Can You Feel So Now?

Host Justin Barton interviews return missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ethan Coplen, who recently came home from the South Africa, Cape Town Mission, about his upbringing in Queen Creek, Arizona, his large family, football achievements, and a period of inactivity after moving out at 18. Ethan shares how a serious football injury led to a spiritual impression that redirected his life, repentance, and a decision to serve a mission. He discusses learning to rely on Jesus Christ rather than pride, the difference between reading and studying scripture, and how praying, pondering, and obedience shaped his conversion. Ethan recounts facing depression and grief after losing his sister and her children to tragedy during his mission, and explains how being “yoked” with Christ helped him endure. He closes with invitations to prospective missionaries, return missionaries, and nonmembers to seek truth and remember miracles.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:31 Ethan Background and Football

01:33 Leaving Home and Church

04:01 Injury and Turning Point

05:57 Returning and Choosing Mission

07:10 Why Falling Away Felt Easy

09:48 Personal Relationship With God

12:00 Yoked With Christ and Miracles

14:49 Missionary Focus and Self Conversion

17:54 Reading Versus Studying

20:37 Charity Learned in the Field

23:11 Obedience Lesson and Spiritual Witness

26:56 Love Your Neighbor

28:10 Pondering and Prayer

29:34 Mission Trial and Loss

32:30 Everything to God

34:16 Hearing the Spirit

36:35 Why Suffering Happens

38:43 Bearing the Burden

40:42 Three Invitations

46:45 Change of Heart

48:18 Song of Redeeming Love

49:47 Back to Basics

52:09 Closing Testimony

Host Justin Barton interviews returned missionary Joshua Fulmer on the Can You Feel So Now? Podcast about his service in the Texas, Houston East Mission (Spanish-speaking) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joshua shares his background in a large family, plans for BYU, and passions for running and piano. He discusses emotional challenges of tying feelings to missionary outcomes, learning to pause rather than react through prayer, repentance, and temple worship, and a baptism incident where he accepted correction. Joshua recounts a prayer answered when a hostile man relented and helped them contact someone. He reflects on the mission theme Joshua 3:5, temple service, healthier living, scriptures Alma 37:15–17 and D&C 82:10, deepened relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, future plans in music and possibly medicine, and a change of heart centered on redemption and trusting God.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

00:19 Meet Joshua Fulmer

01:27 Called to Texas Spanish

02:06 Music as Ministry

03:21 Running and Resilience

04:34 Emotions and Control

06:29 Pause Then Respond

07:52 Baptism Lesson in Humility

10:03 Discipleship After Mission

13:08 DandC 4 Attributes Shift

16:00 Trusting God Story

19:30 Mission Theme Sanctify

22:08 Scriptures and Promises

24:42 Knowing the Father

28:59 Needing Jesus Daily

33:22 Future Plans and Risks

37:54 Can You Feel So Now

39:36 Five Year Faith Advice

41:09 Spanish Testimony Closing

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

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

Podcast host Justin Barton interviews Olivia Armstrong, originally from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, now living in Provo, Utah. hobbies like reading, outdoor activities, hammocking, and thrifting. She served a Spanish-speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Texas, Dallas West Mission from September 25, 2023 to March 26, 2025, sharing how mission life taught her about companionship, humility, and relying on Christ through serious prayer rather than focusing on baptisms. She discusses the challenge of adjusting after coming home, including missing her “people,” slipping into Spanish slang, and struggling to stay spiritually fed while starting a job and returning to school, emphasizing the need to fight for time with God. Olivia explains that her mission focus was building relationships and helping people know Jesus Christ is for them, regardless of whether they join the church, and reflects on a close friendship with someone she taught but did not baptize. She credits Mission President Ord with helping her keep her personality while serving, and shares a framework he taught: God’s love for us and our love for God as the foundation, leading to the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with other topics as “details.” Olivia recounts being driven to her knees during a difficult period with a companion and finding peace and Christlike love through prayer. She describes learning an eternal perspective partly from the movie Inside Out, and contrasts religion (a way of viewing life) with God (a reciprocated relationship), recalling a strong spiritual confirmation in the temple celestial room during her first endowment. Olivia testifies that God’s love is loud and personal through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, answers the show’s Alma 5:26 theme about change of heart and the “song of redeeming love,” and offers a future reminder to herself to return to prayer and dependence on God. The episode ends with Justin inviting Olivia to bear her testimony in Spanish.

00:00 Welcome to the Can You Feel So Now Podcast + Meet Olivia Armstrong

00:36 Olivia’s Background: Colorado to Utah, Mission Call, and New Hobbies

01:18 Family Snapshot: Siblings, Mom, and Stepdad

01:44 Texas Dallas West Mission Culture: First Impressions, Humidity, and Training Shock

03:33 Learning to Be a Better Companion: Pride, Teamwork, and the ‘Triangle’ with the Lord

04:46 What the Mission Was Really About: Prayer, Growth, and Not Just Baptisms

06:21 Coming Home After the Mission: Dates, Re-Entry Whiplash, and Fighting to Stay Spiritually Fed

09:04 “These Are My People”: Relationships Deeper Than Baptism and Why Jesus Christ Is for Everyone

11:44 How Jesus Christ Became Personal: President Ord’s Pyramid (Love, Plan, Gospel, Details)

15:51 Rock-Bottom Balcony Prayer: Anxiety, Companion Struggles, and Finding Christlike Love

20:32 Turning Pain into Perspective: Trauma, Growth, and the Inside Out Lesson

24:03 Lessons from President Ord: Bringing Your Pre-Mission Self with You

24:47 Finding Your Mission Self: Hawaiian Shirt, Nikes & Authenticity

26:33 Reverence Without Losing Personality (Disciples, Agency & ‘Love Is Loud’)

30:46 How ‘Love Is Loud’ Got Refined: From Back-of-Seminary to Real Desire

33:44 Experimenting on the Word: Learning to Pray, Study & Ask for Help

34:47 Religion vs. God: Why Relationship Is the Center

36:42 First Time Prayer Felt Real: Temple Endowment & the Celestial Room

39:02 Final Message: The Atonement Is Proof God’s Love Is Loud

40:32 Change of Heart & Becoming a ‘Spiritual Giant’ Through Doubt

43:24 The Song of Redeeming Love: Hearing It in Everyday Life

45:25 Time-Machine Advice to Future Self: ‘Drive to Your Knees’

47:04 Closing Testimony in Spanish (Wrap-Up)

In this episode of the 'Can You Feel So Now?' podcast, host Justin Barton sits down with Emma Jacobs, a recently returned missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who served in the Spokane, Washington mission. Emma shares her personal journey from pre-mission preparation, where she struggled to find her answer to serve, to the challenges and spiritual growth she experienced during her mission. She talks about the importance of studying 'Preach My Gospel,' the role of charity, and how her understanding of the Atonement and the restoration of the gospel deepened. Emma also discusses how she managed anxiety through prayer and reliance on Heavenly Father and touches upon the significance of joy derived from Jesus Christ. This episode offers profound insights into the life of a missionary and the transformative power of faith.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:46 Mission Details and Experiences

02:14 Pre-Mission Preparation and Challenges

03:35 Learning and Growth During the Mission

08:05 Personal Testimonies and Reflections

22:05 Post-Mission Life and Continuing Faith

24:50 Final Thoughts and Testimony

In this episode of the 'Can You Feel So Now? podcast, host Justin Barton sits down with 21-year-old Carson Stubbs, fresh off his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Spokane, Washington. Carson shares his journey from drifting away from the Church as a teenager to experiencing a profound reconnection with his faith, inspired by his grandparents' mission work. He delves into his dedication to Jesus Christ, the challenges and triumphs of his mission, and how the teachings of the Book of Mormon transformed his outlook on life. Carson also recounts deeply personal moments, including the tragic loss of his brother and how his faith sustained him. The conversation touches on the power of prayer, the significance of the atonement, and the importance of continued spiritual growth to keep the faith vibrant. Carson's heartfelt testimony and experiences provide a compelling insight into the impact of a mission and the profound influence of Jesus Christ in his life.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:22 Carson's Background and Mission Experience

01:34 Struggles with Faith and Rediscovery

03:34 Mission Challenges and Personal Growth

08:36 Understanding the Atonement

20:30 Personal Trials and Spiritual Strength

25:17 Understanding the Change

25:39 Purpose of Returning to Mission

28:28 The Power of Prayer

30:33 Hearing God's Voice

32:26 Adjusting to Home Life

35:03 Future Plans and Reflections

36:38 Scriptural Inspirations

39:10 Final Thoughts and Testimony

Join us in this episode of the 'Can You Feel So Now?' podcast as we sit down with Coby Wells, who recently returned from a two-year mission in the Uruguay, Montevideo mission. Coby shares insights into his life, family, and hobbies, and delves deep into his spiritual journey. He discusses impactful scriptures, his understanding of being 'crucified with Christ,' and recounts an inspiring story of trusting God during a challenging illness. Coby also opens up about his change of heart, the importance of charity, seeing others as God sees them, and the transformative experiences that shaped him on his mission. Don't miss his heartfelt testimony in Spanish!

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:04 Coby's Mission Experience and Impactful Scriptures

02:19 Understanding 'Crucified with Christ'

03:19 Challenges and Trusting God

08:55 Pre-Mission Attitude and Post-Mission Reflections

16:39 Personal Revelation and Guidance

20:35 Post-Mission Goals and Inspirations

25:54 Final Thoughts and Testimony in Spanish

In this episode of 'Can You Feel So Now?' host Justin Barton sits down with Isabel Crofts, a returned missionary from the Washington, Spokane Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Isabel shares her experiences, personal growth, and the challenges she faced during her mission. She discusses the influence of being a twin, adapting spontaneity within the structured mission life, and her unique role working with the Swahili-speaking population. Isabel also reflects on her change of heart, the universality of Jesus Christ's love, and how she aims to integrate these lessons into her future. Join us for an inspiring conversation about faith, service, and personal transformation.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:52 Life as a Twin

01:47 Mission Structure and Challenges

03:04 Serving the Swahili Community

05:07 Personal Growth and Faith

09:36 Understanding Jesus Christ's Role

14:00 Scriptural Inspirations

19:27 Future Aspirations and Service

22:06 Memorable People Who Make a Difference

23:42 The Power of Priesthood Blessings

25:23 Facing Hardships on a Mission

28:25 Battles Worth Fighting

29:57 Lessons from Mission Leadership

30:27 Self-Worth and Giving Your All

35:28 The Reality of Life's Challenges

38:03 Experiencing a Change of Heart

38:55 Singing the Song of Redeeming Love

40:24 Coaching Yourself Through Tough Times

41:44 Testimony in Swahili

In this episode of the 'Can you Feel So Now' podcast, host Justin Barton interviews Becca Wright, a recently returned missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from the Argentina, Salta Mission. Becca shares insights about her mission experience in Salta, Argentina, including how her love for music helped her cope with stress and feel closer to the Spirit. She discusses her personal growth, touching on themes of trust in God, patience, and resilience developed during her mission. Becca recounts transformative experiences during her mission that strengthened her faith and reliance on Jesus Christ, including a powerful experience related to fasting and the role of joy in her life. She also reflects on the challenges of maintaining spiritual practices after returning home and the importance of continuous trust in God. The episode closes with Becca sharing her testimony in Spanish.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:09 Becca's Mission Experience

01:29 The Role of Music in Becca's Life

03:35 Challenges and Faith During the Mission

07:28 Trusting in God's Plan

16:53 Comparison and Personal Growth

20:05 The Importance of Joy

24:50 Post-Mission Reflections

28:25 Final Thoughts and Testimony