Lds Missioncast

Ben Arkell (Guest - Left) and Nick Galieti (host - right) Hello and greetings from Cartagena, Colombia in South America. This episodes guest is Ben Arkell. He runs a few different  LDS and Missionary-based Facebook groups, including the Preach My Gospel Facebook group, and web properties like Mormon Light. He talks about how he is accounting for a dry wall installer for his day job, but how he has been able to use internet technology to spread the gospel throughout the world.  He also has some really fun stories about his own mission to Panama, something about poop eating fish (yeah, you read right). Click here to visit the Mormon Light YouTube Channel. Before I move on, I want to point out something that some of you might be missing. On our website, LDSMissionCast.com is a blog where we have letters sent in from missionaries who appeared as guests on our podcast before leaving for the missions, and are now serving missions. If you haven’t subscribed to our blog, you can do that and get the latest news from

James Goldberg (guest-left) and Nick Galieti (host-right) Have you ever wanted to know the history of the country where you have been called to serve? This weeks episode features James Goldberg here to talk about a cool new project he is working on with the Church History Department; something that can be a fun tool for those preparing or those that have come back from missions. He also shares some of his experiences serving a mission in what used to be East Germany, and teaching people who over came the religious persecutions that were in place under communist rule. He has some really fun information to share.  After that we have Kori Andrews as our guest in our Latter-day Lives segment with Shawn Rapier. For those of you that don’t listen yet to the Latter-day Lives podcast, repent! Shawn just released his 52nd episode to mark his one year mark for the Latter-day Lives podcast. His guest on that episode was Kori Andrews which some of you might know as the founder of Hi-Five Live on Facebook. Click here to

Geoffrey Allen (via FaceTime) This week's episode is a listener generated story that involves a convert, an MTC Missionary from the Mormon.org referral center, a ministering Stake President, and so much more. This episode shows the perpetual motion that missionary work can have throughout the world. I received this email from recent convert, Geoffrey Allen, that reads: "I listened to your most recent podcast with Sister Bringhurst and loved it. At one point I thought I was going to get a good story about the MTC missionaries, but she didn't have one. I'd love to hear one, as the MTC missionaries from mormon.org played a vital role in my conversion 188 days ago. I'm still in contact with that missionary, now returned. I have an odd story that I believe is a testament to Heavenly Father's Divine Guidance and includes both MTC and field missionaries. I probably make it much longer than it needs to be, but I believe the MTC missionary who helped bring me to conversion has an exceptional story to tell that i

Shawn Rapier and Daren Smith This weeks episode is a joint effort with our friend Shawn Rapier from the Latter-day Lives podcast. We both interview Daren Smith, a tv and film producer, a fellow sound guy (like me) and the creator of a unique way missionaries can approach their personal study of the Book Of Mormon (can you say Daily Mormon Email?). In our interview you will learn about Daren’s missionary service, as well as some of the spirit of missionary work that was part of his producing efforts on the BYUTv show - Relative Race. We also talk about his mission experiences in Washington DC, and so much more. I want to also encourage you to go to Latterdaylives.com and listen to Shawn’s interview with Daren. Each and every Monday Shawn starts your week off with great uplifting life sketches of these wonderful people who do amazing things and who happen to be members of the church. It’s like Meet the Mormons in podcast form. Daren tells some different experiences from his life that can also help to serve an

Welcome to the LDS MissionCast a podcast to educate and inspire in the great cause of Missionary Work. Returning Home From a Full Time Mission Jason (left) and Julienne (right) Bringhurst - A father and daughter pair of return missionaries and guests for this episode of LDS MissionCast Missionaries go out on missions and they come home from missions. In a previous episode of the LDS MissionCast, we interviewed Kathleen Sheffield and talked about this idea of reacculturation of missionaries after coming home. Today we have our first recently returned missionary in Julienne Bringhurst. She served a mission in Omaha, Nebraska and, at the time of our interview, she had only been home for 4 weeks. As anyone who has served can tell you, 4 weeks is still in that time frame where adjusting to non-fulltime proselyting is a challenge. Julienne shares some of her favorite mission stories, as well as some of the challenges that she has faced in that reacculturation process. We also have her father Jason Bringhurst who s

Ben Spackman (left-guest) and host Nick Galieti (right) discuss using the Bible as missionaries. Welcome to the LDS MissionCast a podcast to educate and inspire in the great cause of Missionary Work. This episode is hosted by Nick Galieti. Ben Spackman is an interesting type of scholar. He spent some time teaching at BYU, but has since continued his formal education towards his PH.d. His educational background is so varied that I am not sure there is anyone who has repeated his same course of study. As a result I find his insights to be good food for thought. His area of expertise deals a lot with ancient scripture. Sometimes we don’t spend much time as missionaries considering the role of ancient scripture in our lives, but we don’t always know what the Bible means or how the Bible is used in other faith traditions. I am sure we can all admit that there are good and bad ways to use the Bible in missionary work. Ben Spackman helps us to not only help us learn how to use the Bible better in our own lives, bu

David Geens Back on the 22nd of May, 2018, I received an email from David Geens, a listener to the podcast in Belgium. He told me a little bit about his experience in coming into the church, and how an early calling as branch mission leader in his branch in Belgium prompted him to start using social media to generate referrals for the missionaries in his mission. His successes with his approach brought on the attention of the mission president, and then on to the Area Presidency in Europe. Today, some 7 years since being baptized, Brother Geens has a calling coordinating digital missionary work for his part of the Lord’s Vineyard producing literally thousands of referrals for the missionaries each year. Click here to listen to David's Mormon Podcast (hint: Its in Dutch, so brush up to get the full effect.) In this episode he tells us his compelling conversion story, some of his experiences in the church in a small branch, and how we can follow his footsteps in generating thousands of referrals for the missi

Chelsea Woodruff, President of B'Nai Shalom - www.mormonsandjews.org Welcome to the LDS MissionCast a podcast to educate and inspire in the great cause of Missionary Work. In a previous episode, episode #2 of the podcast, we had on Dr. Daniel Peterson to talk about things missionaries and members should know about Islam. A good part of missionary work is meeting and building a relationship with individuals of other faiths. Today’s interview will be with Chelsea Woodruff, who is President of an organization called B’Nai Shalom, that can be found and the website mormonsandjews.org. This group was founded as a fellowshipping organization for those individuals who came into the church from a Jewish background. She helps us to learn some wonderful things about the faith traditions and teachings that have informed LDS Theology, as well as helping to correct some teachings or statements that have been perpetuated that can be hurtful to believe, let alone share with others. B'Nai Shalom on YouTube B'Nai Shalom on

Jacob Pinkston - Episod 18 guest (LDS MissionCast) This episode is about Early Return Missionaries (ERM's), through the story of Jacob Pinkston. Jacob's story, in some ways is also a story shared by a number of missionaries who struggle with mental and emotional health issues prior to mission service, as well as navigating the expectations many feel with regards to serving a full 18 or 24 months in a proselyting mission. This is a longer interview, but we share it because it is an important story about the landscape that so many have to navigate in preparing to serve a mission. The music for this episode comes from Jordan James, our guest Jacob’s, younger brother. You can find his music and his videos on Facebook. Next episode we will an interview with a little known group you have probably never heard of--B’nai Shalom. This is a group is is a resource for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or those even investigating the church, that come from a jewish ancestry, or from one of the

Russell Stevenson - Author of "For The Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013 Welcome to the LDS MissionCast a podcast to educate and inspire in the great cause of Missionary Work. This episode is all about Race and the Mormon Church. Some of the episodes of the LDS MissionCast feature content for those preparing to serve a full-time mission, some episodes are directed towards those that have returned home, or are wanting to be more inspired in member-missionary work. Episodes like this one are unique in that we occasionally need to take the time to learn the gospel, to learn our history better, so that we can better members of the church, better ministers to those around us. On June 1st, 2018 there will be a celebration in the conference center in Salt Lake City, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1978 revelation on the Priesthood, or Official Declaration #2. This could rightly be called the restoration of the opportunity for priesthood ordination to all worthy ma

The LDS MissionCast is a podcast to educate and inspire members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the great cause of Missionary Work. This episode is all about Preparing to Serve a mission. In this episode of the LDS MissionCast, we interview two soon-to-be Sister Missionaries, Rae Eckton and lifelong friend, Iris Wright. Host Nick Galieti talks with them about their mission calls and how they are preparing to serve. Nick also gives them a chance to ask their own questions and get some advice on how to get the most out of their time in the MTC and in the mission field. After their interview we have a short video chat with two of the artists and editors, Mike Laughead, and Eric Jepson, for a new comic book that is coming out about missionary work, entitled "Served: A Missionary Comics Anthology." This book is a pretty fun and missionary-centric project we want to share, and help you to take part in offering support. To help with the KickStarter campaign for "Served: A Missionary Comics Ant

Nick Galieti (host-left), and Shawn Rapier (guest-right) This episode is all about "comedy" or “humor.” Shawn Rapier, regular contributor to our podcast where he interviews people to talk about their missions, and he also hosts the Latter-day Lives podcast. But some of our regular listeners may not know much about him, including the fact that he is a stand up comedian. Shawn and host Nick Galieti have become good friends over the last few months as you might see from this episode because today’s interview is really more of a conversation amongst friends, talking about our missions, but more specifically about how humor can play a role in sharing the gospel, in helping people to resolve concerns, but also times and places where humor is inappropriate. Missionary stories can be funny. There are all sorts of stories from missionary work that are hilarious. In fact, the funny parts of missionary work are part of what makes serving a mission so rewarding. But, there aren’t clear ways that we are taught or instru

Nick Sales, LDS Musician and Influencer This episode is all about being an “mormon influencer.” An influencer is a term that advertising and public relations professionals use to describe people that have a certain influence over the public, be it an audience from their social media activity, youtube videos, or the occasional podcaster. There is a growing pool of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are being missionaries, or being ambassadors of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by being an influencer. On today’s episode we have two interviews back to back with some of the young return-missionaries that are influencers, and having a positive impact on the world through their music and youtube videos. First, Kelsey Edwards and I interview Nick Sales. He is a video producer, musician and influencer that will introduce this idea of being a missionary in today’s modern internet world using social media in missionary work. Nadia Khristean - LDS Musician and Influencer. "Music for a cause"

Kelsey Edwards (Left), Anthony Sweat (Center), Nick Galieti (right) Welcome to the LDS MissionCast, this is your host Nick Galieti. On this episode Kelsey Edwards and I sit down with BYU scholar and professor, Anthony Sweat who wrote a book called The Holy Invitation, published by Deseret Book. This is book and this interview are focused on those going to the temple for the first time prior to their mission, or even those that have gone but are looking to get more out of the experience. This is a great opportunity for missionaries preparing to leave, those on a mission, or even those that are coming home from a mission and looking to get more from their temple experience. Anthony Sweat has some great insights to share on this subject. After the interview we are going to take a week off of our Latter-day Lives segments to give you some further commentary on the subject of the temple. This week we are showcasing the music of Sara Lyn Baril. Her music can be found at http://saralynbaril.com Her music is defin

Dusty Smith (right) with "pen pal" Elder L. Tom Perry (left) Welcome to the LDS MissionCast. To those of you who are new listeners to our show, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoy what this podcast has to offer as education and inspiration for missionary work in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each week we try to bring you interviews that can help you to be a better missionary, or to help you feel inspired in missionary work. This week features an interview with Dusty Smith. While that may not be a name you immediately recognize, this is a story you won’t want to miss. This story is filled with the hand of God, and is an amazing, extraordinary example of how simple acts of missionary work can have a profound impact on literally hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. Each Thursday we are also privileged to have Shawn Rapier from the always entertaining, Latter- Shawn Rapier (left) host of Latter-day Lives Podcast, Ryan Snarr (right) guest for the Latter-day Lives segme

Welcome to the episode 11 of the LDS MissionCast. Our special guest on this episode is cartoonist and illustrator, Brittany Long Olsen. She has a really cool book out called Dendo: One Year and One Half in Tokyo. This book is actually her mission journal that she kept in graphic or comic book form. Not only is it an interesting way to keep a journal but it captures the mission experience in a way that is refreshing and real. To win an autographed copy of Dendo, find the posting for this episode on Facebook (click here) and share this post on your facebook page. We will choose a winner from the people who share this episode on Facebook and make sure the LDS MissionCast page is connected to your post or we won't see it. Good luck! In our Latter-day Lives segment we have some mission stories from improv comedians, Ken and Katie Craig, who share a story from their son who is currently serving a mission in Brazil. There is both a funny story and an inspirational one as well. Listen to their full interview on th

This is our Trek: The Movie episode, where we feature interviews with Alan Peterson the Director and Producer of this upcoming movie being released by Deseret Book and Excel Entertainment. We also have an interview with David Howard the screen writer and Austin Grant, the lead actor and Stefania Barr lead actress from the film. This is a great family film that is the latest from the constantly growing genre of mormon cinema. Some of you might ask, “What does Trek: The Movie have to do with missionary work?" Watch the movie and listen to the podcast and you will see. We have some great mission stories and we hope to show you how film projects like this have be a platform for re-activiation efforts, or to help minister to the youth—our future missionaries. Music for this episode comes from the soundtrack of Trek The Movie and our special guest Stefania Barr's band, Shrink the Giant. The whole soundtrack features local bands from Utah which is a really cool addition to this independent film. I was at the premi

Resiliency is a trending concept in Mental Health circles and is talked about as the quality of an individual to "bounce back" from the trials and challenges, and to endure traumas. Missionaries encounter a number of factors that can impact their ability to be resilient to the many challenge that they face over the course of their missionary service. In this episode we interview therapist, Brian Murdock. Brian Murdock is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. He received an Associate of Science from Utah Valley University, A Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology at Weber State University and a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Phoenix. He is a member of EMDRIA, and Certified Therapist in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) In our Latter-day Lives Segment, Shawn Rapier interviews comedian, Josh Fonokalafi who tells a hilarious story about a unique teaching experience as a ward missionary that involves...aliens?!? For the full interview on the Latter-day Lives po

BYU professor of church history Casey Paul Griffiths discusses the 100 most important events in Latter-day Saint history at his Education Week class. Welcome to the episode 8 of the LDS MissionCast. This is Nick Galieti, and on this episode I interview Casey Griffiths a professor from BYU, and one of the contributing authors to the book, What You Don't Know about the 100 Most Important Events in Church History. We discuss the importance of knowing the history of the church and how our unique history can be used as a proselyting tool. After that interview we have another segment from Shawn Rapier from the Latter-day Lives podcast. Shawn interviews a hilarious comedian, Steve Soelberg, who tells a funny story from his mission when he was…shall we say, caught in an awkward moment. Music for this episode comes from Anne Britt. You can find her beautiful piano arrangements and this music on her site, http://annebrittmusic.com.   Make sure to check out the full interview with Steve Soelberg on Shawn’s podcas

Kathleen  Sheffield has been a dance instructor at BYU since 1985. During her time at BYU she has had the opportunity to observe thousands of missionaries go and come home from serving a mission. She has studied the reacculturation that takes place after a missionary serves their time as a missionary. She is now taking that study towards earning her doctorate. We interview her about her research thus far and discuss some of the interesting challenges that missionaries face in being reacculturated back into their home life. To participate in Kathleen's survey (which you should do if you are a return missionary), take five minutes to fill out this short survey (click here). The survey ends March 22nd 2018. Shawn Rapier also interviews author of the book, The Fattest Mormon, Tyson Abaroa, about a special experience he had on his mission while serving in Santiago Chile. Click here to listen to the full interview at the Latter-day Lives podcast.