This is Ashley Stone and you're listening to the Comeback Podcast.

Okay. Okay, so Matt, Lauren has told me from the beginning when I started this podcast,'s been saying oh you've got to have my

uncle on he's so awesome and so I'm really excited to hear your story so yeah if you want to just kind of start at the beginning I'd love to hear about

what your I mean what your child what your first exposure to the church was you, if you had a testimony at a young age,

what it looked like kind of straying away and then the miracles that you experienced

in coming back?

Okay, I have very fond memories of my childhood. I was really, really blessed. Three older brothers, one little brother.

My mother and father had five sons. I have three sons myself, no daughters.

I remember growing up as a little boy in the mountains of Idaho and I just had an idyllic childhood.

I was my father's partner and he would say, come on partner, let's go.

And I remember, I have memories really really clear vivid memories

of things that happened to me when I was between two and three years old with my

day lots of them. And I guess by the time my father had son

number four he had gotten parenting down to an art because I think about my own experience with my oldest son and my second son and my third son.

And if you're having children, we do get better at it. Parenting is not, you know, when they, when that first one comes,

oh man I remember calling my mom once and said, mom I have screwed up my oldest son so bad and my mom goes,

oh son, don't worry about it.

We all do.

They don't come with an instruction manual.

You know, we laughed about that.

And she said to me, she says, Matthew,

you guys, she says, I can just see you guys in the pre-existence doing rock paper scissors and you lost. You had to be dad. And I think about that and it makes it a little easier. God bless my mom.

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