Peculiar People Podcast

Kaitlynn Mintz is a senior at the University of Oregon, studying english and creative writing. Originally from southern California, Kaitlynn is a published writer and part time professional cheerleader. She is heavily involved in greek life on campus through her Sorority, Chi Omega. In March of 2018, Kaitlynn was baptized as a member of the LDS church, and on today’s episode, she sits down with Nate to discuss her faith journey, stereotypes, college life as a convert and much more!

@thecarlicast is a Student, Paralegal pursuing a Law Degree and a blogger, who happens to have one of the most interesting life stories you will ever hear. Particularly for someone who is only 24 years old, she is truly special. at Age 22 she became a member of the Church of Jesus christ of Latter Day Saints, and her conversion story is incredible. This is part 1 of a 2 part story detailing her early life and childhood, her crazy family background, introduction to the party scene, drug addiction and more.

Note: In addition to her full time career and studies, Carli runs the @byubarstool account and you can find her as a contributor to the broader Peculiar People community in the future…. more to come!

Krissy Weekley is the founder of Monthly Roamers, a website dedicated to fostering a community of working LDS singles who congregate for a month of working remotely in fantastic destinations across the globe. Founded in 2018, Monthly Roamers just finished their 3rd trip (Costa Rica, Spain, Italy) and it’s really catching on within the LDS Singles community. On this podcast, Nate and Krissy discuss the founding of Roamers and how Krissy capitalized on both her marketing/coding background and her love for travel to create something she’s always wanted to do as an entrepreneur. they discuss the past trips, the demographic of people who’ve come along, the hot goss of who’s fallen in love, and the future of Monthly Roamer trips.

Hayden Davis and Dustin Larsen are young professionals living in new york city, they are both active members of the LDS church, openly gay and have been foundational in starting a movement toward inclusion within the church by starting and promoting a weekly scripture study group for LGBTQ members and their friends within their wards. The program has spread like wildfire and not only strengthened testimonies, but helped people find a comfortable place where they can find common ground and help each other along their journey. On this episode, Dustin and Hayden discuss how they came to find and iterate this program, their life and struggle with being gay and Mormon, as well as what has helped sustain them and bring them back to their faith while still having many unanswered questions. They discuss the future both culturally and doctrinally, mental health, pride week, and what a “grandpa gay” is.

Jenn Blosil is an incredibly talented singer/songwriter/musician based out of Orem Utah. born in Vienna, Austria Jenn discovered her love of music at age 4 when she began playing piano. Jenn grew up in Orem, Utah and began writing her own songs at age 12. She took her technical training and transitioned her love of music from classical to rock and has crafted songs of a unique sound that blends every genre in between. Initially shy about performing, Jenn was peer-pressured into her first solo performance at Velour at the age of 16 - and she knew then and there that music was her calling. Jenn used a Kickstarter campaign to launch her first album at the age of 21, and released it days before leaving on an LDS mission to New York. Since then she has performed all over the country, touring and working with some of the most well known artists in the industry. She even had a stint on American Idol, placing in the top 14. On this episode, Nate and Jenn sit down to discuss her life and the role her testimony has played in her music. Jenn dishes on bullying, being uncompromising when you know what you want, and handling the successes and failures that come from chasing your dream. Stay tuned to the end of the episode, where Jenn gives us a preview from her upcoming album with a live performance of the song “woman” (01:17:07).

May is Mental Health awareness month, and with so many people struggling with their mental health and stigmas surrounding talking about it, we felt it was a great time to have a podcast about the topic. this issue affects everyone, but particularly the youth and particularly LDS youth.

You Got This is a not for profit organization who’s mission is to build, improve and maintaining relationships in schools, business, and communities to establish an early suicide prevention system. Based in Utah, where the statistics surrounding teen suicide are alarming to say the least, the organization was founded to surround, support and connect people dealing wiht mental health related issues, particularly in youth. “Despite its prevalence in our society, most people don’t feel comfortable talking about suicide. When faced with a child experiencing feelings of depression or hopelessness, many parents don’t know to respond. The goal of the new suicide prevention system You Got This is to change all of that. Inputs vs. Outputs: Suicide is an outcome of negative inputs. We train students and staff on the value of making positive deposits in others and the dangers of making negative withdrawals. Helping students understand being Vulnerable is Valuable, and thatSaying is Saving. Aligning research-based strategies with school and community resources to build protective assets in our students as Connection is the Best Prevention”

In this episode we speak with Brandy Reynolds, who has worked with the organization for years putting on softball events and acting as an advocate for the organization. She herself has had a loved one who passed due to suicide and is a passionate ambassador for Mental Health Awareness.

Judy Pham is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who grew up Buddhist in Northern California as a child or Vietnamese Immigrants. She moved to New York as a teenager and lived there for 10 years before moving back to the West Coast. Judy has was chosen to share her experiences at the recent Mormon Studies Conference at Claremont University as part of a panel of 4 LDS people discussing Millennials and mormonism. On today’s episode Judy and Nate discuss the fascinating statistics regarding Millennials and their influence on changes in church culture, policy, politics and more. She provides some very thought provoking ideas that were shared regarding LDS singles, LGBTQ issues, Millennial men leaving the church, Race and socioeconomic status within the church and the differences between culture across locations.

Keaton Hill is a BYU student from Arizona, studying politics and living the college life in Provo, UT. He is a member of the LDS church, and also runs the hilarious and highly popular instagram account @basicprovobro, which uses memes to parody the Peculiarities of LDS culture, particularly those of young single adults living in Utah. His instagram account has almost 40,000 followers and, in combination with other LDS focused meme accounts, has received a lot of attention for hilarious content as well as stirring some controversy. On tonight’s episode, Keaton sits down with Nate to discuss his “persona” as basic provo bro, along with some of the memes, moments and controversial posts that have driven conversation among his followers . They talk about misconceptions about social media, what people are particularly offended by and why we all should learn to take ourselves a little less seriously.

Richard Ostler is a 58 year old small business owner, former YSA bishop, husband and father of 6 children. He started a podcast in February 2018 called Listen, Learn and Love which shares the stories of the LGBTQ community within the LDS Church . From their website, “Listen, Learn, and Love was created out of the desire to better understand our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. We believe in God and in His decree to love one another, and this website is one of the ways in which we hope to foster that love and understanding”. Richard has posted almost 100 episodes of his podcast in just over a year! On this episode Nate sits down with Richard to discuss who he is and why he felt it was necessary to devote a website and podcast entirely to LGBTQ issues (05:00). They discuss How his mindset is different from many of his peers (15:30), the concept of “Church Generated Pain (35:30) and Richard tells some of the stories he’s heard that have had a lasting affect on him (50:30). They talk about the perfectionism culture in the church community and feelings of shame that can often come with sin, but how that is the beauty of the atonement and the beauty of progression (1:08:30) and then wrap up with a discussion about how great a time it is to be alive and what he foresees in the future (01:15:30).

Saints Unscripted is a popular YouTube television program that uses a roundtable format of 3-4 “hosts” to discuss a myriad topics relevant to members or investigators of the LDS church. The program was founded in 2016 by BYU students and has since released 231 videos, with topics ranging from the comical to the spiritual, the doctrinal to the cultural and everything in between. On today’s episode Rachel (producer), Justin (host) and Nate discuss the shows beginning, how it has evolved over time from content to hosts to format, its growing popularity and some of the many important topics that the show has taken on. Show content includes topics like - the unique beliefs held by member of the lds church, same-sex attraction, divorce, mental illness, how to handle being a recent convert to the church - and many more. Look for a special episode of Saints Unscripted featuring us at Peculiar People very soon!