Sometimes God sends you a lift

One night I was driving in Salt Lake and I picked up somebody in Millcreek. I pulled up in front of the apartment complex and waited a few minutes and then she came out. I could tell that there was a problem because she was crying as she slammed the door of the house. She ran out and got in my car.

I asked her, how are you doing tonight? That’s a question that gives her the opportunity to talk if she wants to. She began to sob. She cried a lot but through her tears she choked out the words, my mom just died. She said, I found out here at this party at my friends house. At least I thought they were my friends. When I told them that my mom had died, they put up with me for a few minutes then called you to come and get me. They told me that I was bringing everybody down and that I was ruining their party.

She said, I thought they were my friends. Aren’t friends supposed to be there for each other? She began to cry even harder. Immediately I felt compassion for her situation but also quite a measure of our father in heaven‘s love for her. I could see his little girl in the backseat and I knew that she needed his spirit to get through this.

What a double whammy! Lose your mother and find out that your friends are a bunch of jerks all within about 15 minutes. My heart went out to her.

I felt the spirit start to guide the discussion. I asked her to tell me a little bit about her mom. She told me about her mom‘s life and how they had been very close. She talked about how her father had passed away and since then it had just been her and her mom and now she was gone.

I asked her what she knew about death. She looked at me like I was really fuzzy or something. She asked, what do you mean? One minute you’re here and the next minute you’re gone. Death means nothing is left.

I asked her, don’t you believe in God? She said that she hadn’t believed in God ever. She said that her parents forced her to go to church when she was little but that she hadn’t spent any time thinking about God in many years.

I said, I want to take a second here and tell you what I believe if that’s OK. She said yes. I started testifying of a loving father in heaven, who loves each one of us, who knows each one of us and wants to be with each one of us.

I talked to her about how God places us here on this earth so that we can learn and progress and then he brings us home, back to him. I said, we call that death and as unnatural and horrific as it feels, it’s a very natural part of our progression. It’s when we go home. Our father in heaven is all about bringing us back home.

I said, that’s why we’re here on earth, to learn the things we need to know and the things we need to do so that we can be prepared to go home. Death is not the end. It’s not the end of our spirit and it’s not the end of our life. I said, Jesus Christ was resurrected so that each one of us can one day be resurrected from death. Knowing this takes away the sting of death. Death is not permanent. It’s just the next thing.

I said, Jesus Christ also paid for our sins so that we can walk with God while we’re here on Earth. That way we can prepare to meet God and go home to our loving father. I said, what happened tonight Is your mother went home to her loving father and and they are so happy to see each other.

I said, the thing about Jesus is not only did he die for our sins and was resurrected so that we can live again but he suffered for all of our pains, injustices, losses, and infirmities. All of these pains of this life were paid for by him so that we can look to him and be saved. We can look to him and be comforted.

I had the impression that her mom had suffered with significant disease for an extended period of time. I said, looking to Christ is what your mom did. This is why even though she had tremendous medical problems and was in significant pain she didn’t complain. She looked to Christ. My passenger said, that’s for sure! She went to church every Sunday. She started going to the Mormon church by my house and was baptized when I was 17. She sure loved that.

I said, your mom has suffered extensively for a long time and now that suffering is over. She’s in the arms of her Savior. She’s in the arms of her father in heaven and that pain is gone. She asked how I knew that her mom had been sick for a long time. I told her that when we walk with our father in heaven’s spirit, he can put things in our hearts to say that we don’t know, but we know they are true.

After talking about Jesus and having talked about her mom, a spirit of peace came over the car. The spirit of our father in heaven was there and she had began to gain her composure.

I said, as we are talking about the atonement of Jesus Christ and your mother, we need to realize that just as looking to Christ made her able to bear her burden, looking to Christ right now can help you bear your burden today. This death is an awful thing for you to bear right now. It’s important to remember that Jesus already suffered this sorrow for you and that if you look to him, he can help give you hope and lift you through the pain that is in your heart.

She asked, how do you do that? I said, first you believe in Jesus Christ and then you pray to your father in heaven and ask that the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ intercede in your behalf. This way you can feel the love of your father in heaven and have the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ lift your burdens. If you pray to your father in heaven with faith in Jesus Christ, the power of his atonement can help heal and comfort your heart.

She said, I don’t know that I believe in Jesus Christ. I was raised not going to church but I feel like I don’t hurt as bad as I did when I first got in the car. Can you teach me how to do this?

I said, yes!

The spirit was very powerful in the car and I could tell she was feeling it. I was praying in my heart that the Lord would comfort her. I also felt very strongly that by identifying the spirit to her and helping her out right now it would turn her life around. There was a reason why I was the driver who got this ride.

I asked, what are you feeling right now? She said, to be honest, a little numb. That is an improvement over how I felt when I got into your car. At first when I got in, I was angry, I was hurt and I missed my mom so much.

Now I still miss my mom but through our conversation, the anger and the hurt has been lifted. It’s kind of amazing. I said, that’s the effect of the spirit of God. When he touches your heart, it heals. Through prayer and living the way our father in heaven has commanded us to live, we can have that kind of peace in our hearts all the time.

She asked, could you show me how to pray? Would you pray with me? I need to have this peace. I taught her how to pray the way we taught people in our mission with these four steps:

Heavenly father.
We thank thee for
We ask thee for
In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I explained to her that we pray to our father and then he blesses us with his spirit and with the blessings of the atonement in our lives. I said, that’s what you need right now.

I said, what I’d like to do is have me pray for you and then have you do a prayer yourself. She said, I don’t know about that, I think I would feel really silly. I said, you’re just talking to your father and he loves you. I said, compared to God we are all silly, silly little kids. She laughed and said OK.

I began to pray and I felt the spirit of God. I asked him to bless her that the atonement of Jesus Christ would lift her burdens and heal her heart. I asked him to walk with her so that she could bear the trials she was going through.

Then I turned to her and said, it’s your turn. She gave a real innocent beginner prayer like most investigators do but wow, was it powerful. When she finished, she was crying but they weren’t the same kind of tears from before. Those were tears of hurt and pain. Now, with a little understanding and in the presence of the spirit of our father in heaven, her burden had been lifted some already.

She said, I can’t believe how different I feel now. I guess I probably should have gone to church with my mom. I said, where is your mom going to have her funeral? She said, I don’t know. I asked do you suppose you’ll do it in the church where she attended? She said, that sounds like a great idea, probably so. I said, as you are working with the Bishop preparing for the funeral tell him about our ride. Tell him about your prayer. Tell him about what you felt and ask him if he could teach you more about this.

She said she could do that. Her mom‘s Bishop lived right across the road from where her mother lived. She said she met him a couple of times and that would be an easy conversation to have.

By this time we had arrived in front of her house. It was an apartment in North Salt Lake. It had been about a 20 minute ride but there had been a lot of water under the bridge during that ride.

She said, I don’t know how I would have made it through the night without this ride. I said, with what you have learned now you can have this with you all of the time. She said, I’m going to do that. Tomorrow morning I’ll go over and talk to the Bishop about what we need to do and about our ride. She said, I’ve got like 500 missed calls on my phone, he’s probably already tried to contact me.

She said, thank you for teaching me to pray. I asked her, out of curiosity, at what point tonight did you realize that your mother’s spirit was here in the car with us? She said, I started feeling it when you started talking about Jesus. My mom loved Jesus and I felt her here. I still feel her with us. I said, I think she wants you to talk to the Bishop too. She wants you to learn. She said, I think you’re right. She always wanted me to go to her church with her. I said, now you will. The thing is that just because she has passed to the other side doesn’t mean she is not by your side. She may even be more capable of helping you now.

I said, your mom‘s ward will rally around you and if you’ll allow them to be your family and friends, you’ll find something there that you didn’t find with your friends at the party tonight. You’ll find people that really care and people who will love you and will be there for you. She said, that’s what I need.

I said, you know that your mom would not have been pleased with the kind of things that were going on at the party tonight. She said, you’re right. It is amazing how you know these things. I said, the spirit gave me the insight to know that it was not a good party to be at and some very unworthy things were going on there.

God pulled on you and your mom pulled you out and they are now showing you a better way. Now you need to take it. She said, if I can have peace, I am there. I will talk to mom’s bishop about that.

She said thank you very much grabbed my shoulder then shook it. With a smile on her face, through her pain, she got out of the car and went in her house.

One night I was driving in Salt Lake and I got a trip down to the south end of the valley. A lot of times if that happens you want to just get right back up to Salt Lake as fast as you can. That particular night there was a Real Salt Lake soccer game and I don’t know if you’ve ever been in that traffic jam, but it can be daunting.

I meant to put my app on pause so that I wouldn’t get one of those soccer game rides. I thought I did anyway but lo and behold a ride popped up that had me picking up at the game and driving down to Draper. This is further away from where I wanted to be and in that massive traffic.

It took me a minute to weave through the cars and the people to get to the spot where I was supposed to meet my passengers. They weren’t there and the time started ticking on the clock. At five minutes I could leave and head back to Salt Lake.

As I sat there contemplating my escape, the spirit impressed upon me that I was not to do that. I didn’t know why but that’s normally all the reason I need. Five minutes came and went and I was onto six minutes when all of a sudden. all three doors on my car flew open and great big huge human beings jumped in my car screaming loudly.

I was a bit startled and quite intimidated. Three of these people were at least 6’3”and over 250 pounds. One was a bit taller and another bigger. The last one was a young lady who herself was probably 6 foot and 200 pounds. It was a big crew. Two of them had University of Utah shirts on. We had quite a collection of large people in the car. We had two Polynesians, a Latino and an African-American along with me.

They did however, seem to have had a really good time. They were enjoying the game and enjoying talking about everything that had gone on that evening. Then the topic turned to religion. They all started talking about how bad they hate our church and the members of the church. This conversation went on for three or four minutes and finally one of them looked at me and said, I’ll bet you’re Mormon, aren’t you? I said, 100%.

Their discussion was loud and spirited. There was anger and mocking in the tone of the conversation. They believed the church to be racist, they thought Joseph Smith was a fraud and they thought that tithing was just ripping the people off. They were very adamant and very forceful with these ideas.

The lady asked, how do you feel about all the things that we said? I said, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion but from what I’ve heard some of your information is incorrect. I was beginning to wonder why the spirit wanted me to take this ride.

One of the guys piped up and said, we all used to be members of that church so we know what’s what. I said, well the information that you guys were sharing just now was incorrect. That’s all I was saying. The tension was thick in the car.

You don’t want to make four people who are all bigger than you angry in an enclosed environment, but I felt like it was important at that moment to stand up. I felt like it was the thing Heavenly Father had wanted me to do. I felt that it was the reason why I had be given the prompting. One of the guy said, do you think you can answer our questions?

I said, look, I have the gift of the Holy Ghost and with the help of the Holy Ghost I can provide truthful answers to your questions. I asked, are you so full of hate that you can’t listen or are you able to be touched by the spirit?

They were shocked. I don’t think they anticipated my opposition and in a way I think they were impressed that I would go against the flow like that. A lot of times people think that everybody will just be quiet and let you run over them and I think that’s what they had expected.

On top of that, them being large people and very loud was a factor. I’m sure in their minds this made it less likely that I would say anything. One thing for sure is that by me standing up like that, it created an environment of respect. They respected me for standing up and started asking questions.

One of the guys in the backseat said, I am black, why doesn’t the church think I’m as good as they think you are? Why would the church discriminate against me? They all chimed in with their little statements of support, like yeah, what about that?

I said, how have you been discriminated against in the church? I said, how have you ever been racially mistreated? He said, well, I haven’t but you do know that back in the day they didn’t think the black people were as important as white people.

I said, I don’t think that’s the truth. We believe that all of God‘s children are important, including both black and white people. I said, for sure there are some people who say or do things that are unkind or out of line, included with that is some racism from time to time. I’m sure of it because we all fall short.

He said, you know that we weren’t able to hold the priesthood. That’s racism. I said, I could see why you would say that. This disarmed him a little bit. He said, what’s your answer? I asked him if he attended a church now. He said that there was a black church that he attended once he left our church.

I asked him, how many people in that congregation hold the priesthood? He thought for a moment and said, I guess just the preacher. I asked, you mean none of the fathers in the homes hold the priesthood? He said, no. I said, the fathers in the home can’t give blessings to their children to heal them when they’re sick. They have to get the preacher. Does he even do that? He thought about it for a moment and said no. I said, so with the exception of the preacher in your church none of the black people in your church hold the priesthood. He was quiet.

I asked, when you attended our church, was the whole congregation black? He said, no there were Hispanic people and white people. I said, that’s right.

I said, the black church was created because of racism. White people didn’t want to worship with black people and black people didn’t want to worship with white people. I said, in fact, since the founding of our church, we’re one of the few churches in the country that didn’t create separate congregations based on race. Everybody worships together.

I said, this was a particular problem for the people in Missouri. When the church was in Missouri there was a lot of racism. Missouri was a slave state and in our congregation you had white people and black people sitting next to each other and worshiping God at the same time. That was an issue.

From that time all the way up until the mid 1960s mixing races at church was not a thing and it still isn’t today in a lot of congregations with the exception of our church. We believe that all of God‘s children are the same and that they should worship together. Since the 1970’s every father in every home who’s worthy has the priesthood and he can give blessings to his children and his family.
That is the power of God in the hands of every father in every home, black, white, Latino, regardless of race. No other church has anything like that.

I asked, are you sure that our church is racist? To me that sounds like the most progressive church with regard to race. I told them that when I was a child my grandma always taught me that the black people who obey the commandments would one day have every blessing of the gospel and that day came long before you were born.

He was quiet for a moment and then said, I’ve never heard anyone talk about it like that. It makes me wonder why I was so angry? I said, me too and then we laughed.

I said, next question. The young lady piped up and said, I’ve heard a lot of things about Joseph Smith and things he did that were kind of bad. I said, so what you’re saying is that Joseph Smith wasn’t perfect. She said, yes!

I said, said, of course he wasn’t perfect. No one in the history of the world except Jesus Christ has ever been perfect. I said, Moses wasn’t perfect. Peter wasn’t perfect. No one is perfect except Christ.

I said, we need Christ because we are saved by his grace. If we don’t look to Christ, we cannot live, there is no other name that can bring us salvation.

I said, Joseph Smith wasn’t even a saint. He was a prophet. I asked, do you know what a prophet is? She said, why don’t you tell me. I said, God calls people who are ordinary people but who have tremendous faith to serve him. He reveals his words to them for the rest of us. That is a prophet. He receives revelation from God and tells us the word of God. It doesn’t mean he’s perfect. He still needs to repent and he still needs to work at being better but by calling weak or insufficient people God shows his power.

We have evidence that some of our prophets have not been perfect. They were fans of the University of Utah! There was a smattering of laughter from the backseat.

I said, look at Joseph Smith, he had no education per se, yet he translated the Book of Mormon and founded the church. I asked, do you think he could have done that on his own? With his limitations and education do you think he could have done that on his own? She said no. I said, that’s where the hand of God comes in. He calls prophets and he makes them more than they are. I said, Joseph Smith was chastised by God and he had to repent but bit by bit he established the kingdom of God on the Earth. He established the church of Jesus Christ under the direction of Jesus Christ.

I bore testimony of the first vision and the divinity of the call that Joseph received that day. I testified of the Book of Mormon and the spirit entered the car. She just sat there in silence. This was noticed by one of her friends who said wow. I have never seen anything shut her up! Everyone laughed but the spirit was working.

At the first of the ride it seemed like a wrestle but now most of the wrestle was done. The spirit was touching all of us in the car.

Then the other guy in the backseat said, what about tithing? The church has so much money and they expect everyone to pay tithing. They even have problems with the government.

I said, tithing is not a penalty or a tax. That’s how you’re looking at it. Tithing is a blessing. I don’t pay tithing because I’m afraid not to or because somebody tells me I have to. I pay tithing because I know if I do, God will bless me. I know it’s something I’m supposed to do because God wants me to do it and that if I do it, I will have his spirit in my heart and his power roundabout me. That’s what I need.

The girl said, we’ve been able to feel his spirit roundabout you in the car tonight.

I said, I don’t care if they burn the money in a furnace. It just doesn’t matter because once I’ve paid my tithing I know that the Lord will bless me. It’s all about faith and obedience. He was quiet.

I said I just want you all to know that I know the church is true. I know that Jesus Christ has a prophet on the Earth today. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and he translated the Book of Mormon and I know that God has sent his spirit here tonight to calm your hearts and to chase away the evil thoughts you were previously voicing.

They said, we like you and we could tell you were telling the truth. I said, I like you too! I said, God didn’t put you in my car tonight by accident, he didn’t send his spirit by accident. He wanted you to feel his love. He wanted you to have your questions answered.

They all acknowledged feeling the spirit. I could tell in their eyes and in their countenance that they had been touched. I knew it was time to make a challenge. I challenged them to do something that they thought they would never do again in their lives. I said, God also wants you back. I asked, do your parents still go to church? They said, yes. I said, this week sounds like a good week to go to church with your parents, doesn’t it?

I said, you guys have been afraid to ask your parents these questions you asked me tonight. I’m glad God put you in my car so we could have this talk. He sent his spirit so that you would know the truth was spoken. I said, now you have to do something with that. Now you have to do something and that is go to church.

The guy that started it all said, wow, you just said that! He said, I accept your challenge. Everyone else said me too. They all thanked me and got out of the car. They started walking towards the house.

The guy who’s question I first answered, turned around and came back and tapped on my window. I rolled it down and he said, I think I’ve been deceived over the years by people I trusted. No one made me feel the spirit. I could only feel anger. Thanks for bringing the spirit back. He turned around and went in the house.

These kids had been blinded by Satan but that night we were able to pull the blinders off. I don’t believe God put them in my car on accident and I believe that they will be going to church more often, after all, they loved feeling spirit.

One day I was driving in Salt Lake and I picked up two girls from the capital. They were dressed in nice dresses and they were headed over to. Millcreek where they had an Airbnb.

They were from the East Coast and were here for the wedding of their girlfriend from college. They had gone to college at Rutgers and had lived their lives entirely on the East Coast. They had never seen mountains like we have and they were enjoying the scenery. The three of them were pretty inseparable and so they were here to celebrate. One curious fact that I found interesting was that the Utah capital building is one of the top 10 destinations for weddings in the United States. People go there because of how pretty it is. It also kind of looks cool up on the hill with a view over the valley. Those are the only reasons I can figure anyway.

As we know, there is a much better place to get married just down the hill or at least there will be when it’s back in business! As we drove by the temple and with the topic of discussion being marriage, I told them that my wife and I were married in that building right there in the temple.

They said, reeeeallyyyyy? You’re Mormon? Some people think of us and confuse us with Amish or Menanites. I think there was a little of this confusion going on. I laughed and said, live in the flesh, right here. They laughed and said that’s awesome. One girl asked me if it would offend me if she asked questions about our church. She said, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or angry but I have questions. I said, I may not have all of the answers but as luck would have it I do have a few, and I would love to entertain your questions. One of them said she worked with a lady who was a member of the church but that she didn’t ever feel comfortable talking to her about it. She said she thought she might get in trouble at work if she offended her. It was a busy time of day and this ride was going to take a while so I thought this would be fun.

The first questions were questions that I get a lot. They are, so do you watch, Housewives of Salt Lake City, Sister Wives, or Mormon Wives on TV? I told them that I had never seen even one second of any of those shows but that I had given rides to a few of the crew and some of the stars for each of those shows. I told them that they are not very impressive and not someone you would want to pattern your life after for sure.

They laughed and said that they seem pretty trashy and not at all how they had imagined Mormons to be. II told them that when people leave the church for whatever reason they go out of their way to embarrass the church or to represent it poorly. I told them that when I had those people who were in those shows in my car they carried kind of a nervous uneasy feeling about them. I said, I prefer the awesome vibe you to bring.

One of them said, I don’t know if we brought it with us but we noticed that you have a very peaceful feeling in your car. I told them that you can always have the peace of God in your heart if you do the right things. I told them that that one of the main purposes of the church is to help us live in such a way that the spirit of God can be with us. It brings peace and it brings joy.

One of them said, I’ve noticed that same feeling in general around town. That’s pretty cool. I said, as people live the gospel you can change your society.

One of them said, well after that, I don’t know that I want to ask the rest of my questions. They might be offensive to you. I said, not offensive at all, fire away. She said, OK, tell me about polygamy, what was the deal with that.? Who are these people that do it?

I talked about the history of the church and the reasons for polygamy. I told them that it was about 125 years ago when it was banned in the church. I said, you get kicked out of the church if you have more than one spouse. I said, there are people that are polygamist but they are not members of the church. It is not allowed. Those who are on TV and other shows are not members of the church.

The other one then said, what about not drinking? You guys don’t drink, do you? I said, nope. She asked have you ever had a drink and I said no. I said, it’s part of our doctrine called the Word of Wisdom. I told them that it was a health law given to us by God to see if we would obey. Most active members of the church are really good about obeying it too.

They asked, can you drink Coke? I laughed and said, yes. It says that we can’t drink alcohol, tea, coffee, or use tobacco. I said, it forbids use of illegal drugs too but it also tells us to eat fruits and vegetables and be healthy. It’s kind of a well-rounded approach.

I mentioned that in the 1800’s when the law was given, everybody drank and smoking was no big deal. I said that our prophet, Joseph Smith received this revelation and at the time everybody thought he was crazy. I said, since then science has come around.

I said, this is why we have prophets. They give us knowledge and they give us light. They tell us the things God would have us know to protect and help us be better.

One lady said, “that sounds incredible”. It sounds like exactly what everybody should have. They said it would be great to know what he says. They talked about how usually they don’t drink too much but this weekend they had planned a little deviation from their normal course. I laughed. I said, I always obey because it is not only a rule of the things we shouldn’t put in our bodies, but it also has a promise of strength, wisdom and knowledge. I said, I’m a little limited here. I need more of all of those things.

I said, you guys are from back east. Our church was founded in New York. It was funny because they had no idea about the history. I told them about Joseph Smith and the Sacred Grove. I told them about how Joseph went there to pray and how he saw God the father and Jesus Christ. I said, they called him to be prophet. I told them that the Word of Wisdom is an example of what happens when a true prophet prophesies. I told them that since the days of Joseph Smith we have had a prophet leading our church. I said “today we have a living prophet who speaks with God and reveals his will to us.

As is always the case, when I testified of the first vision, the spirit of God entered in the car and they felt it. One of them said, I’ve never felt peace like that. I said, that’s the spirit of God. When we feel that spirit, we know that the things we are hearing are true. When I testified of the prophet Joseph Smith, God sent his spirit. That’s how you know it’s true.

One of the ladies said, we didn’t know we came here to get a new religion! We thought we were here for a wedding. They laughed. One said, did Joseph Smith teach anything else? Did he write any books that I could read? I told them that he wasn’t a huge author and he didn’t write lots of books but that he did translate a book written by ancient prophets in America.

I told them that the prophets in America had received revelation from God just like the prophets in the Bible. I said that they wrote them down and Joseph Smith was given these records. I said, he translated them so we have them today. I said, they include the visit of Jesus to the people here in America. That shocked them. They said, we have never heard of anything like that. I testified that Jesus came to America because he is God’s son and he loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem.

I told them that God sent Jesus to everyone not just the people in Israel. I said that the Book of Mormon proves that God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem because it testifies of the truthfulness of his visit. One of them said, “I love the Book of Mormon…. the play anyway.” I never really knew anything more about it.

They asked, why is it called the Book of Mormon. I said, a prophet named Mormon was one of the ancient prophets in America. He wrote and compiled the writings of those ancient prophets in that book and Joseph Smith translated it. It is called the Book of Mormon because he put it together.

One of them said, that’s pretty cool. Where do we go to get a Book of Mormon?
I would really like to have one. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists and handed it to her. I said, this is the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. I asked her to open the front cover and see the questions written there. I said, the page number by the question correspondes with where you can find those answers in the book. It’s a good way to start.

We were just pulling in front of the house where they were staying and She said, I think I should read the whole book. I said, I agree. Her friend said, what about me? Do you have a book for me? I laughed and said, absolutely. I pulled out another book and handed it to her.

I looked at the one who had a friend at work that was a member of the church. I told her that I am 100% sure that if she talks to her friend at work about the church , her friend would not be offended. I said, in fact, she would really enjoy the opportunity to talk to you. I said, a lot of people would like to share the gospel but they are afraid. They don’t want to lose friends.

I told her that when she got back, she should take her Book of Mormon to work and show it to her friend. I told her that she should tell her about what she felt in the car. I told her that her friend would be able to answer all of the questions that she still had.

They were really excited and really giddy. They promised that they would read the Book of Mormon. The girl with a member friend at work said, this will provide a lot of conversation fodder for me and my friend at work. We spend hours together. I expect I will learn a lot more about your church now that I know that it’s cool to ask.

They got out of the car and walked away. They came here for the beauty outside but they found out how beautiful it can be when we have the spirit inside. They were very determined to read the whole Book of Mormon and said that they love to read. I think the Lord has a plan here and it’s awesome.

It’s interesting to see how confused people are in this world about what makes them happy even as they do the things that aren’t making them happy. They listen to people who lie to them and it sets them up for a life that is less than what their father in heaven would have it be. I get the opportunity to drive with a lot of young people who have really screwed up ideas about life. I can’t just come out and tell them how screwed up their life prospective is. That said, I love to ask questions and I do.

One Friday night I had an outstanding opportunity to have one of these discussions. I picked up a girl from a house party in Sugar House. I was taking her to her friend’s house up by the University of Utah where they were going to continue their weekend socializing. She seemed to be about 21 years old.

As we started to drive, I got the impression that I should have a discussion about the church with this girl. I kind of felt like she felt lost. On the outside, she didn’t seem lost. She seemed confident and knew exactly where she was going and what she was doing so that’s where we started.

I asked her what she was majoring in and she said she had a double major with only one year left until graduation. I asked, so how do you see yourself in 10 years? She very quickly rattled off her goals.
Graduate from college.
Get her graduate degree.
Get a good job in her field.
Rise to an executive position.
Travel and see the world.

I asked, then with that information, I asked, who do you see yourself being in 10 years? She said that she saw herself as an incredibly aggressive, successful businesswoman. I asked her what her legacy would be and she said that everything she had mentioned is the legacy she wanted to leave.

Those were her goals. I asked if she had any other goals and she said no. I asked her if those were the same kind of goals all of her other friends had and she said yes. I asked her if these were the kind of goals they encouraged her to set in her major and she said, absolutely. I asked her if she had any personal goals about her life. She said no, just the ones she had mentioned.

Then I said, you mean, you don’t have personal goals for you as an individual and as a human being outside of this identity that you are trying to carve out for yourself in a business climate? She thought for a minute and said, that’s a really good question. No one has ever asked me that question.

I asked her if she had ever thought about family. She said that she didn’t think that with the life she had planned that there would be much time for that until she was in her mid 30’s. She said she thought she’d worry about that then.

I asked her if she minded me telling her a story. She told me to go ahead. I told her about a friend of mine that spent his whole life working for a major company. I told her that he had been very successful and the company couldn’t have gotten along without him. I said that he was involved with every decision and everybody respected him. I told her that when he walked in the building, everyone said hi.

I could see in her eyes that she thought this was really cool. Then I said, it came time for him to retire. They had a party, he was celebrated and then went off to his life after retirement. He talked about how a few years later he went back to that office. He didn’t recognize anyone. Someone else was in his office and no one cared who he was.

Eventually he found a couple of people that remembered who he was but they were busy doing other things and moving on to the next project. He realized that day that this company that he thought was his legacy didn’t know who he was anymore and didn’t care who he was. They had paid him generously for the work that he did and once he was gone, it was onto the next guy.

She said, that is sad. I said, not really. She said, what do you mean? I said, he had five kids and 25 grandkids. In the eyes of those grandkids, he was the world‘s greatest hero. He loved them and they loved him. He realized that those grandkids were his true legacy. It was not the business where he had earned a living but the grandkids he had sacrificed for that gave his life purpose.

I told her that this man was so much richer than the money he had in the bank and that his legacy in his family was his true wealth. She was stunned. There was silence. Where before there had existed almost a cocky confidence, you could feel a wave of doubt creeping into her mind.

It was quiet in the backseat for a minute and she said, no one has ever talked to me like that. No one has ever told me anything except, go get that brass ring, compete hard and take no prisoners. She said, I’m stunned by what I’m feeling right now.

She said, as you talked about your friend and his family, there was such a warm peace that came over our conversation. Everybody in our circle considers family to be a nuisance or an obstacle. She said, in some of my classes they even tell us that we want to put that off until we are well established and have achieved our goals. What you said hit me hard.

I asked her if she had any friends who were not on that corporate track. Friends who may have goals of family, etc. She said she did. She said that she met some girls her freshman year who wanted to get married and have a family but they were really Mormon. She said, everybody made fun of them.

I asked, how did you feel around them? She said, a lot like I have felt here in the car when you talked about your friend. It was always very relaxed and peaceful around them. She said, I really would have liked to have spent more time with them but the other group of people pulled me away.

I said, remember how you said that they were really Mormon? She said, yes. I said, I am too. I said, as a member of the church we believe that if we obey the commandments of God and do the things that God would have us do, we can have peace in our souls and his love round about us.

I told her that we lived with our Heavenly Father for thousands and thousands of years and that he loves us. I told her that this love is the most central part of our existence and that we can’t be complete without it. I said, this is why people are chasing shiny objects. They are trying to find the thing. I said, that thing they are looking for is their relationship with their father in heaven.

I told her that that feeling of peace that she is feeling is the spirit of God and his love. I told her that this is the same thing she felt in his presence for thousands of years and tonight in the car, her spirit has recognized it.

I said, one of the greatest blessings that we get from being obedient to our Heavenly Father is the opportunity to have families that are eternal. A true legacy that stays with us forever. I said, this is what my friend had. That’s why he had a legacy. He didn’t buy the lies that the world told him.

He didn’t buy the lies that Satan put in his ears. He listened to God and found peace. That was more important to him than all the money and position the world could provide. I told her that if you ask him today how he wants to be remembered, he will say a husband, father and grandfather. He doesn’t even mention his extremely successful business career.

I told her that at school, in the university, they see it as their job to lie to her. They are trying to get her to look away and chase the shiny objects. They don’t want her to consider the things that are real. The things that are lasting are the things God gives us such as our families and his spirit.

I told her that a young family with children and no money can be more happy and more fulfilled than a millionaire business person or a captain of industry if they can have the spirit of God in their heart and the peace that comes from it. I said, you can’t buy that.

I said, look, there’s nothing wrong with having a career and making lots of money. Having power and influence is a good thing if you use it properly, The issue is that there are some things that are good like having a career. There are some things that are better like being a good person. There are some things that are best, which is having this eternal perspective and the peace from God in your heart.

By this time we were sitting outside the house where we were going but she asked if we could talk a little bit longer. She said, this has been the most incredible ride. You’ve taken everything I thought I knew and turned it upside down.

I said, it’s not too late to get started on a new set of priorities. She asked, how would I do that? I said, do you remember the girls from freshman year? She said, yeah. I said, look them up, go to church with them and put yourself in situations and in places where you can feel the spirit of God. Let him direct you.

She said, one of those girls just lives down the block. We just passed her house. I think I’ll go talk to her tomorrow.

I asked her if she prayed. She said that when she was a little girl she prayed but not since then. I talked to her about prayer and the power of prayer. I told her that it’s how we speak with our father in heaven and it brings his spirit. She asked if I would pray for her and I said I would. She asked if I would teach her to pray and I did. She asked, how often can I pray? I said we should pray every morning and night and whenever we feel like we need to have our father in heaven with us. We pray so he can send his spirit. She said, I like that.

I asked her if she ever heard of the Book of Mormon and she said yes. She said that those girls had tried to give her one freshman year. She said that she didn’t take it when they offered. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon. It’s one of my copies prepared by the Secrists. I gave it to her and said, well this time I think you’re supposed to take it.

I said, the Book of Mormon is a collection of writings by prophets and is the word of God. When you read his word, you feel his peace. If you read this book, you’ll find answers in your life.

She opened up the front cover and saw the questions of the soul and said, I’ve had a lot of of these. Are the answers in here? I said yes.

She said, I guess I have to go but this has been a truly amazing experience. I think tomorrow morning I’ll go over and visit that girl from my freshman year. I said, ask her if you can go to church with her. I said, she would probably love to take you and you will be amazed how many really cool people you’ll meet. You’ll also be blown away by the love and peace that you feel.

She said, I’m sold. I’m down for a new experience and I feel like this is something I need to do. It’s going to be a change. I think I’m ready for that challenge. I’m done being lied to. She patted her Book of Mormon then my head, smiled and got out of the car.

I actually gave her a ride a couple weeks later. I picked her up on campus and drove her home. I asked her if she went to church and she said that she had gone and was going. She said she prays every day and she reads the Book of Mormon. She said she’d been introduced to some elders and they were amazing. She said, I love having this in my life. I had felt like there had to be something else for a while but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. She smiled and said this has to be why we have ride share. I laughed.

When I first started driving more down in Utah County I was trying to learn where to be to make the most money. I learned really quickly that rides from Provo took you south and rides from Orem took you north.

If you want to stay in Utah county you don’t want to go to Lehi or American Fork, which is where you end up if you start it in Orem.

I started my evenings from Provo. There’s no way they will bump you down to Nephi and it kind of gives you a limit in that way. For me was this was exactly what I wanted. I would go down by the mall and turn the app on.

The first time I went down there, I got a ride right at the entrance to the mall. The passenger was a young lady in her 20’s. She was the manager of one of the restaurants in the mall and she closes up several nights a week. She got in the car and we started to drive.

We were going to Spanish Fork and so we had a minute to talk. She was very friendly and she liked the music I was playing on the radio. It was your typical 80’s throwback stuff. No one gets worked up when you play 80’s throwback stuff. It’s kind of like today’s elevator music. We were right in the middle of a song by Journey! One of my personal favorites.

It turns out that she really loves karaoke and this was the stuff that she liked to sing so she was belting it out from the back. She had a really nice voice so that was fun to listen to. As she was singing, I got the impression that she was a member of the church but she had strayed.

I got the idea that she had lost her belief in God and her faith in the church. The prompting that I had was that she was all in on the professional thing and that she had just dismissed spiritual things from her life. I was prompted that tonight was going to be the night that we were going to make a difference. The spirit was going to touch her.

I told her that I don’t sing because nobody wants to hear that. I said that singing, church songs in Spanish would be the only exception. I told her that I sing so bad that one time when I was singing in church my wife said Shhhhh. She laughed and thought it was funny. She said, it sounds like your wife is awesome. I said, yep.

I told her that church is a place where people ought to be comfortable coming and bad singing could possibly have a deleterious effect. I felt prompted to start tapping into the revelation I had received. I asked her how long ago she quit going to church. She was surprised and asked me how I would know that she didn’t go to church. I told her that I had received the prompting from the Holy Ghost. She asked, what did that prompting say? I said, that your father in heaven loves you very much and he wants you back. It seems like you’ve forgotten.

I started talking to her about living with her father in heaven for thousands of years and the love we had for him and the love he has for us. I told her that that this love manifests itself by the way we feel the spirit. I said, when we feel the spirit, that’s the same way we felt for all of those thousands of years in Heavenly Father’s presence. I said he loves us and he gives us his spirit. I said, it helps us, it lifts us, it comforts us, it teaches us and it helps us be better.

As I was talking about our father in heaven‘s love and the spirit, the spirit was there in the car. We had started with a friendly vibe and it had nicely matured into a very spiritual feeling. I asked her if she could feel it and she said yes I asked her to identify it, and she told me that it made her happy. She said that it made her feel bubbly.

I said that when she was young, they had talked in church about getting answers to your prayers and she hadn’t been able to recognize it. I said, what you’re feeling right now is a way that God answers your prayers. He sends his spirit and your spirit recognizes its presence and the truth that has been spoken.

She said, that’s really neat! I wish they had taught me this when I was younger. I said, once you learn about the spirit it can teach you a lot of things. I shared with her a couple of my stories from my blog about experiences with the spirit and revelations. I told her that God gives us his spirit to help other people. I told her that the spirit is really strong and it can strengthen us and lift us. It can make unbearable things bearable, hard things possible and good things amazing.

I said, this is why it’s so important for us to have the spirit with us at all times. I said, when we quit going to church and quit walking with the spirit, we lose that power and that lift. She said, I felt that but I didn’t realize how much I missed the spirit until just now in the car. I haven’t really realized how much I missed it.

I asked her how often she prayed and she said she had quit praying. I said, you need to start. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you. You need to pray at least twice a day but it’s also good to have a prayer in your heart all the time. I asked her if she would commit to start saying her prayers. She said she would commit to once a day and try to work up from there.

I asked her if she had scriptures and she said no. She said her family did but she hadn’t seen her scriptures in years. I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and showed her how the book is laid out with the questions of the soul.

I testified about Joseph Smith and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The spirit also testified to this truth and she felt it. She said, “that was powerful.”

I asked her to read those questions and she said, wow! I have these questions. She said, I guess I should know these since I have been a member of the church all of my life. I said, a lot of times we don’t pay perfect attention in youth programs and when we’re young but God does forgive us. He gives us a second chance, that’s why I’m here. I believe God put you in my car today so that you could feel his spirit, feel his love and resolve to do better in your life.

She asked, do I have to go to church with my parents?. It’s been kind of dicey. I said, go to church somewhere. We looked up her singles ward and I said, why don’t you go there? She said, that sounds good. I’ve never gone to church without going with my family. I think that would be fun.

She said, it’s probably good timing for me to do some of this stuff. My brother is getting back from his mission next week. I said, that’s awesome! Where did he go? She said, Argentina. I said, well that’s where the best missionaries go! I told her that I had gone to Argentina for my mission and what I learned there is my foundation for everything.

I said, when you see your brother, look into his eyes and ask him to bear his testimony to you. When he he does, you will feel the same spirit we’re feeling right here in the car and you will know that the things he is saying are true. She said, I know it’s true tonight and I can’t wait to talk like that to my brother. She said again, I can’t wait.

She said that she had some friends she had started doing things with about three years ago. They had decided that the church wasn’t true. They quit going to church and rebelled against the church. She said, then tonight happens and it kind of squashes that whole idea.

I said, do you doubt what I said here is true? She said, no! I’m sure of it. It’s just that the feeling in the car makes it feel so right. I said, when you pray and when you read the scriptures, you will have that same feeling, and you can always have that assurance. Your father in heaven will give it to you.

I said, all you have to do is your part Pray, study, go to church and try to live the gospel and God will lift you at every level throughout your life.

She said, this is what I’ve been looking for. This ride has been incredible. I didn’t think God knew where to find me and now I know he was there all along.

Over the past year, I have seen her a couple more times. I had given her my blog and she reads it. The other two times I saw her she talked about some of the stories. One of those times when I gave her a ride, I picked her up in Salt Lake at the University of Utah. She was there for a concert. She said, you know, God keeps putting us back together. It gave her another chance to feel the spirit in my car and share her growing testimony with me. She’s doing a lot better and she’s attending church. I can tell her father in heaven is very pleased with her because she’s got the spirit with her. She is also helping those friends of hers find their way back.

One night I was driving in Provo and I got a ride to pick up a guy and take him to Springville. I picked him up just off the south east side of BYU campus. As I pulled up, I saw this huge man. He was about 24 years old, at least 6’2” and probably 450 pounds or more. I wondered if he would fit in my car. I push my seat all the way to the front so there is plenty of room. After a small struggle he got in. He had long scraggly hair and smelled like cigarette smoke.

This is always a challenge when someone smells like cigarette smoke because you know you’re going to have to air your car out afterwards. It kind of makes you mad. I guess what I’m trying to say is that looking at this guy and seeing his whole presentation he might not be the perfect person to take in your car. As I had these thoughts, the spirit came into my heart and said this guy needs you. This guy does not know who he is and you need to tell him.

We started to go and chat. He had been there at a gaming place where he played interactive games with people around the world. This kind of followed the stereotype that I had in my mind for this guy. He seemed shy and from the things he said I could tell he didn’t have friends. I could feel the loneliness in his life.

When I felt that loneliness, my heart changed from being judgmental to trying to relate and lift him. As a former football coach, I’m very used to talking to great big dudes. So I asked him, did you ever play football? He said no. He said that he was more of a car guy and he would just go out in the backyard and work on cars by himself. He said, I just have really never had any friends.

It was clear to me that his social isolation had not been a recent occurrence and my heart broke. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go through life without friends.

I asked him about his parents and he said that they were divorced and he ended up living out in the middle of nowhere with his grandma until she passed away. Neither of his parents wanted anything to do with him. The spirit prompted me that there was a lot more pain to this story and my heart went out to him. All of this painted a full picture. Here was a kid with no friends, no family and few social skills, he didn’t feel loved and had very low self-esteem.

As we were driving down the road, I felt impressed to talk to him about our father in heaven. I said, life is rough but it’s good to know that God is always there and that he loves us. He said, I’ve never felt that. I’ve always felt like I was alone.

I taught him that we all lived with God and that we developed a relationship with him. A relationship with love and trust. I said, we spend the rest of our life, trying to fill the need to have that love in our lives. I said, the problem is, the world doesn’t teach us how to find that.

I turned and looked at him and said, I want you to know that your Heavenly Father loves you, his heart breaks for you and he wants you to have loved ones and friends in your life. He wants you to have a family and he wants you to be happy. I said, you’re not happy right now and that’s not part of his plan. Your happiness is part of his plan.

He said, why don’t I have friends then? Why didn’t my mom and dad stick around? Why didn’t anybody at school want to be my friend and why do I live alone now in a horrible little apartment?

I said, well, Let’s look at this and see what we can figure out. I said, first off, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re awesome! I said, I think maybe you withdraw yourself from social situations because you don’t believe you belong in them. You don’t believe in who you can be. I said, I want you to start with you are a son of your father in heaven and he loves you very much.

I said, the God that created this world and everything that we love knows who you are and cares deeply about you. As I said this, the spirit came into the car and it was unmistakable. I asked him if he could feel the spirit, and he said yes. He said, I’ve never really felt anything like this.

I told him that what he was feeling was the spirit of God. I said that his spirit had a very unique reaction to the presence of the spirit of God and that’s what he was feeling right then. He said, I feel warm and engaged in this conversation. Most of the time when people talk to me I just blow it off. I love what you are saying.

I told him that he could feel this whenever he wanted. I told him that if he would read the scriptures, pray and live his life like God wanted him to, he could have that spirit and feeling with him often. He said, that would be awesome.

I asked him why he did gaming up there by BYU. He said, there are lots of people there and I just get a good vibe from them. I asked him if they were BYU students and he said yes.

I told him that those BYU students were members of the church and they understood what I was saying right then. I told him that they carried God‘s spirit with them and that’s why he liked to be around them, even though he didn’t talk to them or interact with them. He thought about it for a second and said, that’s interesting.

I asked him if he was a member of the church. I already knew the answer to this from the spirit but I felt prompted that I needed to hear him answer the question.

He said, no, I’m not. I don’t think they would want me. I asked him what made him say that and he said that from a young age, the people that went to the church, treated him very cruelly, especially the girls. He said, I just decided I would back away.

I said, I want you to know that your Heavenly Father wants you in his kingdom. He wants you to be a member of the church. I told him that it’s terrible what had happened to him in that people hadn’t treated him well. I said, sometimes people can be horrible animals and the reason we go to church is to be better. We don’t go to church because we are perfect, we go to church to get better. I said, I’m glad they went to church and I hope they get better. He laughed. I said, someday they’ll have to ask your forgiveness. It might not be in this lifetime but they will need to ask for your forgiveness. Your job is to get to know your father in heaven and feel his love to the point that you can forgive them and feel comfortable in their presence.

He said, that’s kind of a cool way to look at it. That way everyone changes and grows. I said, if those young women that were mean to you do the things they should, eventually they will see you like I see you here today. As a son of God and someone of great value.

He asked, do you really see that? I said, yes I do. He said, you’re the only one. I said, no, I’m not. As people change and repent they can also learn to see people the way their Heavenly Father sees them. I said, that also requires that you change and repent.

I said, when was the last time you prayed. He said, I don’t think I ever have. I told him that prayer is how we talk to our father in heaven and that you should pray anytime your heart hurts or you feel alone. He asked me how you pray. I taught him the four steps of prayer like we did in our mission. I told him that then he could just open his heart and pour it out to his father by doing that.

He asked if I would pray for him right then in the car. We pulled over there between Provo and Springville and had a prayer. The spirit was intense. After we finished the prayer, we got on our way. I asked him if he had the scriptures and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of the Books of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him.

I said, this is the Book of Mormon, along with the Bible it teaches us about Jesus. He said, I’ve heard of the Book of Mormon but I don’t know much about it.

I said, God had prophets in Jerusalem and in America. He gave them revelations and they prophesied and taught the people. That’s how we have the Bible and the writings of these prophets in America were translated and that’s how we have the Book of Mormon. It is the word of God just like the Bible.

He said, well, I don’t have a Bible, but I heard the stories from the Bible when I was a child. My grandmother would tell them to me. I think it would be fun to read the Book of Mormon. I love reading.

I asked him what he wanted in life and he said that he would like to find someone who could love him. He said he’d love to get married someday if he could find someone who would have him. He said that he never felt love except from his grandma. He said, that’s what I want in my life but I just don’t see it happening.

I asked him where he went to hang out with girls. He said, what do you mean? I said, well if you wanna find a girl, you gotta go to where they are. Where do you go to find the kind of girl that you want?

He asked, where do you find the good girls? I said, in church. You need to go to church. He said, will they let me in, look at me! I said, absolutely they’ll let you in. They’ll be excited to have you there. I told him, I promise if you will start doing the things we are talking about like praying, reading the scriptures and going to church, you will find friends. I said, as we obey the commandments, the light from God‘s spirit shines from our face. We become more attractive than we are. I said, I really mean that.

I said, when that spirit shines from your countenance people will be drawn to you that in a worldly scenario would not. I said, if you do these things, get baptized and have the Holy Ghost with you, you will see doors open up that you never imagined could open. I said, you will be happy.

By this time we were sitting in the parking lot by his dumpy apartment. It looked like the kind of place where the leftovers and refuse of society would live. I asked him if he would commit to going to church, reading the scriptures and praying. He said yes.

We looked up the address of his church and meeting times. His church was on the same block behind his apartment so this was easy to remember. He laughed and said, wow, with it being that close I guess I have to go. He said, things changed for me during this ride. He got out of the car and walked into his apartment.

The spirit whispered to me, you’re not done with him.

The next week, I picked him up at the same place again. This time no cigarette smoke and he was happy to see me. He said that he had been praying and reading but that he didn’t go to church because he overslept. He said that he had to get off the computer earlier on Saturday night. We laughed because it’s always something.

He talked about how much better he felt and I could see it in his eyes. Some of the pain was gone but he still needed to follow through.

Just then I had problems with my tires. The indicator light was on and he noticed it. He said, let’s pull over, I can help. He said he worked three years in a tire store before he got his training in tech. He said, I know all about this. He helped me out and told me what to do. He said, after how you helped me, I’ve got to help you! He told me that I needed to go to the tire store and he told me what to tell them.

I said, I’ll do that first thing tomorrow. I said, you also have an assignment. This week you need to go to church. He laughed and said, I fix your tire and you fix me. We chuckled and then I dropped him off at his house.

The next week I picked him up at his apartment. I was taking him to a laundromat to clean his cloths. He told me that he had been to church and that he really liked it. He told me that the people had treated him well. I asked, did they introduce you to the missionaries? He said yes.

I asked him why he was cleaning his clothes and he said because they were dirty. I asked, would you walk around with dirty clothes? He said, no, well, not too dirty anyway. I told him that this was a metaphor. The missionaries wanted to help him be baptized as we had previously discussed. I said, when your baptized it cleanses you of your sins so that you can be pure before God. It’s like God taking you to the laundry. He laughed and said I like that.

The next week, I got him again but he wanted to go to a nicer laundry this time. He was smiling and had a little bit of a shine about him. He had a pretty fresh and substantial haircut. I couldn’t help but compare and contrast the feeling around him and the look in his eyes with the one I saw the very first day. It was an incredible difference. Just the exposure that he was having to the love of his father in heaven was turning him into a different person.

I asked him if he had talked to the missionaries about a baptism day yet. He said that he was moving apartments this week and that they were going to set a date once he got in his new apartment. He said, I will still attend church in the same building.

I let him out at this new laundromat and haven’t seen him since. It is very rare that I get the same person twice. It’s even more rare that you get them three times but you never get them four times. I got to see his progression. Heavenly Father picked him up in the lowest of lows and decided that he was going to touch this young man. I believe that one day soon he will have all the things he wanted in his life.

One day I was driving around in Salt Lake City trying to get some rides. I mean I was looking for pretty much any ride and it was very slow. One of the issues that we have had over the last few years is that the immigration community has been encouraged by the state to take rideshare jobs.

They help them get drivers licenses and Hertz rents them cars. They can go from just having arrived to driving rideshare in a matter of a couple of days thanks to the help from the government.

What this does to us is it makes it very hard to get rides. Where there used to be 25 to 30 drivers downtown at any given time, there will be 200 downtown. Usually this pushes you out of downtown where there are fewer rides but also less competition for those rides. I was headed out by West Valley City. The key is to go to West Valley City and not go to the airport. The same reasoning applies at the airport. There used to be 15 to 25 drivers at the airport and now there are 150.

I got a ride at an airport hotel which isn’t considered the airport zone and sometimes there are rides to be found there. As I got to the hotel to pick them up, I remember being grateful for the ride, even though it was just into Salt Lake and not much money.

As I sat waiting for the passengers, the thought came to my mind about the spirit putting me where I need to be. I thought about one of my favorite areas in my mission. I requested to be sent there because no one had baptized there in years. I knew that if I was obedient and worked hard we could baptize. We built a baptismal font the first week and then baptized 15 new members in the next two months. It was awesome.

I thought about one man that I baptized from that town. He was a pilot. He later moved to Brazil for work and one of his daughters served as a missionary at Temple Square. A true miracle.

I hadn’t thought about this man named Armando and his family for quite some time and I took a minute to reminisce. His baptism in our newly constructed font was truly spectacular.

As I was thinking about this, a couple came out of the hotel and got in my car. They seemed to be excited and very chatty. They had very thick Brazilian accents and I decided to extensively use my very limited Portuguese vocabulary.

They asked me where I learned Portuguese and I laughed. If they were listening very closely, they clearly knew that I hadn’t learned Portuguese! I told them that they were very kind but that the Portuguese I knew, I learned by serving with the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. I said, I worked with them while they were preparing to go to Brazil. They were learning Portuguese.

I said, pretty much all I know how to do in Portuguese is pray. I know how to tell you about the things I know in the church to be true and also basic general pleasantries.

They laughed and said, we’ve known a lot of Mormon missionaries over the years. They seem like amazing young men. It’s fun to talk to them and you are correct, many of them don’t speak very well at first but they get better fast. I said, yep! I served in Argentina and it was the same way with me.

We talked about Argentina and Brazil and what they have in common. Then we talked about the soccer rivalry, etc., for a few minutes and then I asked, did you get baptized in our church yet? Did any of those young missionaries teach you the gospel? They said no. They said they never considered it. I then sensed that this is why they were here. Following that impression I decided to jump right in. I asked, Is that why you’re here? I have a feeling that’s exactly why you’re here.

The woman said, funny you should say that. We left Los Angeles and were flying to Chicago. Our plane got diverted because of some system glitch and we are stranded here for a couple of days. I never thought of it that way but it could be that this is why God put us here.

She said, we were always curious to learn a bit more but we never had time with our busy lives. She said, we don’t have any friends in that church and so the right time just really never presented itself to us. We are headed into town right now to see what’s there. Maybe we could learn some stuff about the church while we are here. This might be our chance.

Those words are music to my ears!

I told her that this would be awesome. I talked to them about Temple Square. We talked about the different buildings and how the work that goes on all over the world is coordinated in those buildings. I told them that one of our apostles, Elder Soares is from Brazil. They were very impressed at this as well as the historic nature of everything. They were also impressed by the cleanliness they saw and they commented on how peaceful it was.

I continued kind of with a tour driving around the block. I talked to them about the pioneers and how they moved out here to escape persecution. I told them that the pioneers built these buildings as a labor of love and a sign of devotion to their father in heaven. They loved the temple and I told them that this is where my wife and I got married. They were duly impressed, I told them that tours of all of the buildings were available except the temple.

They were a little bummed by that but I told them that it’s a sacred place. I said that we have to prepare ourselves to enter and it takes considerable work for a member to get ready to go there. They accepted that as we continue driving around the block.

We got to the family history library. I told them that in that building we have records from all over the world. People can come here and look up their family history. I told them that if they had free time tomorrow, they might want to come back and do this.

Just then we saw some missionaries. They said, like we mentioned, we’ve seen a lot of missionaries from your church in Brazil. I said, that’s cool because there are missionaries from Brazil here on Temple Square. They said, really? I said, yeah. I said, when you get out and go see things, you should ask for a missionary from Brazil. I told them about the daughter of the man I baptized who served there at Temple Square. They thought that was really cool. I thought about how God had placed those thoughts in my head before the ride. They said that for sure they would ask for a missionary from Brazil.

He said, I think there are quite a few differences between our churches. Do you guys believe in the same Jesus we do? I said, absolutely and while there are some differences between our church and your church, we also have a lot in common. I took this as an opportunity to start teaching. The ice had been broken and the water was fine.

I told them that we believe that we have a Heavenly Father just like they do. We believe that he loves each one of us and we love him. I told them that we lived with him before we came to earth for thousands of years.

Due to the fact that they already felt good being around Temple Square, testifying of the spirit and the love of our father in heaven amplified everything. I told them that our father in heaven loves us so much that he does everything he can to help us and he has given us the gospel so that we can know how to come home.

I asked if they had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. They said they had but that they didn’t know anything about it. I told them that it was the religious heritage of the people who lived in America in ancient times. I told them that God had prophets in America because that’s how he speaks with his children and that’s how he blesses them. He gives his instructions to the prophets and they bless us with that knowledge. I told them that here in America, like in Israel they wrote their prophecies. I said that this is why we have the Bible. I said that here in America they wrote these prophecies on plates of gold. I taught them that in modern times these plates were given to our prophet Joseph Smith and he translated them by the power of God. I said, that translation is called The Book of Mormon and it is the word of God. It is a companion with the Bible. I told them that the Book of Mormon teaches us that God loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem.

They were focusing on everything I was saying. They were emotional and the spirit was touching their hearts. She said, I love the idea of God knowing and caring about my ancestors.

I told them that it was more than that. I said that this book contains the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to the ancient inhabitants of America. It was silent in the car and he said, what? I’ve never heard that. I said, God loves everyone and he sent his son for everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. I said, Christ said he was going to his other sheep and this is where he found them, right here in the Americas.

I told them that Jesus taught the people to have faith, repent, and he gave them baptism. He gave them authority to baptize and taught them how to be baptized. Once he taught them about baptism, he commanded them, every one of them to be baptized. I told them that when we are baptized, all of our sins can be forgiven and we can become clean before God. I looked at them and asked them how it would be to be clean and know that you’re worthy to be in the presence of God. They said, that would be like a dream. That’s why we go to church to try to get to that point. We would love that.

I said, it’s important that we do it the way Jesus taught. I said, this is all in the Book of Mormon and when I said that it was the religious heritage of your ancestors, I meant it. Jesus came to America and he blessed their children, he held them in his arms and he wept. I said, those were your ancestors. The spirit was strong in the car. I asked them what they felt. They said, we feel emotional and very happy. I said, this is the spirit of God and when you feel this, you know that the things you are hearing are true. You know, God doesn’t send his spirit when false things are being taught. He sends his spirit to testify of the truth. I said, the fact that you’re feeling that right now lets you know that the things I’m teaching are true, that Jesus came to America and that the Book of Mormon is true.

They said, we feel that! I think you’re right. I asked them if they had ever stopped and talked to those missionaries for a bit. They said, not really like that, but they had seen them and had small conversations with them. I asked, what did you feel? She said, when I’ve been around them I feel happy and I feel like I know that they are good. He agreed and said, you just feel their goodness, they are good kids. I said, they go there to teach these things. They go there to take the knowledge of Jesus Christ coming to America to your people. They go there to take the fullness of the gospel and the baptism of Jesus Christ to everyone who will accept it. That’s what they’re doing.

I reached into my glove box and grabbed a Book of Mormon. It’s one of the Books of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I gave it to the husband and said, this is the Book of Mormon. It was translated from the writings of your ancestors. As you read that book you will feel the same peace you felt here in the car and you will be filled with the same joy you have been experiencing.

They were excited and said they wanted to read that. I told them that while they were at Temple Square they should have the Brazilian missionary get them a Book of Mormon in Portuguese. They said they would. He asked me if he could keep the one in English I had given him. I told him, absolutely.

I talked about the prophet Joseph Smith and how he was looking for truth just like they had been looking for truth. I told them that he read in the Bible that he should ask God. I said, when he did, God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. That is our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I said, later, one of the prophets who wrote the Book of Mormon anciently, appeared to him. He gave him the plates and that’s how we have the Book of Mormon today.

Like I’ve said before, nothing brings his spirit like the first vision. When you tell that story and testify of the Book of Mormon, the spirit surges. I took that opportunity to identify the spirit one more time. Again, I told them that the spirit testifies of truth and the things I was saying were true. I told them that now they knew this because the spirit had been present. They agreed. She said, this is incredible. I love how I feel.

They told me that they were going to get out of the car right there and go start looking for a Brazilian missionary. I said, when you get back to Brazil, you’re going to have to find the missionaries there too. You should invite them over to eat, they love to eat! They laughed and said, that won’t be a problem because the church house is just down the block from our house. They said, the missionaries walk by all the time. we are excited to learn more both here in Salt Lake and back at home. I pulled up to let them off at the south entrance by the assembly hall.

They said they would like to get going so that they can have that baptism and be clean. They committed to do this right there in the car.

They got out of the car and now they knew why they were diverted to Salt Lake. It was meant to be. It’s why they were there. Credit Delta with the assist.

I picked up a girl at the Marriott downtown who had been visiting some friends from out of town. It was the birthday of one of her friends. She got in the car and was acting excited and happy. While she was acting excited and happy the spirit told me that she was over playing it and that really she was devastated on the inside.

I felt prompted that she had really tried hard to be friends with these people and that they were blowing her off. I felt like she was alone and discarded by the people she considered friends.

I asked her if she would mind me sharing a couple of observations with her. She said, no, go ahead. I proceeded to tell her exactly what the spirit was telling me about her friends and what she was feeling in that moment even though she was putting on a happy façade.

She teared up a bit and then asked ,are you a mind reader? I said, no! I told her that in our church when we get baptized we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said that one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost is that it gives you the gift of prophecy and revelation. I said that through the Holy Ghost, God had revealed to me what she was feeling. She was shocked. She said that she didn’t even think that God knew who she was. She said that she wasn’t even sure there was a God. I assured her that indeed there was a God and I bore witness to the fact that what we were feeling there in the car was an effort on his part to show her that he loved her.

I told her that I felt that there was a hole in her life and she was trying to fill it with people and things. I said that it needed to be filled with the spirit of God. She muttered, that is right on, how could he know this? I told her that I wanted her to pay attention to how she felt right now. I asked her how it felt in her heart. She said, peaceful and amazing. I told her that this is how she feels when the spirit of God is with her.

I said that as a daughter of her father in heaven she had developed these feelings with him due to the loving father-daughter relationship she had with him before she was born. I said, your craving to feel this is a hardwired part of who you always have been. You can feel this when you pray, read the scriptures or go to church. She asked me if you can have that feeling all of the time. I said, yes, God is our father and wants to be with us as much as we will have him.

I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no I grabbed one of the books prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. I said, when I read this book I feel the spirit of God. This book teaches the gospel and carries his spirit to those who read it. This is your copy. She smiled and thanked me

I asked her if the pain of the rejection and loneliness was still with her. She said, that’s incredible, no, it’s not. It’s gone. I told her that right now this space was filled with the power of God and his spirit. I told her, in the presence of God his love consumes us and makes us feel like we are home.

She said, that’s beautiful, how do you know these things? I told her that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints and that we are taught through the scriptures and by prophets to rely on God. I told her, we have prophets who speak with God and speak for God to us. By following their counsel we can make sure to always fill that hole with his spirit. She said, that’s amazing.

I sensed that this was all a lot for her right then. I told her that she felt like she was trying to eat an elephant right now and she didn’t know where to start. She laughed hard. I told her that her life wasn’t organized like she wanted it to be and that another big project wasn’t her priority right then. She said, you’re right. I said, God wanted you to have this experience tonight. That’s why he put you in my car. He wanted you to feel his spirit and his love. He wanted to lift you tonight and that’s why he put you in my car.

I told her that right at that moment she was thinking of a friend who was a member of the church who went on a mission and considering whether or not she should approach him about what we were discussing. She said, how did you know that! She said, that freaks me out a bit but in a good way. I said, it’s the same answer, God whispers the things he would have us do and the things he would have us say to our hearts. He expects us to say them. I said, tonight he is focused on you. He wants you to learn to be truly happy and know that you are appreciated and loved. You are his daughter.

I told her that with regard to speaking with that friend, she would feel an urgency develop, an urgency to know for herself the truth. I said that the feeling tonight was a seed that would grow. I told her that God was revealing that friend to her so that she could know where to turn.

She said that this trip had opened her eyes to God and to the church for the first time. I told her she should go to her friend and tell him exactly what had gone on in the car. She said, that’s exactly what I will do.

I asked her where she was from. She said she was from Orem. I said, wow, I’m from Orem. I asked what high school she went to. I ask this because we can’t ask where they live but this is a way around that rule. She said, Mountain View. I told her we used to live over there by Lakeridge and have many good friends there.

She said that growing up in Orem and going to Mountain View you would think that she would have had a greater exposure to the church. She said that she knew a bunch of Mormons. She asked me if they knew these things that we had discussed. I said yes. She laughed and said, it seems like maybe they should have shared something like this with me. She said, I guess that I probably would have just rejected it.

I said, everyone is prepared at different levels and at different times. It seems like this is your time. She said, I think that you are right. This guy I am supposed to talk to is one of the good guys. I have always felt something like this around him. I can’t wait to ask him.

We had arrived at her destination and she was on her phone. I told her thanks and I bore my testimony to her. The spirit was strong and she was smiling. She showed me her phone and I read the text that was on her screen. It was to that guy and the text read, I want you to teach me about the peace you have in your church.

That answer will be awesome!

I got a call to go over and pick up a lady in a trailer park by the Maverik on Redwood Road and 400 south. On the way over to pick her up I got a message from her saying that she wasn’t at the trailer park anymore. Ahhh, a moving target. We get those sometimes and it is an adventure in a normally predictable scenario! She said that she was over by the Maverick but she didn’t have her tracking on. Finally, after a bit more communication, I was able to locate her. It took some effort but felt I compelled to keep looking rather than just cancel so as she got in the car I was wondering why. Why didn’t I just stay where she was supposed to be? That is what we are supposed to do. I knew there was something I needed to do here. There was some reason for the prompting. I though sometimes people just need help,

Sometimes people are running away from something or not wanting to be seen near their house for whatever reason. Sometimes I get to testify but always there is a reason when I feel urgency like that. I became curious. I usually don’t ask questions about it because it’s not permitted but I always have to wonder.

I turned into the confusion that is the crowd at that gas station all of the time. In that crowd is where I found this young lady. She was almost two blocks from where she was supposed to be. She got my car and there was a sense of relief. Given the weird circumstances and what I would consider questionable choices of risky places to be picked up, she seem to be pretty together. The conversation that ensued surprised me quite a bit. As we started swapping stories she happened to mention that she couldn’t find a situation in her life where she could meet a decent guy. I asked her to define a decent guy because I know a bunch of them. She said that she wanted a guy that wouldn’t cheat on her. She said she recently had two boyfriends and both of them had cheated on her.

She said that she was taking the year off of relationships to work on her and to get her life in order. She was going to finish her degree and start a business. She wanted to be able have enough money and get her daughter back from her grandparents.

When someone says something like that it is normally obvious why someone else would have the child. They are clearly struggling with life. This did not seem to be the case here. I asked her if the custody of her child was ordered by the court. She said no.

She said she voluntarily sought out the grandparents of the child to take care of her. Even though the courts were not involved, she clearly had had tremendous problems. The business she wanted to start involved drug rehab and she seemed to have a passion for that.

She talked about how when she got her things together she would go and get her daughter back. She said for now it’s like they are best friends. She said she goes over and sees her every day and that her little girl is the light of her life.

The spirit started helping me to understand that this girl was a member of the church even though she hadn’t indicated it at all. In fact she had indicated a history of behaviors that would not be considered reflections of a member of the church. The spirit then started whispering to me and I said the words that the Lord put into my heart regarding the impressions I had.

I said that I knew that she had been hurt and that because of that she didn’t feel like she deserved to have a quality man in her life. I said that because of this she had settled for guys that didn’t put God first in their lives. I said, unless he does that he will never put you first. I told her that she judged herself very harshly for her mistakes and because of this she didn’t feel like she deserved to have happiness in her life. I said that because of this she didn’t seek out the kind of man that could bring this level of relationship success with him into her life.

I told her that I believed that this was happening both consciously and subconsciously. I looked at her and said, I believe you know exactly what I mean. The thought that you aren’t worthy of a godly relationship comes from Satan. I said that it was a lie told to her by Satan. I told her that Satan is the one who doesn’t want you to be happy. I reflected back on the scene at the Maverik where I picked her up and the horrible state of those around her there. I realized that she had been plucked out from that throng of iniquity and that this was an apt metaphor for this young lady’s situation.

I felt like at some point she had been baptized so I started talking about her relationship with our Heavenly Father. I told her that she was a daughter of her father in heaven and that I knew she had been baptized but hadn’t been to church in a very long time. She said, yes I was baptized almost exactly 3 years ago but I only attended for about six months. How did you know that? I said that I had felt an impression that this was the case. I said, you need to get right with God and start dating returned missionaries and worthy young men who want eternal families. I told her that she needed to go to church with other young people. This girl was only 21 or 22 years old. I told her that she had relegated herself to horrible situations by choosing to surround herself with people that weren’t good people. I said, quit telling yourself that you don’t deserve better.

She said, that’s what everybody told me. They all told me I needed to go to a singles ward. Maybe they’re right. I said definitely they are right! She asked, how did you know all of this?

I told her that through the gift of the Holy Ghost, Heavenly Father whispered to my heart these things about her so that I could say them to her. I told her that she was in a position in her life right now that she needed to know that her father in heaven loved her. She needed to know that he had sent this message to her so that she would know 100% for certain that he loved her. The spirit was in the car and you could feel this daughter of our father in heaven for the first time contemplate being loved by a perfect father.

I asked her what she felt right then. She said, warm, happy and safe. I told her that this is how she feels in the presence of the spirit of God. I said, your father in heaven sent this feeling so you could feel his love. I said that when you feel this you know that the things you are hearing are true. I said, by contrast, when you have thoughts that make you uncomfortable, anxious or angry they don’t come from God.

I felt a prompting telling me that she was using the grandparents of the child, not her parents to care for the child. It occurred to me that there was an issue with her family. I told her that her father in heaven loved her and he prepared a way for her to be happy not just get by. He wanted her to have a loving, righteous and wonderful family. He wanted her to live happily and not in misery. He wanted her to be excelling not doing the bare minimums to get by. I asked her if that isn’t what she wants for her daughter? She said yes. I asked her, with this being the case, doesn’t it make sense that a perfect loving Heavenly Father would want the same for you, his daughter? She had tears in her eyes and nodded her head.

I told her as a daughter of God he expected more. I told her that it’s important that she pray. The spirit prompted me that she hadn’t been praying and I said, it’s been quite some time, hasn’t it? She looked down and then said yes. I told her that she needed to start praying today.

I told her that Jesus Christ had paid for her sins but not just her sins, for all of the embarrassment, angst and pain she felt as a result of the bad things that had happened to her and that she had done. All she had to do was turn to Jesus Christ and he could lift her pain and he could heal her wounds.

I sensed that those wounds had become a very big part of her make up and that Satan was exploiting it to make her feel like she didn’t deserve happiness. He made her feel like she didn’t even deserve to be called a daughter of her father in heaven.

I started talking about the things Satan whispers in our ears by mentioning the promptings I had received. I told her that Satan says God doesn’t love you. Satan says God can’t love you because you’re flawed. Satan says that you shouldn’t pray. Satan says that you shouldn’t go to church and that everyone at church is judging you.

I asked her if she knew that Satan is a liar and she said yes. I asked her if she had heard him whisper these things to her and with tears in her eyes she said, yes all of the time. I asked her why she believed a liar. I told her that Satan is a liar so everything he does is a lie and everything he says is a lie. I asked her, when he whispers those lies, how do you feel? She said, angry, hurt and hopeless.

I told her the opposite is true, her father in heaven loves her more than anything just like she loves her daughter. I asked her again how she felt in the car, she smiled and said awesome. I said that this is how truth feels. I said that she needed to take notice of the difference in the way God and truth make her feel and how Satan’s lies make her feel. I told her that God wants her to go to church and carry a prayer in her heart. I told her that the things that Satan whispers in her ears are put there to keep her from being happy and to keep her from being successful. I told her that she needs to do the opposite.

I told her that the Book of Mormon teaches us that anyone who teaches us not to pray or any feeling we get that we shouldn’t or can’t pray is bad. I asked her if she knew where that kind of thought or prompting would come from and she said, Satan.

I told her that this holds true and works the same way for attending church. Any feeling or thought you have that tells you not to go to church, that you are not wanted there or will be judged there is bad. I asked her, who is it that would put that in your thoughts and in your mind? She said, Satan.

I told her that she was very special to her father in heaven and that for some reason today her father felt like she needed to know that he loved her. He needed her to look to him. I told her he needed her to learn to look to his Son and his atonement to heal her wounds. I told her that she needed to go to church and she needed to pray.

She told me that she had been really struggling today and that this car ride was what she needed. She said, how often do you get a message right from God? I feel special. I said, to your Heavenly Father you are special. You are his daughter.

I have to agree it was special. We made a plan for her to go back to church. We looked up her ward and meeting times. I told her that when she goes there she should feel for the spirit we had felt in the car. That way she would know she was home. She said, yes. This is so different that I felt in that crowd where you picked me up.

We had arrived at her destination. She wiped her tears, smiled and said, thank you for everything. This has been amazing

I know she has a plan and I hope she gets everything together so she can get her daughter back and get her life on track. After our conversation she seemed determined to do just that but this time not all by herself. She knows she has a father who will help her and an older brother who will lift her.

One Monday night, it had been unusually slow. I had been out quite a while and it was very late. I was in Salt Lake trying to get as much money as I could but it was no use, there were not a lot of rides.

I got a ride to Tooele. I never want to go to Tooele if I can avoid it. It is a long way, they don’t pay much and whatever they pay is almost irrelevant because you come back without a passenger so you end up loosing money. I felt a prompting that night telling me that I should go so I took it. It was an act of faith.

The ride was a guy going out to get on the semi truck that he was driving coast to coast. He parked it in Tooele and came into town. He had been struggling to find a ride back to his truck. We had a nice ride and a good conversation but I didn’t feel any prompting so I didn’t pursue a religious line in our discussion.

Just as I was about ready to drop him off in Tooele at the truck stops by the freeway, I got another offer for a ride. This is not normal out there but welcome on such a slow night and maybe a way to offset the cost of gas. This one would take me south down deep into the heart of Tooele and would be quite a distance. I looked at my gas gauge and it was way low. The gas light had come on. Due to the fact that I was almost out of gas, I reconsidered it for a second but I felt very impressed that I needed to take this one ride.

The thing is I would lose the ride if I stopped to get gas. I felt compelled to ignore the light and go. I took this one not knowing why but knowing that I was supposed to, that is why I was there. My mind was wandering and wondering what could be the purpose here.

I drove about 12 miles down a road and took a left out into the boonies. I went around the corner and there was the young lady who I was supposed to take. She got in the car and seemed pretty excited that I was able to find her. She said no one could ever find her. She said 6 drivers had cancelled and she had been trying to get a ride for two hours.

I told her that I never walk away from somebody that needs help. I knew this lady was the person that God wanted me to talk to, the real reason for the trip and the words that came to my mind just flowed. I said, you don’t think you’re good enough. You don’t think you are enough and you don’t think that you’re worthy of love. Especially God’s love.

I started in immediately talking about our father in heaven and how we lived with him in the preexistence for thousands of years. He loved us and we felt that love. I told her that we knew that feeling and loved it. It was the most important and stabilizing feeling in our existence. I told her that when we came to earth, we forgot that and we missed that but our souls have a place where that feeling belongs. I said , when that feeling fills that spot we feel whole.

I got the impression that she was using drugs but felt like I shouldn’t say anything just yet. I felt like she needed to feel the spirit of God and his love right now.

I said that Satan fills that hole with, she interrupted me and said evil. I nodded my head in agreement.

She said, I don’t know how you knew that I use drugs but somehow you knew. I told her that God had brought me clear out there and put her in my car. I told her that he gave me the words that I had said. She said, I have no doubt that he gave you those words because there’s no other way you could know.

I said that God didn’t just put me there so that I could say those words. He put me there so that I could tell her and she could know that he loves her. I said, he wants you back. We hadn’t mentioned the church yet but the spirit indicated that she was a member of the church. I said, you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, so you have been taught these things.

I told her that I felt like she had quit praying then she started falling away. She said, it’s been a long time since I went to church. I am not worthy of God’s love.

I said, God is a father! He loves us, no matter what we’ve done. I told her that God is a loving father who works endlessly to bring his children home safely. I told her that he loves her and when he says that it’s his work and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, she is part of what he is talking about. This is his work and you are his glory, his child that he loves so much. You are his work and God doesn’t quit on the job. I told her that he wants to hear from her. He wants her to pray.

I said that her Heavenly Father had sent me so that she could know that he loved her and that there was a way out.
I told her that Satan had lied to her. He had filled that hole in her soul intended for the spirit with drugs, alcohol and riotous living. He takes away the gift of agency given to us by our father through addiction. I said that Satan has always been the enemy of our agency. I told her that our Heavenly Father is all about freedom and that he wants to free her from that curse.

I told her that if she will fill that hole with the spirit of God, it will lessen her craving so that she can fight and win if she will. I asked her if she could feel the spirit of God that was burning in the car like a furnace on a cold night. She was crying profusely and she said, yes. I haven’t felt this in years but yes. I told her that her father in heaven was giving her a hug and that hug was giving her power.

She said, you don’t understand where I am in my life but you seem to know everything about me. I told her that she needed to go to church. She said, my parents are very Mormon but I can’t go to church with them. She just couldn’t do that after everything that had happened.

I told her, you start out going to church somewhere! Go to church every week! I told her to go to church and eventually the spirit will change her heart and she will be able to go with her parents. I told her to work up to it. She said, I think I can do that.

I told her that I could feel that her big hesitation was that every time she drove by a church satan whispered in her ear that the people there are judgmental and hypocritical. She said, that’s very true.

I told her that most of those people aren’t thinking about her or talking about her. They are busy with what’s going on in their own life. Besides that, I said, if someone is judging you, it’s a perfect opportunity to not return the favor and not judge them. Judging them for their actions makes you every bit as judgmental as you say they are! I said, you don’t want to be a hypocrite, do you?

She laughed and said, you’re right! I said, the thing that works for me is to go up and put my arm around people who I think are judging me and tell them what a great example they are. This softens their heart every time and mine too.

She laughed and she said that she should try that. She said, I know that God sent you here tonight. I know that he sent his spirit with you. I can tell because I feel it so strongly around you and in your car.

I said, while you’re feeling that spirit, I want you to pay attention to your cravings. Are they as strong as they were? She thought for a second then had a huge smile and said, no! They are still there a little bit but they are not nearly as intense like they were.

I told her that this is the effect of the spirit of God filling that hole in her soul where it belongs. I told her that with this power filling her soul, she would have the strength to conquer the impulse to feed her addiction. I said, you have to be all in thought. If you leave an inch Satan will exploit your weakness and drag you down.

I told her the church has an addiction recovery program and she needs to be in it. I helped her find info on it and told her to ask the bishop to help her get hooked up there. She told me that she would do that.

I had received a prompting that she was contemplating a decision to commit suicide. I told her that she had considered doing some awful things to herself and that God wanted to stop this now. He still had work for her to do and he knew she was worth saving, even though she saw no value in herself. She was stunned and crying. She muttered, ” I didn’t tell anyone that”.

We were at the place she was going and I ended the ride with the same phrase I began the ride with, I said, you’re good enough, you matter and your father in heaven loves you.

She said through her tears she wished she could give me a hug. She reached up and grabbed my shoulders. She said, I know that every word you said here was true tonight. You told me things about myself that you couldn’t know and I know that God is with you. She said, Heavenly Father sent you just in time.

She said, I’m going to do these things. I’m going to go to church and pray so I can have the spirit in my soul.

Addiction is a hard thing and the people who are addicted, feel trapped and lonely because Satan has beaten them, lied to them and left them discarded. To watch the spirit pull them back into it and give them a fighting chance is a wonderful thing. That’s what happened that night.

As soon as the ride was over I got gas. There was a Maverik one block away like God had placed it there himself. Then I headed back empty in that I had no passenger but full in every way that matters.

One night it was very late and I was on my way home. I had a ride take me out to West Valley and I thought that would pretty much do it for me. I forgot to turn off my app so that presented a problem when this particular ride was sent to me. I thought, just do one more ride. I picked the passenger up at the company where she worked. It was very surprising because it was a guys name on the ride but she was clearly not a guy.

She got in the car and I asked, so you’re headed home? She said yes and that she was very happy to be going home from work. She got off early that day and so she was excited about that. I asked her how things were going and she said really well. At first she seemed very happy and calm, a typical late 20’s girl who seemed to be doing just fine.

I was receiving promptings of her being overwhelmed and that there was a lot being put on her plate right now. I prayed quietly for a second and then I started to say the words that were in my heart.

I asked her if she minded me sharing some thoughts I was having. She said that would be ok. I told her that she was feeling a tremendous amount of stress about her ability to take care of the family right now. I told her that I get the feeling that she felt overrun by the demand that her family plus extended family were placing on her. I told her that she felt judged, shunned and inadequate. In the end she just felt overwhelmed.

As I started to speak I could feel the spirit just hit in the car. It was almost like the spirit knew how much time I had (which was only about 12 minutes) in this short ride. I felt that Heavenly Father really needed to hug this daughter of his tonight.

I told her that she felt like she was trapped and that no one knew or understood what she was going through. I told her that she didn’t feel like there was anyone she could talk to about this. I said that she was almost to a breaking point in her mind and this was a cause of great concern to her. I said, you are suffering in silence. You don’t have anyone you feel you can tell.

She started to cry and asked, am I that transparent? I said, no! You understand about the Holy Ghost. When we are baptized we get the gift of the Holy Ghost and it whispers to our hearts the things we should say and this is the message that I felt in my heart that God gave me for you tonight when you need it.

I also knew by the spirit that she was a good member of the church and she was an obedient daughter of our father in heaven. I could feel that and I knew it was true. I asked, do you feel the spirit right now? She said, yes! I feel it so strong. I said, the spirit always accompanies truth. It is how God tells us that the things we are hearing are true. This is how you know that this message is for you.

With her being a member of the church and the spirit present, I felt the impression to talk more about the atonement. This being the case I went straight into the Book of Mormon. I talked about how Alma‘s people in the valley of Helam relied on God and their faith in God. In return through the atonement of Jesus Christ, God lifted their burdens so that they were so light they could barely feel them. Even though they were slaves they were blessed and happy through their faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. She said she hadn’t remembered reading that like this before and the car lit up with her smile.

I talked to about the Garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus Christ suffered there. He suffered everything so that he could understand what we were going through and so that he could lift us through our problems. I put it out to her that he was a God and therefore could not be killed. For us he just stayed there and took it until it was done and he had bled from every pore. This is how we able to be redeemed. This is how God lifts us through the challenges in life. I said, look to him and live. Look to him and he can lift your burdens.

I told her that because of the atonement, Jesus Christ understood exactly the pressure, exactly the pain and exactly the stress that she was feeling. I said that if she would rely on him, he could lift her like he lifted the people of Alma in the valley of Helam and make it so that she could do this difficult thing that had been required of her at this time.

She said, I can’t believe God sent you to me tonight. It is an answer to my prayers. She said that earlier that day she had prayed for help. She was at a breaking point. She said that she couldn’t believe how fast and directly her prayer was answered.

I told her that God loved her and that he was her father. I told her that she enjoyed a loving father-daughter relationship with him and he loves her more than she could ever know. I said, that’s why he sent Jesus and that’s why he gave me these words to say tonight.

She said, this is exactly what I needed tonight. I was at my breaking point. She reached out and grabbed my shoulder with her hand and said, thank you so much, you will never know how much this means to me. She got out of the car and went inside her home.

One night I was driving and I had a pick up in Springville. I picked up this guy by an apartment complex just off Main Street. He had a giveaway member of the church name. It was Moroni. When I pulled up, my first thought was, well this is going to be a member of the church and probably won’t be a ride where Heavenly Father has a plan for missionary work. I mean, I was in Springville and his name was Moroni. I guess you should never pre-suppose things like that and I learned my lesson this night. Sometimes we just don’t know how this is going to come about, but if you follow the spirit, sometimes you’re surprised.

I waited for him for quite some time and finally he came out. The app had put him on the other side of the building. Because he was on the other side of the building it took him a long time to get to me. I considered canceling the ride. It was not a great ride financially. I was going to be taking him to West Valley for what ends up being very close to the actual amount I would be paying for gas.

Sometimes, when there are a lot of drivers, they just totally take advantage of us and this was one of those times. As I considered canceling it, I received a strong impression that I was not supposed to. Given my observation of his name and where I was picking him up that seemed to be a little strange and out of order, but I decided to go with it.

Finally, we hooked up and he got in the car. We started driving and chatting. He needed to go to West Valley to get a work truck and that’s why I was taking him. I was trying to find out why in the world I was receiving an impression to give this man a ride. He gave off total member vibes largely because he was a member.

I said, so your name is Moroni? We had a prophet by that name. He laughed. I said, I’ve always found it important to be on the ball just like Moroni

I hadn’t told that joke since I was in the MTC and it’s one of my favorites. I asked him if he carried his ball around so he could stand on it and we joked about it a little bit. Then he said, the funny thing is that I am a new member of the church .

He was baptized about 14 months ago and he still had a shine to him. I thought this was great. He mentioned that he had been teaching in the primary since he was baptized but now he was going to teach elders quorum. He was pretty excited about that.

I asked him how he got to have the name Maroni without being a member of the church. He said that he was raised in Utah with a group that he said, consider themselves to be a different branch of the church.

I assumed when he said that it was a polygamous group that had broken off from the church. He seemed to be pretty timid to share this information but I moved quickly to put him at ease. I told him that when I coached at Orem, we had a basketball player who was from a polygamist family. I said, that was a great kid and a good ball player.

That took the trepidation out of his voice and he started to speak freely with me about his life. He was married about 14 months ago right after his baptism. He said that it was a tough pill to swallow for his mother-in-law. He said, I guess I could understand that. I’m sure she thought I was trying to take her daughter into a polygamist compound or something. He said that he was making progress with the mother in law though.

He said that his family was a member of a polygamous group called the AUB. He said they have members in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. He said that he was always taught that President Taylor called the original members of the UAB to continue practicing polygamy after the manifesto to keep it alive.

He said, I don’t believe that, but I believe that they believe it deeply. He said, I don’t think I ever really believed that so it made sense for me to leave. I asked him if there were any repercussions from him leaving and he said that he was just kicked out and he had no access to anything from the family. He was on his own. He did say, though that his mother was allowed to still be around him. He said that she went to his wedding reception and to his baptism.

This is about when I started to get promptings as to why he was here. I felt prompted to discuss faith with him and how by showing faith and trusting in the Lord, he can lift us through our challenges. I knew that he had seen a lot of challenges, leaving his family like that, but I knew that if he trusted in God, he would make up the difference.

He knew all of the Book of Mormon stories. He had been raised with the Book of Mormon. He said that in their family, they watch general conference all the time. They didn’t really consider themselves outside of the church, just a different branch so he knew the Book of Mormon really well. He said, they say all the right words in the UAB but they don’t have any of the power. They don’t have the covenants and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I told him that he’s showing a lot of faith and that when we show faith in the Lord and trust in him, he can bless us with increased capacity in every way. I told him about Nephi and his bow I talked about how because the bow broke they had to learn to look to God instead of their own abilities, their own possessions and their own skills. They had to trust in the Lord. I told him that what he had done by leaving it all was a very similar story.

I felt like I needed to talk to him about the atonement. He like many people only considered the atonement as a part of the repentance process. I talked to him about the role the atonement plays in lifting our burdens and helping us forgive other people. I told him that the atonement makes it so that we can suffer injustice and not feel aggrieved. It makes it so that we can show love to and forgive those who persecute us.

He said he hadn’t ever considered that but it was really something that touched him in that moment. The spirit was really strong in the car and I talked to him about it. I asked him what it felt like and he said that he understood the feeling of the spirit. He said it felt like he was lifted right then. He said that he felt like this was an important ride for him and that he wanted to listen.

Then I had a prompting as clear as any prompting I had ever had. I was taught in this prompting that his grandparents, great grandparents, and all of their families had learned about the church all of their life. They had believed in the teachings of the church but they hadn’t had the ordinances available only through membership in the church. I had the very distinct impression that as they had been taught pure doctrine in the spirit world, they quickly received it and accepted it.

I asked him about the temple and he said that he just got his temple recommend and loved to go there. He said that before he got his temple recommend he would go to the temple and sit on the grounds and just soak it all in. He said that since he got his temple recommend it had changed his life.

I asked him if he had done any work for his grandparents, great grandparents, and their families. He said no. He asked me if it would be possible given who they were. I said, absolutely, that’s the point. He asked me how he would go about starting that work. He said that his family would be zero help if they knew why he was asking questions about family member and dates.

I told him to go to his stake genealogy library and they would be able to help him. I also told him that he should ask around in Elders Quorum because for sure there would be somebody there who would know how to help. I said, the first thing I would do would be call your mom and get as much information from her as you can without letting her know what you are doing.

I said, as soon as you get the information, someone in your ward can help you assemble the information and prepare names to go to the temple. I said, you can go to the temple and bring all of those people the covenants they need and have been waiting for.

I talked to him about the impression that I had about his family members and how they had accepted the gospel and were ready to be baptized and make these covenants with proper authority. I said, they have been reaching out to you. Now that you are a member of the church they see you as their pathway to exaltation. They have been reaching out to get you to do this work. I am here today to help you recognize that.

He started to get emotional. He said, I keep having thoughts and promptings about my ancestors while I am going to and in the temple. I thought I was crazy, but I’m realizing right now that they are calling out. They want to join the church, they want a real baptism and to be eternal families. He said, as strongly as we are feeling the spirit in the car, I know that God is confirming this to me.

He said, it’s amazing how we were put together in this ride and you are preaching me the gospel. You are helping me bring the gospel to my family. I’m sure they have accepted the gospel. This is what God and my ancestors have been trying to tell me and I just didn’t get it. This is why I’m in this car today.

He said, I don’t believe in coincidence but I do believe in revelation and I believe we’ve witnessed revelation here in the car today. We are going to save my family.

By this time we had arrived in West Valley City at the place where he was going to pick up the truck. He told me that the ride had meant so much to him but more than that it made it so that he knew that he wouldn’t be alone, he knew that he would be with his family.

He loved going to the temple before, but now he is going to love going to the temple with a purpose. Heavenly Father has a work for him to do and his grandparents are waiting.

I picked up a guy over in Rose Park off of Redwood Road. He said he used to live in Orem and so we talked about Utah County and how he wished that he could afford to own a house in Orem. We talked about where you would have to move to afford a house, like Santaquin or Genoa, places like that. We talked about how with all of the manipulation that’s happening with the housing market it’s only available to a few people.

He talked about how the people of the world economic summit in Davos said that by 2035 home ownership and car ownership for the average person should, for the most part, be done away with. He said, you can see that we are on our way to that. People are buying up houses and inflating prices. Cities are making streets less drivable while the government mandates expensive electric cars that aren’t attainable for most people.

He talked about that for a while and said, it’s almost like they all get together and have a plan and it makes you believe that there’s something bigger against us. He said, it seems like our political leaders are in on it and there’s no hope, there’s nothing we can do.

We talked about how politics has become very corrupted. He mentioned how they protect each other so that they can get rich off the people, they rape and pillage the society and seem to have evil agreements so there are no repercussions. He also mentioned the Epstein island abomination specifically as an example.

I had the impression that he was a member of the church even though we were heading to the bourbon lounge. I said, I get the feeling that you’re a member of the church. I could see in his face that he was doing the math based on my statement. He knew that we were going to a bar and that he asked me to take him there. He said, I used to be, I don’t do that anymore.

I said, well, I am going to talk to you about the Book of Mormon. He looked down and said, OK. I talked to him about the state of things in the books of Helaman and Third Nephi. I discussed the secret combinations with him and what the purposes of those secret combinations were. They were to steal, gain power, have whoredoms, all the while escaping accountability because of their connections.

He said, wow! That sounds exactly like today! I don’t ever remember hearing about that. I said, funny thing is that the book was not written for the Nephites. The book was written for our day. I told him that by reading that book we will more plainly see what’s going on in our day. I said, It seems to me that this is what you are really looking for.

I had the impression to tell him that not only was he a member of the church but that he hadn’t prayed in years. I told him that he felt like in his life he had been marginalized and ignored. He had been judged by the members of the church and his family so he decided that he would punish them by not going to church.

I told him that this approach is not very smart. I told him that hurting yourself does not punish other people. I said that it doesn’t teach anyone a lesson or bring anything positive. By embarking on the no church, no scriptures, no prayer path he was just hurting himself. I told him that without prayer and without going to church and without the scriptures there is no way that he could be successful in this life like he wanted to be. I told him that without doing these things there was no way he could hear the spirit and be guided.

I told him that Satan had waged a war on his insecurities and his guilty conscience. He had use these insecurities as a cudgel to drive a wedge between he and his father in heaven. He had separated him from the spirit and was continually working to keep him in the dark.

He said, I can’t believe how light I feel and how much light there seems to be in the car. It is incredible. I told him that the Holy Ghost was testifying to him that the things I said were true. I said that this feeling is how we know truth. When we feel this we know God is near.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said he did. I told him the Book of Mormon was the key. I said, in the Book of Mormon it says that any spirit that teaches a man not to pray is of the devil. I added to that any voice he hears that tells him not to pray is of the devil and any voice he hears that tells him not to go to church or read the scriptures is also of the devil.

When he has the thought that he shouldn’t go to church for whatever reason, whether it be lack of worthiness, lack of sleep or having been in a bar that week, that voice comes from Satan not from God. I told him that God would have him in church, regardless of the week’s activities, trying to do and be better.

I told him that God would have him pray and I told him that God would bring him closer to him. I told him that he is a son of God and that is incredible. God would never turn his back on him. God wants him to be happy.

I told him that the people who have judged him were also sinning. I asked him if he thought that they deserved understanding for the struggles they were having with their sin in the same way he felt like they should be understanding of his sins. He thought about it for a second and said, you know, I never thought about it like that. My stance was rather hypocritical. I told him that we all fall into that trap. I told him that we all need to repent and that if there is somebody that is being judgmental of us we should run up to them, put our arm around them and thank them for being so good to us. I told him that it would change the whole dynamic and we could start being brothers and sisters again. He said, I like that.

Then he looked down at his feet. He said, here I am going into a bar to meet a friend. I said, that’s fine, there’s no rule against you having a 7-Up and talking to your friend. I told him that he could even go out on a limb and have a Gingerale. I told him no one would ever know the difference but God will be pleased. He laughed.

I asked him if he knew where his Book of Mormon was and he said yes. I asked him if he would read Helaman and third Nephi this week and he said yes. He said, I’ll have to shake all the dust out of the book but I’ll do it. I told him that many of the problems he saw in the world would be discussed in that reading.

I pulled out one of my Book of Mormons and had him read Helaman 6: 21-24.

21 But behold, Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be placed, that they should not suffer for their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings⁠.

22 And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secretsigns, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant.

23 And thus they might murder, and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God.

24 And whosoever of those who belonged to their band should reveal unto the world of their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness, which had been given by Gadianton and Kishkumen.

He said, that nailed it. That is exactly what has been making me feel helpless. I told him that the Book of Mormon teaches us what we need to do to be ready in every way to fight for God. I told him the spirit could speak to his heart and would speak to his soul and teach him how he needs to act and prepare in these days because that book was written for him. It was written for us today. I said, we will face many challenges in our day and we need God’s help. That is why God gave us this book.

There was still a really nice spirit in the car and I could tell that he was feeling it. I asked him, do you still feel the spirit? He said, yes I do. I have felt it since you testified. I have felt it every time you spoke.

I told him that there was a reason that I was there that night and there was a reason that God had given me the words to say. He said, I figured it was something like that because you seem to know all about me. You seem to know things that I didn’t tell anyone. I told him that this was the spirit and it was here because God had a message for him and it was that he was supposed to come back.He said, how can you say no to that?

I said, you can start by not drinking tonight and by going to church this week. You can start by saying your prayers and reading out of the Book of Mormon every day. He said, I never have really seen a purpose for doing those things. It didn’t seem like it mattered whether or not I was active or whether or not I was a member. He said, now I see that it matters to me and it matters to my father in heaven.

I told him that God had sent me with this message and given me the information to know about his life. I told him that his father loved him and wanted him back. I told him that he was important and he belonged. I said that with the spirit he could help other people. He told me that he felt like for this first time in years God knew who he was. He said, I feel like I’ve been lost but this feeling here in the car tonight makes me feel like I’m not lost.

I asked him if he would commit to do those things, read, pray, go to church and not drink tonight. He said, yes!

I said, it’s easy to go along in life and believe that you don’t matter because everyone in life tells you that you don’t matter. Tonight you found out that you do matter and what you do matters. He said, thank you.

He said, I have changes I need to make. I am grateful that God sent you to help me make them. Starting right now, I’m not drinking tonight! He got out of the car and met his friend on the corner by the door and went in.

I think he was led away a little bit at a time until he was disillusioned and felt like he was drowning. Satan told him that there was no life preserver coming and he believed him for a while until God decided to send him a lift.

It was interesting to see him during the ride. He started out as a non-Mormon then admitted he was a member of the church but very inactive. As we discussed the doctrines of the church in the Book of Mormon and the peace the gospel brings he opened up and blossomed right before my eyes. In the end it was basically like he was wanting to see if it was possible for him to come back. What a transition! What a change the hand of God can effect.

One day I had just finished washing my car. It was a little earlier than I usually turn on but I decided to turn on anyway. I thought, maybe I could get something quick. Usually that early in the morning it’s pretty quiet and normally it doesn’t make any sense.

I wanted to head to Salt Lake and I thought in the back of my mind maybe I could catch something that way. As I started to drive up by McDonald’s I got a ride. It was Lehi to which is on the way to Salt Lake so I was pretty excited. I had to go over by the Lakeridge stake center in Orem to pick her up. I was taking her to her job in Lehi

It was a pretty interesting feeling when I saw her. I felt like I’d had her in my car before or had known her from somewhere before but I quickly decided that wasn’t the case. The spirit was saying that she wasn’t happy with her life and that she was contemplating her membership in the church. I previewed that she had some serious questions about how things are in the church and that she was a returned missionary but very unsatisfied about her mission.

These were just my impressions and I hadn’t confirmed any of them with her and she hadn’t said anything yet. I asked her where she was from and she said Ogden and then I said, you went on a mission, didn’t you? She said that she had served a mission and asked me how I knew. I said, when I look at you, I just think, that girl was a sister missionary. She said, thank you. I didn’t think people could see that in me.

I said, I could because I think the spirit has helped me know that. I asked her if I could tell her a story or two. She said that would be great and I decided to share a couple of specific stories. The first one was from my mission.

I shared with her that my mission started as a normal mission. I was called to a two-year mission but we ended up spending over 12 weeks in the MTC when we were only supposed to be there for eight. We were very frustrated because we felt like we were just spinning our wheels. I talked to her about how excited I was when I got to Argentina but three months later Argentina and Britain got into a war.

Because of this war, we had to sit in our apartments with our bags packed every day. I lost about three months of my mission sitting in my apartment and dodging angry members who looked at us as spies in the town where I served.

Simultaneous with the beginning of the war was a general conference where we found out that the church had changed missions from 24 months to 18 months. This was devastating news and none of us were happy. I hadn’t been out a full year so I didn’t get a choice. I had to come home at 18 months and I had to sit in that apartment and watch my time tick away.

Once the war was over and tempers had cooled, we were able to resume regular proselytizing and start our missions up all over again. We were blessed with a lot of success and I got transferred to another town where I felt a tremendous urgency. Unfortunately, within a month, I fell sick as well. I was sick in the hospital for two weeks and in the mission home for another month and a half.

For those who are counting that’s one month lost in the MTC, six months lost in that general conference, three months lost to the war and another two and months lost to being sick. When you count the normal two months of MTC as non-proselytizing, I figured that I was a missionary for only 9 months of what originally was a 24 month call.

I worked as hard as I could in those 9 months but I always felt like I hadn’t done all of the work I was supposed to do, especially in the area where I served when I got sick. I was pulled out of there and I felt like there was unfinished business.

I told her fast-forward 20 years and I was a ward mission leader when a man moved into my ward in Orem. He was born and raised in the area that I served in when I got sick. We were able to baptize him and I felt like god brought to me. I told her that I believe that God doesn’t feel restrained by missions or boundaries. He puts us in the places we need to be. I told her that all throughout our lives people who we are supposed to teach are put in our path. I said, your mission never ends, you just move areas. God will put people there for you to teach.

I told her that it was important for her to realize that God was happy or satisfied with her mission but he had so much more missionary work for her to do. She asked me, how did you know I wasn’t satisfied with my mission? I said, when I look in your eyes, I can tell. The spirit is whispering to me that you feel like you had unfinished business and you were not able to accomplish what you initially thought you were going to be able to do on your mission.

She said, only the spirit could have told you that. I was so excited to go on a mission and receive my call. While I was preparing to leave, I had some health issues and because of that my mission had to be changed to a service mission. I was never able to do the things I wanted to do, teach the people I wanted to teach or be the missionary I thought I was supposed to be.

I said, there is still a lot of time for you to be that missionary. God knows who the people are that are waiting for you and they are not just in the area of the mission you were called to. Even though you didn’t get to go there, he can bring them to you wherever you are if you are ready.

She asked, how do you do that? I said, by saying the words the Lord puts into your heart like I have here in the car today. I said, if you’ll do that, people will recognize the authority you speak with and your testimony will pierce their soul. This is what the people that are waiting for you deserve.

I said, when we leave our mission, we leave the scripture study, we leave the prayers and we leave the testifying spirit. That is why we feel different. That is why it’s harder to be a missionary because we walk away from that level is spiritually. I told her, that’s a choice and you can choose to pray, study and follow the spirit with exactness. If you do that, God will put your people in your path.

I told her that because of Covid, I had lost my job and been put in the car. I shared several experiences with her and testified to her that God puts people in my car to receive the gospel. I told her about several of them and I know that I was still doing the work that God called me to do.

She said, if God puts things in your heart to say, what does he want you to say to me? I told her that he wanted me to tell her that he loved her, even though she didn’t think he did. He wanted me to tell her that he was so grateful for her service on her mission. More than anything, he wanted her to live righteously and be happy. I told her that she felt like her mission was a disappointment both to her and God. I told her that the way people looked at her when she said she had been a service missionary bothered her and she felt like she let her family down. I said to her that all of those negative thoughts were lies. I told her that they were lies placed in her heart by Satan to distract her from the path. I told her that God sees her as a powerful voice and knows that she has a powerful testimony. He wants her to share that but first she has to rekindle it.

I told her that it was important for her to go to church. I told her I felt like she had quit going to church and praying like she should but God wanted her to start again. I told her that God had put her in my car that day for this message.

She said, I felt the spirit here stronger than I have in a very long time. I wish we had more time to talk.

By this time we were at her work and she said, I’d love to sit here and talk but I have to go to work. I said, I’ll pray for you because you feel inadequate for a lot of reasons and God can help you. I said, I feel like we are going to get another chance to chat and finish this conversation.

I don’t know why I said that, who would ever say that! Very seldom do you see the same person twice. Yet there I was prompted by the spirit saying it.

The next week I had almost the exact same experience. I left early, I washed my car and I got a ride to go over and pick up this same young lady. When she got in the car I said, now we get to finish the talk. She smiled and said, I can’t believe it! This is really freaking me out a little bit.

She said, last time I don’t think you got to finish everything you wanted to say. We got to work too fast but it was awesome. I said, do you want me to tell you the rest of what I felt like I was supposed to say? She said, yes! I can’t wait.

I said, it’s all about the atonement. I said, I feel like there are some things that you have done that you’re not proud of. This is one of the reasons why we have the atonement so that you can cleanse yourself and be pure before God. That’s how you make yourself able to receive revelation and know God‘s will.

The other thing is, you feel judged and ridiculed by some members of the church. You don’t think this is fair and you have adopted something of a victim mentality with regard to this. I said, the atonement is also for that. It is how God makes all things right. We look to him and through the atonement he can lift our burdens, mitigate the injustice, minimize pain and lift us out of our fallen state. It’s important that we look to God and access the atonement of Jesus Christ. There is no other way because everyone is persecuted, everyone suffers and everyone feels alone. The only way to stand with power in this life is through the atonement of Jesus Christ and his power.

I feel like you’ve been overwhelmed by the inadequacy you felt on your mission, the things you’ve done since and the things in your life. You have let Satan get the upper hand.

I told her that the important thing for her to remember is that everyone feels this way. Everyone does bad things. Everyone feels inadequate and everyone fights through tribulation.

I told her that everyone at church hears that voice in their head saying that they shouldn’t be there or that they are not worthy or that people are judging them. I said, that’s just flat out Satan and he’s trying to dissuade them from good and bring them down.

I told her that in the Book of Mormon in the valley of Helam, the people were held as slaves and given tremendous burdens to bear. They didn’t even feel their burdens because of the atonement. God lifts us through our adversity if we will let him. I said, that’s the thing I needed to tell you that I didn’t get to say.

You need to realize that the atonement is for repentance but not just for repentance. You need to understand that the atonement is the thing that can lift you through your issues so that you can feel the love of God. You need to feel the love of God so that you can know that the mission you served was everything he wanted it to be. You need to feel the love of God so that you can know that he loves you and he will be there to help you be the person he needs you to be now.

I said, if you will embrace the atonement of Jesus Christ, go to church, read your scriptures and say your prayers, God will put people in your path so that you can bear the testimony you’ve always wanted to bear and be the missionary you always knew that you could be. It’s up to you.

I said, how do you feel right now? She said, I feel just like I did before in your car. I feel the spirit.

I said, what does that mean? She said, it means that the things you’re saying are true. I said, what are you going to do about it then? She said, I guess I need to go to church, read my scripture, say my prayers and learn to have the atonement be a bigger part of my life.

I asked her if she felt the spirit when she said those things and she said yes. I said, go with that, seek it out and walk with it. She said that she was going to be changing her life and getting back to where she knows she should be. She said that she never thought of being a missionary outside of the mission field. I told her that there are people that baptize more people after their mission than they do during their mission. I asked her if she thought she might be able to be one of those. She smiled and said, yes, that would be awesome. I said, if you will be that person, God will bring people to you. He will bring your people to you.

By this time we were arriving at her work again. She got out and she thanked me for the ride both times. She said, two times, it’s been a miracle. I have to say I agree.

As she got out of the car, I looked at her and her countenance had changed. She was starting to see herself the way God sees her. That was the miracle.

One evening I was just about to go home for dinner and I was coming down I-15. I got a call to go to Walmart and pick up some people. Walmart this time of year is a mess just in case you didn’t know.

It took me a minute to find them but I eventually found them. It was a mother and an adult (17 year old) son. I helped them load their groceries into the back of my car and started to drive. We don’t see exactly where it is they are going, we only see turn by turn directions, So I started to drive.

As we started to drive I noted that they didn’t speak English so I started speaking Spanish to them. They were a little shocked to say the least but they were excited and we started talking.

I asked them where they were from and they said Santa Cruz Bolivia. Then I asked them why they were here in the United States. She said that they were political refugees. She, her husband and her family came to the United States two years ago. Her husband was a journalist that had to escape for his life.

I asked them what they thought about Orem. They said it was the most beautiful place that they had ever been. They said it was not just the scenery but that the peace they felt was incredible. I asked them why they thought that there was peace here in Orem. They said that they didn’t know and hadn’t really thought about it but they enjoyed it and could certainly feel it.

I told them that it was because the people that live here in large numbers follow God. Due to the fact that God is in their hearts, peace surrounds them and their community. I asked them what they knew about our church. They said that they really didn’t know anything about the church. They said that they attended the Catholic church because it’s like five blocks away from their house and they had been Catholic their whole lives. I told them they should go to one of our churches because we are so much closer to their house and they could find out what we have that brings such peace. The mom said that there is one of our churches right across the road from their house.

The mom asked if i thought it would be fine if they attended our church. I told her we would love to have her come and that we could send some missionaries out to help her understand what was going on.

I asked her if she had ever heard about the Book of Mormon. She said she heard about it but didn’t know anything about it other than that it existed. I told her that it was scripture and that it was a companion to the Bible. I told her that it was full of the writing of ancient prophets who lived here in America. I told her that the Book of Mormon testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ and his desire to bless all of his children in the world.

She asked me where the book came from and I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith. I told her that Joseph Smith didn’t know which church was true. He read the Bible and found the key to getting knowledge from God is through prayer. He went to a grove of trees near his house where he knew he could be alone and he prayed. I told her that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet. I said that he was called to restore the church of Jesus Christ and all of its truths on the earth again. She said, I just got chills when you said that. I said, it’s because it’s true. I told her that this is how she feels when God’s spirit touches her soul. He does this to help us know truth.

I said that later Joseph Smith was given the records of the ancient American prophets written on plates of gold. He was given the power of God to translate those writings and that translation is the Book of Mormon. I said, it came directly from God and those ancient prophets to us to help us navigate this troubled world.

She said, we really do need that now. She said that she could see why there would be peace here if we get help from God to navigate trouble in life. She asked me if I would bring one of these books by her house. I said, why don’t I just give you one now. I reached into my glovebox and grabbed one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. She asked if she could have another for her husband. She said he would want his own. I didn’t have any more in my car but she didn’t live far from my house so I said I would bring it by for him the next day.

The next afternoon when I got there she said she had been waiting for me all day. She wanted me to show her a little bit about that book. I gave her the book and I showed her different parts and scriptures I like. I showed her the questions of the soul in the front cover and pointed to third Nephi where Jesus came to America. I told her that he called 12 apostles and gave them authority. That is the same authority that we have in the church today, we call it the priesthood. I told her that this authority is a big difference between our church and other churches.

She said, do you have that authority? I said, yes. She said, with that authority can you give blessings? I said yes. She said, I would like you to give me a blessing. I could really use a blessing from God.

I asked her husband if it was OK. He smiled and said, please do. I gave her the blessing. When I put my hands on her head the spirit rushed in the room and filled her heart. She was crying and through the tears she said that she understood now where the peace comes from. She said she wanted to have this peace in her life. Her husband said, I love that! She said to me that she would read the Book of Mormon and that she wanted to attend church. She said that it is incredible how her whole life she believed in God but never felt him in her heart like she did right then.

I gave her the information about when and where their ward met for meetings in both English and Spanish so she could make the best decision for her family on which one to attend. She was so excited and she and her husband agreed to go. I asked if I could have missionaries stop by and teach them more. Her husband said that would be great. I found their ward and their missionaries to set it up. I know that they went because I saw them at the church a few times and I think they were baptized. I think they have moved but now understand the peace of the gospel and it can go with them.

The thing that struck me most about this is that she was just looking for someone to ask the question she didn’t know how to ask. She felt his peace around her and it prepared her. I am happy that the Lord trusted me with the opportunity to be that person. I realized that they were here to find peace and safety but they found safety in the peace God brings.

One day I was down in Lehi and trying to go to Salt Lake. I like to be hanging around in the Sandy/Draper area because you can get good rides there sometimes. I was offered a ride to go to Orem and I was trying to reject it. As I touched it, it wouldn’t reject. The app wouldn’t respond to my touch. I let it expire by just ignoring it and it finally went away. To my surprise it sent it to me again. I figured that there must be something special about this ride so I decided to take it besides I wasn’t about to waste another rejection on it.

I pulled into a medical clinic by the Timpanogos Highway where a man and a woman got in the car. They didn’t seem very clean and I’m always a little uncomfortable picking up people who might be sick. When I have someone that might have been sick, I have to clean my car because I don’t want be transmitting any viruses around the valley or taking them home.

On top of this, they looked a little wild and a bit unconventional. As I was sitting there, passing judgments on their looks and the diseases they were apparently being treated for, the spirit chastised me. I remembered President Hinkley, in a conference talk saying something to the effect of they may not look like much but they are children of God. Then I had the memory of him saying something like you’re not so hot yourself. I don’t know whether he said that or the spirit told me that but I remembered that talk in that moment.

As we began to ride, I got the very distinct impression that they were seeking the gospel and they didn’t even know it. I started talking to them about where they were from. The man was about 40 years old and the woman was a similar age.

He said that he was originally from California and she said she was from Arizona. They had moved here recently but were pretty ambiguous about it. I got the impression from the spirit not dwell too much on that and start getting into what they felt and why they liked being here. Many times this is a discussion I have had with people that leads to a discussion of the church.

I asked how they liked it here and they said they loved it. He told me that he had never been in a place that was so chill and peaceful. I said, it’s because there are a lot of the people here who try to follow God. I asked him what he thought about seeing temples and chapels everywhere. He said that it was different than what he was used to but that he really liked it. He said, God is good.

I said, a lot of people these days chase things in their life and these things take them away from God. When these things take them away from God, they take them away from peace and they take them away from happiness. I told him that a lot of people who live here are constantly seeking that peace and happiness. They are doing what it takes to make sure that they have it in their life. I said, the way those people follow Jesus creates peace in our society by following God and his commandments. I said that this is how we feel close to him in our lives, in our families and in our society.

He said that he knew lots of people that complain about the fact that there aren’t bars on every corner and how they can’t do some of the things they want to do. He said that he thinks this peace is more important. I told him that I could tell that it was important to him.

I looked in the mirror and they no longer seemed to me like they were smelly disheveled people. There was a certain light that I hadn’t seen before. It’s amazing when we look at people through God‘s eyes versus what we see when we apply our own prejudice.

I told him that the church and the influence of the church was not just the source of the peace that he was looking for in his life, if he was willing to make the changes and commit to follow Jesus Christ, membership in the church would bring him that happiness. I asked him if anyone had ever talked to him about joining the church and he said no. Then he paused and said kind of. He said that when he was in jail, the Mormon church had people come in and talk to him. He said that they would read scriptures to them and that this greatly impacted him.

I said, oh, how long ago were you in jail? He said that he just got out recently but he loved that these people would bring messages to him twice a week. He said that it rang true because he felt the same peace from what I was saying as he did when they were talking to him.

He said that in his life, few people had ever talked to him about God and when they did, he loved it. He said, it feels really good here in the car. I love hearing you talk about God. I told him that when we teach the word of God, he sends his spirit and it testifies of the truthfulness of the things that we say. I told him that this is what he was feeling now and that it was God’s way of confirming the truthfulness of these things to his soul.

I asked him if they gave him a Book of Mormon when he was in jail. He said they weren’t allowed to give him a Book of Mormon but they read to him from that book. He said that he always felt the spirit of God. He asked, do you know where I can get ahold of one of those books?

I told him that I would give him one. I said, we are headed to Orem. We’ll just drive by my house and get one. I happened to be out of them at the time. Usually, I travel with three or so in my car. I had just given my last one away and I hadn’t replenished.

I told him that it was really cool that he was visited in prison because that’s exactly what Jesus would do. I told him that Jesus loved everyone. I told him Heavenly Father loved everyone. He doesn’t just love the perfect people because no one is perfect. He doesn’t just love the lucky people because no one is lucky all the time. He doesn’t just love the rich people because most of his children are not rich. I told him that God loves all of his children, no matter where they live, and no matter when they were born. I said, God loves all of his children, even if they’ve made mistakes. That’s why we have repentance.

I told him repentance is how we clean ourselves of sin and how we make changes in our lives. I told him that the process of repentance can help us become a new person that follows God and can walk with his spirit.

I told him that the spirit he was feeling right now in the car lets us know that God is present. I said that seeking that feeling and that presence will lead us back to him. To have that with us all of the time helps us know the things we need to change and the things that we need to do. It helps us change the way that we act and talk. It helps us change the way we think about life.

I told him that it requires that we think about helping other people and blessing those around us. I told him that it requires us thinking about Jesus Christ and trying to become like him by reading the scriptures and try to live like he taught.

I said, that’s why it’s so important that you get a Book of Mormon so you can start to read it. As you read it, you will feel the same spirit that has been in the car. It has been here today and you know that it’s true because you felt it in prison. You have felt it and you know it comes from God.

I told him that once he has repented, he needs to be baptized. I said, we are commanded to be baptized so that we can enter into the kingdom of God. I said, it teaches that in the Bible. I said, in the Book of Mormon it also teaches about baptism. I said, Jesus Christ descended from heaven and gave the people this baptism so that they could take that step up in discipleship and follow him. That’s the invitation he gave them and that’s the invitation we are giving you here today.

I told him that when we repent and are baptized, our sins are washed away. I said, you know those horrible memories you have of your sins? You know the pain you feel in your soul every night when you close your eyes because of them? This pain can be erased. Your sins can be washed away as if you had never committed them. You can be blameless and pure before God.

I said, Satan has told you as long as you can remember that you’re gone, that you’re junk, that you’re no good and that you are irredeemable. That’s not how God sees you and that’s not how I see you here today. I see you as a son of God and he wants you back.

I said, the Book of Mormon is all about repenting, changing, being baptized and getting the gift of the Holy Ghost. It’s all about coming home to your father in heaven. I said, the whole program is in that book.

He asked, how do you know those things? That’s exactly what it’s like when I close my eyes and try to sleep. It was always easier for me to sleep after I had been with the Mormons in jail. I want that rest. I told him that God had given me those things to say so that he could know the things I was saying were true. I said, this rest will be found through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You can become clean from your sins and walk with God. This is what you want.

The place they were going was only about four blocks from my house so I figured that we could just drop by and grab a Book of Mormon for him. I asked him, if I give you the book, would read it? He said that he has wanted to read that book for a few years and that he would love to read it now. He said that it would be top on his list of priorities.

Just then his girlfriend piped up. She had been very quiet, unusually quiet. She had been texting on her phone. She said, he might not be a member of the church yet but that I used to be. My sister even went on a mission but I have been out of the church for at least 20 years. I said, welcome back. This is a good time to get back with it.

I told her that God puts people in my car and gives me the words to say to them. I said, I felt the spirit here today and I felt like I am saying the things Heavenly Father would have me say to help him find the light of the gospel in his life.

I said, it’s no accident that you are also in his life. I said, your Heavenly Father is reaching out to you as well. He wants you to come home. He wants you to come back to the church. She said, I don’t even know why I left. I guess I just got carried away with friends and quit doing the things I was supposed to do.

I asked, are you willing to turn that around? I said, he’s trying to get right with God and you could be a great help. You could be God‘s hands, it would kind of be like a mission.

She had felt the spirit in the car and was very emotional at this time. She said, I’ve already texted my sister. I did it while you guys were talking. She is going to help! I think this is exactly what we need.

The man, talking about his girlfriend said, that’s why I love her . She is the best thing in my life. It will be so much fun to do this together.

We pulled into my driveway and Heather was outside. I asked her if she would run in and get a Book of Mormon. She smiled and said yes. As she turned around to run and get the book, the lady commented, she is beautiful! Did you see the light in her eyes? That is what I want.

I said, you too can have that light in your eyes and the spirit in your heart that we have felt in the car today. That’s a promise from God and it helps us through life. It helps us make the changes we need to make to come back and live with him.

Heather came out with the Book of Mormon and I handed it back to my passenger. He held it close to his chest and said, scriptures from this book have been a part of my life for a good period of time now. I want to learn all about this. I want to walk this path with her.

They gave me their assurance that they would go to church on Sunday with her sister. By this time, her sister had already responded and was excited to be part of this. I took them to her sister’s house and they got out and went inside.

Everything came together that day. There was the good work of the people that run the prison branch in bringing light into that dark darkness and Heavenly Father being there this day to bring him the tools necessary to bring this altogether.

They were really excited and even sent me a text through the app the following day thanking me for the book and assuring me that they were on the path. They said her sister was on it. God was on it that day and I’m grateful he used me.

One night I was in Orem and trying to drive south. As per usual whenever Heavenly Father has something for you to do, it goes in a direction that doesn’t follow your plan. Of course I got a ride from Orem to up north above the Timpanogos Highway in Traverse Mountain.

The house where I picked this ride up was about four blocks north of where I used to live when we lived in Lakeridge. As I sat there entertaining the circumstances of this ride the spirit told me that I needed to be ready to be engaged. At that point, I knew for a fact that this was an errand for Heavenly Father .

This young man came out of the house and got in my car. He was about 24 or 25 years old and very chatty. That makes it easier to get into a conversation. When people are quiet it’s very difficult. This guy seemed to be something of an open book.

I felt he hadn’t gone on a mission but I felt like I needed to ask him if he had served. It didn’t make sense at the time but I obeyed and asked. He said that he didn’t go on a mission. That’s all he said. He didn’t talk about his religious life at all. I was hoping to get an idea of how to start.

He talked about how 3 of the last five years he had lived in Bethlehem. We talked a little bit about the situation over there and the complexity of the issues. I had the impression from the spirit that he was a member of the church so I asked , did you go to church over there? I told him that I have a friend, Mark, who was the district president in Israel when he worked for the FBI in the embassy.

My passenger said that was cool but he didn’t know my friend Mark. I told him that my friend Mark said that they have lots of interesting rules for the church there in Israel but that it was an amazing experience. My passenger agreed with that. He said that he had attended church in the BYU Jerusalem Center. We talked about the security of the whole situation for a minute and then I got the prompting to ask him the big question.

I got the impression that he had been inactive for a couple years since he got back from Israel. I felt that he didn’t go to church anymore. The impression continued letting me know that tonight he was going to a party where unworthy things were going to be going on. These were things he knew that he shouldn’t be participating in.

I asked him, when did you quit going to church? He was a little surprised and said, how do you know that I quit going to church? I continued telling him that he had been inactive for a while and that he was going to a party tonight that he really knew he shouldn’t be attending.

He was quiet for a moment. He asked, how did you know those things? How did you know about tonight like that? How did you know about my life like that?

I told him that one of the things that the Holy Ghost does is it tells us the things that we should say. I told him that I didn’t know these things but the Holy Ghost did and he whispered them to me to say. I said that he did this so that he would listen to the rest of the things I had to say.

I said that I felt like he had kind of become very casual with the church during Covid and got used to not attending church. Then later he fell into skepticism, indifference and finally questioning his belief. Along with the skepticism and indifference came extended exposure to rough crowds and dabbling in sin. It had become more like rebellion at this point.

I asked him, are you intentionally rebelling against God? That’s pretty serious. He thought about it and said that he didn’t think of it like that. He said that he was just going along with his friends but hadn’t considered the rebellion thing.

I asked him if he wanted to be that guy? I asked if he was ready to be the guy that rebelled against God and he said no. I said, I guess you have to start making a plan to come back then.

He said that he had thought about that a couple of times. Each time he fell short because he had come to the decision to come back he had the feeling that he was already too far down the road. He thought that it would be just too hard for him and it would be embarrassing to him and his family.

I told him, that’s not true! I said, Satan is the one in your ear telling you that you have gone too far. It’s Satan telling you that your family won’t understand. It’s Satan telling you that people will judge you and that you will feel embarrassment instead of relief. Instead of giving you peace, Satan is trying to confuse you.

I told him to tell Satan to get lost. I told him to quit listening to Satan. I told him that it’s time to choose a team and Satan‘s team was going to lose. I told him that we want him back on our team. I told him that Heavenly Father wants him back And that’s why he was in my car tonight.

As I said this, the spirit was really strong. He said, I haven’t felt the spirit like this in a long time. He said, I can’t believe you’ve called me out but you’ve done it with love and your words have touched me.

He asked, how do I come back? I said, these are the same answers you’ve been told your whole life. You have been told to go to church and repent so that you can be ready to take the sacrament. The sacrament will fill your soul with power so that you can withstand temptations from Satan as well as the people around you. It’s very important that you go to church and get ready and worthy to take the sacrament.

I said, you haven’t been praying, have you? You haven’t been talking with Heavenly Father. He quietly whispered, no. I said, you need to say your prayers. I’m not talking about once a day. I’m talking about morning and night. You need to have a conversation with your father in heaven throughout the day. I said, have him walk with you in prayer. If you do that, it will push unworthy things away and you can walk with God back to his presence.

I said, you need to repent every day for the small things and the big things you do. You need to have the atonement in your life to lift you above the errors of your ways. I said, the atonement helps us in so many ways. It can ease the pain and suffering that we go through in life. The atonement of Jesus Christ is God’s plan for us to be able to be happy in a fallen world. Wrap yourself in the atonement and let God lift you.

I said, you need to read the Book of Mormon. That book has a special spirit with it. As you read the Book of Mormon, the Lord will teach you how to come closer to him and show you which parts of your life you need to change. You need to read it every day and regain a testimony of that book that will burn in your soul.

I asked him how he felt right then. He said that he felt amazed, astounded and a tremendous energy. I told him that right now he had a desire in his soul to do the things I had told him to do. He said, that has to be the spirit. I told him that it was the spirit. I said that the spirit is a way we communicate with God. I told him that when he feels that, he knows that the things he is hearing are true.

He said, I know these things are true and this is what I’m supposed to do. He said, I’m blown away that all this has happened on the ride tonight. He asked, do you have a Book of Mormon that I could have? He said, I want to have it with me tonight. I think it will bring me protection.

I reached into my glove box and pulled out a Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I gave him the book and said, there’s a power in this book. That power will touch your soul and help you transform your life back to where you want it to be. It will help bring you into harmony with the spirit and with your father in heaven. He took the book and said thank you.

We were just pulling up to the apartment where I was taking him. He said, I don’t think I’ll be here very long tonight and I’m going to be looking for some new friends. I think that’s one of the changes I need to make.

I asked him how that came into his mind. He thought about it for a moment and said, I think that’s what God wants me to do. I said, that’s right. This is how we change.

He reached up, shook my hand and thanked me for the ride. He thanked me for talking to him in a way that nobody else had. I said, keep in mind that the words were not my words. They came from God because he loves you. He said, I will always remember that and I will always remember this ride. He got out of the car and went in the apartment.

One day I got a call to pick up a young man at a dry cleaner in Orem and take him to his home in Highland. That’s a pretty long ride and you discuss a lot of things in a ride like that.

We talked about dry cleaning and why my shirts are never ironed the way I want them to be and why buttons come off sometimes… things like that.

I asked him if they had always lived in the area and he said that they had. Earlier they had lived in Murray but then moved to Highland because it was closer to their store they owned in Orem. I said, that’s still not very close. He laughed.

We talked about things like how long it had been since he was in high school and what he was doing for college. Then I asked him about his friends and what were they doing. He said, “most of them are on missions.”

I asked him if he was planning on serving one too and he said that he didn’t consider himself to be a member of the church. I said, “for clarification purposes what exactly does it mean that you don’t consider yourself to be a member of the church?” He said that he wanted to explore all the world’s religions before he settled into one.

I told him that there are a lot of interesting things in the religions of the world. I had taken a class at BYU called “religions of the world” and really enjoyed learning about them so I could see why that would be important to him.

I asked him if he had been baptized into our church. He said, yes! When he was a kid the missionaries came and baptized their family but his parents had left it up to him to decide what he wanted to do once he turned 15, so he was on this quest.

I asked him what he was looking for in a religion. He said that he was looking for a fit for his beliefs and his way of thinking. It kind of seemed to me like he was a high school athlete hoping to be recruited by a college and choosing between a few. He wanted something that was easy and didn’t require him to make any changes in his life or attitudes.

I asked him if he was also looking into the church that he belonged to. He thought for a minute because he hadn’t considered that. He said that he was just looking at the others but that upon reflection he probably ought to look at his church too.

I asked him if there was a God. He said yes, he believed that there was a God. I asked him if that God cared about us or not. He said he’d never thought about that question but that he believed that God cared about each of us. I asked him if God knew him personally. He said that he didn’t know but that he hoped so.

I asked him what would be the purpose of God creating us and our world? He said, that this is another good question that I haven’t thought of. I asked him if God loves us, if he created us, if he cares about us, what is our end game with him and what happens after we pass on? If God is eternal and his love for us is real, would he create us and then just let us die and that be it? Doesn’t that seem like a waste? Would a loving father do that? He said that these are not questions that he had considered but they were very important questions in his quest.

I want to let you know that I didn’t rapidfire these questions at him but for the purposes of writing them down it might look that way.

I asked him if it was important to him that the religion he chooses be able to address these questions in a clear way that makes sense, given that he believes that God loves us. He said yes.

He said that he love these questions and wrote them down. He said they were absolutely important in the scope of the decision that he was making.

I knew right away that this was not a family that said lots of family prayers or read the scriptures together. That more than being apostate this young man had not been taught. He had not been taught the scriptures. He had not been taught to pray and he had not been taught about the spirit. Basically, he had not been taught the gospel although he assumed that coming from membership in the church he had that covered. It took about five minutes and he recognized that he did not have that covered.

I bore my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and of the first vision. I talked about how Joseph Smith had very similar questions about which of all of the religions were true and that it led him to ask God.

I bore my testimony of the plan of salvation and about how God knows each one of us and we know him. I told him how our spirits react to his presence and we feel our love for him. When I started talking about our father in heaven‘s love a peaceful wonderful feeling came over us. He asked, do you feel that? I said, yes! He said that is the most incredible feeling. I said, that is your spirit recognizing that the spirit of our father in heaven is here with us today. It recognizes that feeling and remembers our father in heaven. God sends his spirit and these feelings when we talk about truth.

I told him that this feeling is how we can know we are doing the right thing and making good choices that God approves of. When we make right choices, his spirit, the Holy Ghost, can be with us. He said he had never felt that so strongly. I asked him if he prayed. He said he prayed when he was a little kid but that he always said the same things and jumped in bed really fast.

I told him that what I was talking about was a prayer where he communicates with his father in heaven, asks him questions and feels for impressions and answers. He said he had never done that. I told him that when he did, he could feel the same feeling that he was experiencing today in the car provided the things he was praying for and about were true and right. That’s how God cauldron guide him in his quest and that’s how God could tell him the truth.

I asked him if he believed that there was one truth? I asked him if this search was just a matter of finding it? He said that he supposed that there was one truth. I asked him what would be the best way to find out what that truth is. He said with a smile, “for God to come down and tell him.” I told him that this is exactly what prayer is, an opportunity for God to commune with him and reveal his will to him. I said, that when God is revealing his will to you, it feels like we are feeling right now.

I asked, does that help you on your quest? He said, absolutely! Even though I already knew the answer I asked, him have you ever read the Book of Mormon? He said that he had not read the book. I told him that the book was true, that it showed how God loves his children and how he blesses them. It shows that God loves all of his children and supports them through their trials. Where we have weaknesses, he is our strength.

I asked him if he thought he could know the truthfulness of the church without reading the Book of Mormon? He thought for a minute and then I said, let me tell you that you cannot know of the truth of the church without reading and receiving an answer about the Book of Mormon.

I told him that if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith, who translated that book, was a prophet. If Joseph Smith was a prophet, then the church he organized is the church of God and we have that church on the earth today.

I told him about how I, as a young man, had done just that. I read the Book of Mormon and then prayed to receive my answer. That answer changed my life and how I approach everything in my life. I told him that the Book of Mormon taught me the answers to every question we had discussed that day in the car and that each one of those answers had been confirmed to me by the spirit that we had felt in the car that day.

He told me that this had opened up another perspective to him that he hadn’t considered. The confirmation he was receiving of the spirit showed him how important the words I was saying were.

I told him that as a member of the our church, it is an incredible thing to study the religions of the world. They have a lot of interesting good traditions and beliefs. Knowing the truthfulness of the gospel helps you pick out the truth in their religions and see the good things that are found in their beliefs. Your understanding of the spirit helps you know that truth is found in many religions but that there is only one church that has all of the truth and authority.

I told him that armed with this knowledge, his curiosity and journey into the world of religious practices would be enhanced and he would have a better understanding. The spirit always enhances our learning of truth.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said that he did. I asked him what his next step should be and he said, read the Book of Mormon and find out if it’s true. I told him to start with the confirmation of truth that he had received in the car that day. I said, that means something. He agreed and said, it sure seems like we have been speaking truth here today. I asked him if it would be OK if I prayed for him in this endeavor, he said yes.

He said that this was the most incredible ride he had ever been on and that he hoped to get me again as a driver soon. I look forward to that.

One day I picked up a lady in Sandy. I picked her up at work and she was headed over to her boyfriend’s house. We talked a minute about what she did for work and what she did for work as we were driving.

She was from Sudan and had been in the country about eight years.. She spoke perfect English and was in her early 20s. I could tell that she had been totally influenced by the culture here because of the huge nose ring she had going on.

I have to admit that there have been many times that the spirit has had to override me with regard to people that seem steeped in the crazy cultural traditions of the day. This was one such occasion. I knew I was supposed to talk to this girl about the gospel but I thought, what could I possibly have in common or how could I start this conversation.

As she talked about her boyfriend and how they were getting ready for Halloween, I felt prompted to ask her when they were going to get married and how many kids they wanted to have. As I have mentioned before, this is kind of forbidden but given the context of the conversation and the fact that I felt prompted to go in this direction, I decided to ask.

She paused for a moment and the smile that had been on her face disappeared. She said, I’m not sure. She said, I think it will take years for us to get to the point where we can get married. I asked her how long they had been dating and she said two years.

I talked to her about the difference between building your life and then performing a corporate merger with another person and calling it a marriage versus meeting someone, starting your life and growing your life together. I told her people successfully do both things but I prefer the latter.

I said, when you can start with nothing and sacrifice together, it brings you together. She said, I had never thought of that. That makes a lot of sense. Maybe we need to revisit this.

By this time we were on I-215 turning onto the 47th south exit. The temple was right there in front of us. It’s a beautiful temple and I’ve used it before to bring up the church. The spirit moved me and I smiled as I realized Heavenly Father is always in charge.

I said, isn’t that a beautiful building? I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints and that’s one of our temples. I asked, do you know what we do in those temples? She said, no I don’t but they’re beautiful and I’ve always wondered. She said, as I drive by I am always mesmerized by its beauty. I even went on the grounds one time and it felt so peaceful. I can tell it’s an amazing and important building. She said, I can tell that the spirit of God is there. She asked, tell me, what is it that you do in there?

I told her that it’s a very special place where we are married. I said, that goes right along with our conversation. When we are married, we are not just married until death, we are married for time and eternity. I said, because we’re married in the temple, we know that we will never be permanently separated and that in the next life, we will still be married and our families will be with us. For us it’s all about the family.

She said, that’s awesome! How does that work? I said, when Jesus was on the Earth, Peter was given power and authority to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. That authority was given to our prophets who lead our church today. They have this authority and we use it to seal marriages on earth and they are sealed in heaven. We use it to seal children to parents on earth and they are still sealed in heaven as well. We are all sealed to our father in heaven as one big heavenly family. That’s what goes on in that temple.

I said, we also go in there and are sealed or married for our ancestors who have passed away. They are given the opportunity to accept that sealing so that they can have this blessing for themselves and their posterity. Our ancestors made it possible for us to be here and we make it possible for them to be together with us eternally. It’s all a family thing. She said, I like that! That’s why that building feels special.

I told her that in that building we make sure that every person who was ever born anywhere on the Earth has the opportunity to be baptized. She said, what? I said, in the book of Peter it talks about how every person is taught the gospel after they leave this life. The Bible also teaches us that every person needs to be baptized to enter into the kingdom of heaven and be with our Heavenly Father.

I said, in the New Testament, it also mentions baptism for the dead. We do those baptisms in this temple and in all of our temples. We go there and are baptized for a person who has passed away. They then have the opportunity to accept that baptism so that they can enter into the kingdom of God. I said, again, it’s all about family and God being the perfect father of his family wants to provide an opportunity for every one of his children to come home.

I asked her how many people in the history of the world die without hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. She said, most of them. I asked her if God loved those people and she said yes. I asked her if an all powerful God would give them an opportunity to come home and she said yes. I said, this is the way.

She said, I love that! As you were explaining that, it made chills go up my spine. I’ve always thought it was important to seek out the love of God. I was taught that if babies weren’t baptized, they went to purgatory. She said, my dad is a very strong Catholic but I never believed that. What is your teaching on that? I told her that babies and children who are too young to commit sin are saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice pays the price and covers them. I said, they all go to heaven.

I told her that God provides baptisms for and teachings of the gospel for every one of his children. Those who pass away before they are accountable, do not need baptism because they are saved by the atonement of Jesus Christ and go directly to heaven.

The purpose of baptism is to cleanse us of our sin and they that have no sin are saved through Jesus Christ. Everyone else will be taught the gospel and have a baptism so that they all get a chance to be saved in the kingdom of God. That’s the importance of that building.

She said, that’s why there was such a great feeling there. It was a very spiritual feeling and if that work is going on there, it would make sense that it would be a building surrounded by the spirit.

I said, you ought to feel inside of it! It’s incredible. She asked, how do you get to go inside? Don’t you have to be a member of your church? I said, yes! I said, the good thing is that it is an easy thing to accomplish! She laughed.

I said, we are all about families and we are all about the love of our father in heaven. We believe he loves everyone, no matter when they were born or where they lived on the earth. He’s got a plan for everyone. We believe that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of everyone and to bring them home. That is the promise of the gospel and it’s fulfilled in the temples.

I told her the gospel is about love and that God loves all his children. I told her that the way God shows us his love is through prophets and revelation. This is why we have the Bible. God revealed his word to the prophets in the Bible and they wrote them down. This is why we have the Old and New Testaments. These books are from men of God, writing about their revelations and their interactions with God.

I told her that God had other prophets in the world. He had prophets here in America because he loved those people too. I asked her if she thought God loved the people who had lived in America anciently and she said yes. I told her that they received revelation and waited for the arrival of Jesus Christ. I told her that they were baptized and taught the gospel.

I told her that after Jesus’s resurrection, he told the apostles and people in Jerusalem that he had other sheep that he was going to visit. Then he ascended to heaven.

I said that in America, he descended from heaven in glory. I told her that the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and begged for salvation. I told her that as a response to this, he called 12 and gave them authority and power to baptize. He gave them authority to teach the gospel. He commanded that they and all of the people be baptized even though they had previously been baptized. He commanded that they be baptized to a new level and a new covenant. I told her that the things we do on our temple are part of that new level and new covenant. She said, that makes sense.

I told her that these prophets wrote down their revelations on metal plates and they were translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. That is how we have the Book of Mormon. I said, it’s the word of God and another testament of Jesus Christ.

As I taught about the Book of Mormon and Jesus coming to America, the spirit was really strong in the car. I could tell that she was moved. Her eyes were fixated on mine through the mirror. It was almost like a trance and it was very intense. I could tell by the look on her face that she was feeling the spirit and I asked her what she felt. She said that she knew the things that I was saying were true and she had a hunger to gain more knowledge.

I told her that this was the spirit of God and that it was revealing to her the truthfulness of the things I was saying. It was also bringing to her mind the recollection of the spirit she felt on the grounds of the temple. I said, this is how he brings us home. We seek and follow that spirit.

She said I feel like everything you’re telling me is true. I said, it’s all about a father bringing his children home. He loves everyone and when Jesus was done in America, he said he still had other places to go. I told her that if you read Isaiah, he was going to Asia, Africa and other places.

I asked her how firm the belief of her family in Africa is regarding Jesus Christ. She said, they love Jesus. She said, many people in Africa are being killed because they will not deny Jesus. They love him so much. She said, we used to have these killings in my country, but not anymore. We love Jesus.

I told her that the Book of Mormon was for her. I told her that I believe Jesus went to Africa. He held their children and he blessed them and their posterity, which includes her and the other people in Africa. I told her that their spirits recognize this blessing and it burns in their souls. That is why they are willing to risk everything for that light.

I said, when you read in the Book of Mormon about Jesus coming to America, that’s exactly what he would have done with your ancestors in Africa. He would have loved them. He would have taught them and he would have given them baptism. He wanted to bring them home. I said, it’s clear to me that this blessing is still burning in the hearts and souls of the descendants of those people who received that blessing. I said, I believe that this book is important to you.

She had a tear in her eye and she said, that makes a lot of sense. Our culture feels a very close relationship with Jesus so this makes so much sense. We know we are children of God and that Jesus loves us.

I told her that once I had had a man in my car that was Buddhist. He said that they believe that they worship the Budda, who is the son of the great Budda. They say that the son of the great Buddha came down and dwelt amongst them. He taught them how to live. I asked, does that sound familiar? She laughed and said, yes, it does, wow yeah!

She said, I’ve heard stories like that all over the world, including Africa. They never made sense to me until today. God loves all of his children.

I asked, would you like me to give you a Book of Mormon? She said, my cousins are members of your church. Last year they gave me a Book of Mormon and it’s sitting on top of my bookcase. I’ve never touched it but I will now. I’m going to read that book.

I said, as you read that book, you should pray and feel for the spirit. I told her that it would feel similar to what she was feeling in the car today. By the presence of that spirit, she would know the truthfulness of the things she was reading. I said, God doesn’t expect us to bump around in the dark. He sends us his spirit to reveal his truth so that we can find the path. Reading the Book of Mormon is an important part of being on that path back to God.

She said, that’s where I want to go. I asked, do you remember when I said that Jesus gave them his baptism? She said yes. I said, do you remember that he gave them the authority to baptize? She said yes. I said, we have that same baptism today and he is extending the invitation to you. He put you in my car today to extend an invitation to you to receive this baptism, to read the Book of Mormon and come home to him.

She said, I got chills up my spine again when you said that. I believe that’s true. She said, there’s no such thing as coincidence and I’ve always been a person who loves seeking out truth. One thing I know is that today I heard a bunch of it.

We were pulling into her neighborhood and I felt like we needed to get her into a situation where she could follow through. I asked her if she was close with her cousins. She said, yes, they are close. They do family get togethers, but they had never talked much about religion. She said, they gave me the Book of Mormon last year and I know they were baptized a few years ago but we usually don’t talk too much about it.

I told her to text her cousins and tell them about our ride and tell them that she wanted to know about being baptized. She said, that’s a great idea! She sent the text right then. Unfortunately they didn’t respond while we were in the car. That would have been cool but I’m sure they will be excited.

I said, you know, I’ve had the feeling that you’re being weighed down by some things that you’ve done that you know weren’t right. I want you to know that when you repent and are baptized, those sins will be washed clean from you as if you had never committed them. This baptism will make you clean and pure. It will lift you to that next level of discipleship.

She had tears in her eyes and said, I don’t know how you knew but I was just thinking about that. I was wondering if I was worthy of this. What you just said came straight from God. I said, his spirit has been here and he wants you home. It all starts with your cousins and with you being baptized.

As we pulled up to her house, she said, no, it all started in this car. God touched my heart and your testimony burned in my soul. I know what I need to do.

She said thank you, got out of the car and walked into the house

One day I was driving and it was almost time for dinner. I try to get home between five and six so that we can have dinner and spend a minute. It’s always interesting to see how long I can stay awake once I get home!

I was thinking about just driving home but I decided to keep the app on and see if I could pick up a ride. I was in Springville and when I had the thought about leaving it on, I thought how silly that was because you never get rides going north from Springville at rush-hour. It’s just kind of the flow of traffic.

People are headed south from Provo. I started to talk myself out of keeping it on and thought that I should just turn it off and go home. I again had the impression that I should leave it received a confirmation that this is what I needed to do. I left it on and started driving.

I got a ride to pick up a guy at the mall in East Bay. I thought this is great! Then I looked and saw that he was headed to Orem and I thought, this is better. I was going to get paid to drive the distance I would have driven for free. I considered it like getting bonus for listening to the spirit.

I swooped into the mall to pick up this young man. I had to wait quite some time and was thinking after a while that I would be canceling the ride. We have to wait seven minutes in total before we can cancel and by this time I had waited six minutes.

Just as I was about to plan my escape, he jumped in the car. He was a big dude. He was probably 6’2” with long hair. He was probably 25 to 30 years old. He was a very nice kid.

Off we went to Orem. He seemed like kind of a quiet kid. He had earphones on his head but I felt impressed to strike up a conversation with him anyway. I know that a lot of times at the end of the day people just want to be left alone but the spirit was telling me to talk to the kid.

We started talking about crazy kids in the mall and lack of responsibility. That led us to a discussion on politics, which then led to a discussion on trusting people and being a good person.

As we talked about that, I said, that’s what I like about my church! It gives me an opportunity to serve others, watch out for others and look at a picture that’s bigger than myself. I said, I’m a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. The church gives me a great opportunity to become a well rounded person spiritually and physically in every aspect of my life.

He said, I’m not Mormon. He said, I don’t believe in the Mormon church. I said, well that’s OK. Your Heavenly Father loves you anyway and he’s probably just playing the long game with you. I laughed as I said this, but he didn’t laugh.

He was being very serious and did not give off nonmember vibes. The vibes he gave off were apostate or former member vibes. It was a little uncomfortable for a minute but only for a minute. We went back to talking about how important it is to be a good person.

I felt impressed to go back in and re-addressed the church. I asked him if he had friends that were members of the church and if he’d seen the kind of positive result in them that we were talking about. I said, being in the church should help your friends be better people.

He said, actually yes! There are a lot of things the church teaches that I really like, a lot of them. He said, I used to be a member, and I used to believe but not anymore.

He said that there are a lot of people in his age group will leave the church as they examine the lives of people who are in their families and members of the church or who were leaders in the church. He said that they discount everything they have done if they have flaws in their lives. He said, I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think it’s fair to judge a man and all of his work by his worst moment. That’s what people in my generation seem to do.

He said, because of this, they reject everything they have been taught and turn away from traditions that would make them better citizens and better people in our society.

He said, I don’t believe in the church but I don’t have hard feelings. I love the things that it teaches.

The spirit prompted me that even though he said this, his problem had something to do with leadership or leadership decisions. I felt prompted to tell him the story about Nephi‘s bow.

When I was first called to serve in the MTC I was reading the story about Nephi‘s bow and the spirit taught me a different approach to this story. I felt prompted that share that story in this way over and over again as I served in the MTC and many times since.

The essence of the way I teach that story is that when Nephi broke the bow, he had to humble himself before God and then go back to his father who had murmured and sinned in his murmuring. He had to ask his father to go to God and find out where they should go to get food.

The point of looking at it this way is that we, in our lives, focus on our skills and our abilities and our talents to accomplish a task. What we really need is it to rely on the power of God and his ability, his knowledge and his strength so that we can overcome all things.

As I taught this to him, I felt very prompted to mention that, even though Lehi had murmured, he was still a prophet and that God worked through him because he was the prophet.

I told him that if God had to wait around for perfect mistake free people, nothing would ever get done. We all make mistakes, we all sin and we all need repentance and power from God. We need this so that we can accomplish the things that we need to do and the things that God has sent us to do. I said, without him there is no way.

I said, when people rip on leaders of the church, they don’t understand or they lose sight of the fact that God works through imperfect people to carry out his will. Not just in the scriptures but right now in our world today.

He said, I’ve had some problems with the church and I just don’t talk about them. I said, there’s something that someone did that has been hard for you to understand. Maybe here in the car today we can deal with it. I’m a stranger and it’s like talking to the wall. I told him that my wife tells me that every now and then! He laughed.

He said, I don’t believe that God would take money from poor people, hide it away and cheat on their taxes. I don’t believe God would do that and that’s why I left the church. I will not pay tithing.

As he said that, it came down like a sledgehammer. There was a lot of weight in his soul behind it and I doubt he’d ever told anybody like he told me. I felt the assurance of the spirit say to me that his lack of trust here was the reason that I was prompted to tell the story about Nephi’s bow

I said, so you kind of are making it about the leaders. He said, I guess I am. I asked him if I could pose some questions to him and he said yes.

I asked him how much money there was that the church had. He gave me the number that was reported in the news.

I asked him if he thought that the prophet and the Quorum of the 12 made the tax decisions on how to claim that money? He talked for a minute and said, I suppose not. They probably have tax attorneys to do that.

I said, so do you think that when they reported it or didn’t report it, they were following the advice of these attorneys that they had hired? He said, I suppose so. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I said, that’s what I believe. The church didn’t argue and they paid the fine that the government gave them immediately. He said, that’s true.

I asked him if the church wanted people to have food storage and he said yes. I asked him how much food and money people were supposed to save. He said, I believe it’s two years. That’s the goal I think. I said, that’s exactly right . The goal is two years.

I asked him how big the church was and he said it was huge, all over the world. I asked him how many church buildings there are including church houses and temples around the world. He said, there’s a bunch, like thousands, but I wouldn’t know what to tell you as far as an exact number. I said, let’s just assume that there are a lot. He said, OK.

I asked, how much money would it cost the church to maintain all of those buildings, pay all of their employees and continue to grow the church for two years? He thought for a second and said a lot of money.

I said, should a church that encourages their members to have two years of resources stored do the same thing as an organization that they’ve asked their members to do? He said, wow, yes, I guess they should.

I said, look, I don’t know what they are using the money for, but that explanation makes sense to me. I said, it’s just like we talked about, people find one thing and they like to tear the church down over that one thing. They never give full context or the benefit of the doubt. They’re never forgiving or understanding. It’s an iron hand when it comes to judgment. I said, don’t you think we owe them the same kind of understanding and fair judgment that we would like to have in return? He said yes

I said, you’ve let this burn inside of you for so long that it has shut you off from the spirit. I said, Satan‘s in your ear, whispering these things to you. Telling you that the church is not true, that the leaders are flawed and that you don’t belong. I said, Satan is a liar and you need to realize that when you hear that in your head, he’s lying to you.

I told him that as far as I was concerned, I didn’t care if they took the money out back and burned it. I was commanded by God to pay it and he blesses me for doing it. I told him that first and foremost the law of tithing was there to bless me.

I said, Heavenly Father put you in my car today because he loves you. He loves you so much and it’s time for you to quit listening to Satan and come back. I said, everything we do has to do with the love we feel from our father in heaven. When we feel his love we know when we are in his presence.

As I said this, I could feel the spirit in the car and I could see him closing his eyes to fight back tears, I could feel a struggle inside of him. I knew that Satan didn’t want to let him go. I asked him if he could feel that. He said yes, he could feel it. I asked him what he felt like and he said it felt like he was off balance and floating.

I told him that this is the spirit of God and the power of God was stronger than the whisperings of Satan that he was hearing. I told him to grab on to God and quit fighting. I told him that he needed to get to church.

I told him that taking the sacrament is very important. I said, taking the sacrament fills our tank. It makes it so that we have power to fight off Satan. It gives us both physical and spiritual power to tell good from evil and it gives us the courage and the strength to follow God.

By this time we were in front of his house, but he didn’t want to go and neither did I. I asked him if he had ever considered that God would send someone for him. He said, I was really starting to wonder if God even existed. I asked, and now? He said, this feeling tells me otherwise. He said, if this is the spirit of God, I wish someone had told me that this is what it feels like before. I never knew this, but this is something I can work with.

I had the impression that he felt weak and kind of empty inside. I identified this to him. I said, you feel like you’re weak and you have no direction in your life. This is your answer. This is what God would have you do.

I told him that when you’re weak like this, you’re susceptible to Satan’s whispers. You’re more easily guided off the path God would have you walk. I said, going to church, taking the sacrament, reading the scriptures and praying is how we stay on that path. If we do these things, we won’t feel weak and we won’t be led to chase after the designs of evil people. He said, that kind of freaked me out that you said that because right then I was thinking that very thing.

I took this opportunity to bear my testimony and told him that I knew that God loved him and that if he would look to God and the atonement, he could feel full of the spirit all of the time just like he was right now.

He said, that’s what I want. I asked him if he got along with his parents and he said yes. He said, they’ll be very interested and happy to hear about this conversation. I asked if he would go to church with them and he said yes.

He had to go, but he shook my hand and said, I think I need to do what you said. I need to go to church and I could use the power you described from the sacrament. I’m going to do that.

 One Monday, I was picking up a young lady in Orem for a quick 10 to 15 minute ride. I picked her up at UVU and was taking her home. It was late at night and I could tell that she was tired.

I said, why don’t you drive to school? She said that she would but there’s no place to park. I said, that’s not true. There is a place to park. She said, where do you think I should park? I said, in the Institute parking lot. She said, institute?  Why would they let me park there?

I said, well because they let everyone that takes an institute class park there. She said, I’m not a member of your church. I can’t take Institute.

I told her that Institute is open for any one to take and then she would be able to park in the Institute parking lot, which is right in the middle of campus and the most convenient parking.  It is even more convenient than faculty parking. She said, wow thank you for the hack. She said, I could take a class once a week for a parking spot. We laughed and I said there’s always a way around it.

The spirit told me to be bold so I said, you know as long as you’re doing that, you may as well just become a member of the church. Have you ever thought about that? She said, funny you should ask. I’ve been thinking about it. My parents are against it but my cousin who is a member wants me to join. I’ve been talking to her and the preacher at her church.

I said, that’s great. In the end, it’s your decision. She said, I know, and it hasn’t been easy. I asked her to tell me about the revelation she had received from God regarding the truthfulness of the church. She gave me a very blank stare, as if she didn’t even understand the words I said. Then she asked, what do you mean?

I said, the only way we can ever have the strength to do a tough thing and make a tough decision is if we know it’s right. God understands this and that’s why he invites us to read the Book of Mormon, ponder it in our hearts and pray. I said, when we ponder it in our hearts we make a decision of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  Then we ask God to confirm the truthfulness of it to us.  The way he tells us yes is by sending his spirit to confirm it to us.  It lets us know that the decision we’ve made is right.  It lets us know that the decision we are making is what God would have us do.it is our revelation. 

At that point, it’s not a frivolous teenage decision. It’s a thought out decision, guided and approved by God. When you approach it like that, it will give you the basis and conviction to speak to your parents and to move forward.

As I said this, the spirit was very strong in the car and I identified it to her. I asked her what she was feeling and she said she felt a heavy peacefulness. I told her that it was the spirit of God and that he was confirming the truthfulness of the words I had spoken. 

I told her that she had lived with her father in heaven for thousands of years before she was born. I said that she loved him and loved being with him.  I told her that her spirit wanted to be with him and please him.  I said when she came to earth she wasn’t with him and that she had spent her life looking for that feeling of the spirit.   I said, this is what you have felt here in the car.  It is that same feeling and relationship you developed in the preexistence.  It is God’s way of bringing you in. Bringing you back home.  He wants to fill your soul with that feeling and your spirit wants that too.  This is why if feels so good and so right. 

I testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that we have a prophet today. I testified to her that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the words written by ancient prophets and it testifies of Jesus Christ. As I bore my testimony, the spirit burned brighter. I said, did you feel that?  It got even more intense. She said yes.

I said, this is how you know what is true. Heavenly Father guides us by sending his spirit to show us the way and help us make decisions. This is how he lets you know truth, this is how you feel in his presence and he sends his spirit when truth is spoken.  His spirit confirms truth.  She said, I feel that and feel like what you are saying is true.   

I said, it isn’t an accident that you are here in my car today.  There is no such thing as coincidence. God wanted you to feel his spirit and he wanted to help you know which way to go.  Follow this feeling. 

She agreed and said that she knew that her Heavenly Father was watching out for her.  She said that this didn’t surprise her at all. She said that she had always wanted please her father in heaven.  She said, I have always loved God. 

I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon. She said, no. I’ve been wanting to get one. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. I said, this is your Book of Mormon. Do you promise me that you’ll read it? She said yes.  I said, do you promise me that you’ll feel for the spirit while you read it.  She said yes. I said, do you promise me that you will pray to have God confirm it to you. She said yes, I will. I said, then you’ll know and you’ll have the strength to speak to your parents and make the change that you want to make.

She said, this makes me so happy. She took a picture of the Book of Mormon and sent it to her cousin. She said, now I know I can do this. This is what I want to do. I said, you have felt the spirit. What you have felt is God confirming to you that these things are true. You know this now, even before you pray but that assurance will even grow stronger as you read and study and pray.  The key is the Book of Mormon.  God will confirm it to you She said, that’s what I’m going to do.

She got a text back from her cousin. Her cousin asked, where did you get the Book of Mormon? She replied that she would call her later and tell her the story.

I told her that when she called her cousin what she should do is tell her about what she felt along with what had happened. She said, all along this journey, I’ve kind of felt like it’s what I’m supposed to do. Tonight I know.  I guess you could say that I’ve received a revelation. She thanked me and said, I’m going to be baptized and it will be soon. She got out of the car and walked into her home.

One day I had a scheduled ride to pick up a person in Payson and take them to the airport. When I got to the person’s home, they were outside ready to go. They were waiting for me and it was 20 minutes before the ride was supposed to start. I love that because leaving early is always good. It allows you to make more money on the ride because it takes less time out of your schedule.

As I saw them I noted that the lady was dressed a bit provocatively. I thought about how inappropriate that was and just as I thought that the spirit said “slow your roll” and get engaged. I thought ok no judgement here. Then I realized by the spirit that God had a plan for the ride.

She got in and we started driving. She had a daughter that was handicapped. She was a very low functioning autistic child and she apologized to me right off the top. She said, I don’t know how the ride is going to be, my daughter always makes a lot of noise.

I said, that’s OK! In fact, I think it’s awesome! I’ve got a nephew named Reed who is autistic and I have a lot of fun with him. If you look close enough, you can see the love of God around them. I said, it’s a lot of work for you but you know you’re doing God‘s work! She said, yes, I know.

As we started to drive north towards the airport to Salt Lake she began to tell me about this trip. She was going on a trip with her mother and her aunt and they were going to take care of her daughter and allow her to relax. She said, I haven’t relaxed in a long time and I can’t wait for this.

She said that her boyfriend was staying at home and he would get a break too. She said that it was a break for everyone and a much needed rest. I asked her if her boyfriend was the father of her daughter and she said yes. I asked her if she’d been with him since the child was born and she said, yes, he’s a wonderful dad.

I kind of left it there because I hadn’t had much of an impression on how to proceed and chastising someone about their relationship is implicitly and specifically forbidden in the rules! This was within days of the Charlie Kirk assassination and she started talking about how crazy that was.

I said, did you follow Charlie Kirk? She said, well, my boyfriend did and he was very sad about the assassination. She said, he watched all of his programs and all of his clips on the Internet. That was the opening I needed so I jumped into it.

I said, he taught a lot about how important it was for young men to get married. He taught them to live in a Godly way, follow Jesus Christ, get married and have families. I said, did this ever push him to want to get married to you?

She said, just to be clear. I would love that and I’m ready at any time. He’s never wanted to talk about it but the day after Charlie was assassinated he was listening to one of Charlie’s lectures where he was talking about that and when I looked at my boyfriend, he had tears in his eyes. I could tell it was something he wanted to do or was considering.

I said, in the past has he given you the whole, it’s just a piece of paper spiel? She said, that’s exactly what he said. I told her that this is not true. I told her that a marriage is a commitment and especially for a man that commitment means something. I said, lack of willingness to make that commitment also means something.

I asked her if she thought he was getting close and she said yes. I said, this might be the time to tell him how much it would mean to you in reference to his reaction to Charlie Kirk. She said, I like that idea. When I get back from vacation, I think I’ll do just that.

She said, we’ve always wondered why it mattered and what you just said makes sense. I said, well what I’m going to say now also makes sense. The main reason we want to be married and need to be married is because God expects us to be married. He is the one that gave us the commandment to be married and he is the creator of the institution of marriage. When you get married, you can more fully bring God and his power into your lives and we all need that.

She said, I can see that. We haven’t talked about God very much. It started when I was a little girl. My parents were members of different religions and they couldn’t decide which one they would settle on, so they decided not to give us a religion and let us choose when we were old enough to choose.

I said, so basically you had no religious upbringing. She said, yes, that’s right! I said, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. She said, so is my mom. I asked, how familiar are you with the church? She said that she knew a few things but that she never attended.

About this point in time I could see that there was a back up on the freeway and my GPS went from telling me that instead of arriving in 45 minutes, I would be arriving in 3 1/2 hours. Anybody that’s ever gone to the airport knows that you don’t want to be 3 1/2 hours late and panic ensued. I said a prayer asking for two things. One, that I would be guided to find a way through the traffic and two, that her flight would be delayed or something.

The obstacle seemed insurmountable. All lanes of I-15 were blocked at the Lindon overpass and it was rush-hour. There was no way I was going to get her there on time. I quit thinking and started trying to receive guidance. I saw myself weaving through the roads of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and American Fork then jumping on the freeway from the Timpanogos Highway. So I went about doing this route which ended up shaving about an hour and a half off the time. The Lord had stepped up, but we still needed help.

While I was weaving, it occurred to me that I had more time to talk about the gospel. I asked the young lady what religion she considered herself to be and she said Christian, but non-denominational. She believed in Jesus, but that’s about it.

When I heard that and knowing her situation, it became clear to me by the spirit that I was supposed to talk about the atonement. I talked about how much our father in heaven loves us and how Jesus can help carry our burdens through the atonement. I said, it’s not unlike what your mother and your aunt are going to do to help you with your daughter. She’ll still be your responsibility, but the weight of that responsibility will be lifted for a time. That’s how the atonement works. I said, anything that has happened in our lives that is unjust, negative or evil can be repaired and healed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, our father in heaven knows what our trials are and he has given us the atonement so that we can be happy even in our trials.

She was a little choked up and one thing I noticed is that as we started talking about the atonement and I started saying the words the Lord put in my heart, the daughter who had been quite vociferous became quiet, even reverent.

In the stress of the traffic jam and the worry about not making the flight, something that would normally agitate a child, she was calm. Her mother even commented on how. shocked she was. She said, this is crazy.

Needless to say, the spirit was in the car. When you talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ the spirit comes in the car. It is the greatest manifestation of God‘s love for his children, in my opinion. This along with the first vision and testimony of the Book of Mormon, teaching of the atonement of Jesus Christ always brings the spirit and this day was no exception.

I talked about how in our lives sometimes we feel like we get the short end of the stick, whether it’s that we’ve not been treated well by someone or that we’ve had a challenge that makes our life difficult. I said, that’s when God can bless us through the atonement of his son Jesus Christ.

I asked her how familiar she was with the Book of Mormon and she said she knew about it because her mom had one but she didn’t know anything. She said, my mom goes to church every single Sunday and she reads the Book of Mormon.

I told her that in the Book of Mormon, there was a time when the people were held captive as slaves and they were forbidden to pray or they would be killed. I said they were given very heavy burdens and punishments. Everything seemed to be insurmountable in their situation but they prayed in their hearts to their father in heaven. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ their burdens were lifted to the point where they could barely feel them and they were able to be happy.

I told her that this is the way that the atonement of Jesus Christ helps us in finding God‘s justice in an unjust world. It helps us be happy when we should be sad and it gives us strength when we need it because we know that God has us.

I said, you always had the question about how God lets bad things happen to good people, haven’t you? She said, yes. How did you know? I said, I just felt like I needed to say that and tell you this. When bad things happen satan would have us blame God and turn our backs but God points to Jesus and his atonement and says look at Christ and live. I said, we look to Jesus Christ and his atonement so that we can live and be happy.

I said, the other part of that bargain is that through our membership in the church we take on obligations to serve and lift and bless those around us. By doing this, we become God‘s hands to lift those who are down. This is God‘s plan. He will never take agency away from a person. That would destroy his plan. He allows us to make mistakes but then he’s given us the atonement and the church so that we can have our burdens lifted and our wounds bound and healed..

I asked her if she could feel the spirit right then. She said, yes, I got chills when you were talking about that. I said, that’s the spirit of God and he sends that spirit to testify to you of truth. Now you know that the things I have said are true. She said yes.

By the time we got done talking about this, we were back on the freeway. We received a call that her flight had been delayed by 40 minutes. That combined with the route we had taken and the fact that she had left an hour and a half early for the airport to begin with put us on a glidepath to get her to the airport 45 minutes before her flight would leave. She was excited because she was flying Delta, which is at the front of the airport and easier to get to. It is more easily accessible and she had arranged to have people meet her because of her special needs child. We knew she would be OK.

I told her that Delta stands for (Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport) so I knew there would be a good chance that she would make it. She laughed and said, funny, not funny.

I told her what my prayer had been earlier on in the ride, when I asked Heavenly Father to help us get there. I told her I believe in prayer. Prayer works. She said she hadn’t prayed a lot so I testified of its power. I told her that when she feels overwhelmed that’s how she can access the atonement of Jesus Christ.

She said, my mom used to have me pray when I was little. I think I could start doing that again. I could use that help.

I asked her if she had ever thought about being baptized. She said when she was little her friends got baptized so she had but not recently. I told her that when you are baptized your sins can be forgiven and you can be pure and clean before God. I told her that after you’re baptized you get the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said that with the gift of the Holy Ghost, God can walk with you.

I told her that the Holy Ghost lifts you and blesses you. It comforts you and it reveals God’s will to you. I told her that the spirit that we had felt in the car was the Holy Ghost. I asked her how it would be to have that spirit with her always along with the ability to access it when she needed it. She said, I’ve never thought about that but that would be really neat. I said, that’s one of the reasons we get baptized.

Heavenly Father expects us to be clean and he wants to walk with us through our trials in life. He doesn’t expect us to sit out here and just deal all by ourselves, but that’s what you’ve been doing so far. How would it be to have some help?

She had a tear in her eye and she said that would feel great. I said, when I go to church on Sunday, I take the sacrament and I’m filled with the spirit and the love of God and I don’t know how I would go week to week without that tuneup. I don’t know how I could run without my tank being full of the spirit.

I said, when we take the sacrament, it’s all about the atonement. It’s a way that we connect right into the source of the power. By this point, the spirit was testifying very strongly. I told her one of my favorite stories that I’ve shared in my blog before about Elder Maxwell when he had cancer and he was in the hospital in such pain and torment. He said that he looked around at the children who he knew were having the same procedures and these little children were happy. He testified that he knew that it was because children are covered by the atonement and are close to our father in heaven naturally. They had their burdens lifted and their pains soothe by the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I told her that when Jesus was on earth, he always took the children in his arms, loved them and blessed them. I told her this has never changed. I told her that Jesus loves the little children and that our Heavenly Father loves each of us. She said, that really hits home right now.

I told her if it could work for them, it could work for us. She said you know, with my daughter I’ve seen these things many times. I just never had this context but it fits so perfectly.

I said, you know you were supposed to be in my car today, right? She said, I felt that as soon as I got in.. She said, I’m kind of a private person and I don’t open up. Yet, I did right away with you. I said, you were put in my car to get this message. God wants you back. Jesus is inviting you to be baptized and get the gift of the Holy Ghost so that you can receive the blessings God wants to send you. He wants you to be able to fully access the atonement. God sees you as his child and he loves you. I said, you know what that’s like because you love your daughter like that. She looked at her daughter who was still very reverent and quiet and said, yes I do.

We were almost up to the airport by this time and I asked her what she was going to do with this. I said, God doesn’t just give you light and knowledge like this without expecting something from you. I asked, what does God expect from you?

She said, I think I need to do the things that we’ve talked about. She said, I need to get married and I need to help my boyfriend feel good with that. She said, I need to be baptized so I can have the Holy Ghost. Those are the things I want to do.

I said, how will you do that? Where do you start? She said, well, I’m going to see my mom! My guess is that she will be overjoyed and have lots of ideas about how to move forward. Like I said, she goes to church every week.

I said, one thing you need to remember is that this is all about family and being together as a family. Your mom loves you like you love your daughter and sees you in that light. Your Heavenly Father loves all three of you and sees you that way, along with your boyfriend. How great would it be to get married, baptized and be sealed in the temple by the power of God as a family? I see that for you if you will do those things.

She said, I will. This has been a crazy ride and not at all what I expected. I guess sometimes God knows what we need. I’m glad he put me in your car today.

We pulled up to the airport. The good thing is that because her daughter was special needs. I could pull up to the third floor where the normal check-in is. Normally, I can’t because rideshares have to go to the first floor. The third floor is so much more convenient if you’re checking luggage.

While she was getting her child out of the car, I went and grabbed a person there to help her with the luggage so that she could get in, get it checked and get to her flight.

She thanked me and she said she would never forget how she felt in the car. I told her to be sure and tell her mom what she felt in the car and what she learned by the spirit. She said she would. She laughed and said, best 3 hour ride to the airport ever! She turned and ran off to catch her flight.

One day I was in Salt Lake. I got some rides that had taken me to Salt Lake and usually what I like to do is bump around Salt Lake for a while until I can hit a certain amount of money. At that time I set my directional down to Utah County so that maybe I could catch someone going home after work and have it pay for my gas to go home. This was one such day. I got a ride to downtown Salt Lake City from the airport and then I was setting my directional parameter when I got a ride that went to West Valley City. I thought that this was an amazing ride because it started me south and a lot of times you pick up good rides from the west side going south.

It wasn’t too much money but I was thinking that i didn’t have to make as much, I just had to cover my gas. I drove over and picked the guy up on Main Street between 300 and 400 South. He got in the car and I started the ride.

When I started the ride, I saw that it was going to Park City instead of West Valley City and I was disheartened. It was 3 o’clock and that meant I wouldn’t be home untill seven with traffic. This trip, as previously mentioned, didn’t have very much money in it.

I thought about just canceling the trip and asking him to get out of the car. I’ve never done that for anything other than bad behavior but I was really considering it. I didn’t want to go to Park City at all. The thing with Park City is that going up and over the mountain both ways really costs you more in gas than you make sometimes. This time of year there are no rides back from there.

As I was about to do that, there was a peace that came over me and I had an assurance that I should take this ride. I looked at the guy in the rearview mirror and wondered to myself if maybe I just wasn’t off my game today. I felt the impression again so I decided to just go.

We started driving down the road. I asked him where he was from and he said he was from Los Angeles. I asked him what he was doing and he said he’s looking for work. All of a sudden Park City made sense. This guy seemed like a hard worker. Maybe he’s was a construction worker, or some form of a laborer.

I asked him if that’s the kind of job he was looking for and he said yes. I asked him why he was down in Salt Lake and he said that he had come down to see the town because he had never been there. He said he’d been all over downtown while he was here.

I asked him if he saw the temple. I said, they’re doing a lot of construction there! He said that he did notice it and that it was really cool. I asked him if he went in Temple Square and if he saw the tabernacle. He said that he did and was amazed by the tabernacle. He said that he was going to try to go back on Sunday and listen to the choir. He said that he likes choirs and that he would like to watch the choir sing there.

He told me that the young women there indicated that there was a performance on Sunday morning and that he could come. I confirmed to him that this was the case. I told him that a good friend of mine is one of those that plays the organ for the tabernacle choir. I told him Richard Elliott and I have been friends for years and that he is a fantastic organist and an amazing man. My rider was getting pretty excited.

I said, I take it you’re not a member of our church. He said, well, not yet. If you’ve read my blog for very long, you know that’s my joke. That’s my line. I say you haven’t been baptized “yet“. When he said that I knew that we were on. I knew that a 40 minute ride to Park City was exactly what we needed and that there was a lot of testifying to do. I could feel that he had a genuine interest and almost an excitement to know what it was we believed. That’s an amazing way to start.

I asked him if he knew what we believed and he said no. I asked him how important family was to him and he said really important given the fact that he was Latin by heritage. He said he didn’t have a family. He said he didn’t have kids and he didn’t have a wife. He said he didn’t have an ex-wife either and he laughed. The thing was that he was probably 40 years old and that surprise me a little bit. He said that family was extremely important. I told him, that’s exactly right. We believe that in our church. We are one big family of God.

I told him that we all lived with God before we came to earth. I told him that we lived with him for thousands of years and we are part of his family and he is our father. I told him our spirits recognize his spirit and that when we feel his spirit, what we’re doing is remembering what it was like to be in his presence. I told him that our spirits really love being in the presence of God.

I said that because our spirits love that so much we seek God. We seek to do good things so that we can feel it. We seek truth that is manifest and confirmed by that same spirit. I said, that’s how you know when you’re hearing truth, you feel his spirit because he will not mislead you. He will not send you his spirit in the presence of lies or evil.

I asked, what do you feel right now? He said, I feel like I’m hungry to learn. This excites me to learn more about what you guys believe. I said, that’s the spirit of God and it’s confirming the truthfulness to you of the things I’m teaching and your spirit wants more. Your spirit wants more contact with the spirit of your father in heaven.

I told him that God loves all of his children, no matter where they live and no matter when they were born. I said, we are all God‘s children. I asked him if he believed that and he said yes. I asked him how God shows his love to all of his children. He thought for a minute and said, he gave us the gospel. I said, that’s right!

I told him that God revealed his gospel to his prophets, and they taught us the will of God. I told him that Jesus Christ came and taught us. He gave us commandments just like previous prophets had given us commandments. They were all written down and that’s why we have the Bible.

I told him the Bible is the word of God. They are the words of God to his prophets and they show us the way that we can be happy today. He agreed.

I asked him if God only loved the people in Jerusalem and he said, no he loves everyone. I asked him if God had prophets in places other than Israel and he said he didn’t think so. I asked him if a loving God who loved all of his children and had children all over the world would only give a small portion of his children in one little area his words so only they could be happy. I asked him, what about the rest?

He said, I’ve never thought of it like that. I told him back in the day they didn’t have televisions, satellite or the Internet. The only way to get word from one place to another was for someone to go there. I asked him, what about the people in the rest of the world? He said, that’s a good question. I asked, God have made a way for them to be happy, don’t you think?

He said, yes that makes a lot of sense but I don’t know how he would have done that. It doesn’t say anything like that in the Bible. I said, well, it does! After Jesus had been resurrected before he ascended into heaven, he said, “other sheep I have that are not of this fold” and that he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I asked him, do you think that could have been the rest of the people? Do you think that could’ve been the rest of God‘s children?

He said, I never read that verse like that. I like that! I said, doesn’t it feel right given the fact that you believe that God loves all of his children and not just the ones in Jerusalem. He said, yes.

I said, what about your ancestors here in America? Did God love them? He said, yes! I asked him how would God have blessed them. He was quiet for a minute then I said, we believe that God had prophets here in America and they received revelations and teaching from God just like the prophets in the Bible. I said, they wrote them down. We believe that when Jesus said other sheep he had, he was talking about the people in America and we believe that he came to America to bring them the gospel. He did this so they could be counted among his sheep. He said, oh OK.

I said, Jesus descended from heaven in glory and stood in front of the people here in America, your ancestors, they touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. They knew this was their God because it had been prophesied to them that he would visit. They had their God standing in front of them and they begged for salvation.

I said, as a direct response to that plea, he called up 12, gave them authority to baptize and commanded that everyone be baptized. He taught them how to baptize and he taught them the gospel so that they could teach the people the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I pointed out to him that all the people in America had previously had baptism and even been baptized, especially those who met Christ. I said, he commanded everyone to be baptized even the people who had previously been baptized because the baptism he brought to them was a new baptism to a new level of discipleship and a new covenant. He wanted them to have the fullness of the gospel. He wanted them to have this new level of discipleship because he loves everyone in the world not just the people in Jerusalem.

I said, the cool thing is that he wanted to teach them and bring them to this new level. He wanted each of them to be baptized with his baptism so he extended that invitation to them. I said, today he is extending that invitation to you. This is the baptism we have in our church. We have that same authority and we do the same baptism that he taught your ancestors. I said, this account is found in the Book of Mormon. It is the religious heritage of your people.

He said, wow, I didn’t expect that. I was kind of drawn down here today and I didn’t know why but I think this may have been the reason. I think God put people in my way to get me here today. He said, this morning before I left I prayed and asked God to give me people who could help me understand his will. Then I go over to Temple Square and feel the spirit like you described. Then we have this discussion. I know this is an answer to my prayer. God sent you here today, he put you on my way so I could learn this.

I said, and now that you have this new knowledge, he’s inviting you to learn more and prepare for the same baptism that he gave your ancestors. He said, I feel the spirit. I feel the spirit in the things that you are saying. I feel like this whole day has been an answer to my prayer.

I told him that the prophets in America wrote down their revelations just like they did in the Bible and they wrote the account of Jesus coming to America on metal plates of gold. I told him that those writings are what we call the Book of Mormon. He said, I’ve heard of the Book of Mormon. I said, that book has the teachings of God to the ancient people there in America. including the visit of Jesus Christ to America, where he blessed them and healed them. He held their children and wept. He said, I can feel that. I want to learn more. He asked, do you have a Book of Mormon. How would I go about getting one?

I reached into my glove box and grabbed one. It’s one of the books prepared by the Secrists and I gave it to him. I said, this is your copy of the Book of Mormon. It contains all of the revelations and prophecies that we’ve talked about. It’s a testament that Jesus Christ loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem and especially your ancestors.

He grabbed it and said, I’m going to read this book. I just feel strongly that this is what I’ve needed in my life.

I told him that the plates that the Book of Mormon were written on were given to the prophet Joseph Smith. He translated them so that we could have them today. I told them that Joseph Smith was looking for the truth. He read in the Bible that he should pray and ask God. I told him that he went to the forest, he knelt and he prayed. He asked God which church he should join. He said that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They said that the true church with all of his teachings, was not on the Earth at that time. They called Joseph Smith to be the prophet to restore the church on the Earth.

Later he was given these plates and he translated them by the power of God. I said, God has prophets. God works through prophets . He always has worked through prophets and he always will work through prophets . I said other religions don’t have prophets but the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints has prophets who speak with God for us today.

I said the Bible has good teachings but we see different things today. The world is very different today and God has a prophet on the Earth to lead and guide us. We also got 12 apostles who direct the church and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ just like in his church when he was on the earth. He said, I like that.

I bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The spirit was palpable in the car. I asked, do you feel that? He said, yes. I asked him, what does that mean? He said, it means that it’s true, it means the things that you said are true. It also means that this is an answer to the prayer I offered this morning.

He asked me if he could go to church and learn more and where should he go. We got on the church tools app and found the church in Park City, the meeting time and sent in the reference right there while he was in the car. Later after he was out of the car, I called the missionaries and spoke with them. They got in touch with him and it had been less than one hour since we had talked. They were excited!

I told my rider what the missionaries would be doing when they come over. I said that they would be preparing him to receive that same baptism that Jesus had invited his ancestors to receive. I told him that it was his turn to take that step up to the next level. He said, I’m ready to do that, I want to do that.

I drove him over to show him where the church house is in Park city that he will be attending. It’s not very far from where he’s living and he was excited to see it. He said that he couldn’t wait to hear from the missionaries. He said, today has been like a miracle to me because I know that God cares for me

One last time I felt prompted to testify to him and identify the spirit. It was strong. It was emotional and he was feeling it. I said, because of the spirit that you’re feeling right now you know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. You know we have a prophet on the Earth today. You know that the Book of Mormon is a word of God and that the baptism the missionaries are going to teach you about is the same baptism that Jesus himself taught to your ancestors. I said, you know that you are invited by Jesus to take that step up. He said, yes I do. I can’t wait to get started.

He shook my hand three times then got out of the car and went into his house.

I want to point out something that I pointed out here before. That is that the passengers usually never want to have contact. They never want to shake hands and they never want to touch you. When I have these missionary experiences in the car with people, they always want to touch my shoulders, my head or shake my hands. They want that contact and I believe that they are not wanting to have contact with me necessarily. They want contact with the spirit that they are feeling that comes from their father in heaven.

I’m glad that Heavenly Father lets me take that spirit with me and share it with the people he puts in my car.

 It was a Saturday and I was taking my time at home. I do that a lot on Saturdays. I usually have over 60 hours already logged for the week by Saturday so I like to rest up a little bit for Saturday night.

It gets me the chance to watch some football and just hang out. I was sitting there watching football and got this overwhelming urge to get showered and to go out and work. I felt compelled! How dare the spirit interrupt my football ha ha!

I really felt pressure to get off the couch, get out and get the app turned on. I thought I would drive around Utah County a bit and pick up a couple of rides close so I could come back and watch more football.

As soon as I got out to my car I turned on my app and immediately got a ride to Salt Lake City. This is not what I wanted. It’s not what I had in my mind but it’s the first thing that came up.

I went to reject the ride and as I was doing it the feeling of urgency to get to work came back. I understood this to be a message from the spirit that I was supposed to take this ride.  I decided to go.

The ride had me picking a man up at Utah Valley University. I wondered who would be at Utah Valley University on Saturday but I decided to go find out.

I followed the route to where I was supposed to be picking him up and it was right next to the Charlie Kirk memorial near the front of the campus. It had been less than two weeks since he had been assassinated and there were a lot of people who were leaving flowers and planting flags in the grass.

As I pulled in, I called him because I didn’t know who he was or what he looked like. I only knew his name and where he was going. He answered the phone and said he would be right there.

I assumed it would be a younger person. It surprised me when a middle-aged man probably in his late 30’s or 40’s came over the little hill towards my car. He looked rough.

He had tattoos on his arms and when I saw him, I thought that this guy looks like one of the lost boys. For a minute, I thought about the fact that we had a long trip and he looked rough but then I realized that Heavenly Father had told me to take this ride, so there had to be a purpose.

He got in the car and we started to talk. He was there to see the Charlie Kirk memorial. He had been in California for work and had decided to stop in Salt Lake on the way home to Ohio so that he could see the place where Charlie Kirk was killed and visit the memorial.

We talked about Charlie Kirk and how he bore testimony of Jesus Christ right up until the end. We talked about how he stood for what was right and for the things he believed in. I said, how cool would it be to go out knowing that you left it all on the table? Knowing that you didn’t hold anything back.

He said, that’s an awesome thought! We talked about how his legacy was going to continue to grow and lots of people who are disaffected in life would try to find Christ because of Charlie. This has truly been a phenomenon where Christian churches all over the world have seen a 15% increase in attendance since the passing of Charlie Kirk. We discussed all of this.

As we talked, the lost boy thing came to my mind again. I got the impression that he was lost and that he had decided to start turning to Christ because of Charlie Kirk and this is why he was so motivated to come here. I also felt that right now he was ready to take the next step and receive the fullness of the gospel, baptism and the Holy Ghost.

I received the distinct impression that baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost were something this man needed. He needed the companionship of the Holy Ghost to walk with him after he received the fullness of the gospel.

I asked him if this was his first time in Utah and he said yes.  I asked him if he knew any members of our church and he said no. He said, I don’t think there are any Mormons in Ohio.

I laughed and said “there used to be”.  I told him that at one point Ohio had been the center of our church and they were driven out by haters. He was surprised and said, well, I guess religious violence isn’t a new thing.

He said, so you’re Mormon? I said, absolutely! I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, which is a real name of our church. I told him that the church was founded by the prophet Joseph Smith.

I told him the Joseph Smith story. I talked about how Joseph had been looking for the true church of Jesus Christ and that everybody taught different things and it was very confusing to him. I told him that Joseph Smith went to a grove of trees and knelt to pray. He asked god which church he should join. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him and called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth.

I said, the true church wasn’t on the earth, that’s why there was so much confusion. That’s why he couldn’t find the true church. Every church contained truth, but no church contained all of the truth and authority of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ as it had existed biblically.

I told him, that’s our church and that’s what we’re about. We’re building the kingdom of God on the Earth.

He told me that he really liked that story and related to it quite a bit. He said that he had been kind of a rough character for most of his life. He said that when he started looking at videos of Charlie Kirk, it made him want to do better. He started reading the Bible and he was looking for truth wherever he could find it.

He said, that’s why I came here. Charlie was the one who inspired me to turn to Jesus. He said, Charlie felt like a mentor to me, even though I never knew him. He brought me to Jesus and I had to say thank you. That’s why I’m here today. Then he asked, now what?

He said, I don’t know where to go from here. I told him that God had put him in my car today and as I told him this, the spirit bore witness of it. He said, I can feel that I know it’s true. I said, it’s the spirit of God that confirms truth to us. The fact that the spirit is here testifying lets you know that the things I am saying are true.

I discussed with him how the Lord had always had prophets, even in the New Testament. When Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection, Peter became the prophet. I said, God works through prophets and that’s how he restored his church on the Earth. I said, those prophets were given authority and power from God to do the things that God would have them do. I said, after Joseph Smith had received the vision from Heavenly Father, John the Baptist then then Peter, James and John came to him and gave him authority and keys of priesthood of power to run the church.

I said, if it’s going to be his church, it needs to be run by his authority and we have that authority. I said, we have a prophet who speaks with God for us and tells us the things that God would have us know.  He prepares us spiritually and physically to live our lives in such a way that we can feel God’s spirit and have him walk with us.

He said, that’s beautiful but don’t you have the Bible? I said, yes. We believe the Bible and we believe it’s the word of God. He said, I do too but there are so many translations of it. I sometimes wonder if the things I read in the Bible are the same things that were written by the prophets.

I told him that I know exactly what he is saying. I told him that I do interpretation of our meetings into Spanish in our ward. I understand that three people can translate the same phrase and each translator can use different words that could be interpreted differently by different people.

I said, that’s why other witnesses are so important. That’s why it’s important that we have a prophet to speak with God to clarify. things and help point us in the right direction. He said, that’s really neat.

I said, prophets have always been importantly and the way god works. I said, he even had prophets in America anciently because God loves everyone. He said, I’ve never heard of this, prophets in America? I said, yes, ancestors of the Native Americans lived here and God loved them just like he loved the people in Jerusalem. He gave them prophets who walked amongst them and taught them his gospel just like the prophets did in the Bible.

I told him that these prophets wrote down their prophecies, just like the prophets in the Bible. I told him that these prophets prophesied that Jesus would come just like the prophets in the Old Testament because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is the same in the Middle East, Israel, Africa, Europe, Asia, and everywhere else. I said, he works through prophets and he tells them the things that they should tell the people so the people can be happy and turn to him.

He said, I know that’s true. God loves everyone and what you’re saying makes so much sense. I told him that the prophets here in America prophesied that Jesus would come to America and the people should prepare to meet him.

I said, they taught the people, created churches, they were baptized, and they began looking to Christ and looking for Christ to come.

I said, God is the same everywhere and he loves all of his children. He said, that’s true and this is something I’ve never heard before but I believe it’s true as well.

I told him that after Jesus was resurrected, he said that he had other sheep that were not that fold. I asked him who he thought those other sheep might be that Jesus had to go see. He said, probably the people that had been taught that he was going to visit them here in America. I said, that’s right.

I said, Jesus descended from heaven in glory to the people here in America. He stood on the steps of the temple and invited them to touch the prints of the nails in his hands in his feet. I said, they pled with him for salvation and he called up 12 of them. He gave these men the priesthood, the authority, that I talked about before.   He invited them to be baptized by the authority in the way that he instructed them. He invited them to take a step to a new level of discipleship, a new level of belief and develop themselves to receive new levels of blessings from God.

I said, then he commanded them to baptize everyone. He invited every person there to accept this invitation to this new level and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

I told him that this is what they did and all of these people were baptized. I told him that the prophets here in America wrote down this account of the visit of Jesus Christ and the subsequent surge in love and devotion to our Savior for his sacrifice and for his teachings.

The spirit was truly manifest among the people. For generations they followed this light that Jesus had placed before them. I told him that Jesus gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. He gave them this gift because he said that when he was gone from them, the Holy Ghost could walk with them and in that way he could be in their midst. 

I said, this teaching is very important to us in our church today because we have the same baptism and we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. It can fill our souls with the love of God and his spirit so that we can walk with him on a daily basis . He said, that’s cool.

He asked how I learned about all of that.  I asked him if he ever heard about the Book of Mormon and he said, yes, I’ve heard the name. I asked him if he knew any members of the church and he said no. I told him that the Book of Mormon is the translation of those writings from those prophets.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was written on metal plates of gold and they were given to the prophet Joseph Smith. He translated them by the power of God. It was God‘s interpretation of the record, not his own.

I pointed out to him that the Book of Mormon gave us a second witness of Jesus Christ and that together with the Bible, they became one. I talked to him about the difference in credibility between one witness and two. He said,obviously two is better because they clarify the other statement. I said, do you remember how you were confused by some of the Bible verses? He said yes.  I said, how would it be then to have another record, another testament that could help clarify it

I said, that’s the Book of Mormon. When you read the Book of Mormon, you feel the spirit of God and it testifies that it’s true. That spirit will bring peace to your soul and put you on the path to walk back to Jesus Christ and our father in heaven.

He said, I like that. Where do I get a Book of Mormon?  I reached into my glove box and grabbed one in the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists and said, here it is and this one is yours. He asked, I can have this? I said, yes, it’s yours.

I testified with power of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith and the fact that we have prophets on the Earth today. He said, I promise I’ll read it. I love to read, and I promise you that I will read this book.

I asked him if he could feel the spirit and he said, yes. I feel peace and calm in my heart for the first time since Charlie Kirk’s  assassination. I felt like I was looking for a way to lean on Christ because I have been shaken by what had happened here. I’d been shaken by the assassination and felt empty and wandering. The spirit I felt here in the car has filled that emptiness. I want this spirit in my life. I told him that my best friend from high school lived in Ohio and that the church is really strong out there. I asked him if it would be OK if I sent people to teach him. They would be young people who have the spirit of God with them and the authority to teach his word. He said, yes, that’s what I want and right now that’s what I need.

I went into the tools app and sent in a reference and called the missionaries in the area to let them know about him. I told him where his church was and when they meet. He said that he would love to go. I told him that each congregation has a Bishop who is responsible for blessing the lives of the people in the congregation. I told him that he would find people in that setting who could be friends in Christ and walk with him.

He said, this is what I need for a lot of reasons. My life has been very challenging lately and I’ve had some very bad people take advantage of me in business. I need to have a place where I can be with people that are trying to do the right thing. I need this in my life.

By this time we were pulling up to his hotel and I wanted to get a few commitments out of him.  I mentioned again that the missionaries would be calling and asked him if he would meet with them and listen to them. He said he would be thrilled to do that.

I asked him if he would go to church and lean on the people there. He said he would do that because he needed that kind of association with good people.

I asked, have you felt the spirit here today? He said, absolutely. God has been here in this car with us. God put me in this car and I am going to listen and do what he wants.

I told him that what God wants is for him to accept that same invitation that Jesus gave to the people in America, to be baptized, even though they had previously been baptized and accept that new level of discipleship. He wanted him to take that next step up in his discipleship. I told him, that’s what God is inviting you to do.

He said, that’s what I need to do. I need to take a step up and follow Jesus. He said, that’s what the spirit here is telling me I need to do. It feels so good in my heart right now.

He said, how long can I stay in your car? I love the feeling in the air. I said, as long as you want, let’s just talk and we went on for about 10 more minutes talking about our father in heaven‘s love and feeling the spirit.

In the end he said, I guess I need to go but is it all right if I shake your hand?   I said yes. He shook my hand three different times and said, I will never forget this and I will do what I said I will do.

He got out of the car and the spirit prompted me to think about the movement that had happened that day so that this thing could work out. I interrupted my Saturday going out four hours before I had planned to go. I accepted the ride I normally would not accept. I talked to a person about the gospel who normally you wouldn’t think would be interested. I taught and I testified with the spirit of God for a whole ride. The spirit surged through the car and into his heart. Lives were changed that day and I’m glad that I got off the couch.

One night, I was picking up a man from a drinking establishment in American Fork. I sat out in front for quite a while and thought that he was not going to make it out. Finally, he did, he got in the car and away we went.

It’s really interesting seeing the differences in passengers. Some like to talk and others don’t want to be bothered. Some like to listen to music and some want a tour guide. Every now and then you find one that wants to be the tour guide and that was this guy.

We started driving down the road and he was pointing out saying, I used to live here, I used to play in this park, I went to high school up the road and this was my grade school. The grade school was right next to the church and I didn’t hear him say it but I heard it said in my head and in my heart his voice saying “and that’s where I went to church”. Then I felt the definite impression that he was feeling guilty as we passed it.

I saw in my mind‘s eye a kid raised in the church that had let life take him in a couple of different directions. I also had the impression of a very involved father and a close relationship.

I asked him if his dad coached his ball teams, he said, yes he did! He said, my dad passed away last year and every time we drive past those baseball fields I remember him out there with me. I said, when we went by the church, did you remember going to church with him too?

He got really quiet for a second and then said yes. I said, I coached my kids ball teams and I take them to church. It’s what good dads do. I asked, how long has it been since you’ve been to church?

He wasn’t drunk but he’d had a drink or two. I could tell that in general he wasn’t very comfortable opening up about his father or about the church but tonight was going to be an exception.

He said, I usually don’t talk about these things but I feel like I should with you. I don’t know what it is. I could clearly tell that he wasn’t an active member of the church but had the impression he had been while he lived at home. Something had happened and that changed everything.

I decided to get right to it. I said, you know I get the impression that you used to go to church every week with your family, but then job opportunities and relationships got in the way. I feel like now things have settled down a bit and you’d like to come back, but you just don’t quite know how to do it.

He said, that’s incredible. That’s exactly right. I went through a rough patch for several years and now I’m back and my life is good. In coming back seems quite complicated. My wife is Baptist and we kind of go to a Baptist Bible situation.

He said that now he had come to the decision that he really didn’t need to go to church. He loved God and there was nothing in church for him. I looked him in the eye and asked him, what makes you think it’s all about you? Why does it have to be about you? Don’t you think that you have talent and abilities that could help other people? Don’t you feel a responsibility to that?

I think in church is where you belong and you would find the comfort and peace you seek by attending. It will give you an opportunity to bless the lives of other people.

As far as your wife goes there will be friends and people that are members of the church around that she likes too. He said, yeah, they are already there. The guy that lives across the road is the Elders Quorum President and his wife. We really like them. Tomorrow I’m going over to borrow tables from them for a party we’re having.

I had the impression that I needed to talk more about his dad. I said, your dad would want you to come back to church. I said, your dad was always serving people in the church and doing little extra things for people in the church. You learned from him how to serve and you kind of feel like you haven’t been doing your part.

I said, your dad would like you to serve in the church just like he did. He said, how could you know that my dad served in the church? You pick me up at a bar. I said, the spirit put those words in my heart. I felt like your Heavenly Father really wants you back and your father is there to help as well.

I said, several times lately you’ve had things happen that have made you feel like your dad was calling you back and that you’re Heavenly Father wanted you back too. It’s a team effort.

He started to tear up and said, it’s happening two or three times a day lately. I feel my dad and I feel like I’m supposed to start doing better. I’m just trying to find a place to start I guess. He said, as soon as I got in your car I felt like you were going to help me. Then you started talking and you knew exactly what to say. I know I’m supposed to listen to you.

He said, just like you said, my dad always served in the church. He was a bishop and a branch president at different times. He helped people with their genealogy. That was really important to him. He always loved the thought of saving his ancestors.

I said, well, I think he loves the thought of saving his son even more. He smiled and said, I think you’re right. I drink and I don’t know exactly how to take the first step to come back.

I said, let’s start with tomorrow. You told me that you were going to be going over and borrowing tables from your Elders Quorum President. That sounds like the perfect place to start. Ask him how to start.

Tell him about our conversation and ask him if he would help you. I said, does your wife get along with his wife? He said, yes they’re very good friends. I said, in the end, it will be her that will help your wife. She’s not going to want to concede to you. He laughed and said, oh, you know or don’t you?

I told, him I’ve just had quite a bit of experience and I know that with love and time she’ll walk through those doors with you but the neighbor’s wife will probably play a huge part in that. He said, that sounds like a great plan. I think I’ll do it.

He said, I love how it feels in your car. I love being with my dad. I disappointed him so much in my life but now maybe I can make it right. He said, I don’t want to leave your car. He repeated that like five times as he shook my hand.

Finally, I got another ride and he could see that I needed to go and he said, you don’t know how much this ride has meant to me. I know I have to do this. My father is counting on me.

He got out after one more handshake and said you better go get that next ride. The spirit rode with me the rest of the night! Wow that was cool.

One day early in the afternoon I had a ride from Lehi to the airport. When you do that, it’s always great to get a nice ride out of the airport and I got that. It took me to the top of the hill above Draper and Lehi. It was kind of a round trip and could go either way at that time of the day.

As I dropped my passenger off, they sent me a ride. That was a very nice ride back down to the airport. This would’ve been perfect and I accepted it. The problem was that due to the lack of reception it wouldn’t finalize the transaction. I missed out.

I started driving back down on the Salt Lake side of the mountain when I looked down and saw that the ride was still chilling there. This means, that for some reason, somebody had rejected the ride once they got it and they were trying to find a person or identify one of multiple people for the ride. I hit it again and indicated that I would like to get that ride and received it almost immediately.

It was in Highland-Alpine area back up in the corner of the valley. I rolled up the narrow path and couldn’t figure out where to park and wait. There were lots of little pathways, but nothing that would resemble a driveway. Finally I found a parking place and turned around and waited for the rider. He appeared with lots of luggage and a smile on his face. He said he was going to Hawaii.
Plenty of reason to have a smile on your face!

He got in and we started to chitchat a bit about Hawaii and driving. I asked him what he did for living and he said he was in sales and described the process of his work and what he did. He said he love sales and loved doing it.

As I looked at him, he seemed clean cut and had a return missionary vibe. His language was good and he was very respectful. I could feel that there was a problem here and that even though he seemed like a return missionary, he had a huge issue. I felt like I would be talking to him about the atonement. It was a prompting I had and I had no idea why other than he just seemed to be a little off center and the spirit said so.

After we talked about work and those things I asked, are you a member of the church? He said, no, I’m not.

I had the prompting to just ignore that and get on with it, so I started. I acted as if he had said yes.

His answer didn’t square with what I was feeling, so I just ignored it. I said, one of the things I really like about driving and what I do in my car is that God puts people in my car and I get to testify and help people.

I told him, I could’ve sworn that you were returned missionary. It just seems like you are and I felt a prompting that you were. he lowered his head and said, well I am not a member of the church but I knew a bunch of them when I lived in Brazil. I knew he was lying.

I started using some of my poorly spoken MTC Brazilian on him. He said, that’s pretty good, I don’t speak anymore.

I said, in Covid, my life got turned upside down and I ended up driving. God started putting people in my car. I told him that I’ve been able to teach and baptize many people in this way. I told him that I had been very happy even though it was a very difficult time for me. I just had to trust God.

I told him that the atonement had been the thing that has brought me through. It helped me get over the betrayal of people I thought we were my friends and the unfairness of the situation. I said, the atonement is a great equalizer because Jesus suffered for all of our pains, inequities, infirmities and injustice. Because of that he can lift our burdens and carry us through if we learn to look to him . I said, that’s how I’ve made it through, I decided to look to Jesus and his atonement. It’s given me strength and God has blessed me with the opportunity to serve.

I told him about passengers who had been in my car and their stories. I told him about Milagros and Angel, here are the links to those stories.

My God is a god of miracles
https://sometimesgodsendsyoualift.com/2021/09/12/my-god-is-a-god-of-miracles/

Angels in the backseat.
https://sometimesgodsendsyoualift.com/2021/10/24/angels-in-the-backseat/

I told him about how God had told me what to say about Milagro’s dreams and had told me what to say to Angel about his wife who recently passed away. In telling those stories, the spirit of God entered into the car and I could tell that he was not defensive in the least.

I asked him if he could feel the spirit in the car and he said yes. I asked him what it felt like. He said an excitement in his stomach. I told him, as you know, God sends the Holy Ghost to testify of truth.

I was then prompted to tell him about a couple of stories where Satan has confronted me and threatened me. I haven’t published these stories here because this is a missionary blog but in these stories, God protected me as he still protects me today. My passenger was astounded by those stories. One of the stories in particular is about two former missionaries who are living an LGBTQAI plus lifestyle. They were trashing on the church and taking it out on me. I talked to them about the atonement and how it could heal the wounds in their hearts. When I did they became angry and it became dark in the back of the car. One of these young men spoke with a voice that wasn’t his and threatened me. A couple of weeks later the very same thing happened with that exact same threat from a young woman. Upon hearing this, my passenger was quiet and pensive.

I didn’t know why I was prompted to share these stories at the time, but I later found out.

If any of you would like to read those stories, drop me a note in my messages or contact me personally and I will send you a copy of those stories, but I don’t want to publish them here.

I told those stories in the ride because I felt prompted to and knew that these stories must answer some questions that he had. They address the power of Jesus Christ and his atonement.

I turned to him and asked, did you notice I blew right by you saying you weren’t a member of the church and acted like I knew you were? I’ll bet you thought that I wouldn’t talk about the church. He said, that’s exactly right. It really shocked me. I asked him why he thought I did that and he said he didn’t know. I told him that the spirit told me to be bold and talk about the church so I did. I said, you weren’t telling me the truth when you said that you weren’t a member were you? He said that he didn’t consider himself to be a member.

I asked, when did you go on your mission?He looked shocked and said, how did you know I served a mission? He said that he just got back about two years ago. I said, oh, you served during Covid. He said. yes I did. I asked him where he served in Brazil and he said that he served at the temple in São Paulo. He said that there wasn’t much else for them to do. He said, then I came home and left the church. I said, so you’re still a member? He said, well I guess so.

I told him that he lived with his Heavenly Father for thousands and thousands of years and that his spirit recognized the spirit of his father in heaven. I said that those feelings developed in that relationship with his Heavenly Father were manifest in how he felt the spirit. I said, that’s not only how you recognize the spirit but it acts like a homing beacon to take us back to the presence of our father in heaven. I said, we crave it and when we get a taste of it, we want to have more of it and we will do what it takes. It’s like eating the fruit off the tree in Lehi’s vision. It’s desirable above all other things.

I talked to him about how we are all God‘s children and I talked about our father in heaven‘s love. The spirit was plentiful in the car. I identified the spirit and asked him what that meant. I said it meant the things I was saying were true.

As soon as we got done talking about the spirit and the truth of the things that we had said he then opened up about what his issues were. He said, mostly my biggest problem is that there are so many judgmental people in the church. It’s really made it hard for me to be around them. I also have friends and family who are LGBTQAI plus. The way these people are so judgmental about my friends and family makes me angry at them and it makes me angry at the church.

I talked to him about how being judgmental and judging others is a sin. I said, those people are sinning when they judge unrighteously. I said, they most certainly should not do that.

I told him that being judgmental is, it’s selfish because we want the judgemental people to be tolerant of our sins and so we need to be tolerant of theirs.

I told him that the sin they are judging may be a word of wisdom problem or a moral issue as they see it. Judging someone for the sin of being judgmental is equally wrong. When we become angry at these people for being judgmental, we are committing the same offense that we see so plainly in their behavior. By judging them for being judgmental, we become hypocrites. I told him the best way to fight judgmentalism is with love.

He laughed and said, that’s crazy, I never thought of it that way. I said, we need to love those people just like we expect them to love us. We need to go up and put our arms around them and tell him we love them. That will change everything. It is really hard to harshly judge someone who is showing you tremendous love. He agreed and said, that’s a new approach. I need to take that approach.

I said, it works too! I told him about the time when our kids were little and the people in our ward complained about them. I explained to him that I had to make a choice on whether to stay active or avoid church because I had been offended by them. I told him that I went early every week so I could find out where they were sitting. I said, I always went up and sat right behind them in the next row. I told them how much we looked up to them and that we loved their example. Eventually, we became good friends.

I said, instead of turning to anger, we should turn to the atonement of Jesus Christ. We should look to him and live. I talked about how Alma and his followers were held captive and enslaved. When they looked to Christ he lifted their burdens so they could barely feel them. They lived.

I talked about how Moses saw that his people were being bitten by poisonous snakes. He fashioned a snake out of bronze and put it on a stick. He instructed the people to look up at the brazen serpent when they were bitten and if they did, they would be healed. That serpent was a representation of Jesus and I like to think of that poison as the evil things in our minds and in our hearts. We look to Christ and live just as they looked to that brazen serpent and lived.

I told him that when Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemany, he suffered all of our pains, infirmities injustice, and every negative thing that could happen to us. We need to turn to him. We need to look to him. There’s no reason for us to suffer these things and become jaded and damaged. We need to look to him and live. We need to let him lift our burdens. I said, his ability to remove that burden from us is something that makes satan angry and leaves him powerless.

I told him that God had put him in my car today. I told him that when I first saw him I knew I would be talking to him about the church. I told him it was time to come back, that God was calling him back. I told him that it was time for him to live up to who he knew he was during his mission. I said, that’s why God put you in my car today.

He said, I can’t believe this experience. I know that God put me in your car today. It’s very clear that this is the case. He said he figured that out early on in the ride.

He told me that he had received the message. He said that he hadn’t been to church for a long time. I told him that he should start now.

I told him about when I was first on my mission in Argentina and I couldn’t understand the language. My companion hated Americans and I was having a hard time adjusting to the culture. I didn’t understand anybody and I felt totally drained and powerless both physically and spiritually. I told him that when I went to sacrament meeting, I didn’t understand a word that was spoken but when I took the sacrament, it filled my tank and I felt the power of God surge through my body. I told him he needs that power now and he needs to get back to where he’s worthy to access it. S

I asked him again what church he belonged to and he said he didn’t belong to a church. I corrected him then I asked him again what church he belonged to and he told me the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints .

I asked him to promise me and promise God that he would go to church. He said, I need to do that. I promise I will.

I asked him to promise me and promise God that he would go and talk to his bishop and tell him about the things we had talked about and the things we had felt in the car. He said, if I’m going to do this, I need to talk to him. I need that help.

He said that he had never felt the spirit personalized for him like he had today and he had never felt like God came for him until today.

He said that he got in the car determined to never be a member of the church and that this had completely changed during this ride. He said that he would go to church this Sunday and get started. He asked me if God could forgive him. I said, of course he can. Let’s just get going.

He thanked me, got out of the car and went into the airport

The 10th of September was a crazy day. I thought it was going to be pretty busy around town and I was debating going to the Charlie Kirk program at UVU. I started heading over there but then I just got the feeling that it would be too much of a hassle and I wouldn’t want to be trapped in traffic. I thought it would cost me too much time and it just didn’t feel right so I went to work.

I took a ride or two and then I saw the news about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It was very sad but as I listened and read, I noted that the one person that he completely had a discussion with gave him an opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ. It was a tragedy but I thought about how great it was that he was able to testify of Jesus Christ with almost his last breath.

I thought about the atonement and how that little family of his would need the atonement and of the importance of the atonement and the role of Jesus Christ in our lives.

I was thinking about these things while I was driving and keeping up on the news of the day. It was very heavy and sad. I decided that I would head home for dinner and caught a ride from Lehi to 800 North in Orem. That’s a great ride when you are headed home and it got me to where I needed to be goal wise for my early session.

I pulled into a motel in the Lehi area and a guy got in my car. My goodness, what a horrible vibe in spirit accompanied this man. He was clearly in distress and had zero happiness or light shining from his countenance.

I tried to start a couple of conversations but everything was so negative. I thought about just shutting up but the spirit told me that I needed to keep going. The spirit told me that I needed to talk to this man.

All of a sudden he asked me to pull over and let him out. I asked him where he was going to go if I let him out and he said he didn’t know. I talked to him for a minute and convinced him to just hang with the program. I felt very strongly by the spirit that he needed to go to his destination and I sold it hard. I’ll bet it sounded weird because for the most part, we really don’t care where people go but because of the promptings I did. Finally i won and we continued our trip.

In trying to keep him in the car to complete the ride he had started communicating with me a bit and talking about his frustrations. He asked me what I thought about driving and if I liked it. I told him that it was good but the main reason I liked to drive was that I felt like I could help God. I said, God puts people in my car and for some reason he wants you here.

He said, I don’t know if I believe in God. That seemed to be a little dramatic for me but I decided if we were going to be dramatic that I would share some stories with him. I told him that sometimes God puts people in my car and he gives me specific things to tell them.

I told him that in the past I had seven people in my car who had told me in the ride that they were going to commit suicide. I told him that during the ride, the Lord was able to give me the words to say and the things to do to help them.

I told him about the story of the guy in Magna who wanted to commit suicide. I picked him up where he had told a guy from his unit to get the flag off of his casket after his funeral. I was taking him to Burger King. That’s when he told me that he was going to commit suicide and that was going to be his last meal. I told him that no one has Burger King as a last meal on my watch. He told me that he didn’t have any family. His mom had abandoned and disowned him when he was 10 and his father had passed away when he was 18. He joined the military and had been in Afghanistan or Iraq for the holiday season 10 years in a row. He said he was sick of killing, he was sick of being alone and he was especially sick of being alone at Christmas.

Then on the way to his house we passed the church. I felt very impressed to promise him in the name of Jesus Christ that if he would go to that church house on Sunday morning at 9 o’clock and ask for the Bishop, meet with the bishop and tell the bishop everything he needed in his life, at the end of the year, he would have the family he so desired.

Here is the complete link to that story https://sometimesgodsendsyoualift.com/2022/01/02/when-all-else-seems-hopeless-god-will-send-his-love/

As I told this story, I noticed the temperature change in the back of the car. He became very meek and I didn’t feel the spirit of contention in anyway. Then he started to cry. He wasn’t just crying, he was sobbing loudly.

He asked me, why did you tell me that story? How did you know? I said, know what? I just felt prompted by the spirit that I needed to tell that story to you on this ride. He said, are you sure you didn’t know anything? I said, no but God does and he is the one that gave me those words to say.

He said, I was going to commit suicide this morning. I was angry and I was going to commit suicide and end it all. I made a phone call and got a reservation at this treatment facility we are going to. He said, a few minutes ago when I told you to let me out I had decided again that I wanted to commit suicide. That’s when I asked you to pull over and let me out. You wouldn’t let me and God wouldn’t let me either. He said, then you started telling me that story and that’s crazy.

I told him that it was important that he understand how much his father in heaven loves him. I told him that he was very loved and that God wouldn’t waste a miracle like this on him if he didn’t plan on being there for him. He wouldn’t waste a miracle on him if he didn’t have important things for him to do. I said, God doesn’t want you to commit suicide. He wants you to go to the treatment center. He wants you to get help.

I talked to him about the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said that the atonement of Jesus Christ is probably the most important thing he could understand in his life right now. He said, I haven’t been sinning, I just can’t deal with life. Why are we talking about the atonement?

I told him that the atonement is for a lot more than just sin. I told him that through the atonement Jesus Christ has the power to lift our burdens, relieve our pain, mental, emotional and physical.

As I started talking about the atonement, the spirit intensified like it always does when you testify of the atonement. It testified with power and I could tell he was feeling it. I asked, do you feel that? What are you feeling? He said, yes. He also said he didn’t feel hopeless anymore.

I told him that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus bled from every pore. He suffered for all of these things so that we can look to him and live. I said, look to him and live is what your father in heaven wants you to do right now. He wants you to look to his son so that you can have his spirit to walk with you. He needs you to heal your mind and your heart so that you can walk upright before him and serve him.

I said, you are hurt and you are sad. That story I told really touched you. You’re struggling because of family as well, right?

He said yes. He said that he married a woman from outside the United States five years ago. He said, one day last week when she got her citizenship finalized she told him that she never loved him, ever. She told him that she was done with him and that she was going to leave him. She told him that he was ugly and she couldn’t stand to look at him. She didn’t want to end up being with him. She said the thought of it made her physically ill. She said that she had only married him to get citizenship in the United States and now that she had it, she was done with him and left. Through the tears he said, I thought we’d be together forever.

She had trashed all of his stuff and taken money out of the bank. He felt destitute, abused, betrayed and broken. He said, I know exactly how your guy who had been in the army felt. I just don’t know if I can go on. I didn’t think so last night and I didn’t want to live a few minutes ago.

I asked him who it was that would tell him to commit suicide. I asked him who would be whispering that in his ear. He thought for a minute and said, I guess it’s Satan. I said, we’re not going to let him win are we? He said, well, we’re headed to the treatment center aren’t we? I laughed and said, yes we are!

I told him that it was really important for him to learn to love the atonement, go to church and take the sacrament and walk with God. I said, that relationship with God will help you through.

I said, I never asked if you were a member of the church but I just felt like you were. He said I am. I asked him how it made him feel to know that God sent someone for him today. He sent someone to make sure that he would get there. Someone to bring the spirit into his life and testify. I asked him how that felt. He started crying again and he said he was pretty sure that no one cared but now he knows he was wrong. Now he knows that that it was Satan whispering in his ear.

We were just pulling into Orem and driving up 800 North to the treatment center. I asked him if he wanted me to pray for him. He said, yes! Can you pray for me here in the car before I go in? I said yes.

We pulled into the treatment center and parked in front of the main doors. There were people all around but we bowed our heads and had one of the most spiritual prayers I’ve ever felt. I remember being directed about what things to ask for in the prayer and to assure him that Heavenly Father would continue to place people in his path to lift him as he recovered his mental health. I remember feeling tremendous love poured out from his father in heaven for his son who was in danger that day.

As I prayed, he began crying again, very loudly. Tears were flowing, and the spirit was felt. When I finished praying, I wanted to identify the spirit with him. I asked him what he was feeling and he said the spirit. I asked him, why would God send his spirit here? He said, I don’t know. I said, he sent his spirit here to let you know that he loves you and that he’ll be there for you. He said, I think now that I know I will have God‘s help, I can do this.

He said, I don’t think I can remember feeling the spirit this strong before. With tears streaming down his face, he thanked me for being there for him and bringing the message of God into his heart.

He got out of the car and walked into the treatment center. I drove home which was easy because it was only about five blocks away. It had been a very heavy day and I just needed to take a nap. On that day, I could rest assured that Heavenly Father was in charge and in the end His will, will be done. God will send his angels to be roundabout us in our time of need. We had felt them in the car

Along with Charlie Kirk, I got to testify of Jesus Christ that day. Charlie, his faith and example will be greatly missed.

Sometimes I’m blown away with how well people are prepared to receive the gospel and how much they already believe what we believe without having a clue. They are already looking but they just can’t see. One night I was in Spanish Fork and I picked up a kid that was going up to Orem. He was going up to see his girlfriend.

When he got in the car we started talking about where he was going and his work. He worked a hard laborious job and was looking forward to having a day off the next day. As he was talking about his work, I got the impression that we needed to talk about church. My thought process immediately went to, OK, how do I make that work?

Thoughts about going to church came into my mind so I decided to ask him if he goes to church. I said, your body needs rest but so does your spirit. Do you go to church? He said no! I don’t have a church. I really do not consider myself to be a really religious person, but I do believe in God and I am spiritual. (The classic cop out).

I asked him if he had ever been baptized or ever been a member of a church and he said no. He said his mom and dad didn’t really believe and as much of a heathen as he was, he believed in God more than his parents. We laughed as I told him that I didn’t think he was a heathen in any way. I said, you seem like a really cool dude.

I asked him what he meant by spiritual, not religious. I asked him again if he believed in God and he said yes. I asked him if he believed in Jesus he said yes. I asked him if he believed in the Bible he said yes. I asked him if he read the Bible and he said no. The answers to these questions gave me a good frame of reference. This kid had never been taught.

I could have left it right there, but the spirit prompted me to dive a little deeper into what he was looking for and what he believed. I dove right in. I asked him why he didn’t have a religion or hadn’t chosen a church. He said, there are so many of them and they teach such different things.

He said, they all share a core of beliefs. That’s pretty consistent, but they all have their own unique differences and their own unique beliefs. It doesn’t seem like it is possible to know which one is true. He said, unless someone can show me proof, I don’t know how I can know because all of the people seem to be good people. They all truly think they have the truth but they teach different things.

He said, they all say, read the Bible. I love the Bible but how do we even know the Bible is right? It’s been translated a bunch of times and sometimes it doesn’t make sense for me so I don’t know what to do I just keep being spiritual and not religious.

Wow! If this guy wasn’t begging to be told the Joseph Smith story, I don’t know what’s up. I love it when it lines up like that and you just flow with the spirit.

I started talking about Joseph Smith and how he had nearly the same exact question this young man had. I told him that he went to all the churches and talked to all of the preachers. I told him that as he talked to everybody, he just kind of felt like nobody had all of the truth and that’s what he wanted.

I told him that Joseph Smith was reading in the Bible, where he found out that he was supposed to ask God for wisdom. I said, he went and he prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore the same church on the earth that Jesus had organized when he was here. The same church with the same authority and the same teachings.

I told him that when Jesus and his apostles were killed and were no longer on earth that the church was broken up and the teachings were dispersed and that’s why no one had all of the teachings when Joseph Smith was looking. I told him that most of all no one had the authority from God. They had killed the apostles and no one had the priesthood.

I told him that God called Joseph Smith to restore the church and he restored it under the direction of Jesus Christ. I said, that authority is really important. The church of God needs to have the authority of God. I said, from that day on down until today, we have always had that authority from God in our church. It’s called the priesthood.

I can feel the spirit in the car every time I tell the first vision and testify of the prophet Joseph Smith. It is the quickest way to get the spirit in the car. You teach the truth and then allow the spirit to testify of that truth.

I could tell he was feeling it so I had to ask, how does that feel? He said, it’s exciting to think that maybe there is a church that has the truth. I testified again that this was indeed the case. That this church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is his church on earth today.

I said, what you’re feeling right now is the Holy Ghost. It is his job to accompany truth and testify of that truth in our heart. I asked, do you remember when you said that you can’t believe any man? That’s right, you don’t need to. You believe God.
The spirit of God will testify to your soul and give you an assurance that no amount of proof or words of any person can equal. It’s how God lets us know his truth. It’s called revelation.

I said, we have a prophet today who speaks with God because things are changing all the time. God wants to guide us. We are his children and he loves us. He wants us to be safe from the things of the world and the sin in the world. That’s why we have a prophet and apostles. They speak to us for God. I felt that testimony touch him powerfully and I could tell that he accepted that. He said, that’s a great idea. I said, God has good ideas.

I said, God loves all of the people of the world. There were people in America before the Europeans got here. The ancestors of the native Americans. I said, God loved them too and they had prophets as well. God revealed his word to them and they wrote it down. These writings and revelations were kept and later given to Joseph Smith. By the power of God, he translated them and we have them today. They are the Book of Mormon another Testament of Jesus Christ.

He said, now, I’ve heard of that book. I didn’t know what it was, but I’ve been told about it a little. I asked him if he remembered telling me about the Bible being unreliable because of translations. He said, yes I just don’t know between Latin and Greek and English what we’ve got left of the original word.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was translated into English by the power of God. I said, it’s directly from the source. That book is a companion to the Bible and helps us understand the Bible. That book teaches the eternal truths that are found in the Bible. I said, that’s why we love the Book of Mormon because it contains the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

I said, the Book of Mormon also contains the visit of Jesus Christ to America. That’s why it’s called another testament of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus was sent by his father to America and other places in the world because God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. He sent his son for everyone. In America he descended down from heaven and stood in front of the people. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet then asked for salvation.

I said, he taught them the gospel and invited them to be baptized in his church, even though they had previously been baptized in their churches. I said, baptism is the key to the kingdom of God and he gave them the salvation they sought through this baptism. I said, today he’s extending that same invitation to you and he’s extending that same invitation to us, all of us, to come home to our father in heaven.

The spirit was really strong in the car and he said, I think I was put in this car today to hear this. This is all making such sense and I feel so great. I’ve never had a ride like this.

He said, I had no idea that’s what the Book of Mormon was. The missionaries came by one time and asked me if I wanted one, but I was afraid they were going to make me pay for it and I didn’t want to pay for a book that I didn’t really know anything about. He said, maybe I can find those missionaries again. I’d like to have one of those books!

I said, as luck would have it, I have one right here. I reached into my center console and grabbed one of my Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists. I gave it to him and said, this is your copy of the Book of Mormon. He asked, really? I can have this? I said, yes, it’s yours. If you will read that book and pray you will feel the same happiness and excitement that you’re feeling right now. When you feel that, you’ll know that the spirit of God is there with you letting you know that it’s true.

I said, it is a companion with the Bible and helps us understand the Bible. We believe, just like you do, that the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. That’s why we need help from both the spirit and the Book of Mormon to understand the fullness of the gospel.

I said, it’s just like you know that the things we’ve talked about in the car today are true. He said, that’s true and I can’t believe how good it feels. As I’ve been looking at this whole religion thing I’ve been missing a big piece. It was staring me right in the face. It’s about God‘s love for all of us.

I told him that now that he has a Book of Mormon he should find those missionaries. He said, I know exactly where they live. I see them all the time. I said, go up to them and show them your book and tell them what we’ve talked about and about what you felt. Tell them that you want to follow Jesus Christ.

I said, they’re going to give you that same invitation that Jesus gave us in the Book of Mormon. They’re going to ask you to prepare to be baptized by that same baptism and that same authority that he gave to the people in America when he visited. That’s what they’re going to want you to do, that’s how they’re going to bring you closer to God and that’s how you’re going to know where to find truth.

He said, I can’t wait to get going but I don’t want to get out of your car. It feels too good. I agreed with him and he shook my hand about five times then got out of the car and went into his girlfriend‘s house.

One day I was in Salt Lake and I was trying to get a ride down to Utah County. I was excited to see one come through but not totally excited because it was to Saratoga Springs. While Saratoga Springs is in Utah County, around rush-hour, it resembles a minnow trap. You can get in but there doesn’t appear to be any way of getting out. It was a decent money ride and so I decided to do it.

I picked the young lady up by Liberty Park. She had purple and pink hair and a really nice nose ring with a jewel on the end. That, along with her tattoos, was quite a look but the look didn’t match the feel. She seemed to have a very loving and sincere vibe. Not the frenetic confused vibe that normally accompanies someone in that culture.

As we started to drive, she started talking about buying a gift for her boyfriend‘s mother. It was her birthday the next day. As she was talking about that, the spirit said, let’s talk a little bit about the boyfriend. To that point, about 10 minutes into the ride, I had not considered this ride an opportunity to share the gospel. She seemed pretty worldly and pretty bought in to the culture.

I asked her if it was serious between her and her boyfriend. She said, well kind of serious. I asked her how long they’ve been dating and she said off and on for five years. I said, five years? That’s a long time. Don’t you think after everything you guys have been through at this point you should be married?

We talked about their relationship and how they had been together for five years with two breaks ups in the middle of it. I asked what she envisioned their relationship being like. She said she hadn’t really got to a decision point on that. She really didn’t know.

I said, after five years, you don’t know? She said, yeah, we used to live together and he wants to move in again but I don’t know if that’s what I want to do. I said, that’s a good instinct. If you broke it off before why would you move back in unless there was a total commitment.

I talked to her about the commitment of marriage and how it’s more than just a piece of paper. I told her that guys say this because they know that once they make a commitment it’s final. She said, I’ve been trying to figure out where to go with this but you’re making a lot of sense right now.

I told her that I didn’t know why she would try to move on with a relationship if he wasn’t planning on getting married. I said, getting married has to be the goal of your relationship after five years or you should move on. I said, I feel very strongly that you’ve had this thought but you like his mother so much that you don’t want to upset the apple cart.

She said, wow, you nailed it. She said, back to what I’d like, someday I’d like to have a family and a bunch of kids. That’s what I really want.

I told her that being together with this guy who doesn’t want to commit is no way to get that done. I asked her how old she was and she said she 30. I asked her how old he was and she said 39. I said, if you want to have a family, you can’t be waiting around for this guy. He is clearly not in a commitment pattern. She said, you’re right, I’ve just been waiting for something to come along and confirm that to me. I guess I’ve been waiting to hear that from somebody else. I said, it’s time for you to fish or cut bait. I don’t even think he’s got a fishing license nor does he intend to get one.

I said, Heavenly Father gives us commandments so that we can be happy. We are most happy in a marriage with our families the way God intended. That’s why you crave it because it’s the right thing. She said, I guess so. That’s probably why I’ve been hesitant here. I have been frustrated with his lack of commitment.

She said, I am not very religious. I’m not a member of any church. I said, that’s not true because you were baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The spirit revealed some additional things for me to say and I started saying them. I said, you’ve had some unfortunate things go on in your life and some people fail you. Even though you have been deeply hurt that doesn’t mean that you can’t forgive them.

Judging people who offend us only hurts us. We need to trust that God will take care of his business and move on.

I said, letting other people‘s mistakes control your life is no way to live. One thing about the church is it’s full of people who make mistakes. This means every one of us and some worse than others. The thing is that it’s our responsibility to realize that Christ paid for sins committed by everyone. He gives us the atonement so that we can be lifted, loved and supported through our trials. There is no reason for us to feel alone.

Forever, you have felt like religion abandoned you and that the church abandoned you. I’m here to tell you right now that no one abandoned you. When we sin we separate ourselves from the spirit of God. We abandon it and then Satan lies to us and tells us that Jesus and the church abandoned us. It’s not true, he would never abandon us. Our sins just separate us. Christ has given us both the way to cleanse ourself from our sins and lift our burdens so that we can come home. We need to learn to look to him and live.

I said, when we do unworthy things, even for reasons that seem to make sense, we build that wall. At some point, we need to tear down that wall so that we can see the light of Christ and come home.

She said, I was a member of the church until I was 14. One time I spent a week with my grandma. I loved her so much. She was a lady that went to church all the time and did all of the right things.

She started to cry, but not a little she started to sob and she said, my grandmother one day took me aside and told me that she loved me but she didn’t love how I looked. She said, in heaven, once your skin is white, you will be so much more beautiful. She said, I can’t wait to have my little white granddaughter in heaven.

She could barely get through the telling of that story. I could tell she was reliving the moment and still very hurt. I could tell that she had taken what her grandmother said as what the church taught. Her grandmother believed that everyone’s skin would have to be turned white before they go to heaven. My passenger didn’t think that her Native American heritage should be an impediment to her or becoming white a condition to be with God

I taught her about how Heavenly Father loves all of his children, no matter where they are from and no matter what race they are part of. I told her that he is a perfect father of every person on earth and that skin color is not even a consideration. I said, it is certainly not a qualifier. I told her that there are General Authorities of every race and that when they go to heaven, they will be that same race they are now.

I told her that many people in the church have weird and different ideas. Sometimes those people have positions in the church and sometimes those people are family members. The fact that they might be a family member or have a position does not make them right or give their wrong opinions any validity. The thing that is right and the thing that is valid is the fact that God is our father and he loves us. He sent his son, Jesus Christ so that we could all come home if we repent and follow him.

I said that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected so that we could all go home. I talked to her about the atonement and how Jesus suffered for all of our pains and injustice, infirmities and inequities. He did this because he loves us and he wants to bring us home to his father in heaven. That’s what we call the atonement. He bled from every pore and suffered every pain so that we can be made whole. God wants to make you whole.

I said, God does not care what color your skin color is. He sent his son for all of us. I talked to her about how God sent Jesus Christ first to the people in Jerusalem but then to the people all over the world. I said, if he didn’t want those people of different colors, if he loved them less, why would he send his son to them?

I said, Jesus Christ walked amongst your ancestors. He held their children and cried. He blessed them and their posterity. God, your father in heaven, has made that blessing available to that posterity, every single one of them. He has made it so that they can inherit everything that he has. I asked, would he do that if he didn’t want the people of that color in his kingdom? She said, no.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked her if she could feel it. She said that she could. I asked her what it felt like and she said amazing. I asked her where that feeling comes from and she said that she thought it came from God. I told her that she was right.

I told her that she lived with her father in heaven for thousands of years and that they had a bond, a vibe, that felt like love, that felt like acceptance and that felt like joy. I said, when we came to earth we forget about that but today you’re feeling it again.

Now she had tears in her eyes but this time tears of joy. I said to her, I testify to you that your Heavenly Father loves you just the way you are and the color you are. He loves you. That’s why he sent his spirit here to testify about his love and testify of the truth that I have spoken. God loves all of his children and we learn about that in the Book of Mormon.

The evidence of that love is found in the temple where God’s children of every race come together to unite their families with their father in heaven. Every one of their family who has passed receives a baptism so that they can return to their father and live with him and their families.

She said, that’s beautiful! I love that but I was still hurt by what my grandma said. I told her that it makes sense. I said, that is normal but the other part of the atonement is that we need to forgive. I said, your grandma didn’t say that out of a place of hate, she said that out of a place of ignorance but she was still full of love for you. She wanted to be with you. She loved you, her granddaughter.

I said, someday as she works to come home to her father in heaven, she will need to repent of saying that to you. She will have to come to you and ask you to forgive her. She will have to say that she’s sorry and ask you to forgive her. On that day, you will need to access the atonement of Jesus Christ to take the hurt out of your heart so that you can accept that apology and feel the love behind it. What’s better is that you don’t need to wait until then to do your part. You can access the atonement now and that burden can be lifted. You shouldn’t need to carry that with you.

I said, it’s all about love. It’s all about our father in heaven‘s love that started thousands of years before we were born and will be the thing that heals our souls. It helps us repent, forgive and shows us the way home to him.

She said, I really needed this. I believe God put me in your car today to hear this. She said, I guess I need to make changes starting with kicking this dude to the curb. I will never forget the hard questions you asked and the love I felt as you gave me the answers to them. This has changed my life.

I told her that one of the reasons we have bishops is so that they can help us with this hurt. They can help us forgive others, they can help us access the atonement. When we go to church, read the scriptures and pray, we can learn to walk with God. I said, he’s got all of the answers. People don’t have the answers, God does and we need to look to him.

I told her that she needs to go to church and look for answers in her life there under the direction of the spirit. I asked her if she knew where she was supposed to attend. She said yes. She said that one of the girls next door was the Relief Society president. I asked her if this was something she would do. She said, yes, this will be hard, but I know this is something I need to do.

She said, thank you so much for being ready and willing to tell me the things that I needed to hear. I need my heart to heal. I need to come home.

She got out of the car and walked in to the house. A few hours later she gave me an amazing tip (Not that this matters for the purpose of this blog.) It tells me that she was clearly still thinking about the spirit she felt and the things she learned in the car. That makes me feel good because I know truth was spoken, the spirit testified and she felt it. I think it will change her life.

One day I was in Salt Lake City and I was looking for a ride to Utah County. I got three or four rides around Midvale and was starting to think I would just have to turn off and drive home. That’s not good because it doesn’t give you the opportunity to earn money. I felt like I should hang on for just a little while longer and made the decision to heed that prompting. As soon as I finalized that decision in my mind, I got a ride from Midvale to Payson.

Payson is a little bit further than I was thinking I wanted to go but it was around 5 o’clock. That time of night there is a lot of traffic on the roads. Having someone in the car would allow me to be in the carpool lane. Once you get to Orem, there’s really no traffic down to Payson or back to Orem from that point. I got excited about the ride.

I started to drive to the pick up spot. As I got closer I realized where it was and because of this I became a little apprehensive about the ride. It was just off of the 215, north of the Union Park exit. It was right there in some sketchy motels. There’s not a story you could tell me of the goings on in those hotels that would surprise me. I know that everything is bought and sold in that place. I hate giving people rides out of there and I hate driving around the parking lot. It feels unsafe and you feel exposed.

Even though I felt apprehensive, I drove around trying to find this guy. He wasn’t aware that the app indicated where he would be so we were texting back-and-forth. Finally, I found him. He asked me if he could put luggage in my car, I said yes. While he was talking to me, he was also talking to someone else on his phone. I assumed it was a friend and he was receiving instructions from that friend. I assumed because of the conversation I overheard that this friend was in Payson where we were going.

He started bringing down his belongings to load them in my car. I say his belongings because it was everything he owned and it filled up the trunk, the passenger and middle seat in the back all the way to the ceiling. Even my front seat with was full with his luggage from the floor to the roof.

Before he started loading I looked at him, and the spirit said that we would be talking about the church. He was a young African-American man with tattoos all over his arms. He had kind of a ticked off, angry look on his face. I thought, this should be interesting and I prayed for help.

Finally, after he had his things loaded in my car, we got going. I asked him about his story. He told me that he had lived in the mountains above Heber until about six months ago. He said that he had been in an accident and because of that accident he had lost his truck and then lost his job. He said, I lost everything.

I could hear desperation in his voice and I had a very strong prompting that he needed to feel the love of his father in heaven and understand the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ in his life. I felt an urgency to get going on that discussion.

I asked him if it would be OK if I asked him some questions and he said yes. I asked him if he had a religion. He said no! I am spiritual but not religious. I said, when you’re going through a hard time like this, a religion can be a real good thing.

I said, are you sure you don’t have a religion? He answered the same way, but it wasn’t quite with as much conviction as his previous answer had been. He waited a second before he said, no I don’t have a religion.

I felt that he was saying that because he wasn’t really converted to any religion nor have he ever been converted to any religion. I asked, do you believe in God? He said, that’s all I’ve got. That’s all I’ve got left.

I said, let me tell you about God, your Heavenly Father. I said, your heavenly father is the father of your spirit and your spirit lived with him for thousands of years, He loves you and you love him. There is a special feeling that you two share. When you feel this it lifts you and lightens you. Your father in heaven loves you. I said, God loves every one of his children but today especially he wants you to know that he loves you.

I felt impressed to tell him that he had been in the army and had been doing really well in his life. I said, I feel by the spirit that when you got in this accident, it didn’t just ruin you financially it ruined you spiritually and physically.

I said, due to the effects of your injuries and in the process of your recovery, you became dependent on the pain medicine, which led you to an addiction. I said, you feel like you’ve been dealt almost a death blow. He lowered his head and said, you’re right.

You lost your truck, you lost your job, you lost your health, you lost your sobriety and in many ways you feel like you already have lost your life.

I said, even though you have felt numb inside for a while now, I believe God put you in my car today so that he could put his arms around you and let you know that he loves you. He wants you to feel his spirit and have his love in your heart. I could tell that he was starting to tear up. The spirit was really strong in the car. I asked him how he felt and he said, overwhelmed.

He said, I haven’t felt anything for months until just now. It’s like I’ve been dead inside. He said, how do you know these things? Am I that easy to read? What you’ve said here has really shaken me up. How did you know?

I told him, you’re so important to your father in heaven that he’s not making me read you. He gave me those promptings so that you could know that he knows who you are, where you are and that he loves you. He wants you to feel his love today.

I said, I also believe that I’m not taking you to a friends house, I’m taking you to drug rehab. He said, it’s my last chance. I have to do this or I’m gone. He said, I can’t believe that Heavenly Father would send someone for me. I said, if you had a child, would you leave your child in distress and not send someone to rescue your child or go yourself to rescue that child? He said, I would absolutely rescue that child. I said, your Heavenly Father is a perfect loving father. That is exactly what he’s going to do. He’s going to rescue you.

He was going to Payson to start with detox for two days and the first step in this program. After detox he would enter a program for an extended period of time. I will say that it was clear he wasn’t on any drugs at that moment. He had started detox by himself and seemed determined.

At this point, we had left the discussion about his religion aside and just gone on talking about the spirit. I turned back to that conversation and asked, when were you baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints? I had received a distinct impression to ask him that question and he looked shocked when I asked it. He said, what makes you think I’m a Mormon? I said, the same prompting that helped me know the other things helped me know to ask you that question. When were you baptized?

He said, about six months before my accident. He said, since then I’ve felt like I was abandoned by my family, abandoned by my friends and abandoned by God. That’s when I decided that I didn’t have a religion. I asked him if the fact that God sent someone here today to rescue him would affect that perception and he said yes, I’m overwhelmed. This is what I needed.

He said, I have been dead inside and to feel something now is wonderful. Yes it makes a difference. It makes a difference to know that God loves me and that I matter. Before this ride I didn’t believe that.

I told him that it was the love of God that would help him pull through. I told him that his soul was predisposed to crave the presence of the spirit of God. It’s an essential part of who we are.

I told him that Satan knows this and tries to counterfeit it. He tries to fill that part of our soul with drugs, alcohol, and riotous living. I told him that it’s like eating cotton candy, it never fills you up. It never satisfies you and it leaves you only wanting more.

I told him that the spirit is like eating steak and potatoes. It fills that spot with what is intended to be there, which is the love of his father in heaven. I said, if you can have the spirit of God with you, it will greatly assist you in defeating your addiction. I said, your addiction is both a physical and a spiritual addiction. By filling that spot in your soul with the spirit of your father in heaven, you can win half that battle.

I identified the spirit again and asked him what he felt and he said, I still feel overwhelmed. I asked, how about your cravings? Do you feel those? He said, right now, no, I don’t.

I told him about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it was much more than a way to repent of our sins. I said, it’s the gift that Jesus Christ has given us to help us through the tough times. I said, Jesus suffered for all of the negative things you’re going through. These include addiction, injustice, infirmity, pain, embarrassment and even the humiliation of losing your job. Jesus has descended below it all and this gives him power to lift you above it all.

I told him that between the atonement and the power of the spirit of his father in heaven filling that part in his soul, he can beat this addiction. He said, that’s what I need to do.

I felt prompted to bear my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. I could tell he felt it. I told him the story of my friend Abram. Abram had been told 25 times that he wouldn’t ever be able to learn to read. We taught him how to read out of the Book of Mormon. When we finished reading a whole page one day he said, I paid professionals to teach me to read 25 times. Each time they said it was impossible. They said he was incapable of learning to read. Abram said, then you come here and you don’t know what you’re doing and in three months I learned to read. He said, it isn’t you, you don’t know what you are doing. It’s this book. He was shaking the book at me while he said, there’s a power in this book and then he said it again, there’s a power in this book that has unlocked my ability to read and I want to be baptized.

I told him that Abram had lots of struggles with people and issues in his life but he never wavered because of the power in that book. I said, there’s a power in that book. He said, wow, I could use some of that power.

I asked him if he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached into my glove box and grabbed a copy prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, if you will read this every day and every time you have a craving, you will feel the power of God through your study of this book.

I told him that the Book of Mormon would teach him to rely on the power of God and access the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said that this is what he needed in his life right now more than anything. I looked back in the mirror and could tell that he was still very emotional. I said, God is testifying to you that the things I am saying are true, isn’t he? He said, yes.

I said, the Book of Mormon contains the promises God made to the children of Israel all over the world, including your ancestors in Africa. I said, when Jesus was leaving the Americas he said, other sheep I have which are not from here or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout, and he was going to them. I told him that I believed that his ancestors in Africa were included in those people. I said that the promises Jesus made to them and the blessings he gave them are the same ones found in this book. I said, this is your book. This book and its teachings are meant for you.

I told him that one of the main things I’ve learned from the Book of Mormon is that when things are broken in my life and I can’t do it, I need to look to God so that he can lift me. I talked to him about Nephi’s bow and how when it broke Nephi looked to God. When he did this, he learned that God could and would provide. He learned that God could protect and God could teach them how to do the things they didn’t know how to do. They learned that they could do anything through the power of God and that on their own they were nothing. They learned that their strength was found in their relationship with God.

I said, that’s the Book of Mormon and that’s why you need it now. You are broken and you don’t see the way out. I said, if you look to God, he will use his power, his knowledge and his abilities to bring you through to the light. If you try to do it yourself, you will fail, but with God you will be undefeated.

I said, besides that, why would a God that has shown you these miracles here today let you fail. You need to trust in him and rely on him.

I looked back and I could tell he was still feeling the spirit, he was smiling and there was a light in his eyes. I said, it feels good, doesn’t it? He said yes. I said, what your soul needs is to rest and in the presence of your Heavenly Father it can rest. It can be healed by the atonement and what you’re feeling right now is the spirit testifying of that.

I said, Satan has been on you constantly and it has made you tired spiritually and you’re tired of it. The weight of this had made you tired physically too Satan has been telling you for a long time that you’re broken and you can’t be fixed. Satan has been telling you that you’re not worthy and that God doesn’t love you. Satan has been telling you that you can’t go to church and that you can’t be forgiven. Satan is a liar, a liar from hell and he wants to drag you down to hell with him. You’re a fighter, don’t let that happen. God sent me here today to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

I felt the impression again to identify the spirit testifying of this truth. I told him that his Heavenly Father wants him to know that he is worth fighting for.

I said, now, with this knowledge, what do you do going forward? We need to make a plan. I said, if we don’t make a plan, you’ll be right back where you were in no time at all. He said, what would you suggest?

I said, the church has an addiction recovery program. They have meetings frequently and they are here to help people who want to get over their addictions. They want to help people learn to apply the atonement of Jesus Christ to their lives specifically in this way. Does that sound like you? He said, yes, I didn’t even know about that.

He said that he was going to be in detox for two days and then they would get him in a program. I told him that along with that program, he should attend the addiction recovery program for the church. I said that a lot of people do that program simultaneous with the other ones. He said, that’s awesome. I didn’t know that!

I told him he needed to go to church. I said that he needed to go to church and get right with God. We looked up the church that he would attend in Payson and I texted him the information for the ward and the Bishop. I told him to go to that ward on Sunday and asked for the Bishop. I told him to talk to the Bishop about what we had talked about on the ride. I told him to be open with the Bishop about everything and that the bishop could help him.

I told him that if he would do that he could take the sacrament and get power from that too. I told him that the most powerful thing I do every week is take the sacrament. I told him it fills my spiritual tank and helps me walk with God. He said, that’s what I need to do. I said, then you need to talk to your Bishop on Sunday. He said he would.

I said, before you told me that your friends abandoned you. Do you have any friends you know that are members of the church who you could reach out to? You could ask them to pray for you during this time. He thought for a moment then he said, yeah, I have two or three. I said, you should reach out to them today. I said, send them a text and tell them what’s going on and ask them to pray for you. He said, that’s an amazing idea. Right then he texted those friends in a group text and asked them to pray for him.

I said, hopefully this will bring them back around you and get them back in your life as a positive influence. I told him, all those people who have been a bad influence in your life need to be out of your life. They are not your friends and you will relapse if you don’t shed them now. Satan for sure needs to be out of your life. You need to quit listening to him. Most of all you need to remember that your Heavenly Father loves you and he’s there for you. You need to remember that today, in your hour of greatest need, he sent someone to rescue you. He said, I know I can’t hardly believe it. I said, it’s true!

He said, this ride is just what I needed, it gave me the lift and the light. I didn’t know how I could face it but now I know I won’t do it alone. God can be with me.

I asked him if he was still feeling the spirit now and he said yes. I told him to remember that feeling and take it with him. I told him that, especially in detox, he would need to pray when it was tough. I said that God would be there with him. I told him that if he would do this, being with God, reading the Book of Mormon, saying his prayers, going to church and doing the things he needed to do, he could win. He said, I will win.

He got out of the car, went in and registered. He came back and grabbed his stuff out of the car and shook my hand. He said, Brother, now I believe in angels, now I believe in miracles, now I believe I can do this. I asked him if he would commit to me and God to do the things that we had discussed and he said, yes, I promise. He let go of my hand, waved and shut the door. He went into the facility to start his detox. One thing we know is that he is not alone.

I picked up a restaurant manager in Holiday one night. She seemed physically worn out after a long day and acknowledged that when I asked. I could tell that her spirit was worn out and tired as well. I asked her where she was from. She said that she was from Las Vegas originally. She said that when she lived in Las Vegas she was into all kinds of bad things. She said that she believes that this is a better place. She said that this is a place where she could get away from the evil influences and start a new life.

I felt prompted to tell her that she was guided here. She looked at me, paused and said, I believe that. I believe that I was guided here by God. I asked her why she thought that this place felt different and she said she didn’t know.

I told her it was because the people here worship God so his spirit could be here in more abundance. She thought for a second and then she said whatever the reason is, it is a good thing and she liked it. The spirit whispered to me that she had a hard life, that she had spent her life running with bad people and even some street gangs doing many unworthy things. I felt prompted that she had been sexually abused by the people in these gangs and even before she was in those gangs by people who she had trusted. It had been her life. I mentioned these things to her and she started to tear up and she said you’re exactly right. She asked, how did you know this? She said, that’s where I started my downward path. That abuse made me feel like I was nothing.

I told her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that it was God‘s plan to help us cope within injustice, suffering and pain in this life. I told her that Jesus Christ had already suffered all the pain and humiliation that she suffered and that he wanted to take it on himself so she wouldn’t have to do this alone. I told her Jesus Christ is the answer. He came to heal our bodies, our spirits and our souls.

I said that he is God’s son and he is the God of the whole world not just the God of Jerusalem. I told her, Jesus Christ served his ministry in Jerusalem but then went to America and other places after his resurrection because God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. I said, Jesus Christ is for everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is for you. He is here to heal you.

She asked where I learned this and I told her it was from the Book of Mormon. She said she’d heard of that book. I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I taught her about Joseph Smith and how we have prophets in the world today to bless us. I told her that our church Is led by these prophets.

The spirit was really strong in the car. I explained to her that reading that book will lift you and fill you with the spirit. I told her that by doing this she would more easily be able to see God‘s will and God‘s goodness. I told her that if she prayed while reading that book, the truthfulness of it would be revealed to her and she would learn to trust Christ so he could heal her wounds. She said, this is what I want, this is what I need.

I asked her if she would like a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said she would. I gave her one of the copies I carry that are customized by the Secrists and asked her if she had any friends who were members of the church that could answer questions for her. She said, yes! There are three Mormon missionaries that live right next-door to me. They’re always asking me if I want to know more or if there is something they can do to help. She said, I really like those boys and always feel something special around them. She said that this would give her a good excuse to talk to them.

She said, earlier I asked you how you knew in such detail about my past. You didn’t really answer. I said, when we are baptized we become clean from all of our sins and we then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost fills us with the spirit. It leads us, guides us and gives us things to say so that we can speak the words God would have us speak. This is what happened tonight. It was directly from the spirit of God. He knew, he knows you and wanted you to feel his power so you would know to listen to his truth.

She said that there was no other way I could have known. She thought for a second and said, I had better do this. I will talk to the missionaries tomorrow. She was excited. I asked her how she felt. She said energized and hopeful. I told her that this is how she felt in the presence of God. This is how she knows that the things I was saying were true. She said that she believed all the things I had said. She said, this feeling is awesome. I said that the missionaries would teach her and invite her to be baptized. After her baptism she would receiver the gift of the Holy Ghost so she could walk with God all of the time.

She smiled and said that she couldn’t wait to talk to those missionaries. She thanked me then got out of the car and went into her apartment.

Later, one of my friends said, think about everything that had to come together for that to happen. There was the discussion that went on in my car but also, the senior missionaries who were prompted to choose that apartment for those elders however many years ago. That specific apartment was chosen not the one upstairs or in another building. They
chose that apartment so that it could all come together at this special time and at this specific place

This truly is God’s work. God is great

One night I picked up a girl who worked in a local area hospital. She worked in the labor and delivery unit and she was just getting off work.

I talked to her for a while about my mom being a nurse and how much she loved it. This girl said that she loved it as well. She said that she loved babies and to be around them when are they brand new is a lot of fun.

As I started to talk to her, I had the distinct impression that her father loved her very much and that he was praying for her. As a response to this, I said, I’ll bet you make your dad proud! I’ll bet he loves you.

She smiled and said that she was close with her dad. She was the oldest of seven children and we talked for a minute about her responsibility as the oldest child in a big family .

I was getting this impression that I needed to press more concerning the church and her relationship with her father. I felt like she was a member of the church but that she was definitely not active. There was no specific thing that indicated this other than how I felt. Sometimes someone gets in the car and they are dressed in a way or appear in a way that gives an indication of their level of commitment they have to the church or to their father in heaven. In this instance that was not the case.

I was trying to find a way around that when I decided to just start talking about her life and asking her personal questions about her relationships . This is expressly forbidden and therefore fraught with danger in regards to your ability to keep driving. I felt however, that there was an urgency here and that I was supposed to press forward this way.

I asked her if she lived with family. She said no she lived with her boyfriend. I returned to the dad question and asked her how her dad felt about that and how he felt about this guy. She said that he wasn’t thrilled with her situation and that he was still very much on the fence with this guy. These were his feelings despite the fact that her boyfriend seemed to treat her well. She said, my dad always worries and he wants me to be close to him.

I said, I’ll bet your dad wants him to marry you. I’ll bet it makes him a little bit frustrated that your boyfriend doesn’t love you enough to do that. She said, that’s how he sees it but my boyfriend and I don’t agree. She seemed pretty assured of herself when she said this. It was like she actually believed what she was saying and normally at this time I would back off but the spirit told me to keep going. I felt strongly that she wasn’t telling the truth but defending and making excuses for her actions.

I said, I’ll bet your boyfriend has given you the whole song and dance about how it’s just a piece of paper and that it’s your love that matters. I’ll bet he’s told you that a marriage isn’t necessary because your relationship is firm. She asked, how did you know that? I said, it’s kind of the thing that all of the people say when they’re not willing to make that level of a commitment.

I said, the truth of the matter is that you want that commitment from him and you know deep down that this is what you should do. You have been taught that all of your life but you’re afraid to lose your boyfriend. I said, let me tell you a little something about guys. I said, if you ask a guy if he wants to do something or if he will do something, he’ll say yes and you’re like 50-50 on whether or not he will follow through. If you ask him to make a specific commitment and sign on the dotted line validating that commitment then it means something. At that point when he looks you in the eyes and makes this firm commitment, 90% of the time he’ll fight for that commitment. That means something to him and that means something to you.

I asked, don’t you think you deserve that kind of commitment? Don’t you think you deserve that kind of loyalty? She was stunned. She said, no one‘s ever spoken to me like that. I could tell that it sounded like something she knew her dad wanted to say but he hadn’t said. She said, I think that he is afraid to drive me away so he just let it go. She said, my dad‘s not very confrontational.

I said, you know that he’s praying for you and that he hopes for the best for you. I said, I assume your dad is a member of the church and she said yes. I asked, is your mom? She said, my mom is a member of the church but hasn’t been active for a long time and doesn’t believe anymore. She said, that causes a lot of pain for my dad.

I could see right then in my mind what was going on. This dad was trying to keep his family together, teach them the right things but not alienate them. It seemed to be something of a competition for the souls of the family between he and his wife. This is why he didn’t want to drive her away.

I laid this scenario out for her and asked if that’s how it was, she said yes. She said that she had six younger brothers and sisters at home and her dad was all about getting them to church and doing the things the way that you’re supposed to in the church.

She said, he prays for me constantly. He always says that to me when he talks to me and he always asks me to pray to help me make good decisions. I haven’t prayed in a long time. I guess I have been a bit rebellious.

I asked her why she thought her dad cared so much and why she thought that he prayed for her. She said that he prays a lot for her because he loves her. She said, I know that, but he just doesn’t get it.

I started getting some promptings regarding her relationship with her boyfriend. This is dicey territory but I decided to jump in. I said, you have been feeling frustrated for quite some time about your relationship. You have never bought the line about it just being a piece of paper. You want your boyfriend to marry you.

I asked, is your boyfriend a member of the church? She said, yes, we both are but we haven’t been to church in a long time. When I moved to Salt Lake and we moved in together, we just kind of put that behind us.

I said, one of the big problems you have here is that it doesn’t feel right to you. It felt fun at times, especially at the start, but it doesn’t feel right to you now. Due to your pride at not wanting to be wrong, you’re sticking it out and not bringing up the real issues.

The real issue here is that you have forgotten who your father in heaven is. You have forgotten that he loves you and how much he loves you. He wants you to be happy. Then I looked at her and I could tell what she was thinking. As I looked at her, she was glancing down. I could tell by the spirit that she was thinking that she didn’t deserve and wasn’t worthy of that kind of love. She was thinking she didn’t deserve that happiness.

I said, right now you’re thinking that you don’t deserve the love of your father in heaven. You’re thinking that you don’t deserve to be happy. I told her that this thought is coming directly from Satan. I told her that this is how he talks to her and that is how he makes people do things that they wouldn’t normally do.

I told her that at times in our lives we make mistakes and Satan is there to remind us that we made those mistakes. He tells us that because of how horrible and unforgivable those mistakes are we can’t be forgiven. He tells us that because we’ve made these mistakes we are unworthy of our father in heaven‘s love. I told her that this is a lie. I told her that this is Satan pulling her away with lies.

I asked her if there is anything she could do that would make her dad not love her. She said, no, I’ve already broken his heart, and he keeps loving me anyway. I said, that’s exactly how your father in heaven is. He loves you and he wants you back. He loves you and he wants you to be happy. He loves you and he knows that you deserve to be happy because you are his daughter. You need to decide what you want but you need to know that there is a way back.

I told her that Jesus Christ paid for our sins and all of the negative things we could go through in life. Through his atonement, he made it so that if we look to him, our burdens can be lifted and our sins can be erased . I said, when you think about church all you hear in your head is these negative things about being judged and that God doesn’t want you. I said, that’s pure Satan and he’s found a way into your brain. You need to kick him out.

I said, you need to decide whether or not you want this relationship with your boyfriend and if you do, you need to tell him that it needs to be done right. You need to tell him that it is time to get married. I said, you need to be bold and put it to him just like that. You need to tell him that this is what God wants and this is what you want.

I asked her how she thought her dad would feel about what I just said. She said, it would make him cry. She said, I have younger sisters and I know that my dad worries about them. That’s one of the things that has bothered me. I think it would be good to do the right thing, but I don’t know how to go about it.

I said, you live really close to a church house don’t you? She said, yes I do. I said, why do you think Satan works so hard to keep you out of that place? It’s because he wants you to be miserable. He wants you to settle for less like you’re doing right now and he wants you to be a bad example for your sisters. He’s all about destruction.

I told her that God put her in my car tonight so that she could get this message. God wants her to recognize who she is and realize that everyone makes mistakes but God always keeps the door open. I said, he’s inviting you to walk through that door.

I said, when I was a kid, they used to say don’t live beneath your privileges. This meant that we are children of our father in heaven. As children of God, we are privileged to be loved by him. We don’t want to live beneath that position, we want to live up to that.

I said, there are a couple things you need to do. First, you need to have a conversation with your boyfriend. He needs to make a decision. He needs to decide how important you are to him. Second, you need to go to church on Sunday. I’m not sure which ward you belong to, but I do know that there’s a church house close to your apartment. I said, go to that church house at 9 AM, ask for the Bishop and he will help you from there.

I said, the Bishop can even marry you guys and get you on the path that will bring you to happiness. I asked her if she would commit to do these things and she said yes. She said, I’ve known for some time that I need to make a change and I feel very strongly right now that this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do.

I said, the third thing you need to do is you need to call your dad, tell him about this ride and what you’ve felt. Tell him what you have decided regarding your relationship. You need to tell him that you’ve talked with the Bishop and that you want to do things right. She said, I think he’ll be so happy. I said, then you need to ask your father to give you a blessing.

I asked her how long it had been since her dad gave her a blessing. She said that it was back when she was in high school, back when she was active. She said, I always was a daddy‘s girl. I think I would like to have a blessing very much.

She said, I felt lost and have known that I need to make a change in my life. I haven’t known how to identify what to do or how to go about it. She said, it is crazy how you knew exactly what to say here tonight. I said, I didn’t know, but Heavenly Father knew. He knew that you were struggling and he knew that your dad was praying for you. Tonight he’s reached out with his spirit and touched your soul. You need to pray and do the things that we’ve talked about and let him bring you the rest of the way back.

She said that she would. Just as she said this, we turned the corner onto her street. She lives in a residential area and there is a great big stake center right in front of her house. Laughing, she said, you didn’t know how right you were when you said there was a church close to my house did you? I said, Heavenly Father did though.

I said, at this point I think it’s settled, you know that your Heavenly Father is reaching out. The only question is, what are you going to do? She said, I’m done living in limbo, I’m coming back. I can’t wait to call my dad.

She said, no one has ever talk to me like that in my life and I’m so glad that you did. I said, I’m a dad and a grandpa, I know we love our children and I know God loves you too. I know he will do anything to bring you home just like your dad. It’s time to make these changes! She said, you’re right and I will.

I asked her what she felt. The Spirit had been along for the ride in abundance and I knew that we both felt it. Having grown up going to church I knew that she knew what that felt like. Her answer was, it was amazing. I said, that is the spirit and when you feel that, God is confirming the truth that has been spoken to you. He is directing you too. She said, I know this and message received.

She said this ride had been amazing and thanked she thanked me. She got out of the car and went into the apartment.

One afternoon I picked up a kid on the Orem Lindon border over in the industrial area. When he got in my car, he seemed very happy. I like happy people.

This kid was from Mexico and he had been here this summer trying to figure out if there was any way he could work it out to go to school at UVU. His parents had both gone to UVU and had met while they were there. He was clean cut and very respectful. He spoke very good English with only a hint of an accent.

I listened to him talk about wanting to go to UVU. He had attended a couple of years of school in his home country yet was trying to find a way that he could have a similar college experience to that of his parents.

He had been here for a few months trying to work it out. While he had been here, he got a job and that’s where I picked him up. I asked him how his school search was going and he said, “it’s not looking good. I’ll probably end up going to the University of Arizona instead”.

He said that they had a program that would allow him to transfer most of the work he had done previously and he could graduate in two years. He said at UVU it would take a full four years. They were going to accept literally none of the work this kid had previously done. He shook his head and talked about how much money that would cost.

He seemed a little sad in saying this and he had resigned himself to his fate. He really did want to go to school in the United States but wanted to have this experience here at UVU. He had grown up listening to his parents talk about how much they loved it.

At first, I thought that he might be a member of the church. Even though I got the prompting that he wasn’t a member of the church it sure seemed like he was someone who was living their life the way they should.

Despite that prompting, I received an additional prompting to ask him, why not consider BYU? I thought about it for a second and started down that road.

I asked him, why not BYU? He looked at me and said, because we don’t have very much money. That would be really expensive. He told me that if he went to UVU, he could stay here and work to make it more affordable. He said, I’m afraid BYU is just out of my budget.

I asked him if he’d been up around BYU at all and he said, oh yes! I love it up there. I asked him if he talked with somebody about how much it would cost and he said no. He said that he knew that it was a private school and the private schools cost a lot of money. I said, all schools cost a lot of money, but I think you would be surprised to find out how affordable BYU is.

I spent the next few minutes laying out the cost of attending BYU for him. I let him know that there are two tiers. One is for people who are members of the church and the other is for non-members. When I told him what the cost was, he was shocked. He said, are you sure? That’s less than UVU.

I said to him that even though BYU was a private school, the tithing being paid by members of the church subsidizes the education of the people who attend there. I told him that this makes it very affordable. He was blown away. He said, I wish I’d known about that.

He said that he had signed up for Arizona and was planning to quit his job in three weeks. I said, it’s probably not too late to consider BYU. He said, it would be amazing. The owner of my work and all of his family went to BYU. One of the guys I work with is my good friend and he went to BYU too.

He said, it seems like a great school with great people. He asked, don’t you need to be a member of the church? He said, I’m not a member of that church. My parents really like the Mormons but I was baptized Catholic and have never been to a Mormon church.

I said, tell me about your friends at work. Do they ever talk to you about the church? He said, not really. I don’t really know anything about the church and I’ve been afraid to ask questions because I don’t want to offend anyone. I’m so glad that I’m their friend and so I haven’t pushed it. I said, they probably would like it if you pushed it and I chuckled.

He said, my friend at work is a good guy and he invited me to go to an open building celebration or an open temple day to tour one of your chapels. He said, I felt so bad because I couldn’t go and he hasn’t mentioned the church since. I felt like maybe I insulted him by not going with him but I really couldn’t make it. We just kind of left it at that and now I’ll be leaving.

I said, well, we call that thing he invited you to, a temple open house. We open our temples after they are built and before they are dedicated so that the people who live in the area can come in and see what it’s like inside the building. In the temple they feel the spirit of God. I said, that building is the house of God and it’s very easy to feel his spirit when you’re there. That’s why he wanted you to go. That’s what he wanted you to feel. I guarantee you he’s not upset. He was probably more afraid of having offended you.

He thought about it for a second and said, it’s just really weird talking about religion and I don’t know what to say sometimes. I don’t understand the Mormon church and it’s so different from the Catholic church.

I said, well, here we are in my car, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Why don’t you ask me any questions that you have? He said, would that be OK with you? I said, yes! He said, are you sure you won’t be offended? I said, it’s pretty hard to offend me so let’s go.

He said, the Mormon church seems to be pretty strange in a lot of different ways and it all seems very disjointed to me. It doesn’t come together for me like the Bible does. Do you guys believe in the Bible? I said, yes we do! The Bible is the word of God and it is a compilation of the revelations from God and the writings of God’s prophets in Israel. It includes the account of the life of Jesus Christ on earth and it is one of the watts we get to know God. We believe that the only way you can return and live with your father in heaven is through his son Jesus Christ. Through his atonement and because of his resurrection, we will all live again.

He said, that sounds just like Catholics. Are you guys just like Catholics? I said, no, we have the teachings the Catholics have but we also have other teachings and other prophecies that help bring our discipleship of Jesus Christ into focus for us.

I told him that we believe God loves everyone and that we all lived with him in the preexistence. We knew him for thousands of years before we came to earth. I said, we loved him and it was the most essential feeling in our lives. I said, when we feel the spirit, we know what it’s like to be in the presence of God. I said, our souls crave this feeling by design. The spirit of God feeds our souls and makes us whole.

I told him that this goes for every person that ever lived, or who will ever live on the face of the Earth, no matter where they live. I told him that we are in this life to learn how to do the things we need to do to walk in the presence of God.

He said, that’s beautiful. He said, I feel that! That’s exactly right. I asked him if God loved everyone in the world or just the people in Jerusalem. He said that God loves everyone. I asked him how God shows his love to his children. He said, he helps us. I said, that’s right! He helps us by giving us his word through his prophets.

I told him that God reveals his commandments and his word to the prophets then they teach us what he would have us know and what he would have us do. I said, that’s why prophets are important. I said, in the Bible, they wrote their prophecies down and that’s why we have the Bible.

I asked him if God loved the people who lived in ancient America, his ancestors. He said, absolutely! We love Jesus. I asked him when the first time was that his ancestors heard about Jesus. He thought for a bit and said that it must have been when the Spanish came.

I asked him if everyone needed to be baptized to go to heaven and be with God. He said, yes, everyone needs to be baptized or they can’t go back to heaven. I asked him if because of this his ancestors that lived in America before the Spanish came were condemned because they could not be baptized according to this knowledge.

He thought for a minute and said, that’s not right, that’s not fair! I never thought of it that way. It wouldn’t be fair. I agreed with him. I said, you’re right! That wouldn’t be fair. That’s why we have the restored Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth today. It has all those answers and teaches us how God is not only fair but he’s loving and just. Every one of his children will have a chance to come home.

He said, how does that work? I said, first did you know that God had prophets in America? He said, no, I’ve never heard anything like that. I said, God had prophets in America who received revelation and taught the people. They wrote their revelations and walked with God. They prophesied to them that Jesus would visit them here in America one day and he did.

I told him about how Jesus said he had other sheep in the Bible. He agreed because he remembered that scripture. I asked him where those sheep were and he thought about it. After a minute, he said, I guess they were everywhere. I said, that’s exactly right, including America.

I said, Jesus said this to them after his resurrection and before he ascended to heaven. I said, then he descended from heaven in America to visit your ancestors. He appeared in the heavens announced by his father and clothed in glory. I said, he descended until he stood on the steps of the temple. He invited the people to touch the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet.

I said, once the people had touched his hands and feet they knew that the man standing before them was their God. They knelt and they begged him for their salvation. As a direct answer to that plea, he called up 12, gave them authority to baptize and commanded them to baptize these people, every one of them, even though they had previously been baptized by the prophets.

He commanded each of them to be baptized, he invited them to take a step up to a new level of discipleship. He invited them to a new level of understanding and covenants that would bring greater blessings to their lives. I said, they were all baptized and they all accepted this challenge.

I said, he gave them the Holy Ghost so that they could walk with God and be guided in their lives. He held their children, each one of them and blessed them and loved them. I said, he not only blessed them, but he blessed their posterity and I believe that your spirit recognizes that blessing and that legacy.

The spirit was very strong in the car and I asked, what do you feel right now? He said, it’s like a buzz is going on in my head and I feel like I’m in a fuzzy warm blanket. I said, that’s the spirit of God confirming to you that the things I am saying are true. I said, I testify to you that if these things were not true, you would not feel that.

He said, I know it’s true. Each thing you have said has been like opening a door in my mind and truth has come flowing in. I know what you’re saying is true.

I said, these prophets in ancient America engraved these teachings on metal plates.
These plates were given to Joseph Smith in the 1820’s and he translated them so that we have these teachings today. They are the word of God, another testament of Jesus Christ.

I said, Joseph Smith was looking for the truth and he couldn’t find it, a lot like you. He was seeing things as scattered and disjointed. He couldn’t figure out which church was God‘s church. He knelt and prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ descended from heaven to stand in front of him. They called him to be the prophet to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth with all of the blessings, including the same baptism that your ancestors had here in America.

He said, wow, that’s powerful. He said, before I thought I felt the spirit but now it’s crazy. I love this, I’d like to feel this all the time. I said, that’s what your ancestors said and that’s why Jesus Christ gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so that they could walk with God. The Holy Ghost testifies of truth and it guides us in our life.

I said, Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet to restore the church and since that day, we have always had a prophet on the Earth. I said, we have a prophet today, his name is President Nelson. I testify to you that he also is a prophet of God. I testify to you that he speaks with God for us and guides us the way God would have us live.

He said, in this world today, of course we need this. This is great. I know that this is true too.

We had arrived at his house and he needed to go. I felt the time crunch coming. He was going to have to move in three weeks. I said, you said you felt bad about not being able to go to the temple with your friend for the open house. He said, yes, my friend was quite disappointed.

I asked, do you want to make it up to him? He said, yes! I asked, when will you see him next? He said, tomorrow at work. I said, what you should do is ask your friend if you could attend church meetings with him this Sunday. He asked, do you think he would like that? I said, yes, that’s what he was trying to do when he invited you to the temple. He was trying to introduce you to the things we have talked about here in the car today. Go up to him tomorrow and ask him if you can go to church with him on Sunday. He said, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

I asked him if the things I had said helped him clear up his understanding of the church and he said, yes, now it all fits. I asked him what he thought about Jesus coming to America and he said that it was one of the most incredible things he had ever heard . He said, I believe that’s true.

I asked him if Jesus invited his ancestors to be baptized and he said, yes. I told him that Jesus was also extending that same invitation to him. I told him that Jesus was inviting him to be baptized with that same baptism and that same authority. I said that his friend had this authority and his friend could preform his baptism. He said, that would be awesome! That’s what I want.

I said, here’s what you do. Text your friend right now and tell him you want to go to church on Sunday. Tomorrow at work, you make arrangements with him to have him pick you up. You have him talk to the missionaries and let them know that you want to be baptized and then it can happen.

He said, that’s amazing and that’s what I will do. He said, I only have four Sundays between now and when I have to leave. Do you think that I can be baptized before I go? I said, I think you can and the missionaries will be able to make that happen. As soon as I said this, he texted his friend and told him that he wanted to go to church on Sunday and that he wanted to be baptized. His phone blew up with 1 million responses. We laughed.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said, no. I asked him if he wanted one and I pulled one of the Book of Mormons prepared by the Secrists out of my glove box and gave it to him. He grabbed it and held it to his chest and said, this feels right. He said, tomorrow’s going to be a fun day at work.

He said, in a 20 minute ride I have gone from feeling uncomfortable about your church to having an understanding that it is true and wanting to be baptized. He said, that’s quick work.

What a great ride and a great kid. I’m excited for his friend.

One night I was driving down in Provo and I got a ride to pick someone up in some apartments east of BYU and take them to the airport. This happens a lot on weekends or at the beginning of vacations but this was in the middle of the week and for that reason was a little strange.

I pulled up and waited for what seemed to be forever for them to come out. Finally they appeared. It was a girl who looked like a student age person along with a young man. They seemed to be getting along quite well and I figured I would hear all about it on the ride.

When the young man got in the car, I found out I wasn’t going to learn anything unless I asked him. He was a one word answer kind of guy. I resigned myself to the thought that I wasn’t going to really talk to him that much. I put on a podcast and started listening to it. The funny thing about this is that I listen to this podcast every night and I enjoy it but this time it annoyed me. I wanted to turn it off and felt impressed to do so.

Then the spirit jolted me and clearly said, you’ve got work to do here. I looked in the mirror and this kid seemed to be a member of the church. Sometimes we can be deceived by appearances.

As I was analyzing him, the spirit said, start from the beginning. We were already 20 minutes down the road so I had to rewind almost to an introduction. I started in on the small talk again trying to pry words out of him. I asked him where he was from and he said Maryland. I asked him if that was his girlfriend. He said yes. He must’ve thought I was stupid because that was pretty obvious because of the way they came out together. I asked him if she went to BYU and he said yes.

I asked him where he was going and he said he was going home to Maryland. He said he was a student at the University of Maryland and that he was studying physics and chemistry. I told him that I appreciate having smart people in my car. I told him my wife is one of them but I’m not. I told him that my uncle was a nuclear physicist that wrote textbooks for nuclear physics and had several pattens in that realm. I said that I missed that boat for sure. I said, if it has anything to do with math, I’m out! He laughed.

I asked, what is your girlfriend studying? He said that she was studying psychology and that she really enjoyed it. I asked him if she liked it here and he said yes. I asked him if he liked it here and he also said yes. I asked, why don’t you go here? You would be closer to her. He said, because I’m not a member of your church.

I said, you mean, you’re not a member of our church yet! He laughed and said I guess you could say that. Now I knew why he was in the car.

A vivid scenario prompted by the spirit came to my mind regarding her trying to teach him about the gospel and him not being very open to it. He was not willing to be vulnerable regarding the questions he had his heart. I could feel the prayers that she was offering, and I could feel the prayers from her parents who didn’t know what else to do. I knew that those prayers were behind the commandment I received to get off of my podcast and start talking. I knew that those prayers were a call to testify.

I thought for a second about what I should say and how to say it. As I sat for a second in quiet prayer, I thought that he needed to understand the big picture. After this prompting, I assumed that he had heard things here and there, but that he needed to tie it all together so that it would make sense and the spirit could testify to truth.

I asked him how long he had been with his girlfriend and he said that they had been boyfriend girlfriend since high school. They had met in high school junior ROTC and had been exclusive for quite some time. He said that when they first started dating, they figured that the fact that they were different races would cause trouble but there had been no trouble regarding that. He was African-American and she was Latina. The problem that they had encountered was the mixing of her religious culture with the church and what he was used to.

He said that she had told him some things about the church but that he was still trying to figure things out. I asked him if it would be OK if I tried to help him out a bit and he said he would love that. I asked him if I should start with some of the differences between our church and general Christianity. He said that would be very helpful. He said that he didn’t go to church much, but that his family was Christian and that was his frame of reference.

I told him that we believe we are all children of our father in heaven. I told him that God is a perfect father, a loving father and an all powerful father. He loves us and cares for us. Most of all he wants each one of us to come home. I said, I’m a father and I love it when my kids come home!

I said, God gave us his son Jesus Christ, to show us the way and to make it possible for us to come home. I said, when Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and atoned for our sins, he made that all possible. The kid in the back said “amen”.

I said, one of the things that Jesus said is that everyone needs to be baptized to come home to his father in heaven. He said, “that’s true”. I said, all these things we agree on, right? He said, yes

I asked him if God loves all of his children, no matter where they were born or when they were born. He said, yes, of course he does.

I asked him if God wanted each one of his children to come home and live with him in heaven, he said yes, of course he does.

I said, you believe that because you know it from the fiber of your being. You know that God loves his children. You know that God is perfect and that his plan is perfect. He said, yes. I asked him what percentage of the people in the history of the world had never and would never hear of Jesus Christ. People that don’t know anything about our father in heaven.

He thought for a minute and said, probably a solid 70%. I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of the people in the history of the world would never heard of Jesus.

I asked him, according to what the Bible says and what you have learned in your life can they go back and live with their father in heaven if these people have not been baptized? He thought for a minute and said, I guess not. He said, it is sad to think of it like that.

I asked, would a perfect Heavenly Father accept a plan that excluded 70% of his children right off the top? He said, I guess I would have to say no, no way.

He said, I’m all ears then, I had never considered that question and there seems to be a hole in my understanding. What does your church with its understanding teach about the salvation of this 70%? How are they going to be saved or how are they going to have an opportunity to be saved? He said, I’ve never thought of that. It seems like an important question. The reality is, I just don’t know.

I said with a smile on my face, I thought you’d never ask! Just then we were rounding the point of the mountain and you can see the Jordan River Temple in the valley. I said, the answer is in the temple. Do you know about temples? He said, I know a bit. I live in Chevy Chase, Maryland and the temple is just off of the freeway. What a beautiful building.

I said, it is a beautiful building, but what’s more beautiful is what we do inside. I said, once we have been baptized and we are worthy, we go inside those temple and we save the people who have passed on. I said, in the New Testament it talked about baptism for the dead and that is one of the things we do in this building. We go in the temple and are baptized for someone who has died. Once we are baptized for them, they get the opportunity to choose whether or not to accept that baptism.

I told him that these people have been taught the gospel and once we provide the baptism, they get to choose whether or not to accept that baptism. He said, I like that. I really like how you said that they get to choose. You don’t obligate them to anything they get to choose and that’s how it should be.

I said, when they choose to accept that baptism, it’s like handing them the key so that they can go into the kingdom of God, home to their father. Their baptism allows them to repent so they can be pure before God and they can be happy. I asked, isn’t that what we all want? To be happy? He said yes.

I said, one of the other things we do in that building is something that I get the feeling has been a little bit of a wedge for you and your girlfriend. She wants to be married in the temple. It’s what she has wanted her whole life It’s kind of been a stumbling block in your courtship. He said, that was the discussion we were having just tonight when I came out. He said, I guess I just don’t understand it. Why is it so special and important?

I said, we believe that we are the family of our father in heaven like we discussed. We are his children. We believe that the family is the most important organization on the Earth.

We believe that this is so important that we go into those temples and are married. We are not married until death to us part but instead we are married for eternity. We believe that our children are then sealed to us in our families.

In the Bible, Jesus gave Peter the power to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. We have that same power. We use that power to seal marriages and families on earth and in heaven. It’s very important in our lives and it creates a strong foundation for a family so we can withstand all of the evil in the world today. That’s why she wants to be married in the temple.

I asked, have you heard about Joseph Smith? He said yes. I said, he was the prophet that restored the fullness of the gospel to the Earth. He was called to be prophet when he saw God the father and Jesus Christ. He was the prophet that received these keys and authority from Peter to perform this ordinance. Since that time, this has been the most important part of a family relationship. This power binds us together with our father in heaven and it is exactly what he wants us to do.

I said, we also do these sealings for our ancestors so that they can have this blessing as well. God loves all of his children, no matter where they were born or when they were born.

I told him that prophets had always been important in the church of Jesus Christ. I told him that the Old Testament and the New Testament were full of the writings of prophets because God loved his children and he gave them commandments through his prophets. I told him that obedience to these commandments helped them live happy lives .

I said, those prophets were in Israel, in the Middle East, and they ministered to the people there. They wrote their prophecies and God‘s word. I said, this is why we have the Bible. He said, I love the Bible, I read the Bible a lot.

I asked, did God love your girl friends ancestors who lived here in America any less than he loved the people in Jerusalem? He said, no. He loves all of his children the same. I asked him if the people living in America or the people living in Africa had access to the prophets that were in Jerusalem and their words. He said no. He said, back in the day international communication wasn’t a thing. I laughed and said, you are absolutely correct.

I said, that’s why God had prophets in America. He had prophets here who received revelations and commandments just like they did in the Bible and they wrote them down. They wrote them down so that their people could have them, read them and stay close to God.

I said, these writings were given to Joseph Smith and he translated them by the power of God. Today we have these revelations and prophecies and we call them the Book of Mormon. He said, oh, I have one of those books! My girlfriend gave me one a couple of years ago. I said, it’s a companion to the Bible and it teaches us the word of God. It supports and testifies of the truthfulness taught in the Bible. It testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

I asked him if he’d ever heard the phrase other sheep, I have which are not of this fold. He said that he had heard it but he really didn’t understand what it meant. I said, it meant that after Jesus had been resurrected in Jerusalem, he was telling the people there that he had other sheep in other parts of the world. He was saying that he was going to go visit them. I asked him, do you know where those other sheep were?

He thought for a minute and he said, could you help me, like give me a hint? We were both laughing as I said, yes I can. In Isaiah in the Old Testament, it tells where these people were that Jesus would visit and it includes the Isles of the sea, which is everything out there in the ocean. I also said that they were in Kush. I asked him if he knew where Kush was and he said no.

I told him that it was the ancient empire of Africa. He was silent for a second and said, are you saying that Jesus went to Africa? I said,I personally believe he did. One thing we know for sure is that he came to America and then went to others around the world. Yes I think he went to Africa.

In the Book of Mormon, it talks about this. It has the complete account of his visit here to America. It talks about him descending from heaven in glory. The people knew who he was because they had been waiting for him. Their prophets had said he would come and now he was there.

They worshipped him and asked him to save them. I said, he called up 12, gave them authority to baptize and commanded them to baptize everyone even though they had previously been baptized in their religion. He commanded them to accept his invitation for this new baptism and take a step up in their level of discipleship. I said, he later gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost, so they could walk with the spirit of God. He held their children in his arms. He blessed their children and their posterity because God loves all of his children.

I said, after he did this, he said, still other sheep I have which are not of this land, the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout where he had been. He said he had received a commandment from his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. I said, he went to them. I said, I think that’s when he went to Africa. He said, oh that’s cool!

I said, if we want to know what he would have taught the people in Africa and what he would’ve done there we should read the Book of Mormon because it would be pretty similar. I told him, one thing I am pretty sure of is that he blessed their children and loved them.

By this time, the stoic young man had become a little less stoic and a little more emotional. He said, that feels right. I said, it feels right because the spirit of God is touching your heart and letting you know that this is true. He said that the feeling was amazing and that he believed the things I was saying.

I said, this is all found in the Book of Mormon, that book is true! That book is the word of God and as a companion with the Bible, it will bring us home to him.

He said, this all makes more sense now. I had wondered why becoming a member of the your church and being married in the temple were such big things to her, now I get it. You’ve also answered so many questions I had and filled in the blanks on the church with regards to things that I was afraid to ask because I didn’t want to insult her or her beliefs. This makes more sense now.

I told him that he needed to talk to her about this ride and talk to her about the things that were said but most of all he needed to talk to her about the things he felt. He said, I usually don’t talk about my feelings very much. I think that would be a good idea. We have already been texting about what’s been going on here in the car and she’s very happy.

I bore my testimony, one more time. I know he could feel it. I testified that God had revealed things to my mind and that he had put him in my car tonight. I told him there is no such thing as a coincidence and the fact that they had been talking about this stuff right before he got in the car and then our continuing the conversation during the ride had been God’s way of reaching out.

He said, it had to be God because you nailed everything right on. You said things that answered my questions without me even asking them. He asked how I hit everything right on the nose. I said, God gave me the words to say so that you would know that the rest of the things I said were true. He uttered a very eloquent yup!

He thanked me and said this cleared things up so much and his girlfriend would be so happy to hear all about it.

By this time we had been sitting in the parking zone for about 10 minutes and he had to go. He thanked me and got out of the car. It was great to be there that day when his heart was softened. He was ready and all God had to do was tell me to get to it. He was ready to hear and accept the word of God. That’s a win.

One day I was driving back from Salt Lake. I had just dropped my friend Blaine and his wife off at the airport and I was working my way back home. I had just taken a ride that brought me over to Herriman, which took a few minutes shy of forever to accomplish. I was thinking about turning off the app and just going home for dinner. It was 5:30 already and I just didn’t know if I had another ride in me.

I felt strongly impressed that I should leave it on anyway. I had the directional parameter setting on so I knew I was going to be heading in the direction I needed to go. Finally, I got a ride. It had me dipping a little bit into Salt Lake before coming along the Pony Express Road at Point of the Mountain where I was supposed to pick up my guy.

I could see his GPS showing that he was down at the bottom of this gravel road by the river. He worked down there at his smasher that created sand out of gravel. It was a dirty business. I decided to drive down to get him instead of waiting for him to move up to me. I could see that he was moving and when I got down to him, I saw that he was riding on a scooter. Can you imagine driving up a pretty steep hill on gravel with a scooter? That doesn’t sound like a great plan to me.

I pulled up and he put his scooter in my trunk and got in my car. He was filthy, dirty and dusty but he was going to Orem and that was perfect! I couldn’t have asked for a better ride to finish off my pre dinner driving session.

As we started to drive, I got the impression that he was going to an addiction recovery meeting of some sort. I had the feeling that he was an addict but that he had been clean for a while and he was battling it hard.

I tried to get him to talk about it a little bit because I knew that it was part of what we needed to talk about. I asked him what kind of a meeting it was that he was going to and he just kind of deflected. We talked about where we were from and all that small talk. This was my way of trying to break down the wall.

Finally, I just came out and asked it. I asked, are you going to an addiction recovery meeting? He said, how do you know? Yes I am.

He told me the story about how he had lost his CDL because he become addicted to drugs. He had become addicted to painkillers after a medical procedure and then it took over his life. He had been arrested twice for driving under the influence of these drugs but the judge was working with him. That’s why he was going to this meeting.

I felt very strongly that I needed to tell him that his father in heaven loved him. I talked about being with our father in heaven in the preexistence and how that bond transcends the years and the space between us and our father in heaven. I said, that feeling and relationship you have developed with him is the most central feeling in your existence and you are hardwired in your soul to crave that.

I told him that the problem is that Satan counterfeits that feeling with drugs and riotous living. He tries to stuff his counterfeit in that part of your soul that craves the spirit of our father in heaven. I said, it’s like eating cotton candy, there’s nothing there and you just have to eat more and more and more. That’s how you end up in a bad way. I said, you end up chasing a high. That craving and chase ensnares you and you find it very difficult to get out.

I told him that the way out is filling that hole with the very thing that was divinely intended to be there, the spirit of God. I said, if you do that, it will help you fight the cravings and give you heavenly help in your endeavor.

He said, I’m glad you brought up the God thing. That has become very important to me. He said, I was baptized in the Mormon church one time when I was young but I was never someone who attended church much. I haven’t believed in that church for a long time.

He said, what I do know is that it keeps coming up. He said, one night, not too long ago. I was sitting there contemplating my horrific situation. I looked up and I saw a man next to me dressed in white. I’m not sure if it was an angel or Jesus Christ, but I thought it was Jesus. I was told that my only way out of this was in the Mormon church. I decided to start going.

A couple of days later I was camping instead of going to church. I had drugs with me and planned to indulge. That same person appeared in my tent next to me and said, “you’re kidding me right? You know what you need to do. You need to quit this and go to the Mormon church”.

My passenger said, I started going to the Mormon church, I liked it ok and all, the people were friendly but it wasn’t quite doing it for me. I was confused and starting to wonder what was going on.

It just seemed to me that I grew up loving the Bible and at church they never talked about the Bible. All they ever talked about was the Book of Mormon. They never talked about the apostles and Jesus, just the Book of Mormon. He said, I guess that’s not totally fair. They mentioned the Bible, but they talked about the Book of Mormon more than anything.

I assumed that this was some point last year when we were doing the Book of Mormon for Sunday School. I also know that sometimes when people haven’t got a basic understanding of the Book of Mormon, the conversations we as members have about it can be misconstrued.

He looked at me and said “I feel like I’m supposed to ask you, Bruce, can you help me understand? What am I missing here or was I being misled all along?”

It was a pretty incredible experience. The spirit had been in the car since I very first started talking about Heavenly Father and his love. It had been in the car when he talked about his vision and it was in the car as he asked these very sincere questions. He wasn’t questioning me. He was begging for information, confirmation and help.

I said, first off you need to know that those are very good questions and that I have very good answers to those questions. I said, the Bible and the Book of Mormon are one. In Ezekiel, it says that you write on one stick for Judah and the other stick for Joseph and they will be one in your hand. I said, anciently they wrote on sticks or scrolls that were kept on sticks so in this scripture they are talking about scriptures.

I asked him what he thought the stick of Judah would be referring to. He very quickly said, it’s the Bible. I said, you’re right. The Bible was written by the prophets in Israel. That is the stick of Judah.

I asked him, what is this other stick ? He thought for a minute and said he didn’t know. I said, that other stick is the Book of Mormon. It was written by the prophets who were here in America and they were descendants of Joseph who was another of the sons of Israel.

I said, this scripture says that there would be a stick of Judah, which is the Bible and a stick from Joseph, which is the Book of Mormon and that you would bring them together in one hand. It means that they would testify together that Jesus is the Christ.

The Book of Mormon was prophesied of in the Bible. I said, God had prophets in America because he loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem.

I asked him, does God love everyone in the world or just some of the people in the world? He said, God loves everyone and he’s perfect. I said, why would he only take care of the ones that live in Jerusalem if he loves them all? Does that make sense? He said, no, I never thought of it that way.

I told him that in the Bible in Amos, it says that God would do nothing save he revealed his secrets to his servants the prophets. I asked him if God was doing things in the world these days. He said, yes! Absolutely! I said, well, according to the Bible, what do we need to have on the Earth to receive those secrets? He said, I guess prophets.

I told him that God gave commandments to the prophets who lived in ancient America. They wrote them down just like the prophets in the Bible had done and they prophesied that Jesus Christ would come to them and visit them.

I said, in the Bible Jesus said that he had other sheep that he was going to go visit so that they could hear his voice and be counted among his fold. I asked him where he thought those other sheep were and he said that he supposed that they were in America given the way I was asking the question.

I told him that he was very astute. I told him that after Jesus was resurrected, he descended from heaven in America. I told him that the people came up and touched the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. They knew this was their God, they cried and bathed his feet with their tears. They were overwhelmed by being in his presence.

My passenger was tearing up. I said, I can tell you are feeling and remembering what you have seen and relating it to these ancient people in America. I said, they asked to be saved, and he gave them baptism so that they could be clean and the Holy Ghost so that they could remain clean. He taught them that they could be cleansed through repentance throughout the rest of their lives. He gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so that they could walk with God when he returned to heaven.

My rider said, “that Holy Ghost part is important. I never thought of it like that”. I said, it’s one of the most important tools God gives us to fight evil.

I said, the Book of Mormon is really important because it’s another testament of Jesus Christ. We have the Old Testament and the New Testament plus the Book of Mormon another Testament of Jesus Christ. It testifies of his divinity, it testifies of the Bible, and it brings us closer to Jesus Christ and our father in heaven.

I told him that the Book of Mormon was the collection of writings of the prophets who lived in America and it was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith. He was the first modern prophet. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I told him that they called him to be the prophet to restore the church with all of the authority needed to bring us home. I said, we have a prophet on earth today and he has all of that authority.

He said, see I have a little problem with this prophet on the Earth today thing. I just don’t see how that would work. I told him that in Ephesians, it says that the church of Jesus Christ would have apostles and prophets until there’s a unity of the faith. I asked him what it meant to have a unity of the faith. He said, that everybody is together and agrees. I asked him if that’s the case in the Christian world today. He thought for a second and said, no way.

I said, then, if the Bible is true, there have to be apostles and prophets on the Earth today, right? He thought for a second and said, I never considered that and you make a very good point. I used this opportunity to bear my testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. I testified of the Book of Mormon and the spirit it brings to our hearts when we read it. I also testified that we have a prophet on the Earth today and that God continues to be God. He continues to show us his love through revelation to his chosen prophets for us.

I could tell he accepted that and believed in the words that I was saying.

I said, one thing you need to remember is that Satan is a liar. He tells you the Book of Mormon isn’t true, it’s a lie. He tells you that the church isn’t true, it’s a lie. He tells you that you can’t win against your addiction, it’s a lie. He tells you they don’t want you at church, it’s a lie. He tells you that you can’t be clean, it’s a lie and he tells you that people are judging you and don’t want you around them, it’s a lie. I said, Satan is a liar. I said, Satan has had his hooks in you and God is making a tremendous effort to rescue you.

I said, Satan knows who we are and he knows our weaknesses. It’s a full court press. God also knows who we are, he loves us, and he is relentless in his efforts to save us. I said, God is more powerful than Satan so he will always win, but the decision is up to us

My passenger said, I don’t know if you can feel it right now, but I can see that God is with you. He is working through you to help me. I can feel the spirit of God here with me and I know the things that you’re saying are true. I can’t believe I let those doubts get to me. I can’t believe that I just accepted the lie without asking questions and getting answers. He said, I need to start reading the Book of Mormon. I need to have faith and I need to do what I’ve been told to do.

He asked, did you know that God put me in your car today? I said, yes I do. I told him that God puts people in my car and that when he got in the car I had a very distinct prompting about him, his life and the things we were supposed to talk about. He said, you knew things you weren’t supposed to know but here’s something you don’t know. When I ordered the car, I heard in my ear somebody say Bruce. Then I looked down and it was assigning me a driver. Once it finally settled on a driver it was you. That was God telling me that he sent you. Then you started right in on the church and talking about God. God and you brought that message to me. He said, this has been the most incredible 20 minutes of my life.

We were just then pulling up to the building and he got out and went in. The funny thing about it is for some reason we got extra car time. The exit that we needed to get off on was blocked to my vision and I couldn’t see it. We went up to the next exit and drove around the long way to get there. That is the reason we had just enough time to talk about all the things that we needed to talk about. God had a message. It was all about rescuing this son on this day.

I’m not going to pretend that I have a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding gifts of the spirit. Certainly there are many of my friends who have a better understanding than I do regarding this thing. What I do know is that I saw a man that was tremendously spiritually gifted. Even though he had been away from the church for almost his entire life he accessed the spirit. He was seeing the things that I was feeling. He was also incredibly sensitive and receptive to the truth that I taught because of the witness of the spirit that was present. His father in heaven was using those gifts to save him and bring him home. I believe he will succeed.

On the 4th of July, I was out driving for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I had taken much of the day off to be with family and I wanted to get a couple of hours in.

I had been given a couple of rides but nothing spectacular. Finally I got a decent ride from Springville to Spanish Fork. It paid a little more than the minimum so I was excited to do it and away I went.

I pulled up to the place where the passenger worked and waited for her. After waiting for about 2 1/2 minutes, she came out and got in the car. I said, happy Fourth of July! She said, happy Fourth of July to you! I’m going to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate.

This lady was of Mexican descent, lived in Los Angeles for a long time and apparently knew a thing or two about celebrating. Flat out, if your idea of celebrating is eating a good steak and yummy rolls you’re my kind of person. I’m sure I looked at her with envy in the moment, but then I said, don’t you have anyone to celebrate with?

She said that she was not from here, she was from Los Angeles and that’s where most of her friends and family are. She said that she lived here with her daughter and her daughter‘s husband but they were celebrating at his family‘s home today. She couldn’t go because she had to work. Now that she was off work she was going to go celebrate with a big piece of meat and she was excited.

I asked her how long her daughter had lived here and she said only about two years. She said, my daughter moved here after she married this young man and they seem to really like it here.

I asked, well, do you like it? She said that it was a little bit different for her than it was for her daughter because her daughter had gone and joined the Mormon church. She said the church gave them a lot of things to do and they loved it. Then she looked at me and said, “but I’m Catholic. That will never change!” She said it in good English with a strong Mexican accent that kind of took me back to my mission. On my mission people would reject me in English, even though they didn’t know how to speak English. It was kind of like a double slap.

As I listened to her talk, I had the distinct impression that I only had five more minutes and I better get going. I thought, get going doing what!? In no uncertain terms she just declared that her daughter was a member of the church and that she was not going to join. The spirit said get busy so I did.

I emptied my mind, threw away all caution, and said the first thing I felt to say. I said, ahhh so you’re the keeper of the tradition. You’re the one that honors the legacy of the family and sticks with it. You are riding it out because that’s what your parents and grandparents would expect you to do. This is how you honor your ancestors.

She said, exactly! I wish more people could understand that. I’m glad you do. I said, well, yes, I do understand that but I have a little different take on it than you might imagine. She said, oh, what is your take? I said, the true religious legacy from your family and the true heritage of your family is not the Catholic church. I said, things are just a little bit different than you might believe.

She said, well, I think I know. I mean, I lived in Southern California with people from Mexico for my whole life. They are all Catholic, Roman Catholic. I asked , is it OK if I explain this to you? She said yes.

I said, first there are two things that are important to discuss here. The first one is that our church believes most of what the Catholic church believes but then we have additional beliefs on top of that. I said, an example of this is that we believe that Jesus was born of Mary, lived a great life, organized his church, was killed on the cross and was resurrected. Just like the Catholics believe.

We also believe that he used the authority of God to bless people in a very tangible way. He healed them and cast out demons. He gave that same authority to his apostles and others so that they could bless the people as well. An example of one of these blessings was the use of the power of God to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. Jesus gave that power to Peter and we have it today in our church. We use that power to seal our marriages and our families to each other for time and eternity, not until death do us part.

She was a little defensive and she tried to sneak one by me by saying, well we believe the same thing. This is where having experienced missionary work in Catholic communities comes in handy. I have been to many Catholic weddings. I said, I really don’t think that’s true. I have been to those weddings. They use a lasso and they put it around the bride and the groom. They say that the bride and groom are bound together until death do us part. That’s how it’s done in the Catholic church.

She said, you’re right I guess, that is a difference. I asked her what she thought about the idea of a marriage being eternal and she said that she thought that was really neat.

I said, the other thing is that we believe that God loves all of his children everywhere in the world and not just in Jerusalem. We believe that he had prophets here in America amongst your ancestors. These prophets taught the word of God and received revelation. These commandments blessed their lives.

I said, these prophets of God also testified that Jesus Christ would come to America and visit them. She said, what? really? I said, yes. Not only did they prophesy that he would come to visit them, he did come to visit them.

In the Bible, Jesus told the people that he had other sheep that he was going to go visit that were not of that fold. He was talking about the people in America. I said, just like in your case your ancestors were very faithful people. They had listened to the prophet and had been baptized. They were waiting for the fulfillment of the prophecy so they could see their God, Jesus Christ

I said, they heard a voice in the heavens saying this is my beloved son. They looked up and saw Jesus descend out of heaven and stand in front of them. He invited each one of them to come up and touch the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. They bathed his feet with their tears and pled with him for their salvation.

As a direct response to this plea, he called up 12 of them, he gave them authority to baptize and commanded them to baptize all of the people even though they had previously been baptized. He didn’t spend any time negating the importance of their previous baptism. He recognized that they had done the best they could to come close to him with the information and knowledge that they possessed.

Now he wanted them to be baptized with his baptism and by his authority. He wanted them to be baptized to this new level and take that step up in discipleship. He invited every one of them to do this.

I said, he taught them the gospel and he blessed them. He held their children, he loved them and then blessed them. He gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost so that they could walk with God and then he ascended back into heaven. When he did, he left a Christlike loving people who had taken that step up.

She said, and that step up includes being married for eternity in the temple, right? I said, yes! That’s exactly right.

I took this opportunity to shift out of teaching mode and into testifying mode. I testified that these things were true. I testified that Jesus came to America and he showed us the way to take that step up.

I told her that these things were found in the Book of Mormon and that it is the word of God and a companion to the Bible. I told her that the ancient writings of the prophets of America were translated by Joseph Smith, and that is how we have the Book of Mormon. I said, it’s another testament of Jesus Christ and his divinity. It comes from and is your true religious heritage.

The spirit was there and it was powerful. I could tell that over the last five minutes there had been a complete and total change in her countenance and in the way she participated in the conversation. I think of the phrase, a hunger and thirst after righteousness and it fit nicely in this situation. It was like she was feasting on the spirit in the car and the knowledge she was gaining right there in real time. It also just so happened that we were sitting in front of Texas Roadhouse already so I guess feasting was in order.

She said, I felt that! When you taught those things and said those things I felt that. She said, I was touched emotionally and enlightened. This is incredible.

I told her that what she was feeling was the spirit of God and it was present in the car. It was present in her heart because truth had been revealed to her. I told her that God had shown her that these things were true. He had shown her that the Book of Mormon was true. I testified that there were and are prophets in America. The ancient prophets wrote the account of Jesus coming to America and that he gave them his baptism.

I told her that the spirit was there in the car and had testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the church had been restored. I said that this truth was her true religious legacy.

Then I said, there’s one other thing that the spirit has testified to and that is that Jesus Christ is inviting you to accept that same baptism that your ancestors accepted from him. He is inviting you to take that step up to a new level of discipleship and follow him.

She said, sitting in your car, feeling the spirit as you talk, made me realize that what I had been trying to do was resist the knowledge that the church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Based on how I feel right now, I believe the Book of Mormon truly is the translation of the writings of ancient prophets from America.

She said, it seems like I am feeling the spirit more powerfully every second. I said, you know what that means don’t you? She said, what? I said, it means you have to be baptized.

She said, I know, I do and I will. She said, many times I have had deep and meaningful conversations with my son-in-law. He’ll be blown away when I start this one. He’s been trying to get me baptized for sometime now.

I said, like I said, this is the religion of your ancestors and you are the keeper of their traditions. She said, I can’t believe God sent me a ride like this and I am glad I took it. This was a holy experience. I agreed.

She thanked me with tears in her eyes and said, this ride has changed everything. I feel like a different woman.

I could see and feel the change in her as well. God is great and he changes hearts even in five minute rides.

One day, I was driving a scheduled ride that took me to Heber City. To entice someone to take this undesirable ride they stacked another scheduled ride on top of that ride. This next ride went down to Salt Lake. This was great because you would never actually want to go just to Heber. They don’t pay enough and there’s no way you are getting a ride out of there.

When I talk to people who live in Heber, they tell me it’s very difficult to get a ride and this is why no one goes there.

As I dropped the man off in Heber, I was looking for my next ride. It had disappeared. Either the person canceled the ride, which normally would have given me a notice or a cancellation fee, or there wasn’t really a ride in the first place and they just put it on there to trick me into taking the ride.

It doesn’t really matter which of those two options it is. The fact is I was sitting in Heber on the north side of town and kind of in a surly mood. I wondered where I should go. I said a little prayer. The second I got done praying I got a ride in Park city. It was a 23 minute ride to pick him up and it didn’t pay very much money but it was back to American Fork and so I thought that it would pay for my gas. I headed off to pick him up.

I pulled in to pick him up and I started looking for him. We don’t know what the people look like and they don’t show us the people’s pictures even though most of the time they have them. It’s kind of a fun game to sit there and try to guess which of all the people is the one you’re supposed to pick up. You roll over by them, roll down your window and say their name as it appears on the app to see how they react. I’ve gotten pretty good at this and this time was no exception.

As I pulled in there was a guy smoking a cigarette. You never want smokers in your clean car. I said, well that’s got to be him, of course it’s him! The spirit chastised me immediately and let me know that this young man was here for a reason. I knew that I had better get my mind and my heart in it.

Once I felt this impression the spirit washed over me and I could see the young man in a different light. It was kind of amazing because just before I had seen him kind of as a ne’er-do-well smoking a cigarette and now I was looking at him as a child of God and it made all the difference in the world.

He got in the car, and I knew based on the prompting I had received that there was work to do. We started with small talk.

It turns out that he was going to American Fork to pick up a new car. His last car was totaled in an accident and he was picking up a new car with the insurance money. He wasn’t happy with the amount of money he was getting.

I could commiserate with him due to the fact that I had recently been in an accident that wasn’t my fault where the other driver didn’t have insurance. My insurance along with the ride share insurance each paid less than I did out-of-pocket. It is quite maddening but I digress.

I shared my story with him and we laughed. He said, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one getting taken advantage of. I asked him how long he had lived in Park City. He said that he had lived there for four years. He said that he was a cook at one of the restaurants on Main Street in Park City.

I knew the restaurant where he was a cook and I thought that was pretty cool. I told him that. I had given lots of people who worked at that restaurant rides in the past, including his manager.

As we were chitchatting, I felt by the spirit that I needed to get busy. Even though it was a long ride, we were going to need that time. I needed to find a way to bring up the church.

I asked him if he had gone to college to learn to be a chef or if he just worked in restaurants to learned the skill. He described to me the years of studying and working under various chefs that were required to have a job at his level with his restaurant.

He asked me, how long have you lived here? I told him that I moved here to go to college after my church mission. He said, church mission? Where did you go? I said, I went to Argentina. He said, both of my parents are from Latin America and we always spoke Spanish in our home.

I asked him if he was Catholic. He said that he was not Catholic. He said that his parents were Catholic. He said that his family was Catholic but he hadn’t felt like one for a long time. He said that for most of his life he had never seen the purpose for having a church but lately this attitude of his was changing.

He said that he had been trying to find a church where he would feel like he fit. He wanted to find a church that taught the things that he thought Jesus would teach. He said, with all these churches around, you would think that it would be easy to find, wouldn’t you?

I laughed and said, this sounds familiar. He said, why? I said, listening to you talk is just like hearing the story of Joseph Smith. He said, I’ve heard that name. Isn’t Joseph Smith, the one that started your church? I said, yes he was.

I said, he was a 14-year-old farm boy from New York who didn’t have a lot of education but what he did have was a burning desire to know truth. He wanted to know which church was true so he went around to all of the churches talking to the people and try to figure it out.

I said, he went to the Bible and read that if you lack wisdom, ask of God. That made a lot of sense to him. Joseph Smith said that this counsel from James in the Bible impacted him tremendously. He decided to do exactly what it said. I said, he went to the forest, he knelt and prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth.

I took that opportunity to testify with power. I told him that I knew that this was true. I told him that I knew that Joseph Smith was called of God and that he saw God the father and Jesus Christ. I said, our church is the restored church of Jesus Christ through his prophet. I said, every church has some truth, but our church has the complete restored gospel with all of the truth.

I told him that as the apostles were killed and the church was scattered, they lost much of the truth. All of the churches had parts of the truth but none of them had the whole truth. I told him that this is why there are so many churches. They all have part of the truth, but there are things that they just don’t have.

I told him that our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was restored with all of the teachings and authority from God that existed in the church when Jesus Christ was on the earth. He said, wow, that’s quite a statement, but I believe you. He said, I got a good feeling while you were telling me that. It felt good and I just felt like that was true. I asked him how it felt and he said, it feels like a warm light. I said, that’s the spirit of God. I told him that the spirit of God testifies of truth and when you feel that, you know that the things you are hearing are true.

I told him that in our church prophets are really important. I told him that prophets teach us the things that God would have us know and they reveal his truth to us. They give us commandments so that we can be happy. I told him that there had been prophets here in America in ancient times. These prophets taught the people, blessed the people and helped them be happy. They taught them to look to God.

I said, your ancestors knew prophets of God. He said, that’s really cool to think. I’ve always thought of the prophets in the Bible, but never considered that maybe there could have been prophets in America. I said, they wrote down their revelations on Golden plates so that they could be preserved.

I told him that one of the prophets that lived here in America whose name was Moroni gave those plates to Joseph Smith and he translated them by the power of God. I said, that translation is what we have today and it’s called the Book of Mormon. I told him that the Book of Mormon was his religious heritage. I said that it contained the word of God as it was given to his ancestors.

I asked him, if that were true, would it be important? He said, yes, very important.

I told him that the Book of Mormon also contained the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America. He was stunned. He said, what?? I’ve never heard that. I told him that in Jerusalem, Jesus said that he had other sheep and that he was going to go visit them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep. After saying this Jesus ascended into heaven.

I asked him who those other sheep were and he thought for a minute and said, I guess you’re saying that they are the people here in America. I said, that’s right. Jesus Christ descended from heaven here in America. The prophets had prophesied that he would come and he did.

I said, when Jesus Christ got here the people pled with him for salvation and he gave them just that. He called up 12 men, gave them authority and commanded them to baptize everyone, even though they had already been baptized.

At this time, I felt very impressed that I needed to talk to him a lot about baptism. I told him that we were all children of our Heavenly Father and that he wants us all to come home and live with him. I told him that he sent us to Earth to learn things and to see if we were willing to obey.

I told him that one of the things he told us that we needed to do was be baptized in order to return to live with him. I told him that this is why when the people asked Jesus If he would save them, he gave them baptism. Once they had been baptized, they could repent, become clean and stand before God with a clear conscience.

I said, baptism is not just a commandment. It’s a gift that God gives us so that we can prepare to be in his presence.

I asked him if God was perfect and he said yes. I asked him if God loved us and he said yes. I asked him if God was our father and he said absolutely. I asked, as a perfect, loving, all powerful father, do you think he would have a perfect plan that would offer an opportunity for salvation to each one of his children? He said, yes. I said, we believe that too. God has a perfect plan that includes the opportunity for everyone of his children to be baptized so that they can come home to him.

I told him that each of us receives our baptism and then later we are able to go and perform what is called baptisms for the dead. I said, in the New Testament, they talked about baptisms for the dead. It’s one of the truths that were lost. I said, we go to our temples and are baptized for a person who has died. They then have the opportunity to accept that baptism, be cleansed from their sin and stand confident and blameless before God.

This is the plan that God has for each of his children. This is how God can require his children to be spotless, even though no one is without sin. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance for our sins and then baptism we can be become worthy to return to him. Every one of his children will have that opportunity.

He said, yeah, it’s really cool that you mentioned this because that has always bothered me. I’ve always wondered how people could say that God was just and fair yet at the same time, condemn people for not having been baptized who were never taught about Jesus.

He said, I was never baptized. My parents didn’t baptize me when I was little. I didn’t want to get baptized until I found the church that I felt was the church of Jesus Christ. The true church.

I took that opportunity to bear my testimony again. I testified to the truthfulness of the church. As I testified, I sensed that he was somewhat bothered by the thought of standing before God. I felt that he was ashamed of some of the things he had done and he was thinking about them.

I told him that I had these promptings and that this is what he was thinking about right then. I assured him that those things he was thinking about would be forgiven by God and washed clean through repentance and baptism. I said, this is why baptism is important so that we can stand before God with confidence. We want to be able to enjoy being in his presence.

He said, that is what I want, I want to feel clean. I want to feel like I’m not waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sometimes you feel like you can never become clean. This cleanliness before God is really what I want.

I said, this is why baptism was really important when Christ arrived in America. Once they had been baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, they could walk with God all the time. It’s one of the great messages of all time and it was recorded in the Book of Mormon. That’s why it’s called the Book of Mormon another Testament of Jesus Christ. That book testifies of him and the way we can all come back to him and our father in heaven. This is why it was so important for Joseph Smith to translate that book so that we can know that God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem

He said, I like that you’re talking about the Book of Mormon. There’s one at my house. The people that lived there before I did left one but I have never opened it. I just put it on the shelf and I stare at it. I have been wondering what was in that book. Now I want to find out, especially because it’s about my people.

He said, a girl that works with me is a member of your church. She would always get time off on Sundays for an hour or two to go to church. She’s a really good person and I need to talk to her about this. He pulled out his phone, looked up her phone number and sent her a text, saying, I’m talking with someone about your church right now, we need to talk.

I asked him about going to church. I know that a lot of those people that work in Park City are very busy on Sundays. He said he would love to go to church and could take his lunch hour and attend if it were close.

There is a chapel pretty close to downtown and I was hoping that it would be his chapel. I sent in the reference through the tools app and got the information back. He meets at 9 AM in the chapel close to his work downtown. We were very excited. I also got the name of the missionaries and called them. They gave him a call within an hour of receiving my call.

After spending this time figuring out how to go to church, that he had friends who were members of the church and lining him up with the missionaries, I felt that it was important for me to bear my testimony one more time.

I testified of the truth of the church, the Book of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith, and the love our Heavenly Father has for us. I testified to him that when Jesus came to America, he gave them baptism and invited them to be baptized, and that Jesus was extending that same invitation to him. I said that the missionaries would help him prepare for that.

The spirit was really strong and I could tell that he was very emotional. With tears in his eyes, he said, I would like that very much. I want to be clean and I know that I was put here today so that I could learn about this. I’ve been looking for the truth for a long time and it feels like I found it.

I asked him again what he was feeling and he said, just like I said before. This feeling is the spirit and I love it. I said, that spirit accompanies truth. When you feel that you know that the things you’re hearing are true. You know that the things that we have discussed are the will of God. He said, yes, I can feel that.

I said, now you know that God wants you to be baptized. He said, yes I do and yes, I will. He asked, what do I need to do to be baptized? I said, you need to go to church and you need to have the missionaries teach you. You need to read the Book of Mormon and pray for further confirmation that it is true.

I said, that book is the key. If that book is true then it means that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, we have a prophet today and the church is true. He said, I already believe that book is true. For some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. It held a lot of interest for me. It’s almost like it was calling me and now I know it was. I will study it and get to know it.

(I’ve got to say it doesn’t get any better than that.)

We were pulling into American Fork and he was getting out of the car. There was a different light about him and an excitement as we spoke. I didn’t even smell the cigarette anymore. I did however think about David O McKay’s quote that the sweetest smell in sacrament meeting is cigarette smoke. It means God‘s children are coming home.

He asked me if I feel like sometimes God puts people in my car because he felt like he was put there today to help him find the truth. I smiled and said, it’s been known to happen

One thing I can say is that there’s no such thing as a coincidence. I never would’ve gone to Heber if I hadn’t had been promised the trip to Salt Lake. If the trip to Salt Lake hadn’t canceled I never would’ve been there to get this trip. When I saw him smoking the spirit engaged with me so I didn’t have to waste any time getting over that. He happened to be looking for the truth and had been praying to find it. He had just moved into his apartment a few months ago and the previous tenants left a Book of Mormon that he just couldn’t bring himself to get rid of. Coincidence? I think not.

One Saturday night I was driving in Salt Lake City. I got a ride over on the west side of I-15 about 13th South. When I pulled up, I saw this young lady sitting on the corner waiting for me. She opened the door and got in the car.

Immediately I felt an impression that she was in crisis. I felt like she was lost and has strayed away from the church. As I looked back in the mirror I was thinking about what I was seeing and how the promptings didn’t seem to agree. She seemed fine.

I asked her how she was doing and she said good. It was a persuasive answer and spoken in a confident tone but in light of the prompting I was receiving it was not convincing. I asked her if she had fun that night and she said yes. I knew she wasn’t telling me the truth.

My understanding about how the spirit works with me is that it doesn’t give me prompting to be ignored. I have thousands of people in my car that are going through all different types of crisis and trauma in their lives. I don’t receive promptings very often based on the overall number of rides I give. My understanding with the way the spirit works with me is that when I receive a prompting to act I need to do the thing. So I did.

I asked, do you mind if I tell you what I’m feeling right now? She said, that’s a little bit different than your basic ride, but go ahead.

I said, this was a really hard night for you. You felt betrayed and you felt like your good heart was abused. You are distraught and in turmoil on the inside and trying to hold it together on the outside. You feel like you’re drowning and you feel like you’re in trouble.

She said, do you know that because you picked me up on the corner? I said, no, I pick lots of people up on the corner. I know that because God revealed it to my heart and I want you to know that he sent me to pick you up to give you a message.

Now that’s as bold as I can be. She was clearly taken aback. I continued, God loves you. He is your father and he sees that you are struggling and he wants you to know that he’s there for you.

By this time I had a pretty good assurance from the spirit that she was a former member of the church. Part of that was the spirit revealing it to me and the other part was I felt like those words landed a bit.

I said, there are things going on in your life. There are sins that you have committed that make you feel dirty. You have also put yourself in bad situations in addition to having had others thrust upon you. You feel overwhelmed and like you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. I said, satan is whispering things in your ears. He’s telling you that you are worthless and that you are in a hole. He is telling you there’s no way out. That’s why we have the atonement of Jesus Christ. He can lift our burdens

I have to describe her voice when I first picked her up. It was a soft, higher register almost joyful voice. She sounded happy to see me but a little unsure in her voice. It was the voice of a normal 30-year-old woman just having a conversation.

After I started talking about the atonement and its power for a bit, I began to feel agitation coming from the backseat. Something was changing. All of a sudden, out of nowhere she started in and it was a very different voice. It was a lower register, very firm and determined voice.

She said, I don’t believe in your sky genie. I don’t believe in a magical man that sits in heaven and hands out magic. That man doesn’t exist. I don’t believe in God. I said, you don’t believe in God? How do you explain the fact that he put you here. How do you explain the fact that he let me know about you and your struggles just now?

She said, I believe that God is the universe so you are God, I am God, everyone is God. She said, I was raised Mormon. She said, I know your playbook and I know everything you’re about. My mom took me to your church as I was growing up and I did all of the things but not anymore.

As she was talking, I searched my heart and racked my brain trying to come up with a way to approach that. I prayed for help to know what to say. The spirit had changed in the car and there was definitely a war going on. The war was happening inside of this woman and around her in the backseat.

At the same time, I knew that God hadn’t put her in my car and given me those promptings just to have a fight. I had the thought, remember when you were on your mission? Whenever anyone confronted you venomously or angrily you bore your testimony. Remember teaching missionaries that their testimony was their greatest tool. Now get to it. One thing for sure is that we needed a temperature change right then. It had gone from warm and loving to cold and angry really fast.

I bore my testimony that God was real, that he was her father and that he loved her. He knew what she was going through and that’s why he sent me today. He sent me to bear this testimony. I told her again that the atonement is for you and the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ is more powerful than any issue or circumstance because he descended below it all.

I told her that Jesus suffered all things so that he could have the power to redeem us from all things. I told her that the atonement gave him power to lift us through sickness, injustice, pain, evil, and sin. I told her that Jesus Christ is the light in the darkness that she was looking for. I told her that she had been diverted into other pathways by satan and had lost sight of that light.

As I bore my testimony of the atonement with power, she became less combative and then not combative at all. As I testified, I felt the intensity of the opposition lessen and dissipate. The power of testimony clearly confounded that spirit. She started to listen and the temperature in the car changed again. Her voice changed back to the way it had been earlier and the spirit filled the car.

I knew that this girl was in a battle right now. I received some additional promptings that I decided to verbalize. I said, you were hurt deeply by people you knew in the church and your reaction was to turn away and blame God. I said, don’t do that. He’s reaching out to you today and he wants you to use the atonement of Jesus Christ to soften your heart and then change your heart. He wants to be able to walk with you.

I said, right now you are embroiled in a couple of issues that seem almost too much to bear. You need the atonement and the power of God in your life to be able to withstand what is in front of you. You know you can’t do this alone and God doesn’t want you to do this alone.

She said, “again, how do you know these things”? I said, because the Holy Ghost is whispering them to my heart. I don’t know these things. God knows these things, but he gave them to me so that you can know that the rest of the things I say are true. He gave them to me so that you can know that in your darkest hour, God loves you and he is reaching out to you.

I asked her to think about the way she felt in her heart right then versus how she felt when she got in the car. She thought for a minute and then she said, I feel a peace, almost as if I’m resting inside. I said, that’s the spirit of God. It has been here with us to testify. He wants you to know that he is here. He is real and he loves you. She said, right now I believe what you are saying.

I said, you mentioned earlier that your mom took you to church when you were younger. Does she still go to church? She said, yes, every week. She’s kind of a little bit fanatical about it. I said, parents get that way. They’re fanatical about saving their children. Your father in heaven is also fanatical about saving you.

I said, you should go to your mom and tell her about this ride. You should go to your mom and tell her what you felt. You need to ask her to teach you about the atonement. I asked, will you do that? She said, I can’t believe I’m going to say this but, yes, I will.

She said, even with all of the problems I’ve got in my life that have been weighing me down, right now I feel light. That’s how I want to feel. I said, this is how you can feel through the atonement. This is how you can feel when you are in the presence of the spirit of God.

I said, tonight you have felt his spirit. Tonight you felt him fight for you and tonight your spirit has rested in his presence. You need to do this more often. Your mom can help you get back and learn about the atonement. This way you can be cleansed of sin and lifted through your trials. This is the extra power you need.

You had worried about being able to confront the issues in your life, this is your answer and you know that tonight. She said, I believe you’re right. This is my answer. I will go talk to my mom. I will do what she says.

She said, this has not been the ride I expected but it’s been the ride I needed. I’m glad that God put me in your car tonight. I don’t believe is was an accident. I thought it was the universe doing all these things but tonight you have a point. I need to talk to my mother.

She thanked me and got out of the car and went into her mother’s house.

One day I was up in Salt Lake City and got a ride that I had to pick up at the state liquor store on West Temple at about 17th South. Not exactly the pick up you would expect to lead to a missionary opportunity but I guess as you think about it, you could consider it fertile ground.

When I pulled up, a young lady began getting in the car. She had a box of wine and other spirits. As she got in the car, I asked how she was doing. She said, I’m doing fine. There was a tremendous feeling of desperation, sadness and despair that surrounded her, even though that is not what she said. We started to drive.

I got the impression that I needed to do some coaching here. Sometimes people need a pick me up and some positive words can be helpful. I felt very strongly that I needed to go in that direction. At this time, I had no idea that step-by-step it would lead me into a discussion about the church but sometimes it’s just like that.

When I had asked her how she was doing, she said she was doing fine. I knew it wasn’t true and so I decided to ask again. I said, how are you really doing? How are you feeling?

She said, I’m really struggling, I ordered the Uber because my foot is hurt and my podiatrist told me that I should not walk. Normally I would walk this distance instead of ride. I said, well, this is when you have your boyfriend or your husband pick you up. They should be glad to do that.

She said, I don’t have either of those and I’m pretty sure that no one would ever want to be my husband or boyfriend. She said, I don’t even know how I’m going to make it. I have so much trauma in my life. I asked her if she was willing to make changes to turn things around and she said, yes! I said, let’s figure this out then. I want you to look at life differently and do a few things I tell you to do.

All of a sudden a wholistic approach came to my mind and I dove right in. I started giving her these assignments.

1, look for positives. Spend every day looking for positives. Find five new positive things in your life every day. I said, people who look for positive things find positive things and it changes their outlook on life. I said, people who look for negative things find negative things and it puts them in a pit. Positive people draw positive people to them.

2, I said, be grateful for the things in your life. Thank people and look for reasons to be grateful and to thank people. Even if these are very little things, thank people and they will be comfortable around you. They will enjoy being around someone that recognizes them and appreciates the things they do for them.

3, watch people and notice something they do very well. Make it something they consciously try to do well and then pay them a very sincere loud and public compliment on that thing. I said, people know when they do something well and they love it when people recognize that. It makes them feel good that elevates them. I said that this would make those people seek for opportunities to be around you.

I said if you do these three things the people in your life and in your circle will be elevated and it will lift you along with them. It will improve your life and you’ll feel better about yourself. I said, furthermore, people will be attracted to you and your circle. They will feel goodness coming from you and they will want to be part of that.

This is stuff that you can find in a million articles in a million magazines but I started this way addressing her issues directly. I know that it was the spirit that told me to do it that way. I believe that if I had just started in with church teachings, this girl would have shut down to the spirit. Going through these three things made a difference. She had actually been taking notes of what I was saying. She had agreed with me and her heart had been softened to the words that I was saying.

Then the spirit said, “now the atonement”. I went right into number 4. I said, there’s no way that I can think of it being possible for me to make it through this life without the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ is the thing that lifts us through our trials.

I said, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ suffered for all of us. Not only for the sins of the world but for our sicknesses, trials, tragedies and the unfairness of life. He suffered for injustice, inequity and pains of every kind including embarrassment and abuse. I said that last one after pausing for a few seconds because the spirit prompted me to say it.

She was silent. It was clear that no one had talked to her about the gospel of Jesus Christ for quite some time. I asked her if she was a member of a church and she said that she had just moved here. She said that she had been a member of a non-denominational Christian church where she had previously lived. She said that since she moved to Salt Lake, she hadn’t been part of any religious community.

I went on teaching about Jesus Christ. I said, he suffered all of those things so that when we are in our darkest hours, he can pick us up. He can help us feel the love of our Heavenly Father. I said that because he suffered those things, he can lift our burdens so that we don’t have to bear them alone. I said, it’s always better when somebody helps you carry your burden.

I said, it doesn’t matter if that burden is sin, caused by sin or not related to sin at all, Jesus Christ is there for us. He is the one that can bring us home.

I talked with her about the analogy I’ve used before about children in the cancer hospital. I heard this story told as a personal experience by Elder Neil A Maxwell. I told her that he talked about these children who had each received a devastating cancer diagnosis. He talked about their parents and those around them. He said, the parents were all distraught and struggling, as were the adult patients being treated, but the children were happy. The children had smiles on their faces and the children had the light of Christ in their eyes. Their faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement had made them happy and lifted their burden.

The parents and the adults on the other hand were all somber and angry. Many were in such pain that they struggled to deal with it, but not the children.

I said, children are always close to God. I said, Jesus said, suffer the children to come unto me and he told us to become like the little children if we wanted to return to our father. I said, they had faith, they believed and their burdens were lifted and assuaged. I said, the atonement works and it’s real.

She started to tear up and said, I haven’t felt like this for a long time. You’re going to make me cry. I didn’t think anyone cared. I told her that Jesus Christ cared and that her father in heaven cared.

I told her that she was a daughter of her father in heaven and that he loved her very much. I said that he sent his spirit there today. I said, think of it as a hug from your father in heaven. I said, what you’re feeling is his spirit and it’s here with you to comfort you and lift you. She said, it’s working already.

I told her that God puts people in my car to get messages and clearly this message was that God loved her and that Jesus Christ had paid the price for the pain and suffering she was going through. I said that God didn’t think she should have to do it alone. God wanted her to look to Christ and live.

By this time she was full on crying. She said, I love this feeling. She said, I’ve never felt it like this before. This is amazing. This must be what it feels like to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. I said, it probably feels very similar to this only a lot more intense. She laughed and said yes.

I have to tell you, I was on fire inside. I asked her again, what does it feel like? She said, I don’t know that I can put it into words. I am not in turmoil over all of my problems right now. I don’t feel the pain of all the tragedy and drama from my life. It’s like it feels better and I love it.

I told her that the atonement was like the medicine we rub on the injury to make it not hurt and she said, that’s a great analogy. I’ve never thought of it that way. I like that and I wish I could feel this way forever.

I said, you can. I said, you need to go to church. She said, I don’t know where my church is around here. I said, that’s OK. You can go to our church. She asked, would they let me go? I said, absolutely! They would love for you to go. I said, I can actually have people from the church come and meet with you and accompany you to church. That way you will have somebody there that you know. She said, I would really like that, I need to do that.

She said, could I go this week? Do you think we could make it happen that fast? I said, absolutely. I told her I would get a hold of missionaries and have them give her a call. I said they could set it all up. I told her that with the missionaries, she would feel the same spirit that she felt right now. She said, that’s what I want.

I said, I’m going to give you a gift. She acted very grateful but said, “no you don’t need to do that”. I said, I want to do that. She smiled and said OK.

I reached into my glove box and pulled out a Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists. I had her open up the front page and read the questions of the soul. She said, some of these are questions I’ve had all of my life. I said, the answers to those questions are in the book. The page number is right there next to the question and there is a tab indicating where it is in the book. She said this is great!

I said while you’re reading that book, you will feel the spirit. It will help you and the dark clouds will begin to depart. I said, as you do the things that we’ve talked about doing, read the Book of Mormon, pray, have the missionaries over and go to church, the dark clouds will begin to depart. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, he will be there to carry you through.

She said, I like that. This is what I’ve needed. She said, I guess you can only sit in your apartment drinking wine and Bourbon for so long without it doing serious damage to your soul. It’s time that I change my life around. She said, I’ve made notes of everything you’ve said and I’m going to do all of it. I promise.

Getting out of the car she said, make sure those missionaries give me a call. As she held up her box of alcohol she said, after all of this, I guess that now I probably won’t be drinking this.

I sent in the referral and got the phone number of the missionaries. I called them and told them the whole story. They told me that they lived in the same building, she lived in. They were really excited. I think this is going places.

One day I was driving out in Herriman when I got a ride to go pick up a guy. When I pulled up, there were three children playing soccer in the driveway and I wondered who was getting in the car.

Finally, a man appeared from the house and made the kids get rid of the soccer ball and get in the car. He grabbed some folding chairs and notebooks. He also had a bag. All of these things together led me to believe that he was actually a coach for these kids. The three kids got in the backseat and the man climbed in the passenger seat. They were headed to an RV rental place downtown.

We started to drive and I asked him about coaching his kids and he said that he did. I mentioned to him that I coached my kids in baseball and football and finally coached several years in high school football. He said he really did like coaching but he only knew about soccer. He was from Brazil.

I started getting a prompting to talk to this guy about the church. I noted that the kids in the backseat were going crazy and they were loud and I could barely hear him talking . We almost had to be shouting to be heard above the kids. When you combine that with the fact that he had a pretty heavy accent on his English, I had every reason to check out of the prompting but I was chastised when I had that thought.

I could tell very quickly speaking with this man that he was a good guy and he loved his family. The way he treated them and the way he acted Impressed me. I asked him what part of Brazil he was from and he said Rio. I mentioned to him that I had been to Rio and a few other cities in Brazil. I even spoke a little of my very poor Portuguese with him.

I thought for a minute, trying to decide how to bring up the church. They looked like they could be members of the church but based on what I was feeling, I didn’t think so.

In my poor Portuguese conversation he laughed and said, everything you say has a Spanish accent. I told him that I served my mission in Argentina. He said he didn’t really like Argentina that much. We decided that had more to do with the rivalry between Argentina and Brazil in soccer than with any other single factor. We laughed about it for a minute.

He asked me how long I was on my mission and we discussed missions. I said, our church is growing really fast in Brazil.
He agreed with me. He said that he knew of many of our church buildings in Brazil. He asked me how I decided to go to Argentina and I told him that I didn’t make that decision. He asked, who makes those decisions? I told him that we have a prophet in our church who speaks with God and makes those decisions. He is the one that calls us to go where we go and we serve where God calls us to serve. He said, that’s kind of cool. Having a prophet could be really helpful these days.

I told him that in our church, we believe in prophets and apostles, and that one of our apostles was from Brazil. He was shocked. I said, he’s one of the most important leaders of our church and he’s from your country. He said, I am Catholic and have several friends that are members of your church but not one of them ever told me that one of the leaders of your church is from Brazil.

I told him that his name was Ulisses Soares and that he was born and raised in Brazil. I told him that you can still hear a little bit of an accent when he speaks and that he goes all over the world to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I told him that the gospel of Jesus Christ has always had prophets that speak with God and speak to us for God. I said, Elder Soares is one of these men. I told him that I had met him on a couple of occasions and that one time I even saved his life. He looked shocked and asked me how that happened, how it was that I saved his life.

I told him that one day I was driving in Salt Lake City on South Temple going west right by the old Hotel Utah now called the Joseph Smith building. I told him that they were doing construction on the front portion of the Hotel Utah clear out to the edge of the road. I said that Elder Soares stepped out into the lane of traffic to get around the construction right in front of me. I told him I was only about 5 feet away from him when he stepped out.

I told him that for some reason I felt like I was supposed to slow down going by that building this time and so I did. I told him that this wasn’t normal because I passed that building a lot but this time I had a prompting to slow down and Elder Soares stepped out in front of me. I was able to swerve and avoid hitting him and that’s how I saved his life. I said, yes, I saved his life by not killing him! We laughed and continued the discussion.

The thing is, that seemed to be kind of a really good icebreaker and he became even more receptive to what I was saying. He asked , so these apostles go all over the world? I said, yes, just like Jesus did. I said in the Bible, it says that the church of Jesus Christ would have apostles and prophets and these are those men and they receive revelation from God just like they did in the Bible.

He said, that’s really cool. how many of them are there? I told him that we have one prophet who is the main prophet and 12 apostles that we sustain as both prophets and apostles. He said, well that sounds just like it was in the Bible. I said, that’s right because this is the same church of Jesus Christ that existed in the Bible.

At this time, the kids were still being loud and rowdy, but it was like there was a divider between us and them and an increased focus on the things that I was saying.

I said, once Peter and the apostles were killed the authority of God was taken from the Earth and people were left to do the best they could. I said, God, however, understood the importance of his children, having commandments so they could be happy.

I said that after a period of time, God called another prophet, his name was Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was given the authority and the calling to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. I told him the story of Joseph Smith going to the sacred grove, kneeling and praying and being visited by God the father and Jesus Christ. The spirit came over our conversation even as the brotherly battle raged in the backseat.

I told him that Joseph Smith was given the authority of God to be the prophet and that he restored the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. I told him that Joseph Smith called the men that God chose to be apostles and passed that authority onto them. I told him, we have a prophet and 12 apostles just like the church of Jesus Christ in ancient days. That’s what we mean by the restored church because it’s the same church with the same authority and the same structure.

I told him that we hear from these prophets and apostles twice a year at what we call General Conference. I showed him how on the LDS app he could look up the general conference from last time and we found an Elder Soares talk. I told him he could listen there to what the Brazilian apostle taught.

He said, I know this is a thing because there is a church by my house and I go running on Sunday mornings and always see lots of cars there. One morning, not too long ago I went running by and there were no cars there. He said, I have a friend at work who is a member of your church and he’s even tried to talk to me about it a couple of times. I asked him why there were no cars at the church that last Sunday and he told me that there was a general conference and everyone either went downtown or stayed home and watched it on TV.

I told him that I stayed home, watched it on TV and ate pancakes. He laughed. I asked him this friend of his was a good friend and he said yes. I asked him how much he talked to him about the church. He said that he thought he was a little gun shy about it because people don’t talk about things like that at work. He said, I think he’s afraid broach a subject like that at work.

He said, mostly he answered my questions and asked me a few things, but we didn’t go very deep. He goes to church every Sunday and they’re really good people. He said, there are a lot of really good people here.

He said, I feel so much peace living here. More peace than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. I told him that this peace comes from following the commandments of God that we receive from his prophets. I told him that because we have a living prophet.in these difficult days we are able to lean on God‘s word and we are blessed with peace.

I told him that it is peace in our hearts, peace in our families and peace in our communities. He said, that’s what we really need right now. The world is crazy. I said, God loves all the world and that’s why he gives us prophets and apostles and that’s why he sent his son Jesus Christ.

I told him that Jesus Christ is really the one who is the head of the church and that’s why it bears his name, The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.

I told him that God is a loving Heavenly Father and he gave us his son Jesus Christ, who atoned for us and made it so that we could come home to our father. I said, he organized his church in a perfect way with all the teachings, covenants and authority necessary to bring us back to our father. I said, that’s why the church had to be restored because some of those things were lost.

He said, what are some of the things that were lost? I asked him if people needed to be baptized to go to heaven. He said, absolutely. That’s really important. I started right in on baptism for the dead. I told him the baptism for the dead was mentioned in the New Testament, but it’s not found in any church on earth except for our church. I asked him if God is the father of everyone and he said yes. I asked him if God is a perfect father. He said yes. I asked him if God is a loving father and he said yes.

I said, you’re a loving father. If you had to make a plan to save your boys, how many would you plan to save? He said, all of them. I asked him how many people die without ever hearing about Jesus Christ. He said, I guess in the history of the world most of them. I asked him if they were God‘s children. He said yes. I asked him if a perfect father would make a plan so that they could have the chance to come home. He said yes.

I told him that this plan was baptism for the dead. I told him that we go in temples and are baptized for people who died without receiving a baptism. Then they can accept that baptism and return to live with their father in heaven. I told him that Jesus Christ himself organized the teaching of the gospel to people who have died so that they can be prepared to accept or reject that baptism.

He said that’s really neat. I’d never thought there was an answer for that. I said, and that answer is found in those temples that we talked about. That is why they are building temples in Brazil. The Brazilian people need to be able to be baptized for their ancestors. He said, I like that.

I told him that in those temples, we also use the power that was given to Peter to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. We use it to seal marriages for eternity. I asked him if when he was married, he was married until death and he said yes. I said, in our church we are married for eternity and our families are sealed to us as well. We stay together as a family through eternity.

I said, have you noticed that it’s a very family oriented area around here? He said, yes, very much so. He said, my wife and I comment on that all the time and we love it. I said, it’s because we believe that our families are not just until death, we believe in eternal families. I said, those eternal marriages are also performed in those temples. We are married there and we do these marriages for our ancestors so they can have these same blessings. I said, these are very sacred buildings where very important and sacred things happen.

I told him that because God loves everyone, the people that lived here in America anciently also had prophets who wrote down their revelations. Joseph Smith was given those revelations that had been engraved on golden plates. I said that he translated those revelations. I said, the people that lived here in America anciently had prophets so that they could live in peace because God loves all of his children not just the people in Jerusalem. He said, that’s amazing and it seems to be the right answer. God loves all of his children.

I said, those prophets prophesied and promised that Jesus Christ would come to America. He perked up and said, what? I said, in the Bible Jesus said other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to visit them. He was talking about the people in America. I said, after he ascended to heaven, he came to America.

I said, he descended from the heavens in glory and stood in front of the people. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands and feet and they asked him to save them. I said, as an answer to that plea, he called up 12, gave them authority to baptize and commanded that they baptize these people, even though they had been previously baptized in their other churches.

I said, he wasn’t discounting the love they demonstrated in their previous baptism. He was just inviting them to a new level of discipleship that included the things that we’ve been talking about. He invited them to partake in the fullness of the gospel that included eternal marriage and baptism for the dead so that they could save all of their ancestors with them.

He said, that sounds like the whole plan. I laughed and said ,that’s exactly right. I said, after the apostle died, the people did the best they could. Until the authority of God was back on earth and there was a prophet it was not possible to have the fullness of the gospel because it requires the same church Christ organized with authority and revelation. I told him, that is our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.

He said, I was baptized as a Catholic, does that count? I said, that would be just like the other people in the Book of Mormon who had previously been baptized. Christ invited them to take a step up to a new level of discipleship and new covenant that gave greater blessings and greater peace. I said, he is inviting you to take that step up to that level now.

The spirit was very strong in the car and I could tell he was feeling it. I asked him what he felt and he said, tremendous peace. It’s almost like you can reach out and touch it in the air. I asked him what he thought about the things that I was saying, were they true or not?

He said, they’re true. I know they’re true and I’ve never heard them before today but I just get the feeling that they’re true. I told him that was the spirit of God sent to let him know that the things were true. I told him that the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, confirms truth to our soul and that is what was happening with him right then. He said, I like that.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I reached in and grabbed one of my book of Mormons and held it up. I said, this is the Book of Mormon.It is another testament of Jesus Christ and it teaches that God sent Jesus Christ not just the people of Jerusalem, but to everyone. I said, this book invites you to accept that same baptism that Jesus invited the people of the Book of Mormon to accept. That is the baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He said, wow that’s powerful. He said, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this good in my life. It must be true. Would you like to have this book? He said, yes! I would love it, can I have it?

I asked him how often he sees his friend. He said, all the time, we take breaks together. I gave him the Book of Mormon and said, take this with you and go up to him and hold it out to him like this. I held the Book of Mormon up with the title out. I said, then you say to him, did you know that Jesus came to America? Then sit back and see what he says.

He laughed and said, that sounds like fun. I would love to do that. I could tell he has wanted to talk to me about the church and this might be the icebreaker that makes it possible.

By this time we had arrived at the RV rental place that they were going. There were a lot of other families there. He needed to get out of the car and go, but before he did, he looked at me and held up the Book of Mormon and said, this is really important. I will do exactly what you said. I can’t wait to see the look on my friends face.

I wish I could be there to see it.

One day I was driving a guy from southwest Provo up to the river bottoms shopping center. When he got in the car, he had great big huge noise canceling headsets on. That truthfully is a sign that says “don’t bug me, I don’t want to be bugged.“

Right off the bat, I felt prompted that I needed to talk to this young man about the church, so figuring out a way to do that was important. You will get a poor rating more quickly than anything by talking to someone who doesn’t want to be talked to. It kind of amazes me how you can get in somebody else’s car and then be vindictive and angry when they talk to you. I, on the other hand, can’t shut up and for whatever reason sometimes fall into this trap. I have become quite proficient in many topics so as to keep there from being uncomfortable silence.

The GPS took us around the corner right by my brother-in-law Johnny’s old house i mentioned to him that my brother-in-law used to live there. He grunted, “I’ve only lived here six months”.

I decided I needed to find a better way because I knew I was supposed to talk to him. As we drove down the street the feeling intensified and I was racking my brain trying to figure out something I could say that would start a conversation and would allow me to bring up the church.

I decided to go with what he had given me, which was that he wasn’t from that neighborhood originally. I asked him where else he had lived. He said, all over Utah. I asked him if his parents were from Utah. He said that his mother was from Utah. She was from Utah County but his dad was from Mexico. I asked him how they met and if he spoke Spanish. He said he didn’t speak a word of Spanish and that they met on his mother‘s mission.

I had momentary doubts about the prompting I received because if he had a returned missionary mother and she had married someone from her mission, certainly I wouldn’t be getting the nonmember vibes. I was thinking that if this were the case, I wouldn’t be prompted to say the things I was feeling like I needed to say.

I asked him what ward he went to which again is a toe in the water kind of approach and then he told me what I needed to know. He said, well, not really any. I consider myself to be Catholic because my dad is Catholic and I was baptized and took the communion as a Catholic. I consider myself to be Mormon because my mom is Mormon and I was baptized as a Mormon but that is as far as it goes. Neither one of them is really my church. I don’t have a church, I just don’t go to church.

I said, that’s interesting. Did your mom tell you why she went on a mission? He said, I’m guessing it was to meet my dad but she’s never told me why or had that conversation with me. I said, she went on a mission because the spirit of God told her that she should. I told him that when we read the Book of Mormon we feel the spirit of God and it encourages us to do the things that God would have us do. I said, having the spirit of God prompting her to want to go share that with other people is why she went. He laughed when he said, so she didn’t go there looking for a husband? I said, probably not but it worked out pretty well for you! We both chuckled.

I asked him if his mom still went to church and he said that she never did while he was growing up but now she goes with his grandma. I asked him if he knew the differences between our church and the Catholic church. He said, no but I would be interested to learn someday. I asked, what about today? Why don’t we learn some of that between here and your work.

About this time, he sat up in his seat and took his headphones off. I knew the spirit was moving with this guy and that the next few minutes were going to be important. I looked down at the GPS and we had about nine minutes remaining in the ride . I figured that we could cover some good stuff between here and there.

He said, I really don’t even know the basics of the Mormon church. I know that there’s a Book of Mormon because I have one but I don’t know anything about it. I know that there’s a person named Joseph Smith but I don’t really know who he is. I know that they have a prophet in charge of their church today but I don’t know what any of that means.

I thought that was a good point to start. I asked him if he knew what a prophet was. He said, not really, is it like the pope? I told him that the pope is the head of the Catholic church but that he’s not a prophet. I said, a prophet is a person called by God to receive revelation for all of the people in the world. When God wants to speak to the world, he speaks through his prophet. He gives him the words to say and the things to teach. He truly is a living conduit of revelation from God.

I said, even the pope himself has said that he’s not a prophet but rather he is the caretaker of the church. We believe that God has always had prophets. We believe that this is how he works and because of that he has prophets on the Earth today.

I said that after the prophets in the Bible died we went a long time without prophets until Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. He said, I know Joseph Smith was important. I said, Joseph Smith was just a little younger than you and was looking for the true church. Joseph Smith said that all of the churches claimed to have the truth, but they all taught different things and he didn’t know which one to join. My rider said, Bingo! I can relate.

I said, he read in the Bible, in James, that he should ask of God and decided to do just that. He went to the forest and prayed. When I said this he interrupted and said, well that makes sense because when I’m in the forest I feel close to God. I think that’s a good place to go.

I said, he said that he went to a quiet place in the forest where he had previously decided to go. He knelt and prayed. I told him that Joseph Smith prayed and asked his question of God. That question was, which church he should join of all of the churches on the Earth. In answer to that prayer, God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him

I said, they called him to be the prophet and to receive revelation to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth as it had existed when Peter was the prophet. I said, our church is that same church.

He said, the Catholics teach that the bishops of Rome became the heads of the church. I said, these were good people but all of the people who had the authority of God to run the church were killed and only caretakers remained. They killed the prophets and that’s why the pope today says he’s not a prophet. It’s not part of his job description. I said, a prophet is something very different but very important in the church of Jesus Christ. I said, that’s why Joseph Smith was called to restore that church.

I asked him if he believed that God loved everyone and he said yes. I asked, everyone everywhere? He said yes. I asked, does God want us to be happy? He said, yes, of course he does.

I asked him, in the Bible, how did God protect the people and help them be happy? He thought and said, he told them what to do. I said, he did that through his prophets and they wrote those things down. That’s why we have the Bible . It is a collection of the revelations and workings of God with the people in Israel. He said, that sounds right.

I asked him if there were other people in the world that were not in Israel at the time. He said, of course, there were people all over the world. I asked him if they were God‘s children and if he loved them the same as the children of Israel. He said, absolutely, God loves everyone.

I asked him how God would have blessed them and made them happy? I said, if God is the same yesterday, today and forever, on every continent and in every country, how would he have blessed them and make them happy? Would he have done it the same way or would he have done it in a different way?

He said, I never thought of it that way but in the context of this conversation if he is the same, I suppose he would’ve done a similar thing to bless those people. He would’ve given them prophets. We just don’t know about them I guess.

I told him that here in America amongst his his father‘s ancestors there were prophets. I said, just like in Israel, they received revelation from God to teach the people how to be happy. I said, just like in the Bible they wrote down their revelations so these important things could be taught through the generations. I said, this is how God works.

I had the prompting that being happy was important to this young man and to that point he had struggled to find a way to be happy. He knew there was something missing but couldn’t identify it. I said, true happiness can only be found in obeying the words of God and unless we have them it is impossible to do this.

As I talked about this, it became very clear that the spirit was testifying to him. I could feel it and I knew he was feeling it too. This was kind of a rough and tumble kid who all of a sudden had tears in his eyes. I hadn’t said anything particularly emotional and I knew there wasn’t that much dust in the air. I knew he was feeling what I was feeling.

I said, the coolest thing is that God sends his spirit to testify of truth to us. When we feel his spirit, we know that we are hearing truth. This way we can know to follow the truth and those words and we can be happy. When we read the words of the prophet, we feel the spirit and know that we can be happy by doing these things. These things are confirmed by the spirit of God. This is why we have prophets.

I felt to get back to the Joseph Smith story and the Book of Mormon instead of pressing the identification of the spirit at that time. I thought that he was making the spirit connection all by himself and that I would talk about it again in a minute.

I talked about how his ancestors wrote those prophecies on plates, metal plates of gold. I told him that a prophet of God buried those plates in the ground to protect them and hundreds of years later, he showed Joseph Smith where they were. He gave them to him to be translated by the power of God. I told him that this is the Book of Mormon.

I told him that the Book of Mormon is the exact translation of what his ancestors on his dad side wrote, experienced, and how they were blessed by God. When they did the things they were supposed to do they were happy and blessed as much as anyone in the Bible.

I said, in the Bible, after Jesus was resurrected, he said that he had other sheep and he was going to go to them. I said, after he said that he ascended to heaven and then came to the people here in America. He did this because God loves all of his children not just the people in Jerusalem. God sent his son to everyone and not just one people.

I said that he descended from heaven in glory and the people touched the prints of the nails in his hands and cried saying, save us. They knew they had their God in front of them. Their prophets had testified that Jesus would come and now he was there in front of them.

As a direct response to their plea for salvation he called up 12 of them and gave them authority to baptize. He commanded everyone to be baptized with his baptism. These 12 later became apostles and prophets because the church of Jesus Christ always has apostles and prophets.

I told him that Jesus commanded these 12 to be baptized and commanded them to baptize everyone, even though they had previously been baptized in their churches. He taught them that it was important that they be baptized by his authority with his baptism and to make a covenant with him.

I told him that this was the same baptism that he had when he was eight. That baptism was done by that same authority. I told him that this baptism was the one that God recognized.

He noted the irony that his dad was Catholic but that the baptism that his ancestors had received from Jesus was the one that his mother led him to when he was eight. He said, I wonder why she didn’t stick with the church when I was young?

I told him that a lot of times people get lost in their lives. This is why we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. God knows that life is hard and Satan will pull on us. He will pull us away from happiness if he can. God gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost so that he can walk with us through those hard times.

I said, once the people in the Book of Mormon had been baptized, Jesus gave these apostles the authority to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said, you received the gift of the Holy Ghost after your baptism. I said, men who held that same priesthood that Jesus gave to those apostles put their hands on your head and gave you the gift of the Holy Ghost and a blessing.

He said, oh!, That’s what that was. I said, yes, they gave you the ability to have God walk with you, help you with decisions and be a guide in this life when things get rough. I said, sometimes people in tough situations forget to look to God and they forget to walk with his spirit.

I said, it doesn’t make them bad people, it just means that they have forgotten to use their most potent weapon in the battle. I said, the fact that your mother took you to be baptized shows how important it is and was to her. It just seems to me that clearly she was in a battle. He said, you don’t know the half of it. Those were some dicey times. I said, she appears to be winning now.

I told him that God had put him in my car today to feel that spirit and reawaken it in him. This is when I was prompted to identify the spirit to him. I asked him what he was feeling right then. He said, it’s like my brain is exploding and my heart is swelling. It’s like being covered with a warm blanket but still having shivers. I thought that was very descriptive and I liked it.

I said, that is the spirit of God. That is the Holy Ghost. God sent you the Holy Ghost today to testify to you that the things I am saying are true. I asked, do you believe the things that I have said are true? He said, yes! I know they are true and I feel it at a very deep level.

I said, the thing about when the Holy Ghost testifies to us is we feel it deeply in our souls and in our hearts. He said, that’s exactly how it is. I said, did you notice that I never trashed your father‘s church? He said, yes, I appreciate that.

I said, they have some truth but they don’t have a prophet and they don’t have the authority of God that a prophet holds and passes down throughout the church so that the people can be blessed. They teach some good things but they don’t have it all. This is why your mom went on her mission. She went to take this knowledge of a prophet to those people.

The spirit was bouncing off the doors and he said, I like this. He said, your brother-in-law lived over in my neighborhood, right? I said, yes. He said, so I suppose that there is a church over there too. Right? I said yes. He said, maybe I should go. I said, I think that’s why Heavenly Father put you in this car today. I said, his spirit is here and the things you’re thinking right now are the things that he would have you do. That’s why we have the Holy Ghost, it guides us.

We quickly looked up his ward address and church times on the Internet. He said, oh that’s really close! The meetings started at 11 and he was grateful that it didn’t start earlier. He said, I think I’m going to go to church this week.

By this time we had been sitting at his work for a minute. I asked him if he was late and he said no, he still had another five minutes. I asked him again what it meant for him to have this feeling. He said, it’s opened my eyes. I want to do this.

I said, remember this feeling that you’re having right now and seek it out. If you always try to have this feeling with you, you will make good choices.

I said, today, God reached out to you to help you come home. It all comes back to the fact that he is your father and he loves you. He sent his spirit so that you could know this. My rider said, I like that.

I said, when we first started to talk you said you didn’t know which church was the right one, has that changed? Do you know which church is true? He said, that has all been cleared up for me now. I know which way I want to go. I know the church is true and I can’t wait to start reading the Book of Mormon.

He started to get out of the car. and I said, one last thing, go to your mom and tell her all about this ride and ask her to do this with you. If you tell her about this ride, she will feel the spirit and it will bless her life. He smiled and said, she’s had kind of a hard go in life so far and blessing her life is what I want to do more than anything.

He thanked me and said, I will do that, I will tell my mom and maybe she can go to church with me on Sunday at 11 too. He got out of the car and went into work.

One morning I picked up a man from a hotel in Provo and I was supposed to take him down to the Spanish Fork airport. When I pulled up to the hotel he came out and he got in the car. I mentioned to him how I didn’t have very many people going to the Spanish Fork airport. He laughed about the airport and said that he would much rather be flying out of Provo or Salt Lake but today it was Spanish Fork. He was a private pilot and he was just flying to St. George for the day with a client.

He was about 25 years old and a really cool guy. He said that he lived in Ogden but had to stay in a hotel pretty close to his airplane. That is why his company put him in Provo. He said the 12 hours that he was allowed to have by the FAA started the second I picked him up and that he would have to be done flying that night. I asked him what he would do down in St. George and I suggested Croshaw pies.

Crowshaw pies is an amazing place full of delicious things and wonderment. He said that sounded good and took a note. He said that sitting around by the airplane all day gets boring. He said that if those pies were as good as I said they were, they would bring welcome relief. I assured him that it wouldn’t be his last time going.

I asked him what he normally did sitting around waiting for the people who were his passengers. He said that a lot of times he would read or sleep but that it was always low-key and not very much fun.

I asked him if he was from the area and he said that he was from Connecticut. He came out here for this job once he got his pilots license. I asked him how he liked it and he said he really liked it. He said that he liked the feel, especially in Utah County. He said that he loved the mountains and how pretty everything was.

Then I did something I never do, I asked him what he didn’t like about it. He thought about it for a minute and said that his family and good friends were a long way away and so it was pretty lonely for him. I said that could be tough and he agreed.

I said, so I assume you’re not married, right? That is one of the expressly forbidden phrases by the rideshare Gestapo. They don’t want us to start any conversation regarding personal lives or relationships. It’s expressly forbidden and you can get in trouble for it.

On the other hand, sometimes the spirit tells you what to say and you listen to the spirit. This was one of those times. He said, no, I’m not married and I just don’t know how that’s going to happen these days.

He talked about the frustration of dating and how all of the women he met seemed to be after the same guy with huge muscles and huge bank accounts. They want a guy willing to step in, assume there debt and support their expensive habits as well as their children from previous hook ups. He said it was disgusting and it had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He said, the good thing is that you know really quickly because they’re out with it pretty fast. I asked him where he met these people, these women with a purpose. He said that he met them in clubs and bars around town. He said, I just don’t know where you go to find good girls that aren’t like that.

I said, well, my suggestion would be you go to where the good girls are. I explained to him that here, the bars and clubs are full of people who don’t have their head on straight with regards to life in many cases. I said, many of them are in those bars because they are rebelling against the very standards and life choices that would make them the kind of woman that you was looking for.

I told him that in Utah most of the girl that want to be “that woman” he was looking for ate found in different places. I said, there are women out there who want to be wives, who want to be mothers and want to find a man that loves them. Women to whom it’s not about all of those worldly things as a prerequisite.

He asked, where do I go to find these women? He laughed and said, that sounded kind of desperate, didn’t it? Well I guess I am! I said, here those women are found in church. Those women are in church and following God. He teaches them to want to be better than that and the church provides them a community where the values you are looking for can flourish and grow.

I said, here, especially here, these women are not in bars because they don’t drink due to our religion. The peer pressure is different here for people who have those kind of ideals. I said, you need to go to church.

He laughed and said, I don’t even know where I’d start. I said, what church do you belong to? He said, I’m Catholic but I don’t remember ever going to church. I just remember being Catholic. I was baptized when I was born, I took the communion when I was 12 and that’s about it.

He said, I believe in Jesus Christ and I have read the Bible, at least the New Testament, but other than that I don’t have much religion in me.

I said, fortunately, there is no admission test to most churches. Our church is awesome in that way because we want everybody to come. We tried to make sure everybody has a friend and is included in the community. I said, we take assignments and responsibility to watch out for each other and be there for each other. I said, in our congregations we are kind of like one big family.

I said, you should go to our church. You would find that there are lots of women there. I said, we even have congregations just for single people. People in the same boat that you’re in. You could go there and fit right in. Worship with them, learn with them, hang out with them and maybe meet someone special amongst them.

He said, you know, I thought about that. I’ve got a friend who’s also a pilot. His dad is in charge of one of those congregations that you’re talking about. I don’t remember what he’s called in this assignment but it sounded pretty important. I asked him if his friend’s dad was the bishop of that congregation. He said, yes, Bishop! That’s what he’s called. He’s a bishop.

I told him that the bishop is kind of like the Dad in the group and he’s the one that makes sure everybody is cared for in the way God would have them be cared for. I said, being a bishop is a really hard thing and that’s why they would never ask me to do it! We both laughed.

I asked, how about your friend? Is he a good dude? He said, yeah! He’s the best. He’s married and they have a little kid. His wife is just the kind of person that I would love to marry. What you’re saying is starting to make a lot of sense.

I said, what you were looking for is the peace that comes from obedience to the commandments of God. You’re looking for a woman who has godly attributes and brings that spirit with her into your relationship. That’s the peace you want in your life and you’re having a hard time finding it. It starts with learning, knowing and living the commandments, then seeking to serve God.

I said, when a person has this perspective and does these things, they can have the spirit of God with them and it transforms their life and their relationships. This is what you’ve seen with your friend.

He said, wow, it’s like you know him. I said, I probably don’t know him but I know a lot of people like him. This kind of relationship is out there for you if you’d like to have it. The key is in the immortal words of Meatloaf “But there ain’t no Coupe Deville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.” He laughed and said, I love that song.

I said, it just doesn’t make sense to look for someone like that in a place where they don’t hang out. It’s like putting the square peg in the round hole for sure. He said, I see that. I asked, why don’t you have your friend take you to his dad‘s church? He said, he has mentioned that before but his dad‘s church is somewhere down here and I live up in Ogden. I figured that would be putting him out so I’ve never taken him up on it.

I told him that what we try to do is help our friends feel that peace and have it in their lives. We try to bring people Into the church so that they can have this experience with us. I said, if he offered, I promise you 100% that he would be happy to take you. I said, if I were you, I would go to his dad‘s ward once to see what it’s like. Then I would have his dad use your address to look up and tell you where and when the congregation close to you meets. He could even call the Bishop in that ward and tell him that you were coming so that someone there would be expecting you .

He asked, do you think he would do that for me? I said, absolutely! I said, this is exactly what we’re supposed to do. We’re not supposed to have this peace and love and keep it away from people. We’re here to share it!

At this point, I could see that he was very interested and it was genuine. I could tell earlier that he was very frustrated by his situation. In his mind, I could see that he thought that this was a legitimate answer.

He said, I’m going to text my friend right now and ask him if we could do that. He pulled out his phone and started texting. While he was texting, I felt like I needed to talk to him about our Heavenly Father’s love for him. I decided to also prepare him with some information on the church.

I said, this peace that you feel and the love the people share, that you have witnessed, comes from God. When we obey his commandments we feel his spirit, and it surrounds us. When we are around lots of people who obey the commandments the whole community is blessed. This is what you have seen.

I said, the goal is to have that spirit in your life and have it working for you in your life. I said, the goal is to have God walk with you. He said, that would be amazing! How do you do that? I said, first, understanding what that is that you are feeling is important. We are all learning about our relationship with our Heavenly Father . We lived with him in the before we were born and we loved him. That love is what we still feel in his presence. We know when he’s with us because we can feel the love from this relationship manifest through his spirit. It’s a beautiful thing.

I said, knowing God brings peace to your soul and doing what he asks us to do makes us happy. It’s a great father-son relationship. He smiled and said, I can see that. I can see how that would be.

I could feel the spirit in the car
and knew that he was feeling it too. I asked him what he was feeling and he described it as a tingly energy and an incredible interest in everything that I was saying. He said, the words you’re saying are sinking in. I love it!

I said, that feeling is the spirit of God . His spirit is with us because he testifies of truth and the things I’m saying are true. This is how he helps us make good decisions. He gives us his spirit to confirm truth so we can know which way to turn. He said, it’s kind of like having the answers going into the test then. I said yes.

I said, pursuit of that feeling and that peace are the things that bring you close to God and in the end will bring you home to live with him. That’s what we’re all about. It’s about living a life that will take us back to our Heavenly Father and bringing all of the friends we can with us. We want all of our brothers and sisters to come home. I said, that’s why your friend asked you to go to church with him and that’s why he’d be more than happy to go with you now. It’s no good if you don’t share it and if it is good, you want to share it!

He laughed and said, well, if he says yes I’ll go with him and if they can help me find the church near my home, I’ll go. He asked me if there was anything special that he needed to learn or know before he could go. I said, no, we go there to learn. There is no prerequisite to attendance. He said good.

I said, I can give you a little information on some of the things they will teach while you’re there that will help you get a head-start. He said, that sounds great. Is there something I could read? I have lots of time today.

The question here is, how do you ask for a copy of the Book of Mormon without asking for a copy of the Book of Mormon I guess.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I pulled out one of the Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists and held it up. I said, this is the Book of Mormon. He said, I’ve heard of that book. I asked him if he knew anything about it and he said no. I said, we believe that God loves everyone in the world, no matter where they’re from. He said, I believe the same. I said, God had prophets in Jerusalem that taught his word to the people so that they could be happy. I said, God is the father of everyone and he wants the same happiness for all of his children. I said, God had prophets in other places as well to help his children that lived there be happy.

I said, here in America he had prophets for that reason. They taught about Jesus Christ and gave God‘s commandments to his children that lived here. I said, they wrote these teachings on metal plates and that is how we have the Book of Mormon.

I said, those plates were given to Joseph Smith, who was a prophet called by God to restore the church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. He was given the power of God to translate the words on those plates and that is what constitutes the Book of Mormon. It’s the teachings of God to the people who lived here in America anciently.

I said, God also loved the people here so much that he wanted his Son to bless them and teach them. I said, after Jesus Christ was resurrected in Jerusalem, he ascended into heaven and descended in America to those people who were awaiting his arrival. They had been taught by their prophets that he would come. He visited them, he taught them and he blessed them.

They had all previously been taught about the church and had been baptized in the church, but he gave them new authority and a new baptism. He said that we should follow him and he invited everyone to be baptized again so that they could come home to their father in heaven. I said, that’s the baptism we have and the invitation that we extend. We want everyone to have that baptism so that they can walk with the spirit back to his presence .

I said, we want to feel his spirit around us. It prepares us to be in his presence in heaven. The gateway to this is that baptism. He said, even though I’ve been baptized in the Catholic Church, they will let me be baptized in your church? I said, yes. He said, that’s awesome.

I said, once we are baptized, we can be cleansed from our sin and worthy to receive his spirit so it can be our constant companion. He said, that sounds like the best friend you could have. I asked him if he wanted the Book of Mormon I had in my hand. He said, that’s your copy. I said, this copy was made for you.

I pointed out to him the questions of the soul inside the front cover and the tabs indicating the location of the answers to those questions. I said, this is your book and you can read it today while you’re sitting there in St. George. He said that’s perfect, and eating a pie! I said, that would be sweet.

Just then his phone dinged. It was his friend! He was texting him back. He said, my friend just answered and said he would love to take me to church. He said we could go this Sunday! He responded affirmatively to his friend saying that he would definitely love to do that and his friend told him he would pick him up at 9 AM on Sunday.

He said, I’m actually really excited about this! He said, this ride has been crazy. I knew something was going to happen when I got in the car. I could just feel that this is where I was supposed to be. Thank you for helping me with this and thank you for the book. He said, I can’t believe God put me in your car today. I’m so glad.

I told him to write down the things that he had learned in the car, but more importantly, I told him to write down the things that he had felt. I told him to tell his friend about it. I told him that it would make a lot of sense to his friend because he’s had the same experience for himself and with other people. I said, that’s what makes him the perfect person to help.

I said, if you’ll remember the spirit you felt in the car today it will change your life. You will feel that same spirit in church on Sunday and you will feel that spirit when you read the Book of Mormon. I said, that spirit will be your guide and seeking to have it with you all the time will be how you find the woman you want to marry. It will keep you in the path so that you can walk back to your father in heaven.

As he got out of the car he said, I only expected to get a ride but God blessed me with so much more here today.

I got a call to go over and pick up a lady by the cemetery in Provo (people are just dying to get in that place). The way I entered into the parking lot of her apartment complex was a little convoluted but I finally arrived.

I arrived at the side of the indicated building not in front of her building and when she came around the corner I recognized her. I had given her a ride before. I remembered that the time before when I had given her a ride we had shared crazy rideshare stories and it was pretty funny.

As she was getting in the spirit said, this time you talk about the church. I looked at the duration of the ride and it was a seven minute ride. I thought, well if I’m going to talk about the church, I’m going to have to talk fast about it.

I didn’t know what church she belonged to. I didn’t know if she was a member of our church. I didn’t know anything, but I’ve learned that when the spirit says we’re going to talk about the church, we talk about the church.

When she got in the car, she looked at me and said, I’ve had you before as a driver. I said, I remember you too. Now the pressure was on. I had to figure out how to get into the church discussion really fast.

I asked, do you remember what we talked about last time? I said this full well knowing what we talked about last time. She said, I don’t remember what we talked about but I remember I enjoyed the ride. I said I think we talked about church, didn’t we talk about church?

When I said this, there was an immediate wide eyed, mouth open, jaw dropped reaction on her part. When she said, “I don’t remember”, I knew something was going on. I felt prompted by the spirit to proceed as if she was not a member, although I had no information as to her religious leanings.

I asked her if she went to church yesterday. It was a Monday so that made sense. She said, no, I haven’t been for about a month. I’ve been in California helping some friends with their family and helping one of them move. I haven’t gone to church for a while.

Then she opened up. She said, I just recently found Jesus. I love him so much and it’s made a huge difference in my life. I can’t imagine being without Jesus.

I asked her how Jesus had made a difference in her life. She talked to me about how she had been in about 40 foster homes growing up and that she had suffered greatly in her childhood. She said, Jesus has helped me lose some of the anger and frustration from that situation.

I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ is an amazingly powerful blessing that we can each have in our lives. It helps us forgive and it helps us become better. She said, that’s right! I talked to her a little bit about how in our lives when bad things happen. Satan wants us to blame God and blame others. I said, God wants us to look to Christ and his atonement to live. She said, I like that.

I taught her that because of the atonement of Jesus Christ our burdens can be lifted and even in horrible painful situations we can be comforted and soothed by looking to Christ. I said, through the atonement of Jesus Christ he has the power to make us whole regardless of the adversity we face. I said, we are all at different levels but he fills our cup regardless of what level we are at. He doesn’t have to take from one to fill the other he just fills them all. I told her that in adversity, pain or persecution, looking to Christ is how we live.

I told her that in the Book of Mormon and the Bible they tell the story about Moses holding up a brazen serpent, representing Jesus Christ to heal them from poisonous snake bites. I told her that when they looked, they were healed immediately but many wouldn’t look because it seemed so silly and they perished.

I told her that this is how it is for us. All we have to do is look to Christ instead of blame God, other people or the church. If we will look to Christ, we will live. I said, looking to Christ helps us change our hearts so that we don’t seek revenge or proceed with anger. It allows us to become whole even when things are not going well. It takes the sword out of our hands as we kneel before the Lord.

I asked her if she had ever been taught about the atonement like that. She said that she had never heard it taught like that but that as I taught her it made her feel wonderful inside. I testified to her that it was true and that the spirit was telling her the same thing. I said, we teach this different than other religions because we have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the fullness of the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we have all of the covenants necessary for us to return to live with our father in heaven and Jesus Christ.

I said that the closer we are to Jesus Christ and become like little children the more easy it is to access the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s up to us to accept his invitation and come to him. I said, he gives us a lot of help.

I said, every week when we take the sacrament at church, it reminds us of the atonement of Jesus Christ and promises us that we can have his spirit to be with us. I said, having his spirit be with us is the key.

I said, when you feel powerless over your circumstance, having God’s spirit with you because of Jesus Christ is a great blessing. I said, turning to Christ is important and being his disciple brings tremendous blessings.

I talked about how when Jesus came to America he was announced by God the father and descended to stand amongst them. He came to be with those people to show them the way to his father. I told her that they asked him to save them and he gave them baptism. I told her, that’s why we all need to be baptized his baptism was an invitation to live a higher law and take a step up to a higher level of discipleship. I said, that’s what we try to do in the church. I said, people aren’t perfect, but in Christ, they can be perfected and come home to their father.

I asked, when were you baptized? At this time I still didn’t know that she had been baptized but I felt prompted to say those words. She said, well, I was baptized by some foster parents when I was eight but then quickly got transferred out of their home. I haven’t been back to church until a couple of months ago. She said, I went a couple of times and attended two other churches a couple of times. She said one was a non-denominational church and she kind of liked that one.

You know, at some point during these rides when you start to follow the spirit, it becomes apparent why you ask the questions you ask in the order you ask them. You see that God is guiding you to set things up for teaching. I asked her, what do you think about Jesus coming to America? She said, that was beautiful. I asked, how did you feel inside when I said that? She said, really good.

I asked her if she knew where she could read the story of Jesus coming to America. She said, no, where is it? I said, it’s in the Book of Mormon. Do you have a Book of Mormon? She said, yes. I was given one of them in one of the homes where I lived.

I testified to her that the Book of Mormon was true and that the spirit she will feel when she reads the book of Mormon would help guide her to know the truth of God. I said, Jesus invited all of them to be baptized just like he invited you to be baptized. he invited them to take that step up to a new level of discipleship.

I said, Jesus gave them authority to baptize which is why that baptism had the power to save those people. I said, that baptism because it was performed by the proper authority, has the power to save you as well. When you were baptized, you also got the gift of the Holy Ghost and when you live right you can have the Holy Ghost walk with you and help you on your way back to your father in heaven.

She said, that’s beautiful. I said, it’s really important that when you’re choosing a church you don’t choose the church with the best rock band. It’s important that you choose the church with the proper authority of God to do the things that need to be done so that you can go home to your father in heaven. You want to be able to live with Jesus.

I talked to her about her father in heaven and his love for her. I told her that when she felt the spirit, she would know that her father in heaven was near and that he was manifesting his love for her.

I asked her what she was feeling right then. She was weeping profusely in the backseat so I knew she was feeling something. She said through the tears, I feel an amazing peace and love in my heart. It makes so much sense what you say.

I asked her when was the last time she had been to our church. She said it was before she started seeking out these other denominations.

I told her that Joseph Smith had done the exact same thing. He had wanted to find the church of God. He wanted to find the one that had the truth and he wanted to find the one that had the authority from God. I told her that he prayed and God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet to restore the church.

As I testified, I could see the power of my testimony hitting her. I said, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church that has the authority of God to give you the baptism and the covenants you need to go home to your father in heaven where you can live in that peace you seek. I told her that Joseph Smith was given the golden plates and that he translated them. This is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon, it was written over 1000 years before by prophets of God. I said, that book contains the fullness of the gospel, including the baptism of Jesus Christ. I said, as a companion to the Bible it testifies of the divinity of the son of God, his power and love.

I said, we felt that love in the car today. I looked at her face in the mirror. She was dabbing her eyes. She hadn’t stopped crying. I said, that power and peace that you are feeling right now is the spirit of God confirming to you the things that I’m saying are true.

She said, I know they’re true. Right now they just make so much sense and my soul tells me that what you are saying is true. I asked her if she thought that she was in my car by accident today. I asked her how she thought I knew to bring up the church with her.

She said, I have those answers. She said, right before you arrived I knelt down and prayed that Heavenly Father would show me which church to join of the ones I was investigating.

She said, I was supposed to meet with the Mormon Bishop yesterday. He had reached out to me when my records came into the ward and had I had attended one time. He wanted to get to know me. I blew him off. I hadn’t decided that I wanted to go to the Mormon church. I really hadn’t decided which way I wanted to go and I didn’t want to meet with him until I knew that.

She said, I was thinking about this and that’s why I prayed. Then I come out and get in your car. The first thing you talk about is church. I felt the spirit in your car and the things you said touched my heart and I knew they were true.

I said, well, I guess you do know that God answers prayers. The answer to your prayer was the spirit and the witness you received during this ride. She said, this is an exact answer to my prayer. Now I know what I’m supposed to do. It’s very clear.

I asked her if she had the Bishop’s phone number. She said she did. I told her she should text him and see if she could reschedule. I said, he may even get you in before Sunday so that you can be ready to go. She said, that would be awesome.

She pulled out her phone and started typing out that text. I felt so happy that her prayer had been answered and that she recognized this.

By this time we had been in front of her work for about 15 minutes. She said, I just don’t want to leave the car. I love how it feels in here. I love that God sent you for me today and that he sent his spirit to be with us. Now I know what I’m supposed to do. I love this, but I have to go.

The topic of the Book of Mormon that she said she currently possessed kept coming to my mind. I was prompted to dig a bit deeper. I said, you told me that you have a Book of Mormon, do you know where it is? She said, truthfully, I don’t know. I haven’t seen it for years. I just know I have one. I reached into my console and grabbed one of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and gave it to her. I asked her if she would take this one just to be sure. She said, I would love that! Please and thank you.

I showed her how it has the questions of the soul and is marked for easy access. I told her I read that book multiple times every year and I feel the spirit of God just like we were feeling right then in the car every time I do. I promised her that if she would read the Book of Mormon, she would feel that as well. She promised that she would.

I’m sure that the Bishop was very excited to get that text. I’m very happy that the Lord knew that this young lady was at a crossroads and lacked wisdom. I’m glad that she asked of God and received her witness.

One night I was driving in Orem and I got a ride that I really didn’t want to take. I was trying to get on the freeway and head down to Spanish Fork. I just felt like that is where I wanted to work. Then I got this ride. I was about to let it go but felt impressed that I should do it.

I pulled up in front of the house that was indicated by the app. It was on a dark street and there was really no place to park so I was idling in the middle of the road.

We have to sit there for seven minutes before we can take the no-show fee and leave. I was scrolling through my sports app, thinking about how much longer before I could cancel when the spirit said, you’re not going to cancel. You’re going to take this one.

Just as I felt those words, there was a knock on the door of my car. It startled me. It’s not something that happens in the middle of a dark street at 1 AM very often.

I looked up and it was a young woman with a smile on her face. She got in the car and away we went. We were headed down to BYU housing so I was more than a little bit confused about the prompting I had received.

She seemed very quiet and I was looking for a way to get into a conversation. I hoped to find out a little bit about her and maybe receive some prompting to inform the direction of the conversation that we were supposed to have.

As we were driving down 400 North in Orem this motorcycle came whipping by us about 70 MPH. I think the road is a 30 MPH road and he was clearly out of control. His bike was very loud but it gave me an opportunity to break the silence in the car.

I said, that dude might be in trouble! He’s a little bit out of control. That’s why they sent you the best driver they’ve got tonight. We need to get you there safely.

I expected her to laugh or say something witty but instead she was choked up and she said she couldn’t talk right then. She said she was way too emotional and that she had just ruined her life.

I said, I’m pretty sure you didn’t ruin your life. Who did you kill? Through the tears she gave a little laugh and said, I don’t know that I can talk about it. I’m just way too emotional.

I said, look, I’m a dad and a grandpa. On top of that, I’m a rideshare driver. I don’t know who you are really, I don’t know where you live, I don’t know anything about you so you can talk to me and it’s like talking to the wall, assuming the wall talks back. I said, maybe I can help you out a bit.

This girl was clearly in distress but her eyes lit up and she jumped at that chance. She said she was a member of the church and had always been really good. She had done the things she was supposed to do but was a little frustrated that her life seems stagnant. She said she came to BYU to hopefully find someone that she could marry and start doing things to advance her life. Then she said, tonight I threw it all out the window. I screwed everything up.

To break the ice into this subject, I said, finding someone to marry serious business. Receiving that kind of revelation is not easy. Many kids her age think that they’ll pray and then they’ll see an 8 x 10 picture of the person they’re going to marry float by their mind’s eye or there will be some fantastic decision made by God revealed to them.

This is not the approach God takes very often. We work with him to receive revelation. It is a process and we need to do our part.

I taught her the way my friend Mark Lords would teach this. He taught that Moroni 10: 3-5 is a multi part process on receiving revelation not just an answer about the Book of Mormon’s truthfulness .

In verse three we study the Book of Mormon and compare it to what we know about how God works. We see if it fits, taking account of the spirit you felt while reading it. Then you make a decision
based on the fact that God is your father and he wants you to use your experience knowledge and brain to make a decision. He doesn’t want to tell you everything to do. He wants you to use your agency to make a choice.

Verse 4 says to take that decision to God and ask him to show you if it’s not true or wrong and be ready with faith a sincere heart and a total determination called real intent to follow through with the decision if it’s right. If it’s right, you’ll continue to feel the spirit but if it’s wrong, he will show you that it’s wrong. I said, when it’s wrong, you will know. If it’s good, you will feel the spirit.

Verse five says that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you can know the truth of all things. This is a pattern for how to receive revelation in your life. Follow this pattern and you’ll know how to get revelation from God. He’s a yes, no God he doesn’t answer open-ended questions as often as he answers. Yes, no questions.

I said, make sure when you’re looking for your husband, you don’t expect God to find him for you. You need to do your part. He wants you to do your work and he wants it to be your decision.

She said, this answers a question I’ve had for a long time. I haven’t really understood at all how to receive revelation and this should help me. Tonight my experience has made it so that I probably never will be able to. When she said this, I said, well, you do need to be worthy.

I am accustomed to the late rides and I know what is usually going on. For whatever reason some of these guys just send a car to transport the girl so they can violate her. It drives me crazy and it drives me crazy that the girls do it. I had the vibe that this was what was up. The spirit was telling me the same thing that I was interpreting from the words she saying was exactly right. She had been immoral that night.

With that knowledge, I decided to talk to her about the atonement and repentance. First, I told her that she messed up but that she didn’t throw her whole life away. I told her that repentance is a beautiful thing and you come away totally cleansed from the sin you have committed .

She asked, how can I be forgiven for this? She said, I don’t think I can. I said, it’s time to quit listening to Satan. It’s time to quit playing where he tells you to play and doing the things he tells you to do. It’s time for you to look to Jesus Christ and ask your father in heaven to forgive you.

I asked her about her relationship with her Heavenly Father and she seemed stumped. I asked, do you know what the spirit feels like? She said yes. I told her that the way she feels the spirit is a manifestation of her father in heaven‘s love for her. I told her that his plan is for her to come home and that she hasn’t done anything to foil that plan. I told her that she made a mistake and correcting mistakes are part of the plan.

I told her that if she will do the things she needs to do to repent, her father in heaven will allow the blood of Christ to cleanse her from her sin and it will be as if she never committed it in the first place.

She said, I just got here though and I screwed up so bad. I said, all of that may be true but it is not a fatal error. I asked her if she knew her Bishop and she said she saw him once but that she was new in the ward.

I asked her if she had his telephone number and she said she didn’t but that her roommate did. I said, get his phone number and call him tomorrow morning. Tell him you want to meet with him as soon as possible. You need to get started on this.

I asked her if she’d ever been through the repentance process before and she said no. She said she always done what she was supposed to do until tonight. I asked her if this was someone she knew or if it was someone she found on Tinder. she said that it was a guy she met on Tinder and that it was a huge mistake.

I told her that the Bishop was going to ask all of these questions so that he could understand how to help her. I said, the purpose of going to the Bishop is so that he can help you get to the point where your father in heaven can forgive you for your sin. He also helps you reestablish behaviors that will act as guard rails to keep you from falling over that cliff again.

She said, that will be greatly appreciated. I can’t believe I was so stupid. I said, he’ll probably ask you to say prayers multiple times a day and to read your scriptures a predetermined amount of time. He’ll want to make sure you show up at church and meet with him frequently so that he can check your progress. He’s going to want to help you change your heart and your habits so that they can act as this guard rail.

I said, in the scriptures it talks about having no more desire to sin. I said, that’s more than just feeling bad that you went too far or sorry that you got caught. It’s a total change of your way of thinking. It will take you to a higher plane where the thought of doing what you did won’t be as much of a temptation. That’s what the Bishop is going to try to help you do.

She said, if it can prevent me from feeling like this, I’m all in. She said, the problem is, I came here to find a husband and now I’ve screwed that all up.

As she said this, these words came to my mind, and I said them exactly as the spirit prompted. I said, you haven’t mess that up. As you are going through this process, your father in heaven will forgive you and the light that shines from you will shine brightly. I said, the person you’re supposed to marry will see that light and be attracted to you because of it. I said, it’s important that you get this underway.

She said, Heavenly Father sent you, didn’t he? I said, yes, he puts people in my car. She said, I know that because you just told me exactly what it says in my patriarchal blessing word for word about how I will meet my spouse.

She said, my patriarchal blessing says that I will carry a light and that the person I’m supposed to marry will see that light and be attracted to me because of it. In your car is the only other place I’ve heard that so I know Heavenly Father sent you here tonight.

I said, he sent me because he wants you to know that even though you made a mistake, he loves you and he’s there with his arms outstretched to bring you back. Due to the fact that I am here, you should now know that you can be forgiven and that your Heavenly Father still loves you.

By this time we were at her apartment and the despair was replaced by determination and the tears had been replaced by smiles. She said, tonight God sent me an angel and I will not let him down.

She got out of my car and I’m positive that by now she is well on her way to get her light shining brightly again.

I picked up a guy at a gas station in Springville and started driving him towards his home in Spanish Fork. He seemed like a good guy but a little bit of a wild soul. As we started to drive the spirit said that I needed to talk to this guy.

We chatted about where he was from. He was from Louisiana. My son is graduating from law school at Louisiana State University this Friday and so we had that in common and we chatted. (Shout out to Kenny) He talked about how he moved out here for a girl and he’s been here ever since. He mentioned that he was at work where I had picked him up because it was his weekend job, his second job. He said, there’s no way anyone can get ahead today. It’s just way too expensive. This was clearly a good dude and he had his heart in the right place. He just needed some guidance.

We talked about how he and this girl had a daughter but that it hadn’t worked out. He said, I’ll be sticking around here forever because my daughter‘s here. I’d love to go back, but I love my daughter more.

The reason why I talk to people about things like that many times is just to look for an opening when I know I’m supposed to talk to them. That was the opening I was waiting for. I asked, so what did you guys do for Easter?

He said that he and his new lady took her two girls and his girl to the aquarium and did some easter activities. I said, that sounds nice. I said, I went to church, did you go to church?

That’s a little pushy for the liking of the rideshare services but due to the fact that this was not a long ride, I thought it would push the discussion of religious things to the top.

I said, you know it’s all about Jesus and his resurrection and sometimes we let Easter eggs get in the way. He said, yes and we didn’t go to church. It is kind of a problem because it’s hard for me because I’m Southern Baptist. Around here there’s not a lot of us.

I was prompted right then that his girlfriend and his ex were members of the church and I said that to him. He said, yes they are and it’s kind of a sticking point with everybody. I said, so everyone wants you to become a member of our church? He said, yeah. I asked him what they had taught him about our church. He said, not really that much. He said that he had gone to church a few times but no one explained to him what the difference between the Southern Baptists and our church was.

I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what the difference was. He said yes, that would be awesome. I told him that the difference was all about love. I told him it was about his Heavenly Father‘s love for him.

I said, Easter is the ultimate sign of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. He sent his son and Jesus suffered for us, died for us and was resurrected. I said, that’s a beautiful plan, but it didn’t end there.

He asked, what do you mean? I said, God sent Jesus Christ to everyone because he loves everyone, no matter where they live. He said, I believe that. I asked him, how did God show his love to the people in the Bible. He said, well, he helped them and taught them. He said, he loved them and he healed them.

I said, that’s right. God sent his prophets to reveal his will and to teach the people. God sent his son to teach the people, suffer their burdens and pay for their sins. He said, I believe that.

I asked him if God loved everyone and he said yes. He had said this before, but I wanted to reestablish that fact. I said, well, if he loved everyone, how did he show his love to the rest of the people in the world? The people in America, the people in China or the people in Africa?

I asked, how did he show his love to these people? He thought for a minute and said, well all they have to do is hear the teaching of Jesus Christ and accept him as their savior and they can be saved. That’s what we believe.

I asked him how many people in China 400 years ago heard about Jesus Christ. He thought about it and said none of them. I asked him, how many people in India 400 years ago heard about Jesus Christ? He thought quickly and gave me the same answer, none of them. I asked him, how many of the people living in Saudi Arabia 100 years ago heard about Jesus Christ. He thought about it and said, none of them.

I asked him how they could come home to their father in heaven given his understanding. He said, I guess they couldn’t. I asked him, how many of the people in the world by that calculation have passed away without hearing about Jesus? He said, the vast majority.

I asked him if he thought God was perfect and he said yes. I said, you’ve got a perfect God with a perfect love for all of his children, and you believe that he created a plan that on the face of it would prevent most of his children from making it back home. I said, you’re not that kind of a father. You’re bending over backwards and sacrificing very much personally to be in the life of your daughter.

I asked him, would a perfect all powerful Heavenly Father do any less than what you are doing? He thought about it and said, I had never looked at it that way, probably not. He had to have someway to reach out to them. I asked him if he would be interested to know what that way was. He said yes. I said, we believe a lot like you do. We believe that God is perfect and that he loves all of his children but we believe that he has a plan so that every one of them can be saved and we know what that plan is.

I asked him if he believed that everyone needed to be baptized to go to heaven. He said, no. In our church, we believe that all you need to do is confess Jesus and you are saved. I asked him if he had been baptized and he said yes.

I quoted to him from the Bible where it said that a man must be born of the water and the spirit and I asked him what that meant. He thought about it and said that he didn’t know. I knew that he did know but he was just not wanting to give up that fast. I said, being born of the water is your baptism. I told him that being born of the spirit means that you’ve received the gift of the Holy Ghost so that you can walk with God and be one with God. This helps you be able to return to God. I told him that after people are baptized, they get the gift of the Holy Ghost so that they can do this. They can walk with God.

I said, that’s why Jesus was baptized, because he is our example. He showed us the way so that all righteousness could be fulfilled and we could return to our father. I told him that Jesus was perfect and he was the son of God so he didn’t need to be baptized because of sins, but he did it for us so that we could see the way.

He said, it is kind of funny that they call us Baptist if we don’t believe that but I guess you’re right. He said, that’s something that I had never thought about. I said, back to the question about all of the people who ever lived in the world. How about them?

Did a perfect loving father plan for all of his children or were the vast majority of them just an accident? He said, no! They weren’t an accident. He had to have a plan for them. I said, yes, he does and yes we do. He said, really?

I told him that everyone in the world was put here by God and that he didn’t forget them. I told him that God had prophets who helped and taught the people in other parts of the world, including America. I told him that they taught the gospel and preached about Jesus Christ.

I taught him that after Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected he said that he had other sheep and he was going to go to them. I said, he was talking about these other people. He finished the thought saying “they would hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.”

I asked him if he’d been taught about how that was supposed to happen and he said no. I asked him if that sounds more like the God that he believes in, a God that’s a loving father who would do anything to save all of his children. Again I asked him if a God that had all power would use that power to save his children and he said yes.

I said, after Jesus was resurrected and said those words, he ascended into heaven but then later descended from heaven to the people in America. His father announced him saying, this is my beloved son. He descended down and stood in front of them. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands. They knelt in front of their God and asked him for salvation. They asked to be saved.

I knew that this was an important word in his church. I said, they were in the presence of their God. They had accepted their God and they were worshiping their God and they asked to be saved. Can you relate to that? He said yes. I asked him what he thought Jesus would do as a response to that plea. He said, he would save them. They would be saved.

I said., That’s exactly what happened. Jesus called up 12 people gave them authority to baptized and commanded them to baptize everyone, even if they had already been baptized. He commanded them to be baptized with his baptism so that they could be saved in the kingdom of God. I said, it required a baptism. and he gave them that baptism and commanded them to receive it so that they could come home to their Heavenly Father .

He said, that’s so cool. I said, it doesn’t stop with that. You’ve seen our temples, right? He said yes, I asked him about all those other people that died without ever hearing the name of Jesus Christ. I asked him if an all knowing, all powerful, loving father would condemn all of those people and not allow them to come home just because they hadn’t had a baptism while they were on earth. Would he condemn them because they didn’t live in a circumstance where they could hear the word of God or know of his son Jesus Christ? He said, no, not a loving father and that’s what Heavenly Father is.

I asked him how his religion taught that these people could possibly be saved and come home to their father? He said that it didn’t. I said, that’s why we have temples. I told him that in our temples we are baptized for the people who have died and then they get the chance to accept that baptism. I mentioned to him that Jesus had gone to the spirits in prison. He said, yes, while his body was in the tomb. I said, that’s exactly right.

I said, he preached to those who hadn’t heard the gospel and organized the teaching of the gospel so that everyone who ever lived will get a chance to hear and accept Jesus Christ as their savior. He said, that’s amazing! I said, but they still need baptism and that’s why we have temples.

I said, understanding our religion is easier when you look at a loving father and think about what you would do. He said, I love that! The spirit was in the car but this guy didn’t seem like a touchy, feely kind of guy.

I asked him what he was feeling and he said, I feel good, really good. I asked another couple questions to try to get him to examine his feelings more profoundly, but I could tell really quickly that he wasn’t used to that. I asked, what do you think of the things I’ve said?

He said, I believe it’s true. As you said it, it made so much sense. Even though I’ve never heard this before it makes sense to me and it doesn’t sound weird. I said, it makes sense to you because the spirit of God has been with us in the car and has helped you. It testified to you. You understand it and God has helped your spirit receive it.

He said, that makes sense. I said, it’s all about our father in heaven and the fact that he will do what it takes to bring home as many of his children as he can. It’s about his love and that love is manifest by the fact that Jesus Christ suffered, was crucified and resurrected so that we can come home and live with our father again.

I said, the things you learned in your church were good but they were incomplete. We have the fullness of the gospel with all of the teachings of Jesus Christ. We have God‘s plan to save all of his children and that’s what we are about.

He said, now I know. I’ve been to your church several times and my family goes every week. I should be going with them. I think I will go with them. He asked, do you ever get the idea that people are put in your car for a reason? I think I was supposed to be here today to talk with you. He said that he would go to church the next day. He said, it sounds like I need to be baptized again. We pulled up to his house and he got out of the car, he smiled and waived and went into his house

One day I was driving back from Salt Lake in rush-hour. When I do that I like to put on the directional parameters so that it can only push me towards home. Believe me, you don’t want to get sucked out to Eagle Mountain during rush-hour.

I got a ride from a kid in Lehi right by the hotels. He got in and we started to drive. I was taking him to Orem and normally that would be a pretty quick drive but not during rush hour that is a forever task to get on the freeway and it’s a daunting endeavor all the way down the freeway until you pass Pleasant Grove. That 15 minute ride can easily become a 45 minute ride. I don’t know about everyone else but when I’m driving in that kind of traffic, I’m focused and I feel like I’m doing battle. That day I sure did. Everyone was honking at everyone else and the temperature of the situation seem to be skyrocketing on the freeway.

This young man got in the car, apparently oblivious to the attention needed for the conditions and became very very very chatty. He had a million questions. He hit me with like 25 questions right off the bat covering everything from why I’m driving Uber to where my kids live. I was half paying attention and half trying not to be killed by the other drivers on the road when the spirit slapped me in the face.

I remember distinctly having the impression that said, obviously he’s fine with questions. Why don’t you participate in this and ask him the important ones? I remember thinking that he had been bold and personal with the questions that he had asked me so I could just jump in and be bold with him.

I decided to start with revisiting his first question which was, why are you driving? I’m sure he was expecting to hear something along the lines of “ it’s how I make my living or it’s my side hustle”. Everyone has the mistaken idea that rideshare is a gold mine and they love to talk about that. That’s how I answered him the first time around. This time I jumped in and said, “before you asked me why I was driving. I’m driving because Heavenly Father puts people in my car and I’m supposed to help them”. I said, he gives me the words to say and I say them.

This wasn’t the answer that he had expected but I could tell it was well received. He asked, what do you mean and why am I in your car? The spirit filled my heart with the words to say and I said, you have friends that are members of the church and you love being around them. You love living here in Utah and it just feels right to you. I’m here to ask you what the reasons are that you haven’t accepted baptism yet so I can resolve those questions with you. That way you can tell your friends that you’re ready to be baptized. Heavenly Father thinks it’s time and so do I.

That was very bold considering he looked and felt like a member already and I hadn’t even asked him yet if he was . The only thing I knew about him besides what the spirit told me to say was that he moved here two years ago and the spirit was clearly working in the car.

The word astounded is a word I don’t use much but in this case it’s the most accurate descriptive word I can think of regarding him in this situation. I said, what I need you to do right now is tell me what the are reasons that you have not been baptized.

We were getting right to it. He said, I guess there’s only one way you could’ve known that. It had to be from God.. I believe in signs from God and this has to be one of them. How much time do we have? I said, we have all the time we need and traffic is crawling so let’s go.

He said, first off I’ve already been baptized in my church. Why do I need to be baptized again and what’s so different about this baptism? What was wrong with my last baptism?

He said, I kind of got put on the defensive when they said my first baptism was evil. I don’t think it was evil. I think my parents were trying to do what Jesus taught us to do and I think our priest was a good man. How could it be evil?

I said, many times in trying to draw a distinction between the baptism of Jesus Christ that we have and the baptism done in other churches, we tend to diminish the sacred nature of the offering made in good faith by those people towards God.

I said, I assure you that God was neither offended nor displeased with the efforts of your parents or your priest. They were doing the best they knew how to do. God knows that all we can do is the best that we can do and the best that we know how.

I asked him if his friends had explained to him about Jesus coming to America with regards to baptism . He said, no they just talked about the picture of him with John the Baptist. I said, let’s talk about Jesus here in America.

I said, Jesus descended from heaven after being announced by his father to the people here in America. He descended until he stood on the steps of the temple. They went up and touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet and they knew they had their God standing in front of them.

These were people who were members of his church, in many cases they had been baptized and they were waiting for his arrival. That’s why they recognized who he was and were spared by God for that time.

After touching the prints of the nails, they all in one voice asked for salvation. As a direct response to that plea, Jesus Christ called up 12 of them. He gave them the proper authority to baptize and commanded that each one of them be baptized with this new baptism. He gave them the salvation they sought through baptism.

He didn’t spend one second ripping on their former baptism or saying that he didn’t appreciate it. To the contrary, they were saved to meet him and receive further blessings, including this baptism because of the faith they had shown and the things that they had done. Jesus didn’t diminish their previous worship at all, he accepted it and used it as the starting point to provide further instruction.

This was the iteration of his gospel, faith, repentance and baptism were the first three parts of that gospel. He invited them to take a step to a new level of discipleship, to receive a new level of blessings and understanding. He invited them to make that covenant with this new baptism.

That baptism could only be performed by his authority and in the way that he prescribed. That baptism given by Jesus Christ which the people were invited to receive is the same baptism that we do today. That baptism comes with a step up in discipleship and the making of a new higher covenant.

I said, when we talk about having the fullness of the gospel it means that we have the covenants and ordinances that other people in the world don’t have. It’s our job to bring them these covenants and help them take that step up to a new level of discipleship.

I said, when they invite you to be baptized, it is that same invitation that Jesus extended to the people here in America only this time it’s personalized and directed to you. God is inviting you to take that step up to that new level.

With regards to your previous baptism, it was a demonstration of faith by you, your parents and all involved. It was a demonstration of your love for him and your willingness to follow him. That’s neither evil nor worthless. It was doing the best you knew how to do but now you’ve been invited to take that next step to receive more blessings for you and your family.

Next, as if he hadn’t totally connected the dots on what I had said, he asked, what’s wrong with my church? In the end aren’t we all going to the same place? I said, the good people of the Earth who tried to follow Christ will be in a kingdom of glory. God isn’t going to send anyone to hell that tries to follow Jesus Christ. The thing is, to be in the presence of God you need to be on that higher level. You need to make those covenants and you need to take that step up. I said, I guess the best way I could put it is that each church has some truth and teaches some good things, but they don’t all have the authority of God to perform his baptism and do the things necessary to allow us to take that step up and enter his presence.

He said, that sounds a lot better than the way it sounded in my head when I heard it before. I said, you have to realize that with God it’s always about love. You have to realize that with God he looks at each one of us as his child and he wants us to be rescued and come home to live with him.

I said, that’s why we do baptisms for the dead. He said, oh, my friends told me about that. I said, each person that ever lived will have a baptism performed for them and they will get a chance to accept it so that they can enter the presence of God. He said, that’s a more complete picture for sure. I like that answer. I always wondered what would happen to all those people that died who didn’t hear the gospel in their lifetime. This is the only answer I’ve ever heard that makes sense. Hearing what you’ve told me today, it makes even more sense than it did before.

Next, he said that it was a little bit vain, but he wanted to be different. He said, it’s a little bit egotistical but he thought that being a little bit different made him special. He was afraid that once he was a member of the church everyone would drop him and move on to the next person. He wanted to make sure that everything was on the up and up and genuine with his relationships.

I told him that when we teach people in the church, we teach from our heart. I told him that this connection and the love developed through that service most likely would not allow abandonment by his friends. I said, when you teach someone the gospel, you create a life bond and even though you may lose contact, there is always a special feeling between those people. I promised him he would never lose that and furthermore, I told him, that if he would share the gospel, he would feel that love and make other people feel special just like he had felt. I said, sharing the gospel is one of the most amazing loving things you can do. You bring the spirit of God to someone and that transforms all of the people involved and binds them together. He said, that’s what I want to do! That sounds right, that sounds awesome!

He said, probably the last issue I have is my pride. If I decide to get baptized, it’s like I am admitting I was wrong. That’s a pride thing. I asked him what God taught us about pride and he said it was one of the deadly sins. I said, when Jesus suffered on the cross , he experienced complete and total humiliation in the eyes of men. When he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane he suffered our complete humiliation. Due to this, he has the ability to lift us through whatever personal pride issues or humiliation that we may suffer. He can fill us with his love and bless us with his atonement so that we can hold our head up in the presence of others even as we humble ourselves before him. It’s OK to be wrong, it’s OK to make mistakes, but it’s divine to humble ourselves before God and correct our circumstance.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said that he did. He said that he had received a Book of Mormon from his friend and that they studied it together. He said that his friend had been such a good friend that he couldn’t ask him these personal questions. I told him that this is why God put him in my car so that he could get over that hump. He said that he recognized that.

I said, the other thing I need to talk to you about is the spirit of God. It’s been in the car today with us. He said, yes, I felt it. I asked him what it felt like, and he said that it felt like light shooting out from every part of his body. I said, that’s the spirit of God.

I asked him why it would be here with us today. He said, because we’ve talked about God. I said, yes, that’s true but it’s more than that. God sends us his spirit to confirm the truth of the things that are being taught and the things that are being said. I asked him, what do you think the message was that God confirmed to you today? He said, that the church is true. I asked, what about baptism, did the spirit confirm to you that you needed to be baptized? He bowed his head, then lifted his eyes slightly and said, yes, yes it did. I asked him what that meant he was going to do. He said, I guess it means I need to get baptized.

I said, that’s exactly the message I would derive from that. We chuckled. I asked him when he was going to see his friend again and he said that night. I asked him what he was going to tell his friend. He thought about it for a second and said, well I think I need to tell him that we had this ride and I’ve had my questions answered. I asked him if he was going to tell his friend that he wanted to be baptized? He said, I need to do that, don’t I? I said yes you do!

He laughed and said, that’s what I’ll do. Tonight I’ll tell my friend that I’m ready to be baptized.

I said, once you’ve had the spirit testify to you that the church is true and that you need to be baptized, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, you can repent of your sins and be baptized. When you do this, you will be cleansed and pure. You’ll be ready to stand before God and have his spirit be with you. He said, that’s a step up! I said, yes it is.

Remember that 15 minute ride? It took me 35 minutes but we needed every one of them. It was awesome.

One day I was supposed to pick up a young man in Orem. He was going to the Salt Lake City airport. I pulled up in front of the house and sat there for a good long time. At one point I was wondering how long it was going to take him to come out or if he would even come.

Finally, he came out and got in the car. It startled me because I had almost given up and wasn’t looking. I was reading news on my phone. When he got in I looked up and I saw two elderly people waving at him. They had a look of concern on their faces

The spirit told me that this look of concern was more than just them worrying about him flying off from the airport. The spirit indicated to me that they were worried about this young man and that I had a job to do on this ride.

I had been reading the news and listening to a podcast before he got in and he seemed quite closed off. He was listening to his headphones as well. I have learned not to bother people listening to their headphones because they give you bad ratings if you do. Apparently you can get in somebody else’s car and make them guess as to whether or not you’re willing to have a conversation and then punish them with a bad rating if they choose the wrong thing. Ha ha!

I took that hint even though I’d had the prompting and kept listening to the podcast that I had started. I listened to that podcast all the way until I got to point of the mountain and the spirit screamed stop! The spirit said ,it’s time to engage with this young man even though he’s listening to his headphones. You are to do what you were sent here to do.

I turned off the podcast and I said, so where are you going? He said he was going to Seattle. I asked him how long he’d lived in Seattle and he said about six years.

He said that he had lived in Orem and gone to Mountain View High School but had moved out to Seattle for school. After graduating he got a job. He said he worked in the hospital. I said, that’s cool. That’s a good job.

I said, so you went to high school here in Orem. He said, yes, I did. I asked, where did you go on your mission? In asking this I knew the answer already. I knew he hadn’t gone on a mission. The spirit made that clear to me but I saw it as the quickest way to get a gauge as to where he was spiritually and why the spirit had asked me to speak to him.

He said, I didn’t go on a mission. I thought about it and then I decided not to go. Instead of going on a mission I moved to Seattle. My life changed and that’s where I am now. I did have a lot of friends that went on missions though.

This wasn’t news to me because if he went to Mountain View High School, I am sure that the percentage of boys going on missions was very high. The spirit was really forceful with me and I felt that I needed to ask some more probing questions.

I asked, what were the reasons you didn’t go on a mission? I realized that this was a very personal question but it came right from the top. He wasn’t upset. He said, it just never seemed like the thing that I wanted to do. I said, I guess that’s OK. You know, you can be a good missionary now too. I felt very prompted to say, you can be a missionary all throughout your life and you can share the gospel. I said, there are people who baptize more people after their missions than they do during their mission. I said, maybe that’s you.

This is an approach that I’ve never taken with a passenger, but the spirit confirmed that this was the approach I was supposed to take so I pressed forward.

I felt prompted to talk about Nephi‘s bow. This was one of my favorite things to teach missionaries in the MTC. They all doubt themselves and their ability to be a success. The key to being a good missionary, in my opinion, is realizing that you can’t do it and that trusting God and his power, knowledge and wisdom are the key to accomplishing that work. In my mind, this story is about realizing that they were in trouble, they were broken and they were in a situation they couldn’t resolve by this own means.

Nephi went to his father to ask him to go to the Lord and find out where they should go to get food. He realized that God was the one that made mana fall down from heaven for 40 years. He was the one that made animals walk 2 x 2 on to the ark and that God could make their food walk into camp, lay down and put their necks out. He didn’t need no stinking bow. He needed them to have faith in him. They needed to have enough faith to let God fight this battle for them.

I thought this was great for missionaries because once they realized they couldn’t do it, they learned that to get it done they needed to rely on the power of God instead of their own abilities. That’s when they became missionaries. Faith was the key there in the MTC and I felt that a lack faith was a huge issue here in my back seat.

After telling him this story and talking to him about faith in God, his abilities and his strength, I decided to turn to him and work the promptings I had received regarding his situation.

I asked, do you have any of your friends that you are able to help? I said this full well knowing that he was the one that needed help. He said, I talked to some of my friends who are returned missionaries and some of them are big-time partiers. He said that many of those he’s hanging out with are returned missionaries and they party extensively. He said, it seems no one in my group of friends think that strict obedience to the church is that important.

As he was talking the spirit indicated to me that as he talked about his friends, he was thinking about other people but he was also expressing his own opinions. I listened carefully. I wanted to learn as much about him as I could. He talked about some of the things they said and did and how it was a lot different out there in the world than it was in Orem. He said, it is a lot different and it’s a lot better.

I asked him if any of his friends ever had shared the questions they had that were causing their faith crisis. I wanted to know from him. I asked if it was a question about doctrine or a question about God that had separated them from the church. He thought about it for a minute and said, I have one friend who really just can’t understand why if there’s a God and he loves us would he let innocent people suffer. He said, I work in a hospital. I see it all the time, I watch the news and it’s everywhere. Why would God let innocent people suffer?

In the way he asked the question it indicated that his friend was not the one who had the question. I knew and the spirit indicated that this was his question as much or more so than it was the question of a friend. The image of those grandparents standing there with the concerned look on their faces was burning in my mind and I understood that this was the right time and the right place to discuss these things.

I said, you know, because you don’t know me you can ask me these questions and we can speak frankly about it. Let’s see if we can figure some things out? He said, that’s right! Let’s do that.

He asked, well then, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? He said, if he loves everybody, he wouldn’t let that happen. Because of that, the whole thing about the church and a loving God just kind of falls apart for us.

Now, having totally revealed that it wasn’t only about his friend, we had it all out in the open. I said, first of all I want to let you know that God does love each and every one of us. It’s one of the most beautiful and inspirational doctrines we teach and I know it’s true. I said, it wouldn’t be right for God to stop everyone that was doing something wrong or doing something evil.

I said, we’re here on this earth to learn and grow. We would not be able to learn and grow without our agency. I asked him if he liked having his parents or anyone else walking around telling him everything to do at every second. He said no. I asked him why. He said,because I like to do things on my own. That’s why I moved to Washington. I said, exactly.

That’s exactly how it is with our father in heaven. He sent us here to earth so that we could use our agency. Sometimes we use it for bad and sometimes we use it for good. I said, if your parents were standing over you, you would make less mistakes but you wouldn’t grow. It’s the same with your father in heaven. He put you here so that you can make mistakes, repent of those mistakes, be accountable for your actions and grow from your experiences.

I said, he doesn’t just do that for you, he does that for everyone. I said, sometimes people use this agency to do horrible things. When they do that you hear people say, how could God let that happen. The answer is, if God didn’t allow bad things to happen we would never progress like we need to.

Satan takes advantage of this situation. When bad things happen, Satan whispers in people‘s ear that they need to blame God. God says that we need to look to Christ.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is the remedy that we can use to make all of these things right. I told him that the atonement of Jesus Christ was infinite. It covered all negative situations. I told him that Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, our pains, our infirmities, and any injustice that we would face throughout our lives. I said, he suffered for all of these things so that we could look to him and have our suffering alleviated.

I told him that I was in a meeting where Elder Maxwell taught about having cancer. He said that the little children in the hospital who had cancer seemed to have the best attitudes and smiles on their faces. He said that he was inspired and instructed by these little angels. He could not imagine having to go through this as a child yet they were lifted by Jesus Christ. He said these children in the hospital knew this. They would sing primary songs and they knew Jesus and he blessed them.

I said, no matter what evil happens to us the atonement of Jesus Christ can lift us through our suffering. I said, the atonement of Jesus Christ makes it so that God doesn’t have to worry about how much we have in our cup, he just comes in and fills everyone’s cup, regardless of the amount of need they have or their circumstance, if they will turn to him with faith. If we will do this, he will fill our cup, our hearts and our souls with his love and lift us through our trials.

He said, yes, but there are still lingering effects. I said, this is a really cool part. He then relies on us to be his hands, his voice and his servant to lift the hands that hang down and bless the people who suffer.

I said, it’s a two prong attack where he takes care of them spiritually and lifts their burden so that they can bear it. He gives them strength and hope. He gives us the responsibility to see to it that they are taken care of and treated like the children of God that they are. Together, we are a team and it’s a beautiful thing.

I said, you’ve known this as you’ve worked in the hospital. You’ve seen these children and wondered how they could possibly be happy given their prognosis and their current state, yet they are. He agreed.

I said, I drive parents with children to Primary Children’s Hospital all the time in Salt Lake. When I do, many times, they ask me to stop and pray with them and they always ask me to pray for them. I said, I absolutely do that because I know it works and they do too. He said, that’s amazing. I never thought of it that way.

I summarized things saying, bad things happen to good people so that we can grow closer to God. They can be lifted and strengthened like these little children while other people grow closer to God by serving those who are afflicted. I said, because of this, many tragedies bring people closer to God. When people die in a family, many times it’s one of the most spiritual experiences they have ever had because they have served God and God has lifted the person who was suffering.

He said, this has been a big question for me. He said, I didn’t know the atonement did all of that. I said, you thought it was only about repentance, didn’t you? He said, yes, that’s what I thought. I said, it is about repentance and right now you’re thinking about some things you’ve done that you need to repent of. You are thinking that it would be hard to qualify for the rest of the blessings of the atonement because of the sins that you’re thinking of right now.

I said, I want you to know that Jesus stands there with his arms open for you to give you rest so that you can feel peace. Regardless of the lies Satan tells you, you can be forgiven of your sins and see the hand of God instead of the pain anguish and frustration of the moment. It is the same relief from the pain caused by sin that it is for the people that are passing through these hardships. I said, God wants you to know that he loves you. He has a plan to rescue you in every situation. I told him that the atonement was complete and infinite and covered every aspect of our life, if we will look to Christ and live.

I told him that he lived with God for thousands of years. I told him that he loved God and that his spirit loves God. I told him that this relationship he had with God was the most important relationship in his existence and that he had just forgotten about this.

The spirit was really strong in the car and I asked him if he could feel it. He said yes. I asked him what it felt like and he said, all of these doubts that I had in my head when we first started talking have been erased and I feel happy. I said, that’s the spirit of God. When you feel that you know that he is testifying of the truth to your heart. You know that the things that have been said are from him and are true.

He said, this is a new understanding for me. I never understood the atonement like this but it makes so much more sense. He said, before I just couldn’t see a point to this whole existence or a way that a God who loved us could let people suffered so.

He said, this clears it up for me. I asked him when the last time was that he read the Book of Mormon. He chuckled and asked, does never count as an answer? I said, well it’s an answer. It’s not the answer your Heavenly Father would want you to be giving, but he’s glad that you’re honest.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no, he didn’t take one to Washington with him. I reached into my glove box and grabbed one of my Book of Mormon’s prepared by the Secrists and gave it to him. I said, this is your Book of Mormon. This book teaches more about the atonement than any other book. You can learn more about it here than anywhere or from any person. I said, if you read the Book of Mormon, you will learn to know your Savior and rely on his power. You’ll learn to know your father in heaven and feel his spirit walk with you in your life.

He said, can I have this? I said yes. I said, will you read it? He said yes. I asked, will you read it every day? This time he thought about it for a minute. Then I said, even if you only read a little bit every day, you need to read in this book every day. If you do, you will know that it’s true. If you do, you will know that the church is true. If you do, you’ll know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that President Nelson is a prophet of God today. I said, if you do, you will learn to know your father in heaven and you’ll seek to fulfill the missions he has for you here on the Earth. You will be a light to others and a strength to many. I said, maybe most of all, you will feel the power of his atonement transform your life and your understanding of his love.

He said, wow, I felt that! I could feel that Heavenly Father really wanted him back and that he loved him very much. I told him that regardless of what has happened in the past, he could still be the best missionary. I told him that God would bring the people to him that he needs to serve if he will prepare himself to be that light.

I said, you prepare to be that light by reading the Book of Mormon, saying your prayers multiple times a day, going to church and learning to listen to the spirit of God so that he can walk with you.

I asked, does that sound like something you would like to do? He said, this is something I need to do. He said, this is something I need to go back and talk to my friends about. Even though they’ve been on missions, I think they don’t know this.

By this time we’d been sitting in front of the airport in Salt Lake City for about 15 minutes and he needed to get going but he didn’t want to move. He reached up and grabbed my shoulder and he said, you don’t know how much this has meant to me. I told him that many people have been praying for this, including his grandparents that he left in the front yard when he got in my car. He was emotional and said, they’ll be so happy to hear what happened in this car. They bought this Uber and they will think that it’s the best money they have ever spent.

I said, I know that God put you here in my car today and he gave me the words to say to you. These words astounded you and caught you off guard because they came from God. You knew that they came from God because no one else could’ve said these things to you. He said, you’re right, I was blown away.

I said, think back to the point of the mountain when I started talking to you. I hadn’t said a word up until that time but the spirit commanded me to speak. I said the words the spirit told me to say. God wants you back! Your grandparents want you back! Your friends need you to be back so that you can lift them. Working in medicine with an understanding of the atonement and the role of God in our lives could be a great blessing and asset in your career. God needs you and he needs all of you.

He said, I’m here for it! Thank you so much. He got out of the car and walked in to catch his flight

I have kind of an update from something‘s cooking in the Vineyard. When I wrote that story, he had gone to church with me and said that he wanted to be baptized. I had introduced him to the bishop and the missionaries. I thought this thing was going to be easy.

Things are cooking in the Vinyard

Three weeks later I hadn’t heard anything and I reached out to the missionaries and they said that they hadn’t been able to get with him to set a date. I confirmed with them that he had attended church every Sunday and was part of the choir and attended choir practice every Sunday. I asked them how that could possibly be. I suggested that maybe they pull him out of the gospel principal class if they were having problems hooking up in the week. They said they would try.

The following week I called them after their meetings were over and after I had returned home from church myself. I asked them what date they were able to set for his baptism. They said they hadn’t been able to set a date because they hadn’t been able to teach him. I asked them if it would be possible for me to pick him up from work at 1 AM, drive him home and talk to him to try to set a date. They said for me to go ahead.

I sent him a text and picked him up that night. I asked him when he thought that he should get baptized. He said, I don’t know anything about your church other than the spirit I feel there and what we have talked about in your car. I asked him what the missionaries had taught him and he said not one thing.

We spent the next hour and a half talking about the first vision and the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there and we identified it. He said that he felt fired up by the spirit and was ready to be baptized. We set a date for two weeks in advance so that they would have time to teach the lessons. We were both really excited.

I told him that the missionaries had to meet with him about six times to teach the stuff that I had taught him and some other things. He said, that sounds great.

I asked him when would be a time that the missionaries could meet with him and he said any day between one and three in the afternoon. He said he had very few nights available, but all of his afternoons were wide open.

I texted this information to the missionaries and left it in their hands again. The night before the baptismal date that we had set, I got a text from the missionaries telling me that they hadn’t been able to teach him any lessons and that he wouldn’t be ready to be baptized the following day. This is six weeks now.

I was very frustrated but I felt like the Lord had put me in a unique situation here to help get this man over the line. I met him after work that night and he reiterated to me what the missionaries had told him. He did say that they met one evening with a family but they ended up talking to the family and not teaching him. He said it was kind of confusing and very frustrating. We talked about the commandments and the plan of salvation. The spirit was there and I testified. We set another date for his baptism that had been suggested by the missionaries for two weeks later.

By this point, I decided that I was going to go over every Sunday night and drive him home from work.

That Sunday I asked him what days he met with the missionaries that week. He said that they hadn’t been able to meet with him. I asked him to give them a call the next day or send them a text telling them when he was available. He said that he would. I told him that I would follow up with him. At the end of the week when I did follow up with him, he said that the missionaries hadn’t been able to meet with him again that week.

By this point it had been over a month since the missionaries talked to me. They quit returning my phone calls and would not answer my texts. I was very frustrated that we had blown through two baptismal dates and not had a discussion. We had a guy who wanted to get baptized and goes to church every week and I couldn’t believe we were making it this hard.

That Sunday night when I picked him up. we talked about all of the issues in his life and how he will be blessed if he would follow God even though sometimes it’s very difficult. I said that you have to keep at it. I asked, do you want to feel the spirit all the time? He said yes. I said, we need to follow through with this.

I had an idea. I said, it seems to me that you’re asking the missionaries when they want to meet with you. It’s their job to meet with you at your convenience. Send them a text setting the dates and times. I told him that I wanted him to include me on the text. I said, in that text, tell them that you can meet Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2 PM this week and next week.

I said, in those times they should be able to teach you the things that you need to know and prepare you for your baptism. He said he would do that and he did. The missionaries responded and everything was great. They set a baptismal date for April 20th and everything was great.

Thursday night, the 18th, I was driving in Orem at 2 AM. I had just finished talking to one of my friends who drives about how I had a baptism on Saturday and how excited I was. During that conversation I got a ride to pick up my investigator friend from his apartment complex and take him to his second job.

I’ve never taken him to his second job before. At first I thought that this was quite a coincidence, then I realized that I don’t believe in coincidence and so I prepared myself. I prayed all the way there.

He came out, got in my car and the first thing he did was apologize to me that he wouldn’t be getting baptized on Saturday. It was now Friday morning at about 2 o’clock. I asked him why. He said, tithing. He said no one told him about tithing.

I asked him what the missionaries told him when he said that he didn’t want to be baptized because he didn’t know about tithing. He said, they rescheduled my baptism for three weeks from now.

I decided that I was going to teach him about tithing on his way to work. He had talked to me about how he had all these bills that he was trying to get cleaned up. He wanted to get his financial house in order so I knew this was a sensitive topic for him.

I read him the verse from Malachi 3: 8-10 and talked to him about how God would open the windows of heaven and give you a blessing so great that you wouldn’t be able to receive it all. I told him these are spiritual blessings and temporal blessings. I told him that one really cool thing about this scripture is that God says prove me with this. I told him, throughout the scriptures God says we’re not supposed to ask for proof except with this scripture. God says to prove him with tithing. I promised to him that if he would pay his tithing, go to church, continue reading the Book of Mormon and say his prayers, God would bless him, his finances and his spirituality. I told him that if he would do these things, he would see the hand of God in his endeavor. I talked to him about learning to pay tithing and how in my personal life, I have seen God make things work out when there was no way it should have.

I told him about teaching tithing to very poor people on my mission who were tremendously blessed and never miss paying tithing because they have seen God’s hand in their lives because of it. I told him that these people attribute their ability to take care of their families even in their poverty because they pay tithing. They say the blessing of the Lord is what feeds them. I told him that it’s time for him to show some faith.

I said, you feel the spirit don’t you? He said yes. I asked , what does the fact that you feel the spirit right now mean? He said, it means that I should pay my tithing. It means that this is what God would have me do.

I said, so your situation is resolved! You can be baptized! He said, yes, yes I can. He asked , what do I do? At three in the morning there’s not much you can do but I told him that he should send a text to the missionaries. He asked me if I thought it would be OK for him to send them a WhatsApp message instead. I said yes.

He sent that message saying that he had talked with me and felt the spirit regarding the law of tithing. He said to them, I am ready to commit to live the law of tithing and to be baptized. He told them that he still wanted to be baptized the following day if it would be something that they could still arrange.

I watched carefully to make sure he hit the send button and wondered what the deal would be the next morning when the missionaries received that message.

I dropped him off at work and went home. That was my last ride of the night. It’s kind of funny how God works that way.

In the morning at 8 o’clock, I woke up with a start. The first thing on my mind was the missionaries and I decided to take a play out of his playbook and use WhatsApp. The nice thing about WhatsApp is that you can see when they look at your message.

I sent the missionaries a message and asked them if they received his message. They said yes! They said that they were very excited. They said that they had the church ready to go for 2 o’clock on Saturday and they had contacted everybody that needed to be contacted.

They said, it’s a miracle! I believe they are right, it is a miracle! God is great! Hurrah for Israel!!!

I picked up a guy in Pleasant Grove. He was heading to work down in Lindon and it was going to be a pretty quick ride. As soon as I saw him standing on the corner by his house next to a chapel, the spirit whispered that I would be talking with him about the gospel. I just had to find a way to get into it pretty quickly because it was a short ride. He was from Ecuador but he spoke fairly decent English and he was a really sharp young man.

We talked about how long he had been here and then I started speaking Spanish with him. This is a departure from my normal routine because I want to honor the efforts they have put forth learning English. He said that he was very impressed by my Spanish and asked where I learned it. This was perfect. I saw my opening and took it. I told him that I learned how to speak Spanish in Argentina on my church mission. He said that he had friends that were members of the church and that they talked about religion all the time.

He said that he was Christian. I asked, you say you’re Christian, but weren’t you baptized Catholic? That assumption is not a big stretch by any means with a Latino and he acknowledged that he was baptized Catholic. He said that now he considers himself a Christian because it’s a little looser and not quite so steep in some of the traditions that he thought were incorrect. He said that the truth is that both felt a bit incomplete.

I asked him if his friends had talked to him very much about our church and if he had gone to church. He said that he had gone to church once and they had talked but that he had not ever heard anything that would make him think about joining our church. He said, especially a church that seemed to require as much as the Mormon church.

I asked him if he minded if I threw out some questions. He said, no! That would be great. Fire away! That’s all I needed.

Most of the time when I teach someone in my car, I have impressions of things to teach, concepts or specific things that I need to say to that person. This time it didn’t come like that, this time the impression was to ask this series of questions. I knew that it would lead me to how to approach this young man. It laid out in my mind very neatly and so I started.

What I was supposed to do was ask him a series of questions until he realized he didn’t have the answers and therefore he would realize he needed more. I knew this would point us to our discussion. I knew that this would be my opportunity to teach and testify but I needed to approach it properly.

I was a little bit worried because this is an aggressive act and there’s always a risk with the rideshare company if you make people feel uncomfortable. They will kick you off their platform. I said a little prayer and started in.

I asked him how he visualized Heavenly Father. He said he loved Heavenly Father. I asked him if Heavenly Father was the father of everyone in the world or just some of us. He said that Heavenly Father is the God of every single person. I asked him if he was the God of every person no matter where they lived or no matter when they lived and he said yes.

I asked him if baptism was important. He said, yes it’s very important. I asked him why baptism was important in a Christian religion. He said, well, you can’t go to heaven unless you’ve been baptized. I asked him if that was the rule for everyone or if there was anyone who was exempted from the need to be baptized. He said, absolutely not. I asked him if that standard held true for everyone no matter where they lived or no matter when they lived. He said, yes. Everyone needs to be baptized.

I took a breath and realized I probably sounded like Perry Mason on a cross examination. I chuckled to myself and continued.

I summarized for him. I said, so what you’re telling me is that every person who was ever born, no matter when they were born, no matter where they lived, needs to be baptized or they can’t live with their father in heaven. He said yes.

I asked, and each one of these people is a beloved child of a perfect, all powerful Heavenly Father? He said, yes, that’s what I believe.

I asked him if Heavenly Father‘s plan was perfect? He said yes. I asked him if God was just and he said yes. I asked him if every person who had ever lived would have an opportunity to hear the gospel and be baptized.

He thought for a good long while and said, I guess they would have to. I believe they would. I asked him how his religion teaches that people that were born 600 years ago in China, where they never heard the word of Jesus Christ or the name of Jesus Christ or about the concept of baptism could possibly be baptized and be taught. He thought about it for a moment and said, well, I’m sure they can somehow.

I said, it just feels right doesn’t it? He said, yes that would feel right. I asked him if I a just God would make an arrangement for that situation and he said absolutely. He said, “that’s so many people”. He said, when you think about that, there are more people on earth who don’t hear about Jesus than people who do.

He said, there’s China, India, parts of Africa and the Middle East where they don’t hear about Jesus. He said he was sure that God would make an adjustment for these people so that they could have the gospel someday.

I asked him what the specific teaching of his religion was regarding these people. He said after pondering the question for several seconds, there was no teaching in his church that he knew of. He said, let me think about what the Catholics teach. Then he said, I can’t remember them teaching anything about these people. I added, you’re right, they don’t believe in it to the extent that if a child dies without a baptism, they believe that child is not saved.

He said, that’s crazy. I never thought about that. There’s a great big hole in this whole thing. I said, that’s true! I said, these religions teach some very good things but they don’t have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I said, all of the things that you’ve said about needing to be baptized, needing to confess Jesus, needing to have faith and being saved by Jesus are all very true. They were taught in the Bible and that’s how it’s done. Jesus Christ is the only way back to our father in heaven. I told him that baptism is the key that opens the door and without a baptism there’s not one person that can get back to our father in heaven. I told him, you’ve taught me good doctrine but you don’t have the fullness of that doctrine. I said, there are a couple of things you are missing to get to a fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the Bible, in Peter, it talks about how Jesus went to teach the gospel to the spirits in prison who had not been taught during their lives so that they could have the teachings of the gospel. He did this during the three days after he was crucified and before he was resurrected. I told him, this is very important because now we know that everyone of God‘s children no matter where they were born or when they were born, under good or bad circumstances, will all be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will all have a chance to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. We learned that from the apostle Peter and that’s true.

I told him that in the New Testament it also talks about baptism for the dead. I told him that it was a teaching of Jesus Christ that was mentioned in the Bible because they understood the importance of providing a baptism for everyone. They need baptism regardless of whether they learned the gospel on the Earth or after they passed.

I told him that this is God‘s plan. I told him that God has a plan to save every one of his children, no matter where they lived or when they lived. They all receive the teachings of Jesus Christ and they all have a baptism performed for them so that they can return home to their father in heaven. He said, that’s beautiful! Why don’t they teach that in church?

I talked to him about the apostasy and how the church was originally founded by Jesus Christ. I said that when he founded the church it was perfect. It had all of his teachings and all of his doctrines. It taught the importance of ordinances and covenants. It was a complete church. It was a perfect church. It was founded and organized by Jesus Christ who was perfect.

I asked him if he thought Jesus was perfect and he said yes. I asked him if the church that Jesus Christ founded was perfect. He said yes.

Then we talked about how evil people killed all the apostles and all the prophets. I used my analogy of the mirror. If you have a big mirror hanging on the wall and it is held up by 12 pegs for support what happens if those 12 pegs are removed? What happens to that mirror? He said, it falls onto the floor and breaks into 1 million pieces.

I said, that’s exactly right and that’s what happened to the church. Jesus organized his perfect church with prophets and apostles. They were the pegs that held it up with all of its doctrines, ordinances and covenants. I said, one by one, those apostles and prophets were killed. They spred out all over the world to teach of Jesus and one by one they were killed by people who were evil and wanted to stop the gospel of Jesus Christ.

These disciples wrote down some of their teachings and that’s why we have the Bible and religion today. I asked him, what happened to that church when all of the pegs that held it up were taken out? He said, I guess it fell. I added “and broke into 1 million pieces too”? He said yes.

I told him that people still loved the teachings of Jesus and they had the writings of these apostles that 400 years later became the Bible. In the meantime, they grabbed a hold of these teachings. They went to the mirror and grabbed little pieces, as many as they could carry and put them on the wall and continued using them as if it were the full mirror, even though they didn’t have the complete mirror.

Many of the pieces were lost. Some people would grab one piece of the gospel and others grabbed another piece of the gospel but nobody had the full gospel. Nobody had the full mirror. They just couldn’t put all the pieces back together.

This is where we lost some very important parts of the gospel like God‘s plan to save all of his children, no matter where they lived and no matter when they lived. I said, today we have that knowledge and that doctrine. I said, we believe that all those people are taught in the spirit world and have the chance to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ under perfect circumstances.

I asked him if he’d ever heard of our temples. He said, yes. There is one right down by the freeway and there’s one in American Fork. I said, that’s right. He said, I went outside of one with my friends one time. It’s a very peaceful place. I said, that peace that you felt when you were there was the spirit of God. That’s his house and it is a very holy place. He said, you could feel that.

I said, in that temple, we do what we call baptisms for the dead, where we are baptized in behalf of someone who has passed away. These people died without receiving their baptism. I told him that every person that has ever been born will have a baptism performed for them in one of these temples. I told him that we have temples all over the world and this is what we do there. I said, this is God‘s plan to give every one of his children the chance to hear the words of Jesus Christ and accept the baptism of Jesus Christ performed for them. That way every one of God‘s children can come home to him. That makes it a perfect plan.

I said, a perfect father in heaven with perfect love for his children would create a perfect plan that would give each one of them a chance to come home to him. He said, wow that’s incredible! That’s deep! I’ve never thought about that.

I asked him if he’d heard about Joseph Smith. He said yes. I told him that Joseph Smith was a young man just like he was. He was looking for the gospel of Jesus Christ and he went to all the churches in his area. He found out that each one of them had a piece of the gospel of Jesus Christ but he couldn’t find one that had all of the pieces together.

I told him that this concerned him because he wanted to have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of the teachings and all of the ordinances but he couldn’t find that church. I said he read in the Bible that he should ask God if he needed wisdom.

He decided to do exactly that. He went to the forest, knelt and prayed. God the father and Jesus Christ descended from heaven, appearing to him and called him to be the prophet. I told him that they called him to be the prophet to restore the whole church, the whole gospel, the complete mirror just like Jesus Christ had when he was on earth.

I said, that’s our church, just like the church of Jesus Christ of old. We have a prophet, apostles and all of the ordinances to save all of God‘s children no matter when they were born or where they were born. I said, that’s what a loving Father in heaven would do.

He said, that sounds exactly right. I had never thought through that before. I kind of looked at it as just choosing the church where you had the most fun or liked the preacher but you make a good point. It has to be the church of Jesus Christ. It has to be the exact church of Jesus Christ.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again when you teach about the prophet Joseph Smith and the first vision, there’s nothing like it. The spirit always comes in the car and it was incredible. I could see it opening his heart and his mind and it lit him up. I asked him what he felt and he said, I feel like what you’re saying is exactly true. I’m wondering why my friends didn’t say that to me and I’m thinking that I need to ask them about it here when I get to work.

I asked him what he felt in his heart and he said tremendous peace. I said, that’s what you felt at the temple too, isn’t it? He thought for a second and said yes. I said, that peace is how you know that the spirit of God is testifying to you of truth. When you are around the spirit, this is how you feel and the spirit comes to let you know that the things you’re hearing are true.

He said, I can’t argue with that. I think everything you said here was true. I told him that Joseph Smith also translated the Book of Mormon. He said, I know about the Book of Mormon. My friends gave me one.

I asked him if he knew what was in the Book of Mormon. He said that he really didn’t know but he was interested to find out especially now.. I asked him if he wanted me to give him a quick sneak peek. He said yes.

I said, it goes back to the fact that God loves everybody no matter where they live and your ancestors here in America were no different. God loved them and the way God shows his love is by giving us commandments and he does that through prophets. I told him, there were prophets here in America amongst your ancestors.

I told him that they wrote down their prophecies on metal plates, including the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to his ancestors here in America. I told him about how Jesus descended from heaven after his resurrection. He taught the people, blessed the people and gave them this same baptism. I told him that he commanded them to be baptized, even though they had already been baptized before. It was an invitation to receive his baptism, to this new level of discipleship and understanding. It was a perfect baptism.

I told him that those plates were given to Joseph Smith and he translated them by the power of God. That is why we have the Book of Mormon. It’s another testament of Jesus Christ. It is more evidence that Jesus Christ is the savior of all of the world.

We were pulling into his work and the spirit was burning in the car. He said, I’m gonna read my Book of Mormon. I’m going to go in here to work and talk to my friends. I just never realized that I didn’t know God‘s plan at all. I want to do what God wants me to do. I want to find the truth.

I told him that if he will read the Book of Mormon and pray, his friends will be able to help him. He said, they’ve been trying already but having you ask, these questions made me realize that I needed more information. It all makes so much sense. He rubbed my head and said, this has been a great ride! I’ve learned things I needed to know. I’ve got answers I never knew I needed but now I know they’re important and I felt the spirit of God. This was a perfect ride. You’re awesome. He got out of the car and went into work.

One night I picked up a girl down by the apartments near Costco in Orem. It was a little bit crazy finding her because the GPS had us on opposite sides of the building and she was a little frustrated trying to find me. Finally, we talked on the phone and we put it together and she got in the car.

I could feel a tremendous sense of frustration with her and I knew it had nothing to do with not being able to find me. I asked her, how are you doing? She said, not good. Even though we’re not supposed to pry and ask personal questions, I decided to do exactly that. I asked her what could possibly be going wrong.

She said that her aunt was being a problem. She said she had some trauma in her life earlier in her life and that her aunt had offered to have her come out here and help her. She said she was grateful for that but now her aunt had changed things up. She said that her aunt had withdrawn her support and she didn’t know what she was going to do, where she was going to live and how she was going to be able to do the therapy that they had all agreed she needed.

As I looked at her, I had the impression that she loved children and they loved her. I had the impression that she felt safe with children and that she felt love from and for them. I said, you love children don’t you? They’ve always responded well to you haven’t they? She kind of was quiet for a minute and almost brushed it off. She asked, why would you say that? I said, I just felt by the spirit that this was one of the gifts you have. It’s something that brings much joy to your life. She smiled and kind of changed the subject. I knew that the impression was true and was puzzled as to why she kind of dodged the subject.

I felt very impressed to talk to her about the atonement. I felt like she needed the atonement on so many different levels at this point. As I thought about the atonement, I also received a prompting that she was a member of the church even though she hadn’t indicated that in anyway.

I went full in talking about the atonement. I talked about how the atonement of Jesus Christ is the way God helps us through life. I told her that family members will fail us, people around us will fail and we even fail ourselves but through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can all be reclaimed. I told her that the atonement of Jesus Christ is like a medicine that makes everything better.

I asked her to think about a soccer player that gets a light hit on the field and then rolls around like he’s been shot. I told her to think about how the trainer comes out and sprays him with this aerosol spray. I said that normally they just jump right up like nothing ever happened. I said, that spray is magic. She laughed. I said, the atonement is something that. If we understand it and how to apply it, in almost every circumstance, it can lift our burdens and make it so that we can go forward unscathed and be happy.

I said, the first thing the atonement does is it helpsus forgive other people. I told her that people let us down and sometimes it feels very personal and it’s difficult. I felt impressed that the person who had abused and hurt her was very close. I said, when that person who abused or hurt you did these things, God was sad. I told her that God loved her because she was his daughter and these events made him very unhappy.

I told her that her Father in Heaven loved her and wanted her to access the atonement so that she could feel his love and have her burden lifted. I told her that Satan teaches us to blame God. Satan teaches us to reject the people in church who are not perfect because they may let us down. I said, Satan teaches us to point fingers but God points to Jesus so that we can look to him and live.

I told her that through the atonement of Jesus Christ she could begin to heal, forgive and move on. I told her that the power of atonement is how God pulls each one of us out of our difficult circumstance. I told her that in that atonement Jesus Christ suffered for all of our pains, inequities, injustices and every negative thing that we could experience in life. He suffered those things so that we don’t have to and we can look at him and have him take that pain on for us. I told her that this was God‘s plan. She asked, why did God let these things happen to me? Wouldn’t a loving God do something?

I told her that he gave us the atonement of Jesus Christ so that we could have our burdens lifted. Then we could use our abilities to lift those around us who suffer in a temporal way. I said, it’s our job to lift and help and then through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be healed.

I told her that Heavenly Father sent us here so that we could be tested. Heavenly Father gave us agency but some people use that agency poorly. I said, when they do, many times people suffer. I told her that even though we might be the victim of someone else’s agency, Heavenly Father still has a plan to give us comfort, light and love then bring us home.

I told her that through the atonement of Jesus Christ she would be able to put down the sword that she was carrying. She said, I never want to put myself in those situations again. How can I forgive those people? She said, they abandoned me. She said, my mother died when I was young, my father and his wife were just horrible to me. She said, in the end, they just abandoned me. She said it was very abusive.

I could feel that she felt alone but I also had the impression to teach her that she was never truly alone and that her Heavenly Father wanted her to know how much he loves her. I taught her that we lived with our father in heaven for thousands of years and the feeling we felt in his presence was essential and central to who we are. I told her that we are hardwired to seek that love. I told her that this love was manifest to us when we read the scriptures, when we pray, and when we access the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Her response kind of surprised me. She said, I love Jesus but I don’t know about Heavenly Father. I said, your Heavenly Father and your relationship to him need to be improved. You need to learn about him and you need to have his spirit in your heart.

I asked her what problems she had with Heavenly Father . She said, all my life I felt like I’ve been abandoned by my father. I don’t know that I can trust him not to abandon me. I said, he’s been there with you all along and I believe he put you in my car tonight. Your father in heaven loves you and he’s reaching out to you. This is why you are here tonight.

I said, unless we have a knowledge of his love and the power of his spirit, I don’t know how we can move forward in this life. I said, I don’t know how we would function in this life. I can’t imagine life without the blessings he gives us and the love that he shows. This includes the fact that he sent his son Jesus Christ for us. I told her that it was very. important that she begin to develop a relationship with her father in heaven. I told her that he wants that more than anything.

She said, I’ve always just tried to do it with Jesus. I have always thought that this is enough. I said, I love Jesus Christ, he’s my older brother, but our Heavenly Father sent him and gave him his power.

I perceived by the spirit that she was looking at Heavenly Father as a punitive person just waiting to punish us. I said this to her and she agreed. She said, that’s kind of how I look at it. I said, Heavenly Father is a perfect loving father and he wants all of us to come home to him. He is trying to do everything he can to get us home, every one of us, if we will. I said, that’s why we have the temple and that’s why we go to church. This is why we take the sacrament so that we can have his spirit to be with us so that we can go home.

I said, Satan is telling you that Heavenly Father doesn’t love you but Satan is a liar and he has tricked you. I told her that to have the kind of life she wanted to have she needed to have a relationship with her father in heaven. She needed to go to church and take the sacrament, she needed to say her prayers and speak with her father in heaven and she needed to read the Book of Mormon.

She said, well, I go to church but I love Jesus and so I read the Bible, I don’t read the Book of Mormon. I said, these things will make a difference in your life. I promised her that if she would do these things, she would feel the love of her father in heaven and her life would begin to change.

She said, I just haven’t had great success with fathers in my life. I told her that this one would never let her down and that he would be there for her. I talked to her about how faith is one of the most important things that makes it possible for us to accomplish the tasks put before us in life. I asked her about Nephi’s bow. She didn’t remember the story. I told her about Nephi‘s bow and how when it broke, they had to learn to rely on God instead of their own abilities and their own knowledge.

I told her that because of this experience they were able to have enough faith to build a boat that they didn’t know how to build, put it in an ocean that was very large and sail it to a world that they didn’t know for sure existed. I said, these were very difficult things. They didn’t have the faith, knowledge or ability to do them. Through the power of God accessed through their faith and by following his directions, they were able to accomplish something that they were not able to do on their own.

I said, in your life you feel like you have been confronted with things that are very difficult for you. You don’t know if you can accomplish these things, in fact you don’t think you can. I tell you here tonight that you can’t do it but God can and if you will look to him he can lift your burdens and see you through your trials. The spirit was strong in the car and I testified to her of the truthfulness of these things. I testified to her of the power of faith as well as the power of the love of God that we each seek. I said, he’s calling to you.

I felt like we had turned the corner. She talked about her boyfriend and how things were really hard with him. She mentioned that he struggled sometimes emotionally. She said, sometimes I feel abandoned by him too. It’s just not healthy. We both felt like we were prompted by God that we shouldn’t be together but that only lasted for about three weeks and it’s not going very well.

I said, you should do what God says. You should follow the spirit and trust your revelation. I felt like it was important for me to identify the spirit in the car and I asked her to tell me what it felt like. She said it felt very peaceful, loving, and warm. I said, that’s how you feel in the presence of your father in heaven and it’s how you feel in the presence of the spirit. I said, we need to learn to follow this and it will bring us home to our father in heaven.

I talked about how important faith was in this journey. She said, I learned that on my mission. I was shocked. I asked, a mission? When did you go on a mission? She said, I went in 2016 to the Independence Missouri visitor center. I asked, how was that? She said, it was good and she liked it but that she hadn’t had any of those feelings for quite some time.

I felt like it was important to double back and reiterate, the previous instruction that I had received for her by the spirit. I said, well, just like you taught on your mission back then, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and you need to be reading it. I said, it teaches about our father in heaven‘s love for us and the atonement and mission of his son Jesus Christ. It teaches us how to come home.

I said, you need to pray, you need to ask Heavenly Father to help you access the atonement of Jesus Christ. I said, as you do that, you will feel love fill your heart. Patience, and understanding will guide you and your burdens will be lifted.

I said, you need to go to church and take the sacrament with these things in mind. I told her that the sacrament would fill her spiritual tank so that she could have strength and power from a spiritual perspective to do the things that she needed to do.

I told her that her father in heaven wanted her to be successful in her relationships too. She said, I don’t think anyone can love me. I said, your Heavenly Father loves you tremendously and as you embrace his spirit and do the things that we’ve talked about, people will want to be around you and the kind of people you want in your life will find you. You will find love in that group.

I said, it’s past time for you to quit making excuses for bad behavior and embrace this higher expectation and this higher level of love. I said, it’s past time for you to quit accepting abuse and making excuses for it. It’s time for you to realize that as a daughter of God, you deserve to be treated as such.

I said, you need to find that light in your soul that you have let dim and make it glow. It will attract the kind of people you need in your life. I said, most of all if you felt the spirit say you shouldn’t be doing something you shouldn’t be doing that thing. This includes your relationship.

She said, well, he is a good person. I said, just because he’s a good person doesn’t mean that it’s right for you or that it’s right for you at this time of your life. Your Heavenly Father knows best and you need to follow that prompting.

She said, he is even in a bishoprick. I’ve always thought that because he had a position in the church this would make it so that I could be fine with him. I told her what my grandma always said. My grandma always said that position in the church will never save a man, but it may well condemn him. I said, positions in the church are how we serve God. Obedience to the commandments and the atonement of Jesus Christ are how we are saved. I said, the two should go hand-in-hand, but they don’t always go hand-in-hand and we need to trust and have faith in the whisperings of the spirit.

I said, if you both felt it, I would say the debate is over. I said, you deserve to be treated right. You deserve to be treated like a daughter of God.

She said, I needed to hear this tonight. Before I left, I prayed and asked that someone would be sent to help me. I’ve been here in the car and I feel like everything you’ve said are all of the things I need to do. I feel like God answered my prayers .

I told her that God puts people in my car and gives me the words to say to them from time to time. He shows his love to them in my car. I never cease to be amazed how much he loves people. I said, he loves to help them find their way home. I said, tonight several times he has given me words to say in my heart and I said them. She said, I’ve been astounded at how you knew to say everything that I needed to hear. You’ve told me things that there is no way you could’ve known and the spirit has let me know that this came from God. I need to do what you said. I need to do what God says!

I said, Heavenly Father is there for you, he sees you as his child. I told her about a situation I had when I was struggling with a sick family member and prayed for help. All of a sudden, I had a vision of them with their head in my hands like a child. It was like when a child comes up to their parent and puts their head in their hands and smiles up at them. When that happened I felt love for that person. I told her that at the first of the ride when she was struggling, I saw her like this. I saw her like her head was in my hands and she was smiling. I told her that I knew that this reflected how her father in heaven saw her. I told her that I could feel his love for her because I had seen her in this light.

She got choked up and said, I have to tell you, earlier you said that I loved children and I blew that off. I want you to know that I do love children. I’m a school teacher by training because I love to be around children. I was a little taken aback because I didn’t know how you could know this. Now I know, I know that the spirit let you see this and I know God was working through you

She said, you’re like a dad or a grandpa that I’ve never had. You’ve been telling me the things that I’ve needed to hear and you’ve brought the spirit of God back into my life. By this time, we had been sitting outside of our destination for an hour and 10 minutes. The place where she was going to go had already closed during that time. The spirit had been so strong and the love of God so present in the car that she embraced it totally and refused to walk away from it.

I took her to another place to drop her off. She asked me if it was OK if she gave me a hand hug, (a handshake) and I said yes. She got out of the car and went in to the building where I dropped her off.

As she got out of the car, I thought about the difference between the light in her eyes and the smile on her face contrasted with the angst and frustration I felt when she got in the car. Her countenance had changed and her father in heaven had approved of her decision to change her life and make better decisions.

As she left I looked at her, she was exuding happiness. She had felt the spirit of her Heavenly Father and she knew he loved her. Contrasting that with the anxiety, doom and gloom that she personified when she got in the car, it was amazing to see. This was the change that the spirit touching her soul had made.

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