Justin Barton interviews newly returned missionary Michael Hazel on the Can You Feel So Now podcast. Michael shares his background and explains that he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Alabama, Birmingham Mission from June 2023 to June 2025, assigned Spanish-speaking for two transfers before serving mostly in English while still using Spanish. He describes being inactive from about age 13 to 25 due to painful experiences and feeling that the Atonement didn’t apply to him, then beginning a spiritual turnaround in 2019 when someone read the Book of Mormon with him daily for 90 days. He discusses the difference between being “lukewarm” versus fully detached, how many small spiritual experiences helped him understand grace and the Atonement as constant help, and why faith and accepting God are choices rooted in agency. Michael emphasizes charity—choosing to love people who are rude, lost, or even threatening—and explains forgiving a bishop he once hated by choosing forgiveness and later feeling peace even when seeing him at the temple. He outlines how consistency comes through daily Book of Mormon study, meaningful prayer as a real conversation with Heavenly Father, and conscientiously partaking of the sacrament, and he shares views on recognizing revelation in everyday ways and repenting as simply turning toward Christ. He recounts being prompted to serve a mission later in life after a branch conference message from his stake president about covenants and bears testimony that following Jesus Christ is always the right decision. Using Alma 5:26, he describes a change of heart as visible in a person’s countenance, defines the “song of redeeming love” as a state of being, and advises his future self to remember the Lord’s tender mercies. He closes with a testimony of Jesus Christ, the reality of spiritual witness, the importance of temple worship and consecrating one’s will to God, and the joy found in the work of salvation and exaltation.

00:00 Welcome + Meet Michael Hazel (Background & Family)

01:22 Mission Call: Alabama Birmingham & Spanish-to-English Switch

03:18 Why He Left the Church (13–25) and What Brought Him Back

05:19 Lukewarm vs Detached: The Misery of Life Without God

07:05 Reading the Book of Mormon Daily: Rebuilding a Testimony

09:05 Atonement Reframed: “Wind at Your Back” + Still Small Voice

11:30 Sobriety, Agency, and Choosing Faith Over Nihilism

14:47 Charity on the Mission: Loving the “Lost” and Difficult People

19:21 Forgiveness as a Choice: Healing from a Hurtful Leader

22:56 No Gray Area: Doctrine Changes Behavior + Staying Consistent

27:15 3 Daily Anchors for Spiritual Consistency (Scriptures, Prayer, Sacrament)

29:01 Your Environment Shapes Your Spirit: Who You Spend Time With

30:42 Hearing God’s Voice: Recognizing Revelation in Small & Simple Ways

34:57 When You Can’t Feel the Spirit: Repentance as a Simple Turn to Christ

37:52 Why Serving a Mission Is Always the Right Choice (And a Life-Changing Story)

45:50 Alma 5: “Can You Feel So Now?” Change of Heart & Redeeming Love

48:33 15 Years Later: Remembering Tender Mercies When You Feel Off Track

49:44 Final Testimony: Choosing Christ, Daily Consecration, and True Joy