After experimenting with partying, Chris shares his story of gaining a testimony on his mission

[@44julz44]

Because of your podcasts I went back to Church today. It was wonderful! I met my Missionaries and I told one of them I started watching the Come Back Podcast and my testimony has grown so much. She said she has watched your podcasts too. I just wanted to say thank you so much and to share my day. ❤

[@71greatdane]

@Jules that is so amazing and wonderful! Welcome back! This podcast truly brings people back and it makes me so happy! Welcome back!

[@aaroniusmaximus1129]

I have a spiritual barometer that I use for gauging how I am doing spiritually. I ask myself if I can remember the last time I undeniably felt the Holy Ghost speak to me in my heart or my mind. Because I have a horrible memory and because spiritual experiences have a relatively short shelf life, I know I have to take advantage of the experiences I do have. So a few years ago, I felt the impression to start a spiritual journal, really just a log where I could record simple, concise statements that describe every time I feel the Spirit communicate with me. I simply record what I was doing at the time and what the Spirit to!d me or made me feel I did it for 30 days the first time but I have added to it many times since then, especially recently. One thing I have learned from this exercise over the years is that I am shocked at how often the Spirit wants to speak to us. Also, I have better learned to recognize the ways the Spirit speaks to me personally. And the main thing I have learned is that nearly every spiritual experience I have had over the last 7 or so years (and there have been many dozens or even hundreds) has been associated with prayer, scripture study, or listening to or watching gospel-focused media such as conference talks and music. While my log isn't 100% comprehensive, it does give me a good idea of how I'm doing spiritually at any given moment and it has also taught me the types of activities I need to be doing more regularly, especially when I start to feel myself backslide a little.

[@whitneylin4297]

Loved this episode! I loved his experience learning that the Book of Mormon truly is of God, and hearing about the fruits of his experience listening to the Book of Mormon recently. I’m going to start listening to the Book of Mormon more often, that’s a great idea.

[@JaneHallstrom1]

Wow, the hounds of hell - those spiritual demons of fear and doubt - were chasing your sly (shoplifting 😉) foxy self right out of the MTC and you didn’t even know that you had the most precious possession within your grasp till you took a moment away from the chase to rest and you were gifted that dream! What an awesome dream. Thanks for sharing! And it was prophetic about what you faced on your actual mission too! ❤

[@MsEva9470]

Thank you Chris for your testimony 😊

[@jimnelson4391]

Chris says, "Interrupt me all you want and ask me questions." Ashly tries to ask questions and Chris talks over and interrupts Ashly's questions. Ashly couldn't get her first question in until after 30 minutes of this interview. It was hard listening to Chris. A lot of passion, but he was more interested in sharing his story and less talking about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. Chris mentioned the atonement one time but didn't really talk about what it is or what it meant for him. Chris mentioned Joseph Smith twice but never shared his testimony on the restoration of the church, the priesthood, etc. Ashly you did amazing in your interview as you do in all of your interviews, but I would encourage you to ask more questions in digging a little more into what matters to most of us and that is what pulls on the strings of our hearts more. Just an idea, perhaps you can ask those whom you interview, "What is your relationship with Jesus Christ and the church now? How has the priesthood blessed you today, or how have you used the priesthood to bless the lives of others today?" ...just some suggestions, but it is your podcast. I love what you are doing, and I enjoy hearing others come back experiences--Keep it up, and God Bless!

[@shantel4960]

❤

[@mother2midwife]

Wow! "The BOM is either from God or Satan." Yes. I Love this statement that we can turn into a question. Awesome.

[@josephbradshaw7584]

I don't want to sound negative, but just because you serve a mission doesn't mean it will be a good experience. My mission was honestly like hell on steroids, and I wouldn't wish what I went through on my worst enemy, but I seriously wonder sometimes if I would've been better off not serving one. I know some people have a really good experience on their missions, but it can also be a really traumatizing and negative experience for others, but it's something that I still have a hard time coming to terms with, especially when it's so ingrained in the church and our culture.

[@trishachristensen7667]

I am sorry that you had such a difficult mission . Before I went on my mission I had asked melter if it would be easy to serve a mission and I was told now so therefore expected it to be hard however it was the hardest thing before I got married spiritually at least but. I have grown at 10 since my mission and know so many more things and I do on my mission I'm surprised that any of his last on her missions because of how naive we are on so many different levels. I have had a few crappy things have happened to me since my mission but it is this church that his saved my spiritual life and has kept me active.

[@Zeett09]

I’m not Christian but my wife was LDS. I think a lot of mainstream Christians view the LDS with a skeptical eye due to the added scripture. The other things like Word of Wisdom aren’t that big of deal. My Jehovah’s Witness family does not speak very well about the LDS faith due to the Book of Mormon being a companion book to the Bible. Bickering between various faiths drives me crazy.

[@thekolobsociety]

I wonder why Christians believe the Bible is the only scripture, or how they justify it being scripture in the first place.

[@Zeett09]

@@thekolobsociety great question. I have no idea.

[@trishachristensen7667]

Well I'm sorry that you have to deal with that that would be a very challenging. I thought that Jehovah witnesses kind of picked and chose what they believed out of the Bible am I incorrect on that? From what I understand about the Bible there's at least 20 something books that are left out of the Bible. I am very curious about those books. It will be a fun time to read those

[@Zeett09]

@@trishachristensen7667 my understanding is that part of the deal with Restorationist faiths like LDS, JW, and SDA is that they have to “restore” the Bible due to the translation errors and interpretation errors. So JW have done that. They have their version of the Bible. So do the SDA, and LDS have the JST.