Put that in cement

One day I was down in Springville dropping Nick off and thinking that I would just roll around Utah County for a while. I got a ride in Mapleton, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. I considered not taking that ride because I wanted to get into Provo where I could pick up several rides quickly. Even though I intended not to take the ride for some reason I just kept driving towards it. I drove out there and it was a construction site. I was not happy because I just cleaned my car and now a construction worker with mud all over him was going to get in. Finally he got in and I told him not to get my car too muddy. This kid was about 23 years old, a big kid and he did framing and cement for new construction.

He seemed genuinely concerned that he might trash my car (And he did leave quite a bit of dirt which vacuumed out easily). I was touched by his concern so I quit worrying about it and we started to drive. He was a typical 23-year-old construction worker, shaved head and maybe a couple of tattoos kind a kid.

We were heading to North Salt Lake and that’s a long way! I thought about what to talk about. The church kept coming to mind for him. Then I looked at him and I thought really? And then the spirit said yes so I started talking to him about how old he was and what kind of things he liked to do. Finally I asked him what he had done last weekend. He talked to me about hanging out with his friends and stuff. I said that I went to church, I asked him if he went to church? He said that he didn’t really believe in organized religion. He didn’t believe in hocus-pocus creation. He said that he had his own ideas about how things happened and that he believed to be true. I asked him to share those with me and he did.

He said that people on the earth were created by science. That it was engineered and that it didn’t just magically appear. He said that this is what had him at odds with all the churches. I asked him what church he belonged to. He said that about eight years earlier when his dad was in prison, his mom had them get baptized. It seemed like maybe the church was helping out the family and trying to embrace them and the mom felt an obligation of sorts. He said he didn’t believe in it and really never had. He just got baptized because his mom asked him to.

I asked him if he had spent a lot of time looking into the doctrine of our church. He said not that much. I asked him if I could share something really cool with him. He said, yes! I told him that we believe that God created the rules of science and that he engineered and created each one of us and the universe based on those rules just like he had told me. Just a little different way of looking at it. God created the rules of science and follows the rules of science.

He was blown away, he said, is that what Mormons believe? I said yes. I told him that science in its pure form is truth. God is all about truth in every form and every place you find it. Clearly no one had ever talked to him like that because he was just flabbergasted. He kept saying, wow!

Then I talked to him about his father in heaven and how much he loves him. It is amazing how much power there is to that doctrine. When you testify of the love of our father in heaven for his children, the spirit almost always has something to say as well. I told him that during the tough times in his life his father in heaven was still watching out for he and his family. That’s why the bishop was there in the first place. The spirit came roaring into the car. I talked about the relationship his spirit had enjoyed with his father in heaven and that his spirit recognized the presence of God. I looked back in the mirror and caught his eyes. I told him that the feeling he was feeling right now was the spirit of his father in heaven. He said, I feel that! It’s so cool. I said that your father in heaven sent that to you so that you can know when you’re hearing truth. When you’re hearing truth you feel this.

I told him that the spirit not only helps us know truth about God and religion but it also helps us learn and gain knowledge in areas of life that you might not consider to be religious. I told him that the reason why he was feeling what he was feeling today was that God wanted him to know that these things were true. God wanted him to know that the church was true. God wanted him to know how to find him. The power of the spirit was intense and I could feel it surge through my words.

I told him that God had sent me today with this message for him. I told him that sometimes that happens to me. I told him that I listen to the spirit and say the words God puts into my heart even though I have no idea why I am saying those things. I told him that it is a spiritual gift and that God gives us spiritual gifts to increase our capacity if we use them to bless his children.

I told him an example of that is my ability to speak Spanish. That is a spiritual gift that I have not lost because I have continued to try to bless heavenly fathers children by speaking Spanish. I told him that the Spirit of God would give him a greater capacity to serve if that’s what he wanted to do. I looked again in the mirror and his eyes were filled with excitement, they were smiling and you could see the smile through his mask. He was basically bouncing off the walls he was so excited.

I told him about how God wants him to be happy. He wants to lift him and he wants him to feel like this all the time. I told him that God also wanted him to help other people feel the same way and have the same feeling.

I talked to him about Lehi’s dream in the Book of Mormon. I told him about the fruit of the tree and how it was so delicious, like the most amazing fruit you could ever eat. I asked him if he tasted something that was the best he ever tasted, what would he do? He said he would tell everybody he knew about it. I told him that’s exactly what Lehi did. Lehi tasted the gospel and the love of God just like he had in the car today and he had the overwhelming desire to share it. He called his family to come and eat it and some of them did. They had to follow the word of God to get to the tree. I told him that one of the things that was sad is it some of the people that had eaten that fruit saw other people mocking them and laughing at them and they dropped that fruit and went away from it. I told him that it was important that now that he had tasted a little bit of that fruit that he make the changes necessary to not ever be without it even though people might laugh at and make fun of him.

The spirit of that story from the Book of Mormon overwhelmed him. I looked in the mirror again and he was shedding tears. And then he said, look, I need to do this. He said this ride has changed everything for me.

I told him now that he knows what the fruit of that tree taste like he needs to go to others and tell them to how to get it. He said, how do I get to that point? I told him that’s why I am here.

He asked me what he would have to do so this could be permanent, what steps he would need to take.

I asked him if he knew who his bishop was. He said that his bishop was his next-door neighbor. I said he should go talk to his bishop and then he should go to church this Sunday. He said that at this point he didn’t think anything could keep him away. As we pulled up to his house I asked him for a commitment. I asked him to make a commitment to me that he would go and talk to his bishop. He said yes he would. He said he would do it right then. And then I asked him to commit to me that he would go to church on Sunday. He said “That’s gonna happen “.

I said, let’s put that in cement! He laughed and said, consider it cemented! He thanked me and got out of the car and then he thanked me again. But it wasn’t me he was thanking,it was the spirit he felt that changed his perspective.

Can a life change in a one hour drive. Yes