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Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Episode 434: Mason Dimond (Early Release Missionary) and Luke Davenport (Service Missionary)

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8839 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2021

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Our good family friends Mason Dimond and Luke Davenport join us to share their stories. Luke updates us on his service mission that ends in late July—thank you for your service Elder Davenport! Please listen to Episode 228 for more of Luke’s story. Mason, in one of the bravest moments on our podcast, shares what led him to come home from his mission after 5 weeks. Mason, who left for his mission in July 2019, talks about being at the Mexico MTC and his emotional health deteriorating to a very unsustainable place. Mason, with no history of mental health issues, found himself in uncharted waters and bravely did what he needed to do—go home and heal. Mason talks about the process to leave the Mexico MTC and the feelings of failure as he returned home. Mason, who has been home nearly two years, talks about the steps he took (and the help of others like his good family and friens like Luke Davenport) to be in a much better place. Mason also talks about why he still has a strong testimony of the Church and is looking forward to his upcoming temple marriage. If you are an early release missionary or anyone working through mental health challenges, please listen to Mason’s story. He will give you hope that things are going to be OK. And, if you want to better understand why some incredible faithful and committed Latter-day Saints return home from their mission early, please listen to Mason’s story. Thank you Mason and Luke for being on the podcast. Your story will help so many. Respect my friends!

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.

0:09.0

My guest on today's podcast are two great young men that are part of my youngest son's friend group and close friends to me and my wife, Luke Davenport and Mason Diamond.

0:20.0

Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Dick.

0:23.8

Yes, thank you for having us. By way of introduction, these guys are part of a group that at probably

0:31.6

at age 16, 17, and 18 active Latter-day Saints look forward to their mission, and then their mission

0:37.3

experience turned out very different than what they had planned.

0:41.0

This is a podcast where we just talk about things to improve our culture

0:45.4

by having guests come forward and share their stories.

0:48.6

Some of them are pretty difficult stories.

0:50.4

They've walked really complicated roads.

0:53.7

Elder Luke Davenport probably always planned

0:56.3

to serve a proselyting mission. Eventually felt that that was not his path and is serving a service

1:02.3

mission. We're recording this podcast in late July. He'll be released from that service mission

1:07.7

at the end of July. So he's technically elder Luke Davenport. He was on

1:12.5

episode 228 talking about his journey with OCD. And it was real vulnerable, markable podcast.

1:20.6

So please reference that podcast as you want to hear more about Luke's story. Mason Diamond graduated the same year Luke did and my our youngest son from a high school here in Salt Lake in 2019.

1:36.0

And then headed out, tell our listeners where you got your mission call.

1:40.4

So I got my mission call to McAllen, Texas.

1:44.5

And tell our listeners roughly when you left.

1:47.2

I left July of 2019.

1:51.1

And as Mason will share, he got to the MTC and kind of everything outside of which wasn't Mason's fault went sideways and he came home rightly so

2:04.4

and was probably in one of the darkest spots I've ever heard a missionary be in and I don't know

...

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