The Book of Mormon what you need when you’re weak kneed

One day I was working in Provo when I got a call to go over to the hospital and pick up a guy from the clinic right next-door. I saw him he was on crutches and in a knee brace. He had clearly had surgery on his ACL.

I knew immediately by promptings that I was supposed to talk to him about the church. I found this strange because I would have guessed that he was a member of the church already. I started searching trying to find an entry to bring it up.

I asked him what exactly the damage had been on his knee. He said his ACL meniscus and MCL were all ripped and had to have his knee totally reconstructed. My heart instantly went out to him. I asked him where he was from and he said California. I asked if he was able to go to work and he said yes because he worked from home anyway.

I asked him if he went out and did anything or if he had to stay home. He said he really didn’t have much of a social network here because he moved here right before Covid so he pretty much just stayed in his home and read.

Finally I said, do you go to church? He said that his church was quite a ways away and so he hadn’t been. On top of that Covid had restricted their ability to have services. This is the first time I knew for sure that he wasn’t a member of the church. I asked him what he liked most about his church and he said just getting together with the people. I asked him about what they taught and he said that it was basic stuff about the Bible.

He asked me if I was Mormon and I said yes. He asked “what is the difference between what we believe in and what you believe?” I said that there is not a lot of difference in what we believe, we just believe some additional things. I said pretty much we believe the things you believe in, we believe in Christ, we believe everyone has to be saved through and by his grace. We believe that we need to be reflections of the life of Christ in our own lives if we are to claim to be his followers..

Some of the additional things we believe are that we believe that when Jesus Christ said, “other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he had been commanded by his father to go to them so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep that he was being serious.

I told him that we believed that following the resurrection Jesus Christ appeared to the people in America. I told him that we believe that he blessed the children, loved the people and taught them the gospel. We also believe that he organized his church. I said this is born out by the legends of the indigenous peoples. They all have the belief in a great white bearded God who descended from heaven, Blessed them, taught them, loved them and said that he would return someday. He goes by various names in these legends like Culculcan or Quetzalcoatl depending on which native tradition you read But the story is the same.

I asked him if he had ever heard of these things, he said yes! He said that he had always found them to be interesting and made him think this same thing but he had wondered how that was possible. I said to him, if there were an accounting of this visit, would you want to read that account?

He said absolutely, who wouldn’t want to read that? I told him there was an account of the visit of Christ to America and that it was the Book of Mormon. It talks about the visit of Christ to America and the promises given to the peoples of America and their descendants. It’s a testimony of Christ and his love for the people of America and all peoples of the world.

He then said, kind of off topic but I’ve noticed you didn’t say anything negative about my religion. In fact you said positive things about my religion. Why is it that you don’t demean my religion but if I go any other religion they trash on Mormons non-stop. Why is that?

I said to him, why would I trash on anyone that loves Jesus or on anything that brings people closer to him and teaches his way. Our religion is not a rebuttal to those religions but a new level of worship that brings us closer to Christ through covenants and ordinances.

I told him that when Christ came to America he didn’t demean what the people had done before. In fact he was very pleased with what they had done to come close to him and the offerings they had made in their lives including baptism but he organized his church and instituted his baptism to give them something more, something higher, something to bring them closer to him. That’s what the church of Jesus Christ should be and that’s who we try to be

I said, we love what you have done to come close to Christ in the past. We love that you have tried to obey his commandments and be his follower to the best of your ability and now we offer you a new level where you can come closer to him.

He said, I love that.

I told him that the Book of Mormon is proof that God loves all of his children not just the children in Jerusalem. It proves that he sent his son to atone for all of his children not just his children in Jerusalem and then the Book of Mormon says that. While Jesus was here he said: ( I paraphrased it for him)

1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

2 For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.

3 But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them.

Jesus loves everyone. The book of Mormon proves this. It contains the most inclusive view of Christ’s ministry to all of his people.

I bore my testimony to him of the Book of Mormon and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I testified of the divinity of Christ and how he works in our lives. I testified that the power of the Holy Ghost that was there that day confirming this to him.

He said “I feel in my soul that what you’re telling me is true.” He said that he had felt the spirit before and that he knew that it was there with us

He said, “that is amazing, Is there anyway that I could get ahold of this book”. I said could I drop one by your house tomorrow, will you be here? He said yes I’ll be here, I don’t have anywhere else to go and then he laughed.

The next morning I took a Book of Mormon out to him. He didn’t answer the door. My guess is that he was asleep because about three hours later he sent me a text thanking me for the book, promising to read it and asking if he could text me questions while he did. I said yes and of course.

I also asked him if he would like me to hook him up with the missionaries. He said that there were some that lived just around the corner from him and that he would stop them and talk to them.

He has sent me a couple of questions and I have answered them. He has contacted the missionaries. He seems to be reading the Book of Mormon and I have faith that there was a reason that God wanted me to talk to him about the church that day.