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The

kindly light a myth in circling glue

lead thou me on the night is dark and I am far from home.

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. I'm your host John DeLin.

The date is again August 8th. This is my second interview for Monday August 8th, 2016. This is an ongoing Mormon Stories podcast series about serving a mission in the 2010s in the LDS church.

It's focusing at least initially on experiencing a faith crisis while in a mission, early mission return and those sort of issues, the use of technology and how the church's increased candor in the 2010s may or may not affect missionary service.

We've had two interviews so far and now I'm very excited for our third interview.

It's with a gentleman by the name of Mike Woodruff. Mike is joining us from South Jordan, Utah and just a bit about Mike to help you understand what you're about to listen to.

Mike served in the leads England mission for about three months in 2013, so about three years ago.

Some of the elements that are interesting about his story, number one is he was attracted to men prior to his mission. He knew that.

So we're going to talk about that and how that affected his decision to go on a mission and what it was like for him to be on a mission while attracted to men as a Mormon.

We're going to talk about some abuse he experienced at the hand of a companion on the mission, which led to some post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

On the mission, we're going to talk about how that may be contributed to a faith crisis that he had on his mission and his early return because he only served for three months on the mission.

So really heavy and kind of sensitive topics. So Mike, we're very grateful to have you joining us. Not just an audio, but also in video, which we'll share over YouTube.

So thanks for joining us, Mike. Of course. All right. So give us just a minute about your your church life before going on a mission.

Before going on your mission, I was your stereotypical Nazi Mormon. I was very judgmental of others and I was perfect and there no one could shake my faith in God.

And you know, I was your stereotypical Utah Mormon. I was bit greater than everyone else and my relationship with God made me greater than everyone else.

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