Like preserving an old hotel, God doesn’t throw us away, he fixes us.

I picked up a guy at a hotel downtown. He works maintenance at the hotel. It’s an older hotel and they don’t throw things away. They repair furniture and stuff so it was kind of cool to talk to him about how they can’t do anything new. They have to try to keep up the look of an old hotel. We talked about his girlfriend, where she’s from and that they live together.

He said that her her family was in town and it looked like it was progressing really fast towards him asking her father if they could be married. It looked like he may even be going to do it the next day. He really liked her family and they liked him.

We talked about having kids and coaching your kids teams. We talked about body pain and having kids when you’re young enough to be useful. He thought that this was a good idea.

About this time I started thinking, talk to him about the church. The spirit was screaming that this guy is ready. I thought this guy lives with his girlfriend, there’s no way he’s ready but I obeyed . I asked him what he thought the religion of his ancestors was. He was from Mexico so he went on to tell me that the history of his ancestors was one of many gods which are based on the conditions, the times and the seasons.

I showed him a picture I have of a Mayan temple that has three carvings on the top in front. These carvings are of a king God with a crown, a descending God, descending from the sky and one is empty. I asked him if that looked familiar and if it made sense to him. I talked about Jesus coming to America after he had been resurrected. I told him in Jerusalem he said other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he was going to visit them. I told him it was the people in America.

I told him even hundreds of years after he had been here, as evidence by that archaeology I was showing him, they believed in a father God, a descending God, descending from heaven and a God that had no physical shape or body. I asked him again if that sounded familiar and he said, oh yes, now it does. He then went on to explain to me that his father and mother were members of our church. He said, I know that it is Jesus Christ that you’re talking about.

I talked to him about how when Jesus came to America, there were three days and nights of darkness following incredible destruction from tremendous storms and earthquakes. When Jesus came, the people in that horrible condition recognized him as their God and prayed to him to be saved. He did exactly that by calling up 12 of them, one by one and giving them the authority to baptize and commanding that all of these people be baptized.

I told him that almost all of these people had previously been baptized but that Jesus required of them that they be baptized again and make this new covenant by the power and the authority that he, their God, had given them.

I said again that Jesus commanded that everyone be baptized and that the difference between us and the other religions was that we have the power that Christ gave on that occasion. We have the fullness of this new covenant not just part of it like other religions do.

At that point the spirit whispered to me that it was still his desire to party and participate in inappropriate activities. These things kept him from wanting to be baptized in the first place even though the rest of his family was baptized.

I told him that, exactly as the spirit whispered it to me.

I told him that the reason why he wasn’t baptized is because he didn’t want to commit to God and that he wanted to put these other things in front of his worship of God. Then he bowed his head and said you’re right. I asked him if he thought that getting baptized would make him a better boyfriend/husband or not. He said that it would make him much better.

His girlfriend had been wanting to get baptized and he had been dragging his feet. He decided it just wasn’t exactly what he was going to do and hated feeling pushed into it. I said, “so you don’t get baptized so that you can show that you are willing to make huge mistakes in order to show how independent you are?”

I called him out in a way that no one else had. There was a battle going on in the car and I could feel that he wasn’t wanting to be forthright about something, later I found out it was that the missionaries were currently in the process of trying to commit him to being baptized.

He was still in the stubborn mindset of being his own man and not being baptized and not going along with everyone else. We talked about the authority that Jesus gave to his apostles and how that made it all work. I talked to him about his girlfriend that he wants to marry and their kids. How would he feel when they asked him why he wouldn’t want to be with them forever? He was shocked.

The bottom line is that this kid had been taught since he was young and always rejected the gospel. I looked at him and said that God puts people in my car to receive a message and clearly tonight the message you’re supposed to receive is that it’s time to give up the pride and follow Christ.

He told me that he didn’t know if he was ready and I asked him what he was waiting for. I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The spirit filled the car. I asked, do you feel that? He said yeah! I said what does it feel like and he told me what it says in Galatians about what the spirit feels like. I told him that I wasn’t asking him what Galatians said it felt like, I was asking him what he was feeling right then. He thought for a minute and said peace, warmth and power. I told him that this is how you feel the spirit. That’s how the spirit of God feels to you. I said that this is a reflection of the relationship you have with God that you have had for thousands of years. When that spirit is present, you know that the things you’re hearing are…. and I paused…..and he said “true”

He said “wow” that is powerful!! I have never felt and understood it like this.

I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon again and asked him if that was true he said yes. I asked him if the spirit was testifying to him that it was true and he said yes. I told him that we have a prophet today and testified of that fact. I asked him if he felt the spirit and he said yes I asked him what that meant and he said that it’s true.

I told him that when Jesus came to America he invited the people to be baptized. I then asked him if he thought that was true and he said yes. I said, don’t you think Jesus is inviting you to be baptized? He said yes! I said, by what date will you promise to me that you’ll be baptized? He looked shocked. Then he thought about it and he said, “my birthday is in June. I’d like to be baptized on my birthday.” I told him that he was promising me but then asked who else he was making that promise to. He said God. I asked him if he would promise God and he said yes.

I said that’s totally doable. You and your girlfriend need to get married. He said yes, we’re going to do that. I asked him what his next step was. He said that he would tell his girlfriend. I asked him when he would tell the elders and he said the next day at 7pm. They already had it set. He told me that he couldn’t wait to surprise them and just say, I’m in! Let’s get baptized. He said along with his girlfriend and family, they would be so happy.

Thus ended the rebellious days of this son who gloried in the pride of his iniquities and disobedience yet was moved by the spirit to humility and saw the hand of God! (In my car!!)