so I loved my conversation with the brothers in the foyer three black members of the church with stories to
tell testimonies of the gospel and of Jesus Christ and I left after the conversation thinking these are my
brothers right these are my brothers in Christ and despite the differences in our immutable characteristics I have a
strong connection with them be sure to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications and go to quick media.com
that's cwic media.com and sign up for our free Weekly Newsletter quick week there at
the top here we [Music]
go all right welcome to Cwic Show my name is Greg Matsen and I am your host in this episode we've brought on the
brothers in the foyer foyer however you want to pronounce it Andrew will and
Isaiah welcome guys thanks for having us thanks for having us uh you guys have
got a new podcast new YouTube channel I want to go over that a little bit Brothers in the foyer tell me about how
that started and what you guys are trying to accomplish Andrew you want to start us off yeah sure I I'll go ahead
um Brothers in the foyer was something that commenced when we're at the Draper Temple um we were sitting in the parking
lot and discussing about our experience in the temple uh we may go into that a little bit later but um we expressed
just how our feelings of our of how there's not enough positive content out there about the
church and then on top of another layer there's not a lot of content of black members of the church as well and so we
wanted to change that and be able to put something positive out there in the in the sphere and so um we kind of came all
together about six or seven of us um and we discuss and share our thoughts because when we all came together we
would always talk we would talk for hours on in we're like man we talk about some really good topics what if we share
this to other people because we think that if we shared our testimonies and
our experiences with other people it may open their ears and maybe even open their hearts as well and so um that has
been something that's been really uh something I've been really wanting to be a part of as well but then also we want
to help other people who are outside of the church to be able to see yes this is a diverse church this is the Lord's
church and that the gospel is something that reaches everyone no matter what
skin skin tone you are um my testimony is more than Skin Deep obviously but
it's cool for people to see when they first see me they see who I am and then they also hopefully see the Savior in my
in my testimony as well yeah and that's important I mean there's just that's the way we all work as human beings I mean
that's that's an important thing uh you guys so you're in the temple or at the temple parking lot is this something you
guys do a lot you guys get together and do this at the temple or yeah we strive to obviously I mean we
have a a pretty full SK schedule and so trying to coordinate it's it's been hard but that first time we all actually met
together in person or I met will for the first time I've known Isaiah for a few years but uh meeting will for the first
time and a few others um it was a great opportunity and yeah that experience was pretty good I can let Isa will uh
explain what happened that day yeah most definitely um like you
said we were we had just finished up our um Temple session we went in for Downs
um and for people that don't know um in dominance is just or one fundamental
belief of our faith is we believe that family relationships extend beyond the
grave so we go into the temple and perform those um sacred ordinance for um
our deceased um relatives and so we had just finished we're in the temple
parking lot and we're going over just discussing like how our overall experience was in the temple and we felt
that um from beginning walking in and going out we all noticed that we were getting like
special attention now for will it would be different because will is a large man
like he's like dang near seven foot you know so he'll get looked at and treated a certain way no matter where he goes
but yeah we just felt like um it started as we were in the ceiling room well not
say started but kind of like the Capstone was placed when we were in the ceiling room and like there were several ordinance workers that came up to us
individually and like shook our hands and thank us for being there and so when we got into the temple parking lot we
discussed like how our feelings were about that you know we felt like um yeah
at the time we were the only um black men in the temple and we felt like we were treated a bit differently not that
it was a bad thing right but um you know we go to the temple just like everyone
else and we were just like you know there's really no need for like special attention and so another thing adding to
what Andrew said is we wanted to be able to share our experiences but share how you know our experiences should be like
all inclusive as black members of the church you know we should feel and be
treated um just like every other member um that's a member of the church and so
even though we are grateful that people are Thanking us for being in the temple um we just kind of came together and
decided like let's share our experience es let's share like we need to kind of break that barrier of like um the
diversity and the feelings that are um shared through us just being different
you know right cool William will yeah just kind of normalizing that experience
and you know uh making sure that everyone knows you know we're here we're
we're aware of what's going on and we we want to you know uh uh combat that share
our testimonies and um yeah that's kind of one of the main reasons why I wanted to you know continue on this this
Brotherhood is it's to help others come onto Christ that's the ultimate goal that's what we do as members of the
Church of Jesus Christ the latter of saints and uh it's it's been an amazing experience being with with these
brothers especially Isaiah Andrew and learning from them and hearing their testimonies and their opinions about
different topics and things like that so awesome and so be a little more specific
about when you guys do get together for these podcasts because I've watched a couple of them you're you're you've got a big table area you all get up around
it and you just kind of go which I really like right I try to make this podcast as much that way as possible
where it's like people can just Eaves drop in on these conversations and and that is that's I think that's the it's
like what they call long form you know uh recordings or you know uh you just
you're not trying to be commercialized with it or have a script you just you just go and that's the funnest thing to
listen to but what are some of the specific topics that you guys usually end up talking about on the
podcast uh we we actually just had a our episode just dropped on Friday um where
we discussed of just a few potential questions that may be
uh um can you be active and not go to church or also why are people taking a
break from the church um we all know people who who've left the gospel or or just left the church
don't feel that they belong there anymore we kind of dive into that and share our perspectives on that um our
experiences as being black members of the church positive and negative um and
we I mean we have so many other topics we want to go into we plan on talking about fatherhood um talking about how to
balance that life of being a good father and a good husband and also being a member of the church mental health
there's just so many topics that we've yet to cover but we plan on covering those uh as well because I feel like
personally for me and I think this is a kind of across the board for all of us that we kind of have this alignment um
where we didn't really have the best upbringing or the most ideal upbringing as most members of the church do
um and so we want to be able to provide what we weren't what we didn't have you know so if so if there can be some
positive content out there so I have I have two nephews at home um or back home in in Kansas are young men they're
growner young men but they don't have fathers and so if I could have some if I can help put out content that could be
able to be influence a positive influence for them rather than the stuff that's on TV and put light into the
world that's full of Darkness I mean that I think that's probably our ultimate goal and that's been a big motivation for me awesome go cheeks
format oh if you don't mind I was gon yeah big cheese both so Andrew and I both are well I'm from the Missouri
side where we at um but yeah our format really came from um I feel like we
established it when we were celebrating Andrew's birthday at a buffet and we
were all just sitting around a table and we were just talking and like we were just talking for hours on various
subjects um and so that's where we were like man like let's just have our
podcast be like a barber shop right where you could just sit around a table you can discuss various um topics and
that's when we noticed um that that was like the best way for us to do this podcast like Focus have a subject right
but just have it be Barber Shop talk and US share our personalized experiences
right so uh give me a little bit of back a little bit of an idea of each of your
backgrounds well we're going to start with you are you you guys are all in Utah now um where did you did you were
you two uh Isaiah and Andrew you both said that you're you're from the Kansas City area will where are you from and
what brought to you to where you were and and have you always been a member of the church yeah yeah that's a good
question yeah so I grew up in Indianapolis Indiana uh was born uh came
out here to Utah around the age of 13 uh and my family moved into holiday
we were by far the only black family there at the time um and uh kind of what
brought us out here to Utah was uh my mom is a well was a traveling nurse at
the time and uh she was looking for a better opportunity and uh my siblings my
older siblings were already out here so they kind of tested it out a little bit for us and uh had nothing but great
things to set say about Salt Lake City Utah um but
uh currently I reside in Lehi uh Utah right now and uh that's that's kind of
where I'm at right now and uh I have have a a wife and two two children so
awesome but but you're and and you were always a member of the church you said oh yeah yeah so I I've uh been a member
I was baptized when I was eight by my older brother uh my mom is actually the my mom and dad uh had the opportunity to
baptize my dad um but my mom joined back in 1997 and uh we were tracked out by
missionaries um who were actually in the neighborhood to look for a member
referral that they had received um and that member referral wasn't at home and
so they decided to you know keep knocking and and looking and uh they stumbled upon our our family of of six
kids so it was it was a I feel like I I feel very special um to to be a part of
the gospel and uh it mean so much to me um and I'm I'm eternally grateful for
those missionaries for being Dil and and fallowing the spirit to keep going so
that's kind of how awesome Andrew uh what about yourself yeah so uh I hail
from the Exotic land of Topeka Kansas uh definitely not in Kansas anymore I've
heard every joke Under the Sun about it you know Kansas is so flat you can step on top of a tuna can and see across the
state I've heard it all but uh yeah I've I've I was out there my whole life I've
uh was born in the gospel uh my mother and my father were converts uh my mother first well actually it was my
grandmother on my mother's side um she was living out in Washington of all
places or it was Idaho it was one of the two and missionaries knocked on her door and um she went through the lessons and
uh became a member and then she shared it with my mom who obviously uh was in a
place in a that was looking for things she kind of had a Joseph Smith experience where she was looking for for
truth and she tried everywhere she tried every religion you can think of but haven't didn't hear about Mormons or
heard about Latter-Day Saints and so um she was able to speak with the missionaries and they gave her some answers especially about the life after
because she lost her previous husband um in a tragic uh accident car accident and
so um they provided some answers that gave her some some insight that really helped her and her children kind of
followed suit you know um and then my she met my father and they were
converted uh or he was converted and was able to change his life as well and then they came together and made me um and so
I've been uh been able to see the gospel and I feel like I still am a convert you know I feel like even though you're born
in the gospel to get that testimony and be able to stay there and really be converted um is I I feel like is really
important to to to know um and I had my experience I think as a teenager um I
was able to see both sides of the fence and being able to test the waters and realize okay if I do this I'm not going
to have really good uh consequences so yeah and you know I think I've I've
learn I think when you have those issues or go through um opposition I think that's where you really get rooted and
you learn and you see where you stand um I think that's what's really important
yeah none of us are perfect and and uh you know many of us make bad decisions
and for sure and eventually say okay wait a minute maybe these things I'm learning these principles are not just
like these churchy things you know it's like okay yeah this might really be real
and important in my life because the consequences over here suck they're horrible right you know it's sad but so
people go through go through it so much and they don't they never take a take a step back and like okay is am I gonna go
this go through this every single time and go through that infinite cycle you know but um really it's just trying to
be a chain breaker and you know um I was the first first person in my family to serve a mission
um first family member to have kids without without outside of marriage and
just a lot of kind of pioneer things I think these brothers uh here also are pioneers in their own way as well but um
yeah and so I I've uh I was living in Kansas for about 20 odd years 23 24
years and I moved out to Utah because that environment was just negative and I wanted to be somewhere where I can be
able to um thrive and just be around some more positive influences um obviously there's issues wherever you go
wherever State you go you can't run from it but it was a little bit easier for me to be around some some people that were
more like-minded also Mission Companions and friends that were uh on the same path as me and so I met met my wife um
we've been married for eight years now I have three I'm a father of three well technically one but I have twins on the
way awesome um and yeah it's been it's been great I Liv down in Spanish for
Carol life's going to be even busier for you here shortly then oh yeah I'm still
trying to wrap my my brain around it yeah Isaiah how about yourself yeah so for me um so I was born
in Kansas City Missouri um all my roots to their mom and dad's side the family resides in Kansas City um both of my
parents they were baptized members of the church um prior to me being born um
I have one older brother who was baptized when he was eight um and then
when I was around six years old my parents divorced and so I was actually raised in the suburbs of Atlanta
Georgia and so yeah I grew up um outside of the church when my parents divorced
my mom went inactive uh my dad went inactive and I just kind of grew up like
any ordinary child you know um and then for me I just got to a point um where I
had made so many bad decisions um I noticed my decisions were not only affecting myself but they were affecting
the people around me um and this happened like when I was around 23 23
years old um so I was like my in my second year in college and um that's
when I had like the come to Jesus moment um after making so many bad decisions I
was like look I need to find out like who God is because at the time like I believed in God but I didn't know like
who God was or um I've had heard about Jesus I went to church a couple times as
a youth um and knew like there was some importance there but just didn't know really what it was and that's when I
went back home uh one Summer from college I picked up a Bible read it um
and my dad ended up telling me that my mom and him were baptized members of the
Church of Jesus Christ the LI the saints that they so you you didn't know that before had no idea wow okay yeah yeah I
had no idea um and from there um he told me to ask my mom about the Book of
Mormon so I went and asked her about it and she had a copy of it sitting on her dresser and I had always seen it but I
never asked her what it was and it had no words on it it was like an older copy it just had the angel Moroni on there
yeah yeah that light blue one and so yeah Y and so yeah I picked it up I read
it um because at the time I was searching for a church to go to um but
at that point I read it and just felt it was true like everything in it for me just was common sense right like when
you know something you just know um I felt like what really attracted me to it
was just the story of it being an ancient text of the um for Native Americans right that's kind of like what
captivated me to it the historical context and from there my mom invited
over a family friend of hers um that was there who was a member in Georgia and he
brought over missionaries and on that first meeting they invited me to be baptized and I accepted it and at that
point though I had already read the book of Mormon front to back so like I was just ready you know to to kind of make
that next step and yeah so I met that made that next step I was baptized at
23 um I went and served a mission in Jamaica Kingston Mission at 24 and I had met my wife um prior to
going on my mission we we met through a Facebook um group and we kept in touch
throughout my mission and when I came home I moved out here to Utah to go to school with the intention to move back
to Georgia originally um but I got stuck here um Utah really grew on me while I was here
dating my wife and yeah that's how I ended up here in Utah so I currently
reside in West Jordan and um I got two beautiful boys who both were born out in
California we did about a threeyear stent in California for work and so my journey has just been in the gospel
anyways um I feel like I have the complete experience of knowing like what
the atonement is like because like I lived in the dark like without the gospel for you know 23 years of my life
and now I have the remainder of my life to to kind of live in a light you know and so for me there's really no um
turning back like I've experienced that change because I know how I used to be
and um the things that I used to be or the things that I used to do rather like
um there's always that Temptation right but like I don't want to do it because I know what I'm living for now so I've got
to experience like that complete D opposite Dynamic you know I'm
interested to know isaah when you when you went on your mission I I because I have a I have a similar
story to yours right and and so I I decided when I I had a kind of come to
Jesus meeting also and um it was pretty Fierce and everything changed for me
after that moment and uh so I started studying I read the book of Mormon and I had already been a member my entire life
I'd gone to church my you know my entire life but I decided when I was going on a mission that I was going to become a
different person like I'm like like I am going to be a different person and I'm going to
do it by giving up everything about me now right I I've gota and that's not you
know most people don't change it's very hard to change who you are I am an
absolutely different person than I was when I was a teenager I mean completely different person because I just I was
just like I and I know that we all mature and everything else but I was I mean I was a loner I was a surf for a
guy and uh you know I was I was just I still surf but I it was you know I was a
completely different person did you feel that way when you went on your mission being having that so fresh that kind of experience so fresh and wanting to go on
a mission I'm guessing about a year later or so most most definitely it's
it's crazy because um I don't want to expose myself too much but like I was
living a life that you would you know the drinking the you know you know sex
like and so for me to go from that type of
lifestyle and into a mission where I'm completely surrounded around you know brothers and
sisters that just you can see that light in them like this is something that they've held and or at least have known
about and have lived um for me at that point I feel like because I had known
where I've been the change for me was was like I don't want to say instantaneous I'm I'm like Andrea like
I'm still being changed but it was like at that point there was um there was
like just no going back like this is like who I am now like I'm in an environment and I'm around people that
are in the gospel and that are striving to be better and for me it was just like look I've done all my bad now it's like
just do good you know so like my mission was okay now I'm doing good now I can
help others I can share my journey and my story um about how I was you know
into these type of things and activities and how now I don't even want to do it anymore because you know the Savior has
truly I've experienced that power like you just mentioned it's so hard to change but like it's easier to change
when we invite the Savior and and he literally gives us that change of heart like that change of heart is very very
literal right and that's like the one thing that um I experienced like in my
mission and and a little bit prior to my mission that um yeah helped me really
conform to where I needed to to what I needed to do you know going forward yeah
uh Andrew you went on a mission right yeah okay did you feel it all when you left on your mission did you have any
feeling of a uh like an impostor syndrome kind of at all or or were you
like this is where I'm supposed to be I'm completely ready and you know I'm
not out of place here I felt a little out of place at first I mean I was ready was both feet in but I was
like I I don't think most of these people around me have been who I've been behind right oh yeah yeah I um I had to
have a the thing was before I went on my mission like my mom sat down with me and
she's like you need to have a testimony of it it seems like most majority of missionaries go out without a testimony
you know they they actually find it on their mission but I had to I personally am just a person I don't want to sell
something or market for anything anything or do anything if I don't believe in the product or whatever I'm
selling or sharing with someone unless I'm 100% behind it and so I had to have my own moment of praying and seeking and
knocking about the scriptures about the Book of Mormon about all the things in with church history and I had to get on
my knees and and I had to ask because I wasn't going to go out and use spend two
years of my life or something I didn't believe in I I I just I was not going to do that my mom didn't want me to do that either and so she's like Andrew you
really need to get on your knees and pray and my mom has instilled so many great things in me um just for her
always bugging me to pray about things and always pay my tithe but um yeah when
I went out on my mission I felt like I understood the gospel um to an extent you know I was definitely just a little
infant and just milk just that's all I could digest at the time but as I was going through my mission I grew and I
understood and I I my understanding of the Gospel deep deepened and it became a huge anchor and and a pivot point for me
as well for my life um I've seen so many miracles and so many so many different things that helped me now years later
that I can always rely on because I'm like man whenever my faith is tested I'm
like I saw this I experienced this I seen these people's lives literally change before my eyes how could that not
be how can this not be true you know um but to to answer your question to
being imposter I don't feel like I was that um but I definitely when I was
sitting in the MTC laying on my bunk bed looking up at the ceiling I was like am I really about to go do this I don't know if I can do this but uh something
with in within me was keeping me going and staying there and I think that was those those Rich experiences I mean I
had so many Tender Mercies I could go on for hours about the things I saw and the little tidbit things that my father and
having provided for me to keep me going when when days were tough and yeah we haven't we haven't done an
episode on that yet but I hope we we can go in depth on our missions because there's some fun there's some good stuff
there's always there's always a ton of stories yeah oh yeah good and
bad yeah exactly hey so will moving on in our lives here a little bit beyond the mission what you said you're married
with two kids yeah two kids okay so what what do you think what is that I
know this just count sounds kind of rhetorical it's like it's obvious but um I'm married I've got four kids
they're all adults now so I'm a little Beyond where you guys are well a lot Beyond where you guys are
but you know something that I learned is Kate that the mission was such an important anchor for me because I
changed who I was yeah but then getting married and having kids it's like okay
now I have to really be responsible right now I'm really responsible I have to stretch
myself and I'm living for other people and but the thing it does in return for
me what it did is it gave me guard rails kind of because it's
like I have I can't make this decision or that decision over there because I've
got these people relying on me you know I've I've gota I've got to stay down this path because these people rely on
me I I'm sure you can uh well you you can empathize with that oh for sure most
definitely I think uh going kind of going back to childhood uh my my parents
separated when I was five um and so wow
um so as you know Greg like that's that's a hard experience you know as a
young man you're looking for father figures you know my dad was kind of in
and out of our lives and uh it was really tough for me uh I I held a lot of
resentment and anger towards him um just because you know I I wanted certain
things from him I wanted that relationship and so I think kind of like Isaiah like I I saw how that was for me
as a kid and so my main motivation every day day in and day out uh regardless of
what I'm doing with my kids and even my wife um I make sure I give full
attention to them and I make sure that I do it with all my heart and uh that's
kind of my biggest motiv motivation and uh is just to you know emulate that love
and uh and and and show you know um my kids you know that they have a father
that cares and love for loves him yeah and um I think through that whole entire
experience um you know going so long without a father there were definitely
young man leaders and and people that you know stepped up like my older brother um and and people like him but
most importantly gaining that connection with with our father in Heaven I realized heavenly father was my father
and and that really changed my whole entire perspective um on on life and and
the way I did things so it's amazing how the gospel blesses everyone it's just
changes everybody Isaiah so let's get to the next subject here being black and a member of the church right so I I don't
sometimes I feel and we talked about this before we got started I kind of feel like are we postracial yet in a sense right is it
like do we even talk about this but I'm sure this is something that you guys talk about you know because you have a different experience still than most
members of the church do where are we at do you feel I mean we can go back to
1978 what are we 30 45 46 years later here and most of you have got similar
experiences or the people the guys the gals that are your age have got probably
somewhat of a similar example of if your parents were members they were probably converts yeah right and and and then you
guys are kind of the first ones that come through and maybe you were young when you were converted or you're you've been in the church your whole life so
there's that that it's different but I I think sometimes because I've thought about this a lot
um it's almost like it's there there is some type of
excitement to that isn't there I mean I understand there's an ad to it but it's like it's almost like the whole window's
been opened more recently and there it's I don't know the potential just seems
amazing to me the of of what could happen among the African-American communities for example not not to
mention Africa or anywhere else yeah yeah you know I'll be
completely honest my experience as a black man in the church so far um
pertaining to members I I personally in the I've
been a member what 10 years now 2014 13 just a little over 11 11 years
um I have had no negative experiences with members so far my experiences have
been more so with black people in my community like um trying to help them
understand or struggling with them like family members and other friends that I have that are black and helping them
understand that look this is an International Church you know and the reason I feel like it's so emphasized
here in America is because yes in America we are the minority and you don't just see it see us um as members
in the church as much as we do Caucasians or say um Latinos and um so
my struggle has just been um you know helping others in our community see like
look this is an all-inclusive faith and yes there has been some dirt in the history of the church and so without
focusing too much on that because man is imperfect right and if you go through
any faith there's going to be dirt in every Faith right and so when it comes to us I just try my best to help people
focus on that relationship with the Savior which is like what we all should be striving for right um the truth is in
the doctrine the truth is knowing that Jesus Christ is the savior um the truth is not in you know blacks not been able
to hold the priesthood for a certain period of time or um blacks been treated a certain way um let me not say blacks
black people um in that way come on Isaiah get your vernacular right on let
me get my vernacular right they they tried to change it to raceing the priesthood now that's raceing the priesthood right um racing the
priesthood has and is still a um a big thing for people in our community and so
I would want them to know um that it is an all-inclusive faith and if we can just get past what happened in the past
and focus on a savior then they'll see and feel the things that me Andrew will
and all of our other brothers in our podcast feel and see and experience and it's it's great you
know yeah Andrew how about you what's your what's your perspective on things where where are we now at this point in
those types of relationships and and and moving forward right so this honestly
this topic has a lot of personal connection for me at least um
I'm from Teka Kansas and there's really nothing special out there but just a Supreme Court case that happened like
back in 1954 Brown versus Board of Education and that's my family Linda
Brown is my grandmother oh wow and so understanding about segregation and race
relations and how that issues came up I have living family members who experienced that firsthand but
personally I never experienced that but I've always I think I always had an eye for it naturally looking for that and I
found that my mindset became more of a victim than a Victor and I was always focusing on is are people looking at me
wrong or are they they out to get me um because I think that was kind of ingrained in me from a young age from
the things that I I saw my parents experienc my great-grandmother my grandmother did um but overall yeah
similar like like Isaiah I mean people I I first always try to look for the right
the good in people first um I think if you approach life that way and seek context you can usually have a better
experience with anyone and everyone because I I I think people may say things or do things but they I don't
think they always have ill intent I think they sometimes say things out of ignorance or they just they're just
genuinely curious and want to know and want to ask but if we don't give them a safe space to be able to ask that
there's no progress that can be able to be done um but in my experience I mean
yeah I was I think all three of us we we've all grew up in a grew up in the church and we were like the only black
family in the whole Ward or even the whole stake and so we always knew eyes were on us um but everyone who I've
always interacted with they've always treated me just the same there's never been really a stark difference between
you're black I'm white I'm GNA treat you different no it's just like we're brothers and sisters in in in Christ and
we're Heavenly father's children if you see me for who I am on the inside outside take care the outside takes care
of itself you know and so I think um I think as as a whole the church has been
making a lot of Leaps and Bounds with the with like race relations I feel like with the NAACP and meeting and all this
all these things like that just to show that the church is diverse and um but overall I believe the I believe things
have been I think better or they tried to make more things more inclusive or more prevalent in the Forefront so
people can see that because people believe the church isn't diverse but I mean all three of us we're still
standing here we're faithful members we serve in the gospel or sering the church um if we can overcome the things that
happened in the past I'm pretty sure you can be able to do it too it's not impossible and our faith is deeper than
the skin yeah and of course all the growth areas of the church in the world are non-white I mean it's all Latin
America Africa and the Philipp Brazil's grown up blown up man it's it's crazy
yeah it's nuts will how about yourself uh yeah I mean it's
uh I I've definitely had my experiences you know in the church um in the church
outside the church and I think uh some kind of like Isaiah and Andrew uh
especially what Isaiah said about you know dealing with you know other blacks and other black people uh out there you
know know that's kind of my experience more so uh my cousins that are not members or aunts and uncles you know
that have you know dug up anti- literature and and things like that you
know um but I would say o overall if we're looking overall you know it's been
a amazing experience as far as you know living the gospel and and being a part of God's true church on this Earth and I
I really believe that I believe that we are here for a reason uh I my mission just like Isaiah and
Andrews and yours Greg it really changed my life uh if I didn't serve a mission
who knows where I would be today um but it really changed my my view of life and
how I view others and so having that focus on Jesus Christ that's what's important you know and and we can talk
about how we can combat racism in the church outside the church in our communities but I think the most
important Focus is Jesus Christ that's that's why we're doing what we do well you know I really like what when was it
two years ago I think now maybe um president Nelson went over a talk in his
uh I think it was a YSA talk and he was talking about what I I call it president
Nelson's identity hierarchy oh yeah how you identify yourself yeah yeah and and he goes over those three right it's like
okay I'm a Child of God number one uh I am a dis uh a child of the Covenant
number two and and number three I'm a disciple of Christ and he's like everything else is is down below and
it's not like they don't exist right I mean I mean I've got an ethnicity I've got a race uh I've got a sexual
orientation I'm a father I'm a husband I've got all these other roles and identities that are are make up who I am
but they're all subordinate right to those top three and if we can focus on those three it seems to me like that's
kind of more of a path toward race relations that's a path toward Zion right it's it's like yeah these other
things are there you know it's interesting I'll bring up a couple quick examples I had uh they're both from South Africa because I've got friends
over there and I I was talking to this really really sharp girl member of the
church she's a returned missionary and and so I started talking about being colorblind right as compared you know
kind of like more of the Martin Luther King approach of you know it's it's about the color or the character not the
color of my skin a color and my kids character and my you know hopefully my
kids will will will be able to get along with your kids but character not color skin and the other side is there seems
to be a real push to divide based on skin color and she said
well and I asked her that I said do you do you you know because she's got a different experience there in South
Africa than we have here she's like do you would you profess like
colorblindness and she says you know up to a certain point right because there is a history
that she has there um there is persecution that she experienced there is an identity to her that is wrapped up
in that yeah right and where she comes from and everything else it's like okay so no I I do but only to a certain point
right what what I look at complete color blindness so I thought that that was I mean what what are your thoughts on that
I personally uh I feel that there's yeah there's so many things that we identify as of yeah of that whole list of you're
sharing but I feel like once we if we fully understand of who we are and who we
are identifying yes I am a child of God everything yeah takes cares of itself
you know I I think it's it's so important for us to not divide ourselves but you know like how they they say um
this place is a Melting Pot but I kind of like to look at as a salad you know everybody is their own individual thing
but when they come together they complement each other you can see their colors you can see the the the textures
the tastes and they just it tastes really good they all compliment each other and I think that when we we do see
each other um that yeah we're brothers and sisters that's happen that happens to be
a black man black member of the church in the temple but in the end I'm just seeing you for who you are a son or
daughter of God and I think that's the most important I like that a lot I think uh well again and it's like marriage
right I mean I I I don't want my wife to be exactly like me I want her to be
different and like that that crucial relationship that's there in marriage is like it's two people that are very
different and part of the beauty of that because there is a beauty to it is you
know Crossing those bridges between each other and learning from each other and complimenting each other and and and so
that's certainly part of it Isaiah what are your thoughts on that yeah I actually want to just move off what you
just mentioned as far as like learning from each other other um because for me in every reaction that I have with
someone of the opposite race um I I interact with them and I go into our
interactions um as a blank piece of paper right and I can only I accept them
for who they are I see them for who they are and I can only then react to how they would react to me and so I have had
one experience and it's how I choose to deal with any other negative experience
I have when it comes to race with another individual but for instance if someone if I'm interacting or having to
communicate with a certain person and the issue of my race because I'm in a position where I'm talking with multiple
people um multiple times a day you know with the career that I'm in and so for
me I have to have like an unbiased you know when I go into my interactions and
so as I do approach it and I do have let's say a negative experience or communication with someone and it's in
regards to my race I take it as a learning opportunity or a teaching moment for that person depending on how
ignorant they want to be you know so it's like why would you say that like why is
there something I said or did that would make you say something like so ignorant you know not get offended right away not
Brash out at them but just really take it as a teaching moment to help them see like look we should be seeing each other
the same like why do you have a certain prejudice in your heart you know about me um or about the way I look you know
like what will cause you to react that way to really help that person look inwardly you know about why they're
reacting that way so like you said Greg I feel like we should take moments and
it could be hard because I know like will I know will have shared some experience he's had that were pretty
rough experience when it comes to racism you know and so for me I haven't had that experience so I feel like I'm a
little bit more patient when it comes to dealing with people that are ignorant in that aspect and so I can use that as a
learning experience for that person to help them look inwardly because like for me I'm approaching everyone with you
know like I said like a blank piece of paper until they show me something different right uh mry were you gonna
say something sorry I was gonna I was Isaiah you're we're same thing man like I I I think it's so important to
approach people that same way because it's that Golden Rule treat others how you want to be treated I'm like if I
don't want someone to judge me instantly because they just look at me because of
some experience I shouldn't do the same you know I should take my time and say okay how why are you reacting this way
or is there anything I can help to help you understand on a deeper level I mean that that honestly when I was on my
mission that was like a full two years all my companions were white and they always asked me questions they couldn't feel safe to ask anyone else but I gave
them that space so that they can learn and they went back to their own community and that helped influence and
help who knows how many other people you know that's awesome well you've had some experiences then with racism I mean has
that affected how you handle things definitely uh I think like Isaiah
said you know in my earlier years you know growing up in Holiday um definitely
a lot of experiences that that happened to me in my youth and you know I would react instead of being proactive about
it um so now I'm being in adult um I handle things a little bit
more differently so like with Isaiah saying being a little bit more patient and telling myself like okay they they
haven't experienced certain things that I've experienced you know and and and
being okay and and walking away instead of getting upset or being angry and I
think you know having that that Foundation knowing who you truly are
changes your whole perspective and going to the temp Solid Ground yeah yeah
it gives you a different perspective on life and God's children as well uh
regardless of their skin color uh you know regardless if they live in a rich neighborhood or a poor neighborhood you
view people in that same light and and so I've really held on to that as I as
I've gotten older uh and uh I think for anyone that's struggling with that you
know pray and ask Heavenly Father to know your true purpose and he'll reveal
that to you and you know you could read about it you can go to the temple and and and learn about your purpose and and
having that Foundation that testimony can change a lot of things in this world today for sure well this has been
awesome guys you guys are awesome I really solid individuals I I it's and and it's very obvious so the audience
here I want you to go over and subscribe to their Channel and listen to what what what they have to offer is they give
these little roundtables and talking to each other I think it's fascinating I think it's great information it's uh
centered on the Christ it's centered on their testimonies it's very positive and
uh Andrew why don't you take it home for us here where where can everybody find uh your YouTube channel and I don't know
if you had a podcast as well on that or yeah we have uh we have video podcast in
a similar fashion like this and also we have a little Studio that we're trying to get more consistently in person and
having us all there but it's at Brothers in the foyer Brothers with a z in the
foyer AZ right yeah AZ okay and uh that's on all platforms we're on all
audio Apple Spotify YouTube Instagram Facebook we're not on Tik Tok we may be
getting on there yet who knows I don't know that's a it's a sketchy area but uh
but uh yeah we appreciate you guys for Greg especially for reaching out to us and having us on we're really really
excited to uh talk with you and have your view viewers being able to get to know us a little bit more yeah well make
sure audience everybody go over subscribe to their channels uh listen to what they have to say I'm going to put
the links there in the description box as well so you can go and click on that and go and subscribe Andrew will Isaiah
thanks so much for your time really appreciate it than so much thank you it's been a
[Music]
pleasure he
