Justin Barton interviews Emma Pratt, who grew up in Idaho in a large farming family and learned hard work and endurance from long nights driving tractors. She explains how those lessons carried into her mission, especially during a six-week transfer with no people to teach, where she learned to rely on Jesus Christ and see those she spoke with as God’s children. Emma served in the Alabama Birmingham Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from December 2023 to June 2025, felt spiritual confirmation about her call, and describes being strengthened when asked to train a new missionary despite feeling inadequate—overcoming weaknesses in initiating conversations and using scriptures. Alma 26:12 became a key passage for her about doing all things in God’s strength. She shares an experience of God’s hand in a friend who contacted missionaries via Facebook after hitting rock bottom and was baptized soon after changing his life. Emma also reflects on her parents’ divorce at age 13 as a personal rock-bottom that led her to choose the gospel, influenced by her mother’s example of prayer and observing differences between relying on Christ versus other coping methods. The conversation covers her approach to personal revelation through prayer journaling, finding quiet places to pray, and adjusting post-mission to less structure while trying to keep spiritual habits and goal-setting (including the mission “power wheel” and My Plan). Major themes include choosing lasting joy in Christ (including Helaman 5:12), leadership and charity as a sister training leader, repentance as a joyful process of improvement, and integrating consecrated living into everyday work. Emma closes by connecting her change of heart to gathering Israel and preparing for the Second Coming, and bears testimony of Jesus Christ.

00:00 Meet Emma Pratt: Big Family, Farm Life & Creative Hobbies

01:12 Farm-Built Endurance: Hard Work Lessons That Carried Into the Mission

02:24 No Friends to Teach: Finding Joy When Mission Work Feels Slow

04:24 Leaning on Christ Through Inadequacy: Training a New Missionary

06:06 Go-To Scripture Power: Alma 26 and ‘In His Strength I Can Do All Things’

07:04 Called to Alabama Birmingham: Dates, First Reactions & Confirmation

08:24 ‘God’s Hand Was in This’: A Facebook Message, Rock Bottom & a Fast Baptism

10:12 Her Own Rock Bottom: Parents’ Divorce, Choosing the Gospel & Staying Happy

13:20 Prayer + Journaling for Revelation: Learning to Hear God More Clearly

15:19 Home From the Mission: Quiet Places, New Habits & the ‘Power Wheel’ Goals

20:56 Tractor Time as Sacred Time: Audio Scriptures, Talks, Podcasts & Saints

22:01 Mission Soundtrack: From Church History to The Beatles

22:30 Finding a Higher Joy in Jesus Christ on the Mission

23:44 Happiness vs. Joy: The “Slow Boil” and Choosing Miracles

25:12 Building on the Rock: Helaman 5 and Enduring Trials

26:34 Sister Training Leader Lessons: Charity, Leadership, and Real Training

29:11 Letting God Train You: Humility, Weak Spots, and Repentance Without Shame

33:36 Consecrating Everyday Life: Giving Equal Time to the Lord (Even Dishes)

38:33 Change of Heart & “Can You Feel So Now”: Purpose, Time Machine Advice, and Testimony