Return Missionary Next Chapters

Christina Franklin shares a deeply personal story about faith, obedience, and learning to follow God even when the path is frightening or unexpected. From living in multiple states as a child to serving in Venezuela and later navigating difficult pregnancies, neurodiverse children, and health challenges, this conversation focuses on how she learned to mourn, adapt, and keep moving forward.We discuss how her early life shaped her resilience, how mission service refined her ability to hear the Lord, and how she learned that God does not always remove hardship, but often makes it light.

Key topics

• Christina shares how growing up in Louisiana, Chicago, Houston, and Wyoming taught her to meet new people, handle loneliness, and see goodness across many different kinds of people.
• She explains how being raised in a family rooted in scripture helped her develop a personal relationship with God early in life, including reading the Book of Mormon by herself by fifth grade.
• She talks about the spiritual wrestle she experienced before serving a mission and how she had to reach a place of wanting whatever God wanted, not just what she wanted.
• Christina describes her mission to Venezuela, including serving in Caracas, the Amazon, and later Aruba, and how those experiences taught her to recognize the Lord’s voice more clearly.
• She shares several moments of protection and guidance on her mission, including being spared from accidents, illness, and dangerous situations.
• We discuss how coming home from a mission can be lonely and disorienting, and Christina offers three key suggestions: find good people, have hope, and get busy.
• Christina explains how she felt prompted to become a nurse, even though she originally wanted to be a doctor, and how that decision changed the entire course of her life.
• She talks about being prompted to cross-train in the emergency room, even though it felt scary, and how that decision led to a long-term job she still holds 20 years later.
• Christina opens up about severe hyperemesis during pregnancy, including a humanitarian trip to Ecuador while she was in her first trimester and constantly vomiting.
• She reflects on the idea that suffering can become a blessing in hindsight, and discusses the difference between being protected and being preserved by God.
• Christina shares the challenges of raising four children, including ADHD, autism, bullying, and therapy, and how she learned to mourn unmet expectations instead of pretending they did not hurt.
• She gives practical examples of praying over parenting decisions, from choosing activities for her children to helping her autistic son find work and purpose.
• She explains how God often guided her only one step at a time rather than solving everything at once.
• In the final section, Christina says that even during hard seasons, Jesus Christ makes burdens light, and that her life has been evidence of that truth.

Ezra shares a life shaped by service, resilience, and steady faith. From growing up in Show Low, Arizona, to serving a mission in Rapid City, South Dakota, and later working in firefighting, law enforcement, hospice, and mortuary care, his story centers on helping people through crisis and grief. He also opens up about divorce, the meaning of his temple marriage, and the brutal recovery from a tumor, sepsis, and an 11-hour Whipple procedure.In this episode, we hear how Ezra’s upbringing, missionary habits, and belief in keeping the Spirit close carried him through the hardest seasons of life.

Key topics

• Ezra grew up in Show Low, Arizona, and stayed in the same school from first through twelfth grade, giving him a strong sense of rootedness and community.
• He explains how his mother named him after Ezra Taft Benson, including the family connection to Benson’s birthday and the scripture Ezra 10:4 that became a lifelong anchor for him.
• Ezra describes his missionary family, with siblings serving in Ecuador, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Brazil, Arkansas, and his mother later serving as well.
• He shares how his own mission call to the Rapid City, South Dakota Mission felt almost providential, including the story of being led to the same mission area once served by a friend.
• Ezra reflects on the biggest lesson from his mission: he is not the teacher, only a tool or vessel, and the Spirit is what actually teaches people.
• He discusses coming home from his mission, adjusting to life without a companion, and helping his father with branch work on the reservation while rebuilding a normal routine.
• Ezra opens up about his first marriage, the challenge of being “opposites,” the pain of divorce, and the two children that came through that relationship after years of miscarriages and medical uncertainty.
• He talks about a severe viral meningitis illness that forced him to sell a 30,000-card sports collection, then later led him to work at the Mesa Temple as a gardener and eventually lead gardener for 12 years.
• Ezra explains how his unusual career path through firefighting, law enforcement, behavioral health, hospice chaplaincy, and mortuary work all fit his lifelong drive to serve.
• He shares why hospice was the most rewarding work he ever did, describing how listening to older adults helped them realize their stories, wisdom, and relationships still mattered.
• Ezra recounts his recent cancer crisis, including pancreatitis, sepsis, a blocked stent, and the difficult decision to proceed with a Whipple procedure that turned into an 11-hour surgery.
• He describes the emotional toll of recovery, the weight loss, the long hospital stay, and the peace he felt during surgery despite the danger.
• Ezra explains how his family history of heart failure made him wonder whether he was nearing the end, and how he felt his deceased parents stay emotionally distant until he began recovering.
• He introduces Core Strong for Life, a nonprofit focused on concentrating on eternal values, relationships, kindness, gratitude, and helping people stay centered on what matters most.
• Ezra shares the story behind Tenny’s Sweet and Sassy Treats, a dessert shop built around his wife’s long history in the restaurant business and her gift for making people feel welcome.

Macy Lemmon shares the story of growing up in a dance family, competing at a high level, serving a mission, and then navigating the emotional reset that came after returning home. This conversation is especially useful for anyone trying to figure out how identity, faith, purpose, and performance intersect after a major life transition.We discuss the pressure and sisterhood of collegiate dance, the confidence crash that followed her mission, and how she slowly rebuilt a sense of peace, direction, and trust in God.

Key topics

• In this episode: Macy describes growing up in Southern California in a family where dance was part of daily life, with a mother who taught dance and an older sister who also teaches at the studio.
• We discuss: How dance became both an artistic and athletic pursuit for her, especially at the collegiate level where discipline, repetition, and team unity mattered just as much as individual skill.
• Macy shares: Her experience winning a world championship gold medal while dancing for Weber State and what it felt like to compete as part of a USA team.
• In this episode: The intense culture of collegiate dance, including learning routines from video, running stadium stairs after mistakes, and building a team environment where everyone had to be fully committed.
• We discuss: The mental strain of dance, including body comparison, mirror work, and the pressure to match the look and timing of the people around you.
• Macy shares: Why she originally did not want to serve a mission because she wanted to pursue dance in college, and how that path shifted after a relationship fell apart.
• In this episode: The difficult transition home from her mission, when confidence dropped, dance felt out of reach, and she

In this conversation, Dr. Ray Price shares the experiences that shaped his life, from growing up in a military and church-centered family to serving a mission in Thailand and building a career in surgery and global health. He reflects on faith, grief, decision-making, and the recurring pattern of feeling prompted to serve where the need is greatest. We discuss how his testimony developed, why he chose medicine, how Thailand changed his view of service, and why he has spent so much of his career helping expand surgical care in places like Mongolia and Cambodia. He also offers direct advice for return missionaries trying to figure out what comes next.

Key topics:

• How being raised in an Air Force and church-active family shaped his values, discipline, and sense of duty.
• He describes a formative conversion experience in seminary, when a teacher challenged him to seek his own testimony of the Book of Mormon rather than rely on anyone else’s.
• He talks about being called to Thailand, arriving in Bangkok with no real understanding of the country, and learning to love the Thai people through rural service.
• He recounts a powerful incident in Bangkok where he helped carry an injured woman to the hospital, an experience that stayed with him and deepened his sense of responsibility to strangers.
• He reflects on his medical training and the unexpected role of the September 11 attacks in confirming his desire to spend his skills on global humanitarian work.
• He explains how family tragedies, including the death of a son and the disability and later death of a daughter, shaped his faith and his understanding of mortality.
• He shares how a series of personal promptings led him into international surgical work in Mongolia, where he helped expand laparoscopic surgery across the country.
• He describes how that work later expanded into Cambodia and how prayer, partnerships, and persistence helped move projects forward despite limited resources.
• He offers advice to returning missionaries: keep the Lord close, read the Book of Mormon daily, seek answers through prayer, and find purpose by reaching out to help others.
• He closes with a reflection on grief and eternal hope, sharing how belief in the plan of salvation helps him and his family face loss.

This conversation follows Katie’s path from growing up in the Midwest and serving a mission in Ukraine to becoming an English teacher, losing loved ones, and navigating a major health scare. It matters because she speaks candidly about grief, singleness, spiritual resilience, and how daily habits become a lifeline when life does not go as planned. We discuss Katie’s upbringing, her mission in Ukraine and sudden evacuation, the losses she carried as a teacher and sister, and the perspective that helped her rebuild hope. Her story is deeply personal, but the lessons are widely useful for anyone trying to endure hard chapters with faith and steadiness.

Key topics

• Katie shares what it was like growing up just north of Chicago in a small church community, where religious diversity made faith feel normal rather than isolating.
• In this episode, she explains how early morning seminary in Midwest winters prepared her for the cold and discipline of mission life.
• We discuss how the age change for sister missionaries opened the door for her to serve in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission while she was in college.
• Katie describes the slow build of unrest in Ukraine, the abrupt evacuation in April 2014, and the devastating moment of seeing tanks heading into Donetsk as her mission train left.
• She talks about being reassigned to Arizona for the final four months of her mission and how structure, service, and a caring mission president helped her recover.
• Katie shares how returning to Ukraine later, this time to help Ukrainian refugees in Prague, became a healing experience and a way to give back.
• We discuss why she did not want to be a teacher at first, how English tutoring changed her mind, and why she eventually committed to teaching at Maple Mountain High School.
• Katie reflects on losing four students in about two years, including one death by suicide, and how she learned to model grief honestly without burdening her students.
• She opens up about losing her sister, describing it as if “half of your body” had been amputated, and how that loss pushed her to rely more fully on Jesus Christ.
• Katie explains her health crisis, including a tumor on her uterus, the months of uncertainty, and the spiritual answer she received in the temple that changed how she understood joy, motherhood, and her own worth.

Show Overview

In this episode, Erika shares a deeply personal story of growing up in upstate New York, navigating family change, and wrestling with mental health struggles through her teen years and into college. What makes this conversation matter is not just the hard seasons she faced, but how she slowly rebuilt trust in herself, in others, and in God.

We follow Erika’s path from church disconnection and resentment to a surprising return to faith, a mission experience, and a new calling toward helping kids through school psychology. It is a story about grief, agency, healing, and learning to take life one small step at a time.

Key Topics

 -Growing up in a close-knit Latter-day Saint family near Rochester, New York, with strong church involvement, animals at home, and early morning seminary shaping her life.

 -A major turning point in seventh grade when Erika's parents share that her older sister is gay, triggering confusion, grief, anger, and later resentment toward the church and its teachings.

 -Feeling like an outsider in middle school, where losing confidence and struggling to make friends fed into deeper emotional struggles.

 -Receiving a diagnosis of an eating disorder and anxiety in eighth grade, followed by inpatient treatment while trying to keep up with school.

 -Deepening mental health struggles after close church friends moved away, leading to residential treatment in Denver.

 -Stopping prayer and church attendance, eventually coming to view the church culture as harmful around perfectionism and rigid expectations.

 -How COVID-19 and online college deepened her isolation, and how mountain biking became an important coping outlet to keep her grounded.

 -An unexpected relationship with Nate and his family, who show patience, authenticity, and steady love while she is openly critical of the church.

 -Returning to church to support Nate’s family, which leads to a powerful spiritual experience that changes her perspective on her faith journey.

 -Deciding to serve a mission after receiving a patriarchal blessing, feeling pulled toward service while rebuilding her faith.

 -Reflecting on her mission as a space where her lived experiences allowed her to listen well and understand others navigating fear, grief, and uncertainty.

 -Her transition after returning home, moving away from Rochester, and choosing a new direction in school psychology to support children who feel unseen.

Timestamps

 (00:00) Pre-interview setup, family stories, and privacy boundaries

 (02:15) Upstate New York childhood, early church life, and family dynamics

 (05:00) Sister’s coming out in middle school and shifting perceptions of faith

 (08:20) Early mental health struggles, eating disorder diagnosis, and treatment

 (11:45) Deepening isolation, residential care in Denver, and distance from the church

 (14:30) COVID, online college, and finding grounding through mountain biking

 (17:10) Meeting Nate's family, unexpected support, and reconsidering faith

 (20:05) Returning to church and experiencing a pivotal spiritual moment

 (23:00) The decision to serve a mission and navigating the approval process

 (25:45) Serving as a steady listener and helping others through shared trials

 (28:30) Post-mission transitions, choosing school psychology, and moving forward

 (31:10) Practical wisdom for navigating depression: taking life one hour at a time

In this episode Austin Bunkall shares his experience serving a mission in Argentina, including the pressure he felt to be perfect, the panic attack that led him to return home early, and the emotional recovery that followed. It also explores how grief, therapy, family support, and a stronger personal relationship with God helped him rebuild his life.

We discuss Austin’s upbringing, his missionary call, the mental health crisis that changed his mission, and how he later found stability through church service, work, marriage, and fatherhood.

Key topics

• Austin grew up in a sports focused family in Utah and played football and wrestling, including as an offensive left tackle.
• He explains that his mission call to Argentina was exciting but also overwhelming, especially with the pressure to live up to others’ expectations.
• The MTC experience was intense because he was learning Spanish, preparing to teach the gospel, and adjusting to a new environment with many missionaries around him.
• Once in Argentina, he felt increasing pressure to be perfect and responsible for others’ spiritual progress, which became emotionally exhausting.
• Near the end of his mission, Austin experienced a severe anxiety attack, left his apartment without telling his companion, and spent hours wandering alone before returning.
• Mission leaders responded with compassion, brought him to the mission office, and helped him decide to return home.
• After coming home, Austin struggled with shame and guilt, even when his family welcomed him with love and celebration.
• He received mental health support after returning and describes therapy as a major part of learning self awareness, emotional maturity, and self acceptance.
• Austin reflects on grace, self love, and the idea that loving others is much harder when you cannot accept love for yourself.
• He shares how the suicides of two family members deeply affected him, especially after reconnecting with his brother before his death.
• Despite early return and grief, Austin stayed active in the church, served in leadership roles, and focused on helping others rather than turning away from faith.

••He now works as a sports massage therapist, is married, and has a young son, which he describes as one of the most meaningful parts of his life.

Episode Summary

In this episode we sit down with Ellie Johnson—creator and host of The Guide Podcast—to talk about faith, timing, and what happens when you step away from your own plans to follow a prompting. Growing up in Texas as one of five daughters, Ellie was hyper-aware of representing her faith. Although she initially swore she would never serve a mission, a persistent prompting at age 15 eventually led her to serve in the Hawaii Laie Mission.

Ellie opens up about the tough decision to pause a rapidly growing podcast that had already reached over a million downloads worldwide to focus entirely on full-time missionary service. We dive into her time serving at the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors' Center, the profound perspective shifts she gained about connection and storytelling, and the honest reality of transitioning back to everyday life at BYU. If you’re navigating a post-mission transition, trying to hear divine direction amidst the noise, or waiting on your next "green light," Ellie’s grounded wisdom will leave you inspired and encouraged.

Key Messages & Takeaways

 Promptings Take Time to Unfold: A spiritual nudge received at age 15 became the foundation for a life-changing mission call four years later.

 Surrendering Your Own Platform: Laying down a successful project to focus on spiritual growth often opens the door to deeper purpose and transformation.

 Reframing Inadequacy: Moving from the mindset of "I can't do this" to "God can" shifts how we face daunting assignments.

 Finding Christ in the Everyday: God isn't only found in the temple or on a mission; He speaks in stoplights, ordinary classes, daily drives, and quiet waiting periods.

 Navigating the Post-Mission Shift: Returning home and finding your footing in college, dating, or a career is rarely a straight line—patience with God's timing is essential when you feel stuck between chapters.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

 Growing Up in Texas: How an upbringing among horses, five sisters, and being a visible representation of her faith shaped Ellie's storytelling.

 The Mission Decision: Moving from "I'm never serving a mission" to accepting a call to the Hawaii Laie Mission Visitor Center.

 Pausing The Guide Podcast: What it felt like to walk away from a platform with over a million downloads to serve the Lord full-time.

 Transformative Encounters in Hawaii: Specific experiences at the Visitors' Center that reshaped her understanding of the Savior, His church, and authentic connection.

 The BYU Transition & Post-Mission Life: Honest reflections on the highs, lows, and social adjustments during her first years back home.

 Trusting God's Timing: Practical ways Ellie includes Jesus Christ in her day-to-day decisions today compared to before her mission.

 Advice for Returned Missionaries: Words of encouragement for anyone currently struggling to figure out where they fit in after a major life chapter.

About the Guest

Ellie Johnson is the creator and host of The Guide Podcast, an inspiring show that has surpassed one million downloads and reached listeners worldwide. She is currently studying American Studies at Brigham Young University. Through her platform and story, Ellie blends authentic faith, relatable humor, and grounded wisdom to help others stay connected to Jesus Christ in everyday life.

David Sturt shares his life shaped by faith, hard work, and unexpected turns, from childhood in Cape Town to mission service in Texas and Kenya, and throughout his leadership at O.C. Tanner. Along the way, he explains how his book The Great Work grew out of research on thousands of award-winning employees and the simple habits that help ordinary people do extraordinary things. We discuss how early experiences in nature, mission culture, marriage, leadership, and career uncertainty all connect to one central idea - the value of showing up faithfully and making a difference where you are.

Key topics

• David shares his childhood in Cape Town, South Africa, including farm visits, river fishing, strict school discipline, and learning to respect wildlife like baboons.
• He explains how growing up around missionaries shaped his desire to serve a mission and why it never felt like a burden.
• He describes being called to Texas unexpectedly and how his mission president’s question, “How’s your faith?” became a defining theme of his mission.
• He talks about returning home exhausted, recovering, and channeling mission habits into school and career preparation.
• He reflects on studying at BYU and earning an MBA, even though he once thought he would never go there.
• He tells the story of meeting Stacy, realizing quickly that she had a kind of “light,” and building a relationship through conversation, friendship, and shared values.
• He explains what O.C. Tanner actually does, focusing on employee appreciation, recognition, and research-backed ways organizations honor great work.
• He walks through the origin of The Great Work, including the data set of 10,000 award write-ups, 250 interviews, and the search for patterns in how people make meaningful contributions.
• He shares one standout example from the research: Marty, the engineer who helped invent the cell phone by asking better questions and challenging the original assignment.
• He describes his mission call to Kenya Nairobi, the intensity of leadership there, and the miracles, risks, and growth that came with supervising a large and rapidly expanding mission.

Timestamps

(00:00) Pre-show setup and correcting the guest bio
 (00:56) Introduction to David and his early life in Cape Town
 (01:24) Growing up around farms, rivers, fishing, and strict schooling
 (03:08) How to safely handle baboons in South Africa
 (04:03) Solitary outdoor time, dogs, and formative childhood memories
 (05:46) Why David always planned to serve a mission
 (07:25) Family conversion, gratitude, and gospel-centered home life
 (08:12) A father still playing golf at 98
 (08:54) Surprised to be called to Texas instead of another international assignment
 (09:23) Why Texas became the perfect mission field
 (10:23) The mission president’s question: “How’s your faith?”
 (12:52) Recovering from mission intensity and resetting at home
 (13:45) Mission discipline turning into seriousness about education
 (15:59) Work ethic from mission life carrying into his career
 (17:23) Going to BYU after once expecting never to
 (18:34) Meeting Stacy and the unexpected first date
 (20:47) Recognizing character, purity, and spiritual alignment in Stacy
 (24:08) Marriage as partnership, flexibility, and shared effort
 (27:50) What O.C. Tanner does and why people confuse it with jewelry
 (31:18) The origin of The Great Work and the research question behind it
(33:39) Coding 10,000 award write-ups and finding patterns in extraordinary work
(35:36) Interviewing Marty, inventor of the cell phone
(38:16) Why everyone can make a difference in ordinary work
(39:53) Bringing leadership and recognition ideas into mission leadership
(41:41) Giving missionaries the book only at the end of their service
(43:38) The unexpected call to serve as a mission president in Kenya Nairobi
(45:05) Arriving in Kenya during elections, riots, and rapid church growth
(45:29) The scale of the mission and why it eventually had to be split
(46:15) Feeling overwhelmed and learning to rely on the Lord
(47:59) A life-threatening riot situation and the rescue of missionaries by motorcycle
(48:45) Advice for returning missionaries and anyone facing a major life transition
(51:01) Why you should follow your interests, pray, and take life step by step
 

In this interview, Cambodian born and raised Borey Sem opens up about her difficult upbringing, unlikely conversion, missionary service, mental health struggles, family tensions, and the choices that led her to a future in communications.

Key topics

• Borey grew up in a rural Cambodian village in a Buddhist family, but says religion was often practiced more as tradition than deep belief.
• She describes an abusive home, limited technology, no electricity in parts of childhood, and a community that gathered around shared television viewings.
• At 14, she was looking for free English classes and found missionaries through a flyer her mother received.
• The missionaries taught English and introduced the gospel, which Borey says felt very different from the negative stories she had heard about Christianity in her village.
• She explains that the doctrine of the Atonement helped her understand repentance as release from guilt, not just punishment for mistakes.
• Family and neighbors strongly discouraged her from joining the Church, and she faced social pressure, fear, and isolation as a young convert.
• Borey shares a memorable story about her father agreeing to baptism only if she could speak English well, leading to a humorous moment where she improvised enough English to convince him.
• After high school, she struggled financially, worked multiple jobs, and eventually left church activity for a time during a period of family crisis, debt, and emotional burnout.
• A friend and a temple conference experience helped her begin returning to Christ, even while she felt unworthy and ashamed.
• Serving in FSY and later on a mission strengthened her testimony, and she especially loved helping people through online teaching because she understood what it felt like to be hesitant about in-person meetings.
• After her mission, she found purpose in nonprofit work serving Cambodians, while also trying to keep missionary habits like scripture study, planning, and staying spiritually balanced.
• She later chose to return to BYU Hawaii instead of staying in full-time work, believing education would help her serve her people more effectively in the future.
• Borey also shares the joy of seeing family progress toward the Church, including cousins and younger relatives who chose to learn from missionaries and be baptized.

Timestamps

(0:00) Setting the stage for the interview and what Borey will share
 (2:01) Borey’s welcome and growing up in Cambodia
 (4:36) Life without much technology or electricity
 (7:41) The free English class that led to meeting missionaries
 (8:58) Family and village concerns about Christianity
 (9:11) Why the gospel felt different from what she had heard before
 (10:59) Understanding guilt, repentance, and the Atonement
 (11:18) The baptism request and her father’s English challenge
 (12:45) Church membership in a small village and community pressure
 (14:13) Working to pay for church travel and family hardship
 (18:58) A prayer for help and the friend who called her back
 (20:24) Seeing President Russell M. Nelson in Cambodia
 (24:31) FSY leadership and the desire to serve a mission
 (27:22) Preparing for a mission without family support
 (31:41) Serving through online teaching on the mission
 (33:43) Returning home, nonprofit work, and keeping mission habits
 (38:36) Culture shock and deciding between work and BYU Hawaii
 (41:21) Family members beginning to accept the Church
 (43:33) Advice for people in dark, lonely, or overwhelming seasons
 (44:42) Borey’s closing thought: hard times can lead to something beautiful