This DJ wants to be a missionary

One Saturday night I picked up a guy right in front of the Holiday Inn on 200 S. That is an area with a lot of clubs and most of the people you pick up there on a Saturday night late are drunk. It’s not your most productive area to find people seeking for the truth or praying for miracles but that happened on this Saturday night.

I was heading over to the Marriott to pick up someone and my phone just changed my location to pick up my rider. I drove over to the Holiday Inn and he was standing on the corner. He got in the car and when I slid it on to start the trip it’ said Orem was the destination . I turned to him and looked at him and said Orem? He said yes!

This was not great for me because it was going to end my night prematurely. By the time I drove to Orem and then back to Salt Lake there would be no more traffic and I wouldn’t make any money. As I pondered this I was rebuked by the spirit and told to knock it off. I knew exactly what that meant.

I asked him what he was doing in Salt Lake and he said that he was a DJ and that he had done a show that night. I asked him how hard it was to get a ride and he said very hard but that he had prayed that God would send him someone who was a good member of the church and a holder of the priesthood to drive him. He said felt like he needed to be strengthened and he could tell that I was an answer to his prayer.

It’s not easy to make me speechless. (many have tried and failed!) I was speechless for a minute. The spirit was in the car and I started to get promptings. The spirit told me that this was a young man who was being pulled very hard against what he knew to be right. He had reached out in prayer because he felt like he was being swamped.

As soon as I felt this prompting I related it to him. I told him that he needed to pray because he had quit praying regularly and he needed to quit dabbling outside of the word of wisdom. Then I just shut my mouth and listened. He said, wow you got right to it didn’t you. He asked me how I knew this and I told him that the spirit had whispered it to my heart. He told me it was true.

Doing his DJ job he had placed him in environments where the word of wisdom was more of a suggestion than a hard fast rule and that praying just didn’t seem to be appropriate. He said, sometimes you rationalize that God doesn’t care or doesn’t know but the fact that I knew was a wake up call. The fact that I had spoken those words shook him.

I asked him if he could feel the spirit in the car because I could. He said it felt good in the car, really good but he wasn’t sure he knew exactly what the spirit felt like. I asked him what he was feeling right then and he said that his mind was racing, his heart was pounding and his soul was awakening. He said it felt like an awakening.

I thought that was a pretty astounding description. I asked him what that feeling was and he said that it just felt amazing and that he didn’t know what it was. I told him that this is what the spirit feels like to him. I told him that it feels different to everybody but this is how he felt it. I told him that when he felt this he knew that what he was hearing was from God and that right now God was validating the words I spoke and was testifying to him. He told me how cool that was.

I talked to him about living with his father in heaven in the pre earth life and that this is how he felt all the time in his presence. I told him that he should look for this and look to have it with him all the time. I told him he could use that as a guide and when he didn’t feel it he shouldn’t be in that place or doing that thing.

I felt impressed to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. And I felt the power as I spoke the words. I asked him when the last time was that he had read the Book of Mormon and he said it had been about five years. In high school he had taken a different path and was still trying to decide which way to go. I asked him if he went to church and he said occasionally like once a month.

He told me his problems started because he didn’t get along with his stepdad. He had to move out to keep peace in the family and it kind of soured him on the whole deal. He said that his real dad wanted him to go on a mission but that he had questions about his him too. His real dad had married a former adult film star who had been baptized into the church. He said he had a hard time accepting that she could repent after what she had done.

I asked him why God would allow him or anyone else to repent and not her? Doesn’t God have to allow everyone the same opportunity if they come to him? Isn’t he their father and as a father wouldn’t he try to save all of his children? He said yes to each of those questions and told me that he had never thought of it like that.

I told him that one of the problems is that when we don’t find it in our hearts, to forgive other people, we have a hard time, seeing a path forward for us to be forgiven.

I told him that when you think of it like that, like a father trying to save his children who are in danger, then you see why God has as his top priority our salvation. I told him that is why God asked us to go on missions. He wants us to go to save ourselves and his other children. It’s just the best way to do it.

He was 22 years old and I asked why he wasn’t going on a mission. He said I’ve done a lot of things, so it’s kind of taking me in a different direction. I don’t think I’m worthy. He said that every worthy young man is commanded to go on a mission and because he’s not worthy he feels exempted from that mandate.

I told him that he was right, then I asked him, “who are those who are commanded to become worthy?” He said I guess everyone.

I said, so you’re commanded to become worthy, and he said yes I guess so. Then I said, so who are those commanded to go on missions and he said every worthy young man. I asked him if that wouldn’t be him after he becomes worthy and he thought for a second and said I guess so. I said that’s not a loophole that’s an expectation. He told me that he felt the spirit surge when I spoke these words.

I told him that this process would not be easy but it was possible and that it should start the next day in the bishop’s office. I told him to go into the bishop’s office and say I want to go on a mission and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there. He promised me he would.

I said to him, let’s summarize:

1. You prayed to be picked up by a priesthood holder and God sent me.

2. God revealed to me some issues that you have and it blew your mind and opened your eyes.

3. God sent his spirit to testify.

4. You recognized that spirit and how it can help you.

5. God gave you a commandment to become worthy.

6. God gave you a commandment to go on a mission.

I guess the only question is what are you going to do?

He told me he would talk to his bishop at church later that day (it was now 2:00am Sunday morning). He said he needed to go on his mission and thanked me for the ride. He said that one day he would like to do what I am doing and start giving people a lift.