They hear his voice

One Saturday night I was picking up a young man from some apartments in Midvale, Utah. When I pulled up this young man was outside waiting for me and he was yelling up at his friends who were all clearly very drunk. Surprisingly the young man I was supposed to pick up wasn’t drunk at all.

I talked to him about his friends. He said they just love to party on Saturday night. He said that he liked to hang out with them but that he wasn’t a partier so he didn’t drink. I thought that was great. He had a Brazilian name and so I asked him about his background. He said he moved here from Brazil when he was 10 years old but that most of his family was back in Brazil I asked him if any of his family was around here. He said yes. I have cousins who live here that I am very close to.

I talked about how I went on my mission to Argentina and served on the border with Brazil in Misiones. I used all my little Portuguese words ha ha. We talked about Iguazu and how cool it was.

Then I asked him why he was going home so early when his friends were still continuing to party. He said it’s because he had to go to church in the morning. He said that he attended the Centerpoint church in Orem and that the service starts at 9 AM. He had to drive down there so he had to be sober and awake by 8 o’clock and ready to leave. I told him that it was awesome that he was so devoted but that there had to be at church closer than that. Smiling I said look there’s a Mormon church right there on the corner. He laughed and said you’re right! But I don’t know what they believe in. I said that’s us and we believe in Jesus Christ but not a limited Jesus Christ. He was interested and said explain that to me.

We believe in the Jesus Christ that loves all of Gods children no matter where they live throughout the world and that his ministry wasn’t limited to Israel. When he was on earth after his resurrection he visited Gods other sheep in America. Then went to other places.

He said can you show me evidence of that. I said yes, I pulled the car over and pulled out John 10:16 where it talks about other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Then I then talked to him about the Book of Mormon and how Jesus came to America. I asked him if he had ever heard of anything like that, he said no.

I told him that the Mayans and the Aztecs had histories of a great white God with a beard who descended from heaven and bless them. He lifted them, he love them, he preformed miracles and taught them. When he went back into heaven he said that he would return again. When the Spaniards arrived, the descendants of those Americans thought that cortez was this great white God. They were tricked and their civilization fell.

I pointed him to a video that the church did on these native traditions and I also showed him a picture of Tulum. Tulum is in Mexico. The castle of Tulum has three doors and above each door it has a space with an image carved in. Above the first door there is the image of a king God with a crown. The second door has an image of a descending God descending from heaven and above the third door the space is empty.

I asked him what he thought that these images could be given our discussion. He said clearly it’s God the father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. I said that’s correct. I told him if Jesus Christ didn’t come to America, how could they have known about this 500 years after Christ death when this was constructed. He said there’s no way. That knowledge had to be among the people. I said, that’s correct.

I then told him that while Jesus was here he said “still other sheep I have” that he had to visit, and they had to hear his voice and know that they could be counted among his sheep in his fold. He said, that’s amazing. God is the God of all the earth not just Jerusalem. He said that’s the truest thing I’ve ever heard and it’s the truest thing I’ve ever felt. He said I feel that all the way in my chest and he pounded on his heart. I said it’s true,

I said it’s found in the Book of Mormon and that’s why we call it another testament of Christ. He came to America and he taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ that we still teach today. He healed the sick and he blessed their children and he showed them love unparalleled in the history of mankind. Finally he told them that he would return.

He is the one that these temples were built to remember he is the one who everyone is waiting for.

I testified to him about Joseph Smith being called as a prophet of God, by God and the Book of Mormon was given to him. It was actually an ancient record written by the hand of the people who lived here in those days.

He said those are my ancestors! I said yes they are and this is your religious heritage. I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We were both feeling the spirit very profoundly.

This young man who was willing to drive an hour to go to church on Sunday morning and leave his friends on Saturday night was tuned into the fact that God had more words for him and he was all about it

I asked him what he was feeling right then, he told me that he was feeling electric, that the hair on the back of his neck was standing up and his heart was beating fast but at the same time he had a tremendous peace. I told him that this was the spirit of God confirming to him the truthfulness of the things of which we had spoken. I told him that the Spirit of God was testifying to him that the Book of Mormon was true and bearing witness to his soul. He agreed and said that he knew this was true.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon. He said that he did. His cousin had given him one. I asked him if his cousin was a member of the church, he said “oh yeah”. He said that she is very active and very energetic about the church.

We were at the end of the ride and he had a to go. I asked, will you do one favor for me now that you have this new knowledge? He said yes! What do you want me to do? I said go to your cousin and tell her that you’ve had a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, she’ll know what to do from there. He smiled and said he would do that the next day in the afternoon. I have no doubt that he did.