Come Back Podcast

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content that may be triggering or offensive to some audiences. Parental discretion is advised.  "It doesn't matter if it's a baby step or if we are sprinting. He just cares that we are moving forward so that He can bless us. I was standing still and allowed dark thoughts to creep in and lose faith in my Heavenly Father. But the moment I took that step I was flooded with all these blessings." 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

"In class we had the stake president talking. He was shorter in stature, but just a spiritual giant. I could feel it as he started talking. I was on the fence if I really wanted to investigate the church. He started going back and forth, pacing and talking about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon and all these factual things. He is a very successful person and I was thinking "How could such a smart guy be fooled by all this, this doesn't make sense." Some of the concerns he was bringing I thought "That's a really good point, I have never thought of that." It was almost like on his piece of paper he had all of my concerns and he was just checking them off one by one. I was just sitting in the corner bawling." 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

"Be open to other people's opinions. I used to think "this church is either true or it is not." I never thought there could be any grey area. The way I saw everything was so black and white but that is something I have learned, is to be open to other possibilities. Don't just cut everything off because one thing doesn't make sense." 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

"If this is a paragraph from your book of possibilities then the only way you get to read the rest of the book is if you record the feelings that you have when you seek revelation from it. So you should start asking questions." 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

"The witness more powerful than sight applies especially to the roles of actual, demanding experience and developing a witness that one knows the Savior. It's one thing to know about Him, or even to see Him, but quite another to know Him. And that higher degree of knowing usually comes after complexity - often it comes because of the complexity." 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 remember listening to the story "Seventeen Points of the True Church" and thinking that I believe this is all true. I don't need the proof. I knew the church was true and that I needed to come back. That was the beginning of my journey." 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

"The church is alive, it is a living gospel. The way to know the difference between a live houseplant and a fake houseplant is that the real one has brown spots and dead leaves. There's going to be imperfections in anything that is alive and growing and living. It's just a fact of life. We are all human and make mistakes. The church is a living organism." 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

"Getting endowed was the most special day in my life. I had never felt so whole inside as a person, without needing someone else's approval. I myself did this, and I am ok with being who I am. I have God with me all the time now, and there is nothing else that you really need. That feeling alone was worth anything." 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

"In my patriarchal blessing I was told that my health wasn't going to be an issue, that I was going to be strong and have the strength necessary to serve a mission. There were some great promises about me being able to bear my testimony in another part of the world. The spirit was so strong during that blessing and I knew what the patriarch was saying was coming from my Heavenly Father. That blessing gave me the strength and courage to keep going." 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

"One day in sacrament meeting I was worked up about some doctrinal question and the frustration of still not feeling I could get answers to prayer very well. They had announced the closing hymn was "How Firm A Foundation" which is precious to me, I had memorized all 7 verses. As soon as that was announced I had a question in my mind "Heavenly Father, I am believing and I am going, but what do I believe?" I felt the Lord bring into my memory "fear not I am with thee for be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give the aid." With that came the gift of peace right in that moment." 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