Picking up the pieces after covid

I picked up a girl clear up at the top of the valley. It’s a road called Donner Road. Somehow I think that somebody should put a restaurant there that serves kidney beans and finger sandwiches. (Sorry my wife thinks that this joke is in bad taste haha) but i couldn’t help myself. I pulled around the corner and there was this young lady in the back of the cul-de-sac with her suitcase. She was heading to the airport to go visit her family in Colorado.

She had a big smile and was very happy. I could tell that this wasn’t one of those college students that spend a lot of time drunk, in Uber‘s heading out to do unmentionable things on Friday and Saturday night.

I asked what she was studying and she said biology. She was on a pre-med track. There’s a lot of that, it seems everybody wants to be a doctor these days.

As we started to go I asked her what she thought about living in Utah. She said she liked it. She said it’s not so much different from Colorado but that the people are really nice. I felt the impression from the spirit that I was supposed to talk to this girl about the church and so I immediately started looking for an opening.

I asked about her friends, I asked about her classes and her family. I was getting nowhere fast so I decided to jump right in.

At this point I didn’t know for sure that she wasn’t a member of the church. The spirit had just indicated that I was speaking to a nonmember. I asked her if she had much exposure to the church before she came to Utah. She said no.

I asked her what she thought and she said that she didn’t know much about the church but since she was going to live here she would like to learn some more. That’s always the best answer.

I said do you want me to tell you what some of the differences are between our church and your church? She said yes! I said, before I can tell you what the differences are I have to know what church you belong to. She laughed and said that she was Catholic. She said that while she was growing up they went to church every week but since Covid they had even started doing Easter and Christmas online. They didn’t go anymore.

For a Catholic to miss Christmas mass or Easter mass and accept online as a substitute was something new to me. I said, whoa even Christmas and Easter? She said yes. She said, we just don’t feel it like we used to.

She said I guess we can blame Covid in part but we just kind of grew away from the things in the church. She said for herself there were a lot of questions that she didn’t have answers to.

I said, now that I know that you’re Catholic we can talk. I told her that I went on my mission to Argentina and I knew lots of Catholics. The one thing I learned is that we’re not trying to repudiate their religion. I told her for the most part we are adding to what they already have. They don’t have to replace their savior, we have the same one. They don’t have to replace their heavenly father we have the same one. They don’t have to replace the Bible because we believe in the Bible.

I talked to her about Joseph Smith and how he was looking for the truth and there were many churches saying they had it. I told her that he knelt and prayed just like it told him to do in the Bible. I said that God the father and Jesus Christ once again called a prophet. Just like in the bible.

I told her that Joseph Smith was called to restore the church. I told her that in the time of Christ, after the resurrection the apostles were all killed and the church fell. I told her the people grabbed parts of the doctrine and reformed their churchs around those parts of the doctrine. I told her that they loved the church and they grabbed what they could but left some things on the floor.

I told her it’s just like a mirror that breaks and you can’t pick up all the pieces but maybe you pick up one or two and use it as a mirror because it does almost the same thing but it’s just not quite as good. She said she loved that analogy.

I testified that the Prophet Joseph Smith was called of God and the spirit was there. I asked her if she could feel it and she said yes! I told her that Joseph Smith restored the whole mirror or the whole gospel and that’s where we find the differences. I told her Jesus, the son of God, didn’t just go to the people in Jerusalem because God loves everyone. God is the father of everyone no matter where they live and he sent his son to them.

I told her how in the Bible Jesus said that other sheep I have which are not of this fold and that he had received a commandment from his father to go visit those other sheep so they could hear his voice and be counted among his sheep.

I told her that Jesus appeared to the people who lived here in America. I told her that the people here in America had prophets who taught them the will of God. I explained to her that the commandments we received from God are the way he blesses us. I told her that obedience to the commandments is what allows us to live a happy life. I told her that this is very contrary to what she’s seeing at the University but that God has always sent his prophets to teach us the things that we should do so we can follow himand be part of his plan of happiness.

She said that’s correct! I always feel better when I obey the commandments. I said, these prophets received revelations from God and wrote them down. Their writings included the account of the visit of Jesus Christ to America where he descended from heaven and stood in front of the people on the steps of the temple. They touched the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet and bathed his feet with their tears.

I told her that Jesus Christ taught these people to be baptized even though they had already been baptized. He taught them that they should be baptized to a new level, to a new covenant, and to a new understanding. He gave the authority to the 12 people he called to perform those baptisms and he taught them how to do it. After he taught them he commanded them to go out and baptize everyone even though they had previously been baptized.

Once he had done this and when he taught the people, he said still other sheep I have which are not of this land or the land of Jerusalem or the lands roundabout and I have received a commandment from my father to go to these people so they can be counted among my sheep.

I told her that Jesus went to people all over the world because God loves everyone not just the people in Jerusalem. I said no other church teaches that. She said, that’s crazy because it makes so much sense that a loving perfect all powerful God would love all of his children and send his son to all of his children. I asked her if she could feel the spirit when we talked about that and she said yes. I asked her what that meant and she thought about it for a second and said it means it’s true.

I asked her to describe for me what it felt like. She thought for a minute and said that it felt like a glowing light inside of her. She said “light! That’s exactly what it feels like”. I told her that this was how she felt the spirit of God.

I told her that God was her father and that her spirit recognized his presence and this is how she felt in his presence. She said I love it. This is what I have been missing.

I told her that this was correct, that God would not send his spirit if the things we were saying we’re not true. She agreed and I continued.

I told her that indeed she was correct in saying that God loved all of his children and wanted them all to learn the gospel. I told her that’s why in Peter, in the Bible, it says that when Jesus died he went to the spirit world and taught the people who had died without hearing the gospel. She said, that’s incredible. I wonder why I’ve never heard about that?

I asked her how loving it would be to go and teach people of the gospel and of its blessings, who did not have a possibility of being baptized because they were already dead. I asked her if that would be kind and loving and she said no. It’s never kind and loving to dangle something in front of someone knowing that they can’t have it. I said that’s right. I asked her if she had ever heard of baptisms for the dead.

She said yes! She had heard of that but she didn’t know much about it. I told her that you first find references to it in the New Testament. We go to the temple and are baptized in behalf of someone who has passed using their name. Then they get the opportunity to accept this baptism after having been taught the gospel in the spirit world.

I told her that is God’s way to make sure that everyone of his children has the opportunity to come home. Every one of his children will be taught the gospel and have a chance to accept it under favorable and perfect circumstances for them. They will be able to choose. She said, that truly makes this a very inclusive or the most inclusive religion because everyone has the opportunity no matter when they lived or where they lived to be baptized and come home. She said, I’ve never thought of such a beautiful thing but it’s incredible.

I told her that God also sent Peter, James and John to restore this authority to Joseph Smith. I told her that in the Bible it said that Peter received the authority to seal things on the earth that are sealed in heaven. I told her that we use that power to seal marriages for time and all eternity not just until death do we part. I told her we also seal children to their parents.

She said, you can tell that there’s something different about families of the LDS faith. They’re just a little stronger and this must be why.

I said, baptism for the dead, Jesus coming to America, the authority to seal people on the earth to their families and to their spouses are all things that were originally part of the church of Jesus Christ. I told her that these things were restored to Joseph Smith and we have them today.

I asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she said no. I pulled out one of the Book of Mormon prepared by the Secrists and asked her if she would like to have it. She said yes, she would very much like to have it and read it. I explained to her the questions of the soul and the tabs and how she could do some studying on what we believe using that Book of Mormon. She said, what a great gift! Thank you.

She quickly looked at the questions of the soul and said, well I have these same questions. She said this will be fun.

She said I promise that I will read it.

I asked her if she had any friends that were members of the church and she said yes, two friends were in her biology classes last semester. I asked her if they were good friends and she said yes. I asked her if she would go to those friends with that Book of Mormon and tell them about our ride in the car today. I asked her to tell them what she felt and she said she would.

She thanked me for the book and got out of the car and went into the airport. When she gets back some friends are going to get a fantastic opportunity.