778: Losing the Lamanites - Gabriel Misla (Puerto Rico) Pt. 2

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2017

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Continuing our series on “Losing the Lamanites,” we interview Gabriel Misla who originated from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. We cover:

Gabriel’s experience joining the Church as a young man in the island territory and his eventual immigration to the mainland US
His mission service to the Dominican Republic, and the cultural nuances between the two islands that heightened his sensitivity to how race is viewed in the LDS Church
How he came to terms with his sexuality and his experience as a gay Latter-day Saint, including spending time in Evergreen
His reminiscence of elation of being from the tribe of Ephraim in his patriarchal blessing because it meant he was more like his white Utah missionary companions—and now his regret over how his thinking was influenced by the Church’s views on race
His thoughts and feelings over the Book of Mormon’s still accepted views on Lamanites and race, and what he feels the Church should do
His vision and plans for the future as a post-Mormon still living in Utah

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Mormon Stories is a production of the Open Stories Foundation and relies solely upon the support of people like you, its listeners.
0:09.0	To help keep the podcast alive or to become a member of the community, please become a monthly subscriber by visiting MormonStories.org and clicking the Donate button on the top right side of the page.
0:21.0	All contributions to Mormon Stories are completely tax deductible and go towards producing the podcast and building communities and programs of support for Mormons like you.
0:30.0	Thanks for your support.
0:32.0	All right, so you decide you need to go to Utah, God be out. Yes, you need to go to Si'on as they would say, right?
0:49.0	You need to come here so that you can do the temple and meet the members and be in support of the world so that you don't lose your faith and you don't go away because it's what happens to most people in Puerto Rico, anyway.
1:07.0	So yeah, I came over here, I was like 21-22 when I came over here.
1:14.0	Now, is that easy to come over or was it hard? No, I mean, Puerto Rico is part of the United States, so we're American citizens.
1:23.0	Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1917.
1:26.0	I'm embarrassed that I didn't realize that, but I didn't realize that so I'm glad we learned it.
1:31.0	Yes, that's a hard thing for me too, because a lot of people I always have to explain that, that we're born citizens of the United States.
1:39.0	And most people minds were not, you know, we're just Puerto Ricans and we're just the same as Hawaii, we're just citizens of a different nation.
1:49.0	I think we don't understand the difference between statehood and territoriality or whatever.
1:54.0	Well, territory just like Utah was a territory before I began a state, that's our situation right now.
2:02.0	You're citizen, but you can't vote basically. Exactly, exactly. I can vote in Utah because then I become a resident of the state of Utah.
2:09.0	Oh, okay.
2:10.0	And it's the same if somebody from born in the United States and they move to Puerto Rico, he becomes a resident of the state of Puerto Rico.
2:16.0	So voila, he can't vote for press anymore. So it's interesting.
2:20.0	It's a weird thing.
2:22.0	And then Puerto Rico pays taxes. You still pay taxes to the U.S.
2:26.0	Taxes only. We don't pay federal tax.
2:28.0	Okay. Okay. That's good. And then there's always, there's always talk of Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state, right?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. John Dehlin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. John Dehlin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.