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Ross H. Palfreyman never set out to be a published author. A seasoned attorney by trade, his days were spent moving between courtrooms, juggling deadlines, and squeezing in fast food dinners between hearings in San Diego and Los Angeles. Writing a book wasn’t on his radar until a decades-old journal caught the attention of an unexpected visitor.
What began as a personal project meant for his family, just a quiet record of his two years as a Mormon missionary in Thailand soon evolved into a compelling narrative with broad resonance. When a close Catholic friend found the draft lying on his dining table and asked to read it, her reaction surprised him. “Everyone needs to read this,” she insisted. “I’m not a Mormon, but I finally understand what a mission really is.”
That encouragement sparked the publication of Two Years in God’s Mormon Army, a candid, often funny, always honest account of Palfreyman’s missionary service in Southeast Asia during the 1970s. Unlike many religious memoirs that either preach or polish the experience into perfection, Palfreyman’s writing does neither. Instead, he shares his story with a lawyer’s precision and a missionary’s heart—no sugarcoating, no spin. Just the truth, as he lived it.
The book opens with a young Palfreyman toiling at a factory job in Southern California, anxiously awaiting his mission call. His destination: Thailand. His mother nearly fainted. It was 1973, and the Vietnam War was raging nearby. What followed was a whirlwind of language training in Hawaii, strict obedience to church rules, and eventual immersion in Thai culture—all of which he recounts with humility, self-awareness, and an eye for irony.
Palfreyman’s mission experience wasn’t glamorous. It was full of struggles—linguistic, spiritual, emotional. It was also full of small, meaningful triumphs. He writes about joy in the mundane, faith in the messy, and how purpose often finds us when we stop trying so hard to find it. The book strikes a rare balance: it’s deeply Mormon in context, yet widely relatable in its emotional truth.
That emotional clarity threads directly into his second book, Joy in the Brambles, a thematic companion rather than a sequel. While Two Years is a boots-on-the-ground memoir, Brambles is reflective and philosophical. It explores the concept of joy—not fleeting happiness, but the kind that sticks with you. The kind that roots itself in compassion, charity, and connection.
The book’s title is a metaphor drawn from nature: joy is the sweet fruit found at the center of a blackberry bush. But to get to that fruit, you have to navigate the brambles—life’s struggles, distractions, and discomforts. Physical illness, personal loss, political noise, even daily irritation—these are all brambles. And yet, Palfreyman argues, they are part of the path to joy.
Much of Joy in the Brambles is anchored in real stories. Some are from Palfreyman’s own life—like the time he bought a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer video for a little boy in a CVS store whose mother couldn’t afford it. Others are drawn from his experience coaching youth sports, where a 10-year-old player once reminded him, mid-game, to choose empathy over winning. That single moment, he says, taught him more about joy than any sermon ever could.
“There’s a big difference between joy and happiness,” Palfreyman explains in an interview. “Happiness is fleeting—it’s inward, about satisfying your own needs. Joy is outward. It comes when you help someone else when you ease their burden. And the beauty of it is, you don’t have to solve world hunger. You just have to show up and care.”
That theme of practical compassion—charity in the every day—is what makes Palfreyman’s work resonate so widely. He’s not offering self-help mantras or religious dogma. He’s telling readers that real joy is possible, even in a noisy, divided world, and that it’s found not in grand gestures but in small, intentional acts of kindness.
Both books are deeply personal, yet Palfreyman is quick to clarify that he doesn’t speak for the Mormon Church. Instead, he offers his perspective as someone who has lived within the faith and wrestled with its expectations and rewards. His writing invites, rather than instructs. It illuminates the life of a missionary, yes, but more importantly, it invites readers to reflect on their own missions—whatever form they might take.
Two Years in God’s Mormon Army and Joy in the Brambles are available through Amazon and can be ordered at Barnes & Noble and other online retailers. As of now, they are not widely stocked in physical bookstores, but they can be requested at most outlets.
Though Palfreyman is just beginning to formally market his work, the books already speak for themselves. Word-of-mouth and reader testimony continue to spread, driven by those who find in his words a mix of sincerity, humor, and hard-earned wisdom.
If you’re looking for a story of faith that’s grounded rather than grandiose, or a reminder that joy is often just one good deed away, Ross H. Palfreyman is a name worth remembering. And reading.
