How Great Shall Be My Joy!

Send us Fan MailJoin me in this latest episode recorded live on May 9 of 2026 from the Frankfurt train station in Frankfurt Germany. This is the number one site or city if you will that downloads my podcast around the world out of some 600 or so cities! I am thrilled in this episode to share three stories of outstanding men, all of whom I met in the last couple of days on my four temple, four day trip to Europe to celebrate my 68th birthday. You’ll learn about a young man who helped me recharge my phone both in the short term and long-term methods. You’ll learn about a member of the Hague Netherlands presidency who made me feel right at home after having after testing waiting for the temple to open and the night in the parking lot outside their temple, and you’ll also learn about a young man who conducted the temple session this morning in the Frankfurt Germany temple, who is a terrific example of the kind of young man that the Lord is really pleased with. All three of these excellent men made an impression on my life and exhibited the qualities that make for great member missionaries. Enjoy this wonderful episode as much as I’m enjoying recording it for you from the number one worldwide site that downloads this podcast, the Frankfurt Main train station in Frankfurt, Germany! 

Send us Fan MailEnjoy this interview with 6 full-time missionaries from the Washington DC North Mission: Elder White (St. George, Utah), Elder Larsen (Draper, Utah), Elder Cushing (Ridgecrest, CA). Elder Edwards (Tooele, Utah), Sister Watts (Gilbert, AZ), and Sister Adams (Nampa, ID) Find out why these talented young people, ages 18-21, spend 60 hours a week telling people about Jesus Christ and how they find joy doing it! Learn from other members’ efforts to be effective member missionaries and what has brought them success! God bless these wonderful full-time missionaries for their dedication and determination!

Send us Fan MailHow would you like to be in the top 1% of all member missionaries in the Church? I believe there’s a simple and easy way to do that using Facebook and activities that are currently going on in your ward.Five weeks ago, I started doing weekly posts on Facebook either highlighting podcast episodes or just highlighting people in our ward who are involved in our weekly Bible study class. I pay $1 a day to boost those posts. That’s only $7 in a week! But in five weeks over 5000 people have seen the posts and over 1100 people have engaged in the posts!  More importantly, they have become aware of our weekly Bible study class or the conversion stories of some wonderful people in our ward. I’m on a mission to help people feel joy when they hear the words “member missionary work” instead of thinking of the word “guilt” in its place. I believe using simple procedures, anybody can become a very effective member missionary by using the technology at their disposal. Enjoy these stories of what we’ve done in the last five weeks and a special shout out to my friends in Frankfurt Germany, for being the NUMBER ONE city in the world 🌎 that listens to this podcast! I’ll be at your temple on Friday, September 5 at 10 AM! Come say hi! God bless you wonderful saints! 🙏

Send us Fan MailAdopted. Jewish ancestry. Abandoned. Christian upbringing. Heavy drinking. Suicide attempts. No money. Had to leave home. And he’s still only 17…Then the Book of Mormon and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came into his life—miraculously. It was a sister missionary who showed up at his door late one evening and encouraged him to continue reading the Book of Mormon that did the trick. She simply said two words: “Finish it! “ That’s all Eli Reynolds, of Chattanooga, Tennessee needed to hear. He DID finish it—AND IT CHANGED HIS LIFE  Now a 19 year-old resident of Washington DC—and a member of the Church for six months—Eli’s story and the pure joy he radiates from his love of the gospel is something you need to know about AND FEEL.Enjoy this podcast episode and share it with anyone who needs more joy! In the 60 years I’ve watched people of all ages join the Church, NO ONE that I’ve seen has gotten off to a more solid and fast start as a member of the Church than Eli. Thank you, Eli! It was a privilege! 

Send us Fan MailMichael Vaughan is a simple man with a simple story. He visited 22 different churches before he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.When I asked him to sum up what his experience had been like, he kept it very simple: “Just come to church once,” he said, “… and see how you feel.“ Michael usually sits at the sacrament table and helps bless the sacrament every week in our ward. He’s always there. And he’s happy.Enjoy this brief conversation I had with him and see if you can catch the spirit of Michael Vaughan. I don’t think it will be very hard. It wasn’t for me!Thank you, Michael, for being a guest on our podcast!

Send us Fan MailDid you ever wish you just had a business card that you could give to anyone anytime anywhere that invited them to come to church with you? Well, a couple of weeks ago I created just that for our ward in Washington DC.For a whopping total of $33, including shipping, I designed a business card on Vistaprint that invites people to come to church with us on Sundays, and gives them all the information they need to do so!Last Sunday I went to church with a box of 250 of them and gave all of them out! Many members came up to me and asked for more cards so they could give them to friends. It makes it so easy for members of the church to invite people to come worship with us. And it’s the perfect way to practice love share an invite which we’ve been encouraged to do by our church leaders. Enjoy this episode discussing not only the cards themselves, but ways that they’ve been used just in the last week to help the Savior make people aware  of where they can come to get the truth!Enjoy!

Send us Fan MailI've known her since high school. She was the accompanist for our acapella choir. She was really good.In 2010, she uploaded her first music video to the new channel, Youtube. She hoped it would get 100 views. In three weeks, it got over 100,000 views.Now, 14 years later, her Christian songs have been viewed over 50 million times!Enjoy this podcast episode where I interview my friend of over 50 years to find out how she does what she does. Learn why she positions herself as a "Christian songwriter." Subscribe to her Youtube channel, @ShawnaEdwardsMusic. Enjoy her wonderful videos, including such hits as A Miracle and Risen.Catch the vision of what a person can do by using their talents to make the world a better place like Shawna has done. Listen as she tells some stories about what her music has done to help various people, including keeping one person alive.It is an inspiring story of how Christian music can bring people closer to Christ, which is what member missionary work is all about.Thank you, Shawna! Keep up the great work!

Send us Fan MailToday I had the privilege of interviewing performing celebrity Merrill Osmond. The location was the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center, where he and his wife, Mary, are serving a full-time mission.What a joy to hear about his lifetime of service as a member missionary! Did you know some people are called by the First Presidency to be "lifetime missionaries"? It happened to Merrill and his family of siblings when he was only 15. Listen to him tell about that experience in this episode!Did you know that he considers his mother to be the best member missionary in the family? Hear how she presented the Queen of England with a copy of the Book of Mormon on the first time she met Her Magesty!Did you know that trials and tough tests in life happen even to celebrities? Listen to how Merrill handled the death of his 33 year-old son with grace and faith.Did you know that Merrill lists 18 scriptures from the Bible on his website to document the Restoration of the Church in our day? Finally, do you know anyone who has been granted Knights Templar of Portugal status, something that has to be approved by the Pope? Merrill has.Enjoy this wonderful interview with my friend Merrill Osmond and learn how you can also use the principles he uses to be a successful life-long member missionary!Thank you, Merrill! And thanks for allowing me to do a duet with an Osmond! We end this podcast by singing the closing number Donny and Marie performed at the end of each show on ABC. The lyrics and the song, of course, were written by Merrill and Alan!

Send us Fan MailI first met Lewis Bramley a year ago when he moved into the Washington DC 3rd Ward. I was struck by his beautiful Scottish accent.I was fortunate as the ward mission leader that they called Louis and his wife, Gillian, to be ward missionaries. At one of their first correlation meetings, I invited them to tell us their story. Lewis’ conversion story really touched my heart. Consequently, I’m sharing it here with the whole world!From his childhood in Scotland, to his miraculous conversion there, to his full-time mission in Greece, to going to school in Utah and meeting his wife in class, then moving to Washington DC—this is an amazing story of a young man who found the truth and held onto it with everything he had.I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! It will strengthen your testimony.

Send us Fan MailThe Washington DC Temple Open House is currently going on. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit and share with five people the opportunity to visit our temple open house. It’s rare that that many missionary opportunities naturally surface in one day, so I made it the topic of this podcast. Whether at work, at the actual open house, or in an elevator, natural opportunities to help point others to the temple are all around us. Being involved in these opportunities brings a lot of joy. And joy is what member missionary work is all about. Enjoy this podcast! 

Send us Fan MailHola es la palabra en ingles por hola. Así es como tienden a comenzar todas las relaciones nuevas: alguien dice hola. También es el acrónimo perfecto para guiar a las personas en la obra misional exitosa de los miembros. La H significa hola o cómo hacer esto; la O significa observar, la L significa escuchar y la a significa actuar. Seguir este sencillo acrónimo le ayudará a ser un mejor miembro misionero.

Send us Fan MailHola (Oh-law)  is the Spanish word for hello. It’s how all new relationships tend to start out: somebody says hello. It’s also a perfect acronym to guide people involved in member missionary work. The H stands for How, (we then insert the preposition “to”), the O stands for Observe, the L for Listen, and the A for Act. How to Observe, Listen, and Act as a Member Missionary. This episode gives examples of how these steps have worked over and over for me in my day-to-day activities. Whether I step into a McDonald’s, a gas station, a grocery store, or I’m driving down the freeway, the same steps surface and allow me to be an instrument in the Lords hands to help move forward His latter-day work.I am particularly excited for my next episode, which will be this same episode, simply translated into Spanish. It will be the first episode of some 36 episodes that has actually been recorded in Spanish. Remember this acronym Olah and use it to guide you in assisting the Lord by Observing, Listening, and Acting on the situations he will drop in your pathway. You will be successful if you follow this acronym!

Send us Fan MailShe’s named after her grandmother, and that’s a good thing.  Her grandmother served on the general board of the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 25 years. Then she was called to be the president of the same organization and served there for another 25 years. Her mother was the personal secretary to Dr. James E. Talmadge for many years. She helped Elder Talmage proofread the Book of Mormon and get it ready for its 1921 publication edition. She even found an error in the spelling of one of the names in the book and brought it to the attention of the general authorities. It was corrected with great praise and admiration. It’s a wonderful thing to come from a strong heritage. I did that on both sides of my family, but since today is Mother’s Day I will focus on my mother’s story, particularly her abilities as a missionary.I have bragged about her before on social media and in other ways. One of her great traits is that of being a missionary to those she’s around. Missionaries aren’t always preaching; they’re probably serving, studying, praying, and doing other types of work as much as they are teaching or preaching. My mother is no exception.Enjoy this podcast which highlights seven traits of successful missionaries, be they full-time missionaries or member missionaries: their service, their focus on families, their happiness, their knowledge of the scriptures, their love of the temple, their knowledge of their role and how to fulfill it, and their obedience.

Send us Fan MailMichael Seay is a realtor in the Washington DC area. He’s been a friend of mine for about 30 years. He is one of the most loving people I’ve ever met. He’s the first guy I’ve seen in my life who told fellow employees that he loves them right there in the work environment. That stunned me!He is also one of the best member missionaries that I’ve ever met. I was delighted to interview him and learn a little bit about his conversion and how he has shared the gospel with other people throughout his life. These real life stories are a treasure because of the principles they teach. He believes, as I do, that God drops people in YOUR pathway that YOU  can naturally help to learn more about the Restoration of the gospel. If you want to increase your capacity to love others, be like Michael Seay. If you want to be a successful member missionary, be like Michael Seay. Most importantly, if you want to be happy, be like Michael Seay.Thank you Michael for your wonderful example! We love you!!

Send us Fan MailMusic has a way of healing people. James Leith  Macbeth Bain knew that. Born in Scotland in 1840, he was known to his friends as simply Brother James. He was a musician, poet, a mystic, and had a great interest in healing. In 1906 he published a book called “The Brotherhood of Healing.” His song Brother James Air was first published in 1915 as part of a New Year’s greeting. He founded the Brotherhood of Healers, where he and his fellow healers would often sing to their patients during healing sessions. He spent the latter years of his life working with the underprivileged in Liverpool, England. So, do YOU have a need for healing (and do you believe in miracles?)  Do you believe it’s possible to heal, especially during a pandemic? For example, do you believe you can listen to a song one night, then sit down and play it the next night without any sheet music? 🎹Well, it’s possible, even in a pandemic. And the process has a healing element to it. I listened to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square‘s beautiful rendition of “Brother James’s Air” last night. Recognizing that my son is named James, and the beautiful way the Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square performed it, it just stuck in my mind.Given that I had no sheet music—and I probably couldn’t play it if I did—the process I used to help organize the song was simple:1. I used dots to outline the melody first.2. I drew vertical lines do identify the various segments.3. I labeled each segment.4. I grouped the segments together into 5 repeatable sections.5. I then laid out the sections in order at the bottom of the page. (That was a quick reminder to me of what was coming next while I played.)It took me probably 60 attempts to record the song until I finally got it right. Sometimes my mind would wander and I would forget what chord came next, sometimes I would accidentally hit a wrong note, and sometimes I would inadvertently skip a whole section. In each case, I had to start over. 60 times. But I’m glad I did...In total, I probably spent four hours on this project. I would guess 3 1/2 of those hours were the repeated attempts to try and play it right.Do you believe in miracles? In my case, they tend to happen with a little bit of inspiration and an awful lot of perspiration. But they happen. Thank God! 🙏I hope you enjoy this arrangement.🎶

Send us Fan MailHave you ever felt like there was more out there in life for you? Maybe something was missing but you’re not sure what?Brian felt the same way. Surrounded by loving family at a young age, he was exposed to four different churches, Brian eventually found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has never looked back. This is his story, told by himself. He has a special affinity to the Prophet Joseph Smith in that Brian, too, was 14 when he was going through part of his spiritual search. His story is a testimony to the fact that God is real and that He does not give up on people. It is also a testimony of the power of truth and the impact it can have on your life. Brian is very grateful to a childhood friend who stuck with him through the years and invited him—at a critical part in his life—to come to church.Thank you Brian for sharing your wonderful conversion story!

Send us Fan MailShe just graduated from Harvard, and she found heaven while she was there. Part of it came in meeting my nephew, Westley Cook, part of it came from learning about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while on campus, and the rest came from Harvard itself. Meet Alyssa, an accomplished chemistry major who believes in miracles. If you’ve ever wondered if God has a plan for you, knows you personally, or cares about your progress, you need to listen to this interview. This young lady expresses herself extremely well and outlines her experience in wonderful detail.And if you’ve ever wondered if God is there to help you through life‘s challenges, you REALLY need to listen to this interview. Thank you, Alyssa, for sharing your experience with us! 

Send us Fan MailEnjoy this wonderful conversation I had this afternoon with my 89-year-old mother.  She understands the need for temples and how to be involved in genealogical work as well as anyone I know. She is the mother of 11 children. She has 56 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.  She was widowed at the age of 47 with 10 children at home and one child on a mission. She faithfully moved forward. All 11 of her children have been married in the temple. She is a faithful temple worker who has indexed over 400,000 names. In this episode, she talks about the Spirit of Elijah, the prophet Elijah’s life, and how to be more involved in temple work. Enjoy the inspiring message she conveys here to help us all be more involved in genealogy and temple work. She is a living, breathing example of someone who carries the spirit of Elijah with here wherever she goes. Thanks, Mom! This was a lot of fun to do! 

Send us Fan MailSometimes, the best podcasts don’t have any words. Instead, they have music. And music heals the soul.Recently, while visiting my mother in Utah, I sat down at her piano and started to try to play a favorite hymn of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Written by James Wallis, that hymn is called “Come, Ye Children of the Lord.”I had never played the song before. I simply sat down at her piano and tried to sound it out. It was fun!Today, during the first session of the worldwide conference for the Church, the first hymn that was sung was “Come, Ye Children of the Lord.” I took it as a sign from God that He appreciated my efforts.Children are innocent, and we are all God’s children. Perhaps my arrangement of this hymn will bring a little peace and harmony into a fairly troubled world right now.The first verse of this hymn reads:“Come, ye children of the Lord,Let us sing with one accord.Let us raise a joyful strainTo our Lord who soon will reignOn this earth when it shall beCleansed from all iniquity,When all men from sin will cease,And will live in love and peace.“if this podcast helps us all to live a little bit more in love and peace, then my recording it was a success. Enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailI run a Facebook ad for one dollar a day, offering to give people a free copy of the Book of Mormon in my local area. I’ve run it for about 10 days and 263 people have seen it so far. One of the people who saw it commented that his “...ancestor had translated the book!” Sure enough, his relative is apparently Oliver Cowdery! The connection goes back to upstate New York and even into Canada back around the year 1800.You can imagine how excited I was to get that message! I have since told my new Facebook friend a little bit more about his ancestor and some of the things that he experienced. It’s now in the Lords hands, and as He guides me I will guide my new friend.Facebook currently has 2.45 billion users out of an earthly population of 7.7 billion. That’s 38.1% of all the people on planet earth! Any member of the Church can run an ad offering more information about the Church to the ad’s viewers. I do it for only one dollar a day. I just renewed the ad for another 10 days. I’m excited to see what happens!In the meantime, God bless Oliver Cowdery and his descendants!

Send us Fan MailMeet Clayton and Marla Foulger, two of the best people on the planet. They had the privilege of being involved with Yitbarek and his family’s conversion. Their humble attitude about member missionary work is inspiring and instructive. Their story about Elder Eyring, while they presided over the London Mission, is priceless. Catch the spirit of these two wonderful people, and of Yitbarek and his family, as Clayton and Marla continue Yitbarek’s story about how his family got sealed in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple. Clayton not only baptized them, he performed their sealing in the Philadelphia Temple. Everybody involved here received a fulness of joy. Simply put, it’s the Rest of the Story. Paul Harvey would be proud! 🙏

Send us Fan MailThe members of the Church needed a ride to the airport. He was their Uber driver.They invited him to their home, he met the missionaries, and read the Book of Mormon. He went to the visitors’ center in Washington DC, told his wife about it, and then joined the Church.With his strong testimony, he picked up two copies of the Book of Mormon in his own Ethiopian language and traveled 7100 miles home to Ethiopia to share it with his brothers.He is now the ward mission leader of the Potomac Ward in Potomac, Maryland.Meet Yitbarek, my good friend, and a wonderful example of how to get a testimony and share it with others. I hope you enjoy his story!

Send us Fan MailIn response to President Nelson’s email of January 1, 2020, I designed my own plan to share the gospel and the message of the Restoration with as many people as possible. As of August 16, I have shared this message with 51 people. I am about to release my third member missionary book, which details the experiences I’ve had with these 51 people.This episode is the 24th podcast episode and the final one for my first season. Season two starts next week! It will focus on a number of individual conversion stories from friends and acquaintances of mine, which are designed to help others learn about the Church and to share the testimonies of these wonderful people.I am on a mission, so when members of the Church hear the words “member missionary work”, the first word that pops into their mind is the word “joy”, not the word “guilt.”As of today, August 16, my podcast has been downloaded 347 times and has been listened to in 14 countries and 141 cities. Those statistics bring me a lot of joy!I spent three hours today proofreading my third book, getting it ready for publication. It focuses on how to find joy by sharing the message of the restoration. I appreciate President Nelson‘s counsel to design your own plan. I have done that and it is working! There’s also plenty of time for you to design your own plan and carry it out before the end of this bicentennial restoration year. Please contact me at [email protected] if I can be of help. God bless! 

Send us Fan MailI don’t know if you’ve ever been used publicly as an example of how NOT to do member missionary work, but I have! It happened when I was a student at BYU in front of about 2000 people.The incident occurred on a plane flight to New Zealand when I was 21. Little did I know that a man I met on that flight, Wayne Chamberlain, would later come to B.Y.U. as a regional representative and tell a story about that flight that didn’t put me in the best light as a member missionary. I was sitting in the audience when he told the story.Wayne is one of the classiest guys you’ll ever meet. Learn from my bad example so that it never happens to you! Enjoy this podcast.

Send us Fan MailOne of the great general conference talks that’s been given on member missionary work was given in October 2001 by Elder Dallin H Oaks. That talk, Sharing the Gospel, was a foundational talk for me as I served at that time as the bishop of a ward in the Washington DC Stake. Member missionary work was an important theme of my service as bishop and I leaned on this talk a great deal in helping members of the ward have success as member missionaries.I encourage you to re-read that talk. More importantly, follow what he says and practice the principles that he teaches. If you do, you will be a very successful member missionary!

Send us Fan MailSometimes member missionary experiences happen because you notice someone else’s efforts to spread the good news. That’s what happened when I exited a small gas station market in McLean, Virginia recently.Positioned on top of the sanitizing towel dispenser, which is on the right side of the exiting doorway, were some Spanish religious postcards promoting faith. Those postcards caught my eye to the point where I came back in the store, picked one up, and then gave one of my own religious postcards to the Muslim lady behind the counter.What you’re looking for are people who are open to spiritual experiences. The fact that this gas station has those cards right there in plain sight for everybody, tells you that they are spiritually sensitive in their own way. That might be fruitful ground where you can leave a message of the Restoration. Enjoy this latest episode of my podcast! 

Send us Fan MailSuccessful member missionary work is always about the other person. Sometimes on a flight you sit next to an open-hearted person; sometimes you sit next to a closed-hearted person. I had the experience of sitting next to one of each on a recent trip across the country. The condition of their heart is not in your control. Just do your best in the situation you’re put in! ✈️ ❤️

Send us Fan MailSometimes God drops a member missionary situation in your pathway when you’re at work. That was the case with this story which happened two days ago in Chevy Chase, Maryland.A lady purchased a dining room set we had hauled away from another customer’s home. It turns out it was the exact style set that her mother used to have in her home for many years. Recently the lady‘s mother passed away out in California and this dining room set was a little gift from God to compensate her for the loss of her mother. We both felt that as the story unfolded.It was also not a coincidence that she noticed the background photo on my personal Facebook page. It showed me paragliding over the cliffs of Torrey Pines California, just outside of San Diego. This lady had visited Torrey Pines when she was a youngster and said it was one of the happiest trips in her life. As a result of the Torrey Pines connection and the dining room table appearance, I quickly bonded with this lady and she felt more joy than she had been feeling before she purchased the set. It was a wonderful example of how God is mindful of all of His children’s situations and intervenes to cheer them up at various times in various ways. And perhaps what’s most exciting, is that He uses members of the Church to assist Him along the way.

Send us Fan MailI was supposed to be on a plane to Utah tonight. For various reasons, I decided to stay home. Around 8 o’clock I was listening to a song performed by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.  I had the thought, “That would be a fun song to play on the piano.”  So I walked over to the piano and gave it a shot. 30 minutes later I was done.Wanting to record what I had created, I turned on the Voice Memos on my phone and started to play. Before long I made a mistake, so I started again. Another mistake. Keeping in mind I’m making this up as I go, it was inevitable that I was going to make a bunch of mistakes before I got a clean recording. I was right. It took about 40 attempts over the next 90 minutes.Prior to tonight, I’ve never played this song before. And I don’t have any sheet music. It was pure inspiration matched with pure perspiration to finally get it right.That’s how a lot of things work in life: God steps in when you least expect it and inspires you to do something above and beyond what you were planning to do.  It’s the same in dealing with other people: follow the inspiration and you’ll probably have a worthwhile experience.I hope you enjoy my newly created arrangement of All Creatures of our God and King.

Send us Fan MailSometimes member missionary experiences happen when you simply step outside of church in between meetings. That’s what happened with a wonderful young lady named Jackie.  I met Jackie as she walked along the sidewalk towards my car one day in between church meetings.Jackie went on to take the lessons and join the Church. Now, years later, she still is an active member of the Church and a very happy lady.I was pleased to put her baptism photo on the cover of my latest member missionary book. It is a great story and one that I am proud to have played a small part in.Enjoy this episode, Joy with Jackie!

Send us Fan MailIn October 2019, I made a quick trip to Detroit Michigan to visit the Detroit Michigan Temple. To get from the hotel to the temple, I took my first Lyft ride. I’m glad I did!My Lyft driver was named Chantil. She had been driving for Lyft for about five weeks. She was a terrific lady who was very nice. When she asked more about where we were going it naturally led to a conversation about temples operated and owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.I told her on the way there that she was welcome to come inside and see the foyer of the temple. She didn’t know she could do that! I think most people don’t know they can do that. She took me up on my offer and we had a wonderful experience.This episode is the story of that experience.

Send us Fan MailIf you want to be involved in member missionary work, it’s important that you associate with people not of your faith! Attending dinners designed to strengthen mutual understanding and respect between various religious groups is a great place to do that.In my case I was invited to attend the American Muslim Institution dinner in Springfield, Virginia a few years ago. Although I didn’t expect it, I was able to give out a copy of the Book of Mormon that night to the man who sat next to me at the table.  Without the book with me, this wouldn’t have happened.  I rescued and held onto the book a few weeks earlier when I hauled away some books from my friends place. It’s a great story all the way around!

Send us Fan MailJoy Exiting the Langley Mart is an experience I had two days ago when I stopped at a little gas station/market to buy a drink. Sometimes the prompting to be a member missionary comes after someone else has shown you how to do it themselves. In this case, somebody had left some postcards on top of a paper towel dispenser that the customers will see on their way out the door. It was inspiring so I acted on it. God can make you a missionary even when you’re exiting a gas station mini market!  Enjoy this latest episode!

Send us Fan MailThis episode of How Great Shall Be My Joy focuses on a lesson learned from Bro. J. Willard Marriott when he was 25 years old. In the wonderful book, Bill Marriott, Success Is Never Final, it tells a story about negotiating for a hotel to be built in Dallas, Texas when Bill was 25. The lesson he learned about working with other people through those negotiations is priceless for member missionary work. It’s all about listening to others and trying to help them get what they want. If you do that, you both might be successful. The same principle applies in member missionary work. Listen to what other people are saying, and you will probably get some clues about what you can do to help them.Enjoy this episode featuring a true story from Bro. Marriott’s life!

Send us Fan Mail This episode is about a letter that I wrote and sent to a lady I had recently met, because I wanted to follow Elder M Russell Ballard‘s counsel of inviting one person per quarter to learn about the restored gospel. This experience happened about five years ago and this particular episode took place the day after I met a lady at the Norfolk Virginia landfill.  Most importantly it illustrates how quickly inspiration can come when you follow the words of living prophets   I’m grateful for Elder Ballard’s counsel, and I’m grateful for the way my testimony was strengthened by following it. 

Send us Fan Mail Joy with Jeff describes how you can be a member missionary in a natural way during the middle of your workday. This experience happened last week as I was helping Jeff clean out his home prior to his move.  If you’re patient, the Lord will prompt you, in a natural way, on how to help somebody learn more about the Restoration of the gospel. I hope you enjoy it! 

Send us Fan Mail God can make you a missionary even when you’re stopped at a stoplight. Enjoy this episode of a real experience that happened to me while doing just that a couple of years ago. It’s amazing how fast these member missionary opportunities can surface, happen, and conclude.  Enjoy! 

Send us Fan MailSuccessful member missionary work is like being a subcontractor helping a general contractor build a house. You do your part when the general contractor, the Lord, calls for you. Remember it’s His house; not yours. Consequently it needs to be built under His timing, not yours. Peoples lives (His sheep) are also His. He knows what’s going on in them; you and I don’t. So let Him guide you so you can help Him build His house—the church—when the timing is right to help someone else. This episode talks about how to do that.

Send us Fan Mail This episode happened last week, around April 8, at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. I found myself waiting for a few hours for my flight back to Baltimore and a young man who was randomly seated not far from me asked if he could use my iPhone.  It turns out he had just been released from prison the day before and was headed home to Mississippi.  He needed my phone to make some travel arrangements. I let him use the phone and it’s led to a wonderful opportunity. The story is here and will be ongoing. 

Send us Fan Mail“Drink Your Own Medicine” is my own experience of realizing that people are more important than goals. It happened as I was getting ready for April General Conference in striving to meet my goal of sharing the message to the Restoration with 200 people before general conference. In the last few months I’ve shared it with 38 different people.  I do podcasts and write books about this topic because the main theme is trying to teach people that this is all about people, not about goals or predetermined approaches.   Yet here I found myself, in trying to reach one of my goals, putting goals ahead of the people! So I stepped back and drank my own medicine. I feel better… 

Send us Fan MailThis episode of my podcast looks over the statistics for worldwide missionary work in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints going back 41 years to 1977. It suggests there is plenty of opportunity for members of the Church to help others learn more about what we have for them.Check out the charts on my Facebook page, How Great Shall Be My Joy, to see the statistics visually.  

Send us Fan MailJoy with the Pizza Delivery Guy talks about my experience with a gentleman who delivered me some pizza a couple of years ago. Who would have known when he showed up outside my apartment building that he had a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandkids who live out in Utah that are Mormon!  This episode teaches the importance of knowing where we have temples. Our conversation developed into a church conversation because I knew we had a temple in Lima, Peru, his hometown.  Had I not known that, I’m not sure where this conversation would’ve gone.  Probably nowhere.  But because I knew about the temples, this conversation opened up and developed nicely.   God can make you a missionary even with the pizza delivery guy. That’s very relevant given the stay-at-home times in the COVID-19 era. 

Send us Fan MailActs 10:38 talks about how Jesus went about doing good for “...God was with him.”  This episode of How Great Shall Be My Joy is called “Joy at the Landfill.” It happened a few years ago at the Norfolk Virginia landfill where we were doing a house clean out in that area. It’s a great example of how having an Articles of Faith card in your wallet can really come in handy. It’s also a perfect example of how God can answer someone else’s prayer through you if you were simply prepared. I hope you enjoy this episode and I hope the next time you go to the landfill you’ll remember that you can be a missionary even at the landfill!

Send us Fan Mail Enjoy this third episode in my podcast titled “Joy with Alma (the Lady...)!   It happened last week on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. I enjoyed this experience so much I actually stopped in the driveway of my next appointment to record it.   It’s the story of an interaction I had with a customer from Yugoslavia whose name is Alma. To members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that name is relevant. The longest book contained in the Book of Mormon is called the Book of Alma. Enjoy this episode as I felt prompted to share with her a copy of the Book of Mormon which I keep with me in my truck.  Also notice how the Spirit guides you to discuss in the conversation the things that you have in common with your new friend. That’s called “fertile ground” for a conversation, and it almost guarantees that the other person is listening.   That’s because you’re talking about things that you know are of interest to them. 

Send us Fan MailThis episode, Joy at the Burger King, happened on Saturday, February 29, 2020. It’s the story of how I pulled up behind a car that had some bumper stickers on the back that prompted me to follow up and try and share the message of the Restoration with the people driving inside.It is a wonderful story about how every once in a while, when you’re not sure what to do, you just give it a little bit of time and the Spirit will prompt you and things will work out. This was one of those stories that initially I thought was going to get away and escape me, but it got rescued and I’m thrilled that I was able to have this experience. It was the highlight of my day yesterday! Email me at [email protected] to get a sample of the Restoration cards that I’m giving out. 

Send us Fan MailThis is the first podcast that I’ve done, giving an introduction to my new series called How Great Shall Be My Joy!  It is important to understand from the outset the process that is working so well for me.  It is characterized by the photo on the cover of my first member missionary book, which shows me at the age of three sitting on the lap of my grandfather, while he is sitting on a tractor on his farm in Syracuse Utah.   REMEMBER THIS IMAGE as you think about how to successfully do member missionary work with God at the helm. The Field is White is an introduction to real life stories that testify and teach how to be a more effective, calm, happy and excited member missionary. I hope you enjoy it!