For the temple is a house of God, even under construction

I picked up a young man downtown by the Union Pacific Depot to take him to his home in West Valley City. I could hear a little bit of an accent on his English so I knew he was Latino but he spoke very well. I spoke to him in English for about five minutes before we started speaking Spanish. I was really proud of how well he was doing. He had never gone to school or anything to learn English.

I asked him with no schooling what he did for a living. He said he worked In construction. I said that’s cool. I asked him what brought him to Utah and he said that he had lived in New York and Houston after he came here from Mexico City. He said that those places were crazy violent. He told me he wanted to be in a better place. His brother had told him to go to Utah so he did.

I asked him what he had felt in Utah and he said he had felt tremendous peace in Utah. The people are so nice he said. I love the way it feels here there’s just something special.

I asked him why he thought there might be something special and he said he didn’t know. I told him it’s because of the church. I told him it’s because the people here are blessed by the members of the church who live the gospel. I told him that it creates an environment where people feel peace.

He said, I like the church. I asked him what he knew about the church. He told me that he works on the construction of the Salt Lake City Temple. I was blown away.

I asked him about that experience and he said it was amazing. He said the people take care of them and they feed them. He said, remember I told you there’s a special feeling here? There’s a better feeling in there and everybody feels it. It’s an amazing thing to go to work.

I thought, this is great! I asked him if he knew what we did in temples and he said no but he’s been all through it.

I asked him if he had seen one of the rooms with an altar in the middle with big mirrors on the sides. He said yes. I told him those are the rooms where we get married. I told him that I was married in one of those rooms in the Salt Lake City Temple. I told him that we get married in temples because for us it’s different and it’s a very sacred thing.

I told him that when Jesus was on earth he gave his apostle Peter the power to seal things on earth that would be sealed in heaven. I told him that in the temple when we are married we seal our marriages for eternity not just until death do us part.

The spirit that goes along with speaking about the temple was palpable and you could tell that he was feeling it. I asked him what it felt like he said he was feeling knowledge and energy and peace in his heart. I told him that this was a spirit of God and that when he felt that he knew the things he was hearing were true.

I told him God gave us that authority so that our families can be together forever. I told him that God is all about families because we’re his family. I told him we can’t be saved without each other and that’s what the temples are about. He said that’s very powerful and I can tell that it’s true.

I asked him if he’d seen a baptismal font. He said yes! It’s impressive! He said, I saw them both in the Salt Lake Temple and in another temple where I was working. He asked if that where you are baptized?

I said kind of. I started by telling him about how when Jesus was crucified, during the three days while his body was in the tomb his spirit was in the spirit world and according to Peter he organized the preaching of the gospel to the people who had died without receiving the gospel or being taught the gospel. I told him that these people who are taught the gospel in the spirit world then get a chance to accept it or reject it.

I asked him, does your church teach that being taught the gospel is enough? He said no, we have to be baptized. I asked him if a person could go to heaven without being baptized according to his church and he said no.

I asked him if he believed Heavenly Father was his loving father and he said yes. Then I asked him if a loving father would condemn a majority of his children because they didn’t have the opportunity to hear or accept the gospel. I asked him if that would be fair and he said no

I asked him what his church’s answer is and he said frankly I’ve looked at a lot of churches and I’ve never heard anyone that even addresses this. He said,I don’t know that anyone has that answer. I told him that we do.

I told him that this baptismal font in the temple that he has seen is where we go to perform a sacred ordinance. That is were a person can be baptized for one of the people who were taught the gospel in the spirit world.

I told him that it that then the person in the spirit world has the opportunity to accept or reject their baptism. He said, that is right! He said I know that is right. He said that he had been looking for that answer all of his life.

He said that he knew God was good. He knew God was just and he just didn’t see the justice in the Catholic teaching of condemnation for people who hadn’t had the opportunity to be baptized. People who had died and never been taught the gospel or had a chance to learn it.

He said this is the answer!

I told him that we have prophets and they speak to God and that’s how we learn these things. I also told him that his ancestors in America had prophets and they spoke with God and blessed their people for many years. I told him that they wrote their prophecies. I told him that the prophesies were engraved on plates and the Prophet Joseph Smith translated those prophecies and that’s what the Book of Mormon is.

I asked him if he heard of the Book of Mormon, he said yes, but he didn’t know anything about it. He said all of this makes so much sense to me. I asked him if he still felt the spirit when we talked about the book of Mormon and he said yes.

I told him that the Book of Mormon also talked about Jesus Christ coming to America. He said what? I told him that when Jesus was with his disciples after his resurrection he said, other sheep I have which are not his fold. Jesus said that he was commanded by his father to go to them. I said that he was talking about the people in America, his ancestors.

I said that he descended from heaven and the people saw him and knew that he was their God. They touch the prints of the nails in his hands. I told him that then they knelt and worshipped him and said hosanna which means save us.

I told him that Jesus then called up 12 and gave them authority to baptize people even though they had already been baptized in the church. I told him that he commanded them to be baptized so that they could take on the new covenant that he was offering them so they could take that next step. I told him that Jesus Christ held his ancestors and blessed his ancestors and their posterity.

When I told him that his ancestors have been blessed and their posterity by the hand of Jesus you could see the spirit work on his face. You could tell the spirit was working in his heart and it was burning in the car.

He said, wow that’s true. I told him that this account of Jesus coming to America was also included in the Book of Mormon along with the other writings from the prophets of America. I told him that God loves all of his children and he sent his son here.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I pulled out one of the Book of Mormon‘s prepared by Sister Secrist and gave it to him. I asked him if he had Mormon friends and he said yes.

II told him to talk to them, and talk to the people that fed them at the temple while they were working. He said he would.

He thanked me again for the Book of Mormon and said, I’m going to read this! Then he looked me in the eye and said I promise I’m going to read this.

I bore my testimony to him of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was a sacred experience for me and I believe For him as well

I asked, how is it to know what it is that you feel in the temple? He said awesome. I asked him if he would ever look at that baptismal font the same ever again. He said no, that’s the answer I was looking for. He said that he would follow up like I had asked him to do and thanked me for the book.

I wonder how many other workers in the temple are feeling the same thing. They don’t even know the answers to their prayers are right in front of them. Maybe this man can help some of them find that.