Come Back Podcast

David Alexander, a Christian who found fulfillment in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ after 47 years of searching, discusses his journey and the impact of the Jesus Movement, division within Christian denominations, misconceptions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and finding a welcoming community.

"How I handle things when I have questions is I do my own studying and I look at things from different sides, but I always lean on Heavenly Father, I always keep Him in the loop. I always tell Him what I am questioning, what I am struggling with and He always points me to sources that help. Sometimes it takes a while, the answers don't always come right away. But He always points me to something that helps me understand things or helps me feel at peace about it even if I don't fully understand it." PSA: The Letter For My Wife is another anti LDS document that Sarah is writing a rebuttal to on FAIR https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Sarah_Allen_CES_Response_Posts 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

"There were a lot of small steps along the way, and then one day I had a revelation. A voice came to my head, it was my first spiritual experience in 15 years and it said: "your family needs you, it's time for you to go back to the church." And I just said who are you? But I knew what I heard and I knew what had happened and it was a faith filled journey from there. I had to rethink things again. One thing I thought about was the story of Rip Van Winkle. It was like all the sudden I woke up and thought how did I get here? What am I doing on the side lines? Why am I not in the church anymore? I just felt upside down." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/waiting-for-the-prodigal?lang=eng 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

"A faith journey is a long conversation. One of the things that gave me great comfort when I came back to the church was reading the story of Abraham. The father of the three western religions would sometimes go decades between spiritual manifestations. If Abraham is going decades between spiritual manifestations, you might go decades too and that's ok. Remember that it is a long process, the sooner you can get back to having the faith of a child the shorter your faith crisis is going to be because those spiritual manifestations are real." 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

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "I was able to bring suppressed memories to the surface, deal with it as an adult, go back and forgive my mom and forgive myself. That was when real healing began. If you are holding a grudge against someone -- no matter how bad it was -- number one you have to forgive them, or else you will get eaten up. You aren't hurting anyone but yourself if you're not forgiving someone. Number two pray, and God will guide you on how to do that. That is where healing came, it was still a process and work but then I was able to deal with committing to someone and not running. I no longer had the desire to use women anymore because I had dealt with 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

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "Coming back has really given me insight on where I want to be and who I want to be. Navigating my life through some of these changes is going to take some time. I can always hit my knees in prayer, it doesn't matter where I am, I find myself praying all the time." 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

"Besides my family leaving me, my life couldn't get any worse. I had hit rock bottom. I met with my bishop and stake president -- in my mind I had strayed too far from the path. I just couldn't see myself becoming the person that I once was. The missionary I was, bearing testimony of Jesus, bringing people to Jesus, and being worthy to exercise the priesthood. It just seemed too distant. But they said I could be clean through the atonement of our savior, Jesus Christ and I could come back from this. I believed them and I had hope in what they said, that's all I had to go on was hope." 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

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised. "There is a song by David Archuleta called Glorious and he talks about how we all have times in our life where we feel aimless and we can't see where we belong and we can't see where we fit. That life is this beautiful symphony we all have parts that we contribute to make that melody the masterpiece that it is. If you haven't figured out your part yet then just keep listening, you will figure it out. In that moment I translated that to stay on the planet a little longer, you haven't figured out what your part is yet. So I decided I would give this prayer thing a chance. I drove my truck to my storage unit that I was living in and turned off the car. I turned to God as if He was sitting in the seat next to me and I just started pouring my heart out to Him." https://turtleshelterproject.org https://instagram.com/turtleshelterproject?igshid=MTNiYzNiMzkwZA== https://www.facebook.com/turtleshelterproject 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

"I may be crazy, but I'm not crazy because I joined the church, it is one of the few good decisions that I have made in my life. I have investigated everything I can find about the church. I've read every negative publication that is noteworthy, I've listened to people share their exit stories. The only reason that I am here is because it is true, The reason I know it is true is because of the experiences that I have had. I hope if someone is thinking about coming back, just do it. Your life will be better, your posterity will thank you for making it through the hard times. I believe all the Church's truth claims. I am happy to be here and that I am still a member going to church." 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

"Remember all those miracles and the steps you had to take that you made it through to get where you are now? The same God who called me to Spain, called me home. My Heavenly Father knows me so much and so personally, He knew I wanted to go to Spain. He knew I needed to meet the people that I met. He has shown again and again throughout my life the truth that I am His daughter and that He knows me personally and that He loves me. That was this thought I held onto the most." 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