I got a call to take three people to Lehi at 2:45 on a Saturday morning. We got going and I found that these guys were having fun and they decided that they wanted to go over and play at a friends house in Sugarhouse instead. This was great with me because going to Lehi would’ve certainly ended my night and I wasn’t ready to stop yet, I hadn’t made enough money. When they got out I found out that I had received a huge bonus for that ride so I was fat and didn’t need to work anymore that night. The spirit had other ideas.
Listening to the promptings, I turned on the app and was taken to a hotel on 3rd West in Salt Lake City. When I pulled up to this hotel there was a young lady standing outside. I immediately knew by the spirit that she was a member of the church and that she was the reason why I had to come back downtown that night.
I picked her up at the hotel. She was talking 1,000,000 miles an hour and was having conversations with her friends on the phone.She just got done having a sexual encounter with a man that she had just met that night. Her friends were frantically trying to get a hold of her because they didn’t know where she had gone. She called them to assure them that she was OK.
She seemed happy on the outside saying all the right things, smiling and bouncing around but her spirit was crying and I could tell that she was sick on the inside.
The spirit told me she wasn’t OK.
The spirit told me that she was a member of the church and raised a member of the church. When I asked, she said she wasn’t a member of the church.
I told her she was a member of the church. At first she was surprised and then finally admitted it. I asked her how she thought I knew that she was a member of the church. She said that she had no idea. I told her that it was the spirit.
I told her that I went on a mission to Argentina when I got out of high school. I asked her if she knew anyone that went on missions and she said that she had to confess that she had been raised a member of the church untill she was 13. When she was 13 her dad came out as gay and the members of the ward were terrible to them and persecuted them. Because of this she and her family had left the church.
I felt an amazing amount of love instantly for this girl. I could tell she was suffering and needed to feel the spirit. I could also tell that she felt the spirit in my car and it was making her squirm a little.
I talked to her about how people sometimes can be just horrible animals and the fact that people in the church could also be horrible animals doesn’t mean the church isn’t true, it just means that people aren’t perfect.
I told her about my great grandpa leaving the church. I told her that they had been offended and felt like they had been poorly treated. Because of this they completely left the church and that this decision has had disastrous ramifications on his posterity.
I told her about when my kids were little and I went to church early to find and sit behind the people that told me that they didn’t like us. I told her that it’s better to be strong and make people face their own evil judgments.
I talked to her about Jesus and how he paid the price for angst, humiliation, prejudice and injustice as well as sin and infirmity. I told her that if we can look to him he can lift us through our trials. I told her that He is the only way we can accomplish that. He is the only way we can come through this life whole.
I really am impressed by the amount of love and the power of the spirit you feel when you testify of the atonement. The testimony of the atonement brings the spirit and this day was no exception.
I told her about the cups and how everybody gets a different hand dealt but God makes it all right if we look to him. He does this through the atonement of his son Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ has the power to fill our cup.
I felt by the spirit to tell her that more than anything she felt like she was betraying her father by going to church and that’s why she stopped going when she was 13. I told her that because of the atonement as I described in the cups example she could come back and not betray her father because Christ could make it equal for everyone.
I asked her if she remembered Ammon in the Book of Mormon and she said yes. I briefly recounted it to her about how he talked to the king about the unspoken thoughts in the king’s heart. Because of this the king’s heart was opened and Ammon could teach and touch the king with the power of the spirit, therefore the king knew that he was of God.
She said that’s exactly what you doing to me to here tonight. You said the things that I was thinking and the spirit of God is the only way you could’ve known that.
I told her that God puts people in my car and I give them messages. I told her that he had put her in my car tonight and the message he had for her was that he loves her and he wants her back. I told her about the pre-existence and the relationship with God being the center of your soul.
I told her that she had been yearning for years looking to feel better and that what she was trying to do in her life was chase worldly pleasure instead of permanent joy.
She was full on crying at this point. During the conversation I got the impression that I needed to discuss with her the sexual hook up she had just participated in. I said right now you are thinking “I can’t go to church because of what I just did”. I told her that wasn’t true at all. She hadn’t been to church since she was 13 and she needed to go to church and not to let any whispers about not being welcome because she wasn’t worthy or not being the right person or not being judged or anything get in the way because that was Satan whispering in her ear. I told her that he was whispering to her and that he whispers to everyone. We have to cast him aside and seek God
I told her that she should go to church for a few months, make friends, and get to know the leaders. After a few months the spirit would dictate when to bring the nights activities up. She said OK and promised to do that.
She didn’t have a Book of Mormon so I pulled one out and gave it to her and asked her to read through the tabs in the special Book of Mormon prepared by Sister Secrist. I told her that it would help her have a better relationship with her father
The spirit was very strong in the car and she talked about how strongly she was feeling this. And I had her identify it by telling me what it felt like. She told me it felt like a full happiness and like she was loved. I asked what that meant and she said it meant God wanted her back. I asked her if she knew where her church was and she said yes and that she would go.
I asked her if she’d ever heard of God sending a message like this to someone and she said no. I asked her if she knew that this was from God and she stated again through her tears that she could feel it all the way to her heart.
She said she hadn’t felt the spirit in so long and that she never felt it this strong. I asked her if she prayed and she said no but she said she knew how. I asked her to go in, read the first two chapters of the Book of Mormon, pray and feel the love of God. She said she would.
I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith, the atonement and of living prophets. The spirit was powerful and she said she loved being in the car. Again we talked about the fact that this spirit belongs in your soul and this is the thing that she’s been missing and the emptiness she was trying to fill.
I told her that I felt that she would need to be strong because this was going to be very difficult. I told her that Satan would put up a fight. I asked her if she was strong enough to do this and she said yes.
She asked me if she could shake my hand. It’s interesting how many people want to shake your hand after they have a new spiritual experience and I’m sure there’s a significance to that, but it’s awesome.
I’m am sure that she will be back and that she followed through and went to church that Sunday like she promised. The spirit was too strong and the coincidence too unthinkable for that not to change her heart
Sometimes God sends you a lift 