Latter Day Lives - Talking with Latter Day Saints

Heather Wallwork is a remarkably talented artist and author. We talk about her life growing up in a large family, what she loves about life in small towns, her passion for music, her time at BYU, her work as a storyboard artist, working for Disney, becoming a published author, how she met her husband, their new creative and business venture, and how being a member of the church affects it all. Hea...

Michael White is a very popular speaker and member of Hi-Five Live. We talk about his young life playing competitive soccer, his mission, his experiences at BYU, his time as a seminary teacher, how he became a speaker, and his work with a group that does youth fireside events as well as his involvement in starting Hi-Five Live. We discuss his diagnosis of OCD and anxiety at the young age of twelve...

Derek Sainsbury is the author of the book Storming the Nation: The Unknown Contributions of Joseph Smith's Political Missionaries. He and I talk about his life growing up, moving several times including a short time living in Australia, how a couple of teachers inspired him and changed the course of his life forever, working through mental health struggles, dealing with his wife's severe health ch...

Monique Berish grew up in remarkably rough circumstances that included living in an area riddled with crime and poverty, dealing with her parents' mental health struggles, their divorce, and a sudden cross-country move. All of this lead her to alcohol abuse and later, alcohol dependence as well as sexual relationships and other self-destructive behaviors to cope with the pain. Eventually, Monique...

Diahan Southard is the founder and CEO of yourdnaguide.com. After getting bitten by the DNA bug as a high school student, Diahan went on to study at Brigham Young University where she earned a bachelors degree in microbiology. She worked for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, one of the first efforts to create a correlated genetic and genealogical database. She is the founder and CEO of...

Becky Ivory is a well respected speaker and certified coach. As a young teen, a teacher stepped in to Becky's life and became a family friend and mentor. Eventually, this teacher began to sexually abuse her. This went on for years. In the episode, Becky shares this heartbreaking story, how she ended the abuse, coming to terms with it all, the difficulty of opening up about it to family, learning t...

Burgess Owens is a former NFL star, Superbowl champion and candidate for Congress. We discuss his life growing up in the segregated South, his parent's inspiring success, playing football at University of Miami, his ten years in the NFL, finding the church through teammates, fighting through business and financial struggles, finding himself working jobs such as being a chimney-sweep, building back...

Aaron Johnston is a New York Times bestselling author, television writer, advertising creative, and was the co-creator and executive producer of the BYU TV series EXTINCT. He was also an associate producer on the movie Ender’s Game, wherein he makes a cameo appearance as an officer of the International Fleet. His novels include Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, Earth Awakens, The Swarm, The Hive, Invasi...

Lynnette Sheppard has a degree in family science and always dreamed of being a mother and wife. She had her first child and there were immediately challenges with his behavior that she and her husband did not expect. They felt unprepared and life became very challenging. This continued as she had more children. After years of struggles, she and her husband discovered techniques and a mindset to br...

Matt Brown is the CEO of Living Scriptures. We talk about his life growing up as an only son with five sisters, his love of academics, how his family started Living Scriptures, watching his Father run the business, his experiences at BYU, his mission, working for the family business, selling to a broader Christian audience, starting his own family, taking over as CEO, moving the business to a stre...

Episode 129 is now available. My guests are Scott Sorensen and Ganel-Lyn Condie, hosts of the very popular Real Talk - Come Follow Me. We first get to know Scott. We talk about his love of sports, his mission to Detroit, how he met his wife, the winding path to reaching his goal of becoming a full time seminary teacher, his struggles with mental health issues and ultimately how he sees these strug...

Marcus Wilson is a professional comedy juggler. We talk about how he became a juggler, his great love of skateboarding, his mission, coming home from his mission to six new adopted siblings, his own family, the thrill of getting laughs as a performer, how we met as jugglers on an episode of the CBS show Touched By An Angel and how being a member of the church affects it all. Marcus is so entertain...

This week's guest is Michael D. Young. We talk about his love of music, his experience first as a member of The Bells On Temple Square and now The Tabernacle Choir, his accomplishment of writing a hymn every day for a year (yes, you read that correctly), working with composers to submit many of those hymns to the church, his passion for writing verse, his podcast where he shares his writings as th...

Kurt Hale is a Screenwriter, Director and Producer. He is one of the founders of Halestorm Productions and one of the pioneers of the "Mormon Film" movement. We talk about his grandparent's legacy in the theater, life growing up in California with a sudden family move, his mission, meeting (and instantly falling in love with) his wife, BYU film school, his work directing and producing such incredi...

Kristen Reber is the author of Early Homecoming: A Resource for Early-returned Missionaries, Their Church Leaders, and Family. She is also the host of the podcast Early Homecoming: Insights From Missionaries Who Returned Early. We discuss her love of writing, her mission to the Philippines, the trial of getting a parasite, the decision to come home, her tireless work to help missionaries who come...

Dennis Schleicher is a popular speaker and the author of Is He Nuts?: Why a Gay Man Would Become a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ. On the show we talk about is life growing up as a gay youth, his struggles with his strictly religious parents, a life-changing violent attack in high school, his time as a young gay rights advocate on television shows such as Sally Jesse Raphael and Larry King,...

Lexie Austin is the host of The Savior Said: A Come Follow Me Podcast. We talk about her life growing up in the church in Alabama, her time at BYU, her work as a librarian (Yes, she has memorized the dewey decimal system), navigating a multi-faith family, her passion for Come Follow Me and how she launched her very successful podcast. Lexie is humble, fun and so engaging. Her spirit, attitude and...

Chanelle Neilson is an author and the host of the very popular Moms Who Know Podcast. In the episode we talk about her life growing up in California, her mission to Taiwan, writing a book on parenting, starting a podcast for Moms in China and later here in the US, her own experiences as a Mother and her experiences over the past few years hosting her show. She also shares valuable insight she has...

Mike Berrett is a psychologist, speaker and author. He is the co-founder and former CEO of the Center For Change, which specializes in helping those struggling with eating disorders and addictive illness. Mike has appeared multiple times as an expert on the Dr. Phil show. He is respected by peers throughout the mental health field. We talk about his life growing up, his time as a touring musician,...

This week we read special stories and thoughts on Christmas, submitted by Latter Day Lives listeners. Music for this episode is by Garth Smith and is available at www.garthsmithmusic.com. Merry Christmas!

Jason F. Wright is the author of several very popular books. We talk about his life growing up, the pain of losing his Father at age 16, his love of Christmas, his service as a Bishop, what inspires him to write and how he inspires others to serve. We also talk in depth about his book Christmas Jars. In addition to being a popular book and inspiring kind acts across the country, it is now a hit mo...

This week's guest is author Stephanie Dibb Sorensen. We talk about her life growing up, the journey to meeting her husband, her love of study and teaching, as well as the trials and joys of motherhood. We also discuss her new book, "Learn Of Me", a study guide to help us grow closer to the Savior. Stephanie is brilliant, open and so insightful.

April Meservey is a talented singer / songwriter. We talk about how she developed her love of music, overcoming insecurity, life on the road as a touring artist, how her faith affects her music and how heartbreak lead her to record a song that was featured in front of an audience of millions at the Winter Olympics. April is so bright, positive and full of life. www.aprilmeservy.com

David Bowman is an artist, author and illustrator. We talk about how he got in to art, his beautiful fine art depictions of the Savior and his fun cartoon style books. We also discuss his new video series "Drawn In", a collection of videos designed to illustrate the lessons in Come Follow Me. David has a great passion for teaching and for sharing the message of the Gospel through his incredible ar...

Lisa Hatch is an incredibly talented entrepreneur. We talk about her life growing up on a dairy farm in a small town, getting married young and quickly divorced, the twenty three years she spent working side by side with Marie Osmond, getting remarried, raising children, ultimately navigating a difficult second divorce, dealing with painful family issues, her career selling products on QVC and an...