I got a pickup in South Salt lake to take a guy to the airport. He was a clean-cut guy and just seemed to be happy. I knew from the start we would be talking about the gospel. We only had from 13th south to the airport so I had to get right on it.
I asked where he was from he said Georgia. I told him about a man I met from Georgia recently that was baptized into our church. His story is the one I published a couple weeks back called “Angels in the backseat”. He said that Christ was very important to him too.
We Talked about Jesus Christ and about my friends the Castillo’s. I baptized the Castillo family some years back and the father of that family had just passed away. They had asked me to speak at the funeral two days later. I discussed with my passenger what I was going to say at the funeral.
I talked to him about how with faith in Christ and repentance, then baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost we can have the strength to endure to the end and come back to our father. I told him about how God walks with us through our difficult times like he is now with this family. I told him that they had a 14 year old son and had come over that afternoon for me to discuss his father’s death from a spiritual/gospel perspective.
I told him that while I was doing the dishes before they got there, I received the impression by the Holy Ghost that the prior evening the boy had been visited by the spirit of his father and he knew it. I told him that when the boy and his mother got there I talked to them about my impression. They told me about how the night before the boy had a dream where his father came to him in his dream and gave him specific instruction.
I told this man that families are forever, that we marry for eternity and that God never leaves us alone. He was touched and I could tell he felt the spirit. I could tell he was a believer and he knew that what I said was true.
I asked him what he felt and he said the spirit of God. He said it burns in his chest and he knew that what I was saying was true. I testified of the truthfulness of the gospel. I told him about Joseph Smith and the first vision. I testified that God the father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith.
He said, the funny thing is that doesn’t even sound crazy, it sounds right! I told him that the spirit that we were feeling in the car helped him understand the truth of the story and he agreed.
I asked him if he knew any members of our church and he said yes, several of the people that worked with him were members of the church. He said that they were very good men and you could tell by the way they looked in their faces and the way it felt in their presence that they were special.
We talked about commandments and how many people look at commandments as restrictions while the truth of the matter is that they’re guidelines to happiness. He totally agreed with this. He said that when you look at the social media culture we have you can tell that there is not much light with most of those people.
We discussed how the world mocks truth and I told him that we have a prophet that speaks with God and gives us God‘s word for us today. I said, many times what he has said is mocked and people get angry but we are blessed by following his counsel. He laughed and said, it’s always been that way, all throughout the Bible.
He talked about how social media makes people dumb and unable to critically think or challenge themselves.
I asked him if he knew what we believe in that the rest of the Christian world doesn’t. He said he had no idea but he would love to know. I told him that we believe that God loves everyone in the world just as much as he loved the people in Jerusalem and that he has given us prophets to help us. I told him that revelation didn’t stop but that the heavens were open.
I told him that the people in America who were the ancestors of the indigenous people also had prophets who wrote their prophecies and that’s why we have the Book of Mormon. I told him it was a testimony that God loves all of his children not just the ones from Jerusalem. The spirit was really strong in the car and he had a tear in his eye. I could tell he was being moved.
He said that he had wanted to know more about the church but he hadn’t known where to go to find it. He said that this ride was an answer.
I bore witness of Joseph Smith and how he translated the Book Mormon by the power of God even though he only had a second grade education. We talked about how God uses people that are not capable so that he can show his power. I used David and Goliath as an example. The spirit was bearing witness very strongly in the car and I asked him about it. I asked him if he could identify how he felt and he said yes. I told him that it was the spirit of God. I asked him if the Spirit of God would be in the car with us if what we were saying was not true. He said, No! No way! I told him that this was correct, it had to be true or he wouldn’t be feeling the Spirit of God confirming it.
I told him that one of the things the Book of Mormon taught is that Jesus came to America and that while he was here he instructed people to be baptized even though they had been previously baptized . He gave specifics on how it was to be done and by what authority. I told him we receive that same baptism today but that this baptism isn’t a repudiation of his previous baptism, it is a covenant necessary to be in Gods presence and feel his power fully. He talked about how great it would be to be baptized again.
I told him that God puts people in my car to get a message sometimes and today that’s why he was in my car. He totally agreed with that.
I told him that God wouldn’t want him to leave my car without getting one of these, I reached in my bag and pulled out one of my Book of Mormons that Sister Secrist marks. I handed it to him. He said, “are you sure? Can I have this?” I said yes!
I told him to read it on his trip and he said he would. I told him that when he got back from his trip he should walk into one of his friends who is a member of the church and set that book on his desk and ask him to talk to him about it. I said he will know what to do. I told him that the people that work for him had read that book and prayed about it and received an answer from God that it was true. I told him that they would help him know what to do.
He said he was going to start reading as soon as he got on my flight and he will do exactly that when I returned.
What a great ride! Can you imagine your boss walking in the office and laying a Book of Mormon on your desk and “saying tell me what you know about this!” What would you say?
Sometimes God sends you a lift 