Episode 721: Sofia Jones, Convert, Lesbian, Asexual

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2023

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My friend Sofia Jones (from Bakersfield California, joined Church in March 2021, mid-20s) join us to share her story. Sofia (who grew up Christian) talks about changing her initial assumptions about Latter-day Saints and being willing to meet with the missionaries, read the Book of Mormon, and be baptized. It is a beautiful conversation story with insights on the added gospel understanding unique to our restored Church—which brings peace, hope and perspective. Sofia then talks about being willing to consider her sexual orientation and how her YSA Ward is a safe place to be LGBTQ—including her ward member Adam Garrett (episode 508) who shared helpful insights. Sofia talks about how she never considered that being LGBTQ would be OK to God and compatible with being a Christian. She talks about her journey to find acceptance within herself—and the role of personal revelation—of being asexual and a lesbian. Sofia talks about how “God still loves you and God is still for you”. This is a wonderful podcast for someone considering joining the Church (or trying to stay in) and/or someone trying to find peace/acceptance with their sexual orientation or gender identity. Thank you, Sofia, for being on the podcast. You are brave. You are a wonderful disciple of Christ Our Church and world are a better place because of you. You have a great life ahead of you! Links: Sofia's Instagram: @sofiamjones Richard Ostler books/bio/etc.: www.papaostler.com Facebook Group to support LGBTQ Latter-day Saints: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1433556613672143

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.
0:09.6	My guest on today's podcast, joining me from Bakersfield, California, is my new friend Sophia Jones.
0:17.4	Welcome to the podcast.
0:19.6	Hey, hey.
0:21.7	Sophia is going to share her story.
0:24.4	It's kind of a two-part story.
0:26.1	It's going to be her journey to join the church.
0:31.2	She is in her mid-20.
0:32.8	She's in a YSA ward in Bakersfield, California, as I mentioned.
0:36.8	She grew up in a Christian home, but in March of 2021, she joined the LDS Church and so she's
0:45.4	going to share that story.
0:47.8	And then she's going to share the story of being in the church and becoming aware,
0:58.2	as some people do, that they're not 100% heterosexual.
1:03.0	In this case, Sophie identifies as asexual and a lesbian.
1:07.6	And that's been a journey for her that she's bravely willing to share on the podcast.
1:13.6	And part of that was one of our prior podcast guests gave a lesson about LGBTQ in her ward, Adam Garrett. He was on the podcast in May of 2022, episode 508. I think
1:23.1	Sophia will kind of share how that allowed her to be more just self-aware of who she is and maybe not to feel shame for who she is.
1:33.3	So our joint prayer is this podcast to be helpful for you if you're considering joining the church, if you're working to stay in the church.
1:40.6	And also if you're becoming aware of your sexual orientation and maybe Sophia's
1:46.4	story will help you, or you're just an ally or, you know, just wanting to better support
1:52.0	people that have joined the church, people that are LGBTQ, is all of our effort to help all
1:58.6	belong and feel loved and supported.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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