these attributes or these things that people can do,
and the chosen is really cool because it shows each apostle, like,
(20:35):
blessed are they who are meek, and then it shows
the apostle who's meet. He says, Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed
are the peer and heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called
the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted
(20:55):
for righteousness snakes righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of God. And he keeps going and talks about blessed
are those that are pure in spirit for their because
there's the Kingdom of heaven. And Matthew's like, that's great,
but how is on a map? Like I'm kind of
confused here, And he was like, if people want to
find me, they will fall like they will find me
(21:18):
in these people. And I was like, WHOA. And so
I guess exactly what you're saying. Ask but then also
put yourself in places, put yourself around people where you're
going to find that where you're going to find the
meek and heart, where you're going to find the poor
in spirit, where you're going to find the peacemakers. And then,
sorry to be cliche, but it's just true. Be that person. Yes,
(21:43):
you are a person. I totally agree, because you are
going to attract what you put out there. I mean,
you really are.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And it is like, if you are going to be
someone that's a negative downer, you're going to attract negative downers.
If you're gonna be someone that's really like loud and
silly and crazy, you're going to attract other people who
want to be loud and silly and crazy. If you're
someone who loves music and listening to music or being
quiet and staying at home, Well, then you're probably not
gonna find friends because you'll be at home quiet, but
you'll all track father people quiet at home. But it's
(22:13):
interesting when you were talking, I actually was thinking back
about the prodigal son that you just were talking about,
and we were talking about, you know, going back to
his father, and his father was so happy, and it
just made me think like, oh, when the drought hit,
and like he was living it up. He was partying,
he was going, you know, like spending money. I mean
he had all that inheritance. And then when the drought came,
(22:34):
Notice how none of these quote unquote friends that he
had been chilling with for forever long months or years
so right offered him a count to stay on, or
offered him like, hey you can come stay with me
until you get back on your feet, or hey you
can stay with me in my house. Interesting, how like
where were his friends then? Where were they? They all
were just like no, I got a fin from myself,
and I just think, interesting, they weren't those people. They
(22:57):
weren't the meek, they weren't the ones who were peace
make they weren't the ones who hungered and thirst after
righteousness and notice when metaphorically stuff hits the fan, they
never to be found. And then he was left with
the pigs. And I was like, interesting, how in that
situation too, they were none of those things in Matthew five. So,
(23:18):
which actually we talked about in my lesson, right, I
think you had the picture of it where Thomas Watson Junior.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And yeah, Elder Marvin j Ashton, which is such a
rad quote, you guys, it's so good. Elder Marvin j
Asten says, we are something less of a real friend
if we leave a person the same way we find them.
And it's fascinating to me because in class, I'm like,
how many guys have heard a true friend is someone
who accepts you for who you are. It accepts you
as you are and just loves you as you are
and except you, and people are like shooting their hands up,
(23:49):
and I'm like, such a lie. It is such a lie,
because if you actually love someone and they are a
real friend, then they are going to make you better.
They're going to love you, yes, they're going to accept you. Yes,
they're going to see your flaws and still want to
be with you. But then they're going to like make
you better than when they found you. And I think
that's what Tom Watson Junior said. He says, don't make
(24:11):
friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who
will force you to level yourself up. And I just thought, man,
if you have a friend that's coming up to you
and they're like.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Hey, are you okay?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I just feel like you're acting different when you're around
this group of people, or I don't know, every time
like someone tries to talk to you, you're kind of
like snippy or mean, or you just seem like you're
in a bad mood. And instead of being proud and
be like you don't know me, or I can't believe
you would say that, or you're just judging me, Oh, actually,
I would step back and be like, Okay, this is
obviously a real friend, because a real friend is going
(24:41):
to make sure that they're leveling you up.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, absolutely, yeah, I really truly love that. I
actually I took a picture of that and immediately sent
it to one of my friends because she has helped
me level up. As Thomas Watson says, and honestly, this
when you were talking about you know, Prodigal Son's friends
leaving him and ditching him. It started making me. It
(25:05):
made me think about those people that are meek in spirit,
are poor and poor in spirit, meek in heart, their
stuff for righteousness. Those people are going most likely to
be in tune with the spirit, and so when you
need them, the Spirit's gonna tell them that. And I've
seen that in my life. And so don't you want
a friend that has God whispering in their ear, you know,
(25:26):
sending you, sending them on your way, sending them to
you when you need them. Like That's kind of what
I was thinking about, because I know I have friends
that are in tune and they reach out when I'm
reaching out to Heavenly Father. And I've also been that
friend where, you know, if I have a thought about
someone and I reach out, they're like, you don't know
how much I needed that, And I'm like, I don't,
(25:47):
but God, did you know because you've been reaching out
to him? And isn't it cool if we have friends
that are in tune with the spirits, that they're there
when we don't, when they don't know that they need
to be there. If that kind of makes sense, Like anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, I love that, and you know what, Like, let
me ask you that feeling when you reach out to
someone a friend you're like, hey, are you doing okay?
Or hey, I was just thinking about you. I truly
believe there's no better feeling when you know that you
can be Heavenly Father's person, like you can be Heavenly
Father's friend or Jesus's friend, and that he trusts you
(26:20):
as a friend to go and help his friend.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
No, it's so true, Like, tell me, that's not the
best feeling when you're just like, hey, I was just
thinking about you. I just dropped something off and they're like,
you have no idea, and I'm like, instantly, I am like,
Heavenly Father, thank you so much. You are such a
red friends for being about Like it is the best
feeling knowing that you are friends enough with Heavenly Father
and with Jesus that he can as a friend to
help his other friends.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Like, that's just such a good feeling. That's how I felt.
That's how I felt as enophis Y counselor, Like I
felt so blessed to be trusted with the information and
with the guidance to go talk to certain people like
I felt so grateful, and in addition, it made me
think about how wonderful it is. It made me think
of DNC eighteen fifteen through sixteen that talks about bringing
(27:07):
souls into Christ and that joy that comes. And there
really is no greater joy than serving and bringing people
to Christ, honestly by bringing them a care package, like,
I consider that bringing them to Christ because you're reminding
them of His love. And yeah, you're so right. Well,
we are running out of time, so we're going to
finish this episode off and then start up and we
(27:30):
will see you in part two. Thank you so much
for listening. Don't forget to embrace her perfection, find meaning,
satisfaction and joy from the journey. I'm Kira, I'm Christy,
and this is imperfectly broken. The podcast
Hi everyone, and welcome back to my podcast. I was
at fs Y and organ this past month, and I
went to one of the best classes I have ever
been to, and so I just felt really prompted to
go talk to her and ask her if she'd be
willing to record a podcast. So, Sister Rudolph, do you
mind introducing yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, Hi, my name is Christy Rudolph, and yeah, I
was at FSY this past month in Oregon. I am
a release time seminary teacher in Salem. And yeah, I've
lived here for about eighteen years and I have three
sons who are the cutest, best, most adorable, honky cute
(00:57):
men ever, and my husband and yeah, that's just that's
their life. Pretty exciting.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I love it. That is pretty exciting. So I asked
Sister Rudolph if she'd be willing to record an episode
on friendship. She had a class called Faithful Fearless Friends.
Is that what it was? Yeah, fearless, fearless, fearless, faithful friends.
I don't know which one it was.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's all it's it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That sounds great, but it was so good, and so
I was curious if we could talk about that today.
So is there anywhere you want to start and then
we can kind of go from there. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
One of the things that I just wanted to bring
back at the very beginning. Well actually it was so cute.
This actually happened last week, and you weren't there last week.
But I just was so in awe of this when
I started off, and I just thought it'd be funny
to get them up and away, can you know, get
them paying attention, because after they come back from lunch,
you know, you know, they're just half asleep, half a sleep,
(01:51):
stomachs are stomachs are full, and you're like, oh, you
hit that sweet spot, and you're like, I'm gonna go
to bed right now. But so I put up like
Disney pictures of friends and I have them vote like
who they think are the closest friends, like Mad and
Lightning McQueen or Timon and Pumba and anyways, this past
week they were so passionate about it. I mean they
were just like hands were shooting up and why they
(02:14):
felt like this is why they're so good friends, and
they all had really good legit reasons, and I just
like had a moment. And that was the third week
teaching that class, and that was the most passionate they
had gotten. I just had a moment standing there watching
all of these youths have very strong opinions on what
a friend looks like and what a friend is, and
(02:35):
I was like wow. And some of them, to be honest,
were really deep and just were really profound, and I
was like, I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Were you sharing of them just out of curiosity?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, okay, So one of them, they were talking about
Lightning McQueen and Mader and I think they said something
to the extent of, like, listen, they were different and
they didn't always see eye to eye, and they kind
of clashed at the beginning, but at the end, like
they would like they had each other's back and they
would go to bat for each other and at the
end they would do anything for each other because they
had the other person's best interest at heart. And I
(03:05):
was like yeah, and you know, and like a lot
of times people are Timon and Puma because they're buddies
and they do everything together, and they were willing to
die for each other. I'm like, well, like, hey, this
might be like hot take, hot take, but like I
could be willing to die for a stranger, but that
doesn't mean we're friends.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know what I mean, It's true. So it was
just it was so fascinating.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It was so pass me and I loved hearing all
their responses, but some of them I was like, yeah,
that these are great, these are great insights, but sometimes
that isn't what makes a friend. So we were talking
about the propinquity effect. And if anyone on your podcast
is like, oh yeah, the propinkity effect, well good for you.
You're smarter than me. But I actually learned this years ago.
And the propinquity effect basically is the stadium being close
(03:49):
to someone or something, basically just nearness. And this the
American Psychological Association basically said, it's the tendency of individuals
to form close relationships or even like deep romantic relationships
with people they repeatedly encounter. So the whole point of
it was they're like, listen, you are going to form relationships,
and you're going to form deep relationships with people you like,
(04:12):
continually have interactions with, and it is a psychological fact.
It's going to happen. So it made me step back
and think, Okay, so who are you spending your time
with who are you spending your time with? And I
have to put out there sometimes we don't have any
controller of that. Like I don't know if you did music.
I don't know if you did theater. I don't know
(04:33):
if you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Did sports choir.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But like choir, okay, choir, So did you get to
pick the people you sing in choir with?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No? So like sometimes we don't have a choice on that,
who were on our football team with? Or basketball team?
Was like, we don't actually get to choose that, but
other times we do. And so one of the stories
that I just love in the scriptures is Mosiah chapter
twenty seven. And I think you and I were kind
of talking about this, so you brought up it up,
(05:00):
and I think most of the listeners will probably be
pretty familiar with it, but they've never heard.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
You tell it.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well that's the thing, Sorry, listeners, I get a little irreverent,
But I just love the stories when you actually can
get in them and see I that I disagree.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Ir reverent means profound love and respect for God, And
I think in your teaching of this story, you want
the youth to relate to it, and so you have
a profound love and respect for God as you share
this story. So I disagree. I don't think it's a reverend.
I think it's engaging.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, So then I'm going to be having reverence for
you because I have a found respect and love for you.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
We talked for like what thirty seconds at fs Y
and we were like, we need to be friends.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh absolutely. I was just so grateful because I have
weird thoughts sometimes of like hey, you should get that
person's number, and I'm like they might be weirded out
by that, but okay.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's totally okay. That makes the best kind of friends,
you guys, the people you can be weirded out with.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
It's so true.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Okay. So in Mosiah twenty seven, this is the chapter
that I think most people associate with Alma the Younger
having basically his change of heart and his complete one
eighty and the gospel becomes a totally new creature, which
is really awesome, and it's this beautiful experience and he
has wow, well, just we'll dissect it. He's on the
road right and at the very beginning we're reading it,
(06:23):
and all these people are coming to Alma the Elder
in Mosiah King Mosiah, and they're complaining. They're like, listen,
there are tons of unbelievers who are just being the worst.
They are causing a lot of problems, a lot of issues.
They're persecuting us. You've got to put a stop to this.
So they set out this proclamation and like, hey, you
can't do this anymore. This is we got to be
nice to everyone, love everyone. You can't do this. And
(06:45):
the problem was is that as we read on, and
as we go on through verses like eight nine, we
find out in verse eight says now the sons of
Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers, and also one of
the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being
called Alma after this father. Nevertheless, he became a very
wicked and idolatrous man. And I, oh, this part is
also tricky. Look at this. He says he was a
(07:06):
man of many words and did speak much flattery to people.
We'll circle back to that, we'll unpact that in a
little bit. But I think it's fascinating that just right
out of the gate, I feel bad for these dads
because you know that they're like having fag and you
know that they're doing follow me, and you know that
they're like, you know, taking their kids to primary and
(07:27):
at some point one of them, I don't I don't know.
I would love your thoughts on this, but one of
them or two of them, was like, no, I'm not
in I'm not in this, Like I'm not picking up
what you're putting down, I'm not saying eye to eye.
But it made me wonder if, like the other ones,
because they had grown up together, that they all followed
suit as well. So it's not like all of the
(07:48):
sons of Mosaia and Alma one day were just like, yeah,
we don't believe in the church. I just wonder if
one of them may be Alma because he was flattery, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Probably gonna be Alma.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, he's probably the ring leader, right, And then like,
how soon was it propinquity effect that the most sens
of mozit and this is all speculation, like we can
unravel this, but it just makes me think about it. Right,
So they all become these guys that are causing a
lot of problems for the church, and I think, man,
those poor dads are just like, oh this is awkward.
(08:16):
This is so awkward, right, I mean, you probably never
had anyone say anything bad about you to your parents,
so your parents can't relate. But it's probably awkward. Right.
So they're out hanging out and I just we go.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
But like later on in the chapter.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And they're like, all right, Dad, we're gonna head out.
We're gonna go hang out with the sense of Asia
and he said, it's like, all right, I have fun.
Where are you going? He's like, oh, we're gonna go
Purtecute the church And he's like, all right, have a
good time. Wait, wait, what what do you doing?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And they're like, yeah, we're go.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I'm poor Like Alma King like Mosaia are just probably
sitting at home, like what what are we going to do?
So they're out, and then this is what I think
most of our members are familiar with. We have an
angel come down. He's like, knock it off. You've got
to stop this. You gotta knock it off. And he
is just drop uck dumb, basically in verse nineteen to
twenty one. I love it, he says. And now the
(09:05):
astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb
that he could not open his mouth at yeate, and
he became weak even that he could not move his hands. Therefore,
he was taken by those who were with him, and
carried helpless even until he was laid before his father.
And then verse twenty says they rehearse into his father
all that happened into them. His father rejoices, for he
knew it was the power of God. And then verse
(09:25):
twenty one it says, and he caused that the multitude
should be gathered together, that he might witness that the
Lord had done for her son, and also those that
were with him. And this is the part I just
crack up, because let's just put ourselves in the scriptures.
Hey rewind And number one, have you ever thought about
like what the sons of Mosiah must have been thinking
in this moment where they're like, oh my gosh, what
(09:46):
are we going to do, Like he's paralyzed. We don't
we don't know. And I wonder if at one point
they were like, we can't take him back. His dad
is going to blame us. He's going to get mad
at us. We don't see eye to eye. We know,
he's going to think it's like our fault that we
were doing something. We were out partying, we were out,
Like is he going to to believe us when we
say it's an angel, Like I wonder if they had
questions and fears and just like put that in your
back pocket. I wonder if they had questions and fears
(10:10):
on bringing Alma back to the dead, but they bring
him back.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Can I really quick? I just want to go. Yeah,
when we were in class, you said propinquity effect, they
were hanging out together. But it says something about these friends,
these sons and Massiah that they pick him up and
they take him home. Because you're like, they could have
just left him. They could have been like, eh, whatever,
like I don't know what to do. Eh, And honestly
(10:33):
you were like who really would have blamed them, like
what are you gonna do? But no, they they pick
him up. So really they aren't pretty good friends even
if they weren't doing great things together.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And Matt's I love that, Kia, because you're absolutely right, Like,
and we might have those friends that just bail, or
we might have those friends that make excuses, or we
might have those friends that say they're going to be
there for us, but then when push comes, you know
that they're like they're not there. And I love how
you though there might have been like fears and doubts,
and this was like the main the main thing that
(11:05):
I wanted to hammer home with the kids is like,
at the end of the day, you surround yourself with
friends that are going to bring you home to your father,
and that's it. So good, And I yeah, and you
just like you have to like be in a position
where you can trust that the people you're around are
gonna be the ones that you can rely on to
help you get back home to your father when you
(11:28):
are helpless. And maybe there are times you feel like
you cannot do it by yourself and you are in
a position where you can't, and they might have fears
and doubts. They might. And I think this has a
lot even too about repentance. I don't want to go
off on a tangent too, but we might have fears
and doubts on coming back home to our heavenly father.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
But you are so good.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So no, no, but I mean, like think about it.
But look at this, And I love this so much
because you look at in verse twenty, they go and
they rehearse into the father all that happen. And I
wonder if for Alma's moms in the corner. She's like,
and she's like, what I'm going to my baby? Oh
my gosh, You're like putting him on the couch and
he's like, limbs are all falling, you know. And he's
like drooling out of the side of his mouth. And
his dad says, he rejoices. So we're going to unpack
(12:10):
that in our words. He's like, let's go, and he's
like hopping up and down, and he says, and he
caused a multitude should be gathered. So he's like opening
the door and going out on the streets and he's like,
call John, call Fred, call Bob down the street, get
the bishop here, let's get everyone together, gather him in
our house. He's taking selfies with him. He's just like
pumped out of his mind. He's like, yes, don let's go,
(12:33):
because he knows it's the power of God. And again,
not to go off on a tangent, but I think
sometimes we're so afraid to repent, and I just I
just want to put a plug in there. If we
have our twenty twenty four minds and we apply other
people's personality or character traits, human traits to our heavenly Father,
that they're going to get mad at us or you
(12:54):
know they're going to be upset with us. This is
such a beautiful verse that like, oh no, Heavenly Father rejoices,
is like, let's go anytime we come back to him.
So anyway, at the end of this whole story, I'm like, oh,
it's such a cool story. A'm of the younger, but
if you look at it, it's a story about friends,
well you can trust to take you back home to
(13:15):
your father.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So it's amazing Scots. What are you thinking, Well, I
was just thinking I admire you so much from making
it so applicable to the youth and their language. Because
if you were to tell this story the way the
scriptures tells it, it's it's good for sure, one hundred percent.
But the fact that you're like taking selfies zero point five,
he's probably like, like I just was engaged, Like I
(13:37):
could barely breathe because I was so enraptured in this
story that you were telling. And I wish that more
people knew, and I wish that the youth knew that
the scriptures can be like that, like if we make
them applicable to our day. The scriptures are so important,
and if we liken them unto ourselves. There's so many
things we can learn. But yeah, I was also just
thinking about the prodigal son that you know, his father
(14:00):
falls on his neck rejoicing and he you know, he
goes to his father and he's like, Dad, like, I'll
eat pig food, like I don't care, like treat me
like your servant. That's fine, like please anything. And his
father's like, no, I'm so glad you're back. And so
you're so right. This is about friends bringing their friend
(14:21):
to this father, and obviously we can relate that to
heavenly father. And it was just kind of making me
think about, like you've probably heard, like the five people
you spend the most time with, they're kind of who
you become. And I was actually talking to a friend
about that and she's like, technically, it's like the twenty
five people, because it's the five people you spend time with,
but then they have five people, and then they have
five people. Surreally, twenty five people are influencing each other
(14:44):
back and forth, right, And so I kind of like
that idea though, who are my five people? Who are
they influencing me to become? And how am I influencing
others being there five if I am, and then obviously
if we make Jesus Christ one of those people, which
we can't spend time with him in person, but temple, scripture,
(15:05):
study church, I mean, the primary answers, the seminary answers.
But if we really do spend time with Jesus Christ
trying to get to know him as a person, studying
his attribute, studying what he said, studying his teachings, then
he will become one of our five people, which means
will become more like him. And so that's kind of
what I was thinking about too, that that friendship really
(15:27):
does have so much of an influence on you. And
in relation to what you were saying about how you
can't really pick who you spend time with, I think
that's so applicable in high school and it makes it
so hard because there's only so many friend groups around.
There's only so many people. But I also feel like
letting people know that when you get to college, it's
this wonderful, beautiful thing because you get to decide exactly
(15:49):
who you want to spend time with, Like you get
to pick this isn't this isn't like where you're stuck
in sports or high school or you know what, our choir,
but you can you could go out and make friends
and be friends with the people that you want to
be friends with. And it's like revolutionary. And so I
feel like, as a girl thinking about, you know, her
high school and her middle school experience, it's hard sometimes
(16:12):
to find good friends. So actually I was curious if
we could go to that topic, how would you One
of my young ones ask me like, how do I
find love and faith and friends? And how do I
pick good friends? What would you say, especially with the
propinquity effect, was sometimes we don't have control over that.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Gosh, hey, I think you just hit it out of
the park. And honestly, I think this is such a
huge question. I have had my seminary kids ask me
the same thing. And I had two guys come up
after class this week and ask me the same thing,
and they're like, how would you do this? And one
even said, well, how do you break off a friend
(16:49):
that you know isn't And I'm like, that is such
a loaded question.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I love will they come and ask you that, because
it means they were listening.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right, and like, okay, even if you can just get
through to one I love it. But go back to
what you said, Like your young woman asked you that
what would how do you find love and faith and
good friends? Like, what would you say? And with the
propinquity effects, and I think you hit the nail on
the head. In high school, there's a lot of times
you can't choose, which I think makes it so much
(17:16):
more vital important that when you do have the space
to choose, and you do, you have to be picky.
And so if you are constantly having to be around
other people on your soccer team or in your choir,
or in your theater or you know, on your swim team.
And there are some people living a lifestyle that is
not in line with a Covenant Path person, let's just
(17:39):
say that. Or maybe they're not lining with the Covenant
Path person. That's fine. I grew up in Eugene. I
had tons of friends that were not members. In fact,
almost all of them were not members because I was
in Eugene. But are good people and respect you and
like uplift you and uphold you and may not agree
but are like, oh I'm here for that, and still
have your back, then you know you can got to
(18:01):
be picky and find those friends. But what I would
tell your young woman. The first thing I thought was
James one to five. I know people are gonna be like,
what that doesn't make sense, Christy, You've lost it because
it says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, who giveth all men liberally in the
brain is not And I was like, if he can
give wisdom, then why in the world can you not
(18:22):
pray and say, if any of you like friends, let
him ask of God. And so I just think the
number one thing we can do is go to our
heavenly Father and be like, Heavenly Father, I don't know
where to begin looking. I don't know even where to
begin to start, but you do help me to find
good friends, and he will give.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It because weally know that other people around this person
who's praying are also having this question.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh my gosh. That's the other thing is that if
you feel like you're the only person having friend issues,
I hope if no one gets anything, yes, let's just
circle back here and unpack that, because if this is
the only thing anyone gets out of this podcast, is like,
you are absolutely not alone. There's so many people out there,
even adults who are struggling for friends, and so I
(19:09):
just and isn't that isn't that just crazy too? How
you know, age doesn't it doesn't matter, like choosing good
friends important. And then the other thing I thought was
when Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments,
and he's like, you are my friends if you do
whatever I say, keep my commandments. So I would look
for people who are keeping the commandments.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I mean really absolutely so. I actually, you know how
sometimes there's something that's really popular, and so because it's popular,
you kind of find it and you don't want to
like read it or watch it or whatever because you're like,
what if it doesn't look to the hype or what
if I don't like it or whatever. That was the
chosen for me, and I was like, I don't know,
it's too popular. I just don't. I just kind of
fought for stupid reasons. Okay, it was stupid, And my
(19:52):
dad was like the biggest proponent of like watching I
never know the spirit more. And so finally, finally I
watched it for the first time last week. I'm on
season three now. But when Jesus is talking to Matthew
about the sermon on the mount and he's like preparing
for it. Matthew's like, I don't feel like you have
a good introduction, and he was like, hmm, okay, I'll
(20:12):
think about this, and so Jesus tells him I've come
up with an introduction. It's a map, and Matthew's like,
a map, okay, you know, tell me more. And so
he starts talking about blessed are they here? I'll pull
it up some it's in Matthew five. He starts naming
these these attributes or these things that people can do,
and the chosen is really cool because it shows each apostle, like,
(20:35):
blessed are they who are meek, and then it shows
the apostle who's meet. He says, Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed
are the peer and heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called
the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted
(20:55):
for righteousness snakes righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of God. And he keeps going and talks about blessed
are those that are pure in spirit for their because
there's the Kingdom of heaven. And Matthew's like, that's great,
but how is on a map? Like I'm kind of
confused here, And he was like, if people want to
find me, they will fall like they will find me
(21:18):
in these people. And I was like, WHOA. And so
I guess exactly what you're saying. Ask but then also
put yourself in places, put yourself around people where you're
going to find that where you're going to find the
meek and heart, where you're going to find the poor
in spirit, where you're going to find the peacemakers. And then,
sorry to be cliche, but it's just true. Be that person. Yes,
(21:43):
you are a person. I totally agree, because you are
going to attract what you put out there. I mean,
you really are.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And it is like, if you are going to be
someone that's a negative downer, you're going to attract negative downers.
If you're gonna be someone that's really like loud and
silly and crazy, you're going to attract other people who
want to be loud and silly and crazy. If you're
someone who loves music and listening to music or being
quiet and staying at home, Well, then you're probably not
gonna find friends because you'll be at home quiet, but
you'll all track father people quiet at home. But it's
(22:13):
interesting when you were talking, I actually was thinking back
about the prodigal son that you just were talking about,
and we were talking about, you know, going back to
his father, and his father was so happy, and it
just made me think like, oh, when the drought hit,
and like he was living it up. He was partying,
he was going, you know, like spending money. I mean
he had all that inheritance. And then when the drought came,
(22:34):
Notice how none of these quote unquote friends that he
had been chilling with for forever long months or years
so right offered him a count to stay on, or
offered him like, hey you can come stay with me
until you get back on your feet, or hey you
can stay with me in my house. Interesting, how like
where were his friends then? Where were they? They all
were just like no, I got a fin from myself,
and I just think, interesting, they weren't those people. They
(22:57):
weren't the meek, they weren't the ones who were peace
make they weren't the ones who hungered and thirst after
righteousness and notice when metaphorically stuff hits the fan, they
never to be found. And then he was left with
the pigs. And I was like, interesting, how in that
situation too, they were none of those things in Matthew five. So,
(23:18):
which actually we talked about in my lesson, right, I
think you had the picture of it where Thomas Watson Junior.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And yeah, Elder Marvin j Ashton, which is such a
rad quote, you guys, it's so good. Elder Marvin j
Asten says, we are something less of a real friend
if we leave a person the same way we find them.
And it's fascinating to me because in class, I'm like,
how many guys have heard a true friend is someone
who accepts you for who you are. It accepts you
as you are and just loves you as you are
and except you, and people are like shooting their hands up,
(23:49):
and I'm like, such a lie. It is such a lie,
because if you actually love someone and they are a
real friend, then they are going to make you better.
They're going to love you, yes, they're going to accept you. Yes,
they're going to see your flaws and still want to
be with you. But then they're going to like make
you better than when they found you. And I think
that's what Tom Watson Junior said. He says, don't make
(24:11):
friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who
will force you to level yourself up. And I just thought, man,
if you have a friend that's coming up to you
and they're like.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Hey, are you okay?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I just feel like you're acting different when you're around
this group of people, or I don't know, every time
like someone tries to talk to you, you're kind of
like snippy or mean, or you just seem like you're
in a bad mood. And instead of being proud and
be like you don't know me, or I can't believe
you would say that, or you're just judging me, Oh, actually,
I would step back and be like, Okay, this is
obviously a real friend, because a real friend is going
(24:41):
to make sure that they're leveling you up.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, absolutely, yeah, I really truly love that. I
actually I took a picture of that and immediately sent
it to one of my friends because she has helped
me level up. As Thomas Watson says, and honestly, this
when you were talking about you know, Prodigal Son's friends
leaving him and ditching him. It started making me. It
(25:05):
made me think about those people that are meek in spirit,
are poor and poor in spirit, meek in heart, their
stuff for righteousness. Those people are going most likely to
be in tune with the spirit, and so when you
need them, the Spirit's gonna tell them that. And I've
seen that in my life. And so don't you want
a friend that has God whispering in their ear, you know,
(25:26):
sending you, sending them on your way, sending them to
you when you need them. Like That's kind of what
I was thinking about, because I know I have friends
that are in tune and they reach out when I'm
reaching out to Heavenly Father. And I've also been that
friend where, you know, if I have a thought about
someone and I reach out, they're like, you don't know
how much I needed that, And I'm like, I don't,
(25:47):
but God, did you know because you've been reaching out
to him? And isn't it cool if we have friends
that are in tune with the spirits, that they're there
when we don't, when they don't know that they need
to be there. If that kind of makes sense, Like anyway.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, I love that, and you know what, Like, let
me ask you that feeling when you reach out to
someone a friend you're like, hey, are you doing okay?
Or hey, I was just thinking about you. I truly
believe there's no better feeling when you know that you
can be Heavenly Father's person, like you can be Heavenly
Father's friend or Jesus's friend, and that he trusts you
(26:20):
as a friend to go and help his friend.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
No, it's so true, Like, tell me, that's not the
best feeling when you're just like, hey, I was just
thinking about you. I just dropped something off and they're like,
you have no idea, and I'm like, instantly, I am like,
Heavenly Father, thank you so much. You are such a
red friends for being about Like it is the best
feeling knowing that you are friends enough with Heavenly Father
and with Jesus that he can as a friend to
help his other friends.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Like, that's just such a good feeling. That's how I felt.
That's how I felt as enophis Y counselor, Like I
felt so blessed to be trusted with the information and
with the guidance to go talk to certain people like
I felt so grateful, and in addition, it made me
think about how wonderful it is. It made me think
of DNC eighteen fifteen through sixteen that talks about bringing
(27:07):
souls into Christ and that joy that comes. And there
really is no greater joy than serving and bringing people
to Christ, honestly by bringing them a care package, like,
I consider that bringing them to Christ because you're reminding
them of His love. And yeah, you're so right. Well,
we are running out of time, so we're going to
finish this episode off and then start up and we
(27:30):
will see you in part two. Thank you so much
for listening. Don't forget to embrace her perfection, find meaning,
satisfaction and joy from the journey. I'm Kira, I'm Christy,
and this is imperfectly broken. The podcast
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