Warrior heritage

One day I was driving and got a call to go to a dealership. We hate going to auto dealerships. Dealers use the service for customers whose cars are being serviced and they put a restriction on what you can do for your client.

For them it’s all about shortest route less money.To make matters worse they don’t tip and they don’t tell the passenger that they didn’t tip. They all think that everything is covered. You should all know that it’s appropriate to tip your rideshare driver!

Because they don’t tip many drivers reject the rides generated by auto dealerships so when you get there the people are angry, having been rejected three and four times. It puts you to the test to calm the savage beast!

One day I picked up such a man. He was angry and I pretended to be angry with him. I apologized and said I hope to make it up so that he could have a positive experience. I could tell by his last name that he was Navajo. He also had a Washington Redskins shirt on. I asked him if he liked the Redskins and he said it has always been his favorite team but now that they were changing the name and he didn’t know. I told him that that was my favorite team as well and that I was sad about the whole scenario.

He said that his people were great and fierce warriors and that he was proud of that. He didn’t like what he felt was the homogenization and pacification of his culture and history. We talked about the code talkers from the second world war and what great warriors they were.

I then started talking to him about my genealogy. How using the family tree app I was able to trace my genealogy to Vikings of both Sweden and Norway, To a knight who was knighted in the second Crusade for winning the battle of Acre for the king. This knights ancestor, who was the Roman general governor of Britain. I also told him that in this same genealogy app it shows that I am a descendent of the Montauk tribe from New York.

He said that the eastern Indians were great warriors but that I was the whitest Indian he had ever seen! We laughed, then he said that is so cool that you know so much about your history. He loved that my family had such a great warrior heritage. He said that he would like to learn more about his history too. He said that he would like to know about his people and the great warriors of his family.

At that point he knew his grandparents and nothing beyond that. I told him that I did my genealogy because in our church we believe that to please God we have to be united as families. It is important to us to unite our families through the generations so that we can all be saved in the presence of God together.

He said, wow that’s cool! I asked him if he’d ever seen a Mormon Temple. We were on the way to his house and I didn’t know that he lived like two blocks from the Oqurrh Mountain Temple. He said yeah! I live right by one. I told him that in those temples we were able to go and link our families through the generations.

He said that he was Christian but he had never heard anything like this. I asked him if he was baptizedIn his church. He said yes. I asked him why he was baptized, he said because you have to be baptized to go to heaven.

I asked him if his grandfather 500 years ago was baptized, he said no, there’s no way, he didn’t know about Jesus Christ. I asked him if his grandfather 500 years ago would be able to go to heaven not having been baptized. He said he had never thought about that but that he guest not.

I asked him if that’s fair. Was it fair for a person who had never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus to be condemned because he’s not baptized. He said, no that’s not fair and it’s very sad.

I said one of the things we do in these temples is we take the name of our ancestor and are baptized in their behalf. In the world where they are, they are being taught about the gospel. They have the chance to accept or reject that baptism at that point. When they accept it, we go about sealing our families together so that we can be with them forever. This way they give us life and we save their life. It creates a chain of dependency that saves everyone. He said that was the most awesome thing he’d ever heard.

I asked him, you know how I know that this is true? He said how? I told him that I know it’s true because I know God is our loving heavenly father and that he loves every one of his children regardless of when they were born. He loves his great grandpa 500 years ago just the same as he loves him today.

I then asked him what kind of a loving father would condemn all the people in Africa, China, America all the people in Scandinavia hundreds of years ago that hadn’t been under situations that allowed them access to the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I asked him, wouldn’t a loving father in heaven who is perfect provide a way for every one of his children to have the opportunity to come home if they so desired? He said absolutely, as a father I love all of my children and want them to be successful and safe.

I told him that this doctrine is proof of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the only doctrine in the Christian world that teaches God loves everyone and has a plan for everyone regardless of where they were born, when they were born, what color they are or what ever their circumstances may be. It is evidence of the divinity of God and his son Jesus Christ and the perfectness of their plan.

He asked if we could drive over by the temple on the way. I totally ignored instructions from the dealer on my GPS and said absolutely. He said, I’ve always had a beautiful feeling when I see this building, now that I know the amazing things going on in there I understand why.

As we drove to his house he said, how can I get involved in learning about my ancestors so that we can do all of these things. I asked him if he had any Mormon neighbors that he was friends with. He said, yeah, the guy right across the street is very friendly. I think his name is Bishop! That’s what everybody calls him anyway.

I laughed and asked him if he has a last name too, and he told me the last name. I told him that his friend across the street would love to help him on his quest to find his ancestors. I told him that we have libraries full of data and information on his ancestors. I told him that his friend and neighbor would be happy to go with him and help him. I told him that the Book of Mormon itself was a history of his ancestors. It shows Gods love for his people in America and throughout the world

The spirit was testifying to both of us and he was eager

He told me that he had always liked the Mormons but didn’t know much about what they believed. What he had heard that day made him feel so good inside. He said “I feel proud and loved”. I told him that his Heavenly Father did love him and that is why he felt that way. I said his neighbor could help him understand that feeling better.

He got out of my car that was now parked in front of his house and said, my neighbors here! I’m going to go talk to him right now. As I drove away he was walking across the street.