Tammy 0:00

Way back in October 2002, Elder Eyring gave a touchstone talk called "Rise to Your Call." He said his counsel was for "Everyone, man or woman, girl or boy who has been called or will yet be." So, to anyone listening who fits within those parameters, here is what Elder Eyring wants you to know: Number one, you are called of God. Number two, the Lord will guide you by revelation, just as He called you. Number three, just as God called you and will guide you, He will magnify you. And number four, lastly, all He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with a prayer of faith. Now, Paul gives some similar counsel to the saints in Ephesus. And as we study Ephesians, we get to take a close look at callings and how we can best serve the Lord even and especially when we're worried about how we will do.

Tammy 0:54

Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week and we really Dig In to the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, we want to make sure you know how to use this podcast, so please follow the link in our description. It's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study just like my friends - okay, now this is the best shout out of all shout outs, are you guys ready?

Easton 1:18

Yes

Elijah 1:19

Yeah

Tammy 1:19

Here we go. Shout it out. Who are we so grateful that they listen? Go.

Easton 1:24

Our mom, Angie,

Elijah 1:26

My mom Ruth,

Easton 1:28

Aunt Rachel, Aunt Sarah. That's about, that's about it. Yeah.

Tammy 1:32

Grandma and Grandpa.

Cooper 1:34

Oh, yeah. Grandma, grandpa. Sargent

Elijah 1:36

Yeah. All the friends I'm gonna send this to.

Easton 1:38

Yeah,

Tammy 1:39

And for everybody. Yes. Okay, now those voices you heard, those are my guests. You guys. I cannot be more excited about this. So every week I get to invite two friends. Sometimes it's one but this week, it's three and they have never been on before but they have listened. And I love these boys so much. I call them the boys from Idaho. They are Easton, Elijah, and Cooper. Hi guys.

Elijah 2:00

Hello.

Easton 2:00

Good to be here.

Tammy 2:01

Okay, how do you three know each other?

Easton 2:05

Well, Cooper and I are brothers. And then we are cousins with Elijah.

Cooper 2:09

Yep. And we've lived next to each other for our whole lifes. So, I mean, get to know each other pretty good.

Easton 2:15

Yep

Tammy 2:15

Yeah.

Easton 2:15

Within biking distance.

Cooper 2:18

Yeah.

Tammy 2:18

That is so cool. And we do have to give another little shout out to the missing amigo of you 4. Who is it, who are we missing?

Cooper 2:29

It's our cousin Mitchell. He's currently in Detroit, the best and brightest of us.

Easton 2:34

Yeah. He's certainly the center of it.

Tammy 2:37

He is so awesome. He's on his mission right now. We couldn't time this for him to be on, but

Cooper 2:41

He's a goofball.

Tammy 2:42

Complete goofball.

Cooper 2:44

I don't really know how else to describe him.

Tammy 2:46

He's so much fun. He's gonna kill it on his mission. He'll do so well. He's just gonna build sheds for people out there.

Easton 2:54

Yeah, probably.

Tammy 2:55

Oh my gosh, I love that guy. Now I've known these three since their birth. Truly, I held them when they were babies. Their Aunt Sarah is one of my very best friends, and Sarah has been on the podcast before. And so I've just kind of followed along with their lives and watched them grow up. And here we are, they are grown men. And Easton is a returned missionary. Cooper and Elijah have their calls and they are leaving on their missions in a couple of weeks. And so I just thought how fun it would be to have the three of them on the podcast. And then I go to the book of Ephesians and I'm reading it and I think, God again is so great. Of all the books we could study, this is the one He wants these boys to talk about. And I just think it's fitting. So what we're going to do is we're just going to dive into these.

Tammy 2:55

So if you want to know more about my guests, go to our show notes so you can see their pictures and read their bios, which are found at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. Grab your scriptures, your scripture journals and something to mark your Scriptures with, and Let's Dig In to the book of Ephesians.

Tammy 3:49

Okay, you three, here's my question for you, I ask everybody this when we study these letters: what stood out to you in this letter from Paul to the Ephesians?

Easton 4:00

I can go first

Tammy 4:02

Easton, hit it.

Easton 4:04

Yeah, so the thing that stood out to me the most was the very start of Ephesians, chapter 2. I've got a lot of marks in my scriptures here, but what I highlighted here is in verse 1 and 2. It says: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"

Easton 4:39

And now 4 and 5: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,"

Tammy 4:54

Easton, thank you for sharing that. In fact, what I loved about it is that you bore a testimony of it. That was so cool that your simple words testified the truthfulness of these verses. That was awesome. Thank you. Okay, Cooper hit it.

Cooper 5:06

Um, I really also liked the verses 4 and 5 that Easton just shared but I also like the verse of Ephesians 2:20. And it says, "Are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And I just like that, because I think it's kind of like, you know, I mean, we can get caught up in these worldly things a lot, but just important to remember that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of, you know, not only our church, but kind of just everything that like the whole reason we exist.

Tammy 5:40

Perfectly said, the whole reason we exist, I absolutely agree. Nice job, Cooper. Okay, Elijah, what stood out to you?

Elijah 5:46

Um, something that kind of stood out to me wasn't necessarily a verse, but me and my mom talking about this. But I never have read the Bible or tried to get through it too well. I mean, the most we get is a 20-minute screaming match on Sundays, from the Come, Follow Me's that my mom makes us do. And everyone's mad and everything. But we were talking with my mom, really trying to prepare for this podcast. She was telling me that all these books in this section are, think it's Paul, right?

Tammy 5:46

Yeah.

Elijah 5:46

Paul. They are follow-up letters, which was a super interest to me, is because Paul came and taught his people, then he leaves. And then they kind of send him a letter being like, 'Hey, by the way, this is what's going on. What the frick do we do here?' You know, I'm saying this, like, it's kind of they're just trying to figure it out there. And I thought that was cool. It kind of put me in a different mental when I'm reading it cuz it's kind of hard to understand sometimes. When I heard that, it was really easy to understand why they, why it is this way, and it was just kind of like him refreshing them almost, of what to do in this situation.

Tammy 6:50

Oh, Elijah, I really appreciate your perspective with that. Because I think your experience is the same as so many of us in the church, where we come to Ephesians and we just read it as if it's just scripture, just another scripture. But when you realize it's actually a letter being written to people who are believers, and it's a follow-up. I really like how you just framed the book of Ephesians. In fact, do this with me: Let's go to Ephesians chapter 1, and we're just going to look at verse 2. And in verse 2, we're going to mark two specific words. So here we go, verse 2. Elijah, will you read that for us.

Elijah 7:25

Of course. "Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

Tammy 7:31

Thank you. In your scriptures, highlight or underline the word 'grace', and then the word 'peace'. And here's why. Paul is writing to the Ephesians. And as he writes he, that's how he starts out his letter, "Grace be to you and peace from God." Next to the word 'grace', write "12 times." And next to the word 'peace', write "7 times", because he uses the word 'grace' 12 times in his letter, and he'll use the word 'peace' seven times in his letter to the Ephesians. And here's why. These words are repeated, not because the people needed grace and peace, but because their righteousness abounded in it.

Tammy 8:10

Like they were such good people. In fact, this is one of the most generous, most loving letters that Paul writes. Now, we learned this last week, but Galatians is one of the harshest letters. Paul's coming down hard on the Galatians because they were starting to just leave the church or create their own religion. And here in the Ephesians, he's like, No, you people are just filled with grace and peace. In fact, look at this verse, go to verse 13. This verse tells us something about the Ephesians. And Cooper, can you read verse 13 for us.

Cooper 8:40

Yeah. "In whom he also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."

Tammy 8:51

Underline "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Another way to turn that verse is, they were sealed up to eternal life. That's how good they were. They were so good that Paul's like, you probably already are sealed up to eternal life. So why a letter to the Ephesians? Well, here's why. So Ephesus, where the Ephesians are living, it is a huge city, you guys. It's like the epicenter of worship, and it's the most Greek and Roman god-centered city. So they have a lot of different gods they can believe in. And for two years Paul had an effective missionary presence in Ephesus. And many followers joined the church when he was there.

Tammy 9:29

So the whole point of this letter then isn't to reprimand anyone, it's to teach these good people more doctrine. That's what he's going to write to them. Here's what some more stuff that you need to know in addition to what you're already practicing. So in the next segment, we're going to discover the first thing that he wants the Ephesians and us to know. We'll do that next.

Segment 2 9:47

.....

Tammy 9:59

Okay, so just to recap - our three guests here - Easton has served a mission. Easton, how long have you been home?

Easton 10:06

Just about a year now. So

Tammy 10:08

Okay, so just about where did you serve?

Easton 10:11

I served in St. George, Utah.

Tammy 10:13

Right on. Okay, St. George Utah, about a year. Elijah and Cooper actually have their mission calls. And they are about to go out in just a couple of weeks. So I'm going to start out with this question. This is for Cooper and Elijah: why are you guys going on a mission?

Cooper 10:28

Um, I can go first. I mean, there's obviously about a trillion reasons why you do something like this, because it's a pretty big step in your life. But Elijah and I were talking before senior year started, and we were kind of talking about, you know, like, why we're going to do this. And we're kind of asking ourselves, like, why not do this? Like, even if all of this religion stuff doesn't matter, like, the thing, like this mission is gonna be nothing but beneficial for us. And so, like, even if it doesn't work out in the end for us, you know, you might as well just give it a shot.

Cooper 10:56

And like, I was also talking to one of my buddy's mom and she said, "You get to leave your family for two years so other families can be together for eternity." I thought that was really cool. I also have this incredibly deep fear. I'm not totally sure how the afterlife works, but I have this deep fear of, you get to the afterlife and someone's saying, "You know, you were supposed to teach me on your mission but you didn't do it." And I just don't want that to ever happen. So

Tammy 11:22

Wow Cooper, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. What about you, Elijah?

Elijah 11:28

Um, pretty similar to Cooper. You know, we've been raised in the church since we were babies. Its "mission once you turn 18, your mission." But what really did it for me, I had a bunch of older friends last year, and they were leaving on missions. And I wasn't per se a bad kid or anything. But I wasn't per se following to a T what I was supposed to be following and doing everything good. And one day, my best older friend, his name is Max, he's on a mission in Guatemala right now. He pulls me aside after a volleyball game, says, Come get in the car with me. And he just says, "I just went and talked to my bishop about all the things and did the repentance process." And he said, "My joy has never been sweeter than right now."

Elijah 12:16

And he said, "Dude. You need to do this. This mission's for you." And it's, right then and there - I'd never talked to my bishop about anything like that, anything serious - but right then and there I text my bishop and say "We need to meet. Let's meet right now." And got that set up.

Elijah 12:41

And I honestly say to this day, the only reason I'm ready to go is because of Max Leavitt, him telling me, he pulled me aside, grabbed me by the collar and is like, "You need to go. Let's get this done now." And I'm super grateful for that because I probably would have pushed it back and pushed it back. And then have my mission pushed back super far. But because he pulled me back like a year in advance, I was able to talk to him and get everything sorted out a year, I really decide this is for me because of that conversation, and how sweet. We just had tears running down our face, both of us. And I was like, just cool with this kid. We never really talked that deep. But just in that moment, he felt the Spirit. He said, I need to get Elijah and talk to him. And he told that same story in his mission farewell, and it was just the best.

Elijah 12:41

And I'm so grateful for that moment. So that's really the thing that led me really to be like, Okay, let's get serious about it. Let's go. This is for me. This is because the Spirit directed one of my best friends to tell me, "This is what you need to do, bro." So yeah, that's why.

Tammy 13:44

Wow, Elijah. Thank you. You know, as you shared that story, all of us felt that. I wish this was a video sometimes, because when you started out by saying "I wasn't a bad kid per se, wasn't doing," both your cousins were laughing. Like they were, they knew the truth of what you said. But to watch their demeanor change as you bore witness of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what it can do for us when we use it. So thank you for doing that. Easton, why did you go on a mission?

Easton 14:14

Well, for me, I think kind of similar to these two boys, like growing up in the church, you're, you always have that like in your mind. And I don't think I ever did not want to go on a mission. I always, like growing up my whole life I was like, I'm gonna serve a mission when I get that age. And I never ever had any doubts about it until it started to get close. And I left in September of 2020, so a little after like the first blunt of COVID. But we were actually on a flight home from California and I saw all these Elders, this huge group of Elders, because this is March of 2020, right when it all all kind of went down. And they were all coming home from Korea, from South Korea.

Easton 15:03

And I talked to them in the airport and it was kind of disheartening to me. I think that's kind of when I started to ever have, like, my first doubts about going on a mission was COVID's happening. All this stuff in the world is happening, so maybe that's just my sign that I shouldn't go, or I should wait or something like that. And I think Satan kind of works us in that way. As life starts to pick up, he starts to kind of sneak in. But kind of as I started to think about it, and to pray about it, and I'm really glad that I did, I didn't just shrug it off, I actually put God in the part of the decision-making. I noticed that I kind of started to change my life. I started to read my scriptures a lot more. And I, like I said, I was praying, praying a lot to see if I should go.

Easton 15:57

And I kind of came to the realization that nothing in life that's worthwhile kind of comes easy. I think the Spirit let me know that. So it felt hard to go on my mission because I had to get over so many hurdles, I had to do all, have medical things, I had to even get like get my wisdom teeth out. Everything got delayed because of COVID. My stake president got COVID, my bishop got COVID, so all my interviews got delayed and it felt like everything was just takin' forever. But eventually I made it. I got my papers in, got my call. And I think it really was just meant to be.

Easton 16:33

And so I think if anybody's got doubts about serving a mission, I think you just need to pray about it and ask the Lord what He wants you to do. And I'm so grateful that I went because it changed my life forever. And I'm so excited for these boys, for our cousin Mitchell who's already on a mission. I think it's gonna do wonders for them, you know, I'm just excited to see how they turn out.

Tammy 16:59

Wow. Now, Elijah, where are you going?

Elijah 17:03

Oh, I'm heading to Lima, Peru South.

Tammy 17:06

And Cooper, where are you going?

Cooper 17:07

I'm going to Guatemala, Antigua, and I start in five days.

Tammy 17:12

Okay. Now I want to, we're gonna come back and talk about your calls in just a minute. But I want to add another really cool reason from Scripture as to why the three of you served and are serving or will serve. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 1, we're going to read just verses 4 and 5. And Elijah, will you read those for us please.

Elijah 17:31

Of course. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."

Tammy 17:45

Thank you. Okay. Look back at 4, "before the foundation of the world." That was before any of us came to Earth, we were up with our Heavenly Parents learning the plan, how it's all gonna play out. And then we have this word in verse 5, "having predestinated us unto the adoption of the children of Jesus Christ." Predestinated. That word is so interesting, because sometimes we, like what do you immediately think of when you hear the word 'predestinated' or 'forordained'?

Cooper 18:15

I think you've been set aside from the beginning of time to go to the certain place. It's like something that definitely came up when I was getting my call. I mean, every, no one wants to go stateside obviously. It's like, something that you worry about. It's not a righteous thing to worry about, obviously. But it's like, dang. I really want to go somewhere cool.

Tammy 18:35

Yeah.

Cooper 18:35

And something cool that happened to me. My dad told this story at my mission call opening. It was, I was freaking out about it. And I was hanging out with my friend who's not a member. But he's hung out with LDS people his entire life because he lives in Idaho Falls. So obviously that's who you hang out with, and I'm freaking out about it. And he is, he just kinda grabs my shoulder and says, "Bro, don't the Apostles just choose where you're going because of the Spirit and they just pray about it?" And I'm like, I just sat back in my chair when he said that. I'm like, Why am I freaking out? That's so dumb.

Cooper 19:09

Like this is the, God is choosing where I'm going. I mean it's for a reason cuz it's predestined just like Paul says, like foreordained. So I'm like, Know what, Q? You freakin' jerk, you're right. I'll chill out. Of course, of course he's the one to tell me. Of course he's the one to say the most righteous thing in the world right now when he's not even a member. So I was like, perfect. Yeah, that just settled all desires. So that was something that was like, okay, cool. Yeah, this, I am foreordained to do this mission. There's people set aside for me, if I get reassigned for a second because my visa doesn't come, there's people in wherever they assign me that needs, that need me right then.

Cooper 19:49

There's people in Peru that're gonna need me eventually. So why would I be selfish to say the people of Wisconsin need me less than the people of Peru, or the people of Detroit need me less than the people of. So yeah, I was just like, but of course, of course. Que, thank you. Thank you. And then that was just kind of quenched my fears about going stateside.

Tammy 20:06

Well, hey, hats off to Q. That is awesome. Big shout out to Q. I mean, it's really cool. And you're totally right, like every one of us have been predestined or forordained to serve the Lord. And the key to all of this is whether or not we're willing to do it. And every, all three of you, like this is what's so interesting. The two of you, Cooper and Elijah, you've gotten your call, you've made the decision to go. But Easton, you got your call. What was that like when you got called to St. George, Utah. As Elijah said, you don't want to go stateside. You don't get more stateside than St George, Utah.

Easton 20:42

Yeah.

Tammy 20:43

So tell me a little bit about that. Like, why did you then stay? And it was during COVID. You could have come home and everyone would have understood. And we, we do understand for people that came home.

Easton 20:55

Yeah.

Tammy 20:55

How does this idea of being forordained or predestined play into your decision to stay?

Easton 21:00

So I was definitely pretty bummed when I got my call to St. George. It was, it was some of the, when I opened the call, I feel like I hid it pretty well, like I, I did a good job of keeping my cool. But I was pretty like, it was a rough, it was a rough night for me. Like, dang, I'm gonna serve my mission in Utah, ha ha. And so as the weeks went by, and as I continued to pray about it, it just, it started to sink in, and it started to feel, feel good. It didn't, it didn't bother me anymore after a few days.

Easton 21:33

And so as I went to the MTC and eventually got to my mission, I remember, I think back to it, and every single area that I was in, every single companion that I have from my trainer all the way down to the very last companion that I had was 100% to help me grow, for me to help them grow. And every single person that I met in that area, whether they were membership, maybe like bishops and ward mission leaders that helped us, they left an imprint on me. Hopefully, I left some sort of imprint on them. And just the people that I was able to, to teach, the faith that I was able to see in them and the things that they taught me as well were just what I needed.

Easton 22:20

And I know that it's gonna bless me both now and in the future as I, you know, become a father. And as even I go into the next life, I know that those lessons are gonna bless me. And so I know that these boys are called exactly where they need to go. And so is anybody else who gets called. And as long as you give it your all you're goinna do just fine, and you're gonna learn a lot, and be exactly where you need to go.

Tammy 22:48

Oh, wow. Okay, so, Easton, let's do this. Will you read verses 10 and 11 in Ephesians chapter 1. You beautifully just pointed these and summed them up for us.

Easton 22:59

All right. "That in this dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh in all things after the counsel of his own will:"

Tammy 23:23

Thank you. And going back to what you said, He does work all things according to His own will, like God's got this. And every one of us in here, I just think this idea in verse 10, that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, and that is what we're here, that is what we are predestined and forordained to do. Whatever calling we have, whether it be a mission call, a ward call, anything. The whole point and purpose of our callings is to: "gather together in one all things in Christ," to gather us back to the family of Christ. And Easton, I asked you to think about this ahead of time. Do you have a story from your mission where you did just this, where you gathered together in one and you brought people back to Christ? or to Christ for the first time?

Easton 24:06

Yeah, I have so many stories that I could tell, it was kind of hard to think of just one. But I served in the YSA wards down at the College in St. George, formerly Dixie State, now it's Utah Tech. And I met so many wonderful young adults there. We got lots of help from returned missionaries, and lots of real faithful non-members who who just wanted to learn about God. I thought it was amazing. But there was this one Sunday where we got a text from a bishop. And he's like "Elders, I'm gonna need you to come to our ward today." And I, and when you're in a Utah mission, you cover 10+ wards usually.

Easton 24:48

And so if we got a text from a bishop that said "you need to come to our ward," we would, we'd go. Because we know that usually meant that someone's going to be there that we need to see. And he pointed us out to him. He was sitting with two returned missionaries there. And we went and talked to him, his name is Caleb. We kind of got to know his story. He grew up in the Salt Lake area and he had tons of friends that have been members all his life, but he never really made the jump to learn about anything or meet with missionaries.

Easton 25:20

So we set up a meeting. I was kind of looking back at my journal, and I think it was the next day we set up a meeting for the next day. And we taught him the full first lesson - Restoration. And we weren't planning on it, my companion and I, but in that moment we both kind of looked at each other. And my companion pulled out his phone and started looking at a calendar and we were like, "Caleb, will you prepare to be baptized in like, three and a half weeks?" It was so, like, that!

Tammy 25:51

Wow.

Easton 25:52

He said he would, but he also dropped a bomb on us that he was goin' to Hawaii tomorrow, the next day he was leaving for Hawaii. And we thought there's no way that this guy is going to be able to get baptized if he's goin' to Hawaii the next day. And so we gave him a little challenge. We said, "Caleb, for the next 10 days, you're gonna need to read the Book of Mormon every single day." And we texted him every day to kind of follow up. And we'd share a little insight that we got from our companion study that morning. And he'd usually send us what he read and something that he liked.

Easton 26:26

When he got back, we kind of started going over what he read, and in those 10 days while he was on vacation in Hawaii - and this is a guy that never read the Book of Mormon before - he had read the entirety of First and Second Nephi. He knocked out both books. We were just real impressed with him.

Easton 26:42

And he said he felt real ready to be baptized, he was so excited for it. And at that point, we hadn't even taught him the lesson about baptism yet. So we had a lot to do in like two weeks of time, but we got it done. So it was, it was good and I've been messaging him both yesterday and today. And he's just such a good guy and he's, he's doing good.

Easton 27:06

So I'm glad that we were able to meet him and that he was able to join the church and just so cool to see someone so young be so faithful, especially when they don't have a whole lot of support from their family, that he's the only member in his whole family. But he's making it work and he just absolutely loves it. So I just love stories like that. I'm real glad I got to serve there in the YSA wards because I think it's a cool kind of faith to see people like of that age come to Christ in a world where usually people that age are not interested, so.

Tammy 27:47

Right. Easton, that's a great story. Thank you for sharing that and coming prepared with that. You know, going back to verse 10 where it says "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times," that means now, that's today. And you are proof that you've done that and are doing it. And you two men, Elijah and Cooper, you are going to go and help "gather together in one all things in Christ." What a great opportunity. And those of us who are serving in ward callings, that is what we are doing. And so if anyone feels like their calling is a daunting task or serving a mission is a daunting task or an impossible assignment, there is some comfort in the book of Ephesians, because Paul has your back, and we're going to show you two places where he does in the next segment.

Segment 3 28:27

.....

Tammy 28:38

I want everyone to consider this question as I ask these three men: If you were granted one wish before serving that would make you a more effective instrument in the hands of the Lord, what would you guys ask for? And we'll go Elijah, Easton, and then Cooper. You get one wish.

Elijah 28:56

Oh, that is difficult. If we're going off the world, a scriptural wish? Mine would have to be humility. I definitely, that is my #1 struggle in this life.

Tammy 29:11

His cousins are laughing

Elijah 29:14

I'm not the most humble young man of all time, for sure. In fact, I'm the exact opposite. And sometimes it can be good. It can be good in certain areas to be confident in all things, right? But there's definitely some times I find myself feeling like kind of an idiot because I was a little too cocky going in, thinking I was the best. And that's something I'm excited to be doin' my mission for to see how humble I just have gotten, but I'm sure not excited to be humbled.

Tammy 29:42

Right.

Elijah 29:42

So that's going to be a struggle, but that is going to be something that I wish for and pray for daily and I am now. But just humility is going to be definitely be one that I would like to have a nice blessing.

Tammy 29:56

Well, I will bear witness to you right now - it's gonna happen. That's the biggest mistake I ever made. In the MTC, I prayed for humility. I got it the next day and then I said, Just kidding Heavenly Father, I don't want it.

Elijah 30:05

Yeah, we're good.

Tammy 30:07

No thanks, I'll be humble on my own. Okay, good one. What about you, go ahead Easton.

Easton 30:13

Courage. Definitely, especially before my mission, I think that was the thing that was hardest for me. I would gladly, like learn all day, I'd gladly go read my scriptures for hours on end and study and memorize everything that is Preach My Gospel. I was totally fine doing that. What was really hard for me for the first probably six months or so to be the outgoing one, to be the one to, I don't know, we were really knocking doors for the first six months of my mission. But to be the one that you know, street contact people or take the lead in lessons, I just wanted to let my Senior Companion take over. And I think just as time went on, I definitely got better at it.

Easton 30:52

But I'd love to be more courageous. Even now, and especially at the beginning of my mission, I think that would have been a huge blessing. Just to be able to live and state my religion and what I believe fearlessly and be able to proclaim it like, like the prophets in the scriptures.

Tammy 31:13

Yeah. Ooh, good answer. Okay, courage. Cooper, what about you?

Cooper 31:19

Um, I mean, as of right now, I would say the gift of tongues because that's, looking into my mission, I'm starting in five days. And that's honestly what I'm most nervous for is having to learn a new language and just kind of being able to know what to say in all times and not have to worry about like, trying to phrase something because you don't know certain words. You don't know or understand what someone else is saying because you don't understand, just the words that they're using. I don't know, I'd certainly just love to be able to just know Spanish right now and know all about it.

Easton 31:50

Yep. I think that's the thing that all missionaries struggle with, too. Even if you're speaking your native language, like you still want to be able to know what to say, how to say it, when to say it, you know. To be able to touch the people's heart in the right way. And I guess the only way to do that is to

Cooper 32:07

trial

Easton 32:07

Really trial and error and also just listen to the Spirit because following a script isn't necessarily going to get you to the right place.

Tammy 32:17

Following the Spirit. Great advice. Okay, so you three. What if I told you that maybe Paul might have your backs. That in the book of Ephesians, he actually says two separate prayers for the people, and He blesses them with specific things. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go to Ephesians chapter 1. And I want us to bracket off verses 15-23. And to the outside of verses 15-23 write "Paul's prayer." This is where he specifically prays for the Ephesians.

Tammy 32:46

And then after you do that, turn to Ephesians chapter 3, bracket off verses 14-21 and write "another prayer by Paul" or "Paul's 2nd prayer." So he prays twice for the Ephesians. Now, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna go through and I'm going to read a couple of these verses in these prayers. And we're going to number the specific things that Paul prays for. And as we do, I want you three to underline anything that stands out to you that you think would be able to help you with the one wish that you made.

Tammy 33:18

All right, so we're going to start in Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm going to read verses 17 and 18. If anything stands out to you, underline that will help you with your wish. He says, Well, first I like how verse 16 says, "Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you," (#1) "the spirit of wisdom and" (#2) "revelation in the knowledge of him:" (#3) "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;" (#4) "that ye may know what is the hope of his calling," (#5)" and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints;" (#6) "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-word who believe, according to the working of his mighty power;"

Tammy 34:09

Okay, now turn to Ephesians, the second prayer, chapter 3, and I'm going to read verses 16-19. And I like how 14 he says, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father our Lord Jesus Christ," so here it goes his prayer, verse 16. #1 he says, "That he would grant unto you, according to the riches of his glory," (#2) "to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;" (#3) "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith:" (#4) "that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;" (#5) "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," (#6) that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." All right, you three. Was there anything that stood out to you? Did you underline anything that you think could help you with your wish?

Easton 35:07

I really liked 3:17. Mine was I wanted some sort of gift about courage, right. And so this one talks a lot about love. And I think love is, I guess the focus of kind of everything in the Church. It's what Christ is, it's what He taught was love. And so I think if you can have love for everyone, for all God's children, and also have a knowledge that Christ loves you, and that He's going to help you, that will give you courage right there, knowing that Christ is always watching you to strengthen you and help you and that He wants to do the same for His children.

Tammy 35:57

Easton, what do you think it means to be rooted and grounded in love? Do you have an image that comes to mind? Like why would he use those terms "rooted and grounded in love"?

Easton 36:09

Well, I think of trees, right, like, that they're big, they need a lot to hold them down. And so the strongest trees have really deep roots. And so if you're truly rooted and grounded in love, that means that I think anything that can come your way is not going to rip you out of the ground, right? It's gonna, if someone's mean to you, if you're rooted in love, truly rooted, you can you can respond in a kind way, I guess.

Tammy 36:38

Oh, I like that so much. All right. What about you, Elijah? Cooper?

Elijah 36:44

I'll go. From the first, from the first prayer, obviously, with mine being humility, I think, "may give unto you the spirit of wisdom." Wisdom is same thing as humility, in my opinion. It's like the ability to know when you need to shut up and you need to let the Spirit take it over. And just giving yourself away. You're not smart here; the Spirit is smart, so just shut up, kid, so that's kind of another thing. And then the thing from what Easton was saying, I kind of think of grounded almost. To me, a man who's, a young man who's been grounded quite a lot in his life, right?

Elijah 37:21

I've heard this from a lot of people who don't want to join the church. There's so many rules, the mission has so many rules. Every single minute, where he is going to be accounted for. And every single minute you're going to be, there's a million rules to follow, right? And that's hard for people to think about for two years.

Elijah 37:37

But being grounded in love is different. And He's going to protect us. And He's going to, He's doing this because He knows more. And we are seeing something that we cannot see. And yeah, there's some invisible thing that we, the reason these rules that seem stupid: waking up at 6:30 in the morning, every day. Sure don't want to do that, tell you that much. I woke up at 10:00 this morning, it's beautiful. But being grounded in love, there's someone who wakes up at 8:00 every morning or somebody who wakes up way earlier that needs to be taught right then. So I'm just excited to be grounded, almost. The first time I've ever said that, but I'm excited to be grounded in love.

Elijah 38:19

That is awesome perspective. Oh my gosh, I like that. Excited to be grounded. Oh, that's so good. Thank you, Elijah. Okay, Cooper, what about you? What did you underline?

Cooper 38:32

I liked Ephesians 3:19. I mean, it's kind of just the same exact things what these two other kids were saying, just about the love of Christ. It says, "And to know the love of Christ was passeth knowledge." And as Elijah said, you need to know when, when we just stop using our worldly mind and let the Savior speak for us. You know, it's a really, really important thing to have on a mission and to kind of have the love, the love that Christ has and to be able to get through like all your hard companions and all the challenges you're gonna face.

Cooper 39:03

I was talking to Mitchell right before he left and he said the only reason he thinks he'd have to come home early is because he's not gonna have enough love for his campaign. He's gonna get in a fight with him, he's gonna punch him in the face. But I honestly think that Mitchell's gonna be just fine and he's gonna be able to get the love of Christ, just get a true understanding. I think he's gonna be just fine.

Tammy 39:21

Yeah. Hey, Cooper, I have a question for you. In that verse that you chose, verse 19, tell me this. Because the one thing you wished for was the gift of tongues, and the ability to speak and say what needs to be said to your investigators or members. Look at verse 19 again, when it says "that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." How do you think being filled with all the fullness of God will help you?

Cooper 39:45

It will be able to give me the ability or the gift of tongues I guess, and I'll know what to say in the exact moment and I'll know what words to use. I guess the Savior will be able to know, will help me to know what words to use to be able to touch the hearts of the people I'm teaching and He'll be able to give me the all the right actions to do and to go knock on this specific door, go talk to this specific person that I wouldn't normally go do.

Tammy 40:08

Yeah, totally. Can you imagine how differently that verse would be if it said that you might be filled with some of the fullness of God? If Paul was to quantify, like, well, always a bit much to ask, we just want a little bit of like, No, all the fullness of God. He is praying for you three, every one of us listening, that those of us who are choosing to serve in any capacity. Like we've been talking about missions, but any one of us remember what Elder Eyring said at the very beginning, anyone who is serving or will serve, these prayers are for you.

Tammy 40:38

And so I challenge everyone to look through this. That is my question is, What is one wish? And then maybe what part of these prayers would grant your wish? That Paul absolutely has our backs, and he is praying for us in the same way as he prays for these Ephesians. So thank you, you guys. Great answers. That was an awesome discussion.

Tammy 40:57

Okay, so let's combine your call with the power of Paul's prayer. And we are ready to serve and receive this next instruction from Paul. We're gonna do that in the next segment.

segment 4 41:05

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Tammy 41:16

All right, so we've talked a little bit about this, Elijah, you shared your own personal story. But the question I had for you was, for you three, describe for me some of the things you had to do to be able to serve a mission. Give me a list of specific things you had to do before you could even send in your papers and go.

Easton 41:34

All that I can think of right now is some good that our, this is for cousin Mitchell that's on a mission right now. He had to read the Book of Mormon all the way through, and I think that's something that most bishops have you do, right, is read the Book of Mormon all the way through. And so that was hard for him, he's not into reading a whole lot. But he did it and we helped him out. And we're very grateful for our Aunt Sarah. She put on a, like, it was probably like bi-weekly, I'd say, Book of Mormon study. We read a lot of chapters of the Book of Mormon with a couple other of our cousins as well. She'd make us cinnamon rolls and fish and chips, because that's what Mitchell likes. He likes fish and chips. But

Tammy 42:18

you had guest readers come on and read for you.

Cooper 42:21

Yes, we did. Yeah.

Easton 42:24

Anyway, I think that that's always a big part of it for me. I think that's honestly sometimes the hardest part is like preparing spiritually in that way. Definitely, I think a big part of it is also meeting with leadership, like Elijah said. Talking to the bishop, we've all done it. And it's not bad at all. I think that's something that's kind of scary, especially to teenagers is talking to the bishop. But it's really, it's not bad at all, it's always going to be a positive experience. And you'll always feel better afterward. I think that's that's the good part.

Easton 43:00

But of course, there's all the medical things you got to do, and things like that. But that's, for me, those are probably my biggest obstacles was just getting into the habit of actually getting daily spiritual bredth and going through all the meeting process, meeting with the bishop and then getting ready to get your papers in and meeting with the stake president to finalize everything and all that.

Tammy 43:28

And let's be clear. Mitchell wasn't allowed to even listen, like he had to physically read, right?

Cooper 43:34

Yeah

Tammy 43:35

He couldn't listen while I was out working on the farm, so.

Elijah 43:38

And now look at him. This is Mitchell's email from this last week. It was just amazing to me, because like I said, he was not very good at reading the Book of Mormon, but this is his email from this week. And it says, "I'll just say that I know that this is the true Church of God. If it wasn't I wouldn't be here at the MTC in this laundry room, writing this email at 6am." And then he says, "I know the Book of Mormon is true. I've been able to dig deep and study it a lot this last week. I love the joy that it's brought me."

Elijah 44:06

And I never thought I'd hear Mitchell say those words in my entire life. That kid probably read, he never had an AR goal. He never, he never read one packet in school. He was basically drop out. I mean, he was going to one class a week just to get that diploma and he was out of there to go sides and Alice's. He didn't read. But then readin' that email I'm like, Geez, and he's only been there for two weeks. I'm like, this is gonna be interesting the way, to see the way we come back versus the way we left. So that just got me fired up to go; I was excited.

Elijah 44:35

I'll Amen that for sure. Okay, what about Elijah? Cooper? Is there anything specific that stands out to you had to do before you got your call?

Cooper 44:43

Before senior year started or like right when senior year starting I guess, you know, I kind of made the decision to change my life up a little bit because I knew that I needed to start getting ready to go on my mission. And so I started the day off, when I was getting ready I'd listen to two or three conference talks while I was getting ready every day. And I'd read at least one chapter of the Book of Mormon and I'd say my daily prayers, because I was before this, I was quite awful at doing all these things.

Cooper 45:08

And I can honestly say that it made my life just so, so much happier. And that this gospel is certainly true and that it brings that true eternal joy in, I mean, I almost want to cry talking about it. But it just gives us comfort to be able to go to school every day and just know that you're doing the right thing. And it just kind of makes me have a smile on my face 24/7, I guess.

Elijah 45:34

Thank you, Cooper. Great, great testimony that you shared, a mini testimony right there. Awesome. What about you, Elijah?

Elijah 45:45

My mission process - I know Cooper knows my mission process - to get it started was a difficult one for sure. Um, like I said earlier, I wasn't living the best I could be living and the bishop, I'd been praying for humility, obviously. And the bishop through the Spirit, found a real way to humble me, right, because I'm trying to go. So I met with him to get my papers opened. And he decided it wasn't, this, it wasn't a crazy talk we had, but he decided, "I'm going to make you wait for three months before we submit this." And I'll tell you what, holy..... When he said three months, my heart just dropped. I was like, No way. This guy's gonna make me wait three months. And it was so embarrassing.

Elijah 46:27

And I went home, I was just pissed at the bishop. That week, that morning in sacrament meeting, I was just staring bullets at him. I was so pissed, I was gonna, I was gonna freak out on him and just scream at him. And I went home and talked to my parents about it real deep. And my mom reminded me that this is what you need to be humbled. This is probably, this is more than just what you guys have talked about, I'm sure. I'm sure this is to humble you to be ready to go out in a mission. And I'm so so grateful for Mitchell. He doesn't even know this.

Elijah 46:56

But as I'm going through this struggle of getting pushed back three months, Mitchell is, we email the whole family of my whole extended family. We all are real close; there's a group chat with every single bit of information that moms send each other about our entire lives. So we're all

Tammy 46:57

I concur, it's true.

Elijah 47:01

The whole family knows every little bit about our lives. And while Mitchell is going through this massive struggle that's super open to everybody, everybody knows about Mitchell can't read the Book of Mormon, as he struggled to read the Book of Mormon. "So everyone help him, everyone pressure Mitchell to get out." I'm just silently struggling. And I'm a kid who does not like to be embarrassed very much and Mitchell can take it way more better than me. So I was so so grateful because I was able to slip kind of under his problem while I go through this. I was able to just get back right into where I needed to be without everyone asking me, When are YOU gonna submit your papers? because Cooper had already done it.

Elijah 47:36

And it had been, he had had his call for like a month and a half, two months before I was getting mine. And everyone, I mean everyone would have been confused, right? Why didn't we do it at the same time? we're the same age. And the bishop pushing me back three months, that I was able to gain a lot of humility. My testimony was very much strengthened. It sucked a lot. And now I'm leaving and all my friends are gonna be gone for a whole month before I leave. So I'm sure that'll teach me something too. And I'll be on my own being without my friends.

Elijah 48:22

But I'm so so grateful because God, while He challenged me, He gave me a way through Mitchell's struggles that I was able to, to kind of slip under the radar. And whatever God gives, God takes. And whatever God takes, God gives. So I was super grateful for that.This built my testimony right there.

Tammy 48:45

Thank you. Thank you to the all three of you for your perfect answers. And what I loved about your answers is that it is exactly what Paul's talking about in Ephesians 4:1 and 2, let's go there. Easton, will you please read Ephesians 4:1 and 2.

Easton 49:00

Of course. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;"

Tammy 49:19

Okay, let's just do a couple things with that verse. First of all, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord." Now the reason why he's calling himself the prisoner of the Lord is you guys, he's writing this letter from prison. He is in jail in Rome. He gets to have people come visit him, but he does not get to leave. So he is literally a prisoner. And he says, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation. Now another word for that word, if you look down below at the footnote, is 'calling'. 'That ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called.' And all three of you have beautifully exemplified that you have done that and how have you done it?

Tammy 49:52

Look at verse 2: With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering." I mean, "and forbearing one another in love." I mean, your stories are a perfect example of what it looks like to be lowly and meek and longsuffering. Elijah, that three months, Mitchell reading that Book of Mormon? That was longsuffering, for sure. And then Paul encourages us to do one more thing. Let's go to Ephesians 4:22. And we're going to look at verse 22 and 24. And I'll read those, here we go. And I want you to tell me what he tells us to do.

Tammy 50:25

In verse 22 it says, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;" And then he says in 24, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Okay, what does he want us to get rid of?

Cooper 50:29

The natural man?

Tammy 50:45

Yeah, the old man. And he wants us to put on this new man. Now, to the outside of verses 25-32, write "old man versus new man." And I asked you guys to read these verses and I want to know, what are the examples that Paul gives of putting away the old man and bringing in the new? What do you got?

Easton 51:03

For me, so as far as putting away the old man, for me, would, reading my scriptures and like doing all that stuff, like saying prayers. That's not necessarily hard for me. What's hard is setting aside the time to do so. Like I love, generally love reading the scriptures. And I'm sure most of us do. And I think a lot of people struggle with that, setting aside time. Maybe that's dropping a TV show instead of like, you're sacrificing 15 minutes of your day to not watch TV or not be on your phone. You're sacrificing that natural man habit to just occupy yourself with that. And you're sacrificing that to, or read your scriptures to have a moment with God. So I think that's something that's super applicable in this day of technology is setting aside that time to be with God.

Tammy 52:01

Great answer. Keep going, what else you guys got?

Cooper 52:04

Um, I like how in verse 31, in Ephesians 4:31 it says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice:" And so basically it's just like, gotta get rid of all of the anger in your heart. And just gotta become the best person you could possibly be because being patient is a virtue and it's certainly not an easy thing to do to be patient when you're in high school. And you've got siblings that bug ya sometimes and you got your, just a bunch of high schoolers that bug ya. So I think it's important to be patient and remember to strive to be like Jesus 24/7. And all of a sudden I've certainly tried to do this last couple months, and it's certainly not been easy.

Tammy 52:44

How'd you do? Maybe I should ask your brother. How'd he do you Easton?

Easton 52:48

He did pretty good. To be fair I'm not home alot, I'm at school, but he's a good kid. And I think he's, especially it's been really cool because I was gone for most of his high school. I was there for his freshman year and his senior year. And so I saw him go through the changes that he's just, he's so, so awesome.

Tammy 53:12

Good answers. Thank you. Elijah, any of those verses stand out to you?

Elijah 53:17

Yes, Ephesians 4:29. It says, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." And I am one whom lets a lot of corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth. You can tell, I get a text from Chicago. My workin' mouth is a lot different than my church mouth, that's for sure. Everyone can attest to that. My school mouth, my friend mouth. I need to work a lot, I needed to work a lot on my mouth. And I still definitely, definitely do. But the old man, definitely. Need a mou, a lot, a lot less corrupt communication procede outta my mouth. And even I'm sure people can tell the way I speak is not necessarily missionary vernacular quite yet. So I need to work on that for sure. Kind of putting off that, kind of start talking like a missionary would.

Tammy 54:06

Well look at the rest of that verse. I think that what Paul's instruction in that verse is some of the best instruction of how to speak like a missionary. Read that whole verse.

Elijah 54:16

Okay, I'll just start from the top.

Tammy 54:17

Great

Elijah 54:17

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

Tammy 54:25

I mean, can you imagine if the words you speak minister grace to people that hear your words. That what you speak edifies God and Christ? You will do that, Elijah, you will do that as a missionary. Awesome example you guys. Thank you. So these are some great verses about how to get rid of the old man and put on the new man. And that's what we have to do anytime we're called. Anytime we're called to, again, going back to how we started earlier, to bring everybody in as one with Christ we've got to put on this new man. And so Paul suggests that once we put on the new man, and get rid of the old man, we also have to walk in a certain way. We're going to talk about what that way is in the next segment.

Segment 5 55:16

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Tammy 55:16

Okay, I have two signs that I want to show you. Tell me what you think they mean as soon as you see them. Go!

Easton 55:22

I think of, well it's a stop sign, basically. So I think of that first ,that that red one as a stop sign, right? Like, almost like a warning. Like, you gotta stop here.

Elijah 55:34

Yeah, I see that one as stop what you're doing immediately. That is dumb. Stop doing that.

Tammy 55:40

Why? Because it's, it is the shape of a stop sign. But what, does it say Stop in the middle?

Elijah 55:44

No, it has an exclamation mark.

Elijah 55:46

Ooh. So I like that Elijah, it means stop immediately what you're doing because it's dumb. That's a perfedct, k, so Cooper, describe what the other picture is.

Cooper 55:54

Well it's a green circle, but also has an exclamation mark in it. But I don't know, just because that is the green circle it almost means like, you know, you gotta, you gotta, gotta get started right now. Like this is the present and you need to be starting this now. Almost like, like it's a green light but on steroids.

Tammy 56:12

Yeah. That's awesome! Yes, that sign is like a green light on steroids. Perfect. Okay, so guess what? Paul gives us a "stop what you're doing immediately because it's dumb". And green light on steroids versus in the book of Ephesians he gives us a stop and go scripture reference. So let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. And we're going to bracket off verses 1-8. These are such great verses and I have put stop and go signs in my scriptures. I'm going to show you where to put them. So here we go.

Tammy 56:41

In Ephesians 5:1 he says, remember, he just told us to get rid of the old man put on the new and now he's saying, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;" Now, you three have known each other since you were little kids, you've known each other your whole lives. Would you say the three of you have grown and changed throughout the years?

Cooper 56:15

Yeah, for sure.

Easton 57:06

Yes, most definitely.

Tammy 57:09

Okay. So I would say and I knew you when you were little kids. I remember Easton the most - he was just so shy and quiet, very quiet kid. Elijah, I remember you just being rowdy, like a fun kid. You were the fun kid in the family, right? And then just Cooper, I just remember Cooper's red hair. It's the most beautiful red hair I've ever seen in my life. And he's just the nicest kid. This is how I remember you guys as little kids. But Elijah, you weren't rowdy bad, you were just fun. You were like fun one of all, just the loudest grandkid. And I loved it. So I say yes, you were different as little kids. I want you to keep that idea in mind. Because he says right here, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children."

Tammy 57:48

Then verse 2, "And walk in love." K, he wants us to walk in love. Now, the rest of these verses, he says, Now listen. But here's the deal. It's hard to walk in love because of we are natural men. He says we've got fortifications and uncleanness and covetousness. Look at verse 3. He says, Don't let these things come to you. Then in verse four, "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks." He's warning us. Then verse 5 he says, "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God. So like you can't be, you cannot be an old man and be with Christ.

Tammy 58:29

And then he says in 6, "Let no man deceive you with these vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." And then 7, here it is. Here's that red sign with the exclamation. "Be not ye therefore partakers of them." Like stop. Do not do any of these things, because they're really ,you're about to do is really dumb. I like how you said that Elijah, that's your stop sign. And then here's our go, our go on steroids. Cooper, read verse 8. Here's what he wants us to do.

Cooper 58:57

"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"

Tammy 59:03

Now next to the word 'light', at the end. "Walk as children of light", I want to give us a cross reference. And we're going to put John 8:12. So put John 8:12, and put a square around the word 'light' at the end. "Walk as children of light." And let's turn to John 8:12. Elijah, can you go there?

Elijah 59:23

"Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world, He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Tammy 59:30

Okay, look back at the beginning. Who is the light of the world?

Elijah 59:35

Jesus

Tammy 59:36

Jesus. Now, let's go back to verse 8. We're going to replace the word 'light' at the end and we're going to put 'Jesus' in there and let's reread this. So Easton, Ephesians 5:8, and when you get to the word 'light,' replace it with the name Jesus.

Easton 59:51

'For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of Jesus.'

Tammy 59:58

Thank you, Walk as children of Christ. Okay, I want you to think about this. When you're kids was it easier to walk as a child in Christ when you were little than it is now?

Elijah 1:00:01

Much easier. Yes.

Tammy 1:00:02

Why Elijah? Why was it easier to walk as children of Christ or children of light when you were little?

Elijah 1:00:17

There's no distracting elements, other than your parents pretty much are the only element. And your parents, when you're younger, are very, they're not going to show you any bad, anything. You're not going to struggle too much as a young child, because, at least for me, I mean, maybe some people do. But for me, I wasn't exposed to anything that could have shaken my faith or anything like that. But as you get older, obviously, phones, technology, stuff like that, it starts to shake, starts to expose ya to some things you don't want to be partaking of. But as children, you don't get exposed to that as much.

Easton 1:00:49

Yeah, I think the world starts to kind of get a hold of you as you get older. You know, you're around the world more often, going to school and goin to work, things like that. You're more in the world. You hear about some of the bad things that happen in this world, and so you'll, you can get dragged into that really easy if you're not careful. Whereas when you're a child, I think you just, you're faithful. You have like a natural disposition to believe and to follow. And I think, in the purest form, like a child, they're often good, they're wholesome, they're innocent. And so I think that's what God wants us to try to maintain, that part of childhood of just being kind and being good. And just maintaining that Christ-like love for people.

Tammy 1:01:48

Oh, absolutely. Cooper, any thoughts?

Cooper 1:01:52

Um, so, you know, kind of in our church it always talks about being like a child, or we need to act more like children. And when we say stuff like that, I always think of that one random kid in the park did walk up to you and ask you to be your friend, or to just hang out with you. And I think it's so easy for him to do that. But it takes so much courage to be able to do something like that when you get older. And it's certainly not easy. And you know, those kids are always just able to say what's on their mind, no matter the situation. I think it's just kind of crazy how courageous those kids are without realizing it.

Tammy 1:02:27

Yeah

Easton 1:02:28

I just thought of a story, this is kind of random. I was like, I don't know if I should share this, maybe I should. We have a little friend, his name's Adam. He was born with a lot of problems. I think he had, he was basically born without a diaphragm. So from the minute he was born, he had tons of surgeries. He's gone through a lot in his life, he's a little special needs. And we went to Montana with their family. And we worked out at the football field, we ran around the track and a bunch of exercises. He came, he has a little electric bike, it's like a little, what is it? A drill battery that goes in there, just enough to carry his tiny little self around.

Easton 1:03:06

And one of the coach's kids was there and they became friends immediately. And we went back a couple more times, they hung out. And it was just, he was excited to see is his friend that he made in 30 seconds. And so that's when Cooper was saying, that's just who I thought of is our little buddy Adam.

Tammy 1:03:24

Oh, what a sweet story. I like how all three of you just talked about what it was like to be a child and how important it is to be childlike, to walk as children of light. So do this for me. Now, I want you to be Paul, here's what I want you to do. You're speaking to people who are about to say yes to a calling, or maybe they already have. What is your stop, don't do this, what you're about to do is stupid. And then what is your advice for how they could walk in the light of Christ?

Elijah 1:03:49

My stop advice is stop being selfish. Your worries, your things you're leaving behind? Those things that you're worried about? They are very, very temporal. And those families and those people that you're going to bless out there are very, very eternal. So if you're 18 years old, and you have to wait two years to go to college, and by the time you're 80, you're not even going to give a crap about those two years of school that you missed. What those, you sure are going to give a crap about the family that is not to have an eternity together. Because you went. So the stop advice is stop being selfish, for me at least.

Easton 1:04:37

I think Elijah's got a really good point there. I think that's probably the biggest thing stopping people, especially because at this age, that's what you're focused on. You're focused on me, me, me, that's it with schooling and all that. But I think most people will honestly be just kind of adding to that, most people are kinda honestly be grateful for their mission. I know that I'm doing a whole lot better in school now than I would have if I just went right out of high school. I have a lot better study habits from my mission than I would have if I just kind of went to school.

Easton 1:05:12

Besides stop being selfish, I would say just stop wasting your time. I think there's a lot of things that we could be doing better in life, we could be pursuing a bunch of better things than just, I don't know, whatever it is. It might be video games, it might be TV, it might be in the wrong friend group, whatever it is. I think just stop, stop wasting your time. And I can get my start right away. And that's just like start doing something good, whatever it is.

Tammy 1:05:46

Great answer Easton. Thank you. Cooper.

Cooper 1:05:49

WelI I would say stop doubting for sure. As I stop doubting that whether you should be going on a mission or not, or stop doubting whether or not you should be able to like, just, I don't know. I guess I would say just stop doubting that you're not the one that's supposed to be going on mission. You're not, I guess destined to be on a mission, because we were talking about being foreordained. And this lesson talks a lot being forordained and then you know, you're, you were born in these families for a certain reason. And you have, you have all these life experiences for a certain reason.

Cooper 1:06:11

And I think it's important to know that you're supposed to go on a mission for a certain reason. And I would just say, stop doubting. You just start praying and pray for that comfort that you're supposed to be going on a mission and just start preparing.

Tammy 1:06:36

Very awesome, good, good, good. And Easton gave us his go. Do either one of you have, what is your go advice for how they could walk as children of light?

Elijah 1:06:44

I think a big thing with me is, if I can just put something out there, it's a lot more likely to happen. So, start telling people you're going on a mission, even if you're not sure, but you know it's the right thing to do, so. If you start telling people you're goin' on a mission, it's gonna be pretty awkward when you, Just kidding, I changed my mind, I was too scared. So start telling people you're on a mission and you're gonna do what God told you to do and the Prophet's told you to do and what you're supposed to be doing. So start telling people, Hey, I'm going on a mission, and then start acting like it too.

Tammy 1:07:16

Ooh, I like that - start acting the part. That's great advice. Cooper

Cooper 1:07:21

I'd say just...hmm, what was I gonna say? I was, I would say just start being more like Christ. I would say, you know, look for better better friends. And look for opportunities to be friendly to someone or to open the door for that certain individual or things like that. Because just being more like Christ will bring you so much more joy. And then you'll start to realize that a mission is something that you need after, to just starting to be more like Christ.

Tammy 1:07:49

Gosh, yeah.

Easton 1:07:49

I love that part of it, too because these boys have such amazing friends. It's crazy. It does seem like almost every single one of them is goin' on a mission. It's weird. That is they have gone to a lot of farewells these these past few weeks. But even the ones that aren't going on missions, the ones that are members, they are amazing people. And so I just want to point that out for these boys as they all lift each other up. And I think it's really cool that they're able to recognize that and do that for each other.

Tammy 1:07:50

Amen. Awesome, you guys. Awesome. Thank you for your answers. And thank you for thinking that through. I appreciate that. And the cool thing about this whole discussion is we have in Ephesians 6:10, let's go there. In Ephesians 6:10 I like this, where Paul says, "Finally", here's what he's got for us, you guys. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." And so in the next segment, we are going to discover that what we wear has everything to do with being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And we'll talk about that next.

Segment 6 1:08:54

.....

Tammy 1:09:06

Okay, let's go to Ephesians chapter 6. Highlight, bracket, mark verses 11-18. So according to these verses, you guys, what does Paul recommend we wear if we're going to walk as children of light?

Easton 1:09:21

It is the armor of God. And this is actually something that I am very passionate about. It's something that like, was pressed on my mission that both my mission presidents pressed. I had two of them.

Easton 1:09:36

Are you serious?

Easton 1:09:37

Yeah

Tammy 1:09:37

I did not know that. Okay, I have to tell you, I assigned these three to teach us about the whole armor of God. Look at verse 11. "Put on the whole armour of God." Underline that. I just thought these three probably had this lesson so many times in their life - in Seminary, in Sunday School, so I'm like, you just teach it. And here we have Easton. I didn't even know you're passionate about this. All right, you three. Teach us about the whole armor of God. Hit it.

Easton 1:10:03

All right. So the whole armor of God to me, I guess, and for what I've learned, is that the armor of God is a protection given to us. Oftentimes, I like to think back to like our baptismal covenants that we made. When we are faithful, we are protected, I guess, by the Spirit. The Spirit guides and directs us, helps us in whatever way we need. And so the armor of God, to me means if we are faithful, and we do what we know we need to do, then we'll have that Spirit with us to guide us and protect us.

Easton 1:10:37

And something that was always referenced, especially on my mission, because here are these people that you're teaching, and so it is especially important for them to get that daily bread, to have that, those spiritual experiences as often as possible. Because if we don't tend to our armor, if we don't I guess, clean it or take care of it, very quickly it's gonna, might get some holes poked in it from some things that gets in our way and might rust. Things like that will weaken over time. And eventually, something's gonna hit you. And so it's very important. And that was something that was really pressed on my mission, it was very important that we tend to our armor so that we can protect ourselves. We can stay safe from the harms of the adversary.

Tammy 1:11:28

Now Easton, that's really interesting, because we don't often talk about tending to the armor of God. We talk about putting it on, which I'm sure we'll get to, but I want to know, really quickly, how do we tend to our armor? How do we fix it, or whatever you're talking about? That is awesome. How do we do that?

Easton 1:11:47

I always thought of it as there's some do's and some don'ts to it. And the don'ts are just like, don't break the commandments, right? We keep the commandments, we do those things. And so on mission we were taught, like a lot of people had to give up coffee or smoking or drinking and the things like that. Whatever it is, we got to keep the commandments, right. And then there are do's: reading your scriptures, I talk a lot about that. That's the main thing I like to do. But then there's listening to Conference talks, that was a huge help for Cooper.

Cooper 1:12:19

Yeah, listening to conference talks.

Easton 1:12:23

There's saying your prayers, there's doing Family Home Evening. That's a great thing, especially for families. I always, I got fond memories of doing them with my family. And I think those are all very important.

Tammy 1:12:39

That's awesome. I imagine in my mind, because armor is heavy, right? It's super heavy. And so I'm a visual person and I imagine walking into church on Sunday and just taking it off and laying it right there in the foyer. Or as your aunt likes to say the 'Foier'. Sarah taught me that word. The Foier. I imagine just taking it all off in the 'foier' and it's going to be buffed up while I'm sitting and taking the Sacrament. And it's going to get shined while I'm in my Sunday School class or doing my calling.

Tammy 1:13:09

And so I imagine that when you said it's an active role, there's things you should be doing, Easton, I thought of that - going to church. And that's when you can really just take off your armor and breathe for a minute and get it shined back up. And then you leave and pick it back up on your way out because you're gonna need it that week. So I liked that you just brought up that idea of tending to your armor. Okay, keep going. Tell us more about this armor. What are the parts?

Cooper 1:13:33

Um, so I was kind of looking over these, the picture of you know, the soldier with all the armor on. It's all the basic stuff like your breastplate and your fancy shoes. You have your shield and your helmet and your sword. But I was looking at it and it says your loins girt. I've always heard that, the thing that says, "Gird your loins" and we talk about it all the time in the church. But I've never really been exactly sure what that meant. But it says to gird your loins, don't have any loose clothing floating around them that could trip up the legs and feet. Generally, to gird your loins means to prepare for action.

Cooper 1:14:03

So it basically just means to kind of make sure everything's tight and make sure everything's working properly so that they have no, you have no room for error, which I thought was really cool. And I also noticed that when I was looking over all these things, almost all of them are kind of a defense thing. Like your breastplate or your helmet or your shield, those things.

Cooper 1:14:03

But not only as their defense but there's also, offense, a way to stand up for yourself. And I think that's also really important because you can have the Lord kind of comfort you when you're kind of in the storms of life, but you also have the ability to stand up for yourself and kind of stay true to what you know is dry. I thought it was really cool, even when times, when you feel like, it says when you feel like you're drowning in the sea of life - I know a lifeguard that walks on water. And I really like that just because even when things get tough, there's always someone who's got your back.

Easton 1:14:58

Yeah, and kind of like adding to that when Cooper's talking about having your loins gird. It's not just wearing the armor, but wearing it well, making sure that everything is fit good. And I think we can wear our armor well too, like live our religion and not be ashamed of it. To live it with confidence and to not be ashamed. That's kind of hard sometimes when there's nobody around you that's living the same way as you are. But it's something that you got to stand up for.

Tammy 1:15:27

Let's do this really quick. And then Elijah, I want you to talk. In these verses in Ephesians 6:13-18, let's just mark the parts of the armor that Cooper just taught us about. And he mentioned a picture. I sent them a picture, it's in the Come, Follow Me lesson. We'll also have it in our show notes so you can go there and look this up. I highly recommend you use it, it's a great visual. But here are the parts in verse 14. It starts with, loins girt about with truth, and the breastplate of righteousness. Verse 15, "your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Verse 16, "the shield of faith." Verse 17, "the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit." So there are the parts. All right, Elijah, what do you got for us about the armor?

Elijah 1:16:16

Well, I especially like that every piece of armor not only protects a certain part of your body, obviously. But it talks about how it's going to protect your different part of your spirit. That's what I like about the armor of God. The feet, those are for the preparation. The breastplate, that's the breastplate of righteousness. You loins girt about with truth. There's jsut something that corresponds with every part of your spirit that can help you with the Spirit, with the armor of God, which I just think is super awesome. And as we are preparing for missions, I think it's super cool to think about. I was thinking about what Cooper said mainly is the offense. I mean, the missionaries, they got swords twice as long as most people, right? God's blessing them with the sword twice as long. They're gonna go messing people up.

Elijah 1:17:06

But I like that fact that we're able to put on something that protects us, and that we can have some offense against the adversary every day. Something that was kind of cool, I was at a farewell as we have been a lot lately, because all of our friends are kind of leaving. But he said, he was talking to his brother about when he read the Book of Mormon every day. And as he said, I read the Book of Mormon every night before I go to bed. And his older brother was a missionary and he was like, Why would you put on the armor of God to go to sleep? That doesn't make any sense. So I personally, aobviously I heard that I've been reading in the morning.

Elijah 1:17:39

And it's been really cool, because you wake up, and you put it on by reading the Book of Mormon. And then you go out and you're protected that day. But by putting it on at night, I mean, obviously, really you should be reading it twice a day, ideally, but I do not. Because when you're at night, you're kind of sleepin' and you're going like you just want to go to bed. So you're kind of, you're speeding through it. In the morning I like to do it and just kind of really reflect, that you're able to reflect. Your mind's a lot more clear and then you feel like you start your day out with some, with, by putting on your armor on rather than putting, like, it's rusty from the night before kind of deal.

Tammy 1:18:15

Elijah, I like what you're saying, especially in light of verse 13. Let's go to verse 13. This is, that's an interesting way to think about it that you'll read it in the morning as you get up and start your day. And I do agree with you. It doesn't matter. Whenever you choose to read it, great. Thanks for reading the Book of Mormon. But there's something interesting about verse 13. Elijah, will you read that for us.

Elijah 1:18:35

Yes. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

Tammy 1:18:43

Now the word 'whole' means complete. So "Wherefore take unto you the complete armor of God", but look back at that. It says right there, "but above all," right there. "Having done all, to stand." What does that teach us about how we wear our armor?

Elijah 1:19:00

I think it takes us back to what Easton was saying: wearing it with pride. Above all, you're gonna stand, no matter what, in the face of people making fun of you, people cursing your name, cursing your religion, cursing your God. You're going to stand and you're going to stand with your chin up and you're going to testify of Christ. And that's something that armor of God can help you with is that's the defensive side of it, right? You're going to be able to stand no matter what. And I really liked the fact that you can. There's gonna be a lot of instances where you're gonna want to kneel, you're gonna want to give up. And the armor of God can help you stand.

Tammy 1:19:00

Yeah, you're gonna want to take a knee because it's just harder than you thought. There will be times on your mission. There are times in our lives where we all just want to take a knee because it's too hard. And I like how you said this Cooper, that to have your loins girt means to prepare for action. And when you're standing, you're prepared for action. When you're sitting, you're probably not ready to go. And so I think there's so much beauty in this idea of standing.

Tammy 1:20:07

So let's finish up the armor of God discussion; you guys did awesome. I am so impressed, you came so well-prepared. Easton, how cool that that was your thing, I just think that's really great. So Easton I'm gonna let you finish this discussion for us by reading verse 18 in Ephesians, chapter 6. After you put on the whole armor of God, finally, here's what Paul has to say to us.

Easton 1:20:29

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

Tammy 1:20:39

Thank you. So once you get that armor on. Look back at verse 18, you guys. What does Paul tell you to do?

Cooper 1:20:45

Pray always

Tammy 1:20:46

Boy. Yeah. I'm just curious to know, do either one of you have a personal experience with prayer that you'd be willing to share?

Easton 1:20:54

There is a particular time I remember on my mission. The first six months were hard for me, just because I was getting to know everything. But my companions were amazing. I loved them, I got along with them very well. But I remember like feeling real trials shortly after that. I remember I didn't really get along very well, with my companion, I was just praying for some way for it to be fixed. I didn't care how, I just wanted it to get better. And so transfers came and it did not get better. I got a different companion but there were more problems, we had more issues. And I just kept praying. And I realized that we're all people and God loves all His children. We all have our flaws, we all make mistakes.

Easton 1:21:52

And even though like I didn't necessarily get along the best with these guys, these Elders, I really did learn a lot from 'em. And I didn't I didn't have the wherewithall to really learn that until I wasn't with them anymore. And so I've since had an opportunity to talk to both of those guys that I really struggled with. That I realized like these, these are really good guys that I would be glad to call my friends for the rest of my life. And I think God just answers our prayers in ways that we don't think.

Easton 1:22:28

In the moment I thought that this is just going to be an unanswered prayer, that I'm never going to learn anything from these guys, it was just going to be a rough part of my mission. And I thought of this as just a trial period for me. But all it was, I learned so much more from them. And I think that's something that a lot of people probably struggle with all their mission, but it was an experience that really, really bettered me. So

Tammy 1:22:57

Thank you, Easton. You know, as you were sharing that story, what stood out to me was when you said that the Spirit or the answer to your prayer was, we're all people. And I thought, we're all flawed, like every one of us. And whatever capacity that we're serving in, whatever your calling is, if it's a missionary, if it's Relief Society President, if it's nursery leader, whatever our callings are, and we're working with each other, we're all just people, and God loves all of us. And I like how Paul ends Ephesians 6:24. The whole letter ends with this. "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."

Tammy 1:23:33

And I hope that I can use that verse as I approach people, Grace be with all them that love our Lord. I mean, who doesn't love Jesus? Everyone I know loves Jesus. And we're all people and we do it differently. And so I'm grateful for Paul's advice. And I'm grateful for your stories today. You guys were awesome. This was such a fun discussion. Thank you for coming prepared, and for having stories and experiences. And thank you for being vulnerable. You shared some things that were very personal. So you guys are awesome. I love you, BEST.

Easton 1:24:03

Love you too.

Elijah 1:24:04

Love you, too.

Cooper 1:24:05

Thanks. Yeah. Tam, sandwich.

Tammy 1:24:06

Tam Sandwich, as they like to call me. Okay, so do this. Gather your thoughts. what's your takeaway from our discussion today? Is there anything that stood out to you? Or a moment in our discussion where you're like, yeah. Or anything from your reading, and we'll just go Elijah, Easton, Cooper,

Elijah 1:24:20

All right, well. From preparing for this, for this podcast, and from actually sitting down and doing it, I think what just comes, this goes back for me is God has grace. Where we fail, He'll make up for it some. He can make up for a lot of it. And we know Paul, well he's talking about grace throughout the whole thing. And he said, bless any of those who do have grace. And I'm just so so so grateful for God's grace and for all the things, that He'll make up for me, because Heaven knows I need it.

Elijah 1:24:51

And I'm just so grateful for people in my life that have been sent to me through God's grace and for all the blessings and for all people. And I know that even though I'm gonna go do a very hard thing, and I'm not gonna see my friends or my family, and it's gonna absolutely suck some days, it's gonna be the worst thing ever. And then some days, it's gonna be the best thing. And then one week will be horrible, and then the next month will be great. And I'm just so grateful for God's challenges and for God's, the way He's able to bless us. And I'm just grateful for, yeah, I'm grateful for everything God has done for me in my life.

Tammy 1:25:25

Great takeaway. Thank you, Elijah. And you're right, it will be the hardest thing you ever did. And the greatest thing you ever did. Easton.

Easton 1:25:37

I think the biggest takeaway for me was honestly, like, especially just as Elijah was even talking, he talked about how a lot of people worry about how difficult it is sometimes to be a member. We have all these things we're supposed to do. And even like a missionary as well, you have all these rules you have to follow and things like that. But he as he said, that's not necessarily the important part. The important part is becoming more like Christ. And those are just like tools to help us get there.

Easton 1:26:08

I had it explained to me one time. I like to do a bunch of different like sports, I like skiing and mountain biking and all that. And so one thing someone told me on my mission was that all these rules and things are just tools for us. It's like, it's like a mountain bike, right? We're on a trail, and if we focus too much on the bike, we're not going to get anything done. Like we need, we just need to get on the bike, we need to use it, and we need to go down the trail, right? We don't need to worry too much about that. We just need to, we know that the bike works, we're just going to get on it and start riding. And so I think that's, that's so important in life is don't focus too much on the little things, just do what you know is right and get moving.

Tammy 1:26:49

Perfect. Easton, thank you. I like that, get moving. Cooper. ,

Cooper 1:26:55

We are, as we're doing this podcast I kind of realized how incredibly blessed we are, us three. We've had such easy lives, honestly. And we've been incredibly blessed with our family and all of our friends. And I think Elijah and I are about to get sucker punched in the face with this mission. It's gonna be real, really difficult, but I think it's gonna be the best thing that's ever happened to us. And I'm excited for something that's gonna be this challenging, because I know that I need it. And I've had such an easy life. And I'm so thankful for my family in my life and all my friends and, I don't know.

Tammy 1:27:28

Hear, hear. I agree. It's gonna be awesome. And no matter how hard it is, Paul's got your back. He's, he prayed for you long before you were born and you were foreordained to do this. You're predestined. And it's all about choice. You chose to do this. And so it's pretty cool.

Tammy 1:27:44

I loved this discussion. My takeaway was when I asked you guys, what are some things you had to do to get ready for a mission? I fully expected you to say things like, buy new pants, get some suits, you know. Like, and you did say get your wisdom teeth out, but you got real and raw, and you shared what you really had to do to get ready for your mission. And you fulfilled Ephesians 4:1 and 2, with lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering and forbearing one another in love. And that was a great discussion, so thank you for doing that. And then I'll always remember Elijah, "I'm excited to be grounded." I can't wait to hear that grounding goes, I'm so excited to read your emails. So, you guys are awesome. Thank you for doing this. You're the best. I can't wait to hear about your missions, and Mitchell. Hear, hear! for Mitchell. We love him.

Tammy 1:28:33

I love you guys. Thank you for being here.

Easton 1:28:35

Love you, Tam.

Cooper 1:28:36

Love you, too.

Elijah 1:28:36

Bye.

Tammy 1:28:39

Oh gosh, that was such a great discussion. Okay, of course, I want to know what you guys learned. So if you haven't already joined our discussion group on Facebook or Instagram, go do it. It's a great place to share what you're learning throughout the week or what strikes you from our discussion. And then at the end of the week, I post a question from our episodes, so comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your answer and thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday and go there anyway because it's we're going to have links to references as well as a transcript of this entire discussion and a glue in for this episode. So go check it out.

Tammy 1:29:13

The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me Tammy Uzelac Hall and today, our so fun and incredible study group participants were Elijah Beck, Cooper Sargent, and Easton Sargent. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me; it is edited by Cole Wissinger and recorded and mixed by Mix At Six Studios and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week.

Tammy 1:29:42

And please remember, You really Are God's Favorite.

Tammy 1:29:47

You could start your own podcast because don't compete with me. This is

Transcribed by https://otter.ai