"Don't put blame on anyone else. If you've done things that are wrong, fix them. If things have been done to you that are wrong, forgive them. Which is so hard to do, depending on the situation. I've had to do that with people in my past. it's the most liberating thing that you can do to let go of that hate and let go of blaming them. Because you can blame them all you want, but it's not going to allow you to progress. And so be honest with yourself. Be honest with what you need to change and take back your power. You have all the power in the world. God has given you this free agency. You can do whatever you want with it. Why not do something amazing that brings you so much joy and happiness? And it's so liberating to let go of what everyone thinks about you. It's so liberating. I literally do whatever the heck I want, which happens to be living the gospel. And living the gospel and living the standards of the gospel has made me the most free person I've ever been in my life." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-come-back-to-christ-tickets-1209945723229?aff=oddtdtcreator https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team:Director, Founder & Host: Ashly StoneProducer: Lauren RoseOutreach Manager: Jenna CarlsonEditor: Cara ReedAssistant Editor: Michelle BergerArt Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothinghttps://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 9 February 2025
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I will tell you that when you give up 'the things' and trust Heavenly Father, Miracles happen. Absolute miracles happen. I always thought that supporting my family and working for my family was the best thing that I can do. I never realized that quitting my job and becoming sover was the best thing that I could do. I just thought 'I have to work, there's no way around this.' Quitting my job was terrifying! I read the Book of Mormon during that time and my bishop had given me a blessing that said my ancestors and my posterity were watching over me. So even my children's children were aware of what we were going through." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-come-back-to-christ-tickets-1209945723229?aff=oddtdtcreator https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Cara Reed Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 2 February 2025
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "One thing I had never shared with anyone about my near death experience, but now I do is, my brother said to me, 'see, Marcy, it's real.' And I knew he wasn't talking about heaven. He was talking about our temple covenants and I knew it. I just knew that is what he was talking about! And I had not told anyone this. Then my mother was in the temple on a separate occasion, and she saw my brother and he said the same thing to her. 'See, that it's real.' She told me this and I said, mom, that's one of the things that he said to me. It made me realize I need to speak to that. I need to tell people this. He wasn't talking about heaven. He wasn't talking about the spirit world. He was talking about our temple covenants." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-come-back-to-christ-tickets-1209945723229?aff=oddtdtcreator https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Cara Reed Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 26 January 2025
"The purpose of the gospel is to restore ourselves to God. And time and time again, Christ has taught that. He's taught that this is why He did what He did. This is the whole reason why we're doing this, is to restore you to Me. So it's about love. The expectations can come later. Once we restore that prodigal hug with the father on the road, once we find that coin, once we put that sheep on our back, then we can bring them back and talk about some expectations. But initially, that first meeting especially is so powerful because it has to be about love. I suggest this not to just church leaders, but also to parents. Just put your arms around them, love them. If that first meeting is an expression - or any type of an expression - of a failure of commitments or a failure of expectations, love can't fully enter into that person's heart. So I would say to anyone who's scared, I hope you understand the gospel is about what you're about to do. Go and see your bishop and know that God is proud of you and he's already at the end of the road waiting for you." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-come-back-to-christ-tickets-1209945723229?aff=oddtdtcreator https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Cara Reed Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2025
"The purpose of the gospel is to restore ourselves to God. And time and time again, Christ has taught that. He's taught that this is why He did what He did. This is the whole reason why we're doing this, is to restore you to Me. So it's about love. The expectations can come later. Once we restore that prodigal hug with the father on the road, once we find that coin, once we put that sheep on our back, then we can bring them back and talk about some expectations. But initially, that first meeting especially is so powerful because it has to be about love. I suggest this not to just church leaders, but also to parents. Just put your arms around them, love them. If that first meeting is an expression - or any type of an expression - of a failure of commitments or a failure of expectations, love can't fully enter into that person's heart. So I would say to anyone who's scared, I hope you understand the gospel is about what you're about to do. Go and see your bishop and know that God is proud of you and he's already at the end of the road waiting for you." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-come-back-to-christ-tickets-1209945723229?aff=oddtdtcreator https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Cara Reed Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 19 January 2025
"If you were to ask me to translate an ancient document and to organize the people and a whole religion -- I would never want that kind of authority thrust on me. I know I would misuse it, I absolutely would. So this process has really brought me to this place of grace for those who have come before in the gospel. And also, these things that I get so frustrated about or that I don't understand, they're not mine to understand right now and it's okay because it's temporary. The reality is that Christ is our savior and the gospel is real. And when we turn to Him, the peace that is there, and the love, and the understanding surpasses everything else. There is no substitute." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/come-back-to-christ-tickets-1120310471779?aff=oddtdtcreator&ref=comebackpodcast.org https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Cara Reed Assistant Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 12 January 2025
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "You don't know the fight that someone has gone through before they walk through those doors. We also don't know the hours and hours that people have spent on their knees just praying for that moment - for that special time when that person - that brother, or that sister that maybe a mother or father or son or daughter or cousin. That moment that they've just been praying and praying that someday they will just walk through those doors. And as members we have this beautiful opportunity - way before they even get to those handles on those doors and they see the welcome sign right at the front of the church building - way before that day even comes that we get to choose that we're not gonna judge them. That we are gonna be those people that say things like, 'I cannot wait till they get to walk through those doors again. I'm gonna sit right next to them when they show up.' And 'it's okay, she'll get it figured out. Maybe she's on the arrest page, but she'll come around.' It's things like that, that we get to have that opportunity. God has given us that opportunity to be those people on his behalf. That has been one of the most beautiful things, being able to do that." https://www.eventbrite.com/e/come-back-to-christ-tickets-1120310471779?aff=oddtdtcreator&ref=comebackpodcast.org https://mikesautoshack.com/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 6 January 2025
Meet part of the Come Back team and learn how working on the podcast has strengthened our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Season 2 Finale and Merry Christmas! Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 22 December 2024
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "So basically, I've been to church ever since. Maybe a day or two, I've missed because I got sick but I've been going ever since. And then I was able to receive the priesthood back and then get to a point where I was able to get my temple recommend. That was another big pivotal moment. To be able to walk inside that temple,and know you're worthy enough to do it. Cause I've fought demons, I've done it, you know? And on my birthday, I went to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations by myself, just me. I just needed me. After it was all done, there's no explanation about how you feel after. You just feel relieved, you feel light, you just feel clean." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 15 December 2024
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I was driving home and I was so angry at Steven and at God and at myself and just feeling like an idiot. I was like, 'I can't do this, I'm so mad,' but my brother asked me to turn on conference and he's trying so hard on his mission. He's such a good missionary that I'm just gonna do it. So while I was driving home to our apartment in Provo to say our marriage is over, the talk that was on at that exact moment was Elder Gong's talk called 'Trust Again' and the spirit came over me so strongly and told me you can trust him again. The whole talk was about various forms of betrayal -- specifically marriage problems and pornography. A lot of trust with your spouse was talked about and the spirit spoke so strong that our marriage could be mended. So instead of driving all the way home to Provo I got off on the Lehi exit where he was watching conference with his family and I said 'okay I'm ready to talk, I am in a better place.'" Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2024
"Once I put the garment back on, I remember wearing them for a couple weeks, and it just felt really good. It was interesting, my perspective changed. Instead of thinking 'I can't wear this and I can't wear that,' I wanted them on! I had a burning desire to have Christ's spirit in my life and I didn't want to do a thing to change that." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 1 December 2024
"Let's look at the fruits of the spirit. Look at my life pre-coming back and my life now; how much joy and love and beautiful things that are in my life today! The fruits of the spirit are so evident. So when you run into hard questions online or somewhere else about the church - you have the choice. Do I want to believe, do I choose this path for myself? Am I going to put in the effort to find answers for myself or will I choose not to believe?" Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 24 November 2024
"I would pride myself on having a simple testimony. I would always say that. It's simple. And it was, and it is, the gospel of Jesus Christ is so simple. And that's all that we're required to have, right? This faith and belief in Jesus Christ. I had that, but I really didn't have much more than that. So having to open my life up to answering these questions really, really made me dig into our faith and what I believe and answer some questions that I had that I put up on a shelf. I really had to start dusting off some questions and lean in on that. A lot of the stuff that you guys talk about on your podcast, with the history of our church and, polygamy and Joseph Smith and, all of the things that everyone has questions about or tries to poke holes in. I had all those same questions and I feel like if I wouldn't have opened myself up, to answering questions about my faith, I feel like I would still just be coasting. Like in that same pre-2020 era of my life where I was like it's simple. I just have a simple testimony." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 17 November 2024
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "He was walking to his father and when he was a great way off his father saw him and he ran to meet him - he met him where he was at and and he kissed him. He said, bring the best robe that we have, bring shoes for his feet and prepare this huge feast because he's back! He was lost and now he's found! That's just been absolutely my story so many times. It doesn't matter how many times I've messed up in my life or how many times I've fallen short, the Savior is just there all the time. He's carried me and He's helped me through every single part of my life to get me to where I am now. To where I'm a wife and a mother and I'm healing and I'm happy! I gave my whole life to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I gave it all when I wasn't even sure that I wanted to, and they gave it back to me just entirely renewed." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 10 November 2024
"It was interesting to see where Hayden was in high school to where he was when I came back from my mission and how big of a change that was. I was able to see this with the conversations we were having about the gospel. I saw so much more conviction in him after he put his beliefs on the table and dissected them and then to finding those pillars in which he had to stake his faith on. It allowed me to see his conviction and also to trust him more as a source to go to with the questions I still had - even after serving a mission." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 3 November 2024
"Something told me to read the New Testament again under these new eyes of coming back to faith. I was prompted to start in the book of Acts because that told me how the early church was laid out. You see that the apostles have authority. You see the apostles laying on their hands to receive the Holy Ghost. You see the apostles baptizing. You even see the apostles go to the temple. While looking around, no other church fit that criteria but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I really started to want to come back to the church because I felt that it was the closest to the Bible." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 27 October 2024
"I think that's actually why New Age is so dangerous, because there's so much about it that are counterfeits of the restored gospel. There's so much about it that feels true and sounds true, you can convince yourself it is true because it's a bunch of truth mixed with lies. It's a counterfeit of part of the restored gospel. I think that's why a lot of LDS women seem to gravitate towards it because it's so similar to what they already know and feel. That's what makes counterfeits so dangerous is that they look like the real thing. Even meditation is not bad, I think the highest form of meditation is prayer. What is prayer if it's not meditating with God? Do you want to spend this 20 minutes meditating with yourself and just opening your mind up to whatever? Or do you want to spend that 20 minutes meditating with God in prayer, which is something you already have? And then there's energy healing, but where does the healing come from? These people don't have the priesthood they're not getting it from Christ. So where is that coming from?" Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 20 October 2024
"Before Oliver passes away, he goes out of his way on several occasions to publicly and ardently bear testimony of the restoration of the Book of Mormon. One of the more well -known accounts is a guy named Jacob Gates. He's on his way to his mission and he stops in Richmond to visit Oliver Cowdery. Jacob Gates asks Oliver, 'Is it all true? Can you tell me if it's true?' Oliver Cowdery says, 'Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man. What would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched. I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind. It was real.' I think this was recorded two or three months before Oliver passed away. And he says, he doesn't have any reason to lie at this point. In fact, he wants to tell the truth because he knows he's about to meet his maker. And he still bears his testimony on the Book of Mormon." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia Episode sponsor: Serve Clothing https://serveclothing.com/?gad_source=1
Transcribed - Published: 14 October 2024
"I go and meet with my branch president. Just the nicest, goofiest, happiest person. I just felt so comfortable. I knew this guy loved me. He's not going to judge me. I went in and I confessed everything. I told him I messed up, but I wanted to go to the temple. I remember he said, 'Nate, you've confessed and you've forsaken. You are forgiven. But what's most important now is you need to forgive yourself.' That was the hardest part. I remember thinking 'God, if you could forgive me, maybe I can forgive myself' because I just felt so bad. I had missed so many opportunities to do good things. I messed up - I messed up really bad. And I didn't love myself. I remember after that meeting just thinking, 'I did it! I let it go, I let it go! I was able to do it with president Donnelly's help!' I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and if He was willing to pay the price to die for me, then I can have the courage to let it go. I can let my ego go and it's all on Him. So when I walked out of that office I remember just feeling like, yes! I felt so free, just so clean and happy and light." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 29 September 2024
"There's very logical reasons to be members of the church, and very logical reasons to believe in a higher power --something beyond that's bigger than us, that has a spiritual aspect. This isn't irrational, this is rational. And so once you can get back into realizing that belief is reasonable, then you can ask the questions that will truly give you a testimony through prayer and study and pondering those primary answers we hear all the time. I talk about the heart and the head. I believe that we can, and should, have knowledge in our heart, feeling emotion, yearning for God, along with rationality and reason. For me, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints is God's true and living church on the earth. I know that in my heart and I know it in my head. I have both of those. I think critics have had their way for a long time trying to convince people that there's no reason to have a rational testimony. But the 'Light and Truth Letter,' it's showing that it is reasonable -- and rational to believe, there's a lot of space for belief. My hope is that if you're struggling and you're a believing member, but having doubts -- If that's the case for you and you're telling yourself, there's no way the church could be true. That's not you talking. That's the critic parroting. You're parroting a critic, because there's lots of reasons to believe. I try to lay it all out in the 'Light and Truth Letter.' To show all of the positive evidences that there are for the church and that it's actually really rational and reasonable to believe. There is a preponderance of evidence that is more for us than against us. And for me -- that's enough to believe. And once I made that decision, then God could do something with me." https://www.lightandtruthletter.org/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 22 September 2024
#latterdaysaints #mormon #comeback "I had an experience laying in my bed where I asked God to help me to know His will for me. I then had a powerful experience where I felt water rush off my body as I was coming up out of these waters. Then I see one of my very best friends' faces pulling me up and he's in white. It was that experience where I understood that God would like me to consider being rebaptized. I had a long road until that point. I hadn't even been excommunicated yet. So when I was asked in the disciplinary council, 'what do you think, Jason?' I said, I wanted a fresh start where I could finally forgive myself for all the things that I have experienced and done. Through the ordinance of baptism -- I feel like if I can go through that experience I would be able to forgive myself. Where maybe just a disciplinary counsel and a probation, being less extreme, I would have missed going through that and burying that old guy and to symbolically start fresh. And I had some beautiful, beautiful, powerful experiences." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 15 September 2024
"I kept running into all of these things that for my whole life I had read and experienced something so powerfully. I felt so bad because I had forgotten everything that was in the book. It just made me really sad. I remember thinking back to when I first read the Book of Mormon -- the first time I ever cried while reading it was when Nihor slew Gideon in Alma chapter one. It seems like a silly, stupid thing, but that was a special experience on my bed early in the morning before school. Just learning these stories and the faith of all the people in it is so inspiring. There are verses that you read that are especially for you. When you read them, you just can't deny them. That's what my experience was when I reread it. The Holy Spirit is testified to me on every single page of the truthfulness of the teachings, the prophecies, and the testimony that is in there. There is no way that Joseph Smith could have just written this up." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 8 September 2024
"A lot of people hear my story and they're like, wow, you used heroin? Like what programs did you go through? And with my story, I'm not recommending this to people that have true addictions, but the gospel was my recovery. It really was. I'm not saying to just read your scriptures and you're fine. Seek professional help, go to AA, NA -- there's all these amazing programs. But for me, I didn't do that stuff. I went back to church. I engulfed myself in the gospel. There's a quote by Elder Packer, he says: studying the gospel will change behavior faster than a study of behavior can change behavior. I'm living proof of that. Again, not saying everybody should do that, but that was my recovery. God can change you. I'm a changed person because of God and Jesus Christ and the gospel. And I am so grateful." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 1 September 2024
"As I was going through these years of inactivity and darkness, I was making this list in my phone in my notes app of all these questions and concerns and doubts that I had. It got longer and longer -- it was a long list of things that I was upset about. The first day I went back to church and went to a class, the top question on my list was about patriarchal blessings. I had this question and for hours I had thought about it and tried to come up with an answer and I just didn't. It didn't make sense to me, and it was upsetting to me. In that first class this girl spoke about patriarchal blessings, within 10 minutes she had bore her testimony and explained it in a way that I'd never thought of. It was just this clear, simple answer for me. So I crossed that question off, and it continued that way. Every week I went to church there was another question crossed off. To me, that was just this huge testament that God knew me and He knew my concerns. He was waiting for my effort. It was like, you give me effort, I'll give you answers. I'll give you clarity, and it has continued that way." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 25 August 2024
"Going through years of therapy and working through adoption trauma for myself and placing my own baby for adoption has always been a very big pain point for me because I was placed for adoption and didn't have a choice. That choice was my birth mom's choice. And then I turned around and placed my baby for adoption and she didn't have that choice. Even though I felt like that was the best thing to do for us at the time, I still struggle with that. We actually have opened the adoption up more and we have had some deep discussions about what it means to be adopted, what it means to be a birth mom and how hard it can be. It's never that the baby is not wanted. They are always wanted. I always want to reiterate that with her and with all adoptees that might feel that way. That is always a bittersweet part of my story. But there is also joy, you know, what is sorrow and pain without joy and happiness? Even though I love my biological mom dearly and my half siblings, I can't imagine my life without my adopted family, who I'm sealed to. I love the life that I've created and the relationships I have with my siblings and my nieces and nephews and my sweet parents who raised me in the gospel. Who knows if I would have had that without being adopted." @thestoryofjori Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 18 August 2024
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I asked the Lord and said 'if this is your church, tell me in this general conference. I want to know if this is your church.' I had never watched general conference in my life - this was like the Super Bowl for me. So I got my popcorn. I'm over there, got my drink, and ready to watch the conference. I remember President Nelson, he says, 'as we commemorate the restoration of the gospel we revere the Prophet Joseph Smith as a prophet, but this is not his church. And this is not Mormon's church. This is the church of Jesus Christ.' Let me tell you something - that scripture in the New Testament that talks about the Pentecostal feeling of the Spirit overcoming you, man, I had never felt that before. When it came over me, when he said that, I stood up, as if we scored a touchdown. Like if my team scored a touchdown. I stood up and I said, 'hey, the prophet just said this is his church!' I heard the Lord speak to me through his prophet. He said this is his church, right? That was it for me. I got on my knees and said 'thank you Lord, thank you for answering my question. You spoke to me.' At that moment of time I told the Lord that's it - I'm all yours. I'm all yours." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 11 August 2024
"I went on a three -day fast like I did when I needed to find answers and on the third morning of the fast I woke up. It was a Sunday morning, I just told the Lord 'I'm not getting up off my knees until you give me an answer.' I asked him because my uncle Owen, he was my dad's brother, was put in charge of the group after my dad was killed. I asked Heavenly Father if he was the prophet here on the earth or if he wasn't the prophet. I was shown a vision of a field, it was dark at night and my uncle Owen was wandering through the field. He had a dark suit on and his countenance was dark and then the voice of the Lord came into my mind and He said, 'by their fruit ye shall know them.' Then I started thinking about all the things that he had done throughout his life and things that were not always the greatest or the best. He had five or six wives and he was living polygamy. He had done some things that I didn't think were very noble or right. I kind of pondered about that for a little bit. Then I prayed again and asked if President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was the LDS church president at the time in 1997, if he was the prophet here on the earth. I was shown the same field only it was noon day, it was bright and sunny and there was wheat blowing in the wind. President Hinckley walked out into the field and he had a white suit on and a white tie and shirt and his face was just glowing and I had the same voice come into my head, 'by their fruits you shall know them.' I was shown the things that President Hinckley had done and everything that I was shown was all good fruits. I just had this burning in my bosom and was on fire from the top of my head to my feet. This was right. He was the prophet here on the earth. And the Lord was giving me that answer. I'd never felt anything so wonderful in my life." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 4 August 2024
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I still have not seen the face of Christ. I still haven't had miraculous experiences, but I've made the choice to follow Him and it's changed my life. I've done counseling. I still sometimes will do meditation - even guided meditation. And those things have helped me so much with some of my mental health struggles. But without the Savior involved in the middle of it. I would still not be who I am or where I am - with the capacity to now utilize our story and our passion for safety to go and try to change some of the culture on the ski slopes. That's being welcomed across the industry in a really miraculous way. But none of that would happen if I didn't come back to the roots of my Savior." snowangelfoundation.org Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2024
"One thing that I noticed when I started coming back to church was I put my focus on who I wanted to be - instead of trying to fix who I was. Instead of trying to stop doing all of these things, it was, okay, I want to be this person. I imagined myself being a mom and a wife. I wanted a family and I thought, 'who is the type of person that I need to be to have those things?' I envisioned that for myself. Then my focus just really shifted into the steps that I needed to take to be who that person was." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 22 July 2024
"He just went on and on about all the challenges and the different things that they had to do if they could get this aircraft past Pluto. As I was watching it, it was like a stream of revelation to me. Every single word he said was a metaphor for me and what I felt like I was doing. I realized what I was doing was trying to understand this crazy pixelated picture of what I thought God was and what religion is and I was like 'I don't understand anything, there's so many problems that I'm having on this journey of trying to figure out what this means!' He finished his story and miraculously, through so many miracles, they saw Pluto and now we have beautiful pictures of Pluto. I was so rejuvenated and impressed by that. As I was leaving, the answer was like, 'Yes Hailey, just push through. There's so many questions you have and there's so many challenges on your way to figuring out your answers.' I felt deeply that Heavenly Father wanted me to push through, find the answers, and do the work required to receive the revelation that I needed in so many different areas." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 14 July 2024
"There is no way, in mortality, to get through it by yourself. You can't push, you can't shove, you can't design, you can't do any of that. Even if you're not on drugs! You must turn yourself over to a loving Heavenly Father and then there is this capacity for the Savior to enable you - he kind of does internal work and changes you. You think 'This is different. I'm different than I was.' And I give them the credit. Luckily, they caught me before I passed away and helped me out." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 7 July 2024
"I just called out to Heavenly Father and said, help. I was very aware that there were angels all around me protecting me, I knew that Heavenly Father was rescuing me. He was hearing my prayer and That black feeling immediately was replaced with warmth, and love, and total mercy. It was like, I've been waiting for you, I got you. And I just was totally honest with Him and I told Him everything that I needed to say. I told him 'I'm so insecure. I don't know how to do this. I don't know who to be. I don't know how to commit to being a good girl. I don't know what that looks like. I'm attracted to all of these things that I don't know how to reconcile.' I just didn't know what to do next, but I knew that I couldn't continue in that life that I was in. I was so honest and submissive and just like, I'm gonna give this all to you and you help me figure out what to do next. And it was beautiful, it was amazing, it was the most sacred thing that's ever happened in my life. Then I felt like I should go see a bishop." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 30 June 2024
"There was this amazing thing that happened at Carthage Jail. There was a guy there, a college -age guy, who was in sweats, like total travel clothing. We went up to the room where John Taylor sang the song, 'Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief ' they usually just play a recording of that song but this guys mom put him on the spot and said, 'my son is a music major. He's about to graduate and he knows this song, would it be okay if he sang the song?, He got up and sang that song so beautifully and music speaks to me. The spirit has spoken to me through music so many times. I just feel the spirit in songs so much. Something transitioned for me there. It was just so real life for me that he was standing up there singing so beautifully, he knew the words, and was put on the spot and yet did such a rockin job at it." https://www.plantwhys.com/comeback Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 23 June 2024
"I still had no idea of coming back to the church. I didn't plan on it. We went to my sister's ward and we were saying the sacrament prayers, I just had this feeling in my heart. I looked at Lynn and I said, 'what do I need to do to take the sacrament? I remember Jesus.' And she beamed and she said, 'you were baptized. So I took the water and that was when the first trickle of living water started trickling back into my heart. Shortly after that, we got an email from the church saying anybody who's gluten intolerant, you can bring your own gluten-free bread. So I started doing that. And it was when I started taking the full sacrament that cracks really started opening in my heart. And not long after that, I started reading the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants. I read them all in very short order and started reminding myself of what I had left behind." Memoirs of a Prodigal Daughter: Returning to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints https://amzn.to/3Vp9Tcg House of Glory: Poems for Latter-day Saints https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSF2FBF2 Faith & Doubt: Poems for Troubled Times https://books2read.com/u/mg5Qv6 https://www.plantwhys.com/comeback Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2024
"The thought of the temple came to my mind and to my heart so clearly that I had a homesickness for it. I also had a remembrance that I could go there and within those walls, while not everything is solved or fixed, everything is okay. You leave feeling like everything is okay. You're elevated. At that moment, I'm like, I know I have to take the steps to get back to the temple. I have to make this an active part of my life - not just a thought. I have to say that receiving the restoration of my temple blessings was the most incredibly profound experience I've had in coming to know the power - the atoning power - of my Savior, Jesus Christ." contact Kat: [email protected] https://www.plantwhys.com/comeback Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2024
"When I was in Young Women's, one of the themes was... I'm a daughter of Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. You always say those things but I never really thought about what it really meant. And then I really thought about it one time, like, I'm a daughter of Heavenly Father. Which means if I have inherited things from my earthly parents, I must have inherited things from my heavenly parents. That means I have a divine potential. We all have divine potential! Which means that we can do things that we cannot even imagine. There are people doing things around us that we never thought possible until somebody does it. Just the knowledge that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and Mother and that they really love me. They know me. They know everything about me. They know more about me than I know. Knowing that gives me so much strength. So now every day I use this as an affirmation. I say to myself, I'm a daughter of heavenly parents. I have divine potential. I have the power to overcome everything. I have Christ -like love inside of me. I receive this love from others and I give this love to other people. Doing this makes me strong, it helps me keep the commandments." Link to Paula's eBook: https://www.lulu.com/shop/paula-andriessen-and-debbie-drennan-bennett-and-heidi-gassman-yates-and-griffins/the-power-to-overcome-everything-ebook/ebook/product-w4vzkzv.html?page=1&pageSize=4 https://www.plantwhys.com/comeback Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2024
"I've read a lot about history, like the founding fathers and enlightenment and tried to really get into their heads of how they thought. I feel like they had a kind of expansive view of Christ. They thought that His teachings of the golden rule applied not only to bringing brownies to your neighbor, but also in big things like how you structure the government. I feel like what's happened over time is kind of a shrinkage where if you have problems with your plumbing, you call a plumber. You're not like, oh, let me go look in the Bible. Over time, I think what's happened is if you have an economics question or if you have an ethics question, you go to the economist, or you go to the ethicist. I feel like what's happened is that the influence that Jesus has and the gospel has is kind of shrinking as it's being crowded out by these secular theories, which again, if they pointed back to gospel truths, that would be okay, but they didn't seem to, at least in my opinion. So that was one last thing that just drove me crazy. I had to figure out who was right. Either the economists are right or Jesus is right. My money's on Jesus." Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brett_alder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.alder/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2024
"There is a truth and there is a line. I did cross that line and I am back. Christ is our savior. He did do what he did. There is evil. I felt it. I felt it on a stage. I felt the coldness of being on that stage in front of an entity of evil spirits. I felt it to my core. It made me shake I felt it so much. I've also stood next to President Nelson. he came to our mission and I got to look at him and be with him. And I felt on fire. I felt calm. I felt peace. And so I knew at that moment, and this, by the way, was the week that President Monson had died and President Nelson was being put in as prophet." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2024
"We need to learn how to let go of those things. We can't focus on the bad things. We have to move along. We have to move forward. It is hard. It is very, very hard. It's very challenging, but it's not impossible. I can tell you that it's not impossible. For those of you that are struggling with your testimonies and are questioning things about the church, ask Heavenly Father. You've got to get it from the direct source. Don't go looking at videos and don't go talking to people that you're not sure of. Just get down and ask God, because he will tell you and he has his own ways of telling you. It may not be something huge. He may not open the heavens to you with all this dramatic stuff that some of us are looking for. Sometimes it takes that one little small, tiny, still voice to resonate in our soul." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2024
"I would tell my mom, it's just so enlightening. That's the only word I could think of when I would talk to her, that it's so enlightening. So I'm doing all these things, and everything at home is a big fat mess. But everything I was learning at church just all made sense. And it's funny because I had learned those things before, but now it was different because I was trying to gain my own testimony. Everything just clicked for me, the restoration made sense and I wanted to learn more. I really wanted the husband to go on this journey with me, but he just wasn't really having it. So things got pretty bad where I felt like he needed to move out. I remember every step I would take, I would pray like, 'okay, Heavenly Father, I think this is the right thing. I'm going to do it unless you tell me not to,' is usually how I would approach it. And every time I did that, it was almost right afterwards I would get some kind of confirmation blessing that told me yes." https://www.plantwhys.com/free-1-week-meal-guide Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2024
"In the New Testament there is a story where Jesus heals a blind man and it says: Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. That's how it was for me, all the sudden it just hit me and I thought: I can't explain all these things, all I can say is I have felt God's love, I have felt Jesus's love and I have felt forgiven for my sins. I have felt the joy that comes from being able to change. I can't explain all these things, I can only know what has happened to me." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2024
We want to thank all of you for your love and support. We wouldn't be able to do this without you! Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/comebackpodcast?ref=comebackpodcast.org Merch:https://come-back-merch.myshopify.com/?ref=comebackpodcast.org Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2024
"He comes back and he doesn't know everything, he doesn't know the doctrine super well. But he has a powerful testimony that he can bear and he can share with people. A little while later he and some of the brethren in Salt Lake decide to go on a carriage ride up the eastern bench of the mountains. They decide to pull the curtains on the carriage so that they can see out the window and see the view. And when that happens, Martin sees the valley lying before him, he sees everything that's been built up, and all the saints and how large of a population is out there, and he is just stunned by it. Martin's been spending all his time in this little podunk town, Kirtland, where there's hardly anyone who will take him seriously and listen to his testimony. Then he has this reaction where he says, 'who would have thought the Book of Mormon could do all this?'" https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/author/Rappleye,%20Neal https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/tags/martin-harris https://evidencecentral.org/evidence/martin-harris https://witnessesofthebookofmormon.org/three-witnesses/martin-harris/ Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2024
I started to get promptings and I was like, 'I'm going to go read the Bible at the temple.' I still had no inclination of going back to the church. Zero. So why did that make sense to me? I don't know. But I went to the temple and parked in the parking lot and just read my Bible at five in the morning. There was one morning when I was just reading the Bible in the temple parking lot and had words in my mind that I knew weren't mine. It just said, 'you need to go to the temple.' And I was like, 'God, I hear you, but what other churches have temples? Because that's not the one that I want to go to.' But I was like, message received. Then it took some time, and I started to feel promptings that I should open the Book of Mormon. This was all in secret because I knew that Melissa wouldn't approve or that it would upset her. So I was reading the Book of Mormon and then at some point this really strong witness came that this was the church that I needed to be going to." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rte6B5TyT0 https://www.plantwhys.com/free-1-week-meal-guide Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2024
"The community is really awesome and going to school is really awesome. But I'm happier now because I have a healed, happy, healthy, strong relationship with Jesus Christ and with Heavenly Father. I have peace in a way I never had before. I did a lot of healing from my traumas on my own in secular therapy but this has brought me beyond healing, it's brought me to hope and trust. That's why I'm happier, it's just been so amazing. The saying is true, you do become a new creature in Christ. I still look at the things I'm doing and am surprised." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2024
"I just had the desire. I thought in order to be baptized, that I had to know everything about the religion. Just like I told her "you gotta know, you better know." So I wasn't planning on getting baptized so quickly until I read Alma 32:27. It says you just have to have a desire and God will do the rest. And I was like, I have a desire, I really do. I have felt so good about this. I've been going from summertime until April. I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon in January so by April I was devouring it. I was mind blown by all of the truths. I couldn't believe it. I love the Book of Mormon. It's amazing! It's so relatable, you know, to your life. You can just see yourself." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2024
"When I compared what I heard from the antagonistic point of view to what I saw in my wife or my children or my parents or my brothers or in my bishopric or the relief society presidency. When I compared what everyone was saying on the antagonistic side of the coin to everything I saw in real life. It didn't make sense .They were saying such terrible, horrible things, but I'm like everything I'm seeing is good. I'm not seeing perfection. But everywhere I look, I look at all my brothers and they don't cast stones. They don't teach to be against any group of people or anything. They're just loving and kind with their fair share of mistakes and with their fair share of issues." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2024
"I felt so confused. I would listen to something that was negative and then I'd listen to something that was positive for the church. And it felt like I couldn't be in the right mindset to fully grasp what they were talking about. So I needed to just turn it all off and go directly to the scriptures and Heavenly Father. That is where I found absolute truth, it was in the source. Even this conversation, this can be a beautiful spiritual conversation you and I have, but if someone is actually just questioning and none of this is helpful to hear, then turn me off, turn my voice off and go directly to Heavenly Father and talk to Him. He is our truth, He knows the truth of everything. So instead of trying to seek for truth here or there, I would just turn it off and go directly to Him." https://www.aubreygrossen.com/ https://www.amazon.com/He-Came-Me-Stories-Modern-Day/dp/B0C6BXJ3F8 Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2024
"Jesus' first miracle was to transform water into wine. It was almost a foreshadowing of what He can do. He can transform things, He can transform people. I feel like that's what He's done with my life. Not about being gay -- it's never been just about that. But going from pride and not knowing, to knowing good from evil and becoming perhaps a little bit more humble than I was back then. I just love the teachings of the church around family, without that, I would not have even tried to have a family." https://youtu.be/i7gfejDrdn8?si=MPfYluHfW1c3DNPw https://www.northstarsaints.org/ ACT IN DOCTRINE by Elder Bednar Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 18 February 2024
"For anyone who has left and even has the smallest desire to come back, one thing that I would say to you is: I could have left my marriage and maybe I could have healed. But me healing within my marriage was like nothing else. I don't know that I could have healed another way. Sometimes people need to come back to heal within the church; maybe they feel like the church broke them and the church caused them a lot of pain. I see that, but that might be just the place that you could come back to. And if you can heal there, it's such a deep part of us, and if you can come back there to heal, it's like nothing else." Come Back Team: Director, Founder & Host: Ashly Stone Producer and Senior Editor: Lauren Rose Outreach Manager: Jenna Carlson Editor: Michelle Berger Art Director: Jeremy Garcia
Transcribed - Published: 12 February 2024
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ashly Stone, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.