Ben Arkell, Mormon Light, and Poop Eating Fish – Episode 26

Ben Arkell (Guest - Left) and Nick Galieti (host - right) Hello and greetings from Cartagena, Colombia in South America. This episodes guest is Ben Arkell. He runs a few different  LDS and Missionary-based Facebook groups, including the Preach My Gospel Facebook group, and web properties like Mormon Light. He talks about how he is accounting for a dry wall installer for his day job, but how he has been able to use internet technology to spread the gospel throughout the world.  He also has some really fun stories about his own mission to Panama, something about poop eating fish (yeah, you read right). Click here to visit the Mormon Light YouTube Channel. Before I move on, I want to point out something that some of you might be missing. On our website, LDSMissionCast.com is a blog where we have letters sent in from missionaries who appeared as guests on our podcast before leaving for the missions, and are now serving missions. If you haven’t subscribed to our blog, you can do that and get the latest news from these missionaries each week. One highlight I wanted to share with you came from Elder Tanner Bennett serving in Taiwan. One week he reported that they had 14 investigators in his area, the next week 17 active investigators, he tells of a family that prayed together to find out if they should be baptized, the next week he reports that they accepted the invitation and will be baptized in a couple weeks. It is so empowering to see that in these parts of the world where the gospel is relatively young, the work is expanding and moving forward. We will be adding new missionary reports from all over the world over time. So stay locked in to the LDS MissionCast blog to read some of these fantastic stories and to see pictures of missionary work going on around the world. Music from this episode comes from our main guest, Ben Arkell’s daughter, The Piano Gal. The Piano Gal - Provided Music for this episode. We have a Latter-Day Lives segment from Shawn Rapier and the Latter-day Lives podcast with his guest entrepreneur and influencer in his own way, Jimmy Rex. Then I am going to end with a story from my short time in Cartagena Colombia and the many ways we can recognize the hand of the Lord in bringing the gospel throughout the world. Jimmy Rex - Latter-day Lives Segment guest - at Machu Picchu. I travel from time to time with my day job in the Simultaneous Interpretation industry.  This time a convention has brought me to a part of the world that is new to me. I first arrived in Bogotá, then I flew here to Cartagena where I am working for the week. I have never been to any part of South America, and I have found it to be an interesting place. New cultures, new landscapes being in the Andes Mountains it has been interesting to see their difference from the Rocky Mountains. It is summer in Utah where I live which means that it is around 75 degrees Fahrenheit at night, and around the high 90’s and low 100’s. Here, people are wearing winter jackets when it hits 72 degrees Fahrenheit. This was what I saw in the middle of January in Hawaii. Some people see 70 degrees as cold enough to wear a jacket. I was standing there in shorts, sandals, and t-shirt basking in the comfort of such a refreshing temperature. There was such a difference of experience when it came to something as simple and common as temperature. What feels incredible to me, was cold to others. Cathedral Walled City Cartagena, Colombia Sanctuary of San Pedro Claver and Church - Walled City Cartagena Clock tower - Cartagena Walled City When I told people, including my mother I was coming to Colombia, specifically Cartagena, all I heard was drugs this, cocaine, heroin, you name it. It was as if Colombia was only known for one thing to people, illegal drugs and cartels. Now, I am not so ignorant to say that such things aren’t happen. This country is also one of the worst when it comes to Child Sex trafficking.