Have you been baptized yet?

Sometimes we are a little timid to bring up baptism but other times we need to be bold. Sometimes we need to ask Have you been baptized yet?

I picked up a young man at a Vape shop by State and 33rd south. On the way to pick him up I passed a car accident that had the route blocked off that we would need to take on the way out. I knew I would have to be creative.

It told me to pick him up at the Vape shop and I thought he worked at the Vape shop. I thought, eww a vape shop. When he got in the car I told him about the accident and that we would have to find another way. Silence! He told me he didn’t speak English but I heard a Spanish accent so I jumped right in.

I told him in Spanish that the road was blocked and he started laughing and said well, let’s try it anyway. We started down the road and found out we were blocked and we would be detoured and it was going to add about 10 minutes to arrive at his home. He was OK with that and so we went.

We had to make a turn north. The second I made the turn the spirit told me in a prompting this young man was highly stressed, very worried and needed to feel the spirit. I felt like God was going to show his power to this young man.

The first thing that came to my mind was, have you been baptized into the church yet? He looked shocked at the surprise frontal attack. He gathered himself and said wait no, I haven’t been baptized into the Mormon church yet. I said. Maybe it’s time you look into it.

I asked him if he had any friends that were members of the church and he said yes. He said he had two good friends that were members of the church. This is usually a question I ask at the end of the night or ride but for whatever reason I felt like I should ask it early on.

I asked him, what do your friends believe that’s different than what you believe as a Catholic. He thought about it and said, I don’t know. He said, I don’t have any idea what your church believes.

I told him that our church believes that God is the God of all of the world and not just Jerusalem. I told him that God loves everyone in the world and not just the people where he originally sent his son. I asked him if he believed that and he said absolutely.

I asked him if God loved the people in America that were his ancestors and he said yes. I asked him, if God loved them how would he show that love. He said he would help them. I told him that’s exactly what God did. He helped them. I told him that he gave them prophets.

I told him the prophets were people who receive revelation from God to help and bless the people. They wrote these revelations down and that’s why we have the Bible. They are the revelations of the prophets in Jerusalem. I also told him that the prophets in America amongst his ancestors also received revelation from God and they wrote them down.

I asked him, if that were true, would it be important for him to have that record? He said yes, it would be very important. I told him that those prophets also wrote about Jesus Christ coming to America. He said, what? I’ve never heard about that! I told him Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem after his resurrection and he said other sheep he had which are not of this fold and that he received a commandment from his father to go to them so there could be one fold and one shepherd. I told him that Jesus was talking about his ancestors here in America.

He said, this feels good, this feels right. I asked him if he knew where he could find these revelations and the history of Jesus Christ coming to America? He said no, where would I find that? I told him it was the Book of Mormon and he said ohhh.

I told him that when Jesus was crucified there was destruction in this hemisphere. I told him that there were earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunami‘s. I told him that after the destruction the people and the continent were covered with darkness for three days and they couldn’t see. They couldn’t light a match and they couldn’t do anything.

Then they heard a voice that said “this is my beloved son”. They looked to the heavens and saw Jesus descending from heaven dressed in white and glowing in glory.

I told him that his ancestors went up to Jesus and touched the prints of the nails in his hands and then his feet. They knelt and said hosanna which means save us. I told him Jesus helped them and blessed them and loved them. I said, this should be very personal to you because Jesus held, loved and blessed your ancestors.

When I said this I could tell that there was a tremendous peace in the car and I could tell that his eyes were wide open and he was eating it up. I could feel the spirit testifying to his soul. I said, then Jesus called up 12 and gave them authority to baptize and give the gift of the Holy Ghost. He commanded to these 12 to go and baptize everyone.

I told him that these people had previously been baptized and that they were good people. Jesus wanted to give them more blessings. Jesus wanted to give them a new level of commitment and a new level of discipleship. I told him that Jesus wanted to give them the ability to have families forever and to have power to save and live with those families forever in the gospel.

He said wow! That’s amazing! I asked him what he was feeling and he said he was feeling a tremendous peace like he had never felt before. I asked him what it meant and he said he didn’t know. I told him it meant that God was with us and that the things he was hearing were true. He said that he knew that they’re true! He said there’s no mistaking that right now.

He said he was also feeling a tremendous desire to learn these things that I was saying. I told him that because God loves us he sends his spirit to help us learn. I told him but I believed that God put him in my car tonight to receive this message.

He told me that he had a tremendously stressful day and he didn’t know how to move forward. He said that in the car he felt the peace of God and he believed that he had also seen a path forward for him.

I asked him if included learning these things and he said yes. I asked him what it meant to him that God would reach out and bless him with the spirit to help him tonight. He said it meant a lot to him. I asked him if it meant that he should follow these promptings and he said it did and he would.

We talked some more about the spirit and about baptism. I told him that based on the confirmation he had received from spirit it was important that he follow through and be baptized. He said that this was true. I asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes. Then he started talking about his family in Columbia. His wife and son live in Columbia.

He lives here and works two jobs and sends the money there so that they can be provided for. I told him that families are really important to us in our church and that the full restoration of the gospel teaches that families are the most important thing. I told him that when we are married our marriages are sealed for eternity. We don’t just do it until death but for eternity.

I told him that when Jesus was on the earth he gave Peter the authority to seal things on earth that will be sealed in heaven and we have that same power. We use that power to seal our marriages for all eternity. He said that this was an amazing thing and that he is 100% sure that his wife would love that.

He asked if it would be possible for her and his son to hear about the gospel in Columbia. I told him that we can send missionaries to their home in Columbia. I told him that when he was working with the missionaries they could conference In his family and the missionaries from that area so that they could learn together. This way they could be baptized together and sealed together later on. He loved that.

I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon and he said no. I grabbed one of the copies of the Book of Mormon in Spanish prepared by Sister Secrist and gave it to him.

I asked him if he would promise me that he would ask his friend about that book and he said he would. He said that he would do it the next day. I asked him if he would tell his friend about the spirit and the presence of God that he felt in the car. He said that he would. He said, I cannot deny It.

I told him once again that God had put him in my car to receive this book and these teachings so that he could move forward in his life and finally be baptized in the church. He said that’s just what I need.

I said do you work in the vape shop? This was a potential problem I foresaw. He said, no, I worked in the Subway right next to it. It’s one of two jobs that I have. He said lately he had been very worn down and without a hope. He said tonight the spirit in the car had rejuvenated his spirit and given him hope.

He said, I have to follow this path. I believe that for sure he’s going to get pretty wet on this path.