Ace Flores grew up as the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his school. He couldn't afford club soccer. He moved between Texas, Florida, and Rhode Island. He turned down a Division One offer to serve a mission in Uganda. And on his last day in Buena Vista, Virginia — he met a girl at the gym, lost his nerve, and then found her on Instagram an hour later.

She just got baptized.

He baptized her himself.

This episode is EVERYTHING this podcast was built for!

Ace is a center back who just transferred from Southern Virginia University to Rhode Island College — not because SVU wasn't right for him, but because working until 3 AM at Taco Bell before 6 AM training sessions wasn't sustainable, and his family had never seen him play a college game.

So he prayed about it, entered the transfer portal, and the Lord put him exactly where he needed to be.

We talk about growing up moving between three completely different places and never having the money for club soccer — just a ball and his dad's shed.

We talk about being outnumbered in eighth grade history class when the teacher started explaining Joseph Smith and polygamy and he sat there quiet and alone.

We talk about Uganda — the bucket showers, the 4 AM arrival, the companion from Zimbabwe who polished his shoes and danced to while making breakfast, and the gift of discernment that changed the way Ace prays every single morning.

We talk about SVU, Payden Pemberton, playing center back when he was recruited as an attacking mid, and what it felt like to start fifteen out of seventeen games in a historic season.

We talk about the USMNT, the pay-to-play crisis, Tim Howard as the greatest American soccer player of all time, and why Cape Verde — where Ace's mom is from — won everyone's heart in this World Cup.

And at the end, Ace gives advice so simple and so personal it stopped me cold:

• Read your mission call.
• Get your patriarchal blessing.
• Find someone you can talk to.
• And develop a relationship with the Savior — because you are so much more than your occupation on this earth.

This one is special. Don't miss it.

🎧 Listen now and share this with someone who needs to hear it.
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