Invited To Mormon Dinner

(group laughing)
(group laughing)
(gentle guitar music)
– [Peter] David.
– What’s up man?
– [Peter] How you doing?
– How you doing?
– [Peter] Nice to meet you.
– Nice to meet you too.
Come on in.
– Thank you, thank you.
– I can’t believe you’re in our house.
– [Peter] I’m here, I’m here.
– Oh, my God.
– So guys, this wonderful LDS family.
– David?
– Yes.
– Jennifer.
– Invited us in.
Brought some of their friends along.
It’s always great to break
bread, or pizza crust,
and have a good conversation.
So, thank you for bringing me in,-
– It’s an honor.
– because then we get to
understand your guys’ world better.
– [David] Yeah.
– And I’m already shocked, honestly,
because the amount of friendliness.
Down to the clerk at the gas station,
the people have been very nice.
And then you guys, open for this,
and I thought it would be
more closed, to be honest.
– I think you’ll find
it anywhere around here.
Everyone’s pretty open.
– Yeah.
– [David] Yeah.
– We usually have a prayer before we eat,
so you’re welcome to get that on camera.
– [Peter] Yeah.
– Our Father in heaven, thank you so much
for allowing us this opportunity
to be gather here today.
Thank you so much for allowing
Peter to come to our home
and we pray that we
lift through Your Spirit
and that we may be able to
properly convey our thoughts
and speak eloquently and also,
do a good job representing the Father.
We pray for the food
that we’ll partake of,
that it may be good for our bodies.
We’re thankful Father for life and health
and all the blessings Thou has given us.
We ask for Thy Spirit
to be with us always.
And that Your Spirit may be
filled here in this home.
And we say this humbly in the
name of Jesus Christ, amen.
– [Group] Amen.
– So, pepperoni’s fine.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] Okay, so it’s not
like a Muslim or Jewish thing?
– No.
– So, we have something,
it’s like a health code.
It’s called the law of, I’m
sorry, the word of wisdom.
And talks about us like having moderation
in all things, right?
Like not too much meat, not
getting addicted to anything,
like not drinking alcohol,
not drinking coffee.
– [David] Smoking.
– Well, smoking.
– Drugs.
– [Jennifer] Tobacco.
Keeping our bodies, our temples clean too.
– Yeah, it’s very,
everything in moderation.
Even anything that’s good for you,
too much of it is not healthy.
– [Peter] What about your wife?
Too much of a good thing.
– No.
– [Peter] Never?
– That’s the only thing that
you can have too much of.
– Yeah, there’s no limits
there, like for real.
– [Peter] There’s definitely
limits there.
– We don’t have any of that.
– Now. here’s something that
many people outside of it
think polygamy still takes place
or might take place or, you know?
– I can only handle one wife.
And that’s more than enough for me.
(group laughing)
– When I served as a missionary,
I got that question a lot.
As a missionary, I would be in, you know,
a dress or a skirt most of the time.
And like, “Oh, are you nuns?”
Or, “Oh, are you forced to wear,
you know, like dresses all the time.”
Like, “No, I’m wearing pants right now.”
– [Jennifer] Exactly.
– But like funny
questions like that to me.
But something that I learned was that
even when polygamy was around,
it was considered a calling,
like an assignment from God.
And there’s only about 2% of the church
that actually practiced it.
And now, it’s part of our church.
And I think it says somewhere
in the Book of Acts in
the Bible that talks about
that Christ would come
again after falling away
and there’d be a
restoration of all things.
And so, with that restoration
is still going on today.
And so with that, the doctrines,
the gospel of Jesus Christ
is the same across the board.
2,000 years ago is the same as it’s now,
but policies have changed over time.
And so, polygamy was a policy thing.
– And not now, it’s not.
If a member of the Church of Jesus Christ,
the Latter Day Saints practice’s polygamy,
they would be most likely excommunicated.
– Okay, okay, so FLDS,
the Fundamentalists Latter
Day Saints still practice,
that’s under 1% of all Mormons,
LDS under that huge umbrella.
And from my understanding,
correct me where I’m wrong.
They think LDS lost their way,
because Joseph Smith’s
message, like, you know,
he practiced polygamy, and
Brigham Young practiced polygamy.
So, they’re staying to
the original message
where LDS moves on with
each new prophet, correct.
– Right.
– And that’s where things
get confused a lot I think.
– There’s a total disconnect.
We’re not connected, associated at all.
When Joseph Smith died,
the Saints came West,
following Brigham Young, who
was then the next prophet.
And many people were
like, “No, we’re staying,
we’re staying here like out East.”
– [Peter] Okay.
– “And we’re gonna continue
to practice things the exact same way.”
And those who came with Brigham Young
came out here to Utah, we settled.
That’s why Utah is like the hub,
because that’s where the
Saints came and settled.
And then after some years the,
you know, polygamy was outlawed
and was no longer practiced.
– David, you’re in the
production crew now.
Can you hold that?
Okay, I wanna try the homemade salsa.
Is this true? It’s homemade?
– [David] It is.
– Yeah.
– Okay.
– My wonderful mother-in-law
comes over once a week
and teaches me how to make Mexican food.
– Here we go, Mexican
mother-in-law, right?
– [David] Oh yeah.
– Good?
– Oh, yeah.
Great balance.
Great balance, little cilantro edge to it.
Almost a bitterness, gonna go with that.
– Sure.
– And I like it.
– Thank you.
– Thank you.
I’m gonna do some more.
Okay, so how’d you all meet?
Because I’m seeing a lot
of mixed couples here.
You didn’t grow up in the
same place? Or did you or?
– Sam, you wanna say
how you met your wife?
Even though she’s not here?
– Yeah, volleyball.
So, we had this unique
thing called single wards.
When kids graduate and go off to college,
they’ll go like, they could
potentially go to a singles ward.
And it’s all single people.
– [Jennifer] Yes.
– So, we were playing volleyball.
Me and my wife, and I spiked
the ball into her face.
(group laughing)
Anyways, she was the cutest girl there.
– [Peter] And that was your strategy?
– Yeah, that was my,
it was a winning strategy.
– [Peter] Good to know.
– But anyways, I met her at a singles ward
and so I’m Tongan, and
my wife is Caucasian.
She’s from Nevada.
– A lot of Tongans that are LDS, right?
– Oh my goodness, the Tonga,
the island of Tonga is Methodist and LDS.
The king is Methodist.
– [Peter] Okay.
– And then a lot of the
people are Methodist as well,
but there’s a huge, I would
say maybe close to here.
– [Jennifer] Yeah.
– Like the Utah County, it’s
really high population LDS.
– Okay, and so a lot of Polynesians,
Island people are LDS, right?
And they move to the desert, right?
– Yeah. Well, yeah, California, Utah,
all the western states.
There’s a lot,
– [Peter] Last Vegas.
– of Las Vegas.
– He’s going to Las Vegas.
– Yeah, yep.
– [Peter] You’re from
Mexico originally, right?
– I was one of the few
LDS in my schools, man.
– So, from your family, from your parents.
And David, your story?
– Yeah, I was born in Mexico City.
I was there until I was 10,
and then we moved to California,
and then I lived there until 2003,
and then I moved here.
And I was, I wanna say
born into the church,
but not necessarily like,
we were really never active.
When I moved here to Utah,
just kinda got back into it
really strong, and met my wife.
And it’s just been great.
– And have our daughter Jaya.
– That’s my daughter.
– [Peter] Jaya, okay.
– Hi.
(Jaya giggling)
(group laughing)
– [Bethany] You know there’s
a camera right in your face.
– [Peter] Jay, what grade are you in?
– I’m in sixth.
– [Peter] Oh, cool, cool.
So, in your school, how many,
what percentage of the kids are Mormons?
– Like a 50/50?
– [Peter] 50/50?
– A lot of my friends are,
and a lot of my friends aren’t.
– Okay, so there’s not an issue between?
Okay, I thought there was gonna be
more of a divide, to be honest.
Maybe I’m lucky with
the people I’m meeting.
– Yeah.
– There used to be parents that
would tell their kids like,
I heard that would tell their kids like,
“Hey, they don’t go to church,
so don’t hang out with them.”
I never saw it, I just heard that.
Especially, serving a mission here.
– So, you’ve adopted?
– Yes, she is awesome.
We were there for the birth.
– Oh really?
Yeah, we have an open adoption.
Birth mom is in her life.
And so, her siblings, our life actually.
They live in Texas, they live in Lubbock.
– [Peter] Okay.
– So, we drove down to
Lubbock when she was,
right before she was
born, I drove 16 hours
and I’ll never make that drive again.
(group laughing)
– So, is that common or
it’s just no different
in the church route if people adopt?
– No different, yeah.
– Okay.
– So, yeah, and I was gonna
say one another thing.
I think another misconception about
members of the church is big families.
Like, I think that that’s
kind of the common like ideal.
Like, oh, you live in Utah,
you probably have like 25 kids.
– [Bethany] No, yeah.
– It’s actually, that’s not
the case for many people.
I feel like it’s actually
kind of changing a little bit.
– I have two to my
sister, but then Bethany,
– Yeah, I came from a family of nine.
One adopted, but we have three, you know,
that’s a good number for us.
– So, 13 more?
– Oh, no.
(group laughing)
My body will give out.
I’m like, not gonna lie.
It was tough sometimes
to have so many siblings.
We’d get looks, you know,
walking through the Chicago
airport or something.
Like how many people, you know.
There’s a lot of us.
But I think that it has helped me
have a sense of identity
and purpose in life.
You know, I have come outside of myself
so much more in being a mom.
And if I didn’t have my faith,
I probably wouldn’t have
gotten married or had kids.
– [Jennifer] Why is that do you think?
– I think that because it
would be really easy for me
to get confused by all
the ideas out there.
You know, you can look
anything up online, right?
And there’s so many different
philosophies or beliefs
and with, you know, some of
my personal struggles and weaknesses,
like, I sometimes struggle
with anxiety or depression,
and I think I don’t wanna
pass that on to my kids,
like DNA genetic wise,
or I’m not gonna be
adequate enough to be a mom,
because I lose my patience sometimes.
You know, if I really
was looking at things
from maybe a psychological lens,
or like just a genetic lens,
I think I’m not fit to be a mom.
I wouldn’t be a good mom.
And so, I think that having faith,
knowing that when Ben and I got married,
we committed not just to each other,
but to God that we were going
to treat each other well
and try to live good lives.
And then our children,
we get to partner with
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ,
in caring for our
children and raising them.
So, if I have a problem
with one of my kids,
I can pray about it and ask
for the Spirit to guide me.
Like, give me some direction.
How do I, you know, address
this issue that’s coming up.
– Give me some patience as well.
– Yeah.
– I just want.
– Yeah, and sometimes the answer
that comes back isn’t fun.
It’s like you need to apologize.
Like, sometimes, you know, as a parent
you think I’m right, you know,
but sometimes the Spirit
is like reprimanding me.
Like you need to be more patient,
or you need to be more gentle,
or you know, slow down,
don’t rush your children.
You know, and so I am learning
and growing so much as a person
that I wouldn’t have if I
wasn’t a mother and a wife.
– Don’t you worry a little
bit living here, safe,
kids playing on the sidewalk at dark?
That’s pretty rare
these days in US cities.
– And like Jay has really
good friends with Sam’s kids.
Sam has five kids and they like play.
– [Peter] And so, it’s because
you all have shared values,
more people are watching over each other
as you have your ward,
everyone knows everyone in the community.
Now, if more people move
in and then more and more,
that dilutes to some degree.
Is that a fear?
‘Cause I would, for me,
it would be maybe a fear.
Like we have something amazing
and if we have an influence that goes away
from what we have, maybe things change.
– So, I don’t want our daughter
to be raised in a bubble.
I want her to believe, because
she chooses to believe.
Not because all her friends believe
and because her parents believe.
So, that opposition
gives her an opportunity.
Like how I grew up in California,
my friends were not members of the church.
So, it gave me an opportunity
to see the difference
and to choose for myself
how I wanted to live.
And that’s, I mean, I would assume
that that’s kind of how we all feel here.
We’re not trying to raise a robot.
We’re trying to raise someone
who has agency to choose for herself.
And then the question about
like, people coming in,
honestly, I think it depends
on how you look at it.
You can either see it as an opportunity
to share God’s light with others,
or you can see it as a threat.
What I don’t want is people
to come and bring their gang.
Like they’re leaving other
states to leave the gangs,
and the drugs, and the graffiti,
and all the prostitution.
Okay, so leave it there.
If you’re coming here for a better life,
then come here for a better life.
That’s my only fear.
I don’t want all the trash
from Cal, like, sorry.
From where I can from, I don’t want that.
Bring the ocean, but don’t bring the junk.
– [Peter] Okay, got you.
– Okay, what do you say?
– No, I agree.
I was just gonna, I think it’s great
that there’s more people moving here.
We don’t want a close society.
– Yeah, no.
– Yeah.
It gives us an opportunity
to add to our culture.
Share our beliefs with others?
– [Peter] Are you guys
being too nice right now?
– I promise we’re not.
This is really the true representation.
– [Peter] This is not
the North Korea tour?
Do you know what the North Korea tour is?
– Go away.
(group laughing)
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Now, back to the story.
and that’s twice a year.
The prophet and the apostles
of the church, they speak to us
and we believe that they
receive inspiration from God.
A few years ago, there was
a speech from our prophet,
or one of the apostles.
I can’t recall which
type which one it was,
but it says, “In the latter days
it’s not gonna be enough
to be in the middle.
You’re gonna have to pick a side.”
And we see that with politics,
we see that with beliefs,
we see that with a lot of different things
that are going on in the world.
You can’t be in the middle
so that you have to pick the
right or the left, right?
And it’s just so, it is such an anchor
to have a belief system
that will anchor me
and that will allow me to guide my family
with principles that are everlasting.
– So, you said you have
to pick a side right now.
Now, the LDS church,
as far as red and blue,
are there some on each side
or everyone’s on one side?
– No, both sides.
– I think
there’s people that are on both sides.
I think there’s something’s
called the Articles of Faith,
and it kind of boils
up what we believe in.
And the Article of Faith 12 says,
“We believe in being subjects to kings,
president, rulers, magistrates,
and obeying and honoring
and sustain the law.
So, as long as you’re following the law
and you’re not breaking the law,
then I think you can choose
what aligns better to you, right?
– [Peter] Right.
– But there’s no sides,
you gotta be Republican or
Democrat or Independent.
If anything, they said study
who’s gonna run for elections
and pray, make your best judgment, right?
– [Peter] Okay.
– Yeah, there’s zero blind following.
Like we are not all expected
to feel the same way
about every controversy and every topic.
Everybody is encouraged
to pray and seek guidance
from the Spirit to know which way
is best for their family
and for themselves.
– And I think too is the church grows,
becomes more international,
you get many different belief systems.
When it’s a smaller community
and you’ll have a lot
more conservatives in,
obviously, in Utah.
But as it grows, and continues to grow
with the 17 plus million
members worldwide,
those political beliefs, people’s expand
and it’s constantly growing.
– So, I was thinking before this shoot,
there’d be more of a divide, to be honest.
And I don’t know.
– You mean between you and us?
– Yeah, because I thought, you know,
I’m non LDS so maybe
Gentile’s a bit harsh,
but you’re gonna look down on me.
You know, he hasn’t figured
it out yet, and poor guy.
And maybe he will one day,
and we’re gonna look down on him,
but that’s not the vibe I get at least.
– If that’s the vibe you’re getting,
then the members of the church
aren’t giving the right vibe.
– [Peter] Okay.
– That’s not what we believe.
And if you read the Book of Mormon,
you’ll read scriptures
that say things like,
that Jesus Christ remembers the heathen
and the Jew and the Gentile.
And you know, all are alike unto God.
We’re all brothers and sisters.
We’re all children of Heavenly Father.
And if someone’s not behaving that way,
they probably need to
repent, and get on board.
Everybody has the light of Christ in them.
Whether we listen to that light of Christ
or not is up to us.
And you might consider
that maybe your conscience
or the Holy Spirit that guides you.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Yeah.
– But the non, but like
me, is God in me too?
– Yes, you are son of God
and you have his light in you, absolutely.
– We believe you’re doing his work, man.
Like you’re bringing light to a lot of,
you know, people and individuals
that would probably never get to see that,
you know, different religions,
different points of views.
– Well, that’s how we learn is I just
get into as many different
communities as possible.
Because I have, literally,
three weeks ago,
I just didn’t know anything
about the church, to be honest,
other than it was outta Salt Lake
and Joseph Smith started it.
– Wow.
– [Peter] And all the stereotypes.
People say this, I don’t mean
to be offensive by saying it,
I’m just gonna repeat.
A lot of people say it’s part of a cult.
– So, I think by definition, the word cult
is a group of people that
believe the same thing.
– [Peter] Okay, so it is then.
– I believe that that’s what they call us.
– I don’t really care, man.
– Call us what you want.
We’re a congregation of believers.
So, this is a Quad.
These are all the scriptures that we read.
So, the King James Holy
Bible, the Book of Mormon,
the Doctrine and Covenants,
which are revelations that were given
to the prophet Joseph Smith,
and during the early
days of the restoration,
And then the Pearl of Great Price,
which are findings from like
Abraham and papyrus scripts
that were translated into English.
– [Peter] And the Book of Mormon is
like the new New Testament, fair to say?
– It’s another testament.
I’ll put another testament.
– [Peter] Okay.
– It happens in America,
it takes place in America.
– So, where the Bible is
the testament of Jesus,
when he visited the Western Hemisphere,
the Book of Mormon is
the Eastern Hemisphere.
Did I get that right?
– Okay.
– The Book of Mormon
mustn’t take away the Bible.
It adds another testament.
It is another witness
that Christ is our savior.
We’re not taking away
truths from the Bible.
In fact, it’s just, you see an accident,
you have two witnesses that’s
gonna make a stronger case
that accident happened.
So, Book of Mormon, it
testifies to Christ.
– Pretty much any active members
of the church home that you would go into,
you’ll see pictures of the Savior,
you’ll see pictures of the
temple, you’ll see scriptures.
We believe that when
Christ was on the Earth,
He created His church in perfect form.
When He was crucified and
He was taken from the Earth,
His church, basically collapsed,
because the apostles were all
killed off after Him, one by one.
The priesthood, which is the
authority to act in God’s name,
was taken from the Earth.
And then we have the dark ages, right?
So, the heavens were
closed, no priesthood,
no communication with God.
That’s where we have like
Martin Luther comes along
and tries to like,
anyway, the reformation.
Then in 1820 there was a
young man named Joseph Smith
living in Palmyra, New York.
And he was studying the Bible
and he was searching for the truth.
He went to a grove of trees
called the Sacred Grove,
and he prayed to know the truth.
He had a vision, we call
it the First Vision,
where Heavenly Father
and Jesus appeared to him
and told him that he was,
’cause he was searching
for the true church.
And told him that none of the churches
on the Earth were at the time were true.
That he would be the prophet in time
to bring back Christ’s original church
to restore it to the Earth.
So, we’re the restored
church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints, right?
I mean, that’s not the official title,
but we’re a restored church.
So now, we have 12 apostles,
again, the prophet,
which is like a representation of Christ,
even though we don’t look
at him as if he’s Christ.
And we believe he receives revelation
from Jesus Christ and guides all of us.
Did I miss anything?
Oh, the Book of Mormon was
revealed to Joseph Smith.
It was in the hill Cumorah.
And it was people that
inhabited the Americas anciently
that had written faint revelations
that they received from God.
So, those are the gold plates.
Those were hidden in the Earth by Moroni,
tons and tons of time ago.
Then in Joseph Smith’s day,
he was directed to where
they were, pulled them out,
and he went through the
gift and power of God,
he translated them into
the Book of Mormon.
– [Peter] Okay, and then the religion
moved its way to the Midwest.
It was not received too
well, and kept moving.
Kept moving until it came to here.
This is the place.
– This is the place.
– Bring you all together.
– Yeah, yeah.
– [Peter] What do you guys think
of the United States right now 2023?
– I mean, from somebody
who wasn’t born here,
I love America,
and I love what America represents.
However, I do feel that
it’s in a slow decline.
You know, values and morals
are kind of going out the window.
I feel like the family is being attacked.
I don’t know if it’s the media or just,
I can’t really put a a finger on it,
but it’s definitely
like the nuclear family.
It’s going away.
Like people are saying that
you don’t need, you know,
a mom and a dad in a
home to raise children.
And that’s one of the basis of our faith,
is the family unit.
– I just think this is a land of promise.
And I think what we’re seeing now
is what has been seen throughout history.
And we label it within the church,
it’s kind of known as the pride cycle.
Where prosperity and other
things caused a decline.
And I think we’re seeing that
the nuclear family is under attack.
God is under attack from all sides,
but I think still America
is a land of promise.
And in the Book of Mormon, they talk about
the followers on America,
as long as they serve Jesus Christ,
America will be a land of
freedom and prosperity.
So, I still feel that way.
I still love America.
I hang a flag on my home down the street.
And I still feel that
way, the land of promise,
but we’re going through some tough times.
– When did I get my
citizenship in America?
– 2019.
– Every time I see the
flag, I get the chills, man.
I love this country.
This country’s just giving
me so many opportunities.
I wouldn’t have met my wife
if it wasn’t for this country.
I think the only way to achieve peace
is with people you need God’s laws, right?
If people have religion
and they have values
that they can believe in,
I think that’s a solution
to a lot of the stuff
that we’re seeing right now.
I think it’s a great country still,
I think hasn’t been managed well,
but primarily it’s a reflection
of where we stand as a country.
I think we have departed a lot
from the higher power of God
who founded this nation.
If you look at the history,
I mean we kick trash on
the British people, right?
Just by miracles, man.
I mean, we’re just like
kids with rocks and sticks
and these guys had huge
arguments, but miracles happened.
This nation was founded on God’s.
And it was miracle how America came about.
And it just said that we’re
drifting away from our Creator,
the one who created this country.
– Yeah, thank you.
– I’d add a little bit of like
deviating just a little bit too,
that we believe that God is
not an authoritarian, you know,
a rough, you know, God that
wants to send us all to hell.
Like that we all are God’s children,
and He loves us, He cares about us,
and He wants us to come home to Him.
And so, saying abiding God’s laws,
it doesn’t mean that He’s
like strict and unforgiving
but He loves us, He wants us back.
And so, that’s like the basis too
of just starting with that understanding
that God founded this nation,
because, you know, He loves His children,
He loves His people.
And so, when we follow Him, we’re happier.
It’s the commandments are given
for our happiness, for our growth.
He’s not looking to
kick us out of the game.
– Yeah, and I don’t know if,
I don’t think I’m the only
one here with this story,
but I did have a time in my life
where I didn’t abide God’s laws
and the lack of peace
and the turmoil within me
and the darkness compared to
when I got my life together
and repented and came back to the Savior
and His church and all of that.
I never really left the church,
but in secret I was doing
things I shouldn’t have.
– [Peter] How long did that last?
– About two to three years.
– [Peter] Do you all have any temptations?
– [Sam] Oh yeah.
– Yeah.
– I mean, you asked us like
why are you guys so nice.
It’s like, man, I had crummy days too,
but I’m like, you know,
I’m cranky, I get mad,
and I mean, we’ll have our struggles, man.
Absolutely, I do have
temptations every day.
– Yeah.
– I mean.
– [Peter] But the religion
keeps you on the road easier
than if you didn’t have I, fair to say?
– Yeah.
– There’s a standard to live by, right?
– I mean, I don’t know
if I’ve ever been like,
I mean, if I could be upfront,
like there was a time where I was
just kind of rebellious in my life
and I lived against my faith, right?
But I know what that feels like.
It’s a dark place and I
don’t wanna be there anymore,
’cause I know what it’s like.
– I used to drink and smoke
and party and, you know?
– [Jennifer] Show him your tattoos.
– I got tattoos.
– [Jennifer] Show him.
– No, I got tattoos.
That’s all he needs to know.
– [Peter] Are they cool at least?
– And you know, like I’ve lived that life
and you know, I hung out with people
who are not necessarily the
best kind of people you want,
you know, teenagers or young
adults to hang out with.
And now, that I see my life how it is
and it, you know, I attribute it to God.
I attribute it to Jesus Christ
and the planned salvation
and the atonement.
But I do have temptations.
My wife will tell you, like,
every now and then, I’m like,
“Oh man, I kind of,
that drink looks good.”
Or, you know, we don’t
drink coffee, you know like,
oh, I would love to get some coffee
or I would love to get more tattoos.
But I don’t do any of that stuff.
Just ’cause I believe
that it goes against,
you know, our core values and beliefs.
– Do you LDS people feel
under threat at all right now?
You’re a minority religion,
let’s say 17 million.
– I feel like we are
definitely an easy target for,-
– [Peter] Okay.
– and what I mean by that is that
we’re not confrontational people.
Like if you take, you know, like Muslims,
like you don’t, you know, media like,
they don’t make fun of people
that are Muslims, you know?
And we are taught to, I guess
turn the other cheek per se.
You know, there’s shows about us
and musicals about us.
– Musicals.
– [Peter] Okay.
– But not in a way that represents
us truly for who we are.
– [Peter] Have you
traditionally as a religion.
I mean, you proselytized,
you’re out in the world,
but something like this,
you sort of stayed closed
off maybe in the past,
and now we’re opening?
– I do feel that,-
– [Jennifer] Not that I’m aware of.
– not that we’ve stayed closed off,
but I do feel like we’re
definitely opening a lot more,
because we want the world to know
that there’s really no secrets.
We make it known like,
hey, this is what happens in the temple.
Because before, I believe
when I was growing up,
it was just kind of like, well,
what happens in the temple?
You know, you don’t know
what’s going on back there
like now because of social media,
because of how much, you
know, widespread information
and how much, how the
church has been kind of
put out in the limelight
with people like Romney.
And again, “The Book of Mormon” musical,
that was a huge thing, you know,
I feel like the church has been
trying to become really transparent.
– [Peter] What I’ve
realized the last few years
when I’m with more religious people,
they export a lot of
their anxiety and stress.
Almost it’s in God’s hands.
And there’s some freedom
that comes with that.
That’s how I’m observing it.
Because what’s out of your control,
you say it’s in God’s hands
and then you don’t have to
sort of deal with it in a way.
Is that a good way of saying it?
– I think you still have to deal with it.
– Yeah.
– For me, I’m dealing with it is,
and when I say, okay, I’ve
done everything that I can do-
– Yeah.
– and it’s not working out.
I’ve done as much as I can do.
– Right.
– And I pray to God for help,
but also, acknowledging
it might not work out.
Like things might not get better
and I’m willing to accept that too.
And so, we put it in God’s hands,
but also, we don’t just do nothing.
– [Peter] Do you pray every day?
Do you wake up and have a prayer?
– I say a morning prayer.
In the evening, we pray
together before we go to bed.
We read scriptures together, right?
Each year, we study one specific book.
So, this year for us is in our church,
we’re studying the New Testament.
So right now, we’re reading
along the New Testament.
We also read the Book of Mormon every day.
I do my own personal readings
and studyings, my wife does.
– We pray for meals.
We pray throughout the day.
– [Peter] Okay.
– For anything, okay.
– Yeah, there’s not like a
set amount that we have to do.
Like everyone has their
own personal thing.
Like I wake up, the first thing I do
is I say my prayer to the Heavenly Father.
And then I have time with Him.
I have a 30-minute time block
that I just spend with Him.
Or I’m in the scriptures and
I have no other distractions.
It’s less about rules
and it’s more about relationship with God.
That’s what it’s about.
– [Peter] Okay.
– And then I have like,
you know, my daily stuff.
I exercise, I go to work, come home.
We have prayer as a family before dinner.
Oh, we pray as a family in
the morning, we pray at night,
we read the scriptures
as a family at night.
David and I go to the temple
once a month to worship.
Everyone can go as often as they want
or as little as they want.
– [Peter] So, you all aren’t
very conservative members,
I’m gathering.
– So, you had an assumption.
– [Peter] Classical dress,
I thought you’d be in
like more of a classical dress.
(group laughing)
– You go to church on Sunday,
you’ll see women are like in their dresses
with like sandals, maybe a skirt,
and like just whatever they want.
– Sometimes tennis shoes.
– [Peter] Okay.
– Just wear what you want.
– [Peter] No, this is how we learn.
I ask a lot of dumb rookie questions.
– Based on your assumptions, yeah.
– Because we just don’t know.
– Right.
– [Peter] You know, if
you’re not involved,
if you’re outside of Utah.
– For sure.
– [Peter] Yeah, I was asking
someone the other day,
how can you spot a Mormon on the streets?
– Shirt and tie with the missionaries.
– With the tie, but the garments.
So, explain that to us.
You all have clothes on
underneath your T-shirts.
It’s just like a Hanes white T or what?
– Yeah, it can be.
– Okay.
– Can’t show you everything, but yeah.
– [Peter] Oh, you can’t show, I’m sorry.
– You can find it online though.
Like the church has actually put it.
– [Peter] But you’re not
supposed to show that, correct?
– [Jennifer] They’re sacred.
– Right, they are sacred.
– We’re not supposed to wear clothing
that shows them or reveals them.
We’re not supposed to take them off
and we wanna wear a certain dress,
or a certain skirt, or
just to like recreation,
we can choose to go without it,
but then you’re supposed
to put it on right away.
– [Peter] What’s the significance of it?
– Sam, you wanna take that one?
I feel like we’re talking a lot.
– Not really.
– [Jennifer] Okay.
– No, it’s just like,
it’s an outward sign of
an inward commitment.
– Yeah.
– I think.
We make covenants with God
and we make certain promises with Him
and it’s a sign of our commitment.
– Other religions, you know,
they might wear a special hat,
or like a robe, or something outwardly,
or people often will wear a cross,
you know, to show their
commitment to Christ.
And so, ours is more about a
personal inward commitment,
just like what Sam is saying.
And so, it’s considered
sacred and personal.
And that’s why it isn’t necessarily
like a ton of hard and fast rules.
Like there are certain guidelines,
but we also are wanting to
make sure it’s about the relationship.
What did you say earlier?
The relationship versus rules, yeah.
– The temple is huge in our religion,
and I told you this earlier.
We believe that families
can be together forever.
– [Peter] What is forever,
after this lifetime?
– Eternity, yeah.
– Okay.
– Like there is no end.
When you get married in the temple,
you get sealed as a family,
or, you know, if you don’t have any kids,
your kids are born into that covenant.
So, you make a lot of
covenants in the temple.
And one of those covenants is,
you know, wearing your
garments and it is…
My wife says it really well,
like you’re putting on Christ, basically
– When I put my garments on each day
I say to myself just not like out of rope,
but just to remind me, putting
on Jesus, putting on Jesus,
and that He’s with us all
day every day protecting us.
– Second coming.
That’s Joseph Smith was talking,
I mean, since day one
of the religion, right?
Talked a lot about the second coming.
What are your thoughts on that?
– It’s coming.
(group laughing)
– [Peter] So, it didn’t
happen for 107 years, right?
Every generation says it’s gonna happen.
Nobody knows, help someone
that doesn’t understand
it to understand it.
– We believe that-
– You got the torch.
– Christ will be coming back.
And like I said, we don’t
know when and probably,
’cause it keeps us prepared at all times
or it gives us that
opportunity to always make sure
that we’re ready if it were tomorrow.
– So,-
– or a hundred years.
– [Peter] how are you ready?
– Just by trying to be like Christ.
– But as far as like
– and living my religion.
– [Peter] tangible things,
do you have like rations?
I always told people
are prepared for a year of life.
– So, food storage stuff,
we’re terrible at this,
but yes.
– Just come over here we have enough.
– [Peter] So, many people in the church
store their food for a year out perhaps
for the second coming?
– It used to be two years.
It was recommended have a two year supply.
And over time I think the
amount of time has changed,
the recommendation,
but the recommendation is still there too.
– [Peter] And money, have savings.
– Have savings.
– Gold, tangible things?
– If you want to.
– Yeah.
– The prophet just asks, like,
counsels us to like live within your means
and have a good amount of savings.
– Be self reliant,
self-reliance is a huge
thing in the church.
– [Peter] So, a lot of
individual responsibility.
Even though you’re a collective,
a lot of individual responsibility?
– Yes, oh yeah.
– So, I believe that one of the biggest
like indicators of the prophet, you know,
all the prophets have in foresight
of what’s going on in the world.
Pandemic, like, yeah.
– Toilet paper.
– I feel like a lot of people,
at least within our community,
weren’t affected as badly
as others, you know?
– Yeah.
– Because of the fact that we
have been told for many years.
But I mean, ever since I was little,
I remember my mom always talking about
being prepared and having
food storage and that’s huge.
– Yeah, so we have a backpack
for each of us in the garage
that has like a, it’s
called a 72-hour kit.
And we’ve got like a change of
clothes, change of garments,
you know, whatever you
hygiene needs that you have.
Bunch of food, we have
tons of water bottles
stored in the garage.
Just throw it all in
the trunk and just go.
– Or you know, shelter in your home.
– It was kind of confirming
like that’s what he’s saying,
That Covid was like a,
it was like a trial run.
Like okay, we followed the prophet,
we followed the council,
and we’re not scared.
Like we have what we need
right here in our home,
and we can share too if we need to.
– [Peter] Right, and that would’ve sounded
crazy a few years ago,-
– Yeah.
– [Peter] to most people.
And now everyone’s like,
yeah, that makes sense.
– Right, totally.
– I work in commercial
real estate, development,
and one of the things
that we believe is that
as the second coming gets closer,
there’s more temples gonna be built up
across the nations in the world.
– Oh yeah.
– Recently, the church is experimenting
with some architecture
development techniques.
There’s gonna be temples that can build up
in two weeks, modular temples.
– Are you serious?
– Just look it up on the news.
I mean, just don’t quote me the exact,
but it’s,
– Wow.
– they’ve got some modular temples
going on two weeks.
– Two weeks.
– Just prefab, put them in different,
– Is it gonna be like
the tabernacle of Moses,
like carrying it like we can move it?
– No, it’s gonna be more
like the temples in Mexico.
Just like the little just…
– But it’ll stay in that spot?
Wow.
– Yeah.
– See, you’re seeing true
reactions of something like that.
(group laughing)
– I was just thinking about
your question you asked earlier.
Jen showed you in the scriptures
the Pearl of Great Price.
Abraham talks about numbering
the world without end
numbered as the sands of the sea.
So, we definitely believe that
Heavenly Father has children.
We’re not the only ones.
He has world without end.
So, there’s a Peter maybe,
and a Sam in another world,
you know, the multiverse.
– the multiverse.
– Spider-Man, not necessarily,
but He has worlds without end
and He has children and He
wants to bring them all home so.
– Genealogy huge.
I mean, no one does it
better than you guys, right?
– You tell us.
– [Peter] The books go deep.
– They do go deep.
– Yeah.
– It’s a big part of our belief system.
We just don’t have missionary
work for the living.
We believe that the dead are real people.
– [Peter] You believe
the dead are real people?
– Yeah, that they’re,-
– What do you mean, like still alive?
– they still exist.
– [Peter] Interesting.
– In the spirit world.
– In the spirit world.
– On the other side.
– And they’re waiting.
Anyway, I’ll let you finish that.
– Yeah, but I was just gonna say we do,
we have this huge missionary program
where we go out and we share
our beliefs with the living
and we have a huge missionary program
that we do to help those
who have passed on.
It’s a big part of our belief,
and that’s why we have temples,
is to do that work for those
who can’t do it for themselves.
– So, like be baptized on their behalf,
because baptism is a required
saving ordinance, right?
– Yeah.
– That’s what you say.
And also, receive
endowments on their behalf.
– Yeah.
– Make those covenants,
and then they can choose
whether to accept it or reject it.
– So, like my father, my dad
passed away in 2002 from cancer
and he wasn’t baptized.
We couldn’t find his records at all.
So, I did all his work.
So, I got baptized for him.
It’s all proxy, that’s what we call it.
I got baptized for him and
I got my endowments for him.
And you know, he has the
choice to accept it or not.
– We believe that when you’re baptized
into the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints
that you become a part
of the House of Israel.
So, the Jewish people through blood
are already a part of the House of Israel.
But we’d like them to
be baptized in, right?
But then all the Gentiles
when they convert
are also baptized into
the House of Israel.
The seat of Abraham.
– [Peter] Do you have
some water back there?
Is that what we’re doing after?
Are you gonna baptize me?
– Yeah.
(group laughing)
Would you like to be?
– The state center is right behind you.
– You have a swimming pool.
– I have the keys.
– We have a bathtub.
– [Peter] And it’s never too late, right?
– No, but to get to go and
be in their home like you
and to be in their, that’s like, wow.
I totally geeked out about that.
– [Peter] The Hasidic Jews.
– The Hasidic Jews.
Any Jewish people.
– That was interesting.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] That’s not an
easy group to get into,
because whenever a camera comes near,
they’re getting put under the bus.
– Oh.
– [Jennifer] And I think a lot
with, less so with you guys,
but there is some of that
hesitancy with people
worried like, oh, camera’s coming in,
they’re gonna show how crazy we are.
We’re part of a cult X, Y, and Z.
And so, people are
guarded, understandably so.
– Right.
– I would be too.
– For sure.
– Right?
– For sure.
– Well, and I mean like
the 12 tribes of Israel
is a big part of our religion too.
So like, if you go into the temples,
you’ll see the baptismal font
where we are baptized for the dead.
There’s 12 oxen under it.
Those each represents a tribe
from the House of Israel,
the 12 tribes of Israel.
And when we come to a certain age,
we can get something called
a patriarchal blessing
from our patriarch.
It tells us what line, or what lineage,
or what tribe we are from.
So, like I’m from the tribe of Ephraim
and if anyone else
wants to share they can.
– I’m from Manasseh.
– Which are the break, well,
Joseph’s two sons, right?
So, the last son Joseph
had Ephraim and Manasseh
So anyway,
– You have dreams?
– Love you, Jewish people, love you.
– My dad’s people.
– God’s people, for real.
– [Peter] How do you feel
about those who have left?
– It’s sad.
I have a lot of friends
who have left the church,
a lot of friends who actually helpED me
get back into the church
that have left the church.
– [Peter] Does that
sever the relationship,
– Not at all.
– the friendship?
– Not at all.
– It can if you let it.
– Yeah.
– But we choose not to.
– Yeah.
And that’s the crazy thing
is, is that a lot of,
some of those friends have
actually been surprised
that we have continued our
relationship with them,
because they’re like,
oh well, we thought that
maybe you didn’t wanna hang out with us.
Maybe because we don’t believe anymore
or we don’t have the same
beliefs as you do anymore.
– [Peter] So, no hard feelings?
– Not at all, not at all.
They’re still my friends.
– Just sadness.
– [Peter] You left the family.
– I mean,-
– Sort of.
– it’s kinda like a sibling, you know,
like if you have a squabble,
you know, with your sibling,
I dunno if you have any
brothers or sisters,
but you’ll still love them.
– We have all walks of life
come through our doors, our home.
We have gay friends, we
have non-member friends,
we have friends who have left
the church or apostatized.
We have people who have never even known
about the church, right?
That’s the whole point.
– Yeah.
– Is that we’re all God’s children
and we should all treat each other
with that same respect and love period.
– You have a rough day and
the last thing you wanna to do
is doing anything for anyone else.
But my wife always tells me like,
“If you’re having a crappy
day, go out and help someone
and it’s gonna turn your day around.”
– Absolutely.
– And that’s, I think
that that’s a lot of,
that’s something that a lot
of people don’t understand
about our faith is
we’re here to fellowship
when we’re here to help.
– It’s like core, it’s like in us.
– Yeah, it’s ingrained in us.
– It’s innate.
I don’t know, it’s ingrained in us
that that’s trying to be like the Savior.
Like being with anyone and everyone,
and just loving them.
So, I mean like some of your questions
that you’ve had today
have kind of made me think
that you had, had the assumption that
we’re more of like a
closed-off, private religion,
but it’s actually the opposite.
Ingrained within our core
system is to outreach.
– I went on a missionary service.
It was more of a family tradition, right?
More of a family pressure.
And I didn’t understand why I went
at the age that I went.
And as I grown older, I’ve been able to
really value what I have.
And you ask a lot of,
there’s a lot of people
in this world that are
craving some sort of hope.
And when I share hope with
people, I just feel good.
I just wanna share what I
have and help other people,
’cause I’ve been helped before in my life.
I was in really dark times and
people reach out hand to me
and they help me out.
So, that’s why I wanna do it.
I feel like it’s my responsibility
to reach out to others
that are struggling.
– [Peter] Even when you’re
not in your mission?
– Even when I’m not on my mission.
– [Peter] Okay.
– I get cranky and I’m
not a perfect human being,
but I do believe in helping others,
and I’m just so much
happy when I help others.
– [Peter] You fast every month?
– Yeah.
Yeah, so we do it every, it’s
the first Sunday of the month.
And we do it, it can be
for anything you need.
So like for me, I have a
really good friend of mine
who just lost his job
and I was actually
fasting for him yesterday
and for our daughter, you
know, whatever the situation.
Like if you have somebody
that’s close to you,
that’s sick or afflicted or,-
– Even just to give thanks.
– to give thanks.
You know, when I was going
through my master’s degree,
like I was fasting all the time,
’cause I needed to pass specific classes.
– Pass accounting.
– Yeah.
(group laughing)
So, I mean, you don’t have to
wait, you know, once a month.
Like you can do it anytime you want.
– [Peter] But at the minimum
you fast once a month?
– Yeah.
– [Peter] For how long?
– As a congregation?
– Yeah.
– [Peter] For how long?
– It’s two meals.
So, it’s about an
equivalent of two 24 hours.
– Whatever you don’t need,
you donate that money’s go fast offerings.
– Like whatever you would’ve
spent for those meals.
And that money goes to help
like the poor and the needy.
– [Peter] Okay, and then 10%
of all income goes to tithing?
– Yeah.
– Goes to the church?
– Scriptures, printing
of scriptures, yeah.
– Temples.
– Building of temples,
– Helping missionaries.
– [Peter] Garments?
– Church buildings.
– We buy our own garments.
– How much are garments?
– Like 3.50 a piece.
– Three bucks.
– Like 3.50.
– 3.50?
– Yeah.
– Okay.
– There’s no profit margin on that?
– Just the cost.
– No tax.
– A lot of our leaders
don’t have a payroll.
I mean, our bishop or leader
he’s got a regular job.
– It’s all volunteers.
– Volunteers.
– Like your calling.
– He’s in the bishop.
– Oh, cool.
(group laughing)
– [Peter] When will you be a bishop?
– Hopefully, never.
(group laughing)
– That’s gonna be on the trailer.
(group laughing)
I know you.
– [Peter] So there, okay,
that’s some dark humor.
I like it, but why never?
– [Sam] A lot of work, man.
– It’s a lot of work.
And it’s like our current bishop,
he puts in 30 hours a week
and he’s constantly visiting other people.
And he’s got a lot of
energy, I don’t know.
– [Peter] You like your eight
or eight hours of sleep?
– I get like four, but yeah.
– [Peter] You get four.
So, why are you doing it though?
Do you have to do it?
– No, it was calling, and it’s voluntary,
and you were asked to do it.
and so, we don’t say no to
callings in our family so.
– Yeah.
– Yeah.
– It’s part of the law of consecration.
We will devote our talents and resources
to building out the kingdom of God.
It’s not easy, man.
I mean,-
– It’s not.
– I don’t wanna aspire
to be a bishop, man.
Like I’m good, I mean.
– Oh, I’m sure you will be.
– My wife she’s a primary president,
so she takes care of
like all of the children
of the, you know, of our ward.
I’m the financial clerk.
So, I work really close with him.
We, you know, I see
everything that happens,
like financial wise, like I cut checks.
– He processes tithing.
– Tithing, you know,
people need, you know,
food or their rent paid or bills paid.
I do all that.
And Sam was actually in the bishopry too.
– Yeah.
– I’m a primary teacher now.
– He’s a primary teacher.
– For a four-year-old,
it’s the best kept secret.
You don’t even know.
– Primary is the best.
– Primary is the best.
He smacks the little
kids and you do as well.
– [Sam] It’s fun.
– And Megan works for the young women.
– Yeah.
– Yep, I work with the teenage girls.
– [Peter] Oh, what do you do with them?
– We have activities and we just,
basically, hang out with them.
We just teach them and just hang out.
– [Peter] Cool, do you like it?
– I love it, I absolutely love it.
– [Peter] So, the church
is at 17 million worldwide.
What would be your dream?
– I don’t know.
It’s not my church,
man, it’s God’s church.
I can’t control it.
– I think that my dream would
be a world that’s at peace,
but it starts within ourselves.
And so, I maybe can’t go out
and make a huge difference
in a whole community, a city, a nation,
but I can start with myself.
If I’ve got a good relationship with God,
then I can work on my marriage with Ben
and then work on our children
and then serve in church
or in the community,
and gradually it grows outward.
But that’s my dream regardless of
whether everyone is, you know,
a member of my church or not.
I wanna see peace and harmony
and support for each other
that we can lift each other up,
we can come closer to God regardless
of the specific faith or religion.
– Yeah, we can find common ground.
– Yeah.
– We can find commonality for sure.
– Unspoken.
– Hold this too.
– Amazing quiet people.
You know what I’m saying?
– Yeah.
– So, what are we doing here?
This is the BYU, the football team.
That’s why supposed to do it.
– Oh.
– Okay, got it.
– Got it?
– Is that a picture.
– [Jaya] Yes.
(group laughing)
– All right guys, so the party’s over.
Is there any ceremony or
anything that happens?
(group laughing)
– We hug.
We’re good on hugs.
Well, at least I am.
I just make people hug me.
You could do a closing prayer,
if we were at church, you
could have a closing prayer.
– Let’s do it, let’s do it.
It’s okay if I record this, right?
– Yeah.
– Yeah, of course.
– Honey, who do you
want to say the prayer?
– Do you wanna say the prayer?
– Yeah, no problem.
– Father in heaven, we are grateful
that we get to get together as friends
and grateful for this chance
that we have to share beliefs
and we ask for Palestinian and Israelites
that are struggling at this time,
please bless them, bless us who are hungry
and struggling at this time.
And please bless the leaders of our nation
so they will be able to make
good choices for the people.
And please soften the hearts of those
who have been away from thee
and that we say these things
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
– [Group] Amen.
– Thank you, brother.
– Thank you, guys.
– Thank you.
– That was awesome.
– Aw!
– You were great.
– It was good to meet you.
– Great to meet you.
You guys were awesome.
Thank you, good luck with everything.
– Thank you.
– Good luck with the bishop primary.
Is that what you said?
– Bishop work.
– Bishop work, okay.
– [Sam] Thanks so much.
– Thank you, awesome.
– David, you made this happen.
Can’t do it without you.
– I just knew.
– So, without you guys.
– Oh, thank you.
– Just so you know, without you guys,
people like you, open
people willing to share,
we would learn nothing.
So, just like you love
the Hasidic Jewish videos.
– Yeah.
– That family did a service for you.
You’ve now done a service
for many other people.
– [Sam] That’s awesome.
– All right, guys.
– Los vemos.
Good to see you, man.
– Instant friend, huh?
– Instant friend, we’re gonna go
to a Menal concert together.
Let’s do it.
– [Group] Yeah!
– All right guys.
Thanks for coming along.
Until the next one.
(gentle guitar music)