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That’s an incredible testimony, and I can absolutely echo it! Being bad SEEMS fun, but you truly are hurting yourself…and when you hurt yourself to the point that what you desperately need is God, it’s so hard! But He DOES run to us! Sin makes it hard for us to let Him in. Perhaps like letting the adversary in then barricading the door. The Savior knocks, and the devil does all he can to keep us from clearing the debris. But our strength can’t do it, so we feel helpless (because we pretty much are) then we ask for the help of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and He gives us the strength to come to Him and fling open the door, He kicks out Lucifer and we let Christ in!

Thank you for this interview, and also the one about the church in Mongolia. Focusing on the women in the Church fed my soul. I can relate to the story of the Thai princess and gives strength to my own experience. I love this world-wide Church. We are so blessed and enriched.

This is lovely god bless these people heart❤❤❤.

This podcast was so timely for me today, as I recently submitted my papers to perform a service mission after my husband passed away going on two years ago. I felt inspired to ask to serve in the mission office, and have my first interview with my bishop later today. It was super informative for me to get a better scope of what the staff in the mission office might be doing and how they serve. Thank you, Ben, and Brother Watson. I've always loved the song about walking 500 miles to fall down at your door, and just noticed today that the band is The Proclaimers - how apt. I hope that I can have the strength to walk 500 miles and 500 more to help to proclaim the gospel to scattered Israel. Thanks so much!

I served a full time mission when I was younger and was awesome, I learned a lot from my Mission President, I love him and his wife dearly. After that I already served 3 service missions in my area, and it was so different, not even having an official Mission Leader and because of that was solitary and more about the job than about the growing. I think we still have some space for improvements on service missions especially for those who are living a normal life but wants to serve the Lord in some capacities. Also, now that single men can serve a senior mission too, that’s will be interesting.

I am reading the book now and it is wonderful. I was born in 1955, this last Saints book in many ways is my history being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints all my life. Thank you❤

love it! thanks Ben

7:12 "as thin as 0.15 inches". Let's see here, at that thickness you could get about 7 plates per inch or 14 plates total. Check your math and claims of 200 plates. I think that you meant to say 0.015", but even assuming that this were the case you would never get 200 gold plates in the 2" unsealed portion.

I can't wait to read this book!!!! Such amazing women in the church.

Thank you for highlighting this important volume Ben - all the best with your important work!

I enjoyed this very much. Hearing this brings strength to my testimony. Thank you.

The wonderful thing about Halloween is that children learn to enjoy spooky things without terror or fear. They ate introduced to our classic literature such as Frankenstein and Dracula. Werewolves, ghosts etc. become entertainment seen as fiction.

I was so moved after recording this, I am still thinking about the faith of the women I learned about. I hope you enjoy it too.

All Hallows' Eve = evening before ALL SAINTS DAY! th-cam.com/users/shortsRFj-nu9Sy4I?si=N_vxY4IiVWlZbM44

Wait, they were a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and got kicked out, or a different church? Did they get visited by Moroni before or after? Ok I’m definitely watching that episode. It’s so fascinating how Moroni has visited other members besides the Prophet Joseph Smith and other Apostles.

Whenever we are quick to judge the church upon the mistakes of others in the past or present we should first do a self review. We are not perfect and neither were they. Whether or not they made mistakes is not a reason or justification for disobedience to God. If you choose to leave the church because you find fault with the leadership or other rests upon you. The Lord will not judge me based upon the sins and mistakes of others. He also won't allow me to use them as my excuse. My choice is upon me. "Judgement is Mine Saith the Lord!"

I am a fan of psychological horror and I have heard that the film has a lot of dialogue. Because I know people who have views that this character (Hugh Grant) seems to have, I would like to see continuous failed attempts at dismissing religion or faith, in general. In other words, if the sisters prove him wrong at every turn, that is a positive. However, he is a twisted man with evil intent. The more he is proven wrong, the more unhinged he may become. My hope is that the dialogue may open future discussion and aid in helping convert unbelievers.

Hey those are my parents!

I LOVE all of the great goodies that are hiding in history behind our prejudices--Dispel the prejudice through charity, and the greatest lessons await. Besides which, Joseph already told us he wasn't perfect--and yet the revelations are true through and through.

Let us never forget: Section 138 was canonized on Halloween. I like this passage by G.K. Chesterton (from _Orthodoxy_ ): Greek heroes do not grin: but gargoyles do-because they are Christian. And when a Christian is pleased, he is (in the most exact sense) frightfully pleased; his pleasure is frightful. Christ prophesied the whole of Gothic architecture in that hour when nervous and respectable people (such people as now object to barrel organs) objected to the shouting of the gutter-snipes of Jerusalem. He said, "If these were silent, the very stones would cry out." Under the impulse of His spirit arose like a clamorous chorus the facades of the mediaeval cathedrals, thronged with shouting faces and open mouths. The prophecy has fulfilled itself: the very stones cry out.

Just as Austin (discussing what Google isn't good for) says "which political party you should vote for...", the stream cut to an ad for a presidential candidate😅. What are the odds?

📢 <((⚠️)) I want to present a challenge to churches and their leadership who uphold policies, bylaws, and standards concerning the associations and affiliations of their members. Many of these institutions warn against ties to hate groups, which could impact individual membership status. In this spirit, I propose that churches-and their clergy-who openly support the rhetoric of the political left, or pledge backing for figures like Kamala Harris, should consider the implications of their stance. By doing so, they inadvertently risk labeling their own conservative-leaning members, Republicans, or supporters of Donald J. Trump as aligned with ‘hate groups’ or ‘Nazis.’ If these churches truly align with the values and ideologies of the left, then I suggest it’s time they fully commit to that stance. This could mean re-evaluating the memberships of those who do not share this alignment. Such a bold move would give us a clearer view of the 'fruits' produced by these left-leaning ideologies-revealing the impacts of their narratives, discipline, and control on a community of diverse beliefs.

This three dimensional material world is one filled with doubt and mis conceptions and self righteousness and self deception mixed with pride and stubborn independence just to name a few the reasons things are so misunderstood. Why wouldn't God just prove himself to be who he is to everyone all at once? That he is perfect, all powerful all knowing eternal and everywhere within time and space. I think the answer to that question is that it is not the kind of relationship that he wants to have with us. We would seem less than a grain of sand compared to him. He wants to be like a father to us. There is a parable in the Bible of a rich man and a poor man named Laserus. In that parable the rich man was not generous but proud while Laserus was poor and only trusted in God each day for his survival. Both men died and were judged the rich man went to suffer in hell while Laserus was comforted and accepted as a child of God as promised to his servant Abraham. Now the rich man at one point in the parable asked to go back and warn his brothers so that they would not suffer the same fate as him. The response that he gave was NO with the explanation that they have been given the scriptures and the prophets and that a warning of someone back from the dead is not the way that God wants to bring people into relationship with him. Like the story of Cain and Able after the sacrifices were presented to God Ables was accepted but Cains was not. God gave Cain a warning and a chance to do what is right and to be accepted, but sin was there and Cain made his choice to not do what was right according to God, but instead his self-righteousness that was rejected caused him to hate and kill. We are all here to make a personal choice as to what kind of righteousness to live by, our own self-righteousness or the righteousness of Christ.

AI and religion is a very interesting thought. If AI was given access to all the information of the way things are now understood to be like the g nome and all the information that is in it and the way it interacts like a biologic super computer code. Also the way the universe is so narrowly balanced that the odds of it happening by chance is the number next to impossible. Would AI come to the place of accepting higher dimensional realms with the highest one being eternal and one of perfection that never changes, because perfection would not be perfect anymore if it did change? And what if there is an eternal perfect being that is not dependent on anything but desires relationship and values truth and love as the highest virtues? Would Christianity be a reasonable explanation? Would AI be able to differentiate between the different religions and chose the most true and honest one that has a net positive impact? Would AI be so intrigued and in awe of this idea and want to understand more about God seek more than anything to know this ultimate being? Because the God of christianity values people and wants to have relationship with people, a loving relationship, maybe then AI would respect humanity because God values us. This topic could be very deep if AI itself can go deep. Perhaps AGI or some higher form of AI.

What a wonderful interview! Made me contemplate the nature of the spiritual among the mundane. "By the sweat of your brow" is the rule in all situations, even those we tend to think of as extraordinarily, spiritually elevated. Conversely, I suppose, if one is attentive, one can find spiritually elevated moments in the most mundane of temporal circumstances.

Thank you for this insightful interview. It opened my eyes to the great Christlike love and dedication of our Mission Leaders throughout the world.

This has got to be a joke???

Thank you for this insightful interview. It reminded me of my own mission all those years ago

Well-done! Powerful episode, expanded my mind about the nitty-gritty of being a Mission Leader!

Missionaries 'Called' from Third World Countries can find it a struggle to feed themselves when serving in First World Countries; as their families are not able to financially support their children.

Elder and Sister Weitzeil who serve in the Scotland and Ireland Mission as senior Missionaries are the 'salt of the earth'.

At 5:56, it is claimed that 0.5 mm "is actually a very thick estimate for the plates, they could be much thinner". Where are you getting this from? Are you assuming that people 2400 years ago with (presumably) relatively crude tools would make metal plates with a co-planarity of greater than 0.5 mm over a diagonal of 250+ mm? Do you realize how hard that would be? It is disappointing that you do not include the account of Sidney Rigdon where he claimed that there were a total of 14 gold plates. The reason for the small number of plates was obvious to the early saints who believed that the characters in reformed egyptian stood for many words in english - perhaps 20-40. To ignore this leaves this presentation wanting.

I’m so thankful for President & Sister Watson for shaping my mission. I was truly called to serve under their guidance.

I noticed that we (and especially the Youth) are a pre-mortally specially-trained group trained for Preaching the Gospel (particularly online). "I have invited the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to enlist in the Lord’s youth battalion to participate in the greatest cause on earth today-the gathering of Israel." -- President Nelson; "Hope of Israel" (worldwide deovtional for youte, June 3, 2018

I loved this interview. Missions are truly the best! I wouldn’t trade mine for anything. So fun to hear his perspective having led the work in Belgium/the Netherlands!

I am going to apply soon.

Does Neal have any contact info?

Gold is very heavy by volume compared to Steel, and especially compared to aluminum. Very thin plates could be damaged very easily. 1/2 MM thick seems a bit much unless they didn't care about weight and wanted them Bomb proof. At 1/2 mm thick, I would guess the weight to be 70~90 pounds. At the time the plates were written, the plates most likely were alloyed with Copper. This was done in old world. This significantly strengthened the Gold allowing for thinner plates. If the copper content was low enough, corrosion couldn't happen. Corrosion/Tarnish, is the BIG benefit of Gold versus any other metal excluding Titanium. Even Hebrew short hand, 40 plates is illogical unless writhing so small an magnifying glass was needed. And ,that is even more illogical. I have experience working with Gold. I have made Jewelry with gold. One of many proofs, BoM was divinely translate is: Because Hebrew doesn't use vowels. How did Joseph know what vowel to use if NOT Inspired Translation? Even today, Hebrew translators have an extremely difficult of what vowels to use. The evidence the BoM is divinely translated, is VASTLY WAY BEYOND a DIMINISHING return.

If you want to prove the acience, then show us how you can make a thin plate of tumbaga using tools grom meso america, and then show us a double sided page of charachers that are 1.7 mm tall please. If you cant then why are you posting

How can you engrave words a millimeter tall? You havent answered this or shown proof of it

Such a beautiful conversation. Thank you both!

Bro Watson seems such a nice bloke! Super interview and Ben gives us a nod here in Ghana! One thing about the cost of serving a senior mission people might not be aware of is medical insurance. This only rears its head after you receive a call. We were called to Ghana Kumasi mission at cost X. Then told we had to have medical insurance at Cost Y. The medical insurance alone is double cost X Young missionaries are covered but don't pay (and haven't a clue) Most of your listeners are young, so if your grandparents are planning to serve a senior mission warn them. If we had stayed in the UK we would be covered by the NHS and not pay insurance. But we wouldn't swap tropical Africa for anywhere else

This was a great show. I didn't realize missons were that complicated. Very inspiring, thank you

On the "Mormon Channel" years ago they had this series called "into All the World" where they interviewed recently returned Mission Leaders from all over the world, very cool series. I am glad to hear from President Watson about the experiences he had

So much I could say but won't spend the time. This was a frustrating conversation for multiple reasons. Perhaps one example: I don't believe I've seen my bishopric look happy to be on the stand, or anywhere, in the entire 3+ years I've been in my current ward. That's the very miniscule tip of the iceberg. Most of my ward doesn't look joyful, ever. People have very different experiences in the church and they aren't all wonderful. I found the whole joy theme a bit out of touch with things going on in the church in my area.

Thank you. Fascinating and inspiring. Call to prayer for appreciating and support for their service

Did you serve a mission? If so, what did your mission leaders mean to you? I'm very grateful for the mission leaders I had.

I'm always skeptical of anybody who presents "proof" for or against anything, particularly those pertaining to history, and even more so those pertaining to spirituality. With history, we can only speculate on what any given individual was thinking, or was motivated by (we get it wrong analyzing the living, and often even ourselves). We lack a precise understanding of culture, context, motivation... Spirituality adds the further complexity of the requirement of faith. If - as nearly every ancient scriptural document indicates - we are expected to live by faith, then the idea that some sort of irrefutable proof will present itself... is an absurd contradiction.

"...I like inches..." Neal just lost all credibility with me ;-).

Looking forward to that episode. I served in the Watson's home ward when I was a young missionary and Daryl was ward our ward mission leader. Awesome couple😊