Leading Saints Podcast

Leading Saints Podcast


Creating Friendship & Belonging in Relief Society | A How I Lead Interview with Emma Larsen

September 07, 2022

Emma Larsen is a Senior at Brigham Young University studying Theatre Education, works at the BYU Center for Teaching and Learning, and tutors English to Taiwanese students. She is also the author of the book, The New Kid: Finding Friendship and Belonging in the Face of Life Changes. Emma served in the Taiwan Taipei mission and has served as a Relief Society teacher, ward music chair, and sacrament meeting pianist. She is currently the Relief Society president in a young single adult ward in Provo, Utah.


Highlights

03:15 Introduction to Emma Larsen


06:15 Emma talks about focusing on individuals and how she goes about doing that


07:15 What does a YSA member need to feel loved?


08:40 Ministering tips for wards with a lot of turnover


10:00 Ministering interviews.


11:40 Emma talks about her new book and why she wrote it


15:00 Her book is for new kids that are feeling alone but also for people to know what a new kid feels so that they can offer friendship and be more welcoming


15:30 Emma talks about what it was like to move constantly growing up. Moving into new wards and new schools and what she learned from it.


17:30 Emma’s advice to leaders on creating belonging in their wards and organizations


19:10 Emma shares her personal experience of how another young woman helped her feel like she belonged


21:00 As a leader, know people’s names. You might not be able to do and be everything but knowing people’s names helps them feel seen.


24:45 Remember that the little things are the big things. Doing the small things like learning names or asking someone to sit by you.


27:00 Diversity is under appreciated. We are all different and those differences are to be appreciated and cherished.


29:00 Everyone is a little selfish. Stop worrying about yourself and start looking outward.


Links

The New Kid: Finding Friendship and Belonging in the Face of Life Changes, by Emma Larsen
How to Remember Everyone’s Name at Church | An Interview With Greg Clawson

TRANSCRIPT coming soon
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The Leading Saints Podcast has ranked in the top 20 Christianity podcasts in iTunes, gets over 300,000 listens each month, and has over 10 million total downloads as part of nonprofit Leading Saints’ mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org.


Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay, John H. Groberg, Elaine Dalton, Tad R. Callister, J. Devn Cornish, Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Anthony Sweat, John Hilton III, Barbara Morgan Gardner, Blair Hodges, Whitney Johnson, Ryan Gottfredson, Greg McKeown, DeAnna Murphy, Michael Goodman, Richard Ostler, Ganel-Lyn Condie, and many more in over 500 episodes.


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