Alma still “doin work”

Sometimes when you meet someone in your car you say things that come to your mind and heart and then you think, that was weird, and then it ends up being exactly the right thing to say.

This happened earlier this week.  I picked up a girl down in the south valley. I got off on 123rd South maybe for the first time ever. I started driving west for whatever reason I don’t know other than I was being guided there.

I got the call to pick up this girl. When I pulled up she got in the car and I just felt like I should say, you’re awesome. 

She said, I really needed to hear that tonight, to which I said, well when you get where you’re going tonight you need to ask for a great big hug because I think you need one. She said, how did you know? I have been praying that God would send someone to pick up my spirits and give me a hug. That’s exactly what I’m going to do! The guy I’m going to see told me he would give me a big hug and I’ve been looking forward to it. I asked where she was from and she said that she was from Oregon and had been a guest at the Oregon state correctional facility for the last three years.

She told me that she was just out and she was living in a sober living house, kind of like a halfway house, transitioning back into society. I asked her what brought her to Utah. She said that it just seem to be a place where she could get a fresh start. I asked her what her experience had been so far and she said that she had found that it’s very calm and peaceful.

She asked me how I knew what to say, I told her that I just listened to the words that came to my heart and mind and say them. I told her that they came from God and he knows everything. She said, I want to believe in God. I told her that God wanted her to believe in him too and that is why I was here.

I asked her what church she belong to and she said she didn’t have one. She said that she had heard that here that we went to what was called Wards. I laughed and then explained to her what a ward was. She said that she wanted to start her life again and she wanted to do it right this time.

I said, so that means you want to be sober and clean before God so that you can be on the right foot. She shouted  yes!  She said she didn’t want to have to be beaten up by the past anymore.

I asked her if she’d ever heard of the Book of Mormon. She said she had but she didn’t know what it was. I told her that the prophets of people who had lived here in America anciently had written a spiritual accounting of their lives. I told her that book was the Book of Mormon. I told her that it was translated by a prophet of God and we have it today.

I told her in that book there was a prophet who had been a really bad sinner and had gone about destroying good people and the church. Because of the prayers of his father and many other people God sent an angel to this man and his friends. and struck  him down for a few days. During this time he lived in the pain and suffering of the sins that he had committed and the tribulations he’d caused. Just when he thought it was about to consume him he prayed to God and remembered Jesus Christ and His atonement.  He had previously been taught about Jesus but rejected him. Even though he had been a vile sinner, when he called on Christ the pain and suffering was taken from him.

I pointed out that this didn’t mean that he forgot what he had done, just that his souls was no longer tourtured by the pain of those deeds. That pain was replaced with the joy and happiness the spirit of God brings.

The man and his friends changed and went about doing the work of God for the rest of their lives. One of them became a great prophet and the rest became amazing missionaries. Having been reformed they went about doing much good for the rest of their lives.

I told her that I saw a parallel here with what she was describing and where she could go with her life. I talked to her about her life before she went to prison. I told her that the people she hung out with and the decision she made saddened God and had separated her from the spirit. I also told her that God never gives up on anyone, especially her.  I told her that this is why he had been putting people in her path. I told her that if she would think back she would remember a couple of instances recently where people had said and done things that blessed her and confounded her at the same time. I told her that this was God reaching out and that it was her time to reach back to meet him.

The spirit was strong in the car and she was said that she never would have thought it would be possible to cry and be as happy as she felt at the same time. She said she loved that feeling and it energized her. I told her that it was the spirit of God and this was her Heavenly Father giving her the hug she really needed. I told her that the other hug she was going to get later would be nice but not nearly as life-changing and fulfilling is the hugs of the spirit.

She said that in her life she had never felt anything like this. I told her that that wasn’t true. I told her that her spirit was very used to this feeling and craved it. I told her that’s why she felt an emptiness that she had been trying to fulfill in frivolous ways before in her life.

She said how do you know these things.  I told her that the Book of Mormon taught that Jesus came to America and that one of the most important things that Jesus did when he came to America was instruct everyone to be baptized to clean themselves, commanded them that they remain clean and gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. That gift of the Holy Ghost gives us utterance, I said. The gift of the Holy Ghost gives us impressions in our heart and in our minds as to what words we should say and these were the words that I was telling her.

She said that it was amazingly spot on and that I was answering the question she hadn’t asked and perceiving her thoughts as she was thinking them. She asked me how are you qualified to be baptized. I said you need to go to church, meet with the missionaries and they will teach you everything else you need to know.

I told her that the most important things to know are that the Book of Mormon that I had been referring to was a true book of scripture given to us by God. It was translated to English by his servant and Prophet Joseph Smith. I told her about the first vision were Joseph Smith had been seeking truth much as she had been seeking truth and not knowing where to find it in the confusion. I told her that he knelt and prayed. I testified to her that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. They called him to be the prophet to restore the church. As I said these things I could feel the power in my words. It was almost like they were amplified in my head. The spirit was testifying with power. Later Joseph Smith received the plates that contained the engravings that were later translated into the Book of Mormon. She said, normally she would be skeptical and that this wouldn’t make sense to her but right then everything I said seem to make total sense and fit perfectly. She said that the whole night had been crazy. She woke up with a start and felt like she needed to shower and go over to her friends house. She didn’t know why. She then told me that she knew it was because I was supposed to drive her and give her this message. 

The home that she lived in was right next to a chapel and their ward met at 9 AM. She asked me if she could just go or if she had to make an appointment. I told her just to go at 9 AM. I said that Covid might make things a little weird but if she asked for the bishop he would help her out.

We were at the drop off location and she said that she couldn’t ever remember feeling the love of God like she felt in that ride and she would do exactly the things that we had talked about. She asked me if I knew where she could get a Book of Mormon. I told her I just happen to have one and I handed it to her after writing the time of her meetings, the name of her bishop and his phone number in the front cover.

It was fun seeing this young woman get a glimpse of who she could possibly be and watching her Heavenly Father give her a hug that she hadn’t expected. The powerful testimony of Alma spoke to her soul and he may have just saved another one by telling his story. Kind of what he did all throughout his life and here we see that his work hasn’t stopped yet. His teachings are still bringing them home