Latter Day Radio, now podcasting from The Intersection of Faith & Freedom‪.‬ gmjarrard

Podcasting partners Martin Tanner and Greg Jarrard are together once again to discuss a subject that pushes many friends and family members apart: politics, or more specifically politicians. Whether you're Left or Right or smack dab in the middle, when somebody asks the question in jest, "how do you when a politician is lying," you immediately know the answer: "When his lips are moving." Martin and Greg point out that most people agree that "it's the other guy" who is wicked. But, it's not that easy, is it? Martin makes the point that when people of good faith get all the facts without all the spin they are more likely to agree than disagree. They also remind us what Adams, Madison and others said about the Constitution, namely, that it was created for a religious and moral people and is totally unsuited for anyone else. And, that's where it gets messy when politics and religion often become an explosive mixture. Finger pointing isn't the answer – listen and come to your own conclusions.

Somebody once said that when somebody dies who has lived a full time and DOES NOT leave a story behind, it's like a library has burned down. Host Greg Jarrard interviews an old friend, a former partner from years ago, Mark Hurst who shares his stories and poetry with friends, family and new listeners to help him fend off the effects of Parkinson's Disease. Jarrard's new volume, BRING YOUR MEMOIR TO LIFE IN 6 WEEKS, is the impetus to encourage people like Mark Hurst share his thoughts, views and wisdom with others as both a cathartic device for himself and as a wellspring of hope and encouragement for others to keep plugging along despite life's millstones that slow them down. Hurst reads an introduction to his small volume, Milestones & Millstones, and encourages others to share their lives' stories while they still can.

As a vice president of IANDS, International Association of Near-Death Studies, Latter Day Radio co-host Martin Tanner discusses the recent conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, over Labor Day weekend in September 2022. Among other things, Martin and his co-host GM Jarrard examine the relevance and impact of accounts of people who have "passed on and returned" for people of faith, particularly Latter Day Saints. They recount how in dark and troubling times these stories, often with messages for friends and family members–can offer great hope and pique interest in life after death. Martin and Greg also address the subject of why trials are for our benefit and help people appreciate light when enveloped in darkness. And, they point out how the hope for a better future can give people renewed strength to endure to the end.

In this Latter Day Radio podcast, first broadcast on KLO Radio in Salt Lake City, attorney, author and researcher Jonathan Neville makes the case that the events described in the Book of Mormon took place in North America, primarily the northeastern U.S. states of Ohio, New York and Michigan and the surrounding areas. Neville bases his theory on Oliver Cowdery's "Letter 7" that was published in 1842 to counter claims from enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that Joseph Smith "borrowed" content from other sources, such as Solomon Spaulding. His studies led him to conclude that Benjamin Winchester under the direction of William Smith, the youngest brother of Joseph Smith, wrote accounts in the early LDS publication, "The Times and the Seasons," that led many researchers to "go on a snipe hunt" in Central America for clues and evidence to confirm the claims in the Book of Mormon. In Neville's view, statements made by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and other early Church leaders that the final battle between Nephites and Lamanites did indeed take place in the area of the Great Lakes and not in Guatemala nor Mexico. He asserts that his research of both documents and of archaeological sites in and around Ohio confirms his theory. Neville has written several books on the subject that are described on his website, MoronisAmerica.com.  GM Jarrard is the host for this podcast that was first heard on KLO in 2018.

The growing phenomenon of near-death experiences has attracted more and more attention in recent years. In August 2022, the annual convention of the International Association of Near-death Studies is taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Latter Day Radio host Martin Tanner has been assisting in its organization. As he explains in this podcast, Martin has been investigating reports of people in all walks of life–including small children–who claim that an illness or accident led to an episode known as an NDE, or near-death event.

One of the more well known experts in the subject. pediatrician Dr. Melvin Morse joins Martin and co-host GM Jarrard and recounts his experience caring for a young girl who was found at the bottom of a swimming pool a couple of decades ago. After she described her “meeting with Jesus,” Dr. Morse and his team began investigating her experience and the experiences of many other children. As Morse explains, there is no other explanation that makes sense, except for her girl’s story.

This podcast adds to other other Latter Day Radio podcast episodes on the subject.

A Long Journey Back to Mongolia: A "No More Strangers" Podcast

It’s no secret that students who attend Brigham Young University very often leave with more than just a college degree. For many, they leave with a spouse, too. Such was the case for our current guests in this Latter Day Radio podcast episode.

Oh, those single wards on campus!

The expressed purpose of “single wards” is to take a varied assortment of members of the Church from places with strange-sounding names and pair them up. Think of it as a sock drawer! You just can’t leave socks as a loose collection of footwear; your job (if you’re the bishop, for example) isn’t done until they’re all rolled up together.

And, sometimes those socks would never have been paired up if they hadn’t been dropped into the same drawer!

Such is the case of Nadmid Namgur and Mayumi Yamanaka. They are both returned missionaries; Nadmid is a native Mongolian, and he served in San Diego, California, arriving in the mission field hardly speaking English. Mayumi hails from Kobe, Japan, and served her mission in Tokyo. So, when they met, they were forced to use English–their second language–as their primary means of communication.

But, they had one thing in common: a commitment to live the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was their glue.

She joined the Church as an eight-year-old when she and her mother were baptized; Nadmid’s conversion came later as a young college student in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, the world’s second largest land-locked country sandwiched between Russia and China. Its altitude is about the same as Salt Lake City (4,300 feet) and sits astride the Tuul River with a population of 1.3 million, nearly half of the country’s 3 million inhabitants.

Nadmid explains that it was the appearance of two young Americans in white shirt and ties, speaking–for them–a very foreign tongue that attracted his attention. His was no quick conversion; as he explains in the podcast, a new green missionary who spoke very little Mongolian made an impression that eventually led him to the waters of baptism and then to his surprise, a call to serve in the California San Diego mission.

Opportunities, scholarships and the Hand of the Lord gave Nadmid and Mayumi an opportunity to travel to Mongolia with their two small sons where he, with his newly minted MBA from BYU, was offered a job with Rio Tinto and a chance to serve as branch president in Ulaanbaatar.

A few years later, they found themselves back in Utah raising their two sons, David and Daniel, in the Daybreak “settlement” of South Jordan, Utah, in a nice, cozy cottage within walking distance of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Oh, and a new dog. Currently, Nadmid works in the Temple Department in the Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City. They both can be counted on to serve in any calling they are given; he’s on the High Council of the South Jordan Eastlake Stake, and Mayumi works in the Relief Society…that is, until July 1st.

That’s when Elder Nadmid Namgur and Sister Mayumi Yamanaka Namgur and their boys, 14-year-old David and 11-year-old Daniel, will relocate…back to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where “President Namgur” and “Mission Mother Namgur” will preside over this far-flung mission once the province of Genghis Kahn and his Empire.

This podcast is the first of many to come in a new category that we’re calling “No More Strangers,” patterned after a series of books written a generation ago by Elder Hartman Rector, Jr. We hope you’ll like our first one, featuring Nadmid and Mayuni Namgur, leaving soon for the Mongolian Mission.

You can learn more about their long journey by pressing the “Play” button on your smart phone or computer. And, in three years, we will are planning on their appearance again on Latter Day Radio.

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